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Probably the worst MMO in existence.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 16
Date: April 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I know, the title sounds pretty extreme, but I do not want to leave any doubts about this 'game'. I'll be short with my points as there are too many problems to go in to depth.

The game renderer is severely buggy. Animation stops, characters disappear, surfaces flash and disappear. Sound stops and pops, keyboard input is lost for seconds at a time. No driver updates on my system changed this (it's a quad xeon with a 512mb video card and 4GB of ram, very fast and up-to-date). I get about 7-15 frames per second.

The design of the maps appears to be very amateur and are quite ugly. Most objects have one dull repeating texture. The shapes of most objects are really unrealistic and aesthetically repulsive. Either no artists were involved in its creation, or there is something very wrong with the game engine that hinders them. I refuse to believe there are artists that bad.

Character animation is really poor, as if the developer had no interest in animation better than say, a 3D title from 1990. the player is animated in slow motion, I assume to slow down the pace beyond glacial.

Combat is a mindless button mashing and timing exercise much like EQ and its copy WOW, but even less fun to watch. The timing is roughly three times slower than WOW and EQ. It can take three or four minutes to fight one lower level monster, and more than ten for higher monster. It's incredibly boring. To the point where I lose interest and would ignore screen if my character was not in danger of dying at all times. There is no choice in fighting monsters, anything two levels higher can flatten you in two hits, they chase you to the end of the earth, and run faster than you.

Almost no one is playing. Literally. I saw three people after six hours of play, And two of the the three there were very rude fan-boys. None wanted to play in a group. there are no populated outposts, just camp after camp of non-player characters giving lame quests. All the broadcast channels for player chat are off, there is no way to find other non-local players to ask for advice or help.

Monsters or opponents are spread out evenly so you sit there and pull one. Then fight it, then another, fight it... ad infinitum. Until you can walk to wherever. All monsters re-spawn in a matter of seconds so the monster you just killed will pop up right behind you while you fight the next, and attack you. In many cases they re-spawn immediately after dying. This game manages to faithfully preserve one of the lamest conventions of MMOs.

Out of the thirty or so quests I did, all but a few were 'kill seven bears', and 'kill seven wolves. How do the quests change later? 'Kill twelve bears', and 'kill twelve wolves', a few seemed different, but essentially were deliveries or bosses. There is nothing of interest in the world but assigned quests.

The classes are just rehashes of every other MMO that came before. All of the skills I encountered were mundane. Click a button and you hit for 16 more damage. Click another and it's 12 more damage, etc.

There are about seven monster models (as far as I went) with just a name change to designate what they are. A grey wolf, kit, wolf pup, and whatever else, are all just a chalky white dog model with different text floating above them.

The day is seventy two minutes I believe, so it's constantly flipping from day to night as if the planet is suffering from some neurosis. This happens so fast yet there are no shadows so it just seems like the lights are going out. Daylight is really dim looking on top of it all. Of course the player moves as if it's a seventy two hour day.

This game has constant lag, while the other online games I play do not. Lag is also devastating. You don't go slower or have a minor hiccup, you just suddenly have different health, are somewhere else, are dead. etc.

The world is big and open, and pretty much empty and featureless. Combine the barren world with the horrid art, and visually It's like playing a non-cartoon themes version of WOW, with even less noticable scenery. The monotony is broken up by rocks though. Giant rocks all with identical surfaces that are shaped unlike any real rocks.

Character creation seems to be little more than a feature to put on the box. It's useless as the characters all look the same (very ugly). The armors and clothing in the game stick through each-other and as stated above, appear to be designed and created by an an amateur.

It takes up to five minutes to log in, because the launch utility checks all your files every time. Once that happens the game sits there with a drawing of who knows what (it's not related to the game) until it loads.

Death penalty is harsh for two reason. You will die a lot due to the draconian control over your choices as a player (you can not fight outside your level because it's designed to make the smartest and stupidest player completely equal, yet random high level monsters are tossed in lower areas). You will die when encountering bugged monsters that suddenly can no longer be hit or lose health, but they still can kill you. On top of it all it costs more to repair your items than you will ever make. Also you have to run back to continue your quest, and all the monsters will be alive again.

They charge money for it. It would be inaccurate to describe this game as not quite finished. It's not really anything but the most rudimentary and broken beginnings of a poor game, yet they are actually telling people it's done and accepting money. Maybe it can't be called fraud as a legal charge, but it's certainly misrepresentation.

