Guild Wars (PC)

...fall.

Although Guild Wars is what they call a "grinding" game, most MPORGS are. Grinding means going out killing things to gain experience/money to progress. Please remember that this is one of the reasons why the game is cheap and has no monthly cost to keep it going. Bearing that in mind, I have mentioned before that you don't have to stick to the story, you can vary the game by doing other things. The makers of Guild Wars ...
...you are part of a guild you can take part in guild battle as well. The problem with this part is that you only have the skills you have unlocked so far. Skills are very important in these types of battles and you will find some people take it really really serious, almost as if it is real life or death situation. My usual response is "get a life, its a game".


~ PVP ~ -

I have only touched on this side ... more

Ok, as I have been playing this game for over a year now, I think I am more than qualified to review it, I know there are some here already but this is a review on the game itself and my personal experiences of it.

So first of all what is it ?

It's an RPG, or Role Playing Game set in a fantasy world of mythical and magical creatures that you have to destroy in order to save your world. It is an online only game so can be classed as an MPORG, or Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game. Some call it an MMPORG which is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game but I beg to differ as it you don't encounter too many people online. I will touch on this a bit more in it's own section.

Why should I choose this over other RPG's ?

Well, this is online only so we will call this an MPORG from now on. With MPORG's, you play online with friends or virtual friends to either carry out missions or help each other do things in-game. A lot of these MORPG's you have to pay a monthly fee but this is free. It gets updated every so often and bugs are fixed regularly and it is all running behind the scenes so you don't have to download patches manually etc etc. To help you decide further on whether you should get this game I will now break it down.

~ Price ~

First and in most cases the most important part is the price, you can get this from £17.99 at many online stores or even at some shops. Shop around as you might be able to get this cheaper. Please note that this is NOT Guildwars Factions !! This game is known as Guildwars or Guildwars Prophecies. Considering I bought it for £17.99, I think it is such a fantastic price compared to other games and the amount of things you can do in-game. After playing this for a year, I can still see myself playing it in another year.

~ The Package ~

There are a few variations of the game in that there is standard, special and collector editions. Each come in different packing styles but all do have a key chart and two instruction manuals. The special and collector editions may come with extras such as posters, t-shirts, music cd and more.

~ Installation ~

This is very easy and it comes in both PC CD-ROM and DVD format but I bought the DVD version. Since I bought it there are now special editions and collector editions out. The instructions are simply to follow but you do need to create an online account that will require your login name in email form, password and serial key. Within a few minutes I was up and running and on my way to creating a character.

~ Starting the Game ~

Once you have created an online account you can start creating your character or characters. Personally I would start off with one character and get to learn the game first before using other slots. When you first start you will be asked whether you want to play PVE (player vs enemy) or PVP (player vs player). The PVE is the best option in my opinion as you get to play the campaign. The PVP allows you to create your character and select skills ready to go into battle with other people.

The game starts with 4 slots and each slot can have one character. If you wanted you could create one character for PVE and one character for PVP or, all of one or other etc etc.

In campaign mode (PVE), once you have chosen the type of character you want you can then choose what he/she looks like. The options are limited in that you can change the looks and colour but not the actual clothing, that can be done later. You can change skin colour, hair colour, facial features and clothing colour. The next step is to enter the game and start playing, this is called pre-searing and to me was a bit of fun but limited in what you can do. The best part of the game starts when you leave pre-searing and enter post-searing. I'll explain more later.

~ Characters ~

There are 6 characters you can choose from that are completely different from each other and can be used in many different ways. They are ....

Warrior - As a primary class this is the fighting class, commonly called a "tank". He has a range of skills/abilities to inflict as much damage on the enemy and help his team out with team based skills. This class is mainly used for taking damage while the healer heals you and others help you out too. This class has the strongest armour in order to absorb damage.

Ranger - As a primary class this is the distance damage dealing class using bows but can have close combat pets too. It has a range of skills to deal damage, look after his pet and help team out with team based skills. This class has weaker armour so generally stays out of close combat. This is the only class that can have pets that can aid you in attacking enemies.

Monk - As a primary class this a very powerful healer but can also deal out some damage. This class tends to specialise in spells rather than weapons but can use wands or staves for magical damage. This class can mean the difference between success or failure in missions or online battles.

Elementalist - As a primary class this a very powerful spell caster that uses the elements on the enemy. This class can use Earth, Fire, Water and Wind to his/her advantage or turn it on the enemy. As this class relies on spells it fighting ability is low in combat but can use wands or staves for distance damage.

