Two Worlds 2

[DavidTheAlien]

yes any tips on combat etc would be greatly appreciated from me. i do intend on investing more time into the game as i want to enjoy it so any tips like the autosave teleporting feature is great as i didnt realise that.

[Quanrian]

yes any tips on combat etc would be greatly appreciated from me. i do intend on investing more time into the game as i want to enjoy it so any tips like the autosave teleporting feature is great as i didnt realise that.

No worries, part of being a design obsessed freak is that I pick up on every subtle detail so I can analyze it later in my super-nerd fashion. Though I tend to express during gametime, and at least Chinny is easily driven insane by my ramblings. That aside, I am going to put up combat tips soon enough as I mentioned and address some of the finer points of gameplay that most reviewers will probably never even tell you about. I will warn you when necessary on what to avoid and what you'll want to tweak.

For example, make sure you change the UI into the safe mode version that keeps UI text on the screen but can cut off 'some' graphics but not text when you are shopping. I found this to be absolutely vital to enjoying the game. Funny enough as many people complain about the UI, I found it quick and intuitive but perhaps not enough so for the very dumbed down generation of gamers that are whining their way through achievements and leaderboards. I have a PC heritage, a bit of a clunky UI does not scare me away and this one works very well. Heck even the contextual stuff that people complain about is very intuitive once you understand why they did it that way.

*Warning Will Robinson we are entering the Rant Zone*

Sadly people are being weened on hyper unrealistic standards creating by bloated budgets of giants like Bioware. Love them if you must but please realize they have a s*** ton of money (I see these idiotic comparisons in Indie Games all the time so sadly I am used to ignorance on the weight of a company's budget) and that polish people rave about costs s*** tons of money. Polish does not come free and for what they probably spent on developing Two Worlds 2, you'll find it an extremely well designed product that 'can' give you a rediculous amount of content for your pound/dollar.

Thus ends my bit of info for the day, stay tuned!

[DaveDogg]

theres always a case surely for "if you cant do a job well dont do it" and lets face it it a plumber came yound your house and did a crap job would you say "ah well he was cheap" i very much doubt it

[Quanrian]

theres always a case surely for "if you cant do a job well dont do it" and lets face it it a plumber came yound your house and did a crap job would you say "ah well he was cheap" i very much doubt it

Actually you might say that. I would watch the plumber and make sure he does a good job. People have and will continue to exaggerate the quality or lack there of in regard to TW2. It is not for everyone and frankly neither was Dragon's Age, which guess what? Dragon's Age got mixed reviews all over the place, many of which came from dedicated Bioware fans. This game is sold out and there is not a single used copy I could find. Say what you like, people are snatching up copies like crazy and that speaks volumes louder than a few rants and raves. I'm not here to defend the game, I just wish to explain the features to people and make it a better experience. Normally a strategy guide would do that but I am lovingly providing a free service, so please do not troll the thread or game if you just hate it and have nothing productive to say...

*swats with Bass*

Dont worry DaveDogg, you're still my favorite person in the world to have these sorts of discussions with! I just dont want to fill this thread with that as it is well off-topic.

[DaveDogg]

the problems with Dragon Age which i must say is one of my favourite Rpgs ever came from the fact that it was on a very old engine and had been started for xbox1 and ps2 been shelved and then resurrected for pc, 360 and ps3 and were mainly graphical although a small number of peeps hit some very odd glitches indeed but the way the game played and forced you into forming relationships with the secondary characters was a stroke of pure genius.

but two worlds 2 not actually out in uk yet asthey are only manufacturing small quantities and the first consignment on the chinese freighter went overboard this being the case or at least thats what the distributors are telling the retailers the small quantities could mainly be down to small production/import figures in the states as well. as for it selling the way it has therewell there are a huge amount of folk who get their jollies from rpg's and if that what floats your boat then for some its any port in a storm

[Jaymeister]

Thanks for the early second opinion Quanrian. Think I'll wait till it hits the bargain bins

Think for yourself people, you might just surprise yourself and like something other people do not.

Always do Quanrian but I do like a bargain

[DukeSkath]

I have been playing these types of Action RPGs for years and have a wealth to compare it against, while Duke has only recently gotten into non-turn based RPG (credibility issues...)

Not true. I was playing Diablo ten years ago (and having lots of fun with it). I enjoyed Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on the PS2, and I also liked Fable II.

I respect your difference of opinion, Quanrian. But I've been playing all kinds of RPGs for decades.

[Quanrian]

I have been playing these types of Action RPGs for years and have a wealth to compare it against, while Duke has only recently gotten into non-turn based RPG (credibility issues...)

Not true. I was playing Diablo ten years ago (and having lots of fun with it). I enjoyed Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on the PS2, and I also liked Fable II.

