So I've not bought this game yet, I actually prefer not to buy Funcom games opening day because we know how they are with their openings.

So i'm going to give my honest assessment of a game based on someone who's been playing MMO's almost 15 years now.

Graphics - I've heard and seen quite a few reviews talking about the Graphics so far, These have either been negative reviews on character animations, or how the game looks in general. My personal opinion on it is, They're not that bad...Yes the animations aren't super amazing, But really they're not that much worse then Rift which I actually like. The Landscape and such is pretty course on par for a Modern day MMO, Certainly not terrible as i've heard. The only flaw I truely found was was running animation which really reminds me of the Diablo 2 paladin run animations, sometimes it just looks like they're running with a stick up their ass. General assessment of this is, If this is your only hang up on the game, It's not a good reason not to play this game. They're not so bad that they can't be improved, and they're not terrible enough to completely ignore everything else about the game.

Questing System - This is honestly the first game i've played that i actually had to read the quest on some of these, and figure them out. I mean some of these quests are just really well written. The Cinematics are kind of hit and miss because my guy doesn't say a word so it's kind of lame, But then again you'd have to say the same about Skyrim on that, So it's not a huge deal. I actually think their current setup is actually better for the game because you do focus on the main quests and such a lot more when you're not simply looking at your map and wondering WTF to do next as its completely covered in red circles. The Side Stories you run across are also very interesting as well, and add to the game as it's kind of like the Quests Warhammer Online had where you'd find shit out in the middle of no where. Picnic quests i think they called them.

Combat - If you play the first hour fo the game, This seems simplistic when it really isn't, They're not kidding when ya start delving into your tree more and picking up more abilities...You will be building combo chains and the combat itself is going to envolve very quickly. If you're thinking combat isn't going to be very advanced in this game, simply go look around your skill tree and you'll start to get an idea on how quickly it's going to change.

The Skill system - I love Rift, mainly because I love its skill system, It's kind of taken a slide in the department as they've never some of the Souls in the game or made some really just overshadow everything else, But its the shear complex nature of coming up with builds, and having so many Options that I love... This game has that as well..Probably more, since you basically can play till you have everything then just build whatever ya want. I've been studying the skill tree for a while now and I just love it, You can see really Heavy Tanking builds, DPS builds ect ect.. Just really interesting stuff.. The fact that there is technically no levels is also a good thing, because you'll want to keep doing the PVE in the game and keep playing and getting experience till you have your entire skill tree completely gotten so you can make your ultimate build.

Content - Running around Kingsmouth and Savage Coast, this game has a lot content, If they can keep the content going like they've done in the first 2 zones, This game will be well off.

Summary - This might actually be the first Funcom game i'm going to consider buying on day 1. I plan on playing GW2 and Rift Expansion, but I can see playing this one as well.. I'm more interested in the PvP right now, as thats my main concern, but if it ends up being pretty good, funcom might actually have a real winner on their hand.. It won't pull WoW numbers, but it will pull solid subscription numbers for a while if they can keep the PvP good, and make sure the content is actually similar at all levels as it currently is in first zones.

So i actually recommend this game as a Solid buy, I don't think its going to disappoint despite it being funcom.

Also I want to give some praise for funcom on this as well, TSW is different from current MMO's, It's not following the WoW band wagon... They've tried something different, and I honestly think they've done a good job.

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