User Reviews (1 - 11 of 53)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

A Fantastic Addition to the Guild Wars Universe

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 54 / 60
Date: November 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game, like its predecessors Guild Wars: Prophecies and Guild Wars: Factions, is designed for players who--

(1) Enjoy a great story and playing a part in that story
(2) Appreciate fine graphics, stunning landscapes, and strikingly rendered monsters and battle effects
(3) Enjoy small group/solo adventuring
(4) Enjoy strategizing, exploring, and questing
(5) Can sometimes play for long stretches at a time ... but can often only play in smaller blocks of 30-60 minutes and still want to have fun and get stuff done
(6) Might have to pause mid-quest to do something else (wash dishes, go for a walk, take out the garbage, answer the phone...) and come back later (Guild Wars, I find, is much more "forgiving" for players who have lives, where World of Warcraft is not, since Guild Wars more or less "holds your place" if you are called away temporarily to do other things)

Nightfall adds new story content, new professions (the paragon [kind of a spear-wielding paladin] and the dervish [a whirling, spinning slice and dicer]), a bucketload of nifty innovations, and ABOVE ALL, HEROES. The heroes are customizable, controllable henchmen that add a whole new dimension to the game--not only to Nightfall but to the two previous editions of Guild Wars as well.

I have to say I am pleased and greatly impressed with Nightfall. I took a character or two over from the previous campaigns and nabbed a few heroes and now those characters are back playing through the Prophecies and Factions missions and quests with their Heroes. I love this!

NCSoft has, in effect, upped the ante and enriched and deepened the playability of ALL of their games at once, although I hasten to add that you must purchase Nightfall to access the new regions (i.e., the beautiful, African-themed Elona), the new missions, and--best of all--the new Heroes.

I have nearly completed the Nightfall campaign (with a dervish and a monk), and all I can say is that it's been great fun. The Guild Wars series just continues to get better, richer, deeper, and more fun to play. Best of all, unlike that other online game behemoth (World of Warcraft), Guild Wars is very casual/solo player friendly, both time-wise and group-wise. You can complete virtually any quest or mission in this campaign ALONE (with henchmen), if that is your playing style. It is difficult to do (I *like* difficult, heh), but it can be done. I know this because that is how I have played all three Guild Wars campaigns.

People familiar with the first two campaigns and looking for something "totally new" will not find it here but that, in my opinion, is a good thing. Nightfall builds upon and enhances the successful gameplay formula established by Prophecies and Factions, retaining all of the aspects of previous campaigns that players appreciated and yet incorporating new bells and whistles that make the basic story-centered structure better and even more enjoyable.

Whether performing a wide variety of quests and killing countless hosts of monsters and enemies is "grinding" and "boring" or "great fun" really depends on your perspective, I suppose. I think it's great fun. I just completed a quest in this campaign yesterday wherein you must help a herdsman get his cows to safe pasture past mobs of brigands. I found the assignment difficult, creative, and funny all at the same time, with the herd mooing and stampeding every which way and the brigands attacking in waves and cows dying all along the way. Now, that's entertainment! And that was but one quest among ... zillions.

In short, Nightfall is a solid and enjoyable addition to the fine Guild Wars series. I highly recommend it.

____________

[edit (11/14/07): The excellent Guild Wars series ends with its Eye of the North Expansion Pack. Guild Wars 2, a sort of "reinvention" of the game, is due out in 2009 [hopefully!].)

Easily the BEST Chapter in the series!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 35 / 37
Date: November 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

You've probably already read the gaming reviews on this, so you know the stats: new Hero system, new items, new classes, no monthly fee, etc.

One of the most important new additions to the game series is the Hero system, where you can customize and have much greater control over your Heroes (upgraded henchmen). I tend to solo a lot, since I rarely have blocks of time or have the patience to deal with other players, so this lets me get an often more competent (you customize their skills) team together. The beauty of this latest Chapter is that it enhances all previous Chapters (Prophecies and Factions): you can use your Heroes in the prior Chapters. This backwards compatibility was quite the bonus to my prior investment, and rewarding loyal players is EXACTLY the right thing to do.

