11.6.2006

Well, having given the original game a lot of my time, and reporting my findings to amazon for the world to see, I thought it only fair to do the same for the first Guild-Wars add-on.Factions is a game in it's own right, in that it does not require you to purchase the original game in order to play this one. This is an intriguing decision by the developers, but I applaud it. As with the first game, there is still no monthly subscription to pay, and if you so wish, you can actually download the game client from the AreaNet website and purchase a game access key without physically going into a shop and buying the game. Areas and updates stream continuously into your computer whilst in the game,and everything continues to operate really rather smoothly, relative to other On-Line games.Specifically to Factions, we are introduced to the region of the GuildWars map called "Cantha". This asian-inspired landscape is an interesting contrast to the pseudo medieval look of the first game. Cantha is made up of a small island which is where the beginners are fenced-off from the more established players, and can learn the ways of the game without getting under peoples' feet. Once you have completed enough of this area, you travel over to the mainland, which is principally made up of a built-up urban region, which for a veteran of the game with it's wide open spaces, does seem slightly restricting and claustrophobic. There is a lot to see and do here, and if you stay on-course to the primary story, you'll eventually work your way out to the other side of the urban area, and out to the countryside.Here is where this game gets it's name, as the story progresses to where you become involved in a feud between two warring Factions in the area, the Luxon and the Kurzick. It's up to you who's side you pitch, you'll do different missions and quests, but either way, you'll end up on the same path eventually.In contrast to the original game, there are occasions in Factions where up to 16 human players can be in a mission at one time. There are a small number of such missions in this game, either in the direct Kurzick-Luxon section, or where an ex-original-game group of players launch into a certain mission at the same time as a pure-Factions group of players. It makes for an interesting mix of old and new-style characters.Owners of the original game (Prophecies) can have their characters of either game travel back and forth at leisure once they reach the main nodal point a few steps into each game. You will also get the option of either having Factions entirely separate from your Prophecies game, and thus having a whole 4 new character slots for the new game. I chose the alternative route however, and merged the two accounts, which gave a total of 6 slots across both games.The two new character types added are Ritualist - a spirit-summoning character with some electric-shocking abilities; and Assassin - an evasive lightly-armoured stealthy character with some clever skills and abilities.The graphics in the game are as good as ever, and some areas in this game, just like before, are really a sight to behold. They scale well to lower-end systems.The sound is also good, atmospheric and styled to suit the theme.My criticisms of the game, are that perhaps in some ways, the graphics need to move on a little, if not in the appearance of the game world, then in the actions of the characters, their skills and spells for example. Not that they're bad, just that perhaps it could scale up to computers that can cope with a lot more these days.The character models are very good, and their general movements are fluid and well-animated, apart from the faces, which remain static unfortunately.Also, with the addition of 2 new character types, comes a flurry of people just trying out those types. And we see a whole lot of Assassins, and people who aren't willing to play the type in the manner in which it was designed, generally making themselves a liability to the team they are in.As before, the Monk-type is sought-after in most missions, and you often find yourself standing around waiting for a monk to turn up. Sadly, few people recognise that a decent team can get by with the computer-controlled Monk. But then that's the beauty of an on-line game, you have to put up with other people's ignorances.Overall, it's a great first expansion to the Guild-Wars franchise, and it's certainly making big boots for itself to fill with the next title, which I believe is due before Christmas 2006. One wonders where the world will take us next?

