Gaming Monthly: May 05

[Ankle]

I should play Guild Wars (if I could ever peel myself away from Warcraft), but from what I've heard of it, it sounds less an MMO and more like Phantasy Star Online - where you meet people in one area then move into a personal copy of a area, which is not MMO in my eyes.
Plus, by paying monthly subscription you are giving Blizzard workers their wages so they will keep improving the game. Whereas without a subscription, Guild Wars will most likely slow down as its limits are used up and nothing is improve because they do not have the money to do so.
I will try it one day though. As I will try Lineage II one day. And FFXI... ... One day

They are releasing an expansion pack every ~6 months. Levels are capped forever at 20 even in the expansions since the game is based on skill rather than how many hours you can grind away. I never played Phantasy Star Online but I would consider it Diablo meets fantasy Counter-Strike or something along those lines. The nice thing about not paying the monthly fee and the skill-based gameplay is when I am bored of it and there is no expansion pack yet I can just stop playing until there is one. (Unlike with monthly fees/level grinds and I unsubscribe and end up royaly screwed because everyone has advanced while I have not.) Guild Wars is hardly the greatest game and certainly not deserving of all the ~90%+ reviews, but niether are any of the other MMORPGs in existance currently.

How many major additions have you gotten just paying a monthly fee? (Battlegrounds isn't even live yet so thats about none and its only somewhere between major and moderate.) How many do other games get? Not alot. All the major changes happen in expansion packs that hook you for even more money. The only exception to this so far has been EVE Online but most of the stuff they have added or are still adding well over two years past release is stuff that was supposed to be in before the beta finished. :\

Lineage II is the ultimate level grind. If you enjoy WoW you will probably dispise Lineage II. There is absolutely nothing to do in the game other than grind your levels, run some fedex quests back and forth across the map for class advancement and then participate in castle sieges /if/ you end up in a huge clan in a huge alliance. FFXI is more or less like the above but with worse graphics, a much slower pace and without the PvP. If you never checked out EVE Online, I recommend you do. Out of all the MMORPGs it has been the only one I subscribed to after the beta or 30 day trial. I was subscribed for 7 months on and off before I sold my account after the castor patch. It is truely a MMORPG in the sense as everyone is on one clustered server, no sharding and no instancing. (Well, they added instanced 'dead space' complexes in Shiva but that was to appease those who complain there was no 'dungeons' to crawl in space.)

[Laser.T]

I find myself constantly being told to play this MMO instead, or that MMO instead. I really haven't looked properly into any of them. The reason I fell into Warcraft was because I saw my friend playing the beta and had a go myself and fell in love with it (incidentally, I'd never played an MMO before so I did'nt know much about them). But the main thing I love about RPGs, or any game for that matter, is the world that you find, and the choices that can be made.

I love the Warcraft universe. It fascinates me like the history of Middle-Earth fascinates me. I absolutely love fantasy. And being able to play within this world with a whole history behind it is irresistable. Most other games have a poor quickly made up history just for that game, whereas Warcraft's has been developed through games and books. I also need stories, so thank you for telling me that Lineage is just grinding - I'd hate that.

It also has an amazing amount of choice. Two sides, four races on each side, 9 different classes, even professions. I believe (although I dunno cos the website isn't very informative) that in Guild Wars you can only be human, and you only have 6 general classes (although you can define skills). That isn't enough choice. In Lineage you have 5 races (although there are two races of elves and the orcs look just like green humans) but it seems you can only be a Warrior or Mystic in each. Not enough choice. I like being able to define myself.

The subscription in WoW is unwelcome and Blizzard have a lot to larn about MMOs, but you get over it. Certainly with the amount of time me and my friends have spent playing it. Like smoking, you pay for your addiction 

[Bates]

They are releasing an expansion pack every ~6 months. Levels are capped forever at 20 even in the expansions since the game is based on skill rather than how many hours you can grind away. I never played Phantasy Star Online but I would consider it Diablo meets fantasy Counter-Strike or something along those lines. The nice thing about not paying the monthly fee and the skill-based gameplay is when I am bored of it and there is no expansion pack yet I can just stop playing until there is one. (Unlike with monthly fees/level grinds and I unsubscribe and end up royaly screwed because everyone has advanced while I have not.) Guild Wars is hardly the greatest game and certainly not deserving of all the ~90%+ reviews, but niether are any of the other MMORPGs in existance currently.

That's exactly my point with WoW. You have to invest enough time to play it or
a) you're wasting your monthly fee
b) the people you play with advance while you stay down in the shadows
That, and the really interesting parts of WoW are only available for high level characters.

