Graphics: The world is breathtaking, however the civilization does not feel alive but more like a painted stage, therefore no maximum value. Some textures and places at not up to the high standard. 7/10
Might want to buy a better graphics machine, on 8800GTX w/ 1920*1280 res on a 56" screen there is no better game for graphics. Sure some textures and places are not fully layered yet but given the size of the world (easily 100 times bigger than WoW) you have to give them a break. Realistically this is a 9 or better.
So.... in order for it to be pretty you have to spend.... hmmm... over $500??
2- I disagree with your opinion that WoW makes up the average/norm. 2 million of 300 million in the US, 1 million of the EU, and 5 million of 1 billion people in China hardly make a norm. WoW has a niche audience, sure it is the largest niche, but it is still a niche.
3- I also disagree that you should develop for the norm, you have more of a chance for failure with trying to develop for a norm. You should develop for a niche. Now you should also limit your budget to your niche and have reasonable expectations, but still developing for a niche is a safer strategy. If you develop for your niche, then you are almost garunteed that niche's loyalty since everyone else is developing for the norm.
So OP, we have a difference of opinion sir.
--My opinion of SOH, levels just aint for me. It's a nice game, but I just can't stand levels. If it was a skill based game, then I would probably be playing it now.
--When you resubscribe to SWG, an 18 yearold Stripper finds Jesus, gives up stripping, and moves with a rolex reverend to Hawaii. --In MMORPG's l007 is the opiate of the masses. --The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence! --CCP could cut off an Eve player's fun bits, and that player would say that it was good CCP did that.
OP: Thank you for this long review. I have been searching for some and as usual, most reviews are of the caliber "lol, what a *ç+* game". I understand the review is also reflecting your personal opinion but still, it gave me the answer I was looking for : I'll wait 6 more months and then come back have a look at VG.
----------------------------------------- There are 10 kind of programmers. Those who understand binary code and those who don't.
i find this review to be on target and quite accurate...
however it does make me sad to admit the truth - i have been following vanguard for 3 years now awaiting for the release... yes I'm buying it however i wish they didn't overspend there budget.. it needed a lot more beta testing =(
however whats done is done - if i want to see this game become the great game i want - i have to buy it, otherwise if i act as everyone else and "wait 6 months" they wont have the funding to make the major changes in a reasonable amount of time.
so it seems that the sword is double edged... if everyone waits 6 months to play vanguard than it is quite possible that the game will never finish... though on the other hand - is it worth playing a game that is half finished?
i think so at this point - this game seems the type that i will be playing for 3+ years... so i believe that in the future this will be remembered as the beginning of the greatest game ever. Corney sounding i know... but that's my 2 cents.
There is no point in reviewing a game that just launched. You COULD preview it, but then again there is a difference in PREVIEW and REVIEW. Review is what you see is what you get, preview is what you see you might NOT get. VSoH is constantly changing (from the technical standpoint), a lot of stuff you are discussing may be extended, reduced or completely removed. It is usualy a good idea to wait a month or two and let the game "settle" in. Although the development part usualy never ends, it is generaly assumed the first few months are the heaviest in developing, patching, fixing and catching up on what was missed/messed.
Graphics: The world is breathtaking, however the civilization does not feel alive but more like a painted stage, therefore no maximum value. Some textures and places at not up to the high standard. 7/10
Im not sure what you mean by "painted stage". I undestand that each has his/hers own taste, but VSoH graphics look nothing like painted stuff, technicaly and artistically. Seeing how this is the first time someone reffered to VSOh graphics as "painted" (im guessing you mean pieces of it look out of place?) i would assume your taste in this scenario is rather an exception then common. Personaly id give the graphics a 9/10. The world looks extremely detailed, and only the character models look a bit "wooden" for the lack of a better word (hence the missing 1 point to get a perfect score). This flaw is artistic, not technical. This is not as bad as EQ2 was at the release (rubber dolls, YUK)
Sound: Great music but no voiceover and quite outdated sound effects. 7/10
A fair score. The ambience is great, but a lot of sounds do not work well during certain situations (when someone gets hit by multiple mobs at the same time the following "arg" sound often sounds as a dog barking). Not sure what you mean by outdated sound effects.
