Vanguard Beta Open

So yeah, Arglaar brought it to my attention that Vanguard beta is now available to fileplanet subscribers. I know the general view of this game is that it provides nothing new or even remotely interesting and is using dated code to top it all off, but hey, may as well give it a try.

6.45 gig download, better start now.

 

Naw, they'll just release it on two or three DVDs. Or an HD dvd but probably not.

It's alright, but I won't be buying it seeing as it's generic MMO #7. There are some cool aspects but nothing to claim revolutionizes the MMO world. It's pretty much a world of warcraft clone with better graphics and a bit less of a "cartoony" feel. (Please note that I use WoW as a reference, simply because pretty much everybody knows how it plays.) There are many races, but the only thing that will distinguish one from the other is their head and face. The modifications you can do to your characters are vast, but too subtle to really make your character look that much different.

It stole the hobbit idea and called them "halflings". If you were to be playing a "halfling" in their starting area, anybody watching you play would think you were playing Lord of the Rings online. Even the houses look identical.

The questing system is identical to that of WoW. The quest window itself steals WoW's design on an almost laughable level. The questing itself also remains generic with standard "kill 10 wolves, 6 frogs, 8 wisps, and right-click this object to obtain an item that must be returned to the quest giver after collecting 5 beaks from this kind of mob".

The map is kinda funky and difficult to navigate, due to your character's "you are here" arrow being a shade or two less brown than the brown background and being about the size of one of the periods you see in this post, fully zoomed in.

The diplomacy system is cool, but it can get old, and it really isn't as innovative as they claim. Think of it as a card game where each player gets 5 cards that have various costs that originate from 4 pools, inspiration, reason, emotion...and..one more that I can't remember. Each turn a player gets to use one card which will, depending on it's type (the four pools) use points you have generated in each specific pool to move the debate into your favor by a specified number on the corner of the card. (i.e there's a reason card that gives 5 debate...points? and it uses 4 reason points. Use it, and those four reason points are used up, and the debate is put 5 points in your favor). There is a bar on the side where the middle is 0 and each end is 10 indicating who is winning the debate. Keep the debate in your favor for x amount of turns and you win. Finally, when they say that you are molding the future of Telon through diplomacy, moving armies and whatnot, they don't mean literally. They mean through text, i.e. an NPC telling you you've influenced the future. You won't ever see the world actually change from your diplomatic actions, or any actions that I know of.

So yeah, it's generic MMO 2.0 with graphics that will bring a computer without current hardware to its knees. The only thing I am particularly enjoying about the game is the graphics. Turning the clipping plane up to max and climbing a mountain to look down on the world around you can make for some awesome screenshots.

As pretty as it is, it won't be the game to end WoW's reign.


***Disclaimer***

The views expressed in this post are purely of my own opinion.

 

I really hope Huxley is good too. Alas the videos I have seen of gameplay remind me of unreal tournament or quake. Not that those weren't good games, but it seems like a big MMO deathmatch with tactics such as bunny hopping and the like. I need to read more about it.