I respect your difference of opinion, Quanrian. But I've been playing all kinds of RPGs for decades.

I dont want to get into too many specifics but those are largely Diablo 1/2 clones. Sacred 2 is definitely in that vain and I am not too surprised you liked that, while it wore thin for me long before I thought it would. I was never impressed by Diablo 2, I found it extremely redundant and boring. That said, Two Worlds 2, Venetica, Divinity 2 and other games of that variety are close in relation to games such as Gothic that are 3rd person Action RPGs with a strong focus on difficulty that balances it out with extras such as cooking and forging that you would usually find only in MMO's. I do wish to see you expand your repetoire of games within the same genres and I know it will happen but you're not there yet because you keep bringing these kinds of games right back... I did the same thing with tons of Diablo 2 clones and found... well I just dont like that sort of gameplay that much and wanted more action.

So... you can see where we hit our gaming divide.

Again, I dont want to spend too much time bickering over my gaming preferences or anyone else's. I am confident someone snatched up your used copy, even at your Communist Gaming Store because it's a tough game to find as I found when trying to pick it up. So, 'someone' is enjoying your copy and I prefer to focus on those people because there is a ton of game there for me to cover without having to defend it at the same time.

However, if you want to debate action rpgs with me at length, feel free to bring me on the podcast and I'll gladly weigh my experiences against your own, heck it might even help us know each other better as gamers because I still am baffled by your preferences. All said, I will refrain from using you as an example of the game's detractors, Duke.

[Quanrian]

I know this is a bit delayed but keep in mind that there was only one 360 set up here until yesterday where we finally setup a backup 360. That said, screw you game I loved (Test Drive Unlimited 2) for tying up the 360! Oh yeah... and before I end this small rant, what is it with you people in the UK and driving games? If I made a game about boxcar racing, would you all buy it just because it involves some manner of vehicle? For christ sake TDU2 outsold Dead Space 2 in the UK!!! Oh, and thank you Atari for making the servers s*** so I can get my buddy off it from pure frustration, you cheap ass money hording pricks!

---end rant---

So if you're not here to listen to me complain about Duke, or maybe you dont want to discuss politics and religions with DaveDogg (I'm really not kidding, dont do this if you value your sanity ) then you're in the right place.

Combat

Yeah let us get to the killing of the stuff with the pointy sticks and poofy deathness!

I will cover the three 'main' types of combat you'll use in the game. I may cover the lesser used types later if someone really... has... to know...

Melee
If you managed to get this far you might be wondering what is up with all these sharp objects. I just found this new pointy stick but what the heck is good for? Yes, pointy and smashy are good for smacking about the relatively decent AI in the game. Yes, the AI is so dumb at times you'll face palm or laugh your ass off at what you just got away with (murder) as they flop into the air using the exaggerated physics engine. I absolutely love melee in this game and I will tell you why you might share my sentiments.

Put simply, this is the simplest of all three types of combat, four if you include Stealth, five if you include Traps. I'm not going to include those because I have not used them enough to really say they need a section but I will talk a tiny bit about stealth kills. To start, gone are the fixed setups for each melee type where an Axe was always going to do specific types of damage. Now, weapons have length, varying speed (you'll never know this till you actually try them since it isn't listed anywhere), and may do types of damage you did not expect. What's my point? You'll want to experiment and you will end up finding some really crazy weapons that do a variety of damage types within even the same class such as Axes, Single-Handed Shields.

But Quanrian I just pressed the same button over and over to kill everything, this is so boring! No... you are the one who is boring and did not bother noticing how complex the combat system is, where on average you may have 4-6 special attacks (based on the weapon type you use) on top of an evasive attack, blocking, and a running attack. So yes, get creative, get crazy because most of the special moves either knock enemies back (you've no idea how important this is when you're swarmed) or include some kind of chance to inflict a status effect that can make even the toughest enemies or swarms a pile of corpses instead of sending you back to the load screen.

So what is the downside of melee combat? If you have not figured it out yet, you have to get better with this combat type faster than the other types simply because you are right in that evil freak's face and can easily die. So if you want an easy combat type, stick to Bows or Magic, possibly even traps as you act as a lure. However, if you like the joy of smashing you club into that bastard skeleton's skull and watching his ragdoll rebound off the ground from the force while your characters makes some inane comment that makes one think he/she is a sadist... Then by all means pick up that blade fine sir or madame and slash, bash and stab your way through the massive variety of enemies!