So to be blunt. It's bad. Before this game I didn't think I could reccomend a game a sbad as World of Warcraft over anything, but WOW is better than this game. In fact I don't think any MMO I have played before even comes close to being this bad.

great game - one of the best I have played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: March 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've played my fair share of mmorpgs, starting back with games like UO and Everquest, and Vanguard is perhaps the most immersive game I have played since those days (this is 8 years and a lot of games later). If you're looking for something easy where you can max out a character in a few weeks, this one is probably not for you. Travel times are long, leveling is slower than some of the recent-gen games like WoW, and so on. However, Vanguard will challenge and intrigue you. I find the graphics excellent and the performance on my mid-range computer fine (I get about 30fps on a computer that someone could build for around $800 today). A few of the areas I have hunted in have really impressed me with their beauty and imagination.

A lot of people who review this game poorly probably just don't get what it's about. Yes, you have to work for your levels. Yes, you will have to go get your corpse when you die. Yes, it might take you 20 minutes to ride your horse to a good location to hunt. Yes, you will feel very rewarded in the end!

Great game Sigil. The servers are rock solid (the only downtime is the scheduled downtime) and there have been tons of bug fixes since the game came out. There are still plenty of bugs to fix of course, but I am seeing constant progress in the weekly patches.

Highly recommend this game, come see me on Varking... The name's Saladin... Send me a tell with any questions you have.

Not perfect, but a solid, fun game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

MMORPGs (massively multilayer online role-playing games) are now numerous, with World of Warcraft boasting millions of players and other games like City of Heroes catering to a specific niche of dedicated gamers. Vanguard is a rather new game with many familiar aspects that experienced MMORPG gamers will quickly recognize.

First, the game's graphics are stunning. Yes, you will likely need to disable some features in order for the game to run smoothly. I run a rather modest system that is several years old, but even after some graphical features have been turned off, the game is truly stunning. This translates into a solid immersion factor that lends well to the MMORPG's epic feel. Often times, it is enough to simply admire the world. The graphics may not be perfect, but they offer enough visual gratification to stun most people.

But the game's mechanics are the most important thing, especially if you plan to invest large amounts of time leveling your character. Character creation gives players the almost overwhelming choice between 19 races and 15 classes. Further, the look of your avatar is very customizable, though more face and hair options would be a good addition, you still feel that you have a large degree of control over how your character looks, especially considering the number of races.

It should be noted that each class plays very differently. And there are some very cool abilities that are worth looking at. Vanguard doesn't break the mold entirely with its array of professions, but it creates classes that are flexible and dynamic. For example, the blood mage is technically a healer class, but drains the life of his or her foes to heal, making the class viable in solo or offensive play.

It should be noted that leveling up is not quick. Players used to WoW's (sometimes too) quick leveling up process may be disappointed. Starting areas do offer enough quests to keep you from randomly killing monsters (contrary to what another poster said, perhaps this was addressed in an update). However, quests are not always that interesting. Some players may appreciate the longer leveling up process (perhaps it is more bang for your buck?) but it may turn away more casual gamers.

Navigation is one of my biggest annoyances in Vanguard. Sometimes quest-givers are too vague in their location descriptions, and because the world is so large this can be frustrating. Some building interiors are truly maze-like, so even when you do get a (very handy) map-marker denoting the area of your target, it may take you some time to find your way to your destination. Still, navigation is part of the fun as well, as exploring the world is rewarding and fun.

Death is sometimes annoying. When you die, you loose a certain amount of experience and you loose many of your items. You can recover your items from your spawn point, but to regain some of your lost experience you must find and loot your tombstone (which is invariably next to the things that killed you to begin with). And that walk can sometimes be rather long considering the huge size of the world. Luckily, you can buy your first mount at level 10 (for an affordable price).

Crafting, another element important in many MMORPGs, is more complex in Vanguard than in many others. The ability to take "Work orders" which provide materials and offer money and item rewards is a nice addition to the game because it enables players to level up their crafting without having to buy or harvest immense amounts of resources. Each crafted item has numerous steps, and you must choose from a collection of actions at each step (sometimes expending cheap items like 'solvent' in the process) to complete the item. Choosing harder actions (like "etch detailed designs") results in a higher quality item. Crafting is more than just selecting the item to make and watching a progress bar...but not everyone will enjoy the complexities of Vanguard's system. Harvesting is nothing special, you simply find the materials in the world and try to extract them. But again, the ability to take "Work Orders" to build your skill means you won't have to endure hours of harvesting to raise your crafting skills.

