Guild Wars: Nightfall Owns My Soul!

[x-posted from http://www.popcultureshock.com/guild-wars-nightfall-owns-my-soul/41256/]

Casa Gonzalez got a computer upgrade a couple of weekends ago, replacing our spyware-hobbled, Windows XP-powered, ABS tower (circa 2001) with a spiffy new Windows Vista-powered HP Pavillion. It’s not a fancy rig by any means, but it’s got 2GB of RAM and a Core 2 Duo processor, the latter of which my Tech Geek cousin explains is a very good thing. I’m just loving the silence as it speeds along with multiple windows open, and none of the incessant grinding from the old 40GB hard drive we’d gotten used to the past couple of years.

I’m a big RPG fan — I picked up the Artesia: Adventures in the Known World rulebook just for light reading, even though I have no plans on playing the game anytime soon — and after spending the whole weekend of NY Comic Con (and a few days after) laid up in bed playing Fable: The Lost Chapters on my Xbox, I was itching for the kind of immersive gameplay you can only get from a computer-based RPG. (Not counting old school pen-and-paper or LARPing, of course!) I played a lot of Fallout and Icewind Dale a few years back, but hadn’t moved up to a new game since then because the old computer couldn’t hack it, not to mention the timesink RPGs tend to be.

With the new computer, though, I found myself surfing the net last week, checking out reviews on some of the newer RPGs out there to see what looked interesting and, more importantly, what was compatible with Vista. I came across the usual suspects like Neverwinter Nights 2 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but it was the three versions of Guild Wars that kept catching my eye, particularly Nightfall. I’d never heard of the game before, nor its developer Arenanet, and was initially put off because it seemed to be one of those of MMORPGs I have no interest in losing my personal life to, but it lingered in my peripheral vision, practically demanding I give it a closer look.

So I did…and wow! I was up until 1:30am [the first] night playing and am absolutely hooked.

There’s a bit of a learning curve that I’m still getting the hang of, and it took a while to get used to the online aspect being such an integral part of the game — I actually logged off the first time someone asked me to join a guild because I thought I’d wandered somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be! — but so far, I love everything about this game, including the beautifully produced rulebook that could easily be mistaken for a Wizards of the Coast supplement.

I’ve started off playing a Mesmer, the closest thing to a D&D Bard, and I love the fact that the design of the game is such that you can play what is usually more of a support character, though that could simply be due to the early stages of the game being designed as something of a tutorial with consequences. We’ll see about that, I guess.

This morning, I was checking out a few of the Guild Wars fansites and was glad to see there’s a huge community behind the game that seems reasonably welcoming to newbies. And the Guild Wiki is an essential resource that I plan to fully read through over the course of the next week or two. One of the sites I checked out, GuildWarsGuru.com, had a great article, “For the new player on a budget: Which Guild Wars Should You Buy?” that not only confirmed I’d made the right choice in Nightfall over Prophecies or Factions, but also shed light on why it kept catching my eye: “Nightfall is a mix of North Africa, Egypt, Middle East, and Greek elements.”

While I enjoy the typical fantasy settings of medieval Europe and the whole Lord of the Rings vibe, I’ve always preferred alternative settings based on other cultures. (At one point, I was even developing my own D&D setting based on Taino culture that I hope to revisit one of these days as the basis for one of those ever-elusive novels I mention now and then.) Nightfall had continually caught my eye partly due to the number of characters of color prominently featured on the box, the Web site and the various screenshots I’d seen in different places. Coupled with the great reviews its received, it’s no wonder it was the game I ultimately bought.

The character generation system also features a diverse range of facial features that allows you to create more representative characters with wider noses and fuller lips, as opposed to simply being able to change the skin tone. My Mesmer, Damien de Vellis, looks a lot closer to me than I’ve ever been able to get in any other game, a subtle but highly effective means of maximizing one’s sense of immersion.

Anyone else out there playing Nightfall? I’m nowhere near ready for PvP action, but I’d love to hook up with a friendly face or two in-game to get more comfortable with the concept. My username is “glecharles”.

See you in Elona!

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Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.