User Reviews (1 - 11 of 12)

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Been there from Beta

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Shadowbane is not for the person who likes to entrance themselves in fantasy and fluff, slaying dragons and going on quests. It is the BEST PvP game on the market today. Graphics are not as good as some games, but the Class balance and intense action more than makes up for it. If you enjoyed EQ this is not your game. Once you leave safe areas you are fair game, no matter your level. No game on the market is it's equal to Character Creation and Class Balance. Most of the bugs have been worked out, although there are still some lag issues in large siege battles, even on high speed connections. If you want a full time PvP game this is your game.

WORTH THE LITTLE BIT

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: December 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I would start by telling ya that if ya have played the original like I have for the past 7 months, then you will know this game is very addictive and fun or boring at times. The number of people playing have decreased but Yet people like me who have hope stay. The game really started getting boring when they started more servers but now that they have completly taken out about 5 to 7 of their servers and made new maps and new things to do there is a real reason to play. Lag is NOT as bad anymore and I have not crashed in a long time. Lets just say alot of PVP and it really is exiting to say the least. ANd hell it is only 20.00 bucks and I know people waste that much on things much more stupid so WHY NOT? I say go for it I know I am and can't wait to get it in and try oput the new mobs,zones,classes,runes, ect......

Much better then I expected

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: December 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I played Shadowbane as a beta tester and HATED it. I thought it was an awful game so I didn't play it much past level 5. What I didn't know is the "real" game doesn't start until about level 20 when you leave the starting island. I decided to try Shadowbane again about 2 weeks after launch and have been playing it since.

The great thing about shadowbane is the strategy and the amount of difference from once character to the next. The strategy is because there are different stances that will change damage output, your defense, etc. Also if someone is sitting they will be healed for 3 times the normal amount if a heal spell is casted on them, but they will also be injured 3 times the amount if they are hit.

Another nice thing about Shadowbane is the fact the skills and spells are raisable. This makes for very different characters. For instance I could have a priest with all my healing spells raised to level 40 and my buff spells only around 1-2 trains while another priest maxes his weapons and armor skills and actually learns to fight, the downside is his healing or other skills might take a hit since he is raising other things. This makes for VERY different characters, a assassin for instance might not fight, cast, etc, the same way as all the others, so you might not know what to expect.

This game has taken great strides since it has been released. They have ALOT of things planned for Jan 2004 and are continually making the game better. There is, by far, no better Player Vs Player, Guild vs Guild, Nation vs Nation game.

Long Time Subscriber

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 5
Date: November 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I recommend that you avoid purchasing this game. I subscribed to Shadowbane a month after release. Most of the bugs that led thousands to leave the game still exist. Most of the recent changes to the game have been exactly the opposite of what the playerbase has loudly asked for. Bottom line - this is not a game that caters to it's customer base. Many of us are still playing only because we foolishly subscribed for a full year.

If your curiosity is so great that you must purchase this game then DO NOT fall into the trap of opting for one of the extended subscriptions. Yes you do get access to restricted races for your character, but when you find how horrid the gameplay is you will kick yourself for purchasing your months in advance.

My Mouth is Hung Down Towards the Ground!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: January 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Dude. Got this expansion thinking "not much is gonna be in it, might as well get the full extent so i can keep in date and fresh." Man, im glad i got the expansion. Whole new race, fresh graphics, more monsters, more lands, and a whole lot more. this game is rockin 20% more than it was! JUST BE SURE TO BUY IT SO YOU GET THE SAME FEEL AS EVERYBODY ELSE! And DO NOT listen to the reviewers who gave this game a bad grade. Shadowbane is doing well in the market and will continue to do so as long as new players who are reading forums, believe the players who are right. These players who down-rate the game have only played for about 2-3 weeks and havent gotten the full extent of the game. They arent into seige yet. So, do the right thing and join Shadowbane! The game of PvP GvG NvN !!

Note: if you are joining shadowbane and wanna know more, ill gladly right a...hmm what can i call it? introduction to it? yeah that sounds good. Ill write an intro to it to get ya started!

Played, conquered, moved on.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: April 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I played SB from early on in the beta til about 6 months into release. I was an inner council member of one of the biggest guilds on the Mourning server and saw my fair share of large scale battles and smaller hunting skirmishes. I think my opinion on this one is well informed.

What Shadowbane does it does well enough. I'm ruined on pvp since this game because nothing else have ever been close to as exciting and involved as the fully open pvp environment SB created. Also, the seiging system, while it needs work still, is great for the simple fact that all cities are player owned and built. You're not fighting for the same lame strongholds over and over again as in DAOC or Lineage (1&2). For once, there is something to lose.

