crystalklear64
CAGiversary!
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- 7 (100%)
Welcome all. Heres my review in 3 parts of Guild Wars: Factions, the latest addition to the Guild Wars universe. First I'm going to discuss my likes, then my dislikes, and then do a traditional rated review of each part. Here we go...
The Good-
Some things that Factions really got right this time was their new enviornments. The second part of the game takes place in a large city, and its appropriatly populated with NPCs, armor crafters, material traders, and of course collectors. The area is nicely modeled with buildings tall enough to block out the sky, and docksides full of cargo and crates and all that good stuff. The area's after the city look even better, with the 2 new factions comes 2 distinct new areas. You have a sea that has been crystalized into jade on the Luxon side complete with sandy beaches and seaside hills, done in very vibrant colors. As for the Kurzicks, their area is a wonderfully drab forest where many things have been turned into stone, and lakes, streams, and rivers are all over the place.
Cityscape
Seascape
Forestscape
Another thing great about Factions is the wide variety of new Monsters and their supreme AI. Gone are the days of sending in a warrior to take all the agro and the rest sit in the back. The new AI seems to seek out your healers and mages no matter how close they are. This provides a unique challenge as you are now forced to bring defensive skills in the back line, such as a "Ward Against Melee". The monster models themselves are very fun to kill. We have a new "race" of monster called the Afflicted, and they look like something right out of Resident Evil (first picture). The monsters in the Jade Sea are all aquatic looking things that have evolved into land animals, so they still have a very.. fishy look to them (second picture). The forest monsters of the Echovald Forest all look appropriatly... nature-y (third picture).
Afflicted
Jade Sea Monster
Echovald Forest Monster
As with almost any expansion, new items and equipment are pretty much a given, and Factions certainly doesn't dissapoint in this reguard. There are TONS of new weapons and quite a few new sets of armor with a distinct Asian feel to them. In addition to a new look for an armor, stats are also no longer tied to a particular armor. Each crafter allows you to make your armor with the stats the you specify, so you can wear the armor that looks the best without having to worry about sacrificing stats.
Canthan Armor
Factions also brings a new aspect to the Guild Wars world, Alliances. Essentially, an Alliance is a coalition of guilds who all work to raise their alliance's faction. The Alliances with the highest faction for their chosen side (either Luxon or Kurzick) are given control of certain towns. This control means discounted prices with the alliance members, the ability to entertain the people in town with a fireworks display, or if your alliance is the one with the most faction, you are given access to the Elite Mission for your side (1 for Luxons, 1 for Kurzicks). Faction can be gained in a variety of ways including: Doing the Story Quests, Running Repeatable Quests, Challenge Missions, and Participating in Alliance Battles (12v12 battles that are essentially Capture the Base games like Starwars Battlefront or Battlefield 1942).
With Factions come the introductions of both the Elite Missions and the Challenge missions. The Elite Missions, as I said, are supposed to only be available to the alliance with the highest Faction. They offer exclusive items and a very unique challenge, ending with a nigh-impossible boss. They also allow you to bring 12 players in as opposed to the typical 8 player limit. I said supposedly, because the Alliance in control can do whatever they want, and Guild Wars players have already seen the 2 most extreme sides of this. A certain alliance chose to keep everyone out and would then sell the exclusive items for very high prices, a smart financial move. However, when that alliance lost control, the controlling alliance allowed everyone to come in, angering the previous holder while gaining the support of everyone else. Elite missions are a very good idea, and once Anet works out a few flaws with the system, it'll be simply groovy.
Challenge Missions are essential missions that measure how fast or how many of something you can do, they don't contribute to the story, and are repeatable so that players can shoot for a high score. These missions range from killing as many monsters as you can to collecting as many items as you can. When time runs out, players are rewarded with gold and faction depending on how well they did. This is a great addition as it allows PvE players something to do that can be repeated easily, as opposed to having to resort to PvP.
The Bad-
Overall, I think Factions is far inferior to Prophecies in terms of what I like to do best, Exploring.
The entire city area is drab and largely repetetive with layouts far too complicated for their own good. The Luxon and Kurzick areas offer a more interesting setting, but they seem very small in comparison to the Prophecies areas. Also, I know Anet wanted to put an end to running with the oh-so-lame gates, but forcing people to play through a lackluster story just so they can explore new areas seems mighty dumb. I liked being able to fight through an area and then advance onto the next one without having to do some task for an idiot NPC who has to have me run from place to place.
Thats another thing that makes Factions seem so lame. The Quests. Without doing the quests, most of which in the beggining are nothing more than, "Go here, talk to NPC, talk to another NPC, return for reward" Factions can be beaten in such a short amount of time. It truly feels more like an expansion then a whole game.
