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Barely Second Generation

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 53 / 68
Date: January 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

There was a whole lot of hype about how Vanguard was going to be a "third generation MMO" that built on the gameplay of its predecessors. Games like EQ1 and UO were classified as "first generation" and games like CoX, WoW, EQ2, etc. were classified as "second generation". So the idea was that Vanguard would advance the genre, and the FAQ about their design goals was impressive to say the least.

Unfortunately, that's not the game that released.

I'm not talking about graphics here. For graphics to advance much, hardware must first advance. In Vanguard's case, the graphics are in some ways truly stunning -- IF your computer can hack it. I have a powerful computer with a GeForce 8800GTX OC video card, and getting the game to look as good as Everquest 2 reduces playability to an unacceptable level. Vanguard chugs. But that's not my complaint because I never expected Vanguard (or any other 32-bit game) to exceed the current fare for visual quality.

My complaint with this game is the gameplay itself, which is very pedestrian. There's really nothing to make me want to leave the other games that I'm already playing. Your first few hours in the game are strictly ho-hum. There's nothing to really grab you and make you say, "wow, this is fun!" The newbie experience is probably closer to Lineage 2 with all of its grinding than any of the other MMO's that are currently popular. (In almost all starting zones, there are not enough quests to get you through the levels. Before you get to level 8 -- and in some cases, before you get to level 4 -- you WILL be spending at least part of your time running around killing random mobs because the developers haven't given you anything else to do.)

Those newbie levels are designed to get you experienced enough that you can team up with a group and go dungeon delving. For this you'll be in cramped quarters competing with dozens of other groups for the same mobs. Want to solo? Forget about doing anything in the dungeons. And if you don't want to spend your time in dungeons, then be ready for more grinding. A lot of it.

Character creation is nothing special. The characters don't look particularly great, with only a few face textures to choose from. Everything else is handled by morphs, and some of the morphs make them look terrible. Ultimately, the characters look about as diverse as DAoC or EQ2, which is to say that the differences are only noticeable if you're really looking for them.

Harvesting is another example of where the game did away with its original ideas. You originally had several harvesting skills that you could use during the harvest to influence the outcome and possibly get more resources. This whole system was ultimately done away with, and now you just click on the node (WoW-style) and wait until it's done. The only real difference from WoW is that you can get more from the node if multiple party members harvest it with you. Exciting, huh?

As for the world, yes it's very big and very pretty. But it's also very empty. Because the developers created a single supposedly seamless world, they had to leave large areas with nothing in them so that they can add more content later. Just getting from the newbie area to the next adventuring area usually requires walking. And walking. And more walking. All through landscape that is largely the same as what you've already seen, with few landmarks or other points of interest. Of course, you can get a mount so that you can get there faster. Or you can caravan in which case you join up with a group and log out of the game while someone else goes through the tedium of walking/riding to the destination.

I think that Vanugard has the potential to be pretty good after it has a couple of expansions under its belt. Unfortunately, it's just not that interesting now. Certainly not interesting enough to pull me away from what my friends and I are already doing! I'm not alone in this opinion, either. I have about 50 friends who were all anxiously looking forward to Vanguard. Once we played it, though, we all changed our minds.

I'm sure that this game will appeal to people who want things to be difficult for difficult's sake, like grinding, and believe that the game itself doesn't have to be fun if they have enough of an imagination to create their own fun. For everyone else, there are other offerings on the market.

A Real Sequel to EverQuest I

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: January 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have been playing this game since Beta 5 and it has been great fun. I played EverQuest I for about 2 years before and this is as much fun as, or even more fun than the original EverQuest. I invited two of my friends who I played EQ with and showed the game. They were hooked instantly.

I would have given the game 5 stars overall if it does not have demanding hardware requirements. When buying this game, be careful that its "recommended" requirements are practically minimum requirements.

See you in Telon.

Leaves the current crop in the dust

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 26
Date: January 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Simply a much deeper, more satisfying gaming experience than the current crop of MMO's. Unlike World of Warcraft, Vanguard is truly an MMO. You can't escape other players by having the game offer you your own pocket universe with dungeons all to yourself. There are no magic universe splitting events cause by you opening a door and another player opening the same door. Their decision to eliminate the infantilism of instancing was one of their better decisions. Places are ALIVE with activity and communities are much stronger.

The dungeons are truly massive and require real thinking and knowledge of your class to get through. Unlike WoW, where you can just spam hotkeys and expect to be rewarded, VG asks a bit more of you. Yes, there are many people who don't want to have more asked of them and they won't like VG.