Difficulty: Many modern features are missing. Features which Sigil had planned to make the “challenge” bearable like Fellowships or Caravans are not implemented at all. There is a great imbalance in the various starter areas in terms of difficulty. Also some classes are much easier to play then others. The complicated faction system and the lack of any fast travel options force people to group only with those playing the same race for a long time. 4/10
Half true half false. It is true that some starting areas are harder to start at then others and that some classes probably are easier to solo then others (cant say, did not test them all).
But if you had a fast travel routes, wouldnt that effectively made exploring irrelevant? Right now there is a pretty strong exploration element in this game, a cosmetic element, but it is there. Id rather call that a feature rather then a flaw.
No1 is forced to play with you race for a long time. Some races share starting location (woodelf/raki for example). And around level 15 you can pretty much travel anywhere you want... well not ANYWHERE, heh, depends how quick you are at avoiding high level aggro (theres the exploration factor again).
Id give this a score of 6. The current system needs a moderate amount of tweaking, but it is not that bad.
Fun Factor: The quests are mindful and interesting. Many are quite beyond the usual kill X of Y. Crafting and Diplomacy add some fun things to do, even though they seem to lack the focus at the moment. Since both need a long time to delve in, they do not play a central role besides a bit fun gaming for a few days right now. Some quests are really entertaining and thoughtfully designed. 8/10
This factor is a bit vague. I have fun in VSoH at the moment, but some things are much more fun then others. I give 10/10 to crafting and diplomacy, but 6/10 to questing (yeah ive been spoiled by WoW :P)
Character Customization: It almost equals the great character customization of SWG. You really have a lot of sliders to create your own character. However, the races tend to look a bit cloned, since there are no textures and no aging slider. Also extreme deformations have been taken out prior to launch, so no fat or extreme thin characters can be made anymore. Since at this moment there are only 4 haircuts for each race, this is not fully implemented as it is supposed. Since hair is a big feature to really look different, the potential is highly cut. 6/10
The amount of customization is rivaled only by Eve and CoH. I forgot the level of customization SWG used to have (been a while). The number of hair choices compared to the rest of the body is insignificant. I was amazed at how much customization VSoH characters have. A trully "no character looks like the other"...unless everyone uses default settings heh. You have good points on the lacking features, but i dont think the 6/10 is a fair score. More like 8/10
Reviewer’s Tilt: I am split how to judge the game. It has the potential to be a real hit, but Sigil must get to the grip fast! Nowadays players do not have the years of patience people had back in the SWG era, waiting for years for promises and unspoken “somethings we are adding at some time”. There are awesome things in this game, especially if you seek for a richer and deeper world, but much work needs to be done and if you play Vanguard, be sure to have thick hide and good nerves. For the majority I can only advise to wait half a year. 7/10
I agree (except the part to wait half year). Before VSoH, I was extremely sceptical about ANY MMORPG developer. I stopped believing in miracle-patches since SWG. D&L fiasco only strengthened my belief. However, all of this has been shaken by an inhuman level of development shown by Sigil. I think we need to report them to the authorities because the only way someone could achieve this level of development is if they chain their programmers to the toilet-chairs, plug them into feeding tubes and pump their blood with steroids. The development speed has slowed down a bit since the beta (half of their programmers probly died from steroid overdose), but it is still very fast. It was simply crazy during beta.
in conclusion:
Your review is interesting and well written. However, you are reviewing a product that just got out on the shelves and may change a LOT in the following weeks. Id recommend reviewing VSoH in 2 months. I will definitely be reading it.
There is always the question when it is "fair" to review a game. I was in beta and played the last weeks many hours, visiting a lot of places, doing a lot of things. The patches since then contained nothing fundamental. My opinion is, while a new review is surely fair after some months of patching, it is also fair to evaluate a product that is for sale NOW as it is now. Sigil is selling this product for money now, so it's only fair and square to review it as it is at this moment. All else is tea leaf reading into how the game might be. Any halfway educated person will understand that a MMO evolves. I am a gamer for 20 years, and I have seen a constant degrading in the quality of released games in the last years. I understand the reasons behind this. But I fight for the customer's rights to get a finished product, and that Vanguard clearly isnt. Brad McQuaid has admitted it they are releasing it half a year ahead, so I don't really spill any secrets here. ^^
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
There is always the question when it is "fair" to review a game. I was in beta and played the last weeks many hours, visiting a lot of places, doing a lot of things. The patches since then contained nothing fundamental.
