The best & the worst scenes of TW2 [Spoilers ofc]
Throughout multiple reviews made by both professional critics and ordinary players, one thing that keeps coming up is the feeling that TW2 is an uneven game. On one hand, there are strokes of pure genious in it's writing and concepts that make it a very special, memorable game. On the other hand, it seems like there was no one from the outside who would look at the nearly finished product and point out all the things that just didn't work the way they were supposed to.
There are already many threads that deal with the technical aspects of the game - bugs, UI, balance, combat etc. What I'd like to do with this thread is to give the devs some feedback on TW2's writing. In order to keep it from becoming too negative (or maybe too fanboyish?), I'd like you to give examples of BOTH the scenes you liked best and that you considered to be the most memorable as well as the scenes you considered odd, out of place or simply badly written.
Just one rule - keep the balance please. You can name more than one scene in each cathegory but for every scene you didn't like please mention one you did like and vice versa. Also, please try to explain your choices in a balanced mannner - don't make a one line comment on the scene you enjoyed and then a whole paragraph about the one you didn't!
Let me start with my own picks:
THE BEST
Regicide:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mdFEQQ_icI[/media]
I don't think there are too many people that remained unmoved the first time they've seen this scene. It's perfect in every possible way. The dialogue, the music, the direction, the expressions on the faces of the characters, it all ends up being one of the most memorable game scenes ever.
By the time it happens, Foltest is already a character likeable enough to make his death hurt (that's actually a feat of it's own given how early in the game it is and how little screen time he gets). Furthemore, after all the intense fights in the prologue and the dragon sequence, just prior to this scene there is a sense of relax, victory and completion. The regicide scene shifts from the initial serenity to anxiousness in a seamless, brutal and emotionally powerful manner. In just about 3 minutes it sets up the main plot for the entire game in a way an hour of dialogue could not. Just brilliant. More of those please!
THE WORST
Iorveth vs Roche
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fpnQLPpY7k[/media]
That particular scene (and the similar one on Roche's path) rubbed me the wrong way for multiple reasons. For one thing, I have no idea what purpose it served in the plot, as it was of no consequence whatsoever other than to prove that the badass you've just chosen is more badass than the one you didn't. Secondly, it was set up as an epic fight between two archenemies but in reality it took about 5 seconds to resolve which was hugely anticlimatic. But the one thing that really broke it for me was that in a game where virtually all the main characters were believable and logical in their actions, this scene seems to be taken right out of cheap TV series where the main characters will always find some excuse not to kill one another so that the show may go on. Iorveth finally gets a chance to finish a man he considers a murderer of women and children. A man who created and led a force specialized in slaying Scoia'tael. A man who will undoubtly keep killing squirrels and maybe will kill Iorveth himself. And then he gets melodramatic and chivalrous and lets him go. /Facepalm
Sooo unlike reality. So unlike Iorveth. So damn stupid. It's just... wrong. For the record, the Roche's version of this scene is equally stupid but in a different manner. Roche at least doesn't get chivalrous but he spends what feels like half a minute explaining why he has no time finish off defenseless Iorveth... which would probably take no more than two seconds. Another facepalm...
Throughout multiple reviews made by both professional critics and ordinary players, one thing that keeps coming up is the feeling that TW2 is an uneven game. On one hand, there are strokes of pure genious in it's writing and concepts that make it a very special, memorable game. On the other hand, it seems like there was no one from the outside who would look at the nearly finished product and point out all the things that just didn't work the way they were supposed to.
There are already many threads that deal with the technical aspects of the game - bugs, UI, balance, combat etc. What I'd like to do with this thread is to give the devs some feedback on TW2's writing. In order to keep it from becoming too negative (or maybe too fanboyish?), I'd like you to give examples of BOTH the scenes you liked best and that you considered to be the most memorable as well as the scenes you considered odd, out of place or simply badly written.
Just one rule - keep the balance please. You can name more than one scene in each cathegory but for every scene you didn't like please mention one you did like and vice versa. Also, please try to explain your choices in a balanced mannner - don't make a one line comment on the scene you enjoyed and then a whole paragraph about the one you didn't!
Let me start with my own picks:
THE BEST
Regicide:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mdFEQQ_icI[/media]
I don't think there are too many people that remained unmoved the first time they've seen this scene. It's perfect in every possible way. The dialogue, the music, the direction, the expressions on the faces of the characters, it all ends up being one of the most memorable game scenes ever.
By the time it happens, Foltest is already a character likeable enough to make his death hurt (that's actually a feat of it's own given how early in the game it is and how little screen time he gets). Furthemore, after all the intense fights in the prologue and the dragon sequence, just prior to this scene there is a sense of relax, victory and completion. The regicide scene shifts from the initial serenity to anxiousness in a seamless, brutal and emotionally powerful manner. In just about 3 minutes it sets up the main plot for the entire game in a way an hour of dialogue could not. Just brilliant. More of those please!
THE WORST
Iorveth vs Roche
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fpnQLPpY7k[/media]
That particular scene (and the similar one on Roche's path) rubbed me the wrong way for multiple reasons. For one thing, I have no idea what purpose it served in the plot, as it was of no consequence whatsoever other than to prove that the badass you've just chosen is more badass than the one you didn't. Secondly, it was set up as an epic fight between two archenemies but in reality it took about 5 seconds to resolve which was hugely anticlimatic. But the one thing that really broke it for me was that in a game where virtually all the main characters were believable and logical in their actions, this scene seems to be taken right out of cheap TV series where the main characters will always find some excuse not to kill one another so that the show may go on. Iorveth finally gets a chance to finish a man he considers a murderer of women and children. A man who created and led a force specialized in slaying Scoia'tael. A man who will undoubtly keep killing squirrels and maybe will kill Iorveth himself. And then he gets melodramatic and chivalrous and lets him go. /Facepalm
Sooo unlike reality. So unlike Iorveth. So damn stupid. It's just... wrong. For the record, the Roche's version of this scene is equally stupid but in a different manner. Roche at least doesn't get chivalrous but he spends what feels like half a minute explaining why he has no time finish off defenseless Iorveth... which would probably take no more than two seconds. Another facepalm...