Like, for example: Guild Wars, Lineage 2, Dragon Age: Origins, AION, and others I can't  think of because I've been up all morning.

I hear alot of hype and rave about these games, but I'm never quite sure. I mean, I usually at first, don't like these games, even though I don't know alot about them, and yes, I know I probably got to play the game for more than just level 10 to decide if it's worth it or not, or I got to watch videos, or I got to read a review, but sometimes, it's like the same old gameplay and grinding of it, it's like my brain gets too sick, bored, and tired of it, it's like I can't take it anymore. My brain's attention span with it is depleeted because it bored me so badly.

I tried to watch a video of Guild Wars, but I got distracted. I saw 3 videos of Dragon Age: Origins, but it's like they all were just music videos, videos of cutscenes, videos of how violent the game is, or 2 of the 3 or all of the above. I felt like I was watching cutscenes from a RPG adventure game with sorta great graphics, but I'm not much a judge for graphics.

Now, here's why I right off the bat resent (if I'm using the right term) any MMORPG that's P2P and is very hyped and popular. You got to remember, though. I'm tired, and not thinking entirely straight, so sorry if I sound like some dumbass in some parts.

I right off the bat dislike P2P MMORPGs because of these:

If I watch videos of it and find out I desire it, but my graphics card can't handle it (because, you know, it's crappy), I end up pissed off and dissapointed for 3 days to 2 weeks.

If I try it and end up loving it, my free trial will expire, I can't pay to play it, can't find a good *cough* excuse me server, and I end up pissed off and dissapointed.

If I spend/waste 6 hours trying to download it, install it, update it, make an account, and almost relentlessly ask my mom to unlock a bunch of shit (right now, I'm using a Vista, and my user account is Standard, and my mom has both Admin accounts password protected) just to find out it has combat that's no more than World of Warcraft like combat and/or I get flung head strong into grinding that bores me after level 10-20, or I'm as lost and confused as hell, and I give up on it pissed off and dissapointed.

So, I guess that's about it.

 Meh, it all depends on the person. Only you know what you like. All the games listed have tons of people playing them, so all are obviously pretty good. Personally I think GW sucks , wasn't even close to what I was looking for in a game. Dragon Age is a single player game, haven't played it yet. ANd teh other 2 were both good, but If you read anythign on them ...they both have a grind. Im currently playing Aion but it isn't much differnt than any other game out there, just some different scenery which is nice for a change.

I didn't know Dragon Age: Origins was single player. I guess I assumed too fast. Is Torchlight single player?

I looked at Lineage 2 a bit. I saw alot of concept art of blond haired elf woman with big breast and some with slutted up looking clothing. They look like they belong in some JRPG.

As a matter as fact, the looks of the game reminds me alot of a Asian made MMOJRPG or something of that sorts.

Originally posted by Glazed

I didn't know Dragon Age: Origins was single player. I guess I assumed too fast. Is Torchlight single player?

Yes Torchlight is also single player. I tried the demo and it was great though. Should be a multi player up in teh distant future. If you liked Diablo 2 I would guess you would like Torchlight.

I don't know much about Diablo. I'd almost say "What's Diablo?"

Of the games you listed I've only played Guild Wars.

Guild Wars is a good game for what it tries to be.  The real question is whether or not you'd enjoy that sort of game.  It's not quite your standard MMORPG, which they try to be very up front about, but it has a lot of similar trappings that generally make it appeal to the same audience.

The original game came out in 2004, which gives two major benefits to you five years later.  1) The system requirements aren't very high (If your PC can run World of Warcraft, it can probably run Guild Wars.) and 2) it's available cheap ($40 on Amazon.com for all three campaigns and the expansion, with the added plus of not requiring a subscription).  For what it's worth I would say the graphics have held up surprisingly well for their age and low system requirements.

The most common criticisms of the game are probably:

• You know how dungeons and battlegrounds are often instanced in MMORPGs?  For Guild Wars this extends to everything outside of towns, which can be a big turn off to MMORPG players who like the open world.
• The controls allow either WASD or point-and-click movement, however your character can't jump over (or down from) steps in the environment.  This is more a problem when running using WASD and run into a small ledge that stops you like an invisible wall.  With point-and-click your character treats the ledge as the invisible wall that it is and finds a way around.
• The attack system has autoattack and sticky targeting.  If you tell your character to start attacking and you are out of range, your character will run up to the enemy before starting to swing.  Again, this seems more of a problem when playing in WASD configuration.
• 8 hotbar slots can feel a restrictive to players who are accustomed to having 30+ in other games.  Of course this limitation is central to the game's system of strategic builds and party composition, so it's also a major point of praise.
• Special attacks are generally queued, so they will happen fairly soon in sync with your autoattack as opposed to instantly when you push the button.  To put it in World of Warcraft terms, they work like Heroic Strike does for a Warrior (next melee) rather than Sinister Strike does for a Rogue (instant).
• No crafting.  You find materials in the world and bring them to NPCs who give you items in return.