I disagree. The patches in the last 2 weeks of beta were nothing but fundamental in the level of changes. Just the FPS fix and crafting/hravesting changes were groundbreaking (I actualy dislike how harvesting now does not require you to push harvesting skills)
My opinion is, while a new review is surely fair after some months of patching, it is also fair to evaluate a product that is for sale NOW as it is now. Sigil is selling this product for money now, so it's only fair and square to review it as it is at this moment. All else is tea leaf reading into how the game might be. Any halfway educated person will understand that a MMO evolves. I am a gamer for 20 years, and I have seen a constant degrading in the quality of released games in the last years. I understand the reasons behind this. But I fight for the customer's rights to get a finished product, and that Vanguard clearly isnt. Brad McQuaid has admitted it they are releasing it half a year ahead, so I don't really spill any secrets here. ^^
Fair enough. However, in order to revie a product that is out now on the market (which is later today I think) you realy need to experience it in-full, or close to it. I doubt you can experience 90% of VSoH content in a few hours, just like you cant realy say which car is good by taking it for a 10 minute ride. The "review after 1-2 months" does not only give time for development to settle in into a more steady pace, but also gives time for the reviewer to experience most of the content available.
Heh, you guys are pretty harsh. My comment wasn't an attack, merely a question, and to anyone who thinks I'm an "aggressive fanboy": know that I will never, ever play this game, since I feel that too much of it is a step backwards for MMOs. I'm still interested in other opinions, though, since Vanguard will undoubtedly have an effect on the shape of things to come. But you've asked a fair question, Elikal, and not rudely, so here's your answer:
I asked why you didn't proofread your review because I couldn't finish reading it. Before giving up entirely, I skipped around to find some smoother sections, but you really should consult someone who's very fluent in English to clean it up. Again, this isn't an attack. You obviously put a lot of time and thought into this piece. That doesn't mean there aren't corrections to be made (for any writer).
To the rest of you who nearly had a stroke upon seeing an impersonal, justified, and constructive criticism: I can't decide whether to envy your carefreeness, that lack of anything in your daily lives that actually merits getting upset about, or to pity your mental state, since you're obviously psycopaths for flipping out at the drop of a hat.
I get accused of being kind of harsh on the game but honestly another few months and this will probably be a pretty good game. I would not pay a dime for it in the state it is in right now mind you. What really sucks is with LoTRO, AoC. PoBS and WAR coming out this year I don't believe it will ever see the player base it should. If it had released last fall and if it had been in better shape it could have easily won me over.
I get accused of being kind of harsh on the game but honestly another few months and this will probably be a pretty good game. I would not pay a dime for it in the state it is in right now mind you. What really sucks is with LoTRO, AoC. PoBS and WAR coming out this year I don't believe it will ever see the player base it should. If it had released last fall and if it had been in better shape it could have easily won me over.
I couldn't agree more, Jackdog. With TBC being released not even two weeks ago, and the four MMO's you mentioned that will probably draw a very large player base, the timing for Vanguard and its current state really couldn't be worse. Very poor decision and it will cost some people a lot of $$$.
I got a chance to see a friend in the LOTRO stress test this past weekend, and despite its lack of PVP, its a pretty dam good game that is going to draw in a lot of players. I wish I could have seen Monster Play.
Big thanks to the OP for this review. I wish more people would put forward reviews like this in forums. Frankly I trust user reviews on forums way more than I will ever (again) trust reviews on major game sites. My outlook on this game so far is that I know pretty much nothing about it, I know the basics only (fantasty concept, major touted features). Getting opinions from users that try to back up their arguements in the one post - as in the users review - helps a lot and saves a lot of time.
My only criticisms, and I would like to think them as being constructive, is when you mention something about graphics, especially bad, throw in a link for a screenshot or 3. Its easy to find 'nice' shots but not so easy to find a pic example of flat textures or something else negative. If you want to compare features of this game to another, try compare it to several others, not just WoW. Not all of us have the goldfish memory spans that a lot of WoW players have (yes I am generalizing sorry).
