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It's not the game, it's the people.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: August 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The game itself is beautiful, with interesting missions and concepts (albeit a bit too simple for my tastes, being a fan of Neverwinter Nights and the like).

The main problem is the people. With social interaction being limited to towns (the maps are individually generated for each player), it basically turns into a giant "look out for #1" scenario. The chat channels are clogged with players yelling for someone to help them, though more often than not no one is particularly interested in helping you in return. While the game emphasizes teamwork heavily, a complete lack of meeting anyone in this world (except for towns) makes it hard to develop any kind of bond with other players. The result is every strategy or cooperative concept you may want to implement (which Guild Wars demands, lest you charge into your untimely demise) goes right out the window, and it turns into everyone charging into a battle and hoping they don't all get wiped out. Any missions or quests that require even the slightest amount of thinking (i.e. "Don't talk to that NPC yet, we need to clear a path for him down the road lest he get killed") you can expect to have to do them several times over. For no matter how often you may try to explain to someone why they shouldn't click on that mass of enemies over there, odds are (in Guild Wars) they'll click on them anyways and die like you told them they would.

And for some reason stupidity is a much more rampant disease in Guild Wars than other MMORPGs. In the off chance you do find some people with a functioning nervous system online in the same town and district as you, be very grateful and add them to your Guild Wars friends list with all due haste. Or just chuck the game in favor of one that doesn't have a theme (i.e. teamwork) which is forced down your throat without the means (i.e. intelligent players) to properly implement it.

