In news completely not related to Dragon Age 2 , those who follow me on twitter are by now well aware of the fact that GOG started selling Two Worlds 2: Epic Edition and that the OST is exceptionally beautiful. I have, no joke, been listening to the Two Worlds II and Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress OSTs almost constantly since GOG dropped the game last Thursday. The game is being sold for 50% off through this Thursday and it seriously wants to be on your GOG game shelf. Even if you don't care about the game itself, its OSTs are well worth the price of admission.
As for the game itself - well it's been added to my ever growing list of "to play titles." I've been anxiously waiting, ever since its release, for GOG to get the title so that I could finally play it. Unfortunately, it looks like it'll have to wait a wee bit longer.
Despite the fact that it can't be played yet due to my inferior graphics card, I picked up TW2 via GOG before it went on sale to the masses and downloaded the soundtrack as soon as it came available early this morning. Folks, this soundtrack is a winner. TW1's music was pretty phenomenal and I listened to it for months before I bought a computer that would be able to handle the game. This time around it looks like I'm in the same boat, but honestly I can't complain too much. If you loved TW1's music then the sountrack for TW2 will bowl you over. A number of the key musical themes have returned from the first game as has its overall feel. This soundtrack, however, takes it up a notch with the addition of a few new instruments, more vocalizations (yes!), and a grander, more epic feel. Unlike many game soundtracks, this one stands well enough on its own and could easily be enjoyed by both gamers familiar with TW2and the casual listener as well. Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz and Adam Skorupa are truly in top form once again. This is one album that will be on serious rotation in the coming months.
Edited to Add: Here are a couple of tracks that particularly caught my attention.
The first "video" is rather bombastic in nature and acts as the game's theme song. The second video, "A Nearly Peaceful Place," is beautiful but much more subdued. In it you can clearly hear how The Witcher 1's main theme has been woven in with that from The Witcher 2. Those who pre-ordered TW2 from GOG and received the bonus tracks will notice that Bonus Track 3 was a slightly different version of this second video. Just for comparison sake, the third video is TW1's "Dusk of a Northern Kingdom" which prominently features the first game's main theme.
Image: Available as a wallpaper from GOG.com with purchase of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
The past couple of days I've been keeping music playing constantly. Remember how everyone was talking about the Mozart Effect 10-15 years ago? I don't know how much of that was real and how much of that was hype. In fact, I don't even know if there was validity to the idea that listening to Mozart temporarily increased your memory retention skills. I do know, however, that listening to music of any kind makes it easier for me to concentrate. Normally I'd have something like Epica, Kamelot, Sonata Arctica, Therion or Nightwish playing. I discovered that they were the perfect study music a few years ago, back when I spent my life buried in the photography darkroom developing for 8 or so hours at a time. The last major paper I wrote was actually pulled together to tune of Therion's Live Gothic concert on DVD. (Look it up.) It repeatedly blared through my computer's speakers for days on end and my neighbor's probably hated me for it by the time 5 am rolled around every night. The usuals haven't been cutting it this week though, so I decided to break out my collection of video game soundtracks. Since these albums were designed to merge seamlessly with gameplay they have ended up being the perfect solution for background music. They both help me focus and remain relatively unobtrusive. Below are the main themes from the albums which have gotten the most play as of late. I highly recommend each and every one of these. Can you guess who my favorite videogame composers are?
Don't worry guys, I haven't forgotten about Mass Effect and there will be a ME1 post on Sunday night. Have a great rest of your week.
As this is being written, I am roughly five hours into Mass Effect and enjoying it tremendously. While five hours is enough time to get comfortable with the game, it is not quite long enough to acquire a feel for the story's flow. A few more hours of play should fix that, however, and from there it will be possible to start discussing what has happened thus far from Meriel's perspective. I have to hand it to Mass Effect for just dropping gamers into the middle of its story with little preliminary explanation. You can find out some things from talking with NPCs and asking the right questions, but overall it expects you to simply go with the flow and pick things up as it goes along.
It took me three tries, but have I finally created a character, background, and approach that feels right for ME1's environment. The game's combat style is also beginning to work its way out. Coming directly off a 2H ax wielding character, I've had an interesting time weening myself from melee and adjusting to ranged. Let's just say that *ahem* "Meriel" has made some stupid decisions in combat which have resulted in quite a few brushes with death. Apparently charging directly toward one's target with guns a blazing is not an awesome idea. It was all Meriel's idea I tell you. I had nothing to do with it ... nothing. The other thing that has taken some getting used to is ME1's love for timed events. I'm only five hours in and I've already run across two of these. To the game's credit, it doesn't have unrealistic expectations and actually gives you enough time to accomplish your goals. All the same, let's hope (in vain?) that these events are few and far between as the game progresses. There are few things I hate more then time limits since I don't game well under pressure. Now if ME1 gets the idea that quick time events are a good idea ... well we'll have to sit down and have a very serious talk.
Next week I shall introduce Meriel Shepard and ME1 gameplay guidelines in a rather detailed post. Playthrough diaries will resume very soon there after. In the meantime, Mass Effect's score will remain on heavy rotation during non-game time. If you haven't heard it before, I suggest popping over to youtube for a listen or picking it up from an online vendor. As one would expect a great deal of the soundtrack is atmospheric in nature, but there are a number of standout songs. My favorite is by far "Spectre Induction". Find it posted below for your listening pleasure.
Edited to Add - Meriel's Story is now in progress! You can find these entries by clicking on the "Meriel's Story" link at the top of the page. All the relevant blog posts are listed there in chronological order for your convenience.