Mesmer - As a primary class this is a powerful addition to team work as most of its skills are used on itself or team mates and in addition on the enemy. This class is used to disrupt the enemy with spells and allow its spell casters to cast quickly. This class uses fast casting, domination, illusion and inspiration skills to cause chaos. This is a very good class for removing skills off the enemy. These are not particularly strong in combat but can hold it's own due to it's spells.

Necromancer - As a primary class this a deadly class that thrives on death as a source of it's main power. This class specialises in Soul Reaping, Death magic, Blood magic and Curses. These spells can create undead monsters to fight on your behalf or strike the enemy hard. As well as death dealing spells you can also steal health from the enemy. This is a very strong class and one of the favourites due to it's versatility especially when mixed with a 2nd class. Although this doesn't have pets, you can summon a demon called a "Bone Horror" and if you have healing skills you can keep it alive.

As well as these being your primary character class, you can also add a 2nd class so you can enjoy abilities from 2 in one go. At present I use a Warrior/Monk combination, this means I am a very strong fighter and when hurt I can heal myself. Not only this it means I can heal my team or bring them back from the dead. There are endless possibilities and uses so I can't go into them all.

** Please note if you have factions you can merge these two games and it gives you 6 characters, the extra two being an Assassin and a Ritualist.

~ The Game ~

The game is campaign based with a storyline to follow, each mission gives you a goal to head for as well as to continue the story. As well as main missions you also get quests from people in towns or in the countryside. Each mission/quest will give you either or all of experience points/weapons/skills/items and money. The more experience you get the higher level character you can achieve, weapons and skills allow you to fight better or support your team.

The game is split into two parts, the first being pre-searing and the 2nd being post searing sometimes called crossing over.

Pre-searing - This is where everyone starts and can either progress through missions or quests or simply try and take the test to cross over into post searing. Unfortunately I can't go too far into this bit as it will spoil the game for some people. Pre-searing, I found, once you have done it, you will probably not bother with again with your other characters. It is used mainly to get you used to your skills and what the different characters can do with limited access to skills, weapons and earning ability. It is recommended that the first time you play the game, you should do all missions so you get the right story. The problem with pre-sear is that you can accidentally cross over read the quests carefully.

Post Searing - This is where the game really starts as it opens up a whole new world and your possibilities are endless. You can follow the storyline if you want or simply roam around the countries monster bashing and doing quests. This is where you your storage box to collect all your goodies. Thanks to a storage box you can also set yourself up as a trader, you don't have a shop or stall or anything but you can sell in-game by simply displaying it in the chat box under tab "Trade", you will see a lot of text like "WTS Gold Axe of Fortitude 5k" or "WTB Gold Axe of Fortitude paying 5k", WTS means Want To Sell and WTB means Want To Buy, the rest is the description of the item for sale or what you want to buy. Not only can you do this, there are plenty of websites you can advertise your virtual items on as auctions of fixed price, people will offer to buy them - meet you in game and buy them off you using the in-game gold coins. IT IS AGAINST THE GAMES RULES TO SELL ITEMS FOR REAL MONEY !!!

Obviously the more money you make the more you can buy to make yourself a better/stronger player. You can buy items direct or get materials and get a crafter to craft them for you. At present my favourite past time is helping to people get from town to town when the enemies outside are too strong, this is called "running" and you can charge for your service. There is so much you can do in-game that I can't cover it all otherwise we would be here all day. This part of the game is the best and where you really do see what this game is.

~ The Gameplay ~

The game play is very easy to follow and use, in-case you're no good at remembering keys you do get a key chart with the game. Everything is easy to navigate and understand to get you off on a good start. If you are totally new to these types of games you will be better off reading the manual first. Once you know the layout and how to access things as well as the short cut keys there is no stopping you progressing. It is not really in depth like games and even my 7 year daughter plays it, there is a language filter on it and no blood or gore but it is for both children and adults alike. The age rating is 12 but I think that is only because at 12 you can read better and have a better understanding of what is going on and being said.

The screen will normally have a map, team box, chat box, life bar, energy bar, skill bar, inventory icons, weapon slots and a menu button. The screen can be customised so things can be moved about or re-sized. You can control your character via keyboard or mouse it's up to you.

Due to the fact that you can only take 8 skills in your skill bar, it makes life easier for you as you don't have a screen full of things to remember when and where to use. This forces the user to be more strategic in the way he/she fights/supports his/her team. To activate your skills you either use you mouse or the corresponding keyboard number and hopefully your enemy will fall.

