The Epic Saga Continues …300 years after Aziraal has been banished, a brother and sister are drawn into the conflict which has flared up between the Orcs and the free world. Kyra, the hero’s younger sister, suddenly disappears in mysterious circumstances. The hero, a bounty hunter, searches throughout Antaloor for her. His quests take him to the far-off reaches of the continent. Constantly on the alert for a clue as to her whereabouts, he keeps his eyes and ears open during his travels. The mercenary jobs he gets are not just for collecting information – he also receives gold for these tasks and he must have gold to continue his search. However, it’s not always easy to find tasks that pay - he even has to gain a reputation with certain groups before they’ll even think of entrusting a tricky task to him. After many weary months of searching, he finally gets his first clue - a mysterious letter that tells him to make for the mountainous region of the far north. As luck would have it, he has also heard of a possible job in the village of Komorin in Thalmont - and that’s on his route - so it’s the open road for him again. The villagers in Komorin can also count themselves lucky that they’ve actually found a mercenary to help them with their problem - most of the young and capable men have gone to help fight the Orcs in the south. The Thalmont government hasn’t helped much either - officialdom says it can’t spare the time for other problems when they have rebels to deal with... Thus begins the story of Two Worlds - one mercenary arrives alone in Thalmont, a wild mountainous region totally unfamiliar to him. Will he succeed in finding his sister.

So first of all I did not need activation.
I had a special version.
But activating a game or having an ID card is not going to kill
you.
neither is paying for healthcare america...

Now for the rest. I think it was the first game you could ride the horse.
You can spend hours and days like GTA just roaming around.
The archery was very neat.
So was the alchemy the weapons etc.
I wasted days on days stashing weapons.
The story was quite good.
There were some bugs, but most were resolved with the patches.

I liked it there is room for improvement , but that is what
the future is for.
:)

1) Game will not run under a 64-bit OS.
2) Game requires activation to function. If I had known that I would never have gone near it, I flatly refuse to own software that I need special permission from ANYONE to operate.

Let me start by saying that I am an RPG fanatic, having fallen in love with such titles as "Gothic" (all 3 titles), "The Witcher," "Baldur's Gate I & II," "Morrowind," "Drakensang," "Soulbringer," "Planescape: Torment," etc. I also am in love with mods, and love to mod the heck out whatever game I can.

That being said, I like Two Worlds. It is a fun romp through a cliched world, and the plot threads are enough for anyone to get tangled up in.

GRAPHICS
The graphics match anything "Oblivion" can throw at you, and not only that, but the stone structures in this game actually outdo "Oblivion's" buildings. And the graphics equal or outstrip "Oblivion" without the ridiculous minimum system requirements. Reflective water was a bitch to get working in "Oblivion," with several mods being downloaded to try and remedy what was default in "Morrowind." Two Worlds pulls it off without a hitch. Not only that, standing on the shores of the oceans, you can see the tides come rolling in. Everyone looks fuggly, but that's okay. Your character (for some reason) reminds me of Arnold Schwartzeneggar, facially.

SOUND
Well, the sound is pretty standard. Swoosh! Splat! etc. The voice acting ranges from okay to bad, but at least it doesn't sound as hideous as some others ("Crusaders of Might & Magic" comes to mind). I don't expect Oscar work from a video game, so I guess I'm more forgiving there. Your character's voice isn't too bad -- there are a few lines that didn't stack up but that was due to poor direction and lack of experience more than anything else.

The musical choices were interesting, at the very least. There's folk-rock vocal work in the soundtrack as well, which is a change from the usual strict symphonic scores that have been the standard since "Baldur's Gate." At least it kept things slightly interesting. The ambient music was better than some ("Drakensang," "Hard to be a God").

GAMEPLAY
Once I customized the controls to the configuration I always use I was really never lost. It plays a lot like "Morrowind," "Gothic II," or any other game of its ilk. It does suffer the RPG curse when it comes to horses. "Oblivion" and "Hard to be a God" have similar issues when it comes to controlling your horse. I have some tips: Try and move your mouse to face the direction your horse is facing. I've used a horse quite a bit in Two Worlds to great effect.

Hitting someone is just a matter of hitting the left mouse button. The RMB is left for the selected hotbar item (usually a spell of some kind). Movement uses the mouse for facing and the keyboard for actually moving. You can attack anyone in this game -- just don't expect to be able to beat many of them.

Getting bad @$$ is a combination of finding loot and improving your abilities. You constantly get experience as you whack bad guys and complete quests. When you gain a level, you gain stat points (to pour into Strength and such) and skill points (to place in Pick Locks, or Alchemy, etc). Every skill has a place, and a use. Some skills (like Alchemy, Necromancy, and Stoneskin) need to be "unlocked," by talking to the right person and doing what they want you to. The skill points can be placed wherever you like. You could be an archer, an alchemist, a warrior, a mage, a thief, or some hybrid. The only restriction is that the skills can only go so high each level.

The bad guys don't scale to your level. Even on Easy, expect everything to get medieval on your buttocks. The nice thing is, you can't die. You auto-respawn at the nearest "shrine." Shrines also regenerate your hit points, making a battle somewhat one-sided if you can lure an enemy near one and constantly regenerate while smacking your foe silly.

I haven't seen any show-stopping bugs in this yet, and I'm running this on a Vista rig.

Why does this get bad reviews? I've read what others have written, and I don't really have the problems everyone else does. It's a solid, well-conceived game. The side quests are usually more novel than "find the foozle." The world is HUGE -- and you can run all over the place. There are teleporters, for those who don't want to walk everywhere. I could use more variety for the monsters, but I suppose that's okay.

Haven't tried multiplayer, and I don't intend to. Haven't found anything to compare to LAN gaming in "Neverwinter Nights," "Dungeon Siege," or "Dungeon Lords" yet. Probably won't for a long time, either.

As for activation, yes -- it's a headache. But you can activate by phone, or email support (by now, someone, somewhere has an internet connection, go the library or a university computer lab, for heaven's sake. E-mail response was very prompt).

It's not perfect, but nothing is. It's still the same kind of fun I had running around in "Baldur's Gate" with 2-D sprites. Only now it's 3-D, and the role-playing system is a heckuva lot better than Dungeons & Dragons in any incarnation. I'm definitely looking forward to Two Worlds II: The Temptation.

Pathetic.

Sorry folks but that says it all for me...waste of my money, wish I could send this one back.

With a single player game on the computer, and a free multiplayer universe, its a great game for any hard RPGer, who enjoys spending hours in front of the screen. You are a bounty hunter in search of his sisters kidnappers, that are found through a series of quests and slaughtering. You don't have to follow the quests that are in line with the main story plot, the entire world can be explored without even starting it. Levels can be gained, potions made and weapons stacked, by simply running around and killing everything. With five different majic schools, and many different trainable skills, random bamdits and caves with giant spiders and hundreds of skelletons, this blows Oblivion out of the water.
The online feature has different quests, and the option to play a game with your friends, and only them. Nobody taking your quests or killing the bad guy, and having to wait for him to respawn. No waiting for others to get out of the way, unless you choose to have them there.
This is one of my top games, one i have to keep on eye on, or i get too addicted. Its always nice to have a game you want to go back to, like a book you can't put down.

Have Fun!!