The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

So I, like a few of the other players, ran into the bug that basically stopped all game play for me. And yeah, after I wasted some time retracing my steps to make sure I did everything the walkthrough suggested. Looked on the interwebs and found out that there was a patch released back in 2015 that fixed a lot of the bugs in the original game. Problem is, you can't find it anywhere to download it. So I went through my BOUT2 download from gog.com, and found what I think is the way to update the game. After I did this, the game downloaded, extracted and installed the patch all by itself....and the nice thing is, you have a pretty neat picture of N8 to look at while it happens. This is what I did. First, go to your "C" drive and look for where all your gog.com games download. In my case, that folder is named "GOG Games." Double clicking on that folder should show you all the games you've downloaded from gog.com. Look for, "The Book Of Unwritten Tales 2" and double click on that folder. Now you'll be looking for a purple and blue icon named "bout2.exe" That is the updater application (at least it was for me.) Right click on "bout2.exe" and either open it or run it as Administrator (that's what I chose.) Once you execute the application, it tells you that there is an update for the game, and asks if you want to install it. Here's that path again: This PC > OS (C:) > GOG Games > The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 > bout2.exe I installed it, and when it was finished, I just launched the game from there. I've used the desktop shortcut the rest of the time. The update, from what I can tell, didn't alter any of the saved games for me...but here's the thing....as soon as I went to my last saved game, I had electricity. Just like that. So, my suggestion would be to buy the game, if you're interested, then update the game right away before you start playing it. It'll save a few headaches along the way.

I played the first game a year ago and I really enjoyed it. The witty and sometimes black humour, slightly chaotic storyline, pop-culture references, likeable characters and just good-hearted nature made it one of the better adventures I played in a long time. I think I looked up a hint once or twice, but mostly the game was a smooth and fairly long ride. Unfortunately, the second game does not reach the same level. Good things first: the humour and pop-culture references are still there and they are plentiful. Many familiar characters return and you will revisit several locations. It manages to create the same atmosphere as the first one and some locations are gorgeous, with a fitting music to boot. The antagonists do a great job of making you dislike them. Now the bad things. First, the gameplay is not shared evenly between the characters, in fact, one character plays the main plot almost on their own, two have very little gameplay. Secondly, the pacing is off, it starts foreboding in the first part, then slows down and before the story really develops a good pace, the game is over. Thirdly, the ending is beyond poor, it feels like an entire chapter was cut. The game leaves the fate of one character completely in the dark, does not explain at all what happens to some of the antagonists, nor anything else, and presents a very lazy cliffhanger. Fourthly, the game is buggy to the point of game-breaking bugs. Voices and sounds are missing far too often, objects appear or disappear and twice I had to cancel the game and edit a save game, because of logic errors that prevented me to proceed. Some of these were patched, but GOG.com does not provide these (separate download, DRM?). Finally, there is a Yahtzee-like mini game that you need to beat, but it’s mostly based on chance. After 45 minutes, I could not be bothered anymore and loaded a save game, missing a piece of the story. Overall, the game feels unfinished, rushed, and left me dissatisfied. Come on, developer!

The game is hilarious, character-driven, visually stunning and has an orchestra soundtrack. I enjoyed the many pop culture references to other games and shows, such as Dr. Who. I hated the ending. I was very disappointed so many things were left hanging, but the game still gets 5 stars because now I'm pretty sure we're going to get a Book of Unwritten Tales 3. I really do think this is the best game ever created in the "point and click" genre and I hope the next game out in the series is just as good.

Dissapointing cliff-hanger-y ending with practically tons of lose threads. Way too many dialogue and descriptions than needed to advance the plot, making the experience somewhat tedious. Not so funny as it should have been either, for the volume of dialogue/text given. Only a few good jokes scattered between constant forced attempts at hit-and-miss humour. Puzzles not nearly as inventive as the 1st game, but passable (above average). Again, the non-ending is a deal-breaker and a mortal sin of games, especially adventure games that rely on storytelling such as this. Only bought this because I've enjoyed the 1st so much, but was uterly dissapointed. Shame really. On the plus side, nice graphics and good overall plot (if not for the overstretching of dialogue, the plot-holes, the inadequate ending, etc)

Yes, I hate cliffhangers. I also didn't like Ivo's naivete very much, that wasn't there in the first game. And well, at times the social commentary is a bit heavy. But I like it. Not as much as the first part, which is in my Top 10 adventures of all time, but it very much has its moments (I especially liked the Dark Wood chapter and the time travel for the flair). It is way darker than the first game and I really want a third game to conclude the story, although the chances are very slim (the last time I have felt that sad about an ending was with A Vampyre Story) ... but, nonetheless I'd play it again. There definitely is better world building out there, and some jokes are just ... not good, but I do care about the lives of Ivo, Wilbur, Nate and the other characters. What more can an adventure ask for than players who play them more than once?