Beware: MMO-Lite..All that glitter is not Gold

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 27 / 53
Date: June 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I frankly just burned my $50 bucks with this game. This game is Bad with a Capital 'B'. There is something seriously missing from this game(if you are a Star Wars fan..'the force is unusally weak with this one'). I find it hard to fanthom how so many people are claiming this game to be the next best thing since sliced bread. Trust me its not.
This game doesn't feel like an mmo its mostly a persistent single player online game. One of the main attraction of an mmo is to be able to see other people running around in a persistent world. You can wave them, help them out, have a chit-chat or maybe even duke it out if they are hostile to you. There is no such aspect to this game. Every mission is 'instanced'; its just you or your guild or AI henchman(AI lacks and they feel like 'npc's too). You dont get to see anyone else.
They are invisible walls in this game everywhere. Unlike many other mmo's you just can't walk over to where you please like in a real persistent world. Instead you are forced to follow and play along a path chosen for you. For e.g...you are going on the road and there is a nice water-fall you see some distance away. So you decide to walk down the hill and check it out. Surprise...there is a invisible wall blocking your way. You have to stay on the road..it was all just a illusion or some cosmetic matte painting. This cuts down the real virtual world factor right there and than. Your only chance of seeing a group of people is in the cities and the way the game is setup you wont be spending much time in cities anyway. The city further lack the community feeling with no inns, housing or gathering places everyone just stands in the middle of the town.
As far as rpg element is concerned, the classes and their powers are poorly setup. Only 8 of your skills can be used at any time. I want to be able to use more than 8 skills sometimes. Combining two clases is a good idea but the 8 skills limitation further cuts down the charm of this aspect.
There is no player run economy as to speak...you sell stuff to npc's ho hum. Player run economy is an absolute must in my view for an mmo to get some sense of realism.
PVP is where this game really falls apart. This mmo strong point was its 'pvp aspect'; however this is where it fails the most. Instead of providing a real war like feeling that is so well done in 'World of warcraft' this game throws you in team based instanced arenas. Just imagine playing a online fps like 'Unreal tournament' or 'Counter-strike' with fantasty characters as well as weapons and you will get the complete picture. Dont expect to be the ubber champ if you haven't first played the pve aspect of the game lvl 20 + and unlocked specials skills. Because you get the standard Lvl 20 template for those classes if you decide to just go pvp but not the special skills that you can unlock if you had tried the pve aspect first. Some of those pve learned special skills are clearly superior to the standard pvp template and players already know this aspect and have learned to exploit it. So it means that whether you want to do pve or not you will have to if you want to be really good in pvp and reaching to lvl 20 is still a time-intensive pve grind. Now i come to my biggest complaint when it comes to pvp. So many people are touting strategy and true skill-based pvp in this game. Well the truth is far from it. Unless you have established guild with people you know you will be thrown into random 4 man teams with each player specilizing in certain skills like 1 is ranger, 1 is tank etc.. You are forced to group to pvp whether you like it or not, forget about any sniper or solo support role. Not to my surprise this random team of unknown people falls apart rather quickly. Most of the teams i have played in like to just rush in or charge without any ryhme or reason and resulting mayhem causes utter confusion with the victor being a warior or someone who can mash buttons the fastest. Or everyone just go into different directions once they get into arena and you are pretty much on your own and good luck here if you a pure ranger. There is no strategy atall that i have seen any team discuss or even apply so far. Another huge pitfall is those invisible walls blocking you from striking at the opposing player. If say you are on a hill and you see the opposing players down below. Well you think that you have a strategic advantage here dont you escpecially if you are a full fledge Ranger/elementalist. Surprise...you just cant attack them in most cases because of those invisible cost-cutting walls and have to run down the long winding preset path to get them and in the meantime giving your position away. So forget about launching a surprise attack on anyone in most cases which is one of the major forte of true pvp. You will see many more pitfalls especially the feeling that there is no real war going on in this game. There is really no gain or charm from pvp except just for the thrill of doing pvp. You character dont gain anything. PVP should be a integral part of the game rpg aspect not some side wrestling match.
Last but not least, the character creation is worst of any recent mmo's I have played so far. Some of characters look like misfits out of a bad Gothic heavy metal group...just have a look at the game 'Necromancer'. Others look like drag queens(sorry not to offend anyone its just a quip). Ontop of it you just have few templates and cosmetic choices to apply. As a result most people end up looking much the same with a real bad wadrobe case. And dont get me started at the Warior template. Supposedly the warrior is the start all and end all class. What we get is an over-weight and bald extra reject from the Gladiator movie.
This is the end of my rant. If you look at my other reviews I give credit where its due and discredit where it is also due. This game is far from what some people are making it to be. There is a reason this game is not charging you a monthly fee and it shows. Read all the reviews and make a educated guess its just that there are far better 'real mmo's' out there too. Dont let fanboy's or overly exicited people mislead you. This game tries to do a lot of things all at the same time while cutting costs but in the end ends up doing nothing well. No-monthly fee here is a double-edged sword here. I for one will throw this game into my garbage can and they can forget me ever getting buying their other expansions. I got suckered once because of all hoop laa that surrounds this game...but no more.

Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: June 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is worth your time and money. It has numerous quests for you to complete, with or without other players, plus it has an amazing pvp (player versus player) mode to go along with them. This game is great for short, quick plays, and it's also great for long play-sessions that last into hours of the morning that you didn't even think were real. (Like 4 A.M., since when is that an actual time??) There are a few shortcomings, such as the little amount of customization and crafting. However, the fact that this is a one-time buy, that's right, there are no monthly fees, evens this out. All in all, this is a game for mmorpg lovers and single-player-rpg lovers to spend time on. Also, as stated by another, DO NOT buy this game used, because the game is fully installed, and you can play without the disk. So, somebody could sell you their used copy, and then keep playing, while at the same time, you would be at a $40 loss. Buy it new, and have fun!

Don't have time to be a gamer? Get this!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I love games, but I don't have the time required to sit and go through an RPG night after night, though I'd love to. I like the idea of online games, but they're always filled with experts and kids with too much time on their hands and can have a huge learning curve, plus you might have to pay a monthly fee!

This game solves all those problems. Free, fun, and you can pick it up and put it down without missing a beat. The servers are absolutely lag free and it's a great online experience.

Overall Fun, Solid Title

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: September 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a good, solid title. It's best to go into a game like this (with many mixed reviews) with a positive attitude but being prepared to be disappointed. In general, you won't be, though.

The game shines in many areas, and aside from the misconceptions about what the game is, it is really unmatched in what it does, I believe. It's a fast paced, action-rpg a la the Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance series on consoles, and the Diablo series on PC/Mac.

