Guild Wars 2 takes place in the classic mmo fantasy setting. Slaying, ogres, bandits, and dragons of course. While many people are sick of the fantasy theme many still quite enjoy it. I personally don't mind the setting, though it doesn't score it any points in my book.
Visually, the game is actually quite nice looking. I just barely can't run Guild Wars 2 on max and have to peg the rendering down to 'normal'. On the plus side, unlike many modern games, in particular rpgs, there are no muddy textures slapped next on to hi-res ones. At least none that I saw. On the downside, it still has the ugly (yet much smaller) hotbar we've seen over and over.
| Chopping trees has never before been so pleasant to look at. |
The story is quite good. It really seems to depend on what race you pick (yes, every race has its own fully voiced story) and a few choices. Personally I favor the Charr the most but I enjoyed Human as well. Your choices do matter a bit, though the general ending to the game is the same. I personally really quite enjoyed the voice acting as well, they even got the main character from 'The Guild' Felicia Day to voice one of the characters.
Gameplay wise I'd say it's great. Unlike a lot of other mmos you won't be standing still, doing nothing but watching your character attack is an easy way to get bombarded by mobs. The game really focuses on positioning, and the dodge in the game is quite useful and important. In fact, you can kill some quite high level monsters, even champions solo if you can time your dodging well.
Of course, one of the most important parts of a mmo, is the progression. The leveling system is amazing, it actually is pretty much the same curve all the way from 30 to level 80. Meaning almost every level from 30+ will take you roughly an hour and a half. And as a plus for some and minus for others, everything scales. When you're level 80 and go into a level 5 zone, you'll have stats similar to a level 5. The drops do scale to your actual level, which is nice, but also makes it somewhat questionable why you would ever want to kill monsters in higher level areas.
Of course, leveling in mmos has never been fun. Well, not until now anyways. There is no grind in Guild Wars, or rather, the grind is fully optional and discouraged. Killing mobs will grant very little XP and often common loot, while doing things like exploring (yes, you get xp for exploring the map) and doing events will reward you greatly. And of course, crafting is important in Guild Wars, though I managed to hit level 80 without actually making anything and just getting xp off collecting items. This of course, is going to bite me in the ass later when I want to create some of the better weapons in the game.
The combat is pretty dynamic and has plenty of things to mix it up. There's unique skills for being underwater, picking up an object, and your have your own two abilities for your offhand weapon. One of the cooler aspects of the abilities are the combos. Say, have a elementalist place a wall of fire on the ground and have an archer stand behind it shooting arrows through the wall at enemies will actually create fire arrows doing more damage and setting the monster on fire. It really encourages teamwork and makes every class viable.
Speaking of the classes, with no trinity class setup, no dedicated healers or tanks, you won't be kicked out of groups looking for priests here. There really is no way to just be a healer, since every class is actually able to heal themselves, what this means for the average mmo player is that no longer will you be able to be blamed for not healing, or not tanking properly. If you die, it's most often your fault. Of course, running headfirst into a huge group of monsters will probably still get you yelled at.
Some of the boss are really cool and unique. Notably in dungeons they'll often have some special bosses with abilities you won't see elsewhere in the game. In one instance you will fight an archer on a platform whom teleports as his hp drops. Stating he'd rather fight you face to face, he moves to the other platform and takes out his sword. It really helps mix things up, though oddly enough, some of the bosses in dungeons actually end up being easier than the waves of henchmen you'll slaughter your way through. Another complaint is the end game boss, which I'll leave the notes out for spoiler reasons, but I will say quite a few Redditors didn't enjoy it.
| Skyrim ain't got nothing on this. |
The downed system is one of the best innovations in a mmo I've ever seen. Much like Borderlands, when your hit points hit 0 you'll fall and enter a dying mode. Where you'll have a few moments to kill an enemy to get back up. Your friends can revive you (regardless of class, and they can revive you even if you're fully down) or you can heal yourself. With each class getting their own downed abilities. No longer will you die with a boss having that tiny sliver of HP left. Or die several seconds out of combat because of poison.
| The downed system is actually quite fun. And you'll feel great when you get back up with just a sliver left. |
Now, the monthly fee that has been a plague on just about every modern mmo. This fee essentially guarantees no cash shop which gamers today have come to dread. Guild Wars does indeed contain a cash shop, but the purchasable items are majorly for appearance and not much else. There are some fun items like a buyable 'cow drop' ability, which allows one to drop cows on opponents in pvp. There isn't anything super overpowered or 'pay to win' content in the store. Thanks to this, you don't need to feel obligated to play the game and can come back to it anytime. You're actually getting something when you buy this game.
I can't really describe this game in a short review, there's just too much to go over, but generally the game is just astounding. AngryJoeShow had a great review which can be found here .
+NO MONTHLY FEE
+Looks beautiful and just outstanding in some zones
+Plays unique, you won't be standing still watching cooldowns
+The combat is awesome, the downed system removes much of the frustration of other games
+Personal Story is great and even if you don't like the mmo gameplay the story can keep you going
+Events are interesting and there are enough to prevent grinding
+There's no tagging, this game shares xp and rewards, not punishing you for working as a team
+Tons of content for the price, easily comparable to skyrim
+Amazing soundtrack, by the same guy who made Skyrim's music
-No face to face trading?
-Players new to mmos may face some challenges getting into the game
-Still has the mmo feel to it. It's not going to fool anyone into thinking it's a normal RPG.
-Still relies on having a group of friends to play with, game can getting boring solo
10/10
The game isn't perfect by any means obviously. But the game has enough content and honestly a game no one should miss.
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