T w e n t y S i d e d

Let’s break Guild Wars (Prophesies) down into its distinct player goals and activities. You know how we do.

What really sets Guild Wars apart from other MMO games (or whatever we’re calling this thing) is the fact that it even has a story at all. Most MMOs don’t have stories, they have settings. They have an initial state or premise that provides conflict, and you participate in that conflict, forever. (Or until you cancel.) But here we have a story that allows player actions to impact the world itself. The world undergoes drastic changes as the player moves forward, and they are a major part of those changes.

The story here is surprising in how conventional it is. This is a world of fantastic magic, but the conflict portrayed isn’t against some extra-dimensional evil from beyond the nether that threatens the very fabric of reality. It’s pretty much just a war. It’s a war that goes quite badly for the good guys at first, but in the mid stages of the game they aren’t telegraphing a coming conflict with one guy who is behind the whole thing. There doesn’t seem to be a rift that needs closing by a lone hero. No gathering up of the seven shards of awesome holy problem-fixing. No necromancer to kill so that his whole army will collapse into dust and then daises and sunshine appear. No chosen one. And strangely enough, no Prophesies. (Yet.) It’s just a war where the enemy got hold of a tactical advantage (a new magic that lets them fireball a city at a distance) and the good guys are forced to take a beating until they can come up with a way to counter it. Perhaps the story will pick up on one of the more familiar tropes once things get a little further (I’m nowhere near done with the game, and it is called prophesies after all) but for now I’m enjoying the novelty of a story that doesn’t start with the chosen one and end with the defeat of Baron Von Badass.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Guild Wars:
Gameplay”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

I missed a few notes in my last post, so let’s back up and talk about what this thing is before we talk about how it works. Also, we need some screen shots. (Because this game is an excellent excuse to put pretty pictures on my website.)

Yes, this game engages in gleeful and shameless pandering. Fans of ancient Chinese naval vessels rejoice!

Many people are pointing out to me that Guild Wars is not an MMO, and they’re right, although I’m not sure what we should call it. The game has two parts. One is the PvP area, where you can create a full-on maxed-out character and then go and do whatever the PvP types do. The other half of the game is what concerns me, which is the campaign mode.

In campaign mode, you play through a single-player style story. But, you know, online. The towns are a shared space, where you can see everyone else who happens to be in town. You can think of the towns as being massively multiplayer. But as soon as you leave town you enter your very own copy of the wilderness where you’ll fight monsters and do missions to advance the plot. You don’t have to worry about kill-stealing players or people trying to ninja your loot. You’re alone (although you’ll need to have some NPC henchmen with you if you want to get anywhere) and the only way you’ll see another player is if you join their group and go adventuring together.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Guild Wars:
Massively Single Player”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

MMO games have a logic, language, and culture all their own. People talk about using, “AoE to aggro mobs”, and such. While I’ve worked out the basics, you can’t assimilate to something this big in so short a time. I’m still a newbie, and many of these comments apply to MMO’s in general and not just Guild Wars.

I will say this game is exceedingly pretty. The landscape is pretty. The particle effects are pretty. The weather is pretty. The women are pretty. The men are pretty. Especially the men. This game has less testosterone than a romantic comedy with Hugh Grant. Even the beefy warriors have a certain preening, metrosexual look to them. This is what the world would look like if you transported several thousand magazine models and clothing designers into the middle ages. Nobody has the wit to invent a steam engine or a printing press, but they are able to mass produce frilly underwear, boxer shorts, and hair gel for their army. I’ve been seeing screenshots of this game for years, and I had always just assumed it had a modern theme, based on the hair and Victoria’s Secret getups. But no, this is actually another permutation of Ye Olde Swords and Fireballs All Up In Thine Business.

I actually find it hilarious to see this kingdom of people living in this burned out ravaged wasteland of dust and ash, running around with their spotless clothes, fabulous hair, and perfect skin. Obligatory: I guess that’s why they call it fantasy. It certainly makes the game fun to look at.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Guild Wars: First Impressions”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.