Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress Previews
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Examiner:
According to Kennedy, Pirates of the Flying Fortress will serve as a vehicle for delivering content that the developers had kicking around in their heads but never made it into Two Worlds II. Expect to see a Night Club for the Undead (complete with dancers) and plenty of side quests with assorted silliness in the same tongue-in-cheek vein as some of those found in Two Worlds II.
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In addition, the expansion takes some gameplay elements that weren't featured prominently in Two Worlds II and thrusts them a little more to the forefront. One example is the Oculus (a weird floating eye/camera mechanic) that is vital to winning a boss battle against a very cool looking Basilisk. And just prior to another boss sequence you get to play a little '˜Harp Hero' (a Guitar Hero-styled minigame) to awaken an ancient golem and then kick his big stony butt.
Pirates of the Flying Fortress is built in a custom engine called the Grace Engine, which was also created by Reality Pump. Graphically speaking Pirates of the Flying Fortress is stunning to behold, with very impressive water, weather, and lighting effects. It easily rivals if not surpasses what I've seen thus far of other RPGs such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
Platform Nation:
First off was Reality Pump's expansion of Two Worlds 2. The expansion is titled (Pirates Of The Flying fortress,) which was originally going to be a part of Two Worlds 2 at launch. It was explained to me that as development on the title continued, the idea of (Pirates Of The Flying Fortress) began to expand beyond the over-all narrative that the development team had in mind. So, it was shelved for the time, with a hope that it could be returned to at a later date. Which is exactly what they've done here, and they have taken it several steps further. Jake DiGennaro explained that the team was highly focused on improving the game in general and not just dropping a piece of download content with a few quests. This game felt completely new; yes it was Two Worlds 2, and yes it was on the Grace engine, but the lighting and textures have been improved to a point that the game truly looks striking at moments. For instance, the sunset I witnessed had fantastic god-rays breaking against clouds. The team at Reality Pump also put a lot into improving the dynamics of the world around you, making everything feel far more alive. The water was not just sparkly, flat nonsense, it waved and rolled in a realistic manner. The trees also swayed randomly in the wind, and not in some static pattern.
