Guild Wars Nightfall
Rating:  -
I was surprised to find that they had actually made this expansion much more limiting as to what you can do without help from others, whether it be npc's or pc's. and for some reason(probably people are getting just as sick of this game as I am) I find there are a whole lot less people playing the game now then when it first came out and for a good while thereafter.
and worst part is, like the other reviewer noted, there is still a lot of bickering and rude behavior in the game. unfortunately, many of those are still playing the game, while the more decent player seems to have, to a very large degree, simply quit playing the game. and this makes for a very frustrating gaming experience.
I would recommend other ventures or avenues of entertainment. if it's gaming you desire, I'd look elsewhere. there is very little effort put into keeping the players in line. with the game being designed for teens, I'd think they should do something about that. who wants their kids at recess with nobody present at all to keep them in line?
Rating: -
The thing I notice quickly about the entire series is that it remains the same no matter how many expansions they do. It's just another hack n slash, but, the worst thing about it is there is no improvement on equipment. Weapons, Armor, Runes, magical items, shields, etc. all remain the same as in the origional. That +15% weapon you got in Prophecies is still as good as the +15% weapon you get in Nightfall and/or Factions. Without player/character improvements this series is destine for boredom much faster with each rendition.
Once you have leveled up at least one character to level 20 the repitition is tedious and boring to say the least since it requires going thru the same content over and over and just hacking and slashing your way thru it. It's an experience grind, but, there's no other reason to level up since there isn't any improved equipment to be had.
I grew bored playing Faction and were it not for the Alliance battles and the fort battles I would have quit playing the series a long time ago. Adding Heroes to the game does nothing for me except add more ignorant Ai performance during battles although it does allow me to keep them in place while I pull....about the only improvement worth Nightfall purchase.
Bottom Line if you have the others and only if you play the non-pvp portion of the game will you really get anything of value out of this expansion. My suggestion is just wait until the price falls as it already has by $10 I see. It's just not the mmorpg that it should be. If they would separate pvp from non-pvp and allow players to progress in higher levels and equipment this by far would be an outstanding non pay to play game. Chances of that happening are nill to none, but, we can hope soon someone will pickup on this idea that that is what single player players want.
Rating:  -
You've probably already read the gaming reviews on this, so you know the stats: new Hero system, new items, new classes, no monthly fee, etc.
One of the most important new additions to the game series is the Hero system, where you can customize and have much greater control over your Heroes (upgraded henchmen). I tend to solo a lot, since I rarely have blocks of time or have the patience to deal with other players, so this lets me get an often more competent (you customize their skills) team together. The beauty of this latest Chapter is that it enhances all previous Chapters (Prophecies and Factions): you can use your Heroes in the prior Chapters. This backwards compatibility was quite the bonus to my prior investment, and rewarding loyal players is EXACTLY the right thing to do.
Every Chapter, ArenaNet has upgraded the graphics engine, and Nightfall continues that trend. I know, I know, gameplay > graphics, but this scores on both counts. Graphically, it has spoiled me for many other games, and the art direction and creativity is nothing short of astounding.
As for cons, it isn't quite as casual gamer-friendly as some of the other titles out there, such as City of Heroes. You do need to learn about how skills work, and sometimes you get item drops (there is loot!) that you don't know what to do with. However, if you know how to read, you can just look it up on the 'net.
I've found this latest release to actually be their best one yet, and I'm still debating whether to recommend new players pick up Chapter One (Prophecies) for the storyline or this one for sheer features and streamlined gameply and story. They've truly learned from the previous two Chapters and incorporated the lessons into Nightfall.
Rating:  -
I will forgo my usual page and a half review which I normally write for games. Nightfall I just don't feel warrants it. Almost everything is the same in this newer version of Guild Wars. You have eight skills that can be equipped at any one time, there is a point and click battle system, missions and quests, you can have eight people in your party blah blah blah. Everything is essentially the same. The only real difference is the heroes system. In Nightfall you are given a first hero: Koss who is a warrior and he levels up as you do. Also, his armor automatically levels up and his weapon and focus item can be changed. Skills can be earned for the heroes and equipped how you see fit. These heroes become more helpful as the game goes on because they actually do what you tell them to do. They can also be ordered to certain parts of the map. I suppose many players were complaining about the mental capability of the henchmen and sometimes other players. The hero system was Ncsoft's solution. I must admit it is a much better system and playing by myself is considerably less stressful. I really enjoy MMORPGs but sometimes I just want to go and not be tethered by other players.