Every Chapter, ArenaNet has upgraded the graphics engine, and Nightfall continues that trend. I know, I know, gameplay > graphics, but this scores on both counts. Graphically, it has spoiled me for many other games, and the art direction and creativity is nothing short of astounding.

As for cons, it isn't quite as casual gamer-friendly as some of the other titles out there, such as City of Heroes. You do need to learn about how skills work, and sometimes you get item drops (there is loot!) that you don't know what to do with. However, if you know how to read, you can just look it up on the 'net.

I've found this latest release to actually be their best one yet, and I'm still debating whether to recommend new players pick up Chapter One (Prophecies) for the storyline or this one for sheer features and streamlined gameply and story. They've truly learned from the previous two Chapters and incorporated the lessons into Nightfall.

Casual Gaming Girl Prefers Guild Wars to World of Warcraft

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: January 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I abandoned WOW for Guild Wars.

When diving into the Guild Wars sage, I began with Nightfall. I recommend Nightfall to new Guild Wars players. Heros taught me about other classes and were always available when I needed help.

Although my Radeon 9200 video card was sufficient in WOW, it lags a little in GW. I like GW so much, I plan to upgrade when I can.

I was a casual WOW player in WOW for 6 months, only leveling to 48. After playing Guild Wars a few weeks, I gave up my WOW subscription. I have continued playing Guild Wars when I can and love it. Here's why:

1) The missions (main quests) in Guild Wars taken while I level my characters impact the environment as a whole. I feel like what I'm doing is meaningful. And they begin as soon as a new character is made. The "Collect 10 bear pelts" type quests in WOW felt silly. Nothing in the WOW environment ever changes for more than a moment or two.

2) When I quest in GWs, I am not interupted by other players. Only my party members can chat with me, and they are involved on the same quests I am. In WOW, I was constantly interupted. Players begged, nagged, and sometimes made unneccessary negative comments. The chat was constant. I played on a PVP server so getting "ganked" or killed by powerful other players was a constant possibility and seemed to happen right when I was about to complete tasks. That was a drag.

3) I dreaded end game material in WOW and am excited about end gaming in Guild Wars. My husband did WOW end game instances for the minimum 15-20 hours a week necessary for his guild, and he was considered to be "casual." Hello, I have a life. That's too much for me. Plus it got really boring, he said. Instances in WOW are difficult, but they never change. Players must memorize what needs to be done and do exactly that. There's little room for innovation or reason for it. Players do the same 4 - 12 hour instances over and over again for loot. It reminds me of hacking at a penata for candy. Once you get started, little thought is involved. In Guild Wars, end game is all about PVP. An innovative mind is an asset. There are lots of PVP games to choose from and groups are rated for how well they play together. I wouldn't have to mindlessly click for hours for a possible good drop. I get to show how well I play and how well I adapt to changes. I can customize my character to do what's best for my playing style and the situations I will be in. I feel motivated to study and practice so that I will play well. Guild Wars end game is a sport. WOW end game is an addiction.

4) The environment in Guild Wars is more realistic and beautiful.

5) Guild Wars has no monthly payments.

Guild Wars isn't perfect. Waiting for loads when entering/leaving cities, having no auction house, and only having perfect Barbie and Ken - like characters to choose from are just some things I wish were different. But it's my favorite and I love playing it.

Gorgeous. Immersive. Diverse.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: March 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Just got a new Vista-based computer a couple of weeks ago and found myself surfing the net, checking out reviews on some of the newer RPGs out there to see what looked interesting. (And compatible.) I came across the usual suspects like Neverwinter Nights 2 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but it was the three versions of Guild Wars that kept catching my eye, particularly this one, Nightfall. I'd never heard of the game before, nor its developer Arenanet, and was initially put off because it seemed to be one of those of MMORPGs I have no interest in losing my personal life to, but it lingered in my peripheral vision, practically demanding I give it a closer look.

