guild wars

Well as far a MMRPGO goes, I am no big fan. Just don't like the idea of not having the game physicly on my harddrive, but this game I decided I had to give a go. Why? NO MONTHLY PAYMENTS!!!! Did you read that? Yes, it is true, you buy ONE game, install connects to internet, play it. Want to play more, wait for the expansion which you 'gasp' buy as an ordinary expansion and install it, play it. Yes please, this is what we who have a life and job besides playing games like to see. Well now to the impressions:

Instaltion was quick, very quick and smoth. A+. They really made this step hassle less and easy. Click chose directory and one switch of disc and it updated and was ready to start a new character. Getting the acount and a new character was relatively easy. So far I haven't been forced to use the handbook at all. No, I am not typicly male, I just don't have to read in steps how to put CD labeld 1 into the optical device, click yes, NO, YES, MAYBE, YES ;).... The game iseasy to install OK.

The game it self looks a lot like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic in a sense, except the pauses and the consoly actions choser above the heads of your enemies, but the running around and controling the camera is very much alike, so if you played it you can handle this. I.E a pretty simple, yet effective way of control. Point and click, choose your target and your cgharacter will attck it, punch a few quick keys or on screen icons and watch the meters running up and down, move have fun. The game mechanics are easy and it is relatively easy to get into.

Once in the game you start in a "newbie" town where you get alot of fed ex quests to get you to know your character. Alot of fetch this, talk to him/her, kill that lure that learn this ti be a better"Insert your class here" etc. Also this will teach you some of the "SKILLS" that your character can have. Skills are all the extras that your character can do. Each profession has its own sets of skills. Skills are the flair of the character and also all the necesary things like spells for a spell-thrower, the fancy shots for a ranger and the gruesome hack-and slash extreme combos for the warrior etc. Add to this the first contact with attributes. Well didn't they mix something up here you might ask? Yes, IMHO they did. Attributes are what I as an old RPG player consider to be skills and the skills would best be refererred to as feats, abilites, moves and spells etc. Well sowhat? A new take can freshen it out. Since you don't have to haggle around with Strength, Willpower, Dexteriy etc anymore you get over it pretty quickly. Yet again, very easy. Also, the attribute points can be changed, swapped at any time in the game! Meaning that for example a Warrior that has specialized in swords can if he finds a nifty axe, swap his sword attribute points to axe instead. Nice, indeed but the skills are another atter. You can only have 8 of them in your quicktab, and thats it. For each mission you go you are stuck with those 8 until you are in a city and can rearange them. This is one of the few bad things with this game cause there are SO MANY skills and so much you want to do it is easily that you try to spend your points evenly over many attributes, making you suck at everything. Nope, kill your darlings and maximise a few and stick with them, use skills that matches the best performance from the attributes and you will be OK.

I tried the game and looked for a companion to do a quest with, I easily hooked up with another newbie after realising that I would never acomplish a goal that involved killing a bunch of nasties. We didn't kill those nasties, just running around solving some quests and helping each other get a bit familiarised with the game. All very easily done and very fun.

I have played some more after that and you are in the fantasy CRPG grind.
I have to say that I really like this idea. It is not very different from Morrowind, which is good imho.

I can definately recomend this game due to the fact that it is up to you how to play it. Go solo, go party, go PvP, for only buying the game. No fee no monthly payments just one dish out for the game and you are ready to go.
Since I am still in the beginning process I can't say much about the story etc, but it exists there and you have goals and you have options. You can make items and such and you learn "skills" that you must choose (only boggle with this game so far) before you go out and you can only have 8 skills in total for each adventure. However you only have to go to a town to be able to switch them, but it is still a ahssle and feels a bit restricted. If you don't like "real" people, there are alot of bots you can take with you on your missions. Honestly, even though these bots do only basic things, I have noticed that sometimes these low level bots help me through certain missions alot better then a grou of EGO playes running hrough like crazy chickens on speed.

I can recomend you to read about and visit official site and if you get the chance, try it.
Oh, did I mention that it is beautiful too?
http://www.guildwars.com/

-Wolfgir-