Another strange factor about Vanguard is the fact that it seems to be more "empty" than many other MMORPGs. You will run across plenty of players, especially as you move out of the new player zone, but in many areas you'll find yourself relatively alone. However, this means competition for mobs (at least when you are solo) is pretty much none non-existent. It may also make the game feel like there aren't a lot of people playing, but that is just because the world is so large.

Vanguard has become a solid contender in the world of MMORPGs, but it is not for the casual gamer. Player's used to the relative ease of games like World of Warcraft (Which nearly all MMOs are being compared to nowadays) may find the game too slow and difficult. But it is not, to be honest, that slow, and the mechanics are pretty straightforward. If you already are enjoying a MMORPG, then I wouldn't recommend switching, but if you are looking for a new game and have plenty of free time, Vanguard is a great pick. Just be ready to work hard for your progress, because it isn't always easy. This may not be a great choice if this is your first MMORPG, but overall it is a pretty good title that is worth checking out.

Second Job

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Game looked great and all but it felt like a second job. Wasn't worth the effort put into it (Made it to lvl 18 bard before canceling my account).

Vanguard fails to deliver

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Dull and uninspiring is the only way to describe this game. There are very few elememts of this game that stand out as unique and intriguing. I should have realized that when Brad posted on the Beta Boards that it was his game and he was going to make it be only what he wanted it to be that I was doomed to be disappointed.

Crafting - Harvesting resources is nothing more than a variation on the nodes used in WoW. Star Wars Galaxies is still the only MMO with an interesting system for resources. There is no variation in quality of resources as they are harvested and the number of different resources is small when compared to SWG. The crafting itself is at first glance something interesting but as one realizes that it is just a variation of the EQ2 crafting game with the forever grind of EQ, one quickly gets bored. There is also very little to differentiate the finished products of the few crafters brave enough to endure the tedium to produce items.

Character Generation - The visuals are boring and uninteresting to look at. The animal based PC's look like human bodies with animal heads stuck to them. Even the human bodies suffer from graphic anomolies such as skinny males looking like they have boobs or deformed extruding rib cages. The unimorph system Brad choose for the bodies might make it easy to build new critters but then the critters and PC's all look the same.

Quests - Linear and boring. Kill a number of X, deliver Y to Z, or collect A from B. The storylines at the beginning do nothing to draw the character into the game. NOTE - Once you get past the tedious beginning quests, there are some storylines that are interesting.

Overall, given the lack of anything new or complex for crafters and really poor character graphics, the game is not worth it to me.

Good game I guess, but takes some work.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game has a ton going for it - but at the same time it has just as much against it in what seem to be needless places.

The game design itself is great - races, classes, abilities, crafting, pace (for the most part) are all great a thought out. And honestly, that's what is important. You should at least try it. But it's the little things, My God, the little things that almost make every time my last time.

Examples:
- the level of graphics (which is one of the most discussed aspects of this game online) isn't where it needs to be. A lot of people say the game looks amazing, even at low-moderate settings. A friend of mine even says that when we're both looking at the same screen in my office. I just don't quite get it. Yes, several aspects of the game look really pretty, but not all of it does, and it really lacks any artistic style. The trees swaying in the wind in the distance looks great - but the merchant tent 10ft in front of me looks like it was carved out of a block of wood and dropped onto a flat piece of green ground. And that kind of contrast just makes the graphics sort of "not look right" to me. And if you need a high end PC to run a game that looks "not quite right" - then it's wrong.

- a small thing here, but a good example: when you go up stairs your screen jumps like you're having a seizure (apparently it is literally taking you up and in on each step) - come on! None of he devs walked up the stairs during testing and realized this was ridiculous??!

- there is a glitch or bug everywhere you turn, on almost a regular basis while questing. An item doesn't drop, a scripted event doesn't happen, interacting takes 3 clicks instead of 1 on a particular step of a quest, or the game just decides to tell you you can't see your enemy even though you now that's not right. Just when everything is going fine, you are reminded that the game was released before it was really finished.

