Two Worlds II Previews/Interviews

The web has received another dose of Two Worlds II content, most of which is courtesy of the demonstration given by TopWare Interactive at this year's PAX East.

First up is a preview at Terminal Gamer:
Another feature I really liked in Two Worlds II is the (Oculus.) This is an ability that allows players to essentially scout ahead and experience the world from different angles. With the push of a button, our guide initiated the Oculus, which is, as the name suggests, an invisible, eye-like bubble that can explore ahead. This ability allows players to identify enemies, plan ahead and possibly even avoid confrontation by seeking out an alternate route. The Oculus allowed our guide to witness a group of skeletons standing around from down at foot level to high up in the trees. It was a unique way to explore the world and offers intriguing possibilities to help aid your character through tough situations and help him plan ahead.

The land in which Two Worlds II takes place is a large world. There are 4 distinct islands to explore, each huge and featuring unique environments, multiple dungeons, and hordes of sidequests that comprise 15-to-20 hours of gameplay. In addition, the game will feature a 20-to-25 hour long main storyline and a unique co-op story that lasts between 5 and 8 hours. Overall, the game has enough in it to occupy gamers for upwards of 50 hours.

Then we have an interview with Reality Pump CEO Mirek Dymek at Gaming Lives:
Overall, how much development time would you say has gone into making Two Worlds II more environmentally realistic than other games in the RPG genre?

It's very difficult to estimate development times for each individual area. These tasks have become closely intertwined with one another all I can tell you is that we've invested a tremendous amount of time and effort into making Antaloor as realistic as possible. This involves the technical aspects, like textures and particle effects, plus the multitude of various integrated objects and the AI behavior of the NPCs. We believe that players must feel as though they are being drawn into the game world and that they must be constantly bombarded with ah-hah! effects. In (Two Worlds II) we've achieved total success in all these aspects!

Given the advances in development over the last few years, do you think it's unfair that most RPG games are still being compared to Oblivion as the benchmark, and is it possible that Two Worlds II may become the new benchmark?

Yes, that is our objective. That's why we planned the (Two Worlds II) project from the ground up to ensure that we established new benchmarks in the genre. We learned a heck of a lot from our first RPG development and now we're reaping the benefit of our extremely extensive spectrum of knowledge. Thanks to numerous new game features, absolutely breathtaking graphics and the progress we've made story-wise, we firmly believe that we'll take over the genre '˜throne' with this game. But to answer the first part of your question, I really don't mind if a game is compared to another game, even years after it's been published. Why not? Good game ideas have an unlimited shelf life and can still be trailblazers even after a relatively long time. But we have to remember that each RPG has its own individual style and I believe that this makes a direct comparison very difficult that's why many of these comparisons are more or less out of date. Each game should primarily be regarded as a product on its own people shouldn't immediately compare a game with its alleged competitors.

And, finally, we have a video interview with PR director Jake DigGennaro on Gamervision's YouTube channel. Topics include the improvements over the original, the push to make the game more appealing to a wider audience, the capabilities of the GRACE engine, and more.