My situation re Vanguard now is I am quite inclined to wait for this game to develop/patch/settle. I am yet to come into a game that doesn't need this time, however I am no longer willing to pump money monthly into a game that 'might be good later'. WoW taught me that, it was fun but utter garbage in the bang for buck stakes when it came out.
I beta'd the game from beta 4, through beta 5 right up till it went live, and in my opinion, the original poster's review is dead-on. Bravo! The game has great potential, but it also has some great hurdles before it can reach that potential. I agree with the review 100%
The review is a little biased. It gives Brad too much credit. This guy rode in on Lord Britishes curtails. Any reall hardcore gamer knows that what WOW is to EQ EQ was to ultima online. I say was because the rule set for uo is a bit different. Here is the real history that the reviewer didn't mention.
EQ was a highly addictive game with poorly crafted mechanics. I had three level 60's but i hated the game. There wasn't anything else to play. Brad know this, I knew this, but the fanboi's didn't. Now the fanboi's think that their game is worth something but it's really not. It's a time sink, a money drain. Selavi money drain monkeys.
I have played thousands of computer games. Thousdands. I buy one every week. I work 40 hours a week and i'm a full time student. Even if i had time i wouldn't play vangaurd. Neither would my 82 guildies.
not a bad review, but curious about how you rated the game in your "difficulty" category. is this actually meaning "difficult" or "challenging"? in either case, in your description it doesnt really jive with how you've scored it as a 4. unless these are challenges you dont want to see in the game. just an odd category and an odd score that doesnt make sense to me thats all. Not to mention this category alone dropped your overall impression of the game by a very large margin
I know its a fishy category. You could call it coherence, if you want. There are many things to add together which make my impression, like
- spells who are very vague on under what conditions you can use them, the spell description often does not reveal that
- many things you dont know if it is a change, a set concept or a bug; example: rangers got sneak, but many report they dont see their hide and sneak skill, now everyone wonder is ranger is just ISNT skill based or if its bugged
- or the entire reality debate: ppl tell it is realistic that a journey is dangerous; a friend of mine from Tanvu was killed by some lv 28 spider; fine, but the entire area is just so dense with spiders, every 20 meter one. If you walk through any real wild forests in USA or Canada, sure if you meet that bear, you're dead. But there aren't bears every 20- meters. Even without ranger skills you have a big chance to avoid being killed merely by geometry. So travelling is artificially high which is not realistic and hinder guildies to meet. I personally see no gain in that.
- I died dozens of times from bugs, like enemies attacking me through walls or warping away 50 - 400 m and still attack me
- many quests still have no map waypoint, some have for some players, for some its obviously bugged
- the entire faction thing is too complicated; ideally if you create a character you have to consult a long list who is KOS where. thats not bad as idea, but in practice too complicated; a game should be playable without external sources IMO and be self-explanatory
and so on, things of that caliber
I feel ya..
I give ya creds for having the balls to voice your opinion about the game here. like I said I do agree with quite a bit of what you said, but some things I come from a different side of the spectrum (like the point we're discussing above)
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
Originally posted by Shoal "SoE is not going to be involved" ? ? ? Yeah sure. Just forced it to be launched 1yr to soon. With unfinished content. Loads of defects. Poor quality. And so forth.
Don't blame SOE for this premature launch. It was in development for 4 years before SOE even got involved. Microsoft was the original financier and SIGIL bought them out of their contract. Now where Sigil got that money? No clue. Could have been loaned by SOE but could not have. SOE did loan Sigil money so the beta could last till now otherwise they would have had to launch 6 months ago according to Sigil's statements.
So SOE saved Sigil's bacon by letting them release a game with potential rather than a game that was DOA.
There is no point in reviewing a game that just launched. You COULD preview it, but then again there is a difference in PREVIEW and REVIEW. Review is what you see is what you get, preview is what you see you might NOT get. VSoH is constantly changing (from the technical standpoint), a lot of stuff you are discussing may be extended, reduced or completely removed. It is usualy a good idea to wait a month or two and let the game "settle" in. Although the development part usualy never ends, it is generaly assumed the first few months are the heaviest in developing, patching, fixing and catching up on what was missed/messed.
Soon as they charge for it then it is fair game for a review and no you don't have to review every single inch of the game nor even a majority to get a feel for the overall game. Like you said MMO's constantly change so soon as you hit 90% seen/done then they add something so you would never be able to "Review" it according to your rules.
