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Wondrous step forward for gaming. Six Stars.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: October 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Massive Multiplayer Online Game with no monthly fee. Great graphics which pale in comparison to the incredible gameplay. Much like chess. Simple to learn. A long while to master it. It's far far funner as well.

Developed by the top programmers that left Blizzard who were responsible for StarCraft and the Diablo series of games it transcends the limitations of both.

This game transcends old boundaries which is why I would rate it six stars. I played the free alpha preview a couple months back and it was better than most games at full release. It truly is wondrous.

Free trial Oct 29-31. The client is small enough to download with a modem and is actually not horrifyingly annoying at that speed as it's somehow somewhat small. Better if you have faster access of course.

If you preorder the game you can participate in their free beta events the first weekend of each month.

www.GuildWars.com is their website. Find links to reviews from there or just go to GameSpot.

They will have nonmandatory expansions released twice a year or so.

Preview for Diablo 3!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Finally, the game that everyone's waiting for has come. The Diablo 3. Well, sort of. The real name of the game is called Guild Wars, and it was developed by the co developers of Starcraft, Warcraft, and finally, Diablo itself. It's just basically Diablo 3 which has similar gameplay as Diablo 2 but with better graphics and more.

Like the other reviewer, I have played the beta on last days of October, and I got to tell you, it's hell of a game. Since, I'm in a hurry, I won't tell you much about the game but just tell you some stuff that other reviewer left out.

The graphics are simply, amazing(At one moment throughout the game, I noticed myself staring at the water details for like 1 minute just checking out the details because it was so shiny and watery). To get the best out of the game, you would need the new GeForce 6800 or Radeon X800, but the system which I have tried on still made the game look sharp and almost life-like. The system was Athlon XP 3200+, 512mb pc3200 ram, GeForce 5700LE overclocked 256mb 8x, and DSL. It was on 1024x768 with on auto detect settings which was on high settings.

But the one thing that I really think that was smart of the developers was the download and play system(This way, you won't need to waste 2 hours installing 3GB HD space which this game will probably be overall or something close to it). I'm not sure that's what it was called but that's how it works. First, all you need is 62kb client which will let you download the launcher. After that, you need to register. When you create your character and play it will download the files that you will need to get to that main area. It will happen everytime you go to a new area. Also, I don't know if this happens to all computers, but my loading times were about 5 seconds which is very fast. The downloading might take longer depending on the connection speed.

Besides this, the other reviewer(G. Coope) pretty much mentioned the main stuff. The reason why I gave 5 instead of 4 was because I know that this game will be much better than the beta.

Graphics-10 (better than any other MMORPG games except for Everquest 2 and Lineage)
Gameplay-10 (like Diablo 2)
Sound-9 (decent music but nothing extraordinary)
Replay Value-8 (after playing like 10 hours straight you will eventually get tired of it but after 30 minutes pass by, you will be hacking and slashing again)
Difficulty and learning curve-9 (medium and 30 minute learning curve)
Overall-9.2 (a Must Have!)

I hope this beta review was helpful.

This is a Beta Game Review.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: October 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just finished the second short beta on this game and it looks very promising. It's improved over the first beta. The graphics are outstanding, no question about it. Because it's a beta, I'm impressed all around and giving 5 stars.

I have these concerns that I hope are addressed in the final shipped product:

1. The camera manipulation took some getting used to which isn't a big deal, but there seem to be a few non-intuitive aspects such as camera drift after running using the mouse. Perhaps I missed the control to deactivate this but I don't think so. It would be better if the camera remained stationary unless specifically moved by the player. I have always felt that one draw-back of full 3D games is non-intuitive camera controls. I'm not saying GW has non-intuitive controls, but I think there's a little room for improvement.

2. The number/frequency of items dropped by creatures may not be enough to maintain interest for some players. There are players who like that "cornucopia of items" you see in games like Diablo II when you kill a monster. It does add to addictiveness, a lot. It may be worth considering increasing this. The final product may have other game aspects that offset this and a few days on a beta perhaps isn't enough to say definitively how it will play out, but it's something to consider.

3. The monsters shouldn't appear on the mini-map so far ahead (i.e. prior to encounter). It detracts from the exploration side of the game a bit. Have them appear and stay on the mini once they have been encountered, not before.

4. Monsters don't stand out enough from the background. Even at great distance, they should be more apparent. The colors between background and monsters have this chameleon effect and make them visually difficult to pick out sometimes. I'm not sure what to do about something like this but I did notice it quite a lot.

5. The frequency of monsters seems a bit low and leveling seems a bit slow at lower levels. These two may be related. While the world is beautiful and really well done, combat is where it's at to keep people coming back. The combat needs to happen more often. This may address my concern with the leveling.

