Guild Wars Nightfall

"Back on track, if not quite there yet"

Being a Guild Wars player since the beta of Proh, the 1st chapter in the Guild Wars saga, I've loved everything about the game. Graphics, gameplay, extras, everything about Guild Wars shows me that ArenaNet has truly put out a great saga. At least, that's what I thought. Then came Factions, a lackluster expansion/stand alone game that could be connected to the first chapter. The intro of the Assassin and Ritualist Classes made for new combos, but the truth is the Rit never really hit it off, and the sin class was shortly filled with Narutards who thought that assassins were a warrior and thus, could tank. Not only did the amount of noobs increase, but the overall experence died too. A lame story, hate filled players on both sides of the factions, and an overall boring title. I thought Anet had lost that spark, but I still preordered Nightfall; impressed by the PvP and PvE weekends. Now I can truly say that Guild Wars as returned from that fallen grace that was Factions, but it's still not quite the awesome factor that the first chapter gave me.

Graphics:

Nothing much needs to be said. The graphics though greatly depend on your video card and overall system. I can play on next to max with great graphics and a little lag in areas I havn't downloaded yet. It seems everything has a bit of a sharper look than before, and that's really a plus. But if you've played either of the last two, there's nothing much that's new to be seen here.

GamePlay:

I could list every new feature of Nightfall, but that would take too long. In short, a new class of henchmen known as Heroes can be used in battle. They level up alongside you, you can mess with their skills, weapons and even customize the look of their armor. The addition of a Hench Rader makes it so that you can point on the mini map and tell the henchies and heroes were to go. This gets rid of alot of the "Whole Map Aggro" that was a huge problem in the last two games, and the rader update was even added to Proh and Factions players. The Devrish and Paragon classes add some new styles to the whole setup, and make for some very evil combos. Combine the circle attack range of the Derv with the freezing skills of the water elementist for a wicked effect. Overall the gameplay has increased greatly. Though the one thing I don't like is searching for enemy collector items to complete some quests. If your luck is bad it may take hours to farm just one needed item to complete the quest. Also, the overall "anger" level of the game seems to have been toned down from factions infamous 500+ Lightning Orb attack. This really helps in the long run, especally since factions overall was a much more annoying title. While the mobs you'll face in Nightfall aren't as big as factions *can you say +50 enemies at once?* their still big, but MUCH more easy to handle.

Sound:

As with factions, it greatly depends on your tastes. If you get the music pack on the main site, then it's alot better. But overall, while there's new tunes; it's still classic Guild Wars sound.

Finishing Thoughts:

Overall, Nightfall has returned Guild Wars to the grace that it earned with the first chapter. It still falls short of Gaming Heaven that Proh made me feel, but it's alot closer than Factions was. If your going to start your guild wars experence, I'd still say grab Proh first, then this and last Factions if at all. If the feel of Factions made you hurt inside, don't be afriad to love this series again. Nightfall delievers an A+ experence.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/06