[Turtle]

I find myself constantly being told to play this MMO instead, or that MMO instead. I really haven't looked properly into any of them. The reason I fell into Warcraft was because I saw my friend playing the beta and had a go myself and fell in love with it (incidentally, I'd never played an MMO before so I did'nt know much about them). But the main thing I love about RPGs, or any game for that matter, is the world that you find, and the choices that can be made.

I love the Warcraft universe. It fascinates me like the history of Middle-Earth fascinates me. I absolutely love fantasy. And being able to play within this world with a whole history behind it is irresistable. Most other games have a poor quickly made up history just for that game, whereas Warcraft's has been developed through games and books. I also need stories, so thank you for telling me that Lineage is just grinding - I'd hate that.

It also has an amazing amount of choice. Two sides, four races on each side, 9 different classes, even professions. I believe (although I dunno cos the website isn't very informative) that in Guild Wars you can only be human, and you only have 6 general classes (although you can define skills). That isn't enough choice. In Lineage you have 5 races (although there are two races of elves and the orcs look just like green humans) but it seems you can only be a Warrior or Mystic in each. Not enough choice. I like being able to define myself.

The subscription in WoW is unwelcome and Blizzard have a lot to larn about MMOs, but you get over it. Certainly with the amount of time me and my friends have spent playing it. Like smoking, you pay for your addiction 

About Guild Wars:
Yes, you can only be human.  I don't like that much, but it makes sense in the context of the story.  The story itself is actually one of the more interesting aspects of the game.  While WoW has quests and occasional stories for you to read, GW has a nice long campaign complete with cutscenes and voice acting.  You get to play cooperative missions with friends and/or NPCs you recruit and watch the story develop.  Although the GW world hasn't existed as long as Azeroth, so far I've enjoyed my stay quite a bit so far.  The manual/novel also tells a pretty interesting history.  I'd check it out if any of your friends have it.

[DivineImpurity13]

Heh, I wish I had WoW or Star Wars Galaxies.

As for what I've been playing: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and...

That's about it. ^^ (The reason I've been playing it all month is because I beat the game with a light guy, now I'm being a dark girl.)

[L'homme magique]

In between getting alternately masterful with and pissed off at Gothic's control scheme, I've been installing Morrowind mods and watching my game crash.

[Ankle]

Guild Wars actually has a fair amount of choice. Skill/Class wise that is. You can get 250 skills and setup endlessly different builds of your character with them and ever class combination (Primary/Secondary) plays differently. The only thing I wish as far as choice goes would be more armor styles. Without clipping from the damn guild capes at that.

Laser: If you like Sci-Fi as well, I'd highly recommend trying EVE. It has endless choices and is the most open ended game from character creation to how you play. Its quite a bit like the old Elite, if not the spirtual successor to it. You can also download the game and create an account online which is easier than buying it generally. The only thing you might dislike or love about eve, depending how you play, is the PvP. You are never safe, anywhere. The game revovles alot around Corporations (Clans/Guilds) and the fractions which often war. Space tends to be quite deadly, even more so when you leave 'secure' empire space which is patroled by CONCORD. There is only one clustered server with /all/ the players on it so you are all in the same giant galaxy. All this discussing is actually making me want to go back to it, almost wish I didn't sell my account now. :|

[Laser.T]

Tha'ts probably why I won't play EVE - I'm not interested in sci-fi. (In fact I often see my perspective of the world as looking back, rather moving forward.) I've played plenty of futuristic/space games but I cannot get into them for long at all. I do'nt think EVE would appeal to me, especially now that you tell me of all the PvP - that's the worst part of WoW for me.

[Outboundlight]

I agree with a lot of whats being said here in terms of Guild Wars/MMORPGs in general.

First off, yeah the story - at first I wasnt so impressed when I read the lore they had posted on the site way back when. But after playing the beta events and sinking my teeth into the lore book you get with the game I'm really beginning to like it. The Game itself sold me on the story completely, I love the way the narrative affects the game and I think its going to have a big affect on how succesful their whole system is.  Because everything is instanced, the missions can be more plot specific and can even include cinematics featuring you and your party. Also, given the setting I think its fair enough that you can only play as a human. I'm a little biased as i almost always play as a human in RPGs but I like what theyve done here. A lot of the sterotypical fantasy elements are left out, theres no elves or orcs (though theres still dwarves afaik) and a conscious effort has been made to come up with fairly original enemies and monster. I think Guild Wars would loose its grim atmosphere if there were other player races. There would be less emphasis on political tension and the sense of a desperate struggle between man and beast (type things...) would be lessened.
I'm only level 9 at the minute but I'm already looking forward to the first expansion pack. I love what they did with the tutorial type area and how Ascalon is changed forever by the searing. Thats what I expect from expansion packs, stuff that moves the plot forward as well as providing new gaming oportunities.
I agree with ankle in that I kind of wish there was more ways to customize your character and unfortunetely that seems unlikely to change, The first MMORPG i played was SWG and the character customizing options are staggering so I guess thats what I'm used to.