Now I do agree that it should be Re-Reviewed every year at least or every expansion whichever comes first.
There is no point in reviewing a game that just launched. You COULD preview it, but then again there is a difference in PREVIEW and REVIEW. Review is what you see is what you get, preview is what you see you might NOT get. VSoH is constantly changing (from the technical standpoint), a lot of stuff you are discussing may be extended, reduced or completely removed. It is usualy a good idea to wait a month or two and let the game "settle" in. Although the development part usualy never ends, it is generaly assumed the first few months are the heaviest in developing, patching, fixing and catching up on what was missed/messed.
Soon as they charge for it then it is fair game for a review and no you don't have to review every single inch of the game nor even a majority to get a feel for the overall game. Like you said MMO's constantly change so soon as you hit 90% seen/done then they add something so you would never be able to "Review" it according to your rules.
Now I do agree that it should be Re-Reviewed every year at least or every expansion whichever comes first.
Ive got 2 questions.
Do you think its a fair review if the person reviewing desnt go further then starting town?
How much content (in percent) would be required to go through in order to qualify someone to review the game?
Well, i was not in beta and i only recently started to read about the game. So i bought the game yesterday, installed it and gave it a try. What came into my mind was your review.
I play games since the Amiga was introduced and i am a EQ2 player at the moment. I am roleplaying as well as raiding an questing. My PC is a AMD 3500+ with 2 GB mem and a X800GTO. Installation and registration was flawless. Performance is ok for my system. (well, except the SOE loader. But its not Sigils fault and we Station players learned to live with it :P and this only happenes to people who allready have a SOE game installed )
I created a woodelf. Cusomization was very good, not excellent though. But i couldnt get near to a look like the woodelves in the picture above. Either those hairs are only possible on best graphic settings or i missed something or they are just not in game. I ll have a look into the settings tonight. Anyways, a top looking toon should be possible imho, even with lower graphics.
I didnt run into any bugs so far and the content of the few quests i did where immersive. The world design seems to be awsome. So far it seems to be a good game.
Now for the downers :P
Animations are sub par. This is 2007 and a new game should be able to beat the older ones or should be on par with them. This includes combat animation. I never felt really like in combat. My first poison DoT didnt have any visual effect or in other words it had no visual feedback. For the sake of immersion i would like to have a visual feedback and not just an icon on the UI. Switching focus from gameworld to UI is bad and no fun ever. (Again that might be something of the graphics settings. I run the game on balanced. Will look into it tonight) The idle animation is dull. Standing there and breathing. Dead eyes staring holes into the air.
Apropos UI This is the 2nd big downer. I usually dont really care for the UI. If an interface isnt good, i switch to a better custom UI. No big deal. But in this case its the UI for the quests. Oh my sigil... Again: maybe i missed something in the settings. What i saw was the worst quest UI possible. Really, i do understand that the game was released early, i even could accept that DEVs decided to not use voice over at all. But as it is now there is no immersion at all. There is no interaction with the NPCs. I have to read in a book what the NPC is telling me. This urges me to move focus from the game to UI again. I know some hate them some love them... **speech bubbles** And those who hate them may switch them off in the settings.
I do like the way consider is implemented. I like it when my view isnt messed up with over head text and signs. But in combat i want to see the HP bar of the enemy and not again switch focus to UI.
While i stand still ingame or just explore i am very immersed. But any action i take is breaking it. This is a brain washer :P
Ok, those where the ugly. Nor for the silly. Why is the starter weapon and the first weapon i was able to loot for a shaman bigger then the little shaman girl itself ? Everything i saw in this world seems to be realistic fantasy. A hammer the size of a woodelf isnt real and isnt fantasy. Its just silly.
I really will give this game a try. At least for the included 30 days. But its a 50/50 situation and i still have to find the big hook. I hoped for a game thats beating the existing ones, but vanguard isnt it.
Comments
Fantastic review that is on target. Thank you!
p.s., I love how people who can't refute an argument turn to grammar and/or spelling. Don't let it bother you. It just means that you are right.
Are you in-$%*#@-sane!?!
Wait, your a vanboy... nevermind.
1- I agree that SOH was released early.