So I did...and wow! I was up until 1:30am last night playing and am absolutely hooked.

There's a bit of a learning curve that I'm still getting the hang of, and it took a while to get used to the online aspect being such an integral part of the game -- I actually logged off the first time someone asked me to join a guild because I thought I'd wandered somewhere I wasn't supposed to be! -- but so far, I love everything about this game, including the beautifully produced rulebook that could easily be mistaken for a Wizards of the Coast supplement.

I've started off playing a Mesmer, the closest thing to a D&D Bard, and I love the fact that the design of the game is such that you can play what is usually more of a support character, though that could simply be due to the early stages of the game being designed as something of a tutorial with consequences. We'll see about that, I guess.

This morning, I was checking out a few of the Guild Wars fansites and was glad to see there's a huge community behind the game that seems reasonably welcoming to newbies. One of the sites, [...], had a great article, "For the new player on a budget: Which Guild Wars Should You Buy?" that not only confirmed I'd made the right choice in Nightfall over Prophecies or Factions, but also shed light on why it kept catching my eye: "Nightfall is a mix of North Africa, Egypt, Middle East, and Greek elements."

While I enjoy the typical fantasy settings of medieval Europe and the whole Lord of the Rings vibe, I've always preferred alternative settings based on other cultures. Nightfall had continually caught my eye partly due to the number of characters of color prominently featured on the box, the Web site and the various screenshots I'd seen in different places. Coupled with the great reviews its received, it's no wonder it was the game I ultimately bought.

The character generation system also features a diverse range of facial features that allows you to create more representative characters with wider noses and fuller lips, as opposed to simply being able to change the skin tone. My Mesmer, Damien de Vellis, looks a lot closer to me than I've ever been able to get in any other game, a subtle but highly effective means of maximizing one's sense of immersion.

Highly recommended!

Another great chapter for the Guild Wars franchise

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 20
Date: October 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

First, please ignore "A Kid's Review". He doens't know what he's talking about. Guild Wars is not an mmorpg, first of all. It's an online coop games. There are a few RPG elements to it, but it's not classified as MMORPG. Second, Nightfall is not just slightly different from the previous two chapters, a lot of things changes have been brought to nightfall. The most significant change is the addition of a Hero's system. In the previous two campaigns, you could hire Henchmen, or computer controller NPC that aid you in battle, but you have no direct control over them. In Nightfall, you have Heros that are highly customizable. You can change the weapons, the skill sets on your Hero, and have a lot more control over what your heroes do. And believe me when I tell you that a properly controlled/equipped Hero can sometimes surpass a human teammate. And with the Hero addition, comes another competetive Hero vs Hero mode, where you lead a group of Hero's and fight against another human player with his/her group of Hero's. There are many new tweaks to the existing guild wars system that, depending on your preference, improve the gameplay of the entire guild war series.

The best part I love about this game is that you're rewarded for your skills, not how much time you spent on the game. The character levels are capped at 20, and it's easily achieved in 2-3 days. But that's not all there is to it. The real fun begins after level 20, when you start focusing on your build (skill set), as different area/enemies usually require a different build. And doing missions/quests/farming with a group of people is always fun. For those who are competitive, there are player vs player, guild vs guild, hero vs hero, and other game modes for your to fight against each other. Strategy and planning play a huge role and is extremely fun.

The online gameplay is completely free, and the developers do a great job patching the game regularly to fix any bugs there might be. I own all three campaigns, and enjoy them all! Highly recommended.

GW Continues

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I own all three Prophecies/Factions/Nightfall and am primarily a PvE type player, couple of points for people who aren't familiar with the series

1. Online play is free forever with game purchase
2. Game seperates PvP from PvE (other players cannot "kill" you in PvE mode)
3. Each chapter can be played seperate or combined with previous
4. Level cap is low, so no need to spend months trying to Level
5. People who think weapons and armor make you effective in this game don't understand it, skills are what make builds useful, with hundreds of skills and only eight useable at any one time, it allows for a lot of possibilities.
6. New chapters come out every 6-8 months.

