Guild Wars Review Over At Gamespot (New Poll)

[PrayForDeath]

How's your gaming experience with this game? Is it worth buying? Does it really live up to the score at Gamespot? I've added a poll to see how much you would rate it.
Here is the review for those who are interested.

 

[Malak]

You know I said this in another thread a while back and I'll say it again. Doesn't it seem odd how many games are getting a 9 rating everywhere? For instance, Brothers in Arms got extremely high ratings everywhere, but I didn't hear much about it through my usual communities, didn't seem like a big success.

Personally, I haven't really played GW yet myself, but from what I have seen and ready about, I just can't see scoring it higher than 8. I guess a game has to be exceptional to get 9 or 10...

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: malak
You know I said this in another thread a while back and I'll say it again. Doesn't it seem odd how many games are getting a 9 rating everywhere?

I've noticed that as well. Brothers in Arms was definately not worth a 9 IMHO...I didn't play that game past the 3rd level.

 

[PrayForDeath]

47 views and 3 votes?
That's what am exactly asking about. Does it really earn the >9 score?
I haven't played BiA, but I actually heard it's cool.

 

[Actaeon]

I gave it a 9. I think it is alot of fun. I loved Diablo2, and I feel the items and combat system isn't quite up to par with D2. However, I havn't played any MMORPGS (I know, this isn't one), so I don't know how to compare it with newer games.

I got a level 12 Elementist/Monk. It is gettting better the further along I get, and I'm not even close to finishing the game. I'm addicted.

 

[duragezic]

I sort of agree malak, but BIA is the very first example to come to my head too! I only pretty much visit Gamespot though, so maybe other sites give 9's pretty easily too. I guess overall I trust reviews, but sometimes they do seem too easy on games (overlooking critical things to blab about other stuff).


Oh but about the game actually, I guess I'm a bit behind since I seen so many GW threads recently, but does it require a monthly fee? If not is it online like Battle.net? Or less?

 

[kongs]

I played the beta and I wasn't impressed. It has some good features but just not cup of tea. I don't know if this has changed since beta but at the time it had roughly 25 channels and everytime you would warp somewhere your cahnnel would be changed and it was terrible for parties to constantly have to change channels to get back together.

 

[Malak]

I review games myself, but our score system is 5 stars, and so far my reviews have been 4 stars max. I think many games can hit 4 stars pretty easily, but it's hard to decide whether a game deserves 5 stars. I guess it'll come down to it'll be just so damned good I can't help but give it 5 stars. Can't think of any games off the top of my head right now where I'd do that...

 

[Tarrant64]

I've had guild wars for just about a week now and it's definetely awesome. Ever since I quit FFXI, I had been looking for something to replace it and I have definetely found what I was looking for.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Wow, so many varying opinions!
Actually, I think Gamespot aren't really easy on games. If you go to their highest rated list, only the best games (IMO) are over 9, which are Riddick, Rome Total Wars, HL2, WoW, Guild Wars, Pirates, and BiA. I haven't played them all, but I heard from many people that they are good.
Anyway, so this game is more like Diablo than MMORPGs?

 

[Malak]

I think I wouldn't even give HL2 a 9 at this point. The Total War series was excellent, they might deserve it. I haven't played Riddick myself, I don't like the doom3 engine.

 

[DragonMasterAlex]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
Wow, so many varying opinions!
Actually, I think Gamespot aren't really easy on games. If you go to their highest rated list, only the best games (IMO) are over 9, which are Riddick, Rome Total Wars, HL2, WoW, Guild Wars, Pirates, and BiA. I haven't played them all, but I heard from many people that they are good.
Anyway, so this game is more like Diablo than MMORPGs?

Yeah, and I'll tell you what: World of Warcraft does NOT deserve 9 out of 10. It's buggy, it crashes at least once per session, servers are often laggy (Orgrimmar is HORRIBLE!) and the patch system is one of the worst I've ever seen. I'm sorry I paid for 6 months in advance before I had really given the game a full 30 day trial.

Jason

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: DragonMasterAlex

Yeah, and I'll tell you what: World of Warcraft does NOT deserve 9 out of 10. It's buggy, it crashes at least once per session, servers are often laggy (Orgrimmar is HORRIBLE!) and the patch system is one of the worst I've ever seen. I'm sorry I paid for 6 months in advance before I had really given the game a full 30 day trial.

Jason[/quote]

Those are some good reasons I don't even want to bother reviewing WoW.

 

[torpid]

WoW deserves a 9 because it is at least one full point better than the crap MMORPGs that got an 8. Realistically wow is an 8 at best and those games are more like a 6. FFXI deserves somewhere in the middle. I've had WoW since november and it has crashed nowhere near once per session. I would guess 5 times total, but that's not including the period where mind control would disconnect me. I just upgraded my video card drivers and now the lag in IF is significantly reduced. Even when it was there it was just a burst of lag. I suspect you are blaming the entire game for some problem specific to your computer that very few people have (the crashing). My friend has similar problems with guild wars sometimes...

Guild wars I give an 8. It's fun, but the documentation and in game information is very sparse, and because the game is so different, it often feels like I have no idea what I am doing or that I am able to succeed by using random tactics. So I guess that means the game is easy? I'm just not sure.

