Guild Wars Nightfall

Guild Wars Nightfall is a fantasy action role-playing game and the third stand-alone campaign in the Guild Wars series developed by ArenaNet , a subsidiary of NCSOFT Corporation. Nightfall was released worldwide on October 27, 2006 after beginning in development in November 2005. ^[1]

Nightfall takes place in the continent of Elona in the Guild Wars universe. It follows the player’s character as they join the Order of the Sunspears and uncover the desire of Warmarshal Varesh to return a long nightfall nightfall. The players, assisted by their allies, fight through civil war, ignoring Vabbi princes and Varesh’s demon allies as they attempt to prevent the coming of Nightfall.

Gameplay

Nightfall is a continuation of the Guild Wars franchise and follows the same gameplay principles. Guild Wars in previous releases played a marriage of Player versus Environment (or “PvE”) and Player vs. Player (or “PvP”) gameplay, starting out with PvP being the logical endgame for the Prophecies campaign, and PvP interspersed throughout Factions play . Nightfall moves away from this storyline is more PvE focused than previous campaigns.

Professions

A player with Guild Wars Nightfall can create one of the six core professions from Prophecies or one of the Nightfall -specific professions:

• The Dervish , described as a “holy warrior”, has a scythes and uses many different enchantments to support themselves and their enemies. They have the ability to transform themselves into the likeness, or “form”, of the Five Gods. They have higher base HP than any other profession.
• The Paragon wields a spear and acts as a battle commander. Heavily armored, they are a support character capable of helping teammates through the use of “shouts” and songs, which affect all nearby allies.

The Assassin and Ritualist can only be created by the Guild Wars Factions campaign. If a person owns both campaigns, Assassin and Ritualists can travel to participate in Guild Wars Nightfall ; But they can not be created in Guild Wars Nightfall .

Heroes

In previous years, they could use NPC with their sets of skills to assist them with their questing. New henchmen available through Nightfall and Guild Wars: Eye of the Northare called Heroes. Heroes are customizable in that the player can select skills, armor upgrades and weapons for them. The player also has a degree of control over the actions of the heroes. Heroes are unlocked through play and can be taken into PvE areas. A new PvP arena was available specifically for players with their heroes. Heroes can be acquired by all characters (Tyrian, Canthan, Elonan) and used in battle if the player has a Nightfall or Eye of the North account. Additionally, every other campaign has a hero to add to Nightfall (an assassin for Factions, and a necromancer for Prophecies ).

PvE gameplay

As with the other Guild Wars campaigns, the maximum level for all characters is 20. Nightfall strikes a middle ground with the other Guild Wars campaigns with the amount of time; faster than Prophecies , where much of the game is spent achieving level 20, but slower than Factions where level 20 is very quickly achieved.

New PvE-only skills have been introduced by gaining ranks in titles. The “Sunspear Rebirth Bookmark” is available by reaching a certain rank in the Sunspear Rank track, and each profession has been awarded a special Sunspear Rank increase. “Lightbringer’s Gaze” and “Lightbringer’s Signet” are available on reaching level 2 and level 3 in the Lightbringer track, respectively (these skills also power up the player’s Lightbringer Rank increases). Also, wearing the skill title “Lightbringer” increases damage to certain creatures in the PvE environment. Gaining Higher ranks in the Sunspear and Lightbringer titles aussi awards players with hero skill points, which can be used to unlock new skills for themselves and their heroes to use; while buying skills with regular skill points can be used to gain new skills, this method only allows you to unlock the skills of the player’s chosen professions; using skill points you can unlock skills from any profession.

Further benefits of title tracks have been integrated into the game since; for example, the player ‘s ranks in the Lucky / Unlucky and the Treasure Hunter (won by attaining “rare” items from chests ) reducing the chances of an item being destroyed when salvaging upgrade components (such as runes, which increase attributes ).

PvE has been expanded when compared to the previous chapters; Some parts of the game draw parallels to single player RPGs such as Knights of the Old Republic or Baldur’s Gate . For example, the player has to undertake a certain nightfall mission alone, with the use of heroes, henchmen, or other players. The mission requires very little fight and actually consists of a series of mini-games. Another example is a mini-mission that involves the player acting as a lawyer in a court case, where the right line of argument will alter the outcome of the trial. The ability for the player to choose a course of action plays a role in the interaction of action RPGs, As well as Guild Wars Prophecies and Factions .