Ranged (Bow)
It has been said Bows are a bit too frustrating to be worth your time. I am here to tell you... that's partially right due to the sometimes fishy lock-on system that melee fighters will not fall victim to nearly as much. I do not have as much to say about this because the Bow is effectively your secondary stealth technique once you power it up enough and I just tend to prefer getting in their face (usually means I die too...) and breaking it because that is how I roll. In contrast, you may enjoy that campy snipy (weiner!) feeling of picking off that way too tough enemy from a safe distance.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on whether you like exploiting AI holes, the enemies have trouble comprehending where an arrow came from if they either cannot find you, get to you, or you're just far enough away so their vision drops off and their brains just sort of... shut down. So is using a bow a cheap ass way of getting kills? Most of the time, yeah you will use this because everything else you tried got you killed a dozen times and you've decided that hopping up on that rock and pelting them with juiced arrow shots is the way to go. So, climb, climb some more, and exploit the player's ability to get on just about everything ala Daggerfall. Did I mention enemies cannot climb or jump?

Bows have a bit of variety just like anything else. The variety comes from what quiver you use, as this will determine many things and it is often a good idea to slot a quiver with good power-up crystals since you may find yourself using the same quiver for a while. Otherwise, you can use your bow more like a machine gun by learning to quick-draw arrows. Alternatively, you can learn and overdraw your bow to do some stupid damage that like the first game can let you one-shot kill many of the mid-level health enemies that can kill you very easily otherwise. For enemies that must be hit with elemental damage you're covered as well with everything from Fire to Poison. Even if you want to hit several enemies at once you're in luck as you start with the Multi-shot ability, allowing you to hit several 'tagged' enemies at once or just one for slightly more damage.

In the end, this combat type is a bit weak in challenge and the complex controls may rightly put quick quitters off badly. You are going to be exploiting dumb AI and taking every cheap shot (see what I did there!) you can to survive and focus less on armor while your melee pal worries about protecting against every damage type in the game. You laugh, draw your bow and kill that enemy he/she has been wittling down in a single shot. Yes, you are 'that' prick but we all have our own joys in life!

Ranged (Magic)

I'm going to be perfectly honest... I find the magic slightly broken and unweildly of all combat types. I have probably died more times while trying to killing even simple enemies with spells than any other type of combat type. Enemies 'will' rush you and take you out quicker than you can blink if you choose to focus on a range style that has large reload times and at times pins you to the floor like pinata for that Grom with a VERY large club. Yeah, you just died for the fiftieth time, and because you love magic in all things rpg you're thinking of bringing this back to the store.

Go ahead bring it back and stay the heck out of my thread because we dont like you very much, right Surface Lizard? Where the heck did he go... Stop eating my biscuits!

Yeah, this is easily one of the most coolest magic systems you will EVER see in an action/rpg for a very long. Yes, Oblivion had a magic crafting system but it was so expensive to build and cast those spells that it was absolutely pointless and not at all worth the effort. In contrast, this magic system rewards you for getting creative as you put together a spell called Chinny's Bra Burner (Chinny will never touch this game or visit this thread so I am safe using this right, right?) just because you can. Oh yeah, this is all about you and how much time you put into and there is more here than I will ever have time to cover but I am going to try darnit!

First off, you have these spell amulets, they start blank and you only have two to start. These fricken amulets are tough to come by and cost a small fortune to purchase but are one more custom spell you can build. Select an amulet, now you can start putting together a spell from an effect and type as well as a variety of modifiers. Some of these modifiers are really kewl, while others barely work (I'm looking at you homing shot) and just cause your spells to miss when they'd otherwise be better off without the modifier.

So you've built your first spell but how the heck do all those Magic Skills work? To keep you from being too stupid powerful (cause we all know mages are power hungry lunatics that will eventually take over the land and take over the land with some cliche dark force) that actually leads you back to the main villian funny enough. You've got element types and even skills that make casting faster or add other bonuses. Caution, without leveling your preferred magic types you will not be able to use better staffs that can double as a melee weapon when you block with the Left Trigger. Also, you will be limited in how many cards from that magic school you can keep. In other words, if you want nothing but Fire spells be prepared to invest in that Magic Skill. Seriously, this is all common sense people but it is still a time sink, probably more so than any other combat type.

How do I know what works on what enemies? You will notice little shields below enemies that show invulnerability. Hint, if an enemy is strong to Fire, the enemy is probably weak to Water! That was easy wasn't it? Nope, you're still going to die more than you like by getting wedged into the corner by the growing hordes of enemies that never quite hit Sacred 2 insanity but they will still put your knowledge and skills to the test. Did you listen to your friend Quanrian, or did you think you could it all on your own? Shame on you if you didn't bother reading this before you attempted being a badass mage!

Multiplayer Versus Single Player (Which is better?)