In general I think most of the criticism stem from the game being influenced by Asian games.  Things like a point-and-click, hybrid RPG-RTS sort of control system are more prevalent in Asian games.  The art style shows that influence.

It has an online store but is not an item shop game.  The design of the game is such that it wouldn't lend to the sort of item shop that players criticize in free to play games.  Their money comes primarily from box sales.  The game is designed to be played mostly at the level cap (PvP only characters can be made at the level cap instantly), so there isn't stuff to combat the leveling grind.  The most controversial item in the store, skill and item packs, only unlock the ones in the game (Their reason for creating this store item was that people starting multiple accounts didn't like having to unlock everything again).  Again, the design of the game takes away any artificial advantage.  Maybe you've only unlocked a dozen abilities and I've purchased them all, but we both only get to use 8 at a time.  Similarly, top quality armor is available pretty early so most of the difference is appearance.

It's not just World of Warcraft with no subscription, so it tends to disappoint people who go in expecting a very similar game.  But if it is the sort of game you like, it's very well done.  If not, it's cheap enough that you haven't lost much trying it out.

Generally speaking I'd say it lives up to the hype, but that doesn't guarantee you'll like it.  Hope that helps.

Originally posted by SenorHappy

 .It's not just World of Warcraft with no subscription, so it tends to disappoint people who go in expecting a very similar game.  But if it is the sort of game you like, it's very well done.  If not, it's cheap enough that you haven't lost much trying it out.

 

I just highlited a key point there. Too many people go into the game with the expectations that it will be similar or play like a standard mmo. A big reason why they are disappointed with the game is because it isn't like any other game out there. Personally I love Guild Wars for that reason, there is no other online game like it.

As a rule of thumb, no.  No game lives up to the hype.  Most of them are good, but not exceptional, and people are looking for exceptional.  All the new big name games are marketed as being better than they really are.

Originally posted by SenorHappy

Of the games you listed I've only played Guild Wars.

 

Guild Wars is a good game for what it tries to be.  The real question is whether or not you'd enjoy that sort of game.  It's not quite your standard MMORPG, which they try to be very up front about, but it has a lot of similar trappings that generally make it appeal to the same audience.

 

The original game came out in 2004, which gives two major benefits to you five years later.  1) The system requirements aren't very high (If your PC can run World of Warcraft, it can probably run Guild Wars.) and 2) it's available cheap ($40 on Amazon.com for all three campaigns and the expansion, with the added plus of not requiring a subscription).  For what it's worth I would say the graphics have held up surprisingly well for their age and low system requirements.

 

The most common criticisms of the game are probably:

• You know how dungeons and battlegrounds are often instanced in MMORPGs?  For Guild Wars this extends to everything outside of towns, which can be a big turn off to MMORPG players who like the open world.
• The controls allow either WASD or point-and-click movement, however your character can't jump over (or down from) steps in the environment.  This is more a problem when running using WASD and run into a small ledge that stops you like an invisible wall.  With point-and-click your character treats the ledge as the invisible wall that it is and finds a way around.
• The attack system has autoattack and sticky targeting.  If you tell your character to start attacking and you are out of range, your character will run up to the enemy before starting to swing.  Again, this seems more of a problem when playing in WASD configuration.
• 8 hotbar slots can feel a restrictive to players who are accustomed to having 30+ in other games.  Of course this limitation is central to the game's system of strategic builds and party composition, so it's also a major point of praise.
• Special attacks are generally queued, so they will happen fairly soon in sync with your autoattack as opposed to instantly when you push the button.  To put it in World of Warcraft terms, they work like Heroic Strike does for a Warrior (next melee) rather than Sinister Strike does for a Rogue (instant).
• No crafting.  You find materials in the world and bring them to NPCs who give you items in return.

In general I think most of the criticism stem from the game being influenced by Asian games.  Things like a point-and-click, hybrid RPG-RTS sort of control system are more prevalent in Asian games.  The art style shows that influence.

It has an online store but is not an item shop game.  The design of the game is such that it wouldn't lend to the sort of item shop that players criticize in free to play games.  Their money comes primarily from box sales.  The game is designed to be played mostly at the level cap (PvP only characters can be made at the level cap instantly), so there isn't stuff to combat the leveling grind.  The most controversial item in the store, skill and item packs, only unlock the ones in the game (Their reason for creating this store item was that people starting multiple accounts didn't like having to unlock everything again).  Again, the design of the game takes away any artificial advantage.  Maybe you've only unlocked a dozen abilities and I've purchased them all, but we both only get to use 8 at a time.  Similarly, top quality armor is available pretty early so most of the difference is appearance.

