By Jason Van Horn
Guild Wars 2 is an MMO quite unlike any other one on the market, which
breaks from what's considered the "norm" when it comes to the MMO genre. It's a
game that puts the massively multiplayer back in massively multiplayer online
role-playing game. A game where social interaction is stressed and you're free
to play the game how you want in a myriad of ways. For all its strengths,
however, is Guild Wars 2 the "revolution" it claims and the one that gamers
want?
Players begin their Guild Wars 2 adventure in the character creation system,
where you'll first choose your starting race and what profession you're going to
be. The game features five different races: the Asura (small gremlin/goblin
looking creatures), the Sylvari (humanoid plants), Humans (duh), the Norn
(taller than usual humans basically), and the Charr (cat-like creatures of
evil). After choosing your race it's time for your profession, and unlike some
other games in the genre, there are no restrictions when it comes to what race
can be what profession. For example, the Charr isn't the first race you'd think
of when it comes to playing a magic-wielding character, but you can go against
type and play that exact character if that's what you want. The professions
include: Engineer (uses guns and various turrets and gadgets to do battle with),
Necromancer (does battle using deathly powers), Thief (quick and sneaky),
Elementalist (wields the four forces of nature), Warrior (charges in swinging
wildly), Ranger (a long-distance hunter who can mix it up close), Mesmer
(specializes in illusion magic), and Guardian (frontline offense that takes a
licking and keeps on ticking).
Once those two choices are made you're allowed to tweak your character's look
using a system that is fairly robust, though not necessarily the best on the
market. You'll start by picking pre-made options for things such as face,
hairstyle, and skin pattern, and then be able to tweak and adjust elements of
your character such as how high your nose sits, how big your ears are, and other
such features as you see fit. Guild Wars 2 features a lot of color customization
options, allowing you to change the color of your skin, the color of your hair,
and primarily the color of your equipment as armor you get conforms itself to
the colors you chose. You can find dyes to change appearances after initially
choosing a color palate for your character, but I personally like the fun of a
game pre-coloring armor and letting me discover what it looks like when
equipped; choosing your own color scheme just gives you a lot of outfits that
look the exact same in many ways.
Character creation continues through a series of questions, which all goes
towards putting you in your Personal Story, which is your own, customized story
to take you through the heart of the game's "main story." It's a different take
on storytelling and one that I think works very well for the most part. Unlike
many games in the genre where there are one or two stories that play out
depending on whether you're on the side of good or evil and all secondary
characters will follow that exact same story to the letter, in Guild Wars 2 I
could make two Norn Mesmers, for example, and as long as I chose different
answers I'd get different story missions as I advance through the game. For that
matter, I could create two Norn Mesmers, pick the exact same choices, and still
get a different story at certain branches. One of my initial Personal Story
choices had me seeing a vision of a warrior wearing emerald armor, but had I
chose differently I'd never experienced this first storyline of the game, and
would have instead got something different. Furthermore, as the game progressed,
I was offered how I wanted to approach a quest given the situation; would I go
rescue the maker of the armor or go to the woman he has a crush on and have her
trick him into weakening himself so that she could get revenge on him. The only
drawback to the Personal Story system is that while it certainly lends itself to
role-playing, at times I couldn't help but feel that the world was missing the
epic grandeur of a main, world quest.
Personally speaking, I enjoy the quests of a "normal" MMO like say World of
Warcraft as long as the writing and storytelling is good. Besides the huge world
changing events like a Lich King trying to seize control of the land or a giant
dragon wrecking the world and permanently changing its landscape, I enjoy the
larger (though still intimate feeling) stories contained not just within zones,
but pockets within zones. I like having that narrative carrot hanging from the
stick, driving me to move towards one location after another and uncovering new
stories as I go. One of the problems I have with Guild Wars 2 is that it lacks
structure or at least a linear narrative one could follow if they wanted.
Instead, players are given public events as a "somewhat" string to guide them
along safely into each progressively harder zone, as well as dynamic events.
Much like Warhammer Online (the first game I can actively recall that started
the trend), scattered throughout the world are public events, which task you
with different goals to accomplish; do so and you'll be rewarded experience,
money, etc. Dynamic events are the closest thing you'll find to a quest chain,
but with how random these events happen, you'll often stumble into one by
accident and catch if halfway through and therefore not even know what's
happening in the first place. If you can stick with a dynamic event from
beginning to end, you'll find some fun, slowly unfolding narratives, but nothing
that really hooked me.
Many gamers will say that a freeform world lends itself to feeling real and more
alive than those in other games, and while that certainly feels like the case at
times, Guild Wars 2 actually felt more to me like a console RPG or platformer.
Guild Wars 2 is a huge world and the developers want you to explore every nook
and cranny, thus the reason why there are so many game markers, points-of-view,
and skills scattered about the world; they want you to explore at your leisure
and discover and make your own adventure as you go. I won't say it wasn't fun
being told I'd just discovered a new location, but it was boring to go out of my
way for the sole purpose of running into an area close enough to the marker for
it to register in my journal and then instantly teleport (all it costs is
finding a waypoint, unlocking it, and then paying a little money) away. It's
like going to see the White House, taking one quick look at it, and then turning
around and heading off to see the next monument just to say you've done it. The
game encourages you to explore, but not necessarily to linger and enjoy an area.
Another exploration system comes by the way of the hidden vista points, which
are often placed quite high into the air and requires you to find the opening
"stair" and then running and jumping your way to the top as if you were a
plumber named Mario. I'm not against doing a little platforming in order to 100%
a zone map, but finding where the opening steps take place can be a chore and
then having to try a running and jumping puzzle multiple times because of
falling off really tries my patience.