Then there is Diplomacy. A whole new avenue of progression never before seen in MMO's. Through conversation via a MTG type of game, you can influence whole cities. Gossiping with the local merchants might lower prices for goods. Convincint the local clergy might reward all players entering the city to travel faster. No other game allows that kind of influence.

Flying mounts are also done like no other game. Yes, TBC has them but they are limited. Not in VG. You can take them anywhere and see the world of Telon. And its a HUGE and beautiful world. No other world make me feel this small.

If you're currently playing a more entry level type of MMO like WoW and wont' to grow up a bit, VG just might be for you.

Good enough to pull me away from the console wars/

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: January 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I write this review with the disclaimer that this is my first mmo since FFXI. I also am a great supporter of console rpg's, due simply to the fact that I can pickup and play whenever I want without having to depend on anyone to advance. That being said...

I have been playing this game for about a week and a half now, and I must say it is rather addicting. Even on mid settings, the environments look better than anything I have seen (and yes, I have seen WoW played before when I say this). The community is top notch so far, and everyone seems willing to help out someone in need of assistance.

As to the gameplay itself, well, it is "role-playing" to the max. Just like in life, things take time, and this game is no different. Adventuring I can tell is going to be a grind (took a whole day to get from 1-11, where I am now), but the battle system is pretty good (my only gripe is having to indivdually target a mob that your party aggros, kind of hard to do sometimes), and the animations are above average, imo. Crafting, once I figured it out, was a joy. You actually have to pay attention to what you are doing, and there are options that allow you to take a greater risk for a greater reward. It takes about 2 mins to craft an item (for work orders anyway), and as you move up in the tasks you do, experience comes easily. Harvesting is a joy as well, especially after killing a mob in battle. Kind of gives a realistic frontiersman vibe to the whole game.

Anyways, that's my rant at this point. The only complaint I have is that it is a quite addicting experience. A must play for all mature mmo lovers out there (WoW kids need not apply. Leave Chuck with your teddy bear at home).

Annoyingly ubiquitous

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: January 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The original creators of Everquest set forth to develop what they originally wanted Everquest 2 to be. From the start this project was ambitious.

The game has some unusually high system requirements, and you shouldn't even try to play it with the minimum. Once the game is fired up, it is beautiful. If you have the luxury to crank your settings up to the max, it's the best looking MMORPG to date. Unfortunately the praises stop there. At the time of it's release, the game is far from production ready. It's a typical Sony deployment where everything promised in the game is not available and will probably be so in future patches, some of which will probably cost additional money. The game play is nothing new, it's a typical time sink grinding on the same mobs over and over. Not a very diverse set of character models either. The diplomacy idea in Vanguard while unique, offers very little to add to the enjoyment of the game.

Considering the time sinks in these games, most people will only have time to commit to one MMORPG. I would encourage most people to give Vanguard try at least, however, I think it's going to leave most people feeling hollow and unimmersed in the game. There are far better options out there right now that offer a much deeper level of play, for far less of a time sink. Considering this is a Brad McQuaid endeavor, it should be no surprise that a considerable amount of time needs to be spent to accomplish anything. They are going to have a hard time competing with the games that have figured out the time balance in gameplay.

Ouch my Hardware

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: January 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This Game Rules, 6 years of Everquest and this is the first MMOG to get me to leave it.

It also got me to buy a Radeon X1950PRO and a new powersupply.

All in all I'm happy but broke =p

Watch those Requirements but the eye candy justifies your hard earned money.

The dissapointment sets in

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 16 / 24
Date: February 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I don't understand what happened to this hyped game. It feels so empty and shallow. The terrain looks pretty but it has no life, no substance. Everything feels robotic.
I love MMO's and I have looked forward to playing this game for a long long time. I am one of the few who LOVED Star Wars Galaxies (the first year).
The world in SWG, even though it lacked quests, Felt alive and interactable. You could make your own content if needed. This doesn't seem true for Vanguard.
I forced myself (as painful as it was) to played to lvl 10 and got my horse thinking it would start getting better..uhhnope. I just cant even bring myself to log into the thing again.
Yes, maybe it will get better after some patches but I wont be around to enjoy it. I managed to get into Lord of the Rings Online Beta a while back and it is MUCH better in Beta 1 and 2 than Vanguard is at launch.

Man, I am more willing to go play some EQ2 than play Vanguard. :(

Some of you may love Vanguard and I envy you. I just cant get into it.

