Looks and sound
WOTR builds up on its last game with better lighting, much better environment textures, the ability to freely rotate the camera and better character textures. The character textures are still overall fairly weak but a step up. The game's visuals are carried by that lighting which is leverged for some amazing effects.
The sound effects are good though there wasn't much noticeable in that regard. The voice acting for the companions and notable characters is well done though I wish we had a bit more variety in what the companions would yell during combat.
The soundtrack is very good with a staggering variety that works well for such a long game. I do think that the first game has a better soundtrack but that was from the legend Inon Zur so its hard to measure up against that. I have found myself listening to some of the tracks outside of the game too
Combat
The gameplay is why I enjoyed this game a lot. It offering an insane level of variety and freedom in how you can build your character and your companions. There are 25 classes and each class has 3-5 subclasses. You are free to multiclass into as many classes as you'd like as long as you meet the requirements for it. On top of all that there is a mythic path which adds another layer of variety to builds. You can also multiclass your companions into as many classes as you'd like. If this sounds a bit too much don't worry. You are free to not multi-class at all. Contrary to what some players will tell you, single-class builds are perfectly viable on the standard difficulties which is what I recommend playing on anyways
Of course not everything is equal. There are some classes and subclasses you want to avoid like Assassin which is next to useless in this campaign.
The game throws a variety of enemies with different types of strengths and weakness and different situations at you to keep you on your toes.
I do think the game veers somewhat into the unfair territory with some of the encounters even on the lower difficulties but most of them end up being learning experiences in some way.
Story and Worldbuilding
I don't have much to say here. There's lore. It exists. I don't particularly care for it. It does its job sometimes but this is a game I'm playing mostly for the combat.
I did like some of the companion questlines and the party banter that occurs when resting. Its also fascinating to see how much freedom you're given not jsut in the gameplay but in the story as well with a very wide variety of choices which have can have effects much later down the line.
WOTR builds up on its last game with better lighting, much better environment textures, the ability to freely rotate the camera and better character textures. The character textures are still overall fairly weak but a step up. The game's visuals are carried by that lighting which is leverged for some amazing effects.
The sound effects are good though there wasn't much noticeable in that regard. The voice acting for the companions and notable characters is well done though I wish we had a bit more variety in what the companions would yell during combat.
The soundtrack is very good with a staggering variety that works well for such a long game. I do think that the first game has a better soundtrack but that was from the legend Inon Zur so its hard to measure up against that. I have found myself listening to some of the tracks outside of the game too
Combat
The gameplay is why I enjoyed this game a lot. It offering an insane level of variety and freedom in how you can build your character and your companions. There are 25 classes and each class has 3-5 subclasses. You are free to multiclass into as many classes as you'd like as long as you meet the requirements for it. On top of all that there is a mythic path which adds another layer of variety to builds. You can also multiclass your companions into as many classes as you'd like. If this sounds a bit too much don't worry. You are free to not multi-class at all. Contrary to what some players will tell you, single-class builds are perfectly viable on the standard difficulties which is what I recommend playing on anyways
Of course not everything is equal. There are some classes and subclasses you want to avoid like Assassin which is next to useless in this campaign.
The game throws a variety of enemies with different types of strengths and weakness and different situations at you to keep you on your toes.
I do think the game veers somewhat into the unfair territory with some of the encounters even on the lower difficulties but most of them end up being learning experiences in some way.
Story and Worldbuilding
I don't have much to say here. There's lore. It exists. I don't particularly care for it. It does its job sometimes but this is a game I'm playing mostly for the combat.
I did like some of the companion questlines and the party banter that occurs when resting. Its also fascinating to see how much freedom you're given not jsut in the gameplay but in the story as well with a very wide variety of choices which have can have effects much later down the line.