Next, with the nice boost in Henchmen AI, player groups are even less of a requirement than in Prophecies. I've personally beaten the game twice using nothing more than henchmen, and both my characters were newly made Canthan natives, AND it took less then 4 days combined. This brings me to the next point, the level 20 rush. Holy Crap. I get off noob island to find myself assaulted by level 20+ mobs. Thankfully, I'm also level 18ish around this point, but wow, the tutorial island is just their to boost you to a high level. Again, this points to Factions being nothing more than an expansion that Anet decided to turn stand-alone as an afterthought. Without having to balance missions and quests for those who aren't level 20, the devs could be lazy and just make everything level 20 content.
Next, we have the 2 new classes. Admittedly, I've only played the ritualist, and I very much enjoyed that class as it provided me the tools I needed to beat the game very nicely. However, the assassains seem to have no role other than to serve as backup for groups who wanted warriors instead. Again, I don't personally know, but I've NEVER seen an ad that went "Group Looking For Asn."
My last note/complaint concerns PvP. Apparently, they've added all sorts of new PvP content and Guild Battles and all that groovy stuff... but how many new aspects have they added to PvE? It looks like they're trying to convert PvE players with missions like Jade Quarry and the Beggining of the Luxon mission with the Squid thing, not provide new PvE experiences. Why not give us more control over the enviornment with spells like the original advertisement said on the box? The 2nd to last mission where your chosen NPC's contribute by blowing up statues to make bridges or shutting spawn points for enemies is actually an awesome idea, but why is it only in 1 mission and occurs during a cutscene?
The Traditional Review (points out of 10)-
Presentation:
Nicely setup interface with complete customization options. Fantastic menus.
9/10
Graphics:
Great enviornments and models, but nothing amazing pops out. Good character animation.
7/10
Sound:
Amazing soundtrack by the guy who did Morrowind and Oblivion. Voice acting is so bad you'll laugh. Sound effects are as they should be. Good enviornmental noise.
8/10
Gameplay:
A couple good ideas that will need improving. More of the same Guild Wars experience with less ability to simply explore. New gameplay modes for PvP are quite fun.
8/10
Replayability:
Factions provides you with many things to do after you've beaten the game, but most of those things are trivial and many players won't care if they have a certain set of armor or if they have a perfect mission rating. The endgame is really the Elite Missions, but those aren't available to everyone.
6/10
Overall:
Even with all these negative things I've said, Factions was still a fun game, but it offered pretty much no new content except for some new areas and weapons. It certainly feels much more like an expansion than a full game, but they didn't ruin anything and its still more of the same Guild Wars goodness. While I like exploring new areas, I don't see how Anet can justify calling this anything but an expansion.
8/10
My Final Verdict:
Factions has the flaws Inherant in Guild Wars and some of its own... because its the same game with extra content...flawed content.
The Good-
Some things that Factions really got right this time was their new enviornments. The second part of the game takes place in a large city, and its appropriatly populated with NPCs, armor crafters, material traders, and of course collectors. The area is nicely modeled with buildings tall enough to block out the sky, and docksides full of cargo and crates and all that good stuff. The area's after the city look even better, with the 2 new factions comes 2 distinct new areas. You have a sea that has been crystalized into jade on the Luxon side complete with sandy beaches and seaside hills, done in very vibrant colors. As for the Kurzicks, their area is a wonderfully drab forest where many things have been turned into stone, and lakes, streams, and rivers are all over the place.
Cityscape
Seascape
Forestscape
Another thing great about Factions is the wide variety of new Monsters and their supreme AI. Gone are the days of sending in a warrior to take all the agro and the rest sit in the back. The new AI seems to seek out your healers and mages no matter how close they are. This provides a unique challenge as you are now forced to bring defensive skills in the back line, such as a "Ward Against Melee". The monster models themselves are very fun to kill. We have a new "race" of monster called the Afflicted, and they look like something right out of Resident Evil (first picture). The monsters in the Jade Sea are all aquatic looking things that have evolved into land animals, so they still have a very.. fishy look to them (second picture). The forest monsters of the Echovald Forest all look appropriatly... nature-y (third picture).
Afflicted
Jade Sea Monster
Echovald Forest Monster
As with almost any expansion, new items and equipment are pretty much a given, and Factions certainly doesn't dissapoint in this reguard. There are TONS of new weapons and quite a few new sets of armor with a distinct Asian feel to them. In addition to a new look for an armor, stats are also no longer tied to a particular armor. Each crafter allows you to make your armor with the stats the you specify, so you can wear the armor that looks the best without having to worry about sacrificing stats.
Canthan Armor
Factions also brings a new aspect to the Guild Wars world, Alliances. Essentially, an Alliance is a coalition of guilds who all work to raise their alliance's faction. The Alliances with the highest faction for their chosen side (either Luxon or Kurzick) are given control of certain towns. This control means discounted prices with the alliance members, the ability to entertain the people in town with a fireworks display, or if your alliance is the one with the most faction, you are given access to the Elite Mission for your side (1 for Luxons, 1 for Kurzicks). Faction can be gained in a variety of ways including: Doing the Story Quests, Running Repeatable Quests, Challenge Missions, and Participating in Alliance Battles (12v12 battles that are essentially Capture the Base games like Starwars Battlefront or Battlefield 1942).
