I could not help but shudder as I witnessed the vile transformation. My mentor’s anguished cry rang in my ears as he saw his old friend, corrupted by the unknown plague, change into a creature of nightmare.
As a Ritualist, the spirit world is one I am most familiar with, working as I do with spells powered by such components as the ashes of the dead. Yet this was an abomination. Something truly evil is sweeping through the land of Cantha, spread by the four winds and leaving death and desolation in its wake.
Good thing it’s only a game. Yet what a game Guild Wars Factions is turning out be, as developer ArenaNet turns to the East for inspiration in the first expansion for the popular MMO.
Remember the Oriental Adventures campaigns for Dungeons & Dragons? How exciting and exotic it was to have the ability to play in an Asian-inspired campaign setting and use Oriental characters such as the samurai and ninja in D&D? Well, players of Guild Wars — the massively multiplayer online game with no monthly fees — will now enjoy their own “Oriental adventures” in Cantha, whose pagoda-strewn landscapes are inspired by the myths and culture of China, Japan, and other Asian cultures.
As an Asian — I’m a Filipino residing in the Philippines — I find it somewhat amusing to see how Easterners end up as the formulaic “kung fu fighters surrounded by temples,” just as Western medieval settings are usually filled with “a bunch of people dressed in heavy armor” and Western fantasy settings “a bunch of elves who are somehow very good with bows.” To give credit, though, the developers actually did a great job of researching Asian motifs, so that the world more or less does have an authentic, ancient Asian aesthetic.
As you play the game, however, you’ll realize that the choice of an Asian look is really just skin-deep. Just as in the original Guild Wars, you have the role-playing campaign, which is basically PvE (player vs. environment) and PvP (player vs. player), in which different guilds duke it out in arenas. The role-playing campaign, however, doesn’t really allow you to role-play, so you won’t be playing your Eastern character any differently than your original (RE: Western) Guild Wars character. I honestly think ArenaNet missed an opportunity here to experiment with the role-playing and cultural aspects of this MMO. Then again, PvP has always been the focus of Guild Wars.
So yup, having an Asian setting is ultimately just an excuse to add two new character classes (Ritualists and Assassins) and abilities. In the last quarter of 2006, ArenaNet will launch another expansion, Guild Wars Nightfall, which is supposed to feature a North African setting, with two more character classes. Hmm, isn’t this sounding more and more like the different D&D campaign settings?
The great thing about this Guild Wars expansion is that it’s a standalone — you don’t need to own Guild Wars in order to play Factions. However, without said title, retroactively referred to as Guild Wars Prophecies, one cannot access the original campaigns. So there’s a bit of a tradeoff: save money and receive a shorter gaming experience, or drop the cash on Guild Wars for deeper gameplay.
Just like Guild Wars, Factions is a gorgeous game with an emphasis on completing mission for experience points, not monster-slaying. The big change here, however, is that one is awarded a whole boatload of EP by completing just one mission, making some people feel that the role-playing campaign is ridiculously easy. Then again, it’s PvP that makes this virtual world go round, and, really, this is where Factions has more in common with games akin to Counter-Strike and Diablo: the new characters and attributes present your party with even more tactical and strategic options when facing off against rival guilds, and the linear, goal-oriented quests are much different than the usual MMORPG.
However, Guild Wars has been described as a CORPG (competitive/cooperative role-playing game) rather than an MMORPG; don’t expect to encounter other players or the glorified middle-of-the-wilderness chat rooms when you’re outside of the towns. As noted above, it’s linear in its gameplay, which is more satisfying to those who would rather have exciting battles than chat most of the time. Heck, you can even use computer-controlled henchmen for your party if your real-world buddies aren’t available and you don’t want to meet up with strangers.
In the end, really, Guild Wars Factions is a fun, worthwhile experience, but the role-playing campaign has the ability to grow old quickly. Maybe next time, ArenaNet will allow us to truly role-play.