To be very clear: It is not an MMORPG in the traditional sense; there is no role playing and large social interaction. The "towns" are mostly just portals to make groups to tackle quests or pass the time (think battle.net lounges, but you're actually in game). It's very superficial, and most players seem to be very out of character. The character names are also something you'd expect to see on a large unregulated forum on the internet: funny, sometimes, but disappointing if you are expecting any kind of role playing or meaningful interaction.

If you can let go of that, and just want balls-to-the-walls slaughter, you've got a real winner here. The quests, while typical of most games (World of Warcraft, Diablo, Neverwinter nights, and so forth), do not disappoint because they are up to par with everything else in this genre.

There's nothing tremendously revolutionary about this game, it's just something new and different to experience. The gameplay has a slight twist you don't find in games like this though. You're limited to only 8 skills during combat and cannot switch them, so there is a good deal of decision making ahead of time going into the fray. I really enjoy this aspect of the game, giving the players some rewards for wisdom. If you make bad choices, you'll be in for a hard lot.

Being able to multi-class is also a nice aspect of the game play here. My first character was a warrior/monk, and so I fill the roll of a "Paladin" in a more traditional setting; dealing out physical damage but dishing out heals and holy strikes when needed. I could take a twist on this and do a warrior/necromancer, and play a dark knight. The ability to custom tailor your character in this sense makes for a pretty rewarding and interesting gaming experience.

In terms of media, this game has some very nice points. The character visuals are quite beautiful. While there is not a lot of diversity in how characters look over all, it doesn't take away too much from the experience. The music is very soothing and fantastic, harking back to Neverwinter Nights or early RPGs on consoles. The sounds are nothing special, but are neither out of place or poorly done. The game is very solid in terms of media.

For gameplay, the game is fascinating because of the skill restrictions/decision making and also the multi-classing aspect. I enjoy looking for skills like they are items; the idea I could miss a quest and miss a valuable skill keeps me open to try anything. My only gripe about this is when you level up, there's not much to it. No big rewards, or anything, just a few attribute points to distribute (this isn't necessarily bad -- I'm just used to "oh boy a level what do I get??"). Perhaps the development of the character is so spread out and subtle, there's no big breakpoints--like gaining a level--to make you jump with glee. All the glee is in finding new skills.

Furthermore, in combat, combinations of skills can yield different results. Making certain combinations more effective against certain foes, than others. This is expected of all games of this genre, though. Don't expect to use the same two skills over and over again; it won't work well.

The major downside of the game for me so far is the interface. Don't get me wrong, the interface is simple and clean; very awesome for the most part. It is confusing though because at this point I still cannot find party loot settings (not even sure if there are any, but round robin is frustrating when playing with trusted friends). Also, the graphical options feel limited. I know full screen bloom effect is enabled for my card, but it's too bright and fuzzy for my tastes, and would like to disable it; and I cannot. In terms of finding the options and customization for the minute details of the game, Guild Wars leaves something to be desired.

But the UI in general is quite nice and the layout is fully customizable. It's just frustrating not being able to find what you're looking for, and not even knowing if it exists. Though whenever I have a question, the kids in town always answer.

Anyhow, you can't really afford not to buy this game. Since there's no monthly fee, you won't lose out too badly if you try it for a couple months and decide to quit. It has enough upfront action and carnage to be a keeper, in the same way the Diablo series was a keeper (item runs, monster smashing, etc is still fun in those games even though you've beaten it).

5 stars for fun, the game is good times for sure. 4 stars overall for an excellent, solid title, but not quite what I'd consider "perfect."

MMORP?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: December 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I don't know if can call this a true RPG or a MMORPG. First of all, your character level is capped to promote PvP (player verus player) games and no monthly fee.

I played it the game during the November and October beta testing and had a blast. Though it did help that I had anywhere from 3 - 6 close friends playing and communicating through a voice chat service. The chat controls are very suspect. Which is the reason why I am going to order the deluxe version. I wound't mind upgrading my mic with a logitech headset and get a cool cloth map for $10 more.