Although Guild Wars is what they call a "grinding" game, most MPORGS are. Grinding means going out killing things to gain experience/money to progress. Please remember that this is one of the reasons why the game is cheap and has no monthly cost to keep it going. Bearing that in mind, I have mentioned before that you don't have to stick to the story, you can vary the game by doing other things. The makers of Guild Wars often update the game behind the scenes so that your game play is not interrupted. This means that when you next login, the update will download and install automatically.

One thing I really like about this game is that you can only meet real people online in towns. This means that while on your way to your mission that has taken you ages, some higher ranked person don't come along and squash you. If you want to fight other people you can opt for PVP mode when creating another character. In the towns there are places to buy and sell things, craft things, your storage box, quests and main towns have missions. While waiting around for people or friends they have introduced commands to make you character do things, as an example if you type in the chat box /laugh - your character will imitate laughing movement, there is a whole list on your key chart to play with and create interesting conversations, and then there's /dance - I'll let you work that one out.

If you fancy a bit of a change from the usual missions and fighting you can try player versus player ingame, you can visit arena's that are dotted about the map but are restricted on level entry. Failing that if you are part of a guild you can take part in guild battle as well. The problem with this part is that you only have the skills you have unlocked so far. Skills are very important in these types of battles and you will find some people take it really really serious, almost as if it is real life or death situation. My usual response is "get a life, its a game".

~ PVP ~ -

I have only touched on this side of the game mainly because I haven't played it. This means player versus player but in most cases it is a group of players fighting another group of players in a type of arena. This is fantastic if you think fighting computer generated enemies is boring. Playing a lot of online games myself I find it is always better fighting people who can think, however, I prefer bashing computer opponents with this game.

When creating a new character you get two choices, PVE or PVP, when you choose PVP you can select your class, male or female, skills and attributes, weapons and items you want to take with you. There is no levelling up or unlocking skills as you already have what you need, you are simply thrown in ready for battle.

First of all you get put onto an Island that has training sessions to complete if you want, or go straight into a practice battle. If you feel brave you can bring up the map and travel to Zaishen challange for real battles against other people. If you feel you are really good, you can travel to Zaishen elite for expert battles.

One thing to note is that you can still have guild battles if you create PVE only character.

~ Guild Wars ~

So why is it called Guild wars ? so far it's been all about solo or team campaign play ! Well as well as the normal game play you can join a guild, you are either asked, a guild could be advertising for players or you simply ask someone if you can join. What is a guild ? - It is a group of people or friends online that play together in campaign mode or take part in guild battles, yes you can play guild battle while in campaign mode ! In some towns there are also arenas for you to practice battles, if your guild has a guild hall, you can meet up there and have guild battles. The guild hall can also be a place for you all to meet up and chat. Personally, I don't like guild battles as I am not that good at them and some people take the player vs player too far.

The good thing about this game is that you can put it down and pick it back up at any time and play it where you left off.

~ The Graphics ~

If you have a quick flick to the pictures at the bottom you will be look at medium setting graphics of this game. My PC is unable to play at high setting but it does look very good, not breath taking but we are talking about a game under £20 here.

The graphics are very good for an RPG and there is plenty of detail put into every part of it, some of the scenes look very pretty while others look baron. Which ever the case, they do look good the way they should be. The characters are very detailed from skin tones down to the clothes or armour. The movements are graphically smooth but not perfect in some cases

Hopefully the pictures will give you a better idea of the graphics than me trying to explain them.

~ Specification ~

Minimum :

Windows 98/ ME / 2000 / XP
Pentium 3 800 or higher
256mb of ram
CD-ROM/DVD ROM Drive
2gb hard disk space
ATI Radeon 8500 or Geforce 3 MX with 32mb of RAM
16 bit sound card
Network connection
Keyboard and mouse

Recommended :

Windows 98/ ME / 2000 / XP
Pentium 3 1ghz or higher
512mb of ram
CD-ROM/DVD ROM Drive
2gb hard disk space
ATI Radeon 9000 or Geforce 4 Ti with 64mb of RAM
16 bit sound card
Network connection
Keyboard and mouse

These are just guide lines and may run on pc's with a mixture of both, my pc is twice as powerful as the recommended stats but I can't play it on high graphics as my graphics card is a Radeon 9600 Pro and not a particularly good one.

~ Summary ~

Fantastic game at a fantastic price with no monthly outlay, well worth playing if you like RPG games but never tried MPROG's. There other games that people say are better, but then you have to pay monthly fees for them.

Hope you like the pics ...
 

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