6. Combat seems a tad slow-paced. Again, this may very well be a non-issue with the final game. I'm biased to an extent in that I think a click-fest is just fine. Fast paced combat sequences are preferable in my opinion, though perhaps not in the opinion of others. With a game like Diablo II at one end and Never Winter Nights on the other, Guild Wars seems to occupy a place in-between, but leaning toward NWN. I would recommend leaning more toward Diablo II a bit in the "fast-paced" area of actual combat.

These are post-beta observations and suggestions. The game looks fantastic. I'll be buying the final version for sure. A free on-line game is definitely a superior business model to the monthly payment style, so kudos to that aspect.

GW is not an MMorpg

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 14
Date: October 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If guild wars is an mmorpg then diablo,warcraft,and starcraft are.You are totally wrong.Everything is instanced,only seven players can be in an instance at the same time.Only towns have many players,which is necesarry becasue you may want to form a party for an instance.Even towns are broken down...they are broken into districts.If I am in seaboard district 31,and my friends in district 20,we cant seee each other becasue were in separate instances-annoying.Im not saying this is a bad game,its pretty good.But compared to WoW and other mmos its not too great.7vs7 battles in gw...fun...but what about the 100vs100 batltles of a real mmo?If you dont want to pay a monthly fee get this game.If you have the money,WoW is for you.2 stars because its competeing with MMorpgs,games that are MUCH better than itself.5 in fun...because its fun!you can go on,form a party,and complete instances casually.

An amazing game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: November 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've played the open beta, without much expectation. Every rpg game i've played after Neverwinter Nights has let me down. Until now.
I'm a player from Argentina, here this kind of games are not sold, so it's very difficult for me to obtain an Online only playable game, i was sure that (apart from it being too expensive for me to buy) i wouldn't be able to play it well because of the lag. I was wrong, i've played this game quite good, (with an ADSL 512/128kbps connection from Argentina) there were some slowdowns but nothing too annoying, the graphics are just EXCELLENT, i have a PIV 2,4ghz 533mhz fsb, 1gb RAM and a GeforceFX 5900 and i played at 1024x768 with Anti-aliasing 4x anisotropy 8x all details in high at excellent frame rate and no slowdowns.
The game itself is excellent, so intuitive (great for starters!), with so much to discover, the skills, the enemies, the crafting materials, the possibility to find your friends (if you are in a different district, you just go to the upper left a select the district where your friends are, you just need an instant messaging program to chat and you tell the others in wich district you are in). If you have no friends online, (or you can't get a party) or simply if you want, you can choose to go for the quest with henchmen, controlled by the pc.
Overall, an AMAZING game (as far as it could be played in this beta) you should try if you are a Fan of rpg games, and if you aren't, you will start to love it too.

A Highly Promising Game (With No Monthly Fee)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 18
Date: November 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Having played the original Everquest long ago and dabbled in free trial versions of other massively multiplayer online games such as Lineage II, I have become somewhat disenchanted with MMOs. I dislike the general concept of paying a monthly fee to play a game that often involves long hours of tedium, and lately I have little time/money to spare for games in general. But from October 29th to 31st there was an open world preview event for Guild Wars, and I decided to give it a try.

Guild Wars was developed by a team of former Blizzard employees, and they have managed to inject some strategy into the typical role-playing fantasy setting. However, some role-playing elements have been sacrificed in exchange for reducing online tedium. You may not enjoy Guild Wars if you absolutely love the role-playing element. That being said, the game in its current stage of build is amazingly fun.

Players start with the option to create characters with a primary and secondary profession. These profession choices determine the skills/spells you can acquire, and you can only take eight skills into a mission/battle. This by itself creates a new level of strategy for the player, as certain skills combo well together. You can also decide to emphasize skills that make you able to solo, or you can choose more support skills for your party. And having good support people in a group is essential in Guild Wars.

The preview event allowed players to start out at level 15 and max out at level 20. I was pleased to find that leveling and gaining decent equipment was no longer a pain. I easily made level 20 in the three days that the event ran and actually had fun doing so. This was thanks to a mission-oriented leveling system that encourages groups of six players to team up (alternately, you can hire NPC henchmen). The missions are instanced for your group (meaning no swarms of other players to compete with for objectives, kills, experience, loot), and have mini-narratives that follow a sort of linear plotline. As you complete each mission, a new area is open to you on your overall map.

Ah yes, the map. No more insanely long travel times. You just go to your map, zoom in on the area you want to go to, and click "travel." Areas open up as you complete each mission, and you can travel freely among all the places you have been to.

