1. lobstilops

   10

   One of the best games I have ever played in my life. The company (ArenaNet) took some chances with this game. They went for a bit of a different skill/attribute set and a lot of other things. They really stepped out of the comfort zone and threw away the traditional MMORPG **** And guess what, it worked well. There were a few dull areas but those were overthrown by the glorious rest of the game. The missions were fun and enticing, the gear was visually appealing and could parts mixed and matched. The graphics were very good for a companies very first game. At release this game was magnificent, the cities were overflowing with people and the PvP arenas was a place to be. Now, not so much. The game has aged and the majority of players can be seen on the later expansion packs or winds of change one of the newer updates. So in all honesty, I wouldn't purchase the game based on those facts. Wait for Guild Wars 2, which still has no monthly fee. That game will be well worth the wait.… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 2 users said Yes.
2. GeorgeS.

   8

   Guild Wars sports _the best_ fantasy PvP bar none. It takes a little bit of time to figure out your prefered playstyle or even how to play effective PvP but once you have got it the game just clicks. Tons of action and very little downtime. PvE can be taken at your own pace. Heck if you're feeling anti-social you can invite some decent NPC's to help you quest. The fetch quest PvE content is sometimes bland but the main storyline quests are very good. The music is good enough but the sound effects sometimes are wanting. *clang* doesn't always cut it these days. Graphics are very good and GW runs well on older computers. The interface is great. You can make your own to suit your needs in game with very little hassle. ArenaNet makes updates, patches etc, very painless and you hardly notice. The technology behind the game is quite awesome. There are some gripes. Targeting needs to be improved. And sometimes you can get tripped up on invisible geometry. No jumping sadly. If you enjoy PvP there is no reason you should not check Guild Wars out. Everything else is icing on a very sweet cake.… Expand

   • Helpful? 7 of 7 users said Yes.
3. DemonicAngel

   6

   Before anything else is said, I must applaud NCSoft for putting together what seems to be an extremely robust and reliable online game (especially given the total lack of fees). The visuals, for a game with such relatively low system requirements, are utterly gorgeous. Sound is, well, fairly nondescript - the music is pleasant but unmemorable, and effects are fairly generic for the genre. Now, onto the game itself. Guild Wars has garnered widespread critical and public acclaim for its skill-based gameplay, instanced PvE areas and (most of all) the lack of monthly fees, and I kinda enjoyed the beta weekend, so I picked it up shortly after release. Since then, I've played it about 6 times in total - I reckon I can't have put in more than a few hours in total. But that's only because the game seems so directionless that it's difficult to feel any motivation to play. Admittedly I'm a solitary gamer and tend to have an unfairly biased view of MMORPGs, but NCSoft claims there is incentive for single player play. If there is, it certainly didn't rear its head within the crucial first two hours. The gameplay is reminiscent of Diablo - click on an enemy to start attacking it, and you'll slug it out until one of you is dead. Whilst you're attacking you can use your various skills by pressing the hotkeys - typically these will deal extra damage, heal your wounds, or work in combination to produce even more powerful effects. The profession and skill system undeniably adds a huge amount of depth, but the system is intricate enough to totally put off RPG virgins such as myself. The game seems built around a mission structure of sorts, where you talk to people to receive quests as is standard for RPGs. Thus far, most of the quests I've done (I haven't really touched on the main story arc at this point) have been "go here, kill these monsters/rescue this attractive young woman/recover this artifact, then come back to me and I'll give you this item/these items/this amount of experience". If this is the standard by which MMORPGs are judged, then it's a genre I do not ever want to go near again, ever. I'd say rent first, but this isn't an option, so instead I'd suggest playing at a friend's for at least a few hours before you make the decision. I wish I had, in retrospect, then I wouldn't have wasted my money. That's not to say Guild Wars is a bad game - it's clear that a great deal of work has gone into creating it. It just doesn't appeal to me in anything more than a very superficial way. (Besides which, people are scary.)… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 2 users said Yes.
4. OliverK.

   4

   Really weak role playing part. Its hard to get a group of 4 people together and go on quests, so that u r left to do things alone (With the help of AI NPCs)(I talk about European Servers) The PVP might be good, but not as good as games that are designed exclusively for this. the fact that they dont have seperate servers for different language areas makes it worse. (Again, european servers)… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 11 users said Yes.

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