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[farecoal]

I don't know exactly if its the right place for: however, I'm going to ask anyway. There are three games I have seen recently that I have thinking of getting, and I wanted to get this forum's opinion on them.

1. Guild Wars: I know its old, and there is a second one coming out, but I was interested in the no subscription mechanic. Is it good? Could I play it like a single player RPG? Should I wait for the 2nd one to come out?

2. The Stalker series: I've heard some bad and good things, I wanted to know if they were worth getting, and if so which one. I'm also kind of afraid my computer can't handle it, so how hard is it on the graphics card or cpu?

3. Just Cause 2: I've heard a lot of good things about this, but I'm still a little hesitant. I'm really afraid my rig may not be able to handle this one, too.

My system has a Xenon dual-core, and a Radeon HD 3800, in case 2 or 3 are too much for that.

[Sowelu]

re Guild Wars, what action RPGs do you like / dislike?  What MMOs have you played that you liked/disliked?

If you can run it, Stalker is pretty darn worth it, and I'd advise against reading too much in threads about it to avoid spoilers (you'll see a lot of "I was so scared when I went down into PLACE and STUFF happened, and then afterwards OTHER STUFF happened, because I totally wasn't expecting it").  I've only played the first one though, and I don't know what mods you'd need.  It ran on my seven year old machine, though, however it was a pretty decent machine at the time.  Also, I'm used to playing games on low resolution and detail...but I don't think it was all that punishing on the machine, really.

[farecoal]

I like running at high detail if possible, but I can settle for a little less. As for Guild Wars, I tried WoW and like it at first. However, I got really sick of the grinding, so if there's a lot of that in Guild Wars...

I like being alone in MMOs, even if that seems counter-intuitive.

[creodor]

Played guild wars from launch to...oh, probably a year or two after nightfall came out. You can be alone if you like; between henchman and the heroes you get who you can customize, you could play the whole game solo. It's heavily instanced. The PvP on it is pretty fun, if you like PvP (I never did, but I still enjoyed it when I did play the pvp stuff). You can hit level 20 (max level) in no time at all. You only grind if you really really want that one rare equipment. And equipment really doesn't matter, honestly, even in PvP. Very minor improvements.

Stalker is awesome. Shadow of Chernobyl, great game. Especially with the Stalker Complete mod. Definitely get it. Never played the others. And I can't say to how rough it is on hardware, since my rig is pretty beefy. Just run it through http://svc.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/

Just Cause 2, it's...fun, at first. But it's too big, too wide. And besides that, aside from just going on it occasionally to just..have fun and murder things while doing weird and crazy stunts, I can't say it's very good.

[farecoal]

Hmmm. Guild Wars actually sounds good now, but I'm still not sure about Stalker. How are the other games generally regarded as?

As for Just Cause 2, I always loved just messing around in sandboxes, so it sounds pretty good too.

If I got Guild Wars, which campaign should I get?

[jnecros]

Stalker is well worth it, and there are some solid mods out that make it even better.

Guild Wars was fun, it bought it a few months back and enjoyed it, but it did lose its shine after a week or two, but it is a very good rpg/mmo. You can solo the whole game, but playing with people is fun too, I never pvp'd so can't speak for it either.

I don't have Just Cause 2..

[Thexor]

I like running at high detail if possible, but I can settle for a little less. As for Guild Wars, I tried WoW and like it at first. However, I got really sick of the grinding, so if there's a lot of that in Guild Wars...

I like being alone in MMOs, even if that seems counter-intuitive.

Guild Wars is pretty much different from every other MMO out there, so don't use WoW to form an opinion. 

For grinding... I've never experienced any. You'll reach the max level, 20, relatively quickly - heck, if you play Factions, you could easily reach 20 within a day or two of casual gaming, so there's absolutely no level grinding whatsoever. You won't have the money/skill points to afford every skill the moment they become available, true, but that's hardly a huge loss (you'll obtain hundreds of different skills easily enough, and since you can only use 8 at a time...).

