Two Worlds II Previews

It appears that Topware's demonstrations of Two Worlds II at this year's PAX East have paid off, as several more previews of the RPG sequel have surfaced on the web.

We start off at Co-Optimus:
The spell system, which was the one thing people seemed to enjoy in Two Worlds, looks really nice. Like the original it's based on a card system, but Two Worlds 2 has taken it to a new level. You could augment, buff, or tweak your spells to pretty much whatever you wanted. At first we were shown a simple ice spell, which was then augmented with a multiply card. It suddenly turned into two ice shots. Then a reflect card was added to the spell - suddenly our two shots were reflecting off walls. Next up? An ice golem card which summoned some minions to do your bidding which occurred alongside your dual reflecting shots of ice. The class system is supposed to give players a lot of flexibility with character creation. That is to say, each character has the ability to mix and match their skill sets to play however you feel like playing at the time throughout the game. The armor and weapons for each class were able to be mapped to the D-pad, so you can change how you play on the fly.

Then we have Joystiq:
But as the demo goes on, I gradually lose track of my well-earned cynicism. Here there's a cool option to let you pace around during conversations; and there, there are well-done animations of something as simple as the lead character's sleeves; and over here is a heavily-detailed city with a tasteful Oriental influence. Everywhere I look, there's evidence not only of passion and care, but the potential for quality.

Followed by I4U:
The graphics aren't wildly exceptional, but the cities they showed off looked absolutely fantastic. The environment seems expansive and vibrant and the game world nearly cries out to be played in. TW: II still has a ways to go before its ready, and I'm not convinced Reality Pump has fixed all of the kinks that made the first iteration a pseudo-bust, but they do seem to be on the right track.

One more from Wilmington Star News:
Two Worlds 2 is built on an entirely new engine set to take advantage of the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. For being an alpha build of the game looked surprisingly smooth and the real time lighting effects were especially impressive. Upon first look it's easy to draw comparisons between the Elder Scrolls series and Two Worlds. However, it seems that the Two Worlds 2 team is dedicated to providing a slightly more linear experience while providing online multiplayer, which is pretty rare on consoles. I hadn't paid much intention to two worlds before PAX but I think it can really fill that high fantasy niche on the consoles.

And then a little something extra from Battlemouth:
In addition to beautiful environments that spread from a Feudal Japanese style castle to a savannah-type grassy plain, the game boasts some fantastic combat systems. A lot of the melee combat moves have yet to be final-rendered so, instead of watching ugly-pixelated axes (although we did get to see some weapons that looked incredibly cool), we took a look at the magic system. The first Two Worlds used a similar magic system that, in theory, was unique and a lot of fun; in reality, it was cumbersome and weak. This system, based around cards, has been built upon, and now seems like the original idea could finally ring true.