As I said, since the game lacks any real linear nature, it's all too easy to get
lost...even when the game does try to lead you through the dark and into a new
zone. When I'm done with a zone, I like knowing that the quest leading me into
the next area is ultimately one that will take me to a place featuring creatures
and quests of my level. Now maybe it's just me, but when I leave a starting
zone, I expect to find myself in a territory that's fitting for me, and not
clear across the map and thrust into an area with characters several levels
above my own; 15 to 16, sure, but no way should I leave a 15 area and find
myself looking down at a simple wolf who kills me with several attacks just
because the developers decided to improperly place enemies. Seriously, how the
heck do you leave a starting area and the first thing you find is one of the
higher level mobs of that zone? You place those guys on the opposite side of the
map!
Combat in Guild Wars 2 is fast and fluid, as you move into position to attack,
out of the range of attacking foes, and dodge blows. Combat is also unique for
the fact that characters don't learn an all-encompassing list of spells and
abilities that can be used in spite of whatever weapon they're using, as the
bulk of your abilities will be tied directly to the weapon you're using;
equipping a greatsword will give you different abilities than when you're
wielding a sword and torch. At first you'll only have access to one ability when
equipping a weapon type for the first time, but by using that ability and its
auto-attack, you'll gradually unlock either one, two, or four more abilities
(depending on if it's an off-weapon, one-handed weapon, or a two-handed weapon).
Much like the various systems and mechanics of Guild Wars 2, the weapon swapping
ability system lends itself to a lot of customization - as it allows a class
like the Guardian to not only tank but also take on a long-distance role or even
that of a healer - but at the same time using the same few abilities over and
over gets boring rather quickly. So while it's cool that anyone can be a healer
at seemingly any time and thus you won't have to wait forever to find that
person to fill that group role, the freedom such a system brings also brings
with it restrictions.
The building of your character is expanded upon and further customized by how
you distribute your skill and talent points, which further round out the
abilities you can use in combat or have active as a passive. Skill points are
primarily used to learn new moves and new tiers of deadly and helpful moves open
up as older skills are learned (such as buying five skills in order to unlock
the next tier). Lastly there are talent points, which are mainly used to enhance
stat numbers, though after spending enough points in a certain category an
ability or new passive will often unlock for use.
One of the biggest problems I have with the game is how daunting and difficult
many things seem when first experienced. I've never been a fan of crafting as I
rarely do it or at least not for long in any given game, and while it's great to
gain level experience by simply farming something like ore, the process of
actually making it into something feels extremely complicated to me and left me
gathering resources more for the experience than the crafting rewards. New
recipes are learned out of nowhere. New recipes can be learned by trying to
combine resources (though I rarely manage to have the goods needed to discover
one). Resources can be stored in a special collection menu, but the moving of
goods is a pain. I got so frustrated early-on that I went to Youtube to see a
step-by-step guide to crafting just to get an idea how to properly do it.
The whole game is like this though, as everything is confusing until you get a
hang of things and they suddenly click. What kind of skills or traits should I
get? There aren't questing NPCs? Well how am I going to get levels? How do I do
this? Where is this? How is this done? Guild Wars 2 makes you ask too many
questions and makes you seek the answers somewhere outside the realm of the
game. Another initially confusing system is World Versus World, which pits three
servers against each other in huge battles in order to claim territory and
therefore bonuses to give your server as you're playing the game. When you're
thrust into World Versus World for the first time, you won't have a clue as to
what you should be doing, and even after talking to the NPC trainer who points
out the different goals and tasks, you'll still be running around like a buffoon
and find yourself engaging in flock mentality as you run to wherever everyone
else is or run with other players for the sheer fact that numbers are now on
your side. A few of the capturing aspects of World Versus World were bugged at
times, but once you get by the learning curve it's a lot of funny taking out
players in this PVP mode, knocking down walls using built siege weapons, and
claiming goodies for your server. The game also has standard PVP matches
featuring the same goals of trying to kill the opposing team, capture this
location, or destroy that thing over there. PVP is fun, but if I'm looking for
some player on player action I go straight to World Versus World.
Technically Guild Wars 2 is a treat and a great looking and sounding game. My
computer isn't able to run the game at max settings, but regardless I was still
blown away by how beautiful the world is with its vibrant colors and amazing
architecture and world building. The Human and Norn starting areas don't show
off this creativity as much, but if you go Asura or Sylvari you're in for a
special treat right from the word go. Meanwhile, on the audio side of things,
the soundtrack is lovely, the sound effects are excellent, and the voice work is
all-around solid (though some actors are used for multiple roles it seems with
only slight variations in how their lines are delivered).
Guild Wars 2 features some great ideas (shared kills and no having to wait in
line for your turn to battle a mob = heaven) that work amazingly well and other
games should incorporate, but at the same time despite offering a lot of freedom
to the player to play the game how they want it, there are restrictions and in
the end there are still people left in the dust. Exploring the land is cool, but
I don't like to wander aimlessly without an idea as to what to do. Give me some
linear questing (at least some of the time). Guild Wars 2 isn't the revolution
that the company claims, as there are elements that aren't necessarily a step
back, but rather an overlook that should have been included or at least
considered as an alternate idea. Instead Guild Wars 2 is a solid MMO, which
features a number of evolutionary ideas that will hopefully shape the future of
MMOs still yet to come.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/
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