The addition of Heroes has also made the game very simple. Depending on which situation you are talking about, they are making comments about the current situation. Heroes also allow more freedom when they play a role in the game. The Heroes Possible. The hero system has also led to many Guild Wars highly recommended Nightfall playersas a good starter campaign for newcomers to the game, as it encourages more strategic thinking and also makes playing PvE more straightforward (as especially in the earlier stages of the game, and a better level of survivability). This advice is not always available and their skills need to be unlocked (except for their starter skills).

Mission structure has also changed somewhat. Like in Factionsbonus rewards are dependent on the performance during the mission, not just one side quest; however, the bonus could depend on something like killing some creatures or even more others from dying. For all but the last two missions, a certain hero must be in the party before the mission can begin. There are three pairs of missions where one or the other must be completed before the plot progresses. Two of these peers are selected to the party early on, while the third mission offers a choice to the player. All the missions can be completed at the appropriate place in the plot, or depending on which players have been selected.

PvP gameplay

Prior to the release of Nightfall , ArenaNet announced the PvP Editions of the Campaigns they have released. This made Nightfall the first campaign players Where Could Have access to the skills and PvP shares of the campaign without HAVING to play or pay for the PvE parts of the game. A player interested in PvP gains access to the core PvP content, 300 new skills for the Nightfall campaign, new guild halls and a new type of Arena.

NightfallPvP Arena called Hero Battles. In this Arena, a player chooses three of their heroes to join them in battle against another player and three of their heroes. Each player has the skills of their own use, and how they use these skills in the Arena. Players also use their point of attack and defend their points of attack. These hero battles are a new international tournament for solo players; Guild matches, which requires teams of eight players. However, Hero Battles were removed from the game following controversy regarding a player who had won the game. players were assigned Red or Blue in the battle, and when this game became a part of the “Red Resign rule” was implemented. This rule had the Red player resign from the battle, giving the Blue player an automatic win in order for the reward to be easily gained. ArenaNet watched this event and, after warning players they would be banned for fixing the game, removed the Arena from play.

Plot

The player’s character is recruited as a junior officer in Elona’s independent guardian force, the Order of the Sunspears – they are led by their Spearmarshal, Kormir. The player quickly earns respect and rank in the Sunspears dealing with unusual occurrences around Istan, where the headquarters of the Sunspears is located.

The nightmare of a dead digging expedition, Abaddon, a newcomer to the fall of the world. Evidence builds that a delegation from the nation of Kourna, which are conveniently visiting the Sunspears, are behind these unusual happenings. When the Kournan General, Kahyet, attempts to strike a deal with the harassing corsairs Istan, the Sunspears intervenes. Kahyet is killed, plunging cautious relations with Kourna into strife. Kormir – who did not know what to do in Cantha and Tyria – returns.

Realizing the danger in the activities of Warmarshal Varesh Ossa (the current Kournan leader), Kormir convinces the Istan Varesh from bringing about Nightfall. Rallying the troops the Sunspears sail from Istan to Gandara, the largest fortress in Kourna and Varesh’s seat of power, to confront Varesh and bring her to justice. Varesh plays her trump card, summoning the demons of Abaddon, who rout the Sunspear troops. Kormir is left for the remaining Sunspears flee through Kourna province.

The character establishes a hidden base of operations in Kourna, rescuing Sunspear prisoners including the now-blind Kormir from the Kournan forces, freeing the region’s local centaur tribe, and preventing one of Abaddon’s demons from corrupting Kourna’s water supply. These are only stalling tactics as Varesh’s Nightfall rites continue to come closer. With the help of agents from a mysterious Elonian organization called the Order of Whispers, the Sunspears to Vabbi to convince the three Princes of the region that Varesh represents a threat to all of Elona. The task proves difficult, they believe it will be intruding forces will protect them from the Sunspears and other natural threats to Vabbi.

They are highly convinced of Varesh’s treachery and his forces destroy a nearby temple. Although the princes use the power of Djinn in conjunction with the Order of Whispers to protect their people, she has already summoned Abaddon’s Demons, the Margonites, to fight alongside her own military. The Sunspear ‘s best efforts seem to simply stall the inevitable, as the signs of Abaddon’ s begin to appear throughout Elona. After a Chaos Rift appears and sucks Kormir in the Realm of Torment, a part of the Underworld where the most wicked souls go, the Sunspears decides they must pursue Varesh into The Desolation to Stop the Rites to Return Abaddon to the World .

