Post by Morreion on Jan 31, 2010 0:06:17 GMT -5
I was a huge Vanguard fanboy back at release. Sure, the game crashed and burned for 2 reasons: it was unfinished, and it had serious technical problems. But that was January 2007, and this is 3 years later 
Why revisit a game with a small population and a legacy of failure?
Well, several games that have released since then have failed to entertain me for long (I wish to note that LOTRO is an exception to this rule). There's a bit of nostalgia involved here.
Vanguard was offered on sale for 5 dollars on Steam; I couldn't pass it up at that price. I got a 19-gigabyte download and 30 days free gameplay for that 5-dollar bill; that's an excellent bargain. Steam sells it as of this writing for 20 dollars.
But, most importantly, Vanguard was intended to harken back to the original MMORPG idea of having a vast, seamless open world; sweeping landscapes, dozens of dungeons, several cities, 2 huge continents and an archipelago of islands altogether that would take years to explore in detail. You can build and own your own boat to sail the seas, and build and own your own house that is in the actual game world. There are 15 playable races and starting areas scattered over the world, I believe. Now THAT is epic in scale. And so many current MMOs don't even come close to such an epic presentation.
People often compare Vanguard to the original EQ in the sense that it is huge, non-instanced, has many starting areas and many hundreds of quests. It is a class and level based game. Its player base is small but dedicated and mature.
I decided that it would be fun to go back and play it once again. The latest and greatest MMOs lack a lot of what it offers. They are often too constrained, too instanced, too much like visiting a theme park where you aren't allowed to go off the well-trodden path. I yearned to travel across a huge world once again, to explore. To feel a bit of the old original excitement.
I'll let you know how it turns out on this board.
Why revisit a game with a small population and a legacy of failure?
Well, several games that have released since then have failed to entertain me for long (I wish to note that LOTRO is an exception to this rule). There's a bit of nostalgia involved here.
Vanguard was offered on sale for 5 dollars on Steam; I couldn't pass it up at that price. I got a 19-gigabyte download and 30 days free gameplay for that 5-dollar bill; that's an excellent bargain. Steam sells it as of this writing for 20 dollars.
But, most importantly, Vanguard was intended to harken back to the original MMORPG idea of having a vast, seamless open world; sweeping landscapes, dozens of dungeons, several cities, 2 huge continents and an archipelago of islands altogether that would take years to explore in detail. You can build and own your own boat to sail the seas, and build and own your own house that is in the actual game world. There are 15 playable races and starting areas scattered over the world, I believe. Now THAT is epic in scale. And so many current MMOs don't even come close to such an epic presentation.
People often compare Vanguard to the original EQ in the sense that it is huge, non-instanced, has many starting areas and many hundreds of quests. It is a class and level based game. Its player base is small but dedicated and mature.
I decided that it would be fun to go back and play it once again. The latest and greatest MMOs lack a lot of what it offers. They are often too constrained, too instanced, too much like visiting a theme park where you aren't allowed to go off the well-trodden path. I yearned to travel across a huge world once again, to explore. To feel a bit of the old original excitement.
I'll let you know how it turns out on this board.
