Guild Wars launches today after a big PR campaign which included
giving journalists access to the pre-release game complete with
guides and instructions.
Below is one enthusiastic take on the game's launch ...
Guild Wars is the debut online role-playing game from ArenaNet and it was
almost a year ago that ArenaNet shocked the world by allowing everyone
who had an inkling to do so to try out Guild Wars during the weekend of
E3.
Guild Wars will not charge a monthly fee. Merely buy the game and you
are in. The game will offer new modules in the future, and the
modules will cost additional money, but no $10-$15 monthly fee will be
charged, period.
ArenaNet's unique streaming technology forever eliminates the concept of
patching a game. You don't have to wait a month for the next big patch
to experience new content. Instead, the game constantly and
intelligently streams new content to your computer in the background
while you play.
Guild Wars is created to allow you to play with a group or to play on
your own. It's true that some missions would most likely not be possible
with just one player, but with a system of non-player characters called
henchmen, you can fill out a group without other players joining your
team. You can also use henchmen to enhance a team of players. Simply
choose a henchman from any of four selected professions -- or one of
each -- and head out into the mission. You'll find that the henchmen are
able players, and contribute towards the gameplay in meaningful ways.
Character management is easy to figure out and combat is of the mouse
click variety. Although your character can have many skills at his or
her disposal, they are allowed only eight in any given mission.
Regardless of the reference, the adventuring begins with the universal
first step of creating a character. For at least the immediate future
all player characters will be human -- male or female Some of the names
are a bit unusual, but it's easy enough to recognize them for what they
are. In a few instances, an NPC may grant you the option of exchanging
some skill slots, but only in skill-related quests. New playersÕ
characters are on a different server than yours; in Guild Wars, all
characters live in one seamless world.
With each class currently offering 75 skills, the potential variations
are staggering. Every combination of two classes results in 150 possible
skills from which to choose and with six different classes that
makes&well; we'll leave the calculations to someone else. You don't have
to be a math genius to recognize that it's an unbelievable number of
options.
Guild Wars takes the best elements of today's massively multiplayer
online games and combines them with a new mission-based design that
eliminates the tedium of those games.
Within a quest you have unprecedented freedom and power to manipulate
the world around you: your magic can build bridges and open up new
pathways, or it can burn down forests and tear the ground asunder.
Two main sorts of adventures await players. Missions, complete with
cinematics, advance a high-fantasy "save the world" central storyline.
Quests offer a less involved experience for those times when you're more
looking to just get together with a couple buddies and go slay some
monsters, or even if you want to go by yourself. For those times when no
one you feel like grouping with is around, computer controlled henchmen
hang out by the gates to help fill out your party as needed.
Guild Wars has an ability to let you take from it what you want. For one
player, it could be all about playing through the story, doing side
quests and adventuring either solo or with friends. To another, the
quests and missions may only be a means to an end and once having
reached high enough level focusing on a gladiatorial career for the
glory of self or their guild. For most we expect it will be some
combination of the two, but it's the versatility to enjoy whatever you
feel like on any given day that's most promising. All that remains to be
seen is whether it can deliver on the potential and become the next
online fantasy star.
Guild Wars will be on most store shelves on April 28th, but preorder
customers will be able to enter Guild Wars on 12:01 a.m. Pacific on
April 27th. The period of Early Access will extend for 48 hours.
For all theÊ information on Guild Wars check
http://www.guildwars.com
Mstation Games Review
Fri, 29 Apr 2005
http://www.computerandvideogames.com
http://www.gwonline.net