 

It's not just World of Warcraft with no subscription, so it tends to disappoint people who go in expecting a very similar game.  But if it is the sort of game you like, it's very well done.  If not, it's cheap enough that you haven't lost much trying it out.

 

Generally speaking I'd say it lives up to the hype, but that doesn't guarantee you'll like it.  Hope that helps.

Sorry for the big quote. Maybe I shouldn't have done it.

Well, according to you, Guild Wars has alot of flaws that I don't think I would like much (how I feel). I like PvP alot, but I also like alot of content and features that don't feel out of reach, and I like to EARN my skills, stats, and gear and use them how I want, so I can be ready for PvPing.

But I'll think about it and may try it one day when I get desperate for any sort of MMORPG PvP action.

Thank you, but now I kinda want to know.

I know it's F2P now, but what is DDO like?

Generally speaking, for MMORPG.com ignore the hype and focus on the ratings. The ratings are accurate for the general gamer who can cross genres and concepts.

Hype is just that, hype. People on this website usually over rate a game in the hype because they want as many people on board with them so the game gets lots of people and they don;'t feel like a loser. Of course when the game tanks then they feel more of a loser because they tempted lots of people to the game.

Also realize that hype is very motivated by marketing and advertising. These are fancy shots or built up concepts that mean nothing in the game.

Some examples of hype turning down lots:

Aion (not even in top 10 any more and still slowly dropping as people tire of it)

Age of Conan (large drop, i remember this being a 9 in hype once, slowly rising as bugs are removed)

Darkfall (this hype went down very fast after release, gone up a bit recently, i presume the flamers have stopped rating it)

i've played lineage 2 for three years and i wont recommend it to anyone who doesnt have a lot of patience or lots of friends to party with. the grind comes to a crawl around lvl 52 and you're pretty much forced to party all the time to kill anything. then there are the griefers ><

the game mechanics is so-so. what i loved about the game was the graphics and character design. dark elf female casters ftw ^^

The simple answer is no. By definition hype or more accurately hyperbole means an overblown description or expecation, to be larger than life or greater than it is. This is the job of sales and marketing and they can be very good and effective at generating a buzz around something. It doesn't matter if it is a movie, a restaurant, a new car or a shiny new game the hype generated can seldom be matched by reality.

The real issue is that there are two basic forms of hype. The first and most common and somewhat benign form is with a product that is reasonably good or even better and an enthusiasm builds for it and it becomes a bit self perpetuating which we see quite a bit in these forums with yet to be released products. The other type is when the product is basically a dog turn and not an especially good one and the marketing department jumps into action to basically save theirs and everyone elses jobs. Sometimes they can dump enough parfum onto the turd to still make it sellable but generally it is a losing proposition and is only postponing the inevitable. No one wants to make, sell or be associated with a bad product but they also don't want to be unemployed.

Ignore the hype and the pundits and do a bit of research and trust your own instincts. Nothing is ever as good as it is claimed and they are seldom as bad too but there are more stinkers out there than winners.

Nothing is as good as its hype, or as bad as its naysayers claim.

Originally posted by haratu

Generally speaking, for MMORPG.com ignore the hype and focus on the ratings. The ratings are accurate for the general gamer who can cross genres and concepts.

Hype is just that, hype. People on this website usually over rate a game in the hype because they want as many people on board with them so the game gets lots of people and they don;'t feel like a loser. Of course when the game tanks then they feel more of a loser because they tempted lots of people to the game.

Also realize that hype is very motivated by marketing and advertising. These are fancy shots or built up concepts that mean nothing in the game.

 

Some examples of hype turning down lots:

Aion (not even in top 10 any more and still slowly dropping as people tire of it)

Age of Conan (large drop, i remember this being a 9 in hype once, slowly rising as bugs are removed)

Darkfall (this hype went down very fast after release, gone up a bit recently, i presume the flamers have stopped rating it)

 

 

Bod bam. Kinda funny, though.

And all the above posts, I'm still carefully reading them, but now I know I'm not trying Lineage 2.

Very thank you for all of the posts! This is getting my questions answered.

Originally posted by rwmiller

Ignore the hype and the pundits and do a bit of research and trust your own instincts. Nothing is ever as good as it is claimed and they are seldom as bad too but there are more stinkers out there than winners.

Now, that's what I'm happy to hear. So, if I have a bad feeling or good feeling about a game (the feelings not being generated by the hype), I should follow the feeling?

That, I can do.

I read a little something on AION and looked at some pics and vids, and it looks interesting enough to try. First, free trial, then I'll try a *cough* *cough* man, I must got a nasty cold server.