There is a very important question about if Multiplayer is superior to Single Player in Two Worlds 2, which has both (Suck it Bethesda fanboys because will Skyrim have multiplayer? No!) and both will appeal to different crowds. I have a tough time answering this question because both have their quirks in my opinion. That said, the consensus (at least on http://www.gamefaqs.com) tends to be go with Multiplayer instead of Single Player. Multiplayer 'is' quicker and a ready to go package of character classes you can customize. Yes, Surface Lizard you can run around as a female in a bikini if that floats your boat. Once you build your character, which you can go back and edit later except for class. Wait, did you just say I can edit my character if I get bored with how they look? Yes, you can always redo your character's look, take note other developers and please make this feature standard because Saints Row 1/2 had the right idea.

So how does it work with other people? I wish I could tell you more about this but I couldn't get my friend to play the damn thing instead of TDU2... I am actually blaming the whole of UK's consumer market for this...

Here is what I can tell you. Character classes severely limit what you can do outside of that class. Buying new skills are so fricken expensive that your character is going to be doing what it does for a very long time and encourages you to specialize instead of blend into a jack-of-all-trades. Is this bad? No, this 'should' encourage actual co-op play since having different classes in a party has an actual benefit as opposed to the first game where you could do everything by yourself and cooperation was almost pointless. So, make sure you have at least one mage in your group to make potions. Likewise, having a warrior or ranger to act as a tank will save your behinds because dying costs you experience (not sure exactly how much because it flashed on my screen too fast) and you want to level as fast as possible.

Just Like Pills and Joints! Earn Those Skill Points!

This game has one of the kewlest leveling systems because it is two-fold unlike many games that only level in one way, a way that is usually at least sort of broken (looking at you Oblivion, again...) and makes the player play the way the developer wanted them to. How boring is it being just a pure Mage or Warrior just so you can finish a game? Fear not, patrons of the forum because Two Worlds 2 is all about choices and this even shows in the leveling system!

What am I on right? Here is where I am at... You can get juicy skill points for doing specific things, these include picking locks, killing enemies (you'll be doing this anyways), finding more teleporters, sending me money in the mail (not really but I sure appreciate it!), pick pocketing and a few other things. Each time you reach a new mark you'll have to do those specific things more. So what you have is a secondary leveling system in each category to reward you with bonus Skill Points to compliment the Skill Points you get with each level you go up. So, should you care? If you are not the dimmest bulb in the bunch than yes this means you've got a better character than the guy/gal who ignores this secondary leveling system. This is why I am here people, so make sure you take advantage of this because it gives you something extra to do!

Minigames

Dice Games
I have not seen fishing, which is a staple of RPGs and Adventure games but there is definitely a variety of distractions. To start, you can gamble with dice in a variety of games, which includes a poker type of Dice that I really love. Yes, the Dice games work in the multiplayer but keep in mind if you solo the online mode than you wont be able to play by yourself and will need to be a bit social for once. Does this compare to the Dice and Card games in RDR? Yes, in my opinion these games are very well crafted and a lot more fun and direct, heck you can even cheat a bit by kicking the table to screw with the dice, which use the game's physic engine. Stuart, this minigame was designed with you in mind, it absolutely is what a minigame should be, simple and not stupid while offering a fair incentive because money comes slow in Two Worlds 2. Why not pass a bit of time gambling with your pals at the Dice table?

So You Think You Are A Bard!?
I see you hiding in the dark alleys strumming your air guitar and pretending you know how to play an actual guitar just because you aced Rock Band. While I personally do not like music games because I feel a bit daft pretending to do something that I would rather 'actually' learn... You can buy a Drum, Guitar (actually a Lute), Violin, Flute and maybe one other I cannot remember. Then, you buy sheet music... Yep, you buy songs and wont know how they sound or work with each instrument until you try them. Ok... I mentioned not playing music games and this is VERY important to your enjoyment. I will explain, these notes come up fricken fast and unless you are freakishly skilled at rhythm games than do yourself a favor and stick to the drums because will suck will everything else. Apparently... you can earn money doing this but I suck so badly at it that I never earned anything. In the least, you earn an achievment if you can get really good at this and it is fairly well done for what it is. This is a hell of a lot better than the ramshackle attempt at a Bard mode in Fable 3.

Final Words

I thank you all for reading this massive post and hopefully not hating me too much for picking on your favorite games!

Please ask questions because I am running out of things to explain about the game and there is still tons of stuff I have not tried like traps and pick pocketing because they take a while to unlock even in the Multiplayer. In the least, my lack of thoroughness means anything I have not spoken about probably will not be encountered within the first 15 hours of the Single Player. I hope the extra time I spent formatting this post will make it a bit easier to read compared to my earlier posts.








*kidney punches Duke for giving up so easily on what is one of the most impressive RPGs I have played in years*

[meggieman]

A totally fascinating post Quanrian! I really enjoyed reading it!
Although the game has sparked some debate here on the forums and the bad reviews the game has received, I still, really want to play this game, along with TDU2 and Gran Turismo because of all the different types of racing the game holds!