Why Warrior within is the worst in the original trilogy

[wetblues]

1. Terrible and ridiculous backtracking: Sometimes it doesnt make sense if you are only playing it for the first time, most of the rooms look the same then throw in future and past versions and what you get is a lot of confusion if you take extended brakes from it.

2. Locking the true ending behind optional upgrades that no one would have know was important especially when the ending is so important for the series.

3. Platforming being irritating in the future because of limited colors. thankfully sandwraith.

4. Worst story amongst the three with no introduction to how the prince can rewind time without the dagger and how he got the medallion.

5. Boring boss fights like sands of time. Thankfully two thrones fixed this.

6. Unnecessary edginess and partial nuditiy



Pros.
1. Improving gameplay from sands of time.

2. Dahaka

[匚闩丂丁仨尺]

lol

[wetblues]

Thank you

[Chunchun]

that's a good bait

[wetblues]

Originally posted by Chunchunmaru:

that's a good bait

why do you think so?

[everdimension]

Although I love the series, I would say there are definitely downsides to each part of the trilogy. And there are strong sides to each one as well.

The first part is a beautiful fairy-tale-like story surprisingly mixed with modern mechanics like slow motion and time-rewind. I still feel that the magic feeling of the first part is unique.

Warrior Within has a vastly improved fighting system which I enjoyed learning fully. I loved the setting and the island actually left an impression on me of something mysterious. While I don't generally like backtracking in games and I agree that it sometimes could feel exhausting here as well, I actually wish we had a change to discover the island and the fortress more. It has a feeling of something so very ancient and secret. I would really enjoy some kind of side quests which would allow to learn more about the fortress, the sands and the empress.
As for the story, it was interesting, yes, but it also felt too much like a hollywood story instead of an ancient fairy-tale.

But while I'm not surprised that people like Two Thrones, I always felt like it was a common agreement that it was the worst one. The story feels even more like a stack of hollywood cliches. E.g. split-personality, a villain which is about to reach immortality, etc... Also it had some really week plot points like killing Kaileena in the beginning simply because she didn't fit into the narrative. And she's supposed to be the "empress of time", remember? Killing her off like that is just a pathetic attempt to change the game's course, trying to revive sales.

Two Thrones had some really beautiful locations, but lots of graphic models were just awful. Visually it's definitely the worst game of the series. Some textures are just so bad that I can't understand how they allowed the game to be released. Also Farah's braid going through her body in a cutscene should've given people nightmares.
The game was also the most buggy one of the trilogy.


In general I just feel like the developers didn't have enough time to polish the sequels, both story-wise and gameplay-wise. It's a shame it happened that way. But I think it has to do with enormous success of the first game which the developers couldn't really understand and therefore couldn't really decide on the best course of action for the sequels.

Nevertheless each game left some very warm memories and I enjoyed replaying them all (least of all "two thrones", though) over the last 14 years or so.

[epicGame89]

In my opinion, Warrior within is the best in the trilogy, the two thrones is the second best, and the sands of time is the last one. The reason why I love PoP:WW is because it's one of the only ones in the series that is a metriodvania based game, as you said, there is a main map, and you explore around in it to get the things that you need, this kind of feels like the game is more free and open world. also, although I see most people hating it, I really liked that this game had a metal sound track, as it was very memorable in my opinion. Also another thing I really like in this game is the fact that it seems to be the longest and the hardest out of the series, which I really like. And I will agree that this one has the weakest of the bosses, although some of them had really good designs, not so much the AI, but I really liked the look, such as the griffin, the giant, or of course, the Dahaka, but as you mentioned, the two thrones does have better bosses. Also, yet another thing I like in this game is the vast amount of abilities, I'm pretty sure that this one has the most abilities of them all, all of which are very fun to use. Well, that's about it for my liking of Warrior within, and the two thrones is amazing as well, I liked it's more light heartedness [compared to warrior within], and the quick time feature was great as well, honestly the only thing that I wish was in the two thrones is more content, but it is still great. And as for the sands of time, im probably going to get a bit of hate for this, but I didn't really ever really play sands of time, I did play it once when I was younger, but I don't really remember 100% what was in it, however, I am going to replay it sometime, and then maybe I will update this or something idk.

P.S: also, warrior within was the only game with subtitles, I find it pretty dumb that the two thrones didn't have subtitles, but it was still a good game.