Now for the bad parts of Nightfall. As I said before, it is more of the same. In some ways this is good, in others it really sucks. The good part is that the learning curve is very small. You can easily learn the basics of the game within an hour or less. Missions and quests follow the same general convention. One of the smaller things that bothers me is that the armor looks the same until you get well into the game. Downsides of the Nightfall's gameplay is it takes maybe 15-20 hours to reach level 20. You stay on what is referred to as "noob" island for your first fifteen levels at least. Once you get to the main continent you are faced with this overwhelming sense of what do I do now? The worst part is you continue to do endless quests and never really see where the story comes in. After about 30 hours in I just didn't see why I should continue playing. The game is boring - plain and simple. Guild Wars allegiance to the 20 level character cap is ludicrous and is the reason why people ultimately will lose interest with the game. For those of us who want to play the game to experience an RPG are left behind those who play PVP. Guild Wars will never come close to the numbers of subscribers of World of Warcraft because the game gets stale after about a month. Yes, you can customize your weapons a little and dye your armor, but an immersive interactive world this is not. Considering the fourth episode in the series just came out recently, many will be flocking to the stores to give money to these clowns who make sub-par cookie cutter games.
Rating:  -
This game, like its predecessors Guild Wars: Prophecies and Guild Wars: Factions, is designed for players who--
(1) Enjoy a great story and playing a part in that story
(2) Appreciate fine graphics, stunning landscapes, and strikingly rendered monsters and battle effects
(3) Enjoy small group/solo adventuring
(4) Enjoy strategizing, exploring, and questing
(5) Can sometimes play for long stretches at a time ... but can often only play in smaller blocks of 30-60 minutes and still want to have fun and get stuff done
(6) Might have to pause mid-quest to do something else (wash dishes, go for a walk, take out the garbage, answer the phone...) and come back later (Guild Wars, I find, is much more "forgiving" for players who have lives, where World of Warcraft is not, since Guild Wars more or less "holds your place" if you are called away temporarily to do other things)
Nightfall adds new story content, new professions (the paragon [kind of a spear-wielding paladin] and the dervish [a whirling, spinning slice and dicer]), a bucketload of nifty innovations, and ABOVE ALL, HEROES. The heroes are customizable, controllable henchmen that add a whole new dimension to the game--not only to Nightfall but to the two previous editions of Guild Wars as well.
I have to say I am pleased and greatly impressed with Nightfall. I took a character or two over from the previous campaigns and nabbed a few heroes and now those characters are back playing through the Prophecies and Factions missions and quests with their Heroes. I love this!
NCSoft has, in effect, upped the ante and enriched and deepened the playability of ALL of their games at once, although I hasten to add that you must purchase Nightfall to access the new regions (i.e., the beautiful, African-themed Elona), the new missions, and--best of all--the new Heroes.
I have nearly completed the Nightfall campaign (with a dervish and a monk), and all I can say is that it's been great fun. The Guild Wars series just continues to get better, richer, deeper, and more fun to play. Best of all, unlike that other online game behemoth (World of Warcraft), Guild Wars is very casual/solo player friendly, both time-wise and group-wise. You can complete virtually any quest or mission in this campaign ALONE (with henchmen), if that is your playing style. It is difficult to do (I *like* difficult, heh), but it can be done. I know this because that is how I have played all three Guild Wars campaigns.
People familiar with the first two campaigns and looking for something "totally new" will not find it here but that, in my opinion, is a good thing. Nightfall builds upon and enhances the successful gameplay formula established by Prophecies and Factions, retaining all of the aspects of previous campaigns that players appreciated and yet incorporating new bells and whistles that make the basic story-centered structure better and even more enjoyable.
Whether performing a wide variety of quests and killing countless hosts of monsters and enemies is "grinding" and "boring" or "great fun" really depends on your perspective, I suppose. I think it's great fun. I just completed a quest in this campaign yesterday wherein you must help a herdsman get his cows to safe pasture past mobs of brigands. I found the assignment difficult, creative, and funny all at the same time, with the herd mooing and stampeding every which way and the brigands attacking in waves and cows dying all along the way. Now, that's entertainment! And that was but one quest among ... zillions.
In short, Nightfall is a solid and enjoyable addition to the fine Guild Wars series. I highly recommend it.
____________
[edit (11/14/07): The excellent Guild Wars series ends with its Eye of the North Expansion Pack. Guild Wars 2, a sort of "reinvention" of the game, is due out in 2009 [hopefully!].)
|
