 First impressions are extremely important when it comes to video games. For some, the opening hour or two is pivotal when it comes to whether a game is going to stick with you or not. For others, it can be the opening half hour. For me, it's the first 10 minutes of solid gameplay. In a long time ago, I realized I had made an incredibly egregious error. I had, in fact, purchased a video game that was a total piece of shit. Rewind back to 2007. Elder Scrolls Oblivion was the be-all and end-all in terms of fantasy RPG gaming for current next-gen console owners. It's still probably one of my most played games of all time, but there was a crucial element that many gamers were pining for. Cooperative multiplayer. Gamers wanted to join together on fantastical quests and build and define their new characters alongside their friends. Enter two worlds. And probably the most pretentious marketing strategy ever committed by a studio that had absolutely no goddamn leg to stand on. Developers talked about how realistic the environments are, how massive the world is going to be, how you could ride horses and fight while riding. IGN.com was running two worlds Tuesdays, leading up to the release for several months. South Peak Games actually had the audacity to say that two worlds was going to be bigger and better than Oblivion. Yet, after playing the first 10 minutes and being in complete shock that my sword made the same impact noises that my fist did, I realize I had made a very bad mistake in buying this game. If you've never heard of the fiasco that was Two World Games, consider yourself lucky. There is a plethora of articles and videos talking about how this game was a complete shamble and a huge lie to a lot of people who bought into the advertising. Two World is one of those games that's so bad that it's a direct insult to the person that bought it. The gameplay was incredibly dull. The voice acting was atrocious. The quest design was basic as fuck. Alongside game breaking glitches, terrible sound design, and a lackluster story, the online component was incredibly underwhelming considering it had been built up so highly. In the words of one of my actual friends, you're basic. It's devastating. You're devastated right now. Just before Two Worlds was released, I was paying for my own video games like most others were except for the ones that I would strategically ask for during the Christmas season. But being a teenager, I wasn't exactly the smartest person with my money, but Two Worlds changed everything. My mind was blown that something so poorly made could be released for such a price tag, and I find this incredibly ironic considering the gaming landscape as it is right now. Is this good for the player? So after this piece of garbage burned a $60 hole in my wallet, I swore to myself I would never waste money on a terrible video game again. From this point forward, I would do extensive research on them and follow their pre-release reception as much as possible. I would rent them to give myself essentially a $10 demo to make sure I didn't burn another $50. I would ask to borrow a gaming question from someone who I knew had already bought it. I did not want to suffer again the humiliation I bestowed upon myself for having bought something purely on the whims of a friend, and thankfully this friend of mine did admit his mistake, even if it took far longer than it probably should have. And this mentality has actually helped me avoid certain titles that have been super hyped up at the time, only to be released with in some cases extreme disappointment, lacking features or broken promises. I was able to take the hype goggles off and look at these games with hard collective eyes to see what they actually had to offer be that actual worth or glamorous falsehoods. While some people would unfairly call me cheap, I prefer the title of financially wise, and while I have not been able to 100% keep to that ideology, having bought maybe the single odd mistake purchase every three or four years, I can thankfully say I have never made a mistake as bad as two worlds ever since.