Bad reviews reflect the reviewers outdated machine and 3 hours of play MAX. Read here from a 3 week full time player.
At first, I was very sceptical. Sure, spend an extra 50 bucks for a new game. I saw the box lined up next to 2 shelves of Burning Crusades, which I just couldnt afford to bother with. Vanguard looked exciting, and the box promised me content and "freedom".
Well, I got just that. This game DOES NOT hold your hand. This game brings you into a starting area at level one with beutiful graphics and as well as you being on one of THREE huge continents. Before I logged in, I had a choice of 19 Races and 15 unique classes. Talk about variety! And yes, Ive played 9 classes before I wrote this- variation is beutiful, and kept my interest.
After 3 hours of walking around, right clicking on monsters and casting a "spirit smash" spell repetively, I got to level 4! Wow, I sure had accomplished A LOT, considering I didnt know how to interact with the in game NPC's until I accidently talked to one- somehow. Arriving at a NPC with a yellow shield above their head, I talked to them. No, I didn't just talk, I got a quest. My first quest, it was exciting. The adventure promised me 40 Copper/Brown coins, and that was hard to pass by, considering I had no money. And so, I ventured out into the field of wisps and fairys. No, this is not the Hello Kitty Super Adventure, it's Vanguard time.
Gameplay is one element of the game I hated. It was just like every other MMO, or so I thought. This is what pisses me of in the "now" after 3 weeks of play, seeing game reviewers whove played for 3-15hours giving final scores on the low level portion of the game mixed with crappy, outdated machines. The gameplay at first was basic, but then I started to pay attention. WASD keys were used to move around, and rushing into mobs of enemies turned out to be a horrid idea. Perception is one thing this world requires- the small details you pass by will end up kicking you in the ass. The enemy detected, precieved, overlooked, all sorts of things that made combat fascinating. Planning out how I used my few spells was a challenge, but as I fought my skills increased, and so did my ability to recognize the spells my enemies were using. Also, enemies were, well, agressive! They cast spells, ran when they were weak, and kept at me if I was low on health. Fighting an enemy that uses spells according to the situation and even fighting multiple mobs or high leveled bosses always ended up with a happy ending.
No, not that happy ending, but the rewarding feeling of accomplishment.
Graphics. They are very, very good. The absence of cartoonish details, replaced by natural, beutiful, realistic scenes and objects was astonishing. ( Mind you, I have a GeForce 7900 Card and 2gb of RAM ) For all you gamers out there, if you meet the minimum requirements, well no **** it wont look good. Heck, this is one high end game- I'm running it on BALANCED ( Graphic quality 3/5 ). Minimum requirements are NOT recommended by any Vanguard player. Seriously, use your head.
One of the most rewarding things about the graphics- you look out into the world, and you see it. They are spell bounding, and I can't even begin to share the many details Ive come across.
To finish of this review, Ive decided to go over the bugs. Yes, there are cases of slowness, choppyness, etc.. I can't help that, but I have friends and I have my own personal experience I would like to share with you. Them and I simply defraged out HArd Drives after installing. We didnt max out settings, and tweaked the setting. After that, we all enjoyed the game and have never regretted buying it since. Minor bugs come in this game, and they are being fixed constantly- many performance issues are serious, but very rare and are addressed in each patch.
When you simply consider the size and amount of content of this game, it's hard for me to imagine why people give it such poor and even cruel ratings. Diplomacy, it's interaction with NPC's and involved large scale and local game politics wich lead to money, items, and even "special" favors later on. Crafting, is amazing. Instead of taking some metal and poofing it into an armor plate, you detail peices of it and then craft it together. Boat making, furniture, etc. is also available. Harvesting, it's an in depth system where you have the power to go anywhere, take those resources, and then create whatever you want. Armor, Weapons, Boats, Furniture, and soon- Seige weapons, cannons, the list goes on. But let's not forget Adventuring.
This game, it's hard core. The battles you face will rarely be of ease. Grouping with people and going into a large dungeon to face of enemies- well, let's say a good 2 hours can even stretch to 4. This games size, the content, the potential is so great. You might not feel conforatable with all the negatives about this game, but then again- this is just the beginning.
I hope my review has been helpful. Remember, this game is not for the weak. You will spend hours if not dozens of hours just peaking to level 20. If you arent willing to explore, learn, and put in epic effort to fight off a whole world- then go away.