Guild Wars Factions
by NCsoft
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List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of Guild Wars Factions
Customer Review: the most beautiful game ever made
Summary: 5 Stars
Ever so slightly more stunning than Shadow of the Colossus. Art direction on a level with Colossus, Anarchy Online, and Eve. Graphics almost equal with Half-Life 2. Character, costume, and weapon design about as good to Anarchy Online's. Jeremy Soule's best music since Icewind Dale. Subtle and dark and just lovely.
Sweet area design. A real sense of grandeur, with none of the depressing dustbowl imagery of the original Prophecies release, but far more vertical than its pre-Searing segment. Vistas, man! Vistas! Did I mention grandeur? Lush scenery recalling the best of Asheron's Call 2 or (again) Anarchy Online. Mountain views. Lots of sunflowers.
Sound effects are better than average, and better than Prophecies, especially the ambient sounds. Nothing too special, but you also won't have to hear the over-familiar stock effects every few seconds that most RPGs seem to resort to here than there.
The counter-intuitive geometry bugaboos are gone. You don't feel like you're having a nightmare about Final Fantasy X. If it looks like you can get someplace, you can. You can't jump around. Whether this is a good or bad thing I'll leave to gentle reader.
The same fun-but-not-quite-perfect combat you may know from Prophecies, but there's a greater feeling of violence owing to contrast with the serene setting. And with this game Guild Wars takes a step nearer to true MMO status, as not quite all of the content is personalized and instanced to the point of being meaningless. Things happen in town from time to time, and there's a shared global conflict underway.
For those on the fence who haven't played Prophecies, know that the instancing actually in some way increases the sense of one world with many players, as there's no sharding and the sense of isolation seems to encourage socialization within the not-so-instanced towns. However, as in Prophecies, you will never unexpectedly cross paths with other players while adventuring. The Diablo-style "adventure created just for you" stuff is still the order of the day - but then that's apparently how they avoid charging a subscription fee.
Overall, the best purchase I've made since Shadow of the Colossus, and the most visually impressive game I've seen in several years.
Customer Review: Factions - Bleh
Summary: 2 Stars
Unlike the Prophecies campaign, Factions is like going from pre-sear to Ring of Fire in one step. It just isn't any fun. It's too hard for lower level characters, and the real people in Factions you get in PUGs are for the most part worse than the PUGS in Prophecies. I particularly hate the fact that you can't start a quest then come back to it, but have to start all over. I also dislike the "stacked" quests where you have to run around the countryside forever to get one quest done. Overall, I am fed up with Factions and am going back to Tyria and work on getting some titles.Customer Review: Not as Good as the Original
Summary: 2 Stars
Movie sequels always have trouble living up to the original. Factions is the same way. Prophecies was so wonderful that I guess a good expansion was too much to ask. The game is bugged, bugged, bugged. Truly an aweful disappointment. I have trouble thinking of any good things about it. Most people start characters in the origanal game and go to Factions to goof off. Maybe someday they will fix the bugs, but I doubt it.Customer Review: Awesome Game!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought Guild Wars Factions the day it was out and wow it was a blast. Although there are some few glitches here and there, but ArenaNet is fixing them up pretty fast.
If you have played the first Guild Wars (Guild Wars Prophecies), you'll love Factions. Not only is the PvE storyline bigger but it also packs in whole new level of difficulty. You on longer will beat missions on your first try anymore.
Also, leveling up is so much faster when you start on Cantha. The rewards of the new quests always have a huge chunk of XP points. You'll be at level 20 in no time at all.
Lastly, the graphics/scenery/sounds are stupdendous. ArenaNet definitly did a great job captivating the players with their beautiful rendering of the Asian culture.
Customer Review: Well hey... its free
Summary: 4 Stars
Guild Wars Factions is not an expansion pack, meaning you need the original game to install and play it. This game is a stand-alone game which, if you have the original Guild Wars, can bring over your previously made players and complete the missions with them.
Now Personally, I have both Guild Wars and Factions and I must say its quite different. Of course the combat system etc. remains the same but I found Guild Wars factions a disapointment compared to all the hype it was given.
Of course the graphics remain the same but the environments have changed immensely. From bleak battlegrounds and deserts to... Asian environments. Now I'm not saying this is bad, but not everyone will enjoy all of this.
I found it was quite easier to lvl up in this game. The basic hack & slash gameplay, although, isnt revised. I got a new person to lvl 20 (Top lvl) in far less time than it took from playing prohpecies.
The quest system is what did this and the reason is they want the new players to get the full benefit of the game. A very nice act of charity.
I agree that the story is much richer and I felt more compelled then in the original where [The story] just hopped around.
Hmm... ahh yes pvp. I always have liked pvp in Guild Wars. PvP here is basically just fighting against similar lvls without any pro-longed risk. Guild Wars Factions all in all, didnt change the pvpv as it didnt change any other gameplay elements. The only new and interesting elemnt in this department is the alliance battles. It was an interesting idea but not the best.
Now we come to Guilds, Guilds are easy to get into but a lot of guilds basicly do... nothing. So many guilds are inactive with so many of the members off doing their own things and only occasionally commenting something like "Oh I found a gold sword!" and then going back to their business. Quite frankly it takes luck to get into a good guild. Oh sure there's gvgs and scrimmage but how many guilds actually do that actively? Not many considering the thousands of players who are always so ramped up to actually do something and mostly get fed up and end of creating their own guild just to watch it fall apart before them.
The graphics are crisp and lucious which I enjoy.
Finding a party is a must do for this game as most missions you cant do with just the henchmen (NPC's who you can add to your party which can basicly function as a party except lacks the communication skills to be an actual asset) In some cases I found it hard to find a useful party and in other cases I found it suprisingly easy. Once again, takes luck (right time and place).
The character customization is pretty nice but is pretty limited and isnt useful or exciting.
Their are 8 proffesions (Warrior (Tank), Monk (Healer), Mesmer , Elementalist Necromancer, Ritualist and Assassin. Word from the wise, Assassin isnt what it was hyped out to be so dont expect the most awesome thing ever.
Well, Overall this game is great for people trying the genre or trying this game, and overall a must have for Guild Wars players (Mostly due to the 2 new slots for players) but not as good as it could have been