[G (Not home for a while)]

I played all of them and I have a lot of nostalgia; But to me Warrior Within is really the best of all.

First, the level design is really ingenious. 2 thrones was very linear, Warrior Within is really rich, the present/past switch always keeps your brain awake about what you know/what you discover new, the fact that you get back to some places further in game is really interesting too.

Secondly, the combat system is way more interesting in this one. The prince is more agile, a lot of grappling techniques, and it's the only game where the secondary weapon is really well used.

Thirdly, the collectibles. I can understand people can have divided opinions on that, because some people are all about the main storyline and others are about having a perfect collection of bonuses, but it's very good. Finding all weapons/chests is challenging, finding all the health-upgrades is hard but worth, boss fights are pattern oriented, totally Dark Souls like.

Fourthly, and maybe you won't agree, but the game has some very strong identity and iconic designs. Like it or not, sound design can be really good. I love the musics, the dark ambiance. Graphics aren't great but they aren't worse than 2 thrones to be fair. And some years went by between both. Sceneries are good, and I spent so much time wandering in the illustration/bonus images that my imagination really got into it.

The Dahaka is one of my favorite antagonists of all time. that feeling of true invulnerability, supernatural speed/strength and the fact that each mistake is severely punished made it iconic to me. Maybe edgy, but I was young and it almost terrified me ahah.

So yeah. To be fair, story telling speaking, the game isn't well integrated in the trilogy, and the alternate ending becoming canon at the end, well, kind of a ♥♥♥♥ move. But it doesn't really matter to me, nor the "betrayal of arabic tale spirit", because it's not where my memories lay in that game. They lay in the awesome gameplay and iconic design.

Peace, everyone enjoy their own games, if you don't like it, move on and find the one for you ;)

[Dan]

Don´t forget the godsmak xD, but i acutally like Warrior Within, it may be the nostalgia speaking but i like the loctions, the Dahaka is awesome, and i think the gameplay improved in ....some ways?

[śțǿŗм]

I played all three and honestly, Warrior Within is the best of them.

[Juke Nukem]

1. I respectfully disagree, that is one of the aspects I liked the most about this instalment. Being let loose in a big castle really sets WW apart from the rest of the series and I like exploring. (But I can see why some people would dislike it.)

2. Yeah, that was a questionable design choice, but not as big of an issue for me like you make it out to be. When I saw the opening of T2T I did a quick search and was like 'Oh, so there's another ending to WW which is apparently the real one. Cool.' then continued playing, the story was perfectly understandable without actually having seen that ending. Considering the nature of the games the existence of alternate timelines is not entirely an alien concept to begin with.

3. I had no problems with it but I still respect your opinion.

4. Because of the loop in the middle I actually consider it to have the best story in the trilogy and its consequences reach as far as undoing the events of the first game in their entirety and setting the table for the third one. I think it's brilliantly executed. As for your next concern: The Prince simply kept Farah's amulet from SoT and somehow uses it to manipulate time. How he's able to do that as Farah hasn't shown any such abilities, there's no telling. A better question yet: how come the sands already exist in the past before having been created? I agree that they could / should have elaborated more on these points and they can very much be considered plot holes, but I simply think it's one of those cases where the story's integrity was sacrificed on the altar of gameplay and while I'm not fully content with their choice to do so, I much rather prefer this option than the opposite. Time travelling can be used as an excuse for a lot of bullsh*t anyway, but your point is still a valid one.

5. I take a neutral stance on this matter. The oversimplified QTE segments of T2T weren't the best aproach either but I still liked both.

6. Yeah, it tried to cater to a more 'mature' audience -- actually teenaged boys' fantasies (as I was one of them at that time it never really bothered me) -- by the most immature way possible, but thankfully it was a great game under a shallow facade and not the other way around (*cough* PoP 2008 *cough*).


BTW: the Sands of Time trilogy is not the original one and the worst game of the originals is by far PoP 3D which derailed the whole franchise until SoT came along.

[epicGame89]

I agree with all the people above who say that warrior is good, also, a bit off topic side note, but im really happy that there are PoP: WW fans in 2018 :D

[wetblues]

Originally posted by Juke Nukem:

1. I respectfully disagree, that is one of the aspects I liked the most about this instalment. Being let loose in a big castle really sets WW apart from the rest of the series and I like exploring. (I do understand however that's especially the reason why a lot of people dislike it.)