26.11.2006

Having ventured into the world of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) for the first time with Guild Wars: Factions, I feared that I was entering the genre at the wrong point and that the experience would be disastrously dull and unrewarding. In fact, the introductory tutorials and in-game explanations work well to ease new players into the RPG realm of Arena Net's second game in the Guild Wars series, and capture the imagination in an involving and expansive adventure.Guild Wars: Factions introduces two new professions to the original set of six - the Assassin who is physically vulnerable but can strike quickly and powerfully to take down enemies at close range,and the Ritualist, another magic-wielding character capable of protecting team mates or doling out damage from afar. Add to that the feature of taking on the skill set of another profession as a secondary aspect of your character and the possibilities become vast. This is dealt with effectively in the early stages of the game and new skills are acquired gradually as the game moves on, rather than bombarding the new initiate with options straight away. The character professions are varied and well-balanced, although there are definitely more and less accessible options, and luck will dictate some of your success early on. The in-game player representations are set down at the start of the game and demonstrate the splendid artwork and graphics that are essential in games of this type.A great deal of the middle part of the game (for those starting their characters in the new Factions land of Cantha) is spent traversing back and forth around the murky Kaineng City, which can lead to frustration and a feeling of mission areas being re-used to lengthen what is already a substantial campaign. Fortunately, these shorter missions can be eschewed in favour of tasks which further the central storyline, although even this involves no small amount of revisiting areas and returning to previous battles. This recycling of venues and missions can be distinctly banal, and is a process that is repeated in the later phases of the game when the 'factions' aspect of the title actually comes into play. None of which is to say that tweaking the build (the pruned down skill set that characters take with them into explorable areas) and re-running quests is not a fun and rewarding experience; indeed for someone new to role-playing games like me it is one of the strongest motivators to play. However there is more than a hint that the speed with which this sequel appeared is indicative of a slight lack of effort on the part of the producers.The game-makers have got several things right and several things wrong with Guild Wars: Factions. The requirement of being connected to the internet at all times to play is irritating and limiting, but the cost-free provision of servers to roam around is an obvious boon. The enormous scope of the game is wonderfully captivating and involving, but too many times the players find themselves treading over old ground to gain experience and seeing the same (admittedly beautiful) sights for the tenth time. The storyline is not spectacularly imaginative and the voice-acting in cut scenes is truly dreadful, but the attachment that players feel to their in-game characters and the ability to turn an average build into a devastating combatant with just a few changes is compelling and implemented beautifully. The game doesn't always challenge the player in quite the way it should, using cheap tactics to stack the odds against characters in more difficult areas, though this is countered somewhat by the ability to team up with human veterans of the campaign who can show you shortcuts and superior tactics to conquer even the most resistant of bosses. This is probably the best aspect of the game and here again the variety in combinations of professions and skills is a shining reflection of a core that is robust and fun.Overall I am of the view that the niggling drawbacks of Guild Wars: Factions are slightly outweighed by the enormous scope and excellent implementation of the player professions and skills. While not always fair, the game is just taxing enough to prevent uninhibited progress without being so tricky as to be obnoxiously hard. There are a few things that have been improved since Prophecies, and many facets of the gameplay are wonderfully entertaining, but there is still some way to go before Guild Wars is crowned as the ultimate MMORPG out there.

26.8.2006

The first guild wars (prophecies) was too addictive nearly costing me a year at my university and almost ruining my relationship with my friends. I was attracted to the game because it required no monthly fees to play and the theme of the game was to my taste - swords, magic, monsters all wonderful. Give the game a chance and before you realise you are keenly awaiting the next addition to this MMORPG 8 months later, Guild Wars Factions whilst still playing the first one.This game Factions is a welcome addition to the Guild Wars Prophecies campaign yet has diluted some aspects that made the first game that made it so addictive in the first place.The two new characters gave this game a new buzz for a short while,

12.7.2006

The 2nd chapter in the Guild Wars world has now been released and as a player of both I can comment with some authority on the new chapter.Positive points:Player learns loads of new skills as part of their training without the need to look for specific quests (as in the original).Player can get to highest level within days but cannot learn all of the skills so easily (skills are more important than level in this game)The game dynamics are the same as Prophecies (original version) , apart from the new player types. Nice continuation.High level weapons and armour can be obtained early on in comparison to Prophecies.The ease of changing characters is a big bonus for me,

13.6.2006

I do not own the original Guild Wars, but when I saw this game was coming out, I new I needed an MMORPG that didn't need a monthly fee. This game is great. With lots of character "jobs", you can easily create varying combinations of characters in one of your four player slots. As well as this, instead of only having to do the main storyline portion of the game, you can start with a maxed out character and play against other players. There are an abundance of quests for you to dip your toe in, and always plenty of monsters to kill. The game is massive and multiplayer. Although the game has a feature where you can hire a henchman or henchmen instead of partying up with other players if you want to take time off from playing with other people.