All in all. Everyone should play it. Its easily worth the £20 or whatever you'll pay for it on amazon or Play.com or whatever.

go Sinistrals!

[Drakonis]

To those talking about Lineage 2...

Heres my first Lineage 2 beta experience, honest to god (call me shallow)

Logged in
Made a dark elf
Moved my dark elf
Saw my dark elf run
Laughed my ass off
Logged out
Uninstalled


I did give the game another chance with my fiancee and reinstalled it, but I still found the game to be totally not-to-my-liking. The original lineage was much more fun in my opinion.

[Ankle]

To those talking about Lineage 2...

Heres my first Lineage 2 beta experience, honest to god (call me shallow)

Logged in
Made a dark elf
Moved my dark elf
Saw my dark elf run
Laughed my ass off
Logged out
Uninstalled


I did give the game another chance with my fiancee and reinstalled it, but I still found the game to be totally not-to-my-liking. The original lineage was much more fun in my opinion.

Whats wrong with the run? They look cool. Dark Elves and the Elves in Lineage 2 are sexy too. Probably the only reason I managed to keep playing until the end of the closed beta, at that point I had enough damn grinding for one life time.

...
I agree with ankle in that I kind of wish there was more ways to customize your character and unfortunetely that seems unlikely to change, The first MMORPG i played was SWG and the character customizing options are staggering so I guess thats what I'm used to.
...

That seems to bother me in every game. Never enough ways to look unique and different than everyone else. Lineage 2 was the worst for this, there was all of two faces and a couple hair styles and all the armor was more or less just slightly different. I look forward to blowing 75,000 gold on the special GW armor set for my necromancer. Infact I look forward to blowing it again on the other one so I can switch between them when I feel like it. Then there is the cost of materials and black dye on top of that. (For the record, the armor has the same stats as the 15k set but it just looks /different/.)

* Ankle dies

Tha'ts probably why I won't play EVE - I'm not interested in sci-fi. (In fact I often see my perspective of the world as looking back, rather moving forward.) I've played plenty of futuristic/space games but I cannot get into them for long at all. I do'nt think EVE would appeal to me, especially now that you tell me of all the PvP - that's the worst part of WoW for me.

You probably wouldn't like EVE then. The entire game was planned to be player based. Everything PvP, economy, missions and etc. It didn't quite end like that but it almost is entirely so. (To be honest, I wish it did end up 110% player based like they played. It would be alot better at stopping the horrid devaluation of the currency for one.)

[chompy]

I have been playing two games at the moment:

1. Gulidwars - MMoRPG goodness without the M bit in it so its just a MMog I mean MoRPG??? either way

2. Trackmania - linky , Think of a racing game akin to stunts created in this day and age, is fun, nice graphics and that is the game. The demo is up for download but is a bit big. Only cost me 50AUD (1/2 normal game cost new) so that was a big factor in my procurement issue of choosing a game. I loved the original one too, Fun without the frills


Let me just edit this a tiny bit to make a bit more sense.

THIS
PENIS! !
RED

tomorrows wednesday, im getting my hair cut.



.....

thats right. pointless, non?

I got my hair two days ago.  To answer your question yes and no, depending in what relation you are using your statement in. If it was in relation to what game you are/have been playing the answer would be yes. Maybe some spam maybe some useless information, the randomness of the Internet is behold us. Behold the randomness of the Internet. Although if it was in relation to when you are/got your hair cut, the question wouldn't render itself totally useless. Therefore in this situation your remark is totally valid.

[MDX]

fix your bold tag, then ill properly reply.

[chompy]

I got my hair two days ago.  To answer your question yes and no, depending in what relation you are using your statement in. If it was in relation to what game you are/have been playing the answer would be yes. Maybe some spam maybe some useless information, the randomness of the Internet is behold us. Behold the randomness of the Internet. Although if it was in relation to when you are/got your hair cut, the question wouldn't render itself totally useless. Therefore in this situation your remark is totally valid.

Told tag??? that is how it was ment to be, a hidden message within my message !!!

But here is the second message with the bold tag properly used

[L'homme magique]

What the fuck o_q