2- I disagree with your opinion that WoW makes up the average/norm. 2 million of 300 million in the US, 1 million of the EU, and 5 million of 1 billion people in China hardly make a norm. WoW has a niche audience, sure it is the largest niche, but it is still a niche.
3- I also disagree that you should develop for the norm, you have more of a chance for failure with trying to develop for a norm. You should develop for a niche. Now you should also limit your budget to your niche and have reasonable expectations, but still developing for a niche is a safer strategy. If you develop for your niche, then you are almost garunteed that niche's loyalty since everyone else is developing for the norm.
So OP, we have a difference of opinion sir.
--My opinion of SOH, levels just aint for me. It's a nice game, but I just can't stand levels. If it was a skill based game, then I would probably be playing it now.
--When you resubscribe to SWG, an 18 yearold Stripper finds Jesus, gives up stripping, and moves with a rolex reverend to Hawaii.
--In MMORPG's l007 is the opiate of the masses.
--The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence!
--CCP could cut off an Eve player's fun bits, and that player would say that it was good CCP did that.
OP: Thank you for this long review. I have been searching for some and as usual, most reviews are of the caliber "lol, what a *ç+* game". I understand the review is also reflecting your personal opinion but still, it gave me the answer I was looking for : I'll wait 6 more months and then come back have a look at VG.
-----------------------------------------
There are 10 kind of programmers. Those who understand binary code and those who don't.
i find this review to be on target and quite accurate...
however it does make me sad to admit the truth - i have been following vanguard for 3 years now awaiting for the release... yes I'm buying it however i wish they didn't overspend there budget.. it needed a lot more beta testing =(
however whats done is done - if i want to see this game become the great game i want - i have to buy it, otherwise if i act as everyone else and "wait 6 months" they wont have the funding to make the major changes in a reasonable amount of time.
so it seems that the sword is double edged... if everyone waits 6 months to play vanguard than it is quite possible that the game will never finish... though on the other hand - is it worth playing a game that is half finished?
i think so at this point - this game seems the type that i will be playing for 3+ years... so i believe that in the future this will be remembered as the beginning of the greatest game ever.
Corney sounding i know... but that's my 2 cents.
Im not sure what you mean by "painted stage". I undestand that each has his/hers own taste, but VSoH graphics look nothing like painted stuff, technicaly and artistically. Seeing how this is the first time someone reffered to VSOh graphics as "painted" (im guessing you mean pieces of it look out of place?) i would assume your taste in this scenario is rather an exception then common. Personaly id give the graphics a 9/10. The world looks extremely detailed, and only the character models look a bit "wooden" for the lack of a better word (hence the missing 1 point to get a perfect score). This flaw is artistic, not technical. This is not as bad as EQ2 was at the release (rubber dolls, YUK)
A fair score. The ambience is great, but a lot of sounds do not work well during certain situations (when someone gets hit by multiple mobs at the same time the following "arg" sound often sounds as a dog barking). Not sure what you mean by outdated sound effects. Half true half false. It is true that some starting areas are harder to start at then others and that some classes probably are easier to solo then others (cant say, did not test them all).
But if you had a fast travel routes, wouldnt that effectively made exploring irrelevant? Right now there is a pretty strong exploration element in this game, a cosmetic element, but it is there. Id rather call that a feature rather then a flaw.
No1 is forced to play with you race for a long time. Some races share starting location (woodelf/raki for example). And around level 15 you can pretty much travel anywhere you want... well not ANYWHERE, heh, depends how quick you are at avoiding high level aggro (theres the exploration factor again).
Id give this a score of 6. The current system needs a moderate amount of tweaking, but it is not that bad.
This factor is a bit vague. I have fun in VSoH at the moment, but some things are much more fun then others. I give 10/10 to crafting and diplomacy, but 6/10 to questing (yeah ive been spoiled by WoW :P)
The amount of customization is rivaled only by Eve and CoH. I forgot the level of customization SWG used to have (been a while). The number of hair choices compared to the rest of the body is insignificant. I was amazed at how much customization VSoH characters have. A trully "no character looks like the other"...unless everyone uses default settings heh. You have good points on the lacking features, but i dont think the 6/10 is a fair score. More like 8/10
I agree (except the part to wait half year). Before VSoH, I was extremely sceptical about ANY MMORPG developer. I stopped believing in miracle-patches since SWG. D&L fiasco only strengthened my belief. However, all of this has been shaken by an inhuman level of development shown by Sigil. I think we need to report them to the authorities because the only way someone could achieve this level of development is if they chain their programmers to the toilet-chairs, plug them into feeding tubes and pump their blood with steroids. The development speed has slowed down a bit since the beta (half of their programmers probly died from steroid overdose), but it is still very fast. It was simply crazy during beta.
in conclusion:
Your review is interesting and well written. However, you are reviewing a product that just got out on the shelves and may change a LOT in the following weeks. Id recommend reviewing VSoH in 2 months. I will definitely be reading it.
