Guild Wars Prophecies

For anyone like me who has never played an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) before, I was stunned by the graphics and sound in equal measure. Having seen the screenshots, I thought "There's no way that the actual graphics match the pictures, right?" Wrong!! Even on my 3 year old PC, the game runs smoothly, with a fine graphics engine, detailing corn stalks, falling leaves and gothic ruins with ease. I was running around for hours in a 3D world, and everywhere I looked was stunningly rendered. It's an amazing looking world in there!!

The game is "smart" too. Different methods of getting around are made easier by a sensible and unobtrusive camera, while not faultless, is better than most other games. The ability of your character to walk around obstacles, rather than just in a straight line into a wall is also a boon to the game. Monsters have a decent AI, attacking in groups and healing themselves and others, and any henchmen you hire do a satisfactory job in their party role.

The sound too, incidental in the background, matches the environment perfectly. Pastoral scenes are accompanied with tranquil music. Turn into the catacombs and the music takes an edgier melancholy tone.

Thanks to a clever system, the game has several advantages over other MMORPGs. Patches and alterations by the game writers are streamed while you're playing the game, meaning you don't need to hunt patches down and download huge files to get the game running at its best. Guild Wars does this automatically, and without interruption to your gaming. Also, transitions from one map area to another are quick. Maybe a few seconds, but not enough to slow the action down at all. The authors are also keen on keeping the game honest, cracking down on any cheaters, hackers or anyone who tries to subvert the mechanics of the game and ruin it for other players.

What about the gameplay? Initially, it seems fairly simple, but as you acquire skills and the ability to team up with others, you develop strategies. Your choices of profession vary - Warrior, Ranger, Monk, Mesmer, Necromancer, Illusionist. You can take up a second profession and develop skills as you play. If you don't want to play the story, there is a "Player vs. Player" mode which allows you to go into battle against other people, deathmatch style. Also, importantly, the online game community do NOT seem to be 14 year olds who speak "l33t" and insult n00bs. I've met people from all over the world with different interests, but one common cause (the game), and the other people online make the experience that much more pleasant! You can go solo, hiring henchmen onto your party, or meet up with other people and quest together.There is so much to do, places to explore, monsters to kill, and skills/spells to learn, and of course, the game is largely non-linear. You can take a quest, wander around, hunt down stuff for collectors or just hang around in the towns chatting. The choice, and the freedom is yours.

If anyone needs any more convincing in buying the game, there is also this - The online connection is FREE!! You buy the game, load it, play it. No more hidden extras.

If there is a gripe with the game, it is that on occasion, there is a little lag. This is a very minor point, but one that I feel is worth mentioning. The necessity for an internet connection may also put other people off, but if you give the game a chance, you may have to persuade your mates to buy a copy....if you ever see them again!

Then came Guild Wars.

The number 1 initial reason for me buying this game was because there was no monthly fee - unlike all other "Massively Multiplayer On-Line" games. I don't consider myself tight, but I refuse to pay a monthly fee to allow me to play a game that I've already paid for and feel I have to play a certain number of hours to justify the expense. That's just wrong in my eyes.

This game is so well thought out in many respects, you really do get the impression that it was design "for gamers by gamers". It sounds cheesy, but it's true.

The updates and patches download in the background whilst you're playing, so you never have to go out and hunt down a patch. You aren't forced to play in groups of other real people, as there are computer-controlled players available to be your "team" if you so wish - this is often preferable, as you can then do things at your own pace. There is a good community available on the internet, full of resources and information. The game has a steady learning curve, but it doesn't go mad with "levelling up" like some RPGs do. Levelling stops at "20" and will never go higher. This was to allow more people to be on a level playing field after a shorter period of time, making success being more down to skill than the number of days you've sunk into the game.

The game allows you to create 4 separate characters on your account and the money and resources that one character collects in the game can be shared to the other 3. The accounts (saved game position etc.) are stored on the internet not your PC, so you can log in on a friend's PC provided they have the game, and carry on where you left off. Your computer could be completely destroyed, and all you need to do is re-install the game, and log back in using your user name and you are right where you left it.

The game is suitably long, and the storyline flows well. There are plenty of areas to explore.

The game is segregated into 3 "regions". USA, Korea and Europe. Those three regions play in their respective zones, but when it comes to certain areas in the game, the regions battle out against each other. Also, when you join a "guild", individual guilds can fight it out - hence "Guild Wars".

A change in the European server structure meant that the servers were then sub-segregated into Language-specific servers, meaning that English, French, Italian, German and Spanish servers all exist. It made life easier when trying to find people to play with who you understood - and a problem unique to the European region.

Each region also has an "International Server" section that is common to all, so if you have friends in the States you want to play with, you can find them there if they go there as well.

The game runs what's called "instances", meaning that once you have picked your team in a town, and choose to go on a mission, or just explore the game world, only your team exists in that instance of the game, no-one else. This allows the game to have excellent lag performance as it isn't having to constantly update the positions of hundreds of other nearby people. You can still talk to your friends once out in the game world.

The game performs well, and will graphically scale to lower-end systems. It also performs well in a window with little or no detrimental effect. The game world is very well drawn and in many instances is really quite stunning. On a high-end system with all effects turned on, it is a sight to behold. The sound is decent and atmospheric, with a quiet track running in the background appropriate to the situation you are in.

Due to the highly active on-line community for this game, suggestions and problems are assessed quickly and easily.

An expansion pack is suggested to be being released in the coming months, which is rumoured to add more to the game and open up some more areas, and is the developers way of getting an income I guess, but in my opinion, this is a vastly more acceptable method of progressing. I understand that not owning the expansion will not mean you can't play the original game.

Overall, if you are keen on RPG games as a whole, then you have no reason NOT to buy this game. If you have never played a Massively Multiplayer On-Line game, this is as good-a-place to start as any.

An essential purchase for any RPG fan

The community itself is very appealing, the first 5 minutes I played I was invited to join a guild (a group of players under a single banner) filled with people new to Guild Wars, so there was no discrimination. There are no 14 year olds insulting new people or anything like it so it's pretty darn cool! ;)
Oh and since the game map is generated for each player/party, there are no campers or item looters (even among the party, since when a player kills a creature, it's loot is shared among all players equally).

Overall it's an extremely exciting game, full of competitive and co-operative aspects and I'm looking forward to discover its true potential.