For the traditional RPG players, they should probably goto Blizzards World of Warcraft which is also a great game! But for me, I have an issue with paying a monthly fee for any game.

I'll see you on Area Net.

An Excellent MMORPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: November 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

In the past, I used to be a hardcore MMORPGer (WoW, RuneScape, you name it). Of course, subscriptions can cripple the enjoyment and acquiring of these games. Perhaps that's one of the main ways Guild Wars weeded in players - no monthly fee. The graphics are quite spectacular - what's more spectacular is how it can run with even the worst video cards. I use a GeForce 5500FX, which isn't too bad. However, some games like BF2 I can run on low-medium settings.
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I don't want to take up much time here, so let me just tie up loose ends:
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Pros:
Excellent Musical Track/Sounds/Graphics

Plenty Of Lore

No "Perfect" Build, so you can experiment with stats and abilities all the time

Guilds/parties/constant updates allow for replayability

No monthly fees

Cons:

More fighting/crafting/quests, less of all those random non-combat abilities, such as fishing, mining, etc

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As you can see, Guild Wars' pros outnumber the cons in my eyes. So, whether you're a hardcore MMORPGer or getting the feel of MMORPGs, Guild Wars is perfect for everyone.

Great new ideas in a MMORPG environment.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: May 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Guild wars isn't exactly a MMORPG but that's ok. In an original idea, the developers took the common 'chat' rooms that people used to use to find adventuring parties in games like Diablo or Starcraft and turned them into Cities where people can trade, chat and acquire quests. A new and interesting way of connecting with players around the world.

While it appears to be a MMORPG, this is where it stops. Once you and your team enter the game world, you share an instance of the game world and are free to traverse the country side and complete mission uninhabited by other players, PVPers or any of the potential negatives of the traditional MMORPG. Gone are the days of walking through the secluded out of the way location only to see 5 players run by. This is a very nice touch.

Ironically, my biggest complaint with Guild Wars would be the multiplayer aspect. In single player, or joint missions with friends the game runs well and you're free to do any skill sets you choose. A very fun and nice touch, however in PVP it's nearly impossible to get into a team unless you have specific skills which forces teams and classes to feel very commonplace. I would have liked to seen more flexibility and competition using a variety of skills instead of a few 5-6 per class. The ability to find new skills and change them out between missions is very nice and it allows you to change the entire makeup of your character to suit given quests. Another unique and enjoyable idea added in by NCSoft.

All in all this was a very fun game that I enjoyed playing for several months and the fact that it doesn't have a monthly fee really made it easy to purchase. Jump in and play for a few hours, then log in next week or tomorrow it doesn't matter.

Best online game available

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: April 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I played this game for all the betas and played during the launch which occured on the day I wrote this. This is the best online game out there. This game is doable by a casual player and hardcore alike. The only separation between the hardcore and the casual player will be the level that they are at unless they have hit the cap. Casual players can get great items unlike in Everquest.

An amazing fantastical adventure! Better then EQ!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: May 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Guild Wars is a game that will entertain and delight for hours! You can chose between completing quests and advancing in levels with other players with the fantasy roleplayer part of the game, or you can join interactive teams with other players and compete against opposing teams (also made of real game players) in an exciting sequence of chellenges!

Roleplaying- The graphics are absolutely stunning, they make you want to reach out and touch the screen! The possibilities in this game nearly seem limitless! You can literally dance and party with other players, form teams to conquer your foes and complete quests, or you could even take the solitary route of completing the quests and advancing in the game by yourself. The way the quest system is set up is solid and easy (but not so much that you will begin to get bored).

PVP- In the player v. player part of this game you create a level 20 character. You are them assigned a team that you will assist in vanquishing the opposing team. As the name "PVP" indicates, the teams are formed of real players like yourself. Testing your skill and fighting against real, thinking foes is very enjoyable and will bring you hours of entertainment!

This is a game that never gets old and will give you something to look forward to at the end of the day! I highly reccomend it for both the young and old. I myself am 14, and I love it equally as much as my 48 year old father. Age is no limitation to the inevitable enjoyment of this game!

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