Two Worlds II: New DLC After Seven Years
I bought a bundle of games in August 2014, which included the RPG Two Worlds II and its expansion, Pirates of the Flying Fortress. With such purchases, there is a tendency to adjust your expectations in accordance to your financial investment. However, I pleasantly surprised to find Two Worlds II a quirky and enjoyable role-playing game. The animations and combat are somewhat clunky but the loot system that allows you to break down every item into upgrade components, is useful. The game also boasts a customisable spell system, that utilises collectable cards as modifiers. It is quite an innovative mechanic and certainly allows players to create builds that suit their tastes. Two Worlds II benefits from a pleasing soundtrack and a standalone expansion that offers a superior story to the base game. Not every RPG can be a Skyrim or Witcher 3. Two Worlds II is an acceptable genre title to play between such releases.
I bought a bundle of games in August 2014, which included the RPG Two Worlds II and its expansion, Pirates of the Flying Fortress. With such purchases, there is a tendency to adjust your expectations in accordance to your financial investment. However, I pleasantly surprised to find Two Worlds II a quirky and enjoyable role-playing game. The animations and combat are somewhat clunky but the loot system that allows you to break down every item into upgrade components, is useful. The game also boasts a customisable spell system, that utilises collectable cards as modifiers. It is quite an innovative mechanic and certainly allows players to create builds that suit their tastes. Two Worlds II benefits from a pleasing soundtrack and a standalone expansion that offers a superior story to the base game. Not every RPG can be a Skyrim or Witcher 3. Two Worlds II is an acceptable genre title to play between such releases.
After playing through Two Worlds II and the subsequent expansion I deleted the game from my hard drive. After all, this was a title that was originally released in late 2010 and as far as I was concerned the game’s life cycle had come to an end. Turns out I was wrong. Not only about the games life cycle but in my assumptions about the franchises popularity. Because over the weekend I received a marketing email from publishers TopWare regarding new DLC for Two Worlds II. Here is some of the promotional blurb. “After the blockbuster success of Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress, TopWare Interactive and Reality Pump Studios have created a brand new chapter in the phenomenal RPG series! With an all new HD graphics engine, new enemies, weapons and a completely revamped alchemy system, Two Worlds II: Call of the Tenebrae will take you on yet another immersive adventure through the world of Antaloor! But the adventure doesn’t stop there for season pass holders! The Season Pass also includes the follow-up DLC, Two Worlds II, Shattered Embrace, which will launch during Q4 of 2017. Don’t miss out on the chance to continue the fight in Antaloor!”
The first thing that ran through my mind was “who resurrects a game after six years” but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that there are examples of this happening before. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Anarchy Online are two that immediately spring to mind. Then of course there is the vogue for "remasters" with older titles being given graphical overhauls. Modern warfare, Bio-Shock and Skyrim have all had such revisions made to them. Then there is the issue of sales and the dreaded “number of units sold”. It turns out that Two Worlds II has quite a following in Europe and has shifted over two million copies. North American and international sales add a further million to the total. As developers and publishers are not known for their charitable tendencies, one must assume that the new DLC has viable sales potential.
As I’m between RPGs at present and still mourning the end (for the immediate future) of The Witcher franchise, I decided that developers Reality Pump have sufficient goodwill in my eyes, for me to take a punt on the new content for Two Worlds II. So, I bought a season pass at the discounted price of €29.99 as I’m apparently such a “loyal customer”. Although I’ve read some marketing material, I’m going to try and dive in to this game relatively blind upon its release on June 15th. Hopefully the DLC will be as unusual and fun as the previous content. Furthermore, in light of this development, perhaps my hopes for a third instalment of the World War II co-op shooter, Hidden & Dangerous, are not as misplaced as I initially thought.
Classic Game Themes: Pirates of the Flying Fortress
Over the past few years I have been regularly writing about Classic Movie Themes and posting specific music cues that I particularly enjoy. Often the term “classic” is not necessarily applicable and it may be more appropriate to simply label them personal favourites. However “classic” is a better fit for headlines and search engines, so I shall continue to use that title. I’ve subsequently decided to post music from the games soundtracks that I feel are of note. The gaming industry has a multitude of talented composers and musicians who enhance games and bring virtual worlds to life with their ambient music and scores.
Over the past few years I have been regularly writing about Classic Movie Themes and posting specific music cues that I particularly enjoy. Often the term “classic” is not necessarily applicable and it may be more appropriate to simply label them personal favourites. However “classic” is a better fit for headlines and search engines, so I shall continue to use that title. I’ve subsequently decided to post music from the games soundtracks that I feel are of note. The gaming industry has a multitude of talented composers and musicians who enhance games and bring virtual worlds to life with their ambient music and scores.
Pirates of the Flying Fortress is a curious expansion pack, in so far that it’s actually an improvement on the original game, Two Worlds II. The game includes a simple sailing mechanic that adds an extremely enjoyable dimension to the proceedings. Furthermore it is accompanied by a appropriately nautical theme by Borislav “Glorian” Slavov and Victor Stoyanov, which adds an ambient seafaring undercurrent while navigating between islands and archipelagos featured in the game. The scores for both main game and expansion are strong and subtly different from traditional game soundtracks, favouring ambient pieces instead of reoccurring leitmotifs.
Pirates of the Flying Fortress is clever example of understated, low-key game composing. The music seamlessly fits with the narrative and provides an aural enhancement, rather than directly reflecting ongoing events with specific themes. There is an emphasis upon ambient ethnic or folk related tracks which add greatly to the atmosphere. There is also a broad range of instrumentation used to craft the soundcape. It’s a robust soundtrack in the context of the game. However some cues such as “Sails and Journeys” do have a pleasing quality to them that works outside of the game.