However, the game lacks in several other areas that simply make it not worth the money or time. There is no content. Occasionally the events team has a big event with GM driven characters, but there are no, not a single one, quests or areas to explore. It's all about mob killing, then pvp.

Also, the game is one of the crashiest and laggiest games I've ever played, beta or release. The problems go so deep there doesn't even seem to be any rhyme or reason for it. People with high end machines crash as often as people with ancient ones.

Lastly, the graphics suck. It can't compare to Lineage 2, WoW, or any number of games that came out concurrently or soon after its release.

I had some incredibly fun times, and I still wish it could have held me longer, hence the 3 rating. But it lacks too much to make it a long term pasttime.

There needs to be a negative rating

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Alot of people have problems with Shadowbane due to its pvp atmosphere. Let me start off by saying that I love pvp and the realism it brings to a game. With Shadowbane you will hear hype about wars, sieges, and massive battles between dueling alliances. These are all things that can be done in this game but not very well. Any time more than twenty people start fighting ANYWHERE near your location welcome to lag central. It does not matter if you have the latest and greatest computer or a awesome internet connection it is all server lag. There have been numberous patches with the promise of fixing the lag issues. Well almost a year after its initial release the problems still exist. Even the latest installment in the Shadowbane saga Rise Of Chaos is riddled with bugs and yes the server lag issues are still there. So unless you want to play a game that promises you massive battles and delivers nothing but computer freezes and lag death STAY AWAY FROM SHADOWBANE.

Grab for money!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: October 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The game concept itself is good. Build cities, quest for a lost sword, tons of lore to promote faction wars, and many classes and race combinations to choose from. The problem is none of the above works well.

The graphics are sub-par at best. This could be overlooked if the game play made up for it. It does not! They said using the outdated point and click method would help lag but lag is just horrible. The classes are as unbalanced as I've ever seen in a game. If you want to play a melee class find another game since all melee classes are under powered and best and totally useless at worst. Also client/server sync issues makes it impossible for a melee character to swing in large scale battles. The game crashes all the time (sb.exe). They say with each patch its fixed but it never is.

There is no content in the game at all. No quests, no dungeons, no castles; not a damn thing to explore. They are however releasing an expansion pack you need to pay for to get content. So now you need to buy the game plus an expansion just to get the minimal content most games give you with original release. Look at the amount of stuff most expansions give in games such as EQ, DAoC, AO, and UO and then compare to what this expansion gives. Its pathetic to see.

I rated the original a 2 star. This blatant money grab is not even worth that. All the same problems as there were in the first few months are still there. NOTHING HAS CHANGED!! Do not bother listening to UBI because they say its all better now, but closed their message boards because their fanbois could not delete the negative posts fast enough. Now nobody outside the game can read their boards. I don't really blame them. There is about 30 negative posts for every positive one.

Pass on this one. Dragon Empires, World of Warcraft, Darkfall, and others will be released soon. I would wait for one of these titles to come out.

Fun, New Maps, and much stabler

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Shadowbane has not crashed on my system for 3 weeks, and I play 2-4 hours per day. That statement should go a long way to point out what is wrong with the previous review.

The game is good, the graphics are excellent if your card can handle it. This is NOT a game for those who want a "nice" fantasy world of elves and unicorns. You may be attacked by other players, you may build a city and see it destroyed.

However, the game is fun, and in my opinions beats Everquest, Ultima Online and all of its current competitors. Yes, it does face some stiff competition going forward, but that is for tomorrow.

I couldn't have said it better...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Brigantine72's review from 10-30-02 is probably the most accurate review I have read to date. True, the concept of this game seems to be the answer for every hardcore MMORPG'r, Ubisoft/Wolfback just can't seem to pull it off. The "massively merciless" PvP action and highly customizable characters do make for exciting endgame play, but only to be painfully watered down with countless lag time, exe.file errors, and graphic and game play bugs, just to name a few. If that alone was not enough, their customer service and feedback response, especially in public forums, is dismal at best. You can check the Ubi Shadowbane site< http://chronicle.ubi.com > and make your own desicion on that one.

If you are the type of gamer that's looking to spend the next 6+ months engrosed in the gaming experince, then hold out for some of the new releases coming out earlier next year. Now that the open PvP idea has been done, it's time for someone to do it right.

Bottom line: Great Concept, Failed Execution.

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