- character model customization allows you to change several things, probably around 60 - 70 sliders. However, only 5 or 6 of them really matter at all. You will spend 45mins playing around with your model - then enter the game and look like everyone else except for 1. Hair style, 2. Hair color, 3. facial hair, 4. facial markings, 5. skin color, and maybe 6. Height and weight if you go extreme. Why they bother letting you tweak the other 50-60 things, rather than giving you at least 15-20 options for those just listed (normally only 4 for the hair things), is beyond me. My point is: if they're going to allow several combinations of character model options, they should be combinations that show up.

But, if that doesn't turn you off - then try it out, because even with all that I keep playing, so something must be right.

Also - when comparing to other MMOs, I would say it's actually up there on the list, despite my complaint-puking I did above.

Vanguard-Not much fun

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: March 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I upgraded my computer when I got this game. This game is still laggy even at low graphic levels. Just for interest, I compared the game play with World of Warcraft. Vanguard felt like it was playing underwater. I finally just stopped playing. Why? I was not fun and I did not care for the gaming community. This may change over time. I just want to add that I came into this game being a past player of EQ, EQ2 (yuck), DaoC, and Wow. I was hoping to recapture the original EQ, but did not find it in this game.
Tony

Fun, but slow

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: March 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I got this game a few days ago to check it out, so all I am going to give here are my first impressions.

This games controls are in line with many of the most popular mmorpg's out there. If you play WoW, then you will get used to the controls quickly.

The combat system is ok. It is a bit slow to me after playing WoW for two years.

The multitude of races is great. It doesn't overwhelm you at all or leave you feeling at a loss. IMO, EQ2 has too many races to choose from and WoW has too few, even with it's expansion.

The classes are pretty nice. Very in depth abilities. Again, it has just enough to keep the taste buds wet and not make you feel dried out.

The world is supposed to be seamless, but I did notice a pause when I am crossing over into new areas, like I was entering an instance. The level of detail is excellent. I haven't done much exploring (my highest level character is only 7), but what I have seen has been impressive.

Mounts. The big deal for some people. A horse mount at lvl 10 at minimal cost. This is where Blizzard needs to look. You don't have to grind for days on end to gather gold for a mount you won't get until lvl 40 (as in WoW) and then worry about spending tons of gold just to ride an epic or flying mount at 60 and 70 respectively. This was a big deal to me, so I can't wait until lvl 10.

Let's see. That about sums it up for me at the moment. I'd recommend this game for players. It has something to offer anyone who has played EQ2 (which I played for a whole 2 days) and WoW.

Vanguard a Look....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 18
Date: February 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For those of you that like things handed to you on a Platinum platter Stop! Read no further and go play WoW. For those of you that require level 60 in fewer than 4 weeks Stop! Just go play WoW Vanguard is not for you. Vanguard is not for the WoW at heart. I enjoy having to work for levels, Loot, and Grouping, like PnP days with AD&D is the only way to play. The graphics are very nicely done having a 256Meg Video is recommended, Having 2gig of RAM also is better and lots of HD space. My laptop is half the above listed config but runs the game nicely in Balance mode. (Turn the grass to 0%) solves the choppy screen problems on the laptop. Game play is unreal more options then I have seen in the other MMOs I have played. You get tired of Hacking there the world you can talk yourselves in to trouble. Diplomacy is a nice add to Vanguard. I recommand this MMO have played the following; EQ, EQ2,WOW, DAoC, DDO....

Great, Pro/Con of intense graphics.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 11
Date: February 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I got to beta this game a bit before release. I found it grew on me rather quick and offers a lot i'v been looking for in a new MMORPG. Mounts early and a hugh variety, good crafting and a great diplomacy system. Good combat system and some really fun classes(Monks are one of my fav. Kick 'um in the face!).

The only reason i did not give it 5 stars which i would of np. Is that the game is really intense and to turn much up you really need a new system and setup. My 1 1/2 year old comp is having a hard time somewhat. Not bad, on Balanced settings with 2xaa on i get about 20-30fps avg, which is very playable for this type of game and looks fine. oing to get a 8800 as soon as price drops a bit more again.

I am upset with amazon too and think this will be my last computer game i'll buy from them. They said way ahead of time and all other sites were going to ship it out on the 30th. This made it get to people on or the day after launch. But Amazon seems to think it's alright to send it out in the afternoon today on the 31st. This even with 2day shipping means it will not get here till at least 2 days after launch now. And if you didn't want to pay the really silly price above normal ground then your even more stuck waiting for it while launch has already happened.

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