Originally posted by karajorma
One review I read complained about the fact that instead of being able to get on the game you were basically forced to play the tutorial for several levels. No option to skip it. No option to even skip the "This is how you do x" explainations.
Thats a lie. The main tutorial is limited to the first island. They were evidently playing a totally different game.
For someone who played B&W this alone is probably enough to make you want to pull your hair out.
True, if this was actually the case.
Black & White is a great concept but it was executed with almost neolithic incompetence. The fact is that I actually found myself asking if anyone had actually playtested the game at several point.
Firstly the required level of micromanagement was ridiculous. It's one thing for the people to think that it's their God's job to protect them, heal them from the plague etc but when they're too stupid to F**k each other without being told to do so then the game really needs work.
True, true, and...true. However, this is B&W 1.
In B&W 2, villagers will perform most basic needs (Like screwing, harvesting ore, lumber, food, building stuff you set down) by themselves. You only need to set Disciples if you want to bolster a specific field for one reason or another, or if it's early in the game.
Same with the creature. The concept is brilliant and the slapping and stroking great but without any way of knowing which behaviour is being rewarded or punished it's so dreadfully easy to reward the wrong thing.
True. However...
All they needed to do was have a little think bubble appear with the creature doing what he was thinking about and the problem would have gone away without the need for the text/keyboard interface that they were so obviously trying to ignore (Yet again another stupid idea. I've lost count of the number of times I've cast the wrong spell etc)
Both of these are in Black and White 2. You're creature's thoughts will pop up in a bubble, like "Should I poo on that villager?" or "I'm going to poo on that villager!" and you then may punish or reward him as you wish for such thoughts/actions.
There's a new interface with several menus, such as "Creature Behavior," "Build Structures," "Miracles," and Purchasing options (you can earn and spend influence (or something) to buy new miracles, Elite troops, or Buildings, such as the new Epic Wonders (which unlock Epic miracles: Earthquake, SIrens call, Hurricane, and Volcano).
Basically all of these flaws should have been spotted in playtesting. The previews all seemed to suggest that Lionhead were aware of the errors but the reviews I've read suggest the exact opposite. [/B]
The reviews are being incompetant then. If they want to whine about something missing from the game, they should first check to make sure it's ACTUALLY missing from the game. :/
