How Would You Rate Vanguard: Another View

By Dalmarus

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September 11, 2007

In response to Ralsu's review (and request for our own), here is what I like to refer to as "Another View". So without futher ado, let's get right to it!

Graphics

If you have the system to run it well, Vanguard is truly a gorgeous game. While running or flying around the world, I go crazy with the amount of screen shots I take, just to show friends that still aren’t playing the game yet. Most of them still have a hard time believing that the pictures are in game and not something I managed to concoct out of the blue.

I won’t argue that some of the character models could use some work, but Telon is a wonder to behold in all its glories. It’s important to note though that the graphics and performance have seen an improvement since Sony has taken the reigns. With GU#2, some people saw huge improvements, while others saw only small differences.

One thing that the Sigil team did get right for launch were a number of the animations, both for players, and NPC’s. Add this in with a multitude of different monster models and you’ve got another point towards keeping players like myself interested as we roam the world looking for that new mob we’ve never seen.

I would love to give this a 5 out of 5, but in truth I just can’t. While it’s true that I do love the look of the world, there are two things that keep me from giving this a maximum rating – “jaggies” (give me my Anti-Aliasing!) and the continued lack of character customization options.

Sound

To my regret, I am forced to give the sound in Vanguard nothing more than an average rating. The sound within the game ranges from “very good” to “horrid”, but the majority of it is fine. It's this utter lack of excitement generated by most of the sounds within the game that is at odds with the gorgeous world they reside in. The musical score isn’t bad, but there are other MMO’s I can think of that even though the games themselves were not fun to play, the music was astounding. While I have bought the musical score for a couple games in the past, if Vanguard were to released one today, I’m not sure I would bother taking the time to even download it.

Game Play

This is where Vanguard really shines for me. I can sum up the biggest reason for this with one word – exploration! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again because it bears repeating… “If you can see it, there is a way to get to it”. I can’t stress how much this means to me in a game. The fact that I can see for “miles” and actually go explore that set of ruins I saw off in the distance as I gazed down from a cliff is more awe inspiring than I can express.

While the majority of combat is fairly standard for any MMO vet, there are two aspects that keep things interesting for me, even after countless kills. With the added aspect of counters and weaknesses, I always feel like I’m doing something in combat other than just sitting there and mashing buttons. With a well-timed counter, a caster can keep that 5-dot healer from going back to full health right before the party kills it. By utilizing the weaknesses other party members can initiate, massive damage can be done to foes in a short period of time. There are a number of different ways to smite your opponents (or avoid being smote) so even though some choose to press A, B, rinse and repeat, know that there are more options.

And while the above statements cover my favorite parts of the game, they aren’t the only play styles available. The Crafting Sphere brings a lot of content to the game with player made items actually being highly valued compared to most MMO’s. Add in player housing and player boats within the game, and there are quite a few things to strive for.

Diplomacy (while still needing some loving from the dev team) adds a new aspect to MMO’s as well. The change of pace (or entire play style) offered by it is a welcome sight and provides a valuable outlet for player needs. I think it’s also an ingenious way to spread the lore within the world of Telon. If you’re not sure what I mean, do the initial diplomacy quests for the Kurashasa (the cats) and see why I think they’re more evil than the dark elves!

Stability

I myself have had virtually no stability issues with Vanguard since the second week or so after release. In that sense, I’d give Vanguard 5 hammers here. The sad truth though, is that there are far too many individuals that not only have general stability issues, but game-stopping ones. If I tried to play a game and crashed to the desktop every ten minutes, the parent company would not have long to fix it before I decided to pack up my virtual bags and move on. Eight months after release, and this is still a big problem for a lot of players? That’s just not cool.

Raid Content

The argument can be made that there is no raid content within Vanguard at this time. My answer to that, at least for now? Go play on the Test Server if you really want raid content and can’t wait for GU#3. I will freely admit that I’ve never been a fan of raiding, so take my thoughts on this with a grain of salt… or perhaps the whole shaker. So in my eyes, there is available raid content in the game although not yet on the live servers. Will that content live up to player’s hopes and expectations? Perhaps it will, or perhaps it won’t. In the spirit of fairness, this nets Vanguard 3 hammers in my book.

PvP

Although not a huge PvP’er myself, I thought that with Team PvP, Vanguard had a chance to make PvP fun. I’ve always felt that PvP needed some purpose other than killing your fellow player simply because you felt like it. With teams, it provided a reason, a direction if you will. Unfortunately though, Team PvP has been removed with the recent server merges. The single PvP server left is using a basic Free-For-All (FFA) system. With an FFA server, people tend to either love it, or hate it. Either way, it’s hard not to feel like the PvP in Vanguard was tacked on to the game at the last minute simply so they could put one more “feature” on the box to draw a larger crowd.

If you’re going to add PvP to a game, either do it right, or don’t do it at all.

Overall (not an average)

Vanguard has its issues. You’ll never find me arguing that fact. The simple truth of the matter though, is that for everything I can think of as a fault, I can think of three things that are great about the game. Vanguard is the only MMO I’m currently paying for and for those that know me, that’s a bit of a miracle in and of itself. I’m the hopscotch master of bouncing between games, so for me to stay in one spot and defend it whenever I feel the need, says a lot. Even 8 months after release, Vanguard still gives me that magic feeling from my early EQ days when I first fell in love with an MMO.

It may have its problems, but no other game out there comes close to giving me the satisfaction I feel playing Vanguard. If I’m enjoying the game so much now, I can’t wait to see what’s down the road as Sony attempts to tackle the monumental task of making this bird fly like it should!


The Bottom Line:
Graphics: 4/5
Sound: 3/5
Game Play: 5/5
Stability: 3/5
Raid Content: 3/5
PvP: 1/5

Read Ralsu's Review

Get Some Perspective by Machail.

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Now it's your turn. How would you rate Vanguard?

VOTE IN OUR POLL! How would you rate Vanguard? Don't forget to rate all categories Ralsu did in your forum post! 5/5! Best game eva!! 4/5. The game has flaws, but I love it. 3/5. Vanguard is just so-so. 2/5. I would not recommend this game to most others. 1/5. This game sucks! VOTE HERE