LBA2: Twinsen’s Odyssey

[Shattered]

#6165

I ended up beating LBA2 with my children on my lap this evening. That was pretty emotional for me because the last time I played it years and years ago was with my little cousin and he watched me play through the entire game on my lap too. I attended his wedding this year… Time flies.

Every time I turned a corner in this game, I had no idea what was coming next until I saw the next screen and then my brain immediately brought back all the memories. It was such a satisfying experience to constantly be drowned in nostalgia and with my children too nonetheless.

LBA 2 fixes most of the frustration I felt in the first game by just letting me save at will. The signposting is also leagues better at the expense of feeling like a much more linear game. I played through it guide free without any trouble. This game really does feel like an epic odyssey to me with many memorable locations and characters. You’ll get meaningful upgrades and new helpful items throughout the game too.

It’s not without flaws though. All the enemies feel like they have two or three times as much health as they should. I think it also gave my children the wrong impression of gambling because the casino in the game is probably the worst run in existence and I have no idea how it’s still in business. 🙂

The soundtrack of LBA2 is pretty much identical to LBA1 but adds a few songs that are amazing. (Zeelich, Honeybee, and my personal favorite the intro music). I think the environments are much more detailed (did you ever notice in LBA1 Twinsen’s house is basically a huge house with little decor or furniture?) And the characters are better fleshed out, for instance Zoe is a real character and not just a damsel to be saved and give you kisses.

I strongly recommend anyone that bounces off the first game to give this one a try. It has the same annoying ball throwing combat, but I think does most everything better than the first one in terms of ease of playing.

[Pix]

#6166

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go straight to #2 but you’ve sold me on it. Particularly the part about not needing a guide. I quite like the sound of linear after the backtracking in part 1 as well.

[Tijn]

#6168

Hey congrats on beating the sequel!

Does this run on DOS as well? I thought it was a Windows game, but maybe not!

[Shattered]

#6169

@Tijn Great question, I see a lot of references to it being released on DOS as well as Windows. The CD I had said both “Windows-95/MS-Dos” on it. Unfortunately I’m not sure if you can run the GoG release on DOSBox, maybe I’ll try that later.

@Pix I’m so glad you’re willing to try it. I will warn you that the beginning of the game does have a little unnecessary going back and forth between the first two islands but not anything like LBA1. Also the beginning does have one of the vaguest quests. I hope you don’t mind a small hint… Pay attention to what your neighbor needs and search any shop you find for it.

[f2bnp]

#6173

LBA2 is indeed both DOS and Win95. The version they used to ship on digital storefronts was the DOS version running under DOSBox, but that changed 2 weeks ago when they released a new version that’s native to Windows (and other platforms maybe, haven’t looked into it?) using a modern codebase. They also added a new camera system among other things, it’s cool!

[Mr Creosote]

#6196

I never got into the sequel. It just looked ugly, plot was forgettable. I gave up on it on the second island or so. Never felt the incentive to try again.

[Pix]

#6219

Just finished LBA2 today. These games really were epic. Not sure I’ve ever put in as much time on a DGC pick during the month.

I have to say I preferred the sequel, especially at the start where it played much more like an adventure game. As you get further, it starts to throw more and more enemies at you which get a little tiresome but at least your weaponry increases at the same time and you are eased into it. It’s much better game design. The protection spell was a godsend as well once I figured it out as it gets around all the stun locking issues.

LBA2 was a lot easier to get running so no trouble playing on a PII this time which helped tons having everything run smoothly. The graphics were quite a bit nicer too – I really like the 3D outdoor environments. I thought swapping between 3D and isometric might be an issue at first but it just added some variety. Playing these days, it does feel like the outdoor ought to just move smoothly but it’s fine as is.

I’d certainly agree about LBA2 fixing the worst of the issues from part one. I still wouldn’t say the formula completely gels with me. I’d prefer more adventure game and less action but I had a good time with it despite that. It’s been an interesting game to go back to actually. I thought I’d played the sequel years back but I think I must have only played the first as I had no recollections of this whatsoever.

[Tijn]

#6220

Awesome to see people playing the whole series! LBA2 is one of the first games I was really hyped for and bought a boxed copy the day it was available in the shops.

[f2bnp]

#6221

If you liked LBA or LBA2 even slightly, but want less combat and more adventure/puzzles, take a look at The Touryst, it is in a lot of ways very similar (and also has a cute voxel engine/look).