Overall a great/fun game that has avoided a lot of the dreary/cheasy traps of other online RPG based games, not perfect, but improves with updates and new chapters.

A Review For The Casual Gamer

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 18 / 33
Date: November 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Although I've put in literally hundreds of hours playing Guild Wars Prophecies and Factions, I have to say Nightfall is... well, not fun. If you're the type who likes to chat, but ultimately solos most missions, then this is not your game. Like the other games there is a "newbie" island to build your character, test your skills, and level up. The new Hero system makes the leveling process (grind) somewhere between annoying and excrutiating (does "process" sound fun to you?). Not only do you need to level up your own character, but to make the Heros worth a darn, they need leveling up as well or they'll just be dead meat once a mission starts. OK, boring.

UPDATE Jan 11, 2007. OK, I take most of it back. My initial response was decidedly negative; and, although I still LOVE Factions, Nightfall ain't so bad. It's still a long noob island process, but recent updates just make the whole of the Guild Wars world better and better.

Was 2 Stars. Now 4.

It's beautiful, yes. The "newbie" island is the best part. But even noob island becomes exasperatingly long and tedious with quest after quest after quest after quest (the idea I guess is to allow for you to level up your worthless Heros). The "mission" that takes you from what I can only assume is ArenaNet's idea of a very long and arduous training island is so impossibly hard, it'll make you want to sue them to get your time back. After you "make it" to the mainland, it just feels like a let down.

Stick with the original. Don't waste your money. They'll try to stuck you in to ordering the game easily online through their login store, but resist! Sure, the rationale will be, "Gee, they don't charge online monthly fees... gosh, I'll buck up." Don't.

Not recommended. Go back and play the other games.

Game of the year!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: October 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The other 2 campaigns in the GuildWars series were both great in their own way, but this one is even better. It combines all the great features of the first two and adds a whole lot more. Hero's have been added to the mix and they take the game to a new level. You can equip them with skills and weapons and even change their secondary profession. The world is larger and more beautiful, and the two new professions are both nicely balanced and really fun to play. Considering there is still no monthly fee, this could possibly be the PC game of the year.

Best MMO for the price

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: February 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Reasons this is the best:
1) Buy the game, no monthly fees
2) Graphics are very, very nice. They are far less "cartoony" than WoW
3) Gameplay:
- PvE is great (especially with the advent of Hero companions). The world is huge. Quests are fun and challenging. Playing together with others is fun as well. Being in an "instance" when questing is nice because you do not have issues with kill stealers, annoying people, etc. Player customization is greatly varied.
- PvP is fun and you do not have to play 25 hours a day for 2 years to be able to compete with that guy who has a Godly-Sword-of-Never-Missing-Instant-Death-Induction like in WoW. The Skill system makes PvP play well ballanced and constantly changing.

If you are buying a version Guild Wars, this is definately the one to get. In fact, if you are getting an MMORPG, this is the one to get.

No, I do not work for the makers of the game.

Night falls, stars rise.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I really liked this game from the start ever since I started play Guild Wars: Philosphy. Every aspect of the game awes me to the fullest and there are more and more surprises around each corner. The sounds are great and fit in with the enviroment. The enivroment itself is oustanding proving how wonderful Guild Wars truly is. In Nightfall obatining a title is so much easier and obatainable at a low level even for new players. The graphic design and the fact that it runs very well on my slow computer shows to what great lengths Guild Wars goes to help every one out. I may never truly like another game the being free online is the biggest plus of all. For people like me who have a life and don't spend all their time on the computer you can just buy the game and play whenever you feel like it or have the time to. This game is one of a kind and I highly recommend buying it for any age.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next 

Actions