The pendulum has shifted

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 17
Date: February 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Vanguard: SOH is excellent, even though it was admittedly released a bit early. I was a beta tester since Beta 3 and the changes to the game since are simply amazing. A large, expansive, beautiful, and difficult world that is truly the spiritual successor to Everquest, with a bit of the accessibility of World of Warcraft thrown in. For lots of people this will be exactly what they are looking for out of the box. If you are hesitant, give Sigil another few months to iron out the rough edges.

The graphics are suberb - a sense of scale and "place" that haven't been seen since the original EQ and its great early expansions such as Scars of Velious.

The dynamic music - half a gig's worth - is the best I've ever heard in any video game, full stop.

The classes are not revolutionary, but are quite evolutionary, taking the best concepts from previous games. Playing a healer has never been this interesting before, but almost all the classes are different and fun to play.

The diplomacy sphere is revolutionary - interact with NPCs to influence cities and people.

Performance - it doesn't take a supercomputer to run, *but* you should have a decent video card purchased within the past two years or so, 1.5 gigs ram, and a 7200 RPM hard drive.

Vanguard marks a possible shift of the pendulum to the slower, richer games of the "golden age" first generation MMO's, with some of the accessibility of the second generation (WoW / EQ2), but with the graphical splendor and successful "mixing" of new and old elements that does qualify it as truly third generation. Also, you've got the most dedicated set of "all-star" developers in the industry. Finally, a true "AAA" alternative to World of Warcraft (a very good, but very different, game than this). It does not yet have the fluff polish of WoW, but this is being improved upon day by day and the core engine, gameplay, and graphics are all far superior.

Basically, if you were a fan of the original EQ (like me), you will probably love VG. If you thought EQ2 was too easy or restrictive, this is the game for you. If you have gotten tired of WoW and are looking for something different and more challenging in certain ways, take a look at VG but make sure your system is up to spec.

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.

Good fun if you can get it running

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 16
Date: February 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Nobody can screw up a highly anticipated launch like SOE.

I got my copy of Vanguard on launch day but during installation found that my dvd drive could not read any content on disc 2. Several people on the V:SoH tech support forums reported similar problems and the immediate "quick" fix was to install what you could from disc 1 and download the rest. The natural assumption being that the data on disc 2 was corrupted or the disc was shipped blank.

There really is no way to quickly download 8 gigabytes of data.

So after 12 hours spent downloading less than 20% of the data I needed, I decided to bite the bullet and pick up another copy. I intended to open a second account for my kids anyway and I hoped that I would be able to load the rest of the software from disc and spare myself 2 more days of agonizingly slow download time.

No such luck. Disc 2 from the new copy still would not read. I ended up spending 2 days downloading the game and for my initial investment, I came away with 2 maps, 2 instruction manuals and 4 matching Vanguard: Saga of Heros coasters. Not a good way to start.

My home PC system is several years old, but I've invested time and money into keeping it up to date. I sport a 3.2ghz Pentium, 2 gigs of RAM, a 256mb 6200 OC Nvidia card and more hard drive space than I'll ever use. Unfortunately it was not enough. I had to download two different versions of Directx 9.0c (FYI, go with the October 2006 version) to even get the game to launch and then I had to download OLD graphics card drivers (NVidia 84.12 if memory serves) to make it playable. So after two days of downloading content, I had to spend another 3 hours download downloading peripheral stuff to make that content playable. Not a good start.

IF and when you are able to get this game to launch, you'll find the inital stages of this game to be surprisingly entertaining. The scenery is breathtaking, although it should be noted than I am an 8 year UO vet...it doesnt take much graphical eye candy to impress me. Unless you have absolute top notch hardware, expect to have to turn graphics options way down to get a reasonably playable frame rate. As several other reviewers have noted, to world is massive, but although server populations are said to be 'high' you dont see many large groups of players because they're spread out all over the place. Progression in the early stages is fast if you advance by questing, but slow if you do so by grinding. Early quests seem designed to allow the new player to learn the basics (movement, basic fighting techniques, etc) through trial and error without forcing you through tedious tutorials. Your choice of professions is influenced by your chosen race and it makes sense, so dont go into the game hoping to carve your niche as an orcish paladin or you will come away disappointed.

I havent even touched the crafting system in game yet, or the highly touted diplomay system, so I wont mention those except to say that from what I've heard, each is nearly a game in itself. I had hoped to be to that point in game by now, but I started out three days behind the curve. For that alone, I take away two stars over all. The game will be fun for a while, but make this purchase keeping in mind what I said at the top: nobody can screw up a launch like SoE.

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