With Factions come the introductions of both the Elite Missions and the Challenge missions. The Elite Missions, as I said, are supposed to only be available to the alliance with the highest Faction. They offer exclusive items and a very unique challenge, ending with a nigh-impossible boss. They also allow you to bring 12 players in as opposed to the typical 8 player limit. I said supposedly, because the Alliance in control can do whatever they want, and Guild Wars players have already seen the 2 most extreme sides of this. A certain alliance chose to keep everyone out and would then sell the exclusive items for very high prices, a smart financial move. However, when that alliance lost control, the controlling alliance allowed everyone to come in, angering the previous holder while gaining the support of everyone else. Elite missions are a very good idea, and once Anet works out a few flaws with the system, it'll be simply groovy.
Challenge Missions are essential missions that measure how fast or how many of something you can do, they don't contribute to the story, and are repeatable so that players can shoot for a high score. These missions range from killing as many monsters as you can to collecting as many items as you can. When time runs out, players are rewarded with gold and faction depending on how well they did. This is a great addition as it allows PvE players something to do that can be repeated easily, as opposed to having to resort to PvP.
The Bad-
Overall, I think Factions is far inferior to Prophecies in terms of what I like to do best, Exploring.
The entire city area is drab and largely repetetive with layouts far too complicated for their own good. The Luxon and Kurzick areas offer a more interesting setting, but they seem very small in comparison to the Prophecies areas. Also, I know Anet wanted to put an end to running with the oh-so-lame gates, but forcing people to play through a lackluster story just so they can explore new areas seems mighty dumb. I liked being able to fight through an area and then advance onto the next one without having to do some task for an idiot NPC who has to have me run from place to place.
Thats another thing that makes Factions seem so lame. The Quests. Without doing the quests, most of which in the beggining are nothing more than, "Go here, talk to NPC, talk to another NPC, return for reward" Factions can be beaten in such a short amount of time. It truly feels more like an expansion then a whole game.
Next, with the nice boost in Henchmen AI, player groups are even less of a requirement than in Prophecies. I've personally beaten the game twice using nothing more than henchmen, and both my characters were newly made Canthan natives, AND it took less then 4 days combined. This brings me to the next point, the level 20 rush. Holy Crap. I get off noob island to find myself assaulted by level 20+ mobs. Thankfully, I'm also level 18ish around this point, but wow, the tutorial island is just their to boost you to a high level. Again, this points to Factions being nothing more than an expansion that Anet decided to turn stand-alone as an afterthought. Without having to balance missions and quests for those who aren't level 20, the devs could be lazy and just make everything level 20 content.
Next, we have the 2 new classes. Admittedly, I've only played the ritualist, and I very much enjoyed that class as it provided me the tools I needed to beat the game very nicely. However, the assassains seem to have no role other than to serve as backup for groups who wanted warriors instead. Again, I don't personally know, but I've NEVER seen an ad that went "Group Looking For Asn."
My last note/complaint concerns PvP. Apparently, they've added all sorts of new PvP content and Guild Battles and all that groovy stuff... but how many new aspects have they added to PvE? It looks like they're trying to convert PvE players with missions like Jade Quarry and the Beggining of the Luxon mission with the Squid thing, not provide new PvE experiences. Why not give us more control over the enviornment with spells like the original advertisement said on the box? The 2nd to last mission where your chosen NPC's contribute by blowing up statues to make bridges or shutting spawn points for enemies is actually an awesome idea, but why is it only in 1 mission and occurs during a cutscene?
The Traditional Review (points out of 10)-
Presentation:
Nicely setup interface with complete customization options. Fantastic menus.
9/10
Graphics:
Great enviornments and models, but nothing amazing pops out. Good character animation.
7/10
Sound:
Amazing soundtrack by the guy who did Morrowind and Oblivion. Voice acting is so bad you'll laugh. Sound effects are as they should be. Good enviornmental noise.
8/10
Gameplay:
A couple good ideas that will need improving. More of the same Guild Wars experience with less ability to simply explore. New gameplay modes for PvP are quite fun.
8/10
Replayability:
Factions provides you with many things to do after you've beaten the game, but most of those things are trivial and many players won't care if they have a certain set of armor or if they have a perfect mission rating. The endgame is really the Elite Missions, but those aren't available to everyone.
6/10
Overall:
Even with all these negative things I've said, Factions was still a fun game, but it offered pretty much no new content except for some new areas and weapons. It certainly feels much more like an expansion than a full game, but they didn't ruin anything and its still more of the same Guild Wars goodness. While I like exploring new areas, I don't see how Anet can justify calling this anything but an expansion.
8/10
My Final Verdict:
Factions has the flaws Inherant in Guild Wars and some of its own... because its the same game with extra content...flawed content.
