Friday, February 02, 2007

Vanguard Launch Wrap-up

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (V:SoH) has launched and their servers have gone live. While I am not planning to buy the game, I still felt it was my duty to bring a wrap up of sorts to see what is going on in the house that McQuaid built. In order to do this, I have grabbed a selection of links and quotes from around the Internet.

From Gamebunny:
When will the suits at Sony learn their lesson? The game is in development for ages - then it’s forced out the door before being ready for its close-up. STAR WARS GALAXIES anyone?

From GameSpy:
"After getting the game to a playable frame rate, I found that on a very basic level, player movement in Vanguard feels very floaty, with characters that don't have much weight to them and whose animations make them seem like they're sliding back and forth across the ground instead of strafing. It can be painful to negotiate closed doors and cramped halls in the game's many indoor areas, and you'll need a dose of good luck controlling your jumps mid-air when you encounter things like broken stairs and assorted platforming elements. The way movement and spellcasting worked, in particular, was fun and had enormous PvP implications: You can cast spells on the run."

From IGN:
"Vanguard's environments are reminiscent of fantasy oil paintings. Sigil Games hopes that three layers of gameplay (diplomacy, adventuring and crafting) and a comprehensive character creation tool will make for a more absorbing online experience."

That is a pretty good selection of material for everyone to read through. If words aren't your thing here is a little video for you courtesy of Game Trailers.

If you are actually playing this game I want to make sure you are aware of the game's first official downtime and it's first official patch.

In conclusion: I don't know what to think about Vanguard. The MMORPG industry has made me tired and I really can't seem to get myself steaming angry about this title any longer. I want to bitch. I want to complain. I want to tell everyone what I really think, but I am going to follow my own advice. I am going to vote with my wallet.

10 comments:

  1. I want to bitch. I want to complain. I want to tell everyone what I really think, but I am going to follow my own advice. I am going to vote with my wallet.

    Amen brotha, Amen.

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  2. Aye. It's a steaming pile of meh. Not worth getting or getting upset about I wish them luck. Amen indeed.

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  3. From the IGN report -
    "From day one, Vanguard was created with the vision of developing an MMO with an unparalleled feeling of immersion," said Brad McQuaid

    Lol - running into towns and cities with super choppy framerates on all the best machines isn't very immersive at all.
    Perhaps they thought it should be a bit like driving a car in heavy traffic....stop, start, stop, wait, start, stop, wait a bit more, start.
    ...and we all know how much fun that is.

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  4. I'm playing this game, and I'm having a blast. I've been playing MMO's from the days when they were just MUDs on bbs's. The funny thing is with this game, I'm having fun again like I haven't had in years.

    I don't know what the hell y'all are unhappy about. But the game isn't an easy push and go system. Sure there are some issues with towns being a bitch to enter/deal with. But if you remember Ironforge in WoW used to be known as Lag Central.

    The point, this game is fun, the combat is engaging, and it feels like there is a purpose. So, like it or not. Its an entertaining game, but it has some early shove out issues that are typical of Financial crunch issues.

    My only bitch so far, is that they don't have the problem resolved for those of us who digitally ordered and downloaded directly from their station store, to have some form of billing. So ... yeah. When that happens, I'll be all set.

    As it is, there are quite a few different entertaining classes, and they do play different. And its fun.

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  5. It simply amazes me what someone will play through and deal with just for a game. I'm sad that you have paid and will still be paying for that sort of service William.

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  6. Anonymous1:45 AM

    This game is really neat. People hating it changed their mind after only one week. Even with all the bugs and performance issues, this is the best MMO out there ATM. If you want something deaper, more involving... VG is for you.

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  7. Corpse runs and excessive grinds, do not equal deeper. I beta'd this extensively and found the content, design and implimentation, and the back story and lore to be simply uninspired.

    Diplomacy is a great concept, but lacked any depth in actualization. Quests are lacking with regards to their involement in the overall world. Immersion never occurs, and the landscapes are all but barren.

    Graphics are not that great considering the juice they require, and performance issues are so bad, on so many levels, that SOE should be embarressed of a beta product, not even considering its release and people are paying for it now.

    If you are having fun, that great, but this is NOT the best game on the market, or in development.

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  8. Anonymous1:14 PM

    From the sounds of things...I see some Brade McQuaid hallmark issues at the start. Which would be things like poor performance and lack of completion/polish.

    There also seems to be a certain type of player that, no matter who disagrees or tries to intellectually debate to the contrary, simply loves "The Vision (TM)" and by that I mean they love the way Brad McQuaid does things in it's entirety (the grind, the story, the systems, the death penalties/devs griefing the players via pointless timesinks, etc. etc.). And in arguing with my friends over the years about these various aspects of MMO's I've come to the conclusion that...it's practically pointless to even engage someone in discussion about it. Things that seem to be completely bad game design (or world design or sandbox design or whatever) appear brilliant to some of my friends. They enjoy and love to play things I abhor. So it's really difficult to agree on some objective baseline amongst all parties with which to validate the games merits or lack thereof.

    Is there a free trial available for this game? I'd like to tool around in a free trial before commenting more.

    nerd gone bad

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  9. I think a free trial in the opening month would be a bad sign.

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  10. I want to bitch. I want to complain. I want to tell everyone what I really think, but I am going to follow my own advice. I am going to vote with my wallet.

    Excellent words, Heartless

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