Two Worlds (yes, again...)

I wasn't going to do yet another post about this game since interest in it is so limited (not a reference to my readership, but rather a reference to the fact that even the Two Worlds Forums don't show much activity where the first game is concerned), but there's still a thing or two I feel compelled to share.

Two Worlds has been compared to Oblivion by many more gamers other than myself, thus when I reached a particular location in the game I knew I needed to share at least one screenshot. Does this Two Worlds locale remind anyone of any other game in particular?

I was also reminded of a certain more popular RPG when I encountered my first invisible wall and was greeted by the message: "YOU CAN'T GO ANY FURTHER. TURN BACK."

But as you might guess from the stark appearance of the bit of rock I'm standing on in that screenshot, I encountered said invisible barrier while pushing my hero's dexterity to the limit against the physics of the game world by rabbit-hopping my way up the side of a steep mountain that I apparently wasn't meant to reach the top of to begin with.

This discovery reminded me yet again of my disappointment that the modding craze that other games have enjoyed never really took off for Two Worlds. There are plenty of only partially-developed areas around the borders of the map that would be perfect locations for cities, castles, enemy camps to invade et cetera, and it's really a bit of a shame that the potential of those areas will likely never be utilized.

The world is big enough that, even in the middle of the map, there are still plenty of areas with enough space to accommodate the entrances to underground dungeons or even above-ground enemy enclaves.

I've been playing for nearly 40 hours now (not consecutively, of course) and have only explored a fraction of the accessible game world.

The darker sections of the map are the unexplored areas while the brighter bits indicate where I've traveled thus far.

Here I "zoomed in" on the map with the mouse wheel to get a closer shot of one of the cities to give a reference point regarding the overall size of the map...

I've passed the level 50 benchmark (there's no level cap, I'm told) and I'm still encountering areas filled with enemies that can "one-shot" me. Obviously there's still plenty of gaming to do here, just in case anyone was wondering and again comparing the game to that certain other RPG. I'm a particularly stubborn gamer, though, and I press on into these areas and find as many cheesy ways as possible to deal with the tough enemies. My favorite thus far is planting myself next to a healing shrine or magic source and juggling the enemies with spells that briefly stun them while doing damage.

So that's what I've been doing lately. So far this is the longest in quite some time that I've played a single vanilla game without getting bored and switching to another game for a while before returning to it (classic Doom notwithstanding). I guess Two Worlds is simply satisfying my love for basic hack-and-slash dungeon crawls (as it has plenty of those).

Can my readers look forward to yet another post about Two Worlds? Ah, only time will tell...