Cheers!
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
I asked why you didn't proofread your review because I couldn't finish reading it. Before giving up entirely, I skipped around to find some smoother sections, but you really should consult someone who's very fluent in English to clean it up. Again, this isn't an attack. You obviously put a lot of time and thought into this piece. That doesn't mean there aren't corrections to be made (for any writer).
To the rest of you who nearly had a stroke upon seeing an impersonal, justified, and constructive criticism: I can't decide whether to envy your carefreeness, that lack of anything in your daily lives that actually merits getting upset about, or to pity your mental state, since you're obviously psycopaths for flipping out at the drop of a hat.
I get accused of being kind of harsh on the game but honestly another few months and this will probably be a pretty good game. I would not pay a dime for it in the state it is in right now mind you. What really sucks is with LoTRO, AoC. PoBS and WAR coming out this year I don't believe it will ever see the player base it should. If it had released last fall and if it had been in better shape it could have easily won me over.
I miss DAoC
I couldn't agree more, Jackdog. With TBC being released not even two weeks ago, and the four MMO's you mentioned that will probably draw a very large player base, the timing for Vanguard and its current state really couldn't be worse. Very poor decision and it will cost some people a lot of $$$.
I got a chance to see a friend in the LOTRO stress test this past weekend, and despite its lack of PVP, its a pretty dam good game that is going to draw in a lot of players. I wish I could have seen Monster Play.
honestly does it really frickin matter??
OP: that was a great review it was very well written and unbiased, I had a great time reading it
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Lend a hand and break the chains of regularity you lean so closely upon
My only criticisms, and I would like to think them as being constructive, is when you mention something about graphics, especially bad, throw in a link for a screenshot or 3. Its easy to find 'nice' shots but not so easy to find a pic example of flat textures or something else negative. If you want to compare features of this game to another, try compare it to several others, not just WoW. Not all of us have the goldfish memory spans that a lot of WoW players have (yes I am generalizing sorry).
My situation re Vanguard now is I am quite inclined to wait for this game to develop/patch/settle. I am yet to come into a game that doesn't need this time, however I am no longer willing to pump money monthly into a game that 'might be good later'. WoW taught me that, it was fun but utter garbage in the bang for buck stakes when it came out.
Cheers.
The review is a little biased. It gives Brad too much credit. This guy rode in on Lord Britishes curtails. Any reall hardcore gamer knows that what WOW is to EQ EQ was to ultima online. I say was because the rule set for uo is a bit different. Here is the real history that the reviewer didn't mention.
EQ was a highly addictive game with poorly crafted mechanics. I had three level 60's but i hated the game. There wasn't anything else to play. Brad know this, I knew this, but the fanboi's didn't. Now the fanboi's think that their game is worth something but it's really not. It's a time sink, a money drain. Selavi money drain monkeys.
I have played thousands of computer games. Thousdands. I buy one every week. I work 40 hours a week and i'm a full time student. Even if i had time i wouldn't play vangaurd. Neither would my 82 guildies.
I know its a fishy category. You could call it coherence, if you want. There are many things to add together which make my impression, like
- spells who are very vague on under what conditions you can use them, the spell description often does not reveal that
- many things you dont know if it is a change, a set concept or a bug; example: rangers got sneak, but many report they dont see their hide and sneak skill, now everyone wonder is ranger is just ISNT skill based or if its bugged
- or the entire reality debate: ppl tell it is realistic that a journey is dangerous; a friend of mine from Tanvu was killed by some lv 28 spider; fine, but the entire area is just so dense with spiders, every 20 meter one. If you walk through any real wild forests in USA or Canada, sure if you meet that bear, you're dead. But there aren't bears every 20- meters. Even without ranger skills you have a big chance to avoid being killed merely by geometry. So travelling is artificially high which is not realistic and hinder guildies to meet. I personally see no gain in that.
