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Loading ...I Go Guild Wars (Review)
Big_Adam
Evening abnormals.
Thanks to good Mr Sifter3000 I managed to get a copy of “Guild Wars Platinum Edition” which is a free (no subscription cost. Woo!) MMORPG for the PC.
Why did I pick an MMORPG out of the lovely list of games Sifter had on offer? Well mainly my cousin seems to like this game and I used to play Silkroad Online which is a 100% free MMORPG.
So why pay for something that free. Simple really. Silkroad Online is and always will be filled with asshats and bots. That and it’s grind-tastic with very little else to do but kill “X” to get “Y” sorta gaming.
So, Guild Wars. We’ll it started well. Came in a big ass video tape box like what used to litter room before the age of porn DVD (much easier to hide). The box comes with a keyboard map, story and manual book and a handy little registration card that comes in handy for clearing ice off your car later on.
Install takes about ten mins then it’s on to registering you then you get to the game (woo).
Start off by loggin in and making your person. Like any game you get to pick something human then customize the hair, clothing, size all the regular megubbins.
So a bit of twiddling and sizing I give you…..ME! Yes, I am that good looking, tall and what not.
Five mins later I found my damn name was taken. So I give you Big Adam Of Galfreg!
Fear my mighty puffed out chest and knee high boots. Just screams manly. …. grrr.
So I made me and get booted into the game with the story of “Oh no, we’re being attacked. Let us wait for a mighty warrior to save us” blah blah blah. Then I get let loose in the game world. After talking to a few nice NPC’s you get your first instrument of death, a big fookin hammer. So off I ran to kill the nearest thing the game would let me kill.
Muhahaha! Feel my mighty hammer wolf thingy. Now, combat early on suuuckkks. I mean it took five mins to kill that bloody thing with me sitting back in my chair thinking “come on….die…now….grrr”
So after killing what was basically a walking rock.
I headed off on a quest to snow lands. I did like the snow bit. It looked nice which with an MMORPG which is used by thousands of people it looks good. A little sparse but still good.
Nooo….my hammer!
After a change of gear and more killing I though I best do something that could be in some way made into a review. So I messed about with the camera. It’s a nice setup which lets you get it how you want it but the 1st person mode is a bit crap. It just looks like your hurting what every your fighting via magic instead of a large hammer.
Well thats pretty much the game. Stock “save us” story with grind up the rear like most MMORPG style games. The thing is, it’s not too bad. I’ve only had it a week and so far no bots, idiots, asshats or inbetweens. People seem nice if a little reserved in their own world so making mates might be hard (like RPG high school…but with a computer) so it’s none too bad.
Graphics.
Now I’ve gone over a bit of the game the graphics are what most people will want. What with HL:Orange Box with bloom and HD graphics and …. err …. that Crysis game people want flashy graphics. So how does Guild Wars favor in this.
Well really not too bad. Okay, it’s nothing compared with HL but if you compare it with another big MMORPG know as World Of Warcraft the it looks okay. It’s bright, has some nice lighting and water details look alright.
Summary.
Guild Wars, hhmmm….how to sum it up. As the only other MMORPG I’ve played is Silkroad and I’m not a massive player of the game I must say it ain’t half bad. The leveling take a too long but when you start getting some decent magic attacks and a bigger hammer it’s fun to smash stuff with a fire enchanted hammer of doom. The people in the game seem alright and everywhere is in semi walking distance or teliport distance so foot slogging isn’t so bad.
Okay, it’s not going to shift the MMORPG king known as WoW but it’s going to take something epic to do that. Which Guild Wars isn’t. I mean it’s good just not EPIC good. Enjoyable good. It’s simple, nice and a good game in it’s own right.
And no piggin subscription fees. Which is pure awesome.
I think I know Guild Wars is pretty good but I never wanted to play it as a friend of mine who has similar taste in games to me (FPS,errr FPS and oh yeah FPS!) tried it and got totally addicted - like 40+ hours a week addicted.
Fearing I’d go the same way I gave it a miss so I’m still a MMORPG virgin although I think I’m gonna have to give Pirates of the Burning Sea a go. You still up for a pint in the Tavern Adam??
The graphics do look good I have to say for this type of game. I think the more you play it the better and more enjoyable it becomes. I wander if Pirates might be a contender for a WoW beater then?
Forgot about Burning Sea’s. Did you try the beta when it came out Combatus?
They did a free trial to “stress” their servers. I was going to download it but it would have taken fookin’ ages.
And I’m still up for a pint. My mighty dingy shall sail the seas.
I have applied but seeing as I have no previous MMORPG experience, it’s no surprise I haven’t heard anything yet! Still, I think if you pre-order you get to go online a few weeks before the game goes retail which is January so not too long to wait!
Pirates of the Burning Sea is one of my vices, I swore off MMORPGs as life draining monsters, but I’ve played a big stint in the PotBS beta and I love it. It’s more of a nation versus nation game than a straight out MMO, and I love that factional PvP is a major factor of the end game, rather than the game just being a series of grinds. It’s also the sort of total PvP that I love, far more elaborate than anything short of EVE, because strategy and grand tactics play a part, as indeed do logistics, so you don’t need to be a PvP god to get a result, you can damage the enemy in other ways than just sinking boats.
As for Guild Wars what I like most about it is the freeness, if I want a quick stab at it I don’t need to resub for a month to do so, which is very nice.
Wow he’s actually played it!!!
Mr Grotmonkey, more details please! I’m really intreagued by the “economics” aspect of the game. Is it true how massive it is in this aspect, like owning different companies and seeing those companies interact with other companies and selling/buying etc? Sounds like a game in itself!
How is all that carried around, I mean is there like a single graphical user interface accessable all the time to do with your finances or are finances and fighting quite seperate. How much do they mingle? Also what did you think of the graphics and have you had any experience of battles yet?
Arf, sorry to not get back to this comment earlier (also not sure if I am posting as Grotmonkey or Hovis now, using a blog has confused me in the brain). Anyway if you search the CPC site there’s a preview of Pirates of the Burning Sea, which I wrote for First Look back in August. The game goes open beta on the 3rd of December though, and it’s looking much better now than it did back then, a lot more polished and the key balance issue (free stolen ships for pirates) resolved.
I know this is a really old post, but… did you ever leave pre-searing? xD Once you talk to Rurik (or whatever, i forget who.. the war guy), you get sent to a whole new map -> http://files.warriornation.net/GuildWars%20Tyria%20Map.jpg
Guild Wars is a lot more fun when you have skills that actually work well together too.. x3 hehe