Meta:POTFF Interview no.1

This Q&A was posted to the website IGN by propheet on July 6, 2011.

Questions and Answers

We've seen a lot of screens and several interviews about the upcoming expansion to Two Worlds II, called "Pirates of the Flying Fortress" recently, but some questions remained unanswered... That is, until we talked to Joerg Schindler of Zuxxez AG and Mirek Dymek, CEO of Reality Pump, about the upcoming adventure in Antaloor.

An early sketch from 2008 shows Flying Castle/Fortress.

TW Vault: What does the title of the add-on refer to -- Flying Fortress? In 2008 Reality Pump have shown us some great artworks depicting... floating castles and cities. Is that what it's going to be?

Joerg Schindler: Your presumptions are quite correct! [grins] Floating castles will in fact be an important part of the expansion pack “Pirates of the Flying Fortress”. We have been working on this idea for quite some time now and were thrilled to send the player on a traversable platform in the sky above Antaloor. But the journey will be a long and difficult one to access this unique gaming experience. You will have to solve a lot of interesting tasks before your personal “elevator to heaven” is available!

TW Vault: Great! So, we have an eye in the sky, so to speak. Speaking of which, how big is the scope of the weather system integration? Will we have some varying climatic events in the Savannah and New Ashos, or are the weather patterns only restricted to some new locations?

Joerg Schindler: The new weather system is indeed restricted to the new locations due to technical aspects. Nevertheless, the player will get into some impressive thunder storms on the new islands, where of course the weather effects are dynamic with extremely fluent transitions.

TW Vault: Those new islands, could you tell us more about them?

Joerg Schindler: The playground of “Pirates of the Flying Fortress” consists of a brand new archipelago. The islands have dense vegetation and foliage and vary from very small insulars to big ones, which take some time to explore completely. In addition, there is a vast ocean at your fingertips, which means that sailing will play a much more important role in the expansion.

TW Vault: Sailing aside, we've been longing for a shore-side journey fraught with peril -- and POTFF seems to teem with dangerous monsters! But are the new boss encounters similar to the existing ones, i.e. only plot-based and not "in the wild", so to speak?

Joerg Schindler: Boss enemies will be much more frequent than in the main game. We learned from the feedback of the fans, that they would love to get more demanding and individual fights during their adventures in Antaloor. Therefore we implemented bosses not only in the main story but in many of the side quests. Of course, we invented new creatures for this purpose that look even more impressive because of the new graphic possibilities we implemented into the expansion!

New boss - 'The Bailiff'

TW Vault: Can you tell more about such bosses, maybe provide an example?

Joerg Schindler: Bosses are strictly related to the plot of the main and side quests, so we don't want to give away any spoilers. But you can be dead certain that you will be very surprised when you see them for the first time! Moreover it is not only Hack & Slash but cooperating with your environment during the boss fights. Apart from the look and behavior of the boss type enemies, we have also improved the overall enemy AI.

Climbing is one of the many new features in POTFF!

TW Vault: Fair enough. Now, considering what we've seen so far, there's going to be landmasses changes, bosses, weapons, graphics overhaul and new SP/MP content. But what about the basics - will owners of PS3 and Xbox360 receive the patches they've been missing so far with the Expansion?

Joerg Schindler: Yes!

TW Vault: Excellent! We've waited for a long time now... Ok. Let's talk about something different. Press release mentions new horse breeds and horse armors. Considering the horse is not used in combat at the moment, does that mean you're planning to make some sort of mounted combat available?

Joerg Schindler: Yes! You can deal damage from horseback by charging with a polearm class weapon!

Polearms are cool, but huge hammers are batter! :P

TW Vault: Hmm, wonder what that will look like! And speaking of horses, new breeds - does that include horses elsewhere than just on the Savannah?

Joerg Schindler: There will be a new kind of horse that will be available only on the PotFF islands.

TW Vault: Some fans wanted us to also ask about MP. There are four new Multiplayer maps in POTFF. Which modes does that entail?

Joerg Schindler: Sorry, right now I only can confirm the four new MP-maps. More information will be revealed soon.

There be monsters afoot in Kanger Bay, aye!

TW Vault: Ok, fair enough. We've been also assured that the team is hard at work not only on new content, but on making the existing game better via the Expansion. Could you briefly discuss what if anything is done in the following areas of the game: -interface -GUI -key bindings -ergonomics&accessibility; -default graphics/TV settings on consoles?

Joerg Schindler: All the points you mentioned are currently work in progress. Therefore I can’t say anything final right now. But it’s certain that we want to implement as much of the fan feedback as possible in the expansion!

TW Vault: That's great news. Let's hope the add-on makes TW2 an even better experience then... Thanks for the talk!

Joerg Schindler: Thank you!

RPG Italia Translation (Missing)

This translation was posted to the website RPG Italia by unknown on July 18, 2011.

Ecco la localizzazione in italiano di due nuove interviste rilasciate da Joerg Schindler a Two Worlds Vault e RPG France. Ringraziamo Gunvar per la traduzione.