Large-scale player interaction takes place in the mission-waiting areas and main city (Lion's Arch). Here you find players forming groups or trading/buying/selling, and this reminds you that the game is a massively online multiplayer game. This brings me to player versus player action, which is the highlight.

You could say Guild Wars is all about player versus player, but it's done in a way that emphasizes the fun aspects. PvP takes place in areas like the Gladiator Arena and the Tomb of Primeval Kings, with groups of up to eight players battling several other groups. The objective might be to simply kill the other groups, or it might involve protecting a resurrection shrine (where an NPC monk can resurrect fallen team members periodically). There is no loss of experience or equipment when you die (though within missions there is a temporary health/mana penalty), you can only gain experience and fame.

PvP also brings out the strategic elements of Guild Wars. A well-balanced group that has excellent support combinations, skills, and strategies will do much better than a group where the players do not cooperate. There are no large-scale sieges or battles involving hundreds of players, but in other MMOs those tend to dissolve into freewheeling melees with little cooperation or strategy.

Finally, players can found guilds once they have enough gold (which is not that hard to get). They can then freely invite other players to join up. Being in a guild gives you your own nifty guild symbol/colors to wear, as well as a group of players always ready to form a team for missions or PvP arenas. The game also has a special arena for guilds to compete head-on.

I can already envision Guild Wars being popular outside the traditional MMORPG community, especially given that there is no monthly fee. The Guild Wars developers seem well on their way to creating an immensely entertaining, accessible, and affordable game. Good job guys.

For a more detailed review from an experienced Alpha tester:
http://www.epinions.com/content_142722436740

Related Links:
http://www.guildwars.com/default.html
http://archive.gamespy.com/landing/guildwars/
http://www.photics.com/index.php

Free online and great fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First of all, yes the online play will be free! Big thanks to these people, the price of paying for an online game subscription is ridiculous.
This is a review of the october world preview.
The graphics were decent and I had no trouble playing it with a simple GFX5200/ATI9000 on medium to high detail.
I tried various classes and combination of classes for 3 hours each, I think there is still some power balancing to be done. There were a few bugs but it was good enough for a beta preview to be almost at a perfectly playable level. The main drawback was the lack of a structured systyem to explain what to do and where to go for a quest. The crafting system was interesting and I like the spell system too.
I found that leveling was much to quick for a game which allows you only to get to level 20. Within 3 hours I could easily go from lvl 15 to 17.
Overall I am preording this game.

Guild Wars

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I played this game during the open beta.

Graphics: The graphics in this game is amazing. As you look into water (lets say there is a dock/boat near you) it will reflect onto the water with the hazy look that you see when you look into water.

Gameplay: Gameplay is perfect with the henchman for solo play. The group activity is active with explore mode and mission modes.

Classes: I have not played many classes (main was ranger/monk), and yes some classes need balancing. For me I loved ranger/monk nice skills mixed in with healing was nice.

PvP: I always hated PvP in mmorpg (eq vet), but PvP in this game is more fair (teams vs Teams) and the ability to choose if you want to fight.

Now on to the whole thing about the being in the same place and not were your friends are: If you played games such as eq and you have lets say 2 friends one on lets say T-Marr and the other on Xev. Your stuck unless you pay to move the characters. These "distrects" are used to balance the server so to lessen lag. Yes you can switch dictrects to meet with your friends (without pay;p).

Overall: This game takes what was good with games such as eq without the monthly fee.

An online rpg for everyone

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: November 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The most interesting aspect of this game would have to be the fact that as soon as you start playing its instant action. You dont have to spend an hour forming a group to do a quest. You can even bring computer controlled characters with you to do a quest without even bothering to form a group which is also a plus. The graphics are quite nice and the interface is as well. The fact you dont have to pay a monthly fee for it is a huge plus because paying 15dollars a month to play a game can be costly for someone like myself who is a student. Overall I believe this is a solid game that everyone should check out.

Well Worth The Pennies

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: November 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've been reading everyone else's reviews, and they have hit the nail on the head. So I wont waste your time typing up the same thing. I agree with what everyone else has said but would like to add on a couple more things.

The game will remain entirely balanced, regardless of how long you play for. If you have played games like EQ where you can get incredible "epic" items by slaving for days on end, you would understand that there is a line between the casual players and hardcore players. Guild Wars has no such items that would imbalance the game for people who can't afford sacrificing 6+ hours a day on it. Don't get me wrong, if you play for hours a day, you will find alot of things and gain wealth, but even the rare items you find, have pro's and cons. They may have + to a few attributes or whatever that you can use but they may also cut back on other skills.

The game revolves around building a character stratagy that focuses on using skills that complement eachother for given missions or PvP.

I just wanted to say that and I love that aspect to the game.

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