2. Yeah, that was a questionable design choice, but not as big of an issue for me like you make it out to be. When I saw the opening of T2T I did a quick search and was like 'Oh, so there's another ending which is apparently the canon. Cool.' then continued playing. Considering the nature of the story the existence of alternate timelines is not entirely an alien concept.

3. I had no problems with it but I see your point.

4. Because of the loop in the middle I actually consider it to have the best story in the trilogy. The Prince simply kept Farah's amulet from the first game, I agree that they could / should have elaborated more on this point.

5. I take a neutral stance in this question. The oversimplified QTE segments of T2T weren't the best aproach either but I still liked both.

6. Yeah, it tried to cater to a more 'mature' (actually teenaged boys) audience by the most immature way possible, but thankfully it was a great game under a shallow facade and not the other way around.


BTW: the Sands of Time trilogy is not the original one and the worst game of the originals is by far PoP 3D which derailed the whole franchise until SoT came along.

First of you have a beautifully way of putting out your opinions, you are a cool guy.
1. I think the exploring is terrible on the first playthrough gets better after.

2. I think it is because this franchise has such a great story thats why i think it is pretty bad. If it was today's system, it would most likely but locked behind micro

4. I literally had no idea about this. I even forgot farah had it in the first one though it explains how she survived though not sure about the vizier

5. Yeah the QTEs where quite simple but the bosses had so much life, heck we see them get transformed right before our eyes.

6. Yeah it is a good game no doubt

[Juke Nukem]

Originally posted by wetblues:

2. I think it is because this franchise has such a great story thats why i think it is pretty bad. If it was today's system, it would most likely but locked behind micro

They did exactly this with PoP 2008. Or so they say, I never managed to make it to the very end because I found it extremely boring. One time I literally fell asleep while playing and that was the moment it became clear the game just wasn't made for me...

Originally posted by wetblues:

4. I literally had no idea about this. I even forgot farah had it in the first one though it explains how she survived though not sure about the vizier

The vizier had his staff with him which was also one of the Artifacts of Time, that's why he could control the sandstorm. I didn't think much about this either but I recently started WW again and looked up some answers on the PoP wiki to questions I felt were not explained properly.


(I edited my first post to further elaborate on some points but its essence stayed mostly intact.)

[wetblues]

Originally posted by Juke Nukem:

Originally posted by wetblues:

2. I think it is because this franchise has such a great story thats why i think it is pretty bad. If it was today's system, it would most likely but locked behind micro

They did exactly this with PoP 2008. Or so they say, I never managed to make it to the very end because I found it extremely boring. One time I literally fell asleep while playing and that was the moment it became clear the game just wasn't made for me...

Originally posted by wetblues:

4. I literally had no idea about this. I even forgot farah had it in the first one though it explains how she survived though not sure about the vizier

The vizier had his staff with him which was also one of the Artifacts of Time, that's why he could control the sandstorm. I didn't think much about this either but I recently started WW again and looked up some answers on the PoP wiki to questions I felt were not explained properly.


(I edited my first post to further elaborate on some points but its essence stayed mostly intact.)

but thats the issue there, if we have to go to wiki for important story details, then clearly someone is at fault. Almost like a lot of story is missing in between sands and warrior wittin. they did the transtition from warriors to two thrones way better.

[Juke Nukem]

Originally posted by wetblues:

but thats the issue there, if we have to go to wiki for important story details, then clearly someone is at fault. Almost like a lot of story is missing in between sands and warrior wittin. they did the transtition from warriors to two thrones way better.

Yeah, I fully agree with you on that. It's a bad excuse if they have to explain something separately because as much sense as it makes, if it's not clear from the games themselves then it's all in vain. They did make Forgotten Sands to fill out the gap between SoT and WW though, but I didn't play it as it felt too much like a thinly veiled attempt to cash-in on people's sense of nostalgia and a way to try and erase the memory of the then recent PoP 2008 and make up for the disappointment it caused. (From the reviews I read it seems like I wasn't wrong.)

Still, I like this trilogy first and foremost as games (they also have a really nice story to go along but not without its faults), I think they are much better in this regard than the Assassin's Creed series which took their place.