31.5.2006

They only problem with Factions is that if you have never played the original you will be seriously lost and confused. Even if you have played the original and kicked undead or monster butt you will be disappointed in the lack of skills awarded by the insanely large amount of quests. When you finally get out of the starter island you spend hours if not days running backwards and forwards between the same few areas, and to be honest its becomes very irritating and boring.The quests and missions are also often of such difficulty you cant do them without highly skilled players rather than NPC's, this can cause a lot of difficulty and snobbish behaviour from the so called experts(with high Fame/Rank

5.7.2006

I came to Guild Wars fairly late, and so had not nearly finished the first one (it's huge!!) by the time Factions came out. However, I'm such a fan that I had to get it. I am glad that I did!Factions is set in the world of Cantha, which has an oriental theme going on. The graphics are still as breathtaking as the original and it is fun to take on new monsters (and rain fiery death down apon them!)I must say that you level up much faster in Factions because the quests(even the wussy early ones) give you lots of XP. Having said that, the missions are a bit more difficult than the last, but I think that this only adds to the fun because you have to be careful about what spells you take with you.There are a lot more spells now so you can put together some really devastating combo's.

9.10.2006

Like all good online games Guild Wars is great multiplayer mayhem. If you have not completed the basic Guild Wars then you will not have a clue what this is all about.The graphics are pretty amazing but any lag would seriously ruin the fun and the adventure feel of the game, or if you had a really bad server connection that were to disconnect and re connect every so often, if your connection or computer is slow you will not be satisfied with Guild Wars or any of its expansions.I give it 3 stars for fun because compared to other online games its average fun, but it can get tiring.Overall I give the game 4 stars because of the forwardness used in it, meaning you don't run in circles for 3 hours,

6.5.2006

Pre-ordered Factions, so got to enjoy the Pre-order headstart.Factions adds a whole new continent and two new prodessions, oh why bother with that, it's in the description anyway.So, what makes Factions a must buy........ Well, it's not the moronic henchmen, the sometimes WAY too hard quests and missions, it's not the length of the overall quest and it's not the PvP (something I don't play).It's the sheer stupidity of the henchmen (rezzing in danger zones), the manic intensity of battles with mobs, the bonkersness of your fellow players, the sheer brilliance of not having pay a monthly charge.If you haven't tried Guild Wars yet, buy this, install it, patch it and wreak havoc on the world!!

25.9.2006

One customer quoted "If you have played Guild Wars Original (dont bother buying it)...," well hes wrong!! this is like saying if you have played BF2 then dont bother playing BF2 euro forces etc.I have got factions and still have not completed it and nightfall is apon us soon but thats the great thing about GW it just keeps growing...Not buying factions means you miss out on alot of what the game is about like the storyline etc etc anyway its a well known fact in the gaming community that if theres an add-on to be purchased then 99% of dedicated players will buy it just for the sake of it good or bad :)

7.9.2006

If your looking for a good storyline and amazing graphics then you bought guild Wars...and factions has certainly kept true to that. The whole theme itself of the game is based on Japanise lengend with Oni and Kirin and many more ideas which emphasize this fact. If there was one fault I could come up for this new chapter of the game it would be that it is all over too soon. With only 15 missions, the story, though good ends with you thinking...wow...that was quick. also you get the feeling the whole time that the world itself is smaller than that of Prophcies. Overall though a superb sequel!

17.3.2007

This is a great stand alone expansion from Guild Wars. Once completed Guild wars you can easily travel to the Factions location by the completetion of one quest, and you will land in a place where mobs are already LVLs 20+. And if you are just playing standalone factions, or create a factions campaigne character there is a great tutorial, that personally I think is better than the one that came with the original. And there is 2 New classes, which is pretty cool.Recommended to anyone who is a fan of MMORPGS, and RPGS.

4.4.2006

What more can I say, I played in both preview events and what was witnessed was stellar. The new elites for every class, the new armor sets, it's awesome. Plus, they didn't make you delete your character if you tried an armor set and didn't remake the guy =X Anyways. This product is nice because... it adds several new elements to the game, and I add: If you don't get this, you'll be at a huge disadvantage compared to other players with it, therefore, you'll be much more likely to lose. O.O

3.3.2006

I also played the Free Preview Weekend, being an avid Guild Wars gamer myself, and I must say, I am very impressed. Beautiful graphics, innovative new skills and items, 2 awesome new classes and an entire new continent to explore.This is must have for Guild Wars Gamers and those who don't have Guild Wars, I recommend you buy Guild Wars and then buy Factions. Top quality.Oh, and best of all, there's no monthly contract, once you buy the game you play.

13.5.2006

After playing the original Guild Wars for about half a year, I was extremely excited about Factions. The game has once again provbed itself worthy to buy. Amazing graphics, oustanding online gameplay, and tons of missions make Guild Wars Factions the best MMORPG game!!! (for now)

Guild Wars: Factions (Add-On) (PC) - Reviews

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