Now, if you actually care about appearance, there are a few grindy elements - 'better' armour has the exact same stats as the commonly-available stuff, but it looks cooler, and that's enough to make some people farm for some items. Likewise, you'll find multiple 'max stat' weapons easily enough... but finding one that looks awesome, too, is a bit more dependent on random drops. But if you don't care that you aren't wielding a sweet blue, flaming sword, then there's practically no grinding whatsoever.

And as for the last question... Guild Wars is probably the easiest MMO to play single-player. The whole game (outside of towns) is fully instanced, and if you don't have a full party (or don't have a party at all!) you can 'group' with NPCs in town, and they'll fill out your empty slots (and often do a better job than the players - knowing that your healer has computer-level reflexes and a built-in order to prioritize you over the rest of the AI is  nice.  ) I've gone through every mission in the game with an AI party, so I can certainly attest that it's possible and enjoyable.

(Yes, I know, I probably sound fanboi-ish. Seriously, though, it's a great little game - better than most other MMOs, and the 'no subscription' thing means you can always come back to it later.)





If Stalker interests you, pick up the first one - not only because it's liable to be the cheapest, but because (AFAIK) it's got the best mods. Stalker Complete 2009, I believe, fixes a lot of bugs, along with other minor changes. Whereas Guild Wars is an MMO that can be played as a single-player game, Stalker is a single-player game that wishes it was an MMO - if you like wandering the vast expanse of a sandbox, it can be one heck of a ride.





And I've never played Just Cause 2. It looks interesting, but I'm running XP and am too lazy to upgrade. 

[Sensei]

The endgame of Guildwars is better than WoW because it ultimately works out to being a sport, rather than a grind. Guild wars has a large campaign which can be completed with NPC's (although I usually like players more) but I think the main part of the game is multiplayer competitions. If you like playing along a lot go for Nightfall, it has customizable NPC henchmen with more complex command options (not sure if you can get them without nightfall).

[Sowelu]

I actually disrecommend Guild Wars for the solo/multiplayer thing.  I thought it was only fun at all in PvP and stuff, moreso than other MMOs, but maybe that's just me.  But then I only really played much in beta.

[farecoal]

Thank you all for responding.

Thexor- I'm wondering which game is the best without mods, unless those mods only fix bugs. Thank you though, it seems that from the responses the first one is the best.

Sowelu- It's been a long while since beta, so I'm guessing the game has been massively improved since then.

Edit: Sensei- Thanks. Are the all campaigns priced the same though?

[farecoal]

Wow, people sure seem to like Guild Wars around here. I think I'll get that. In fact I might get all three, as they all seem pretty good. Two more questions though: are you sure I should get the first stalker? And is it somewhat like Oblivion or Fallout?

[Sowelu]

And is it somewhat like Oblivion or Fallout?

Haven't played Fallout 3 but I wouldn't compare it to Oblivion.  I mean sure, Oblivion didn't have guns, and it did have levels (which Stalker doesn't), but mostly...  Oblivion wasn't scary.  You got over most of the weird stuff within the first few hours, or rather, when you visit Kvatch.  Afterwards it was like, "Oh hey there's that symbol on my radar.  It's the same enemies as last time, and I know what'll be in there."  Oblivion has a few traps, but most of the time you barely notice because they do so little damage.  And when you're outdoors, you're pretty much safe.  I mean, what's the worst that's going to happen?  You hear tense battle music, say "Oh it must be a bear", and you run to the road so a passing soldier will kill it?

Stalker is NOTHING LIKE THIS AT ALL.

[Jack A T]

STALKER is just plain awesome. First game practically needs a mod to be playable, though...

[farecoal]

So I would need  to install a mod for it to work? Hmm...

[Sowelu]

The base game is a bit unfinished, but the mods clean it up VERY well and add in the stuff that was left out.  There's a couple of main mods people use, you just need to pick one of those and install it on the game, nothing else required.