 

[DragonMasterAlex]

Originally posted by: torpid
WoW deserves a 9 because it is at least one full point better than the crap MMORPGs that got an 8. Realistically wow is an 8 at best and those games are more like a 6. FFXI deserves somewhere in the middle. I've had WoW since november and it has crashed nowhere near once per session. I would guess 5 times total, but that's not including the period where mind control would disconnect me. I just upgraded my video card drivers and now the lag in IF is significantly reduced. Even when it was there it was just a burst of lag. I suspect you are blaming the entire game for some problem specific to your computer that very few people have (the crashing). My friend has similar problems with guild wars sometimes...

Guild wars I give an 8. It's fun, but the documentation and in game information is very sparse, and because the game is so different, it often feels like I have no idea what I am doing or that I am able to succeed by using random tactics. So I guess that means the game is easy? I'm just not sure.

What I mean by crashing is that the game just randomly is disconnected from the server. Others I play with (about 6 others, in fact) on the same server complain of the same exact problems. I know for a fact it's not my PC; my system is rock stable and I'm running a 9800 Pro. Lag is NOT caused by a video card issue it is caused ONLY by a bandwidth management issue. Simply enough, there are too many people and too many things going on in large areas such as Orgrimmar (I assume IF is the Alliance equivelent?) and the game just *lags* in those areas.

In any case, I have to disagree. WoW does NOT deserve a 9. An 8 maybe, but I'll go on record and say that GW is the better game.

Jason

 

[Actaeon]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
Anyway, so this game is more like Diablo than MMORPGs?

I have to say yes. In an MMORPG, it is a dynamic world, where everyone can see each other and blah blah, no matter where you go. In this game, the only time you see people like that is in a Town, essentially a chatroom. Unless you have people in your party when go on a quest, you are practically playing single player. You will not meet someone in the wild like you would in an MMORPG.

 

[Malak]

Yeah I was watching my friend play WoW the other day and he got randomly disconnected too. Seems to be a normal occurrence. His whole party got disconnected.

 

[torpid]

I wonder if it's a server issue. Random disconnects are pretty rare for me. They happen once in a great while (about once in a month or less) aside from the mind control bug. And I've only met a few people who seem to get disconnected frequently in the game.

Lag in ironforge certainly can be related to the video card. It does in fact have to load all the various textures for the players that all stand around in the middle of IF. Anyway, like I said, it's only a burst of lag when you first get there for me, and was greatly improved for me with new video card drivers and slightly reduced settings.

On a similar note... in GW once in a while my character gets teleported around. I haven't figure out if it's a pathing issue or lag. Anyone else experienced this? GW is also fairly buggy in terms of quests. Shared/Common quests in particular are very confusing and buggy. Half the time the status in your quest log is not updated when your party mate does something, and it's totally random (seemingly) whether you actually get credit for it or not. Also, sometimes the arrow / blip disappears pointing out where you need to go, and you have to switch to another quest and back. If you have only one quest I don't know what would happen. These things just add to the sense of confusion I have a lot of times in GW.

The inability to jump or "climb" terrain is probably the most frustrating aspect of this game. Some terrain is very ambiguous in terms of whether it appears you can walk on it or not, and you end up spending a decent amount of time back tracking to find another route. That is why I wonder if the teleport bug is related to pathing issues or not.

Still, it is a lot of fun and very unique. I don't think I'm going to enjoy the PvP long term on account of hencmen and seeming imbalances, but I have enjoyed it quite a bit so far.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Originally posted by: KruptosAngelos
I think I wouldn't even give HL2 a 9 at this point. The Total War series was excellent, they might deserve it. I haven't played Riddick myself, I don't like the doom3 engine.

Riddick is not using the Doom 3 engine, they have their own engine.
I heard WoW becomes very routinique compared to Guild Wars, which is more dynamic and depends more on skills rather than experience. Is that right?


I updated the poll.

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
Riddick is not using the Doom 3 engine, they have their own engine.

Well their game looks identical to Doom 3, if not worse. Of course it wouldn't be the first time a game came out looking identical to another and be using it's own engine.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Bump, looking for more opinions..

 

[bcterps]

I don't know how it's really possible to review MMOs thoroughly. MMOs by nature are an evolving product, do you rate it based on how the game plays out of the box, or do you rate it after a few months? What about content patches? What if the game is great for 90 days, but then you have nothing to do? Do you discard the first 90 days of play and say that the game sucks because of lack of end game content?

Comparing MMOs to each other is pretty tricky, I haven't seen a single review site do it to my satisfaction. If anything, MMO reviews need to be just like the MMOs, they need to evolve with time, and rerate the game at certain points.

 

[Triforceofcourage]

I gave it a 9 because I think the game is alot of fun to play. I am a level 12 monk/range and haven't even scratched the surface of the game I think. I will be playing it for many months to come I am sure.

 

[homercles337]

So i take it, this is an MMORPG? I will take an RPG over any MMO game anyday.

 

[luigi1]

This isnt an mmorpg. I know thats been said before but it isnt and dosent play like one. The rpg aspect is fun and it has a good story line. Game play is fun and challanging. This is first off a PVP game. And the PvP dosnt involve griefing or corpse camping or ganking, I actullay like the PvP in this game. The PvE aspect also has a different dynamic that caught me by suprise, I'm used to the wow or eq Tank, Healer, Damage dealer group compisition and that just dosent work here. Its best to design your player to be self contained. There is so much varation in player design that it can hardly be stressed enough. And the PvE game is really something to do to get you to level 20, and then the game really openes up (so I'm told, I;m not near that level)