- I died dozens of times from bugs, like enemies attacking me through walls or warping away 50 - 400 m and still attack me
- many quests still have no map waypoint, some have for some players, for some its obviously bugged
- the entire faction thing is too complicated; ideally if you create a character you have to consult a long list who is KOS where. thats not bad as idea, but in practice too complicated; a game should be playable without external sources IMO and be self-explanatory
and so on, things of that caliber
I feel ya..
I give ya creds for having the balls to voice your opinion about the game here. like I said I do agree with quite a bit of what you said, but some things I come from a different side of the spectrum (like the point we're discussing above)
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
Don't blame SOE for this premature launch. It was in development for 4 years before SOE even got involved. Microsoft was the original financier and SIGIL bought them out of their contract. Now where Sigil got that money? No clue. Could have been loaned by SOE but could not have. SOE did loan Sigil money so the beta could last till now otherwise they would have had to launch 6 months ago according to Sigil's statements.
So SOE saved Sigil's bacon by letting them release a game with potential rather than a game that was DOA.
Soon as they charge for it then it is fair game for a review and no you don't have to review every single inch of the game nor even a majority to get a feel for the overall game. Like you said MMO's constantly change so soon as you hit 90% seen/done then they add something so you would never be able to "Review" it according to your rules.
Now I do agree that it should be Re-Reviewed every year at least or every expansion whichever comes first.
Soon as they charge for it then it is fair game for a review and no you don't have to review every single inch of the game nor even a majority to get a feel for the overall game. Like you said MMO's constantly change so soon as you hit 90% seen/done then they add something so you would never be able to "Review" it according to your rules.
Now I do agree that it should be Re-Reviewed every year at least or every expansion whichever comes first.
Ive got 2 questions.Do you think its a fair review if the person reviewing desnt go further then starting town?
How much content (in percent) would be required to go through in order to qualify someone to review the game?
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
Well, i was not in beta and i only recently started to read about the game. So i bought the game yesterday, installed it and gave it a try. What came into my mind was your review.
I play games since the Amiga was introduced and i am a EQ2 player at the moment. I am roleplaying as well as raiding an questing. My PC is a AMD 3500+ with 2 GB mem and a X800GTO. Installation and registration was flawless. Performance is ok for my system. (well, except the SOE loader. But its not Sigils fault and we Station players learned to live with it :P and this only happenes to people who allready have a SOE game installed
I created a woodelf. Cusomization was very good, not excellent though. But i couldnt get near to a look like the woodelves in the picture above. Either those hairs are only possible on best graphic settings or i missed something or they are just not in game. I ll have a look into the settings tonight. Anyways, a top looking toon should be possible imho, even with lower graphics.
I didnt run into any bugs so far and the content of the few quests i did where immersive. The world design seems to be awsome. So far it seems to be a good game.
Now for the downers :P
Animations are sub par. This is 2007 and a new game should be able to beat the older ones or should be on par with them. This includes combat animation. I never felt really like in combat. My first poison DoT didnt have any visual effect or in other words it had no visual feedback. For the sake of immersion i would like to have a visual feedback and not just an icon on the UI. Switching focus from gameworld to UI is bad and no fun ever. (Again that might be something of the graphics settings. I run the game on balanced. Will look into it tonight) The idle animation is dull. Standing there and breathing. Dead eyes staring holes into the air.
Apropos UI
I do like the way consider is implemented. I like it when my view isnt messed up with over head text and signs. But in combat i want to see the HP bar of the enemy and not again switch focus to UI.
While i stand still ingame or just explore i am very immersed. But any action i take is breaking it. This is a brain washer :P
Ok, those where the ugly. Nor for the silly. Why is the starter weapon and the first weapon i was able to loot for a shaman bigger then the little shaman girl itself ? Everything i saw in this world seems to be realistic fantasy. A hammer the size of a woodelf isnt real and isnt fantasy. Its just silly.
I really will give this game a try. At least for the included 30 days. But its a 50/50 situation and i still have to find the big hook. I hoped for a game thats beating the existing ones, but vanguard isnt it.