To pursue Varesh to the northern part of the Desolation, where Abaddon’s link to the world is the strongest, the players release the Lord Palawa Joko, who has a point of war against Elona. He reveals to the Sunspears that the world is one of the world’s worst places to be Junundu – giant desert wurms, one of the few creatures in Elona that can survive the toxic atmosphere. Unlikely an ally as he is, it is he who aids the Sunspears in crossing The Desolation.

The heroes eventually reach Varesh, who is just about to open to the Realm of Torment, and kill her. Unfortunately, it is too late, the boundaries between both worlds are weak enough to be breached. The only option is to head into the Realm of Torment itself, find Kormir and face the God of Secrets face-to-face. The players cut off the Margonite source of power, the River of Souls, and discover that Abaddon is seeking help from Dhuum, the god of death before the current god Grenth overthrew him, and Menzies, half-brother to the god Balthazar. They also discover that two of Abaddon’s main authors are none other than the Undead Lich and Shiro Tagachi, the primary antagonists from the previous campaigns.

Battling through Titans and Shiro’ken, the players reach the Temple of the Six Gods, a part of the world taken to the Realm of Torment when Abaddon was imprisoned by the other gods. Before Abaddon, they must defeat Abaddon ‘s generals, Shiro and the Lich who defend the Temple. After defeating them, the Kormir and the players request assistance. Avatars of the Gods appear to say they will not help but hurt each other “within the heart of each human”. The Sunspears must face and defeat Abaddon alone.

In the final battle, Abaddon is breaking free from the bindings to the Realm of Torment. The Sunspears renew his bindings long enough to inflict enough damage to defeat him. When defeated Abaddon’s power grows out of control and his Realm of Torment threatens to merge with Elona’s cause Nightfall without him. Thinking quickly, Spearmarshal Kormir sacrifices herself by running into the mouth of Abaddon, hoping to control or stop her energies. Kormir is successful and takes the dying God of Secrets’ power and is reborn as the Goddess of Truth. Kormir then sets about the damage to the world by her predecessor. The player may return to the Chantry of Secrets, base of operations for the Order of Whispers and the Domain of Anguish .

Release

Pre-release Bonus Pack is a pre-release pack of the previous campaigns, and was available from September 15, 2006. It includes a game trial key, an additional character slot, weapons for the new professions and a CD containing bonus materials .

The Bonus Edition, online only, has a hard silver box with the title of the game on it. It contains the game, an access key, a manual, and an Exclusive Behind the Scenes DVD. It was only released in Canada.

The standard edition contains the full game, which was released October 27, 2006. It contains three game CDs, a book of game lore, a manual, and a miniature map of Elona. New players will get four character slots while players Adding Nightfall to an existing account will get two additional character slots. In Europe, the standard edition was also released on a single DVD-ROM.

The Collector’s Edition has the same content as the standard edition but is also known to include a behind-the-scenes DVD, unique Dervish and Paragon in-game emotes, a Varesh Ossa Minipet (Miniature NPC that follows the player), an art book , skill pins, Varesh Ossa mini-standee, a map of Elona, ​​a code to unlock extra in-game music and the Nightfall soundtrack CD. It also gives you a “Nightfall Buddy Key” to give you one of your friends. The Nightfall Buddy Key allows your friend to play Nightfall for 14 days or 10 hours (whichever ends first) without purchase.

The Edition / PvP Pack edition unlocks all the skills and professions that come with Nightfall for use in PvP. It does not allow the player to access the Nightfall PvE content and the player must unlock weapons upgrades and Heroes. The PvP edition is only available for purchase online.

Reception

As the third game in the Guild Wars series, reviewers expected more from the game, for instance, GameSpot noted “the Underlying Game Has not changed much and is starting to show signs of aging.” ^[5] DESPITE this, Guild Wars Nightfall Was Widely recommended as the best game in the series for new players to start in., ^{[5] [6] [9]} and Some extend this to say it is The Strongest Offering in the Guild Wars series. ^[8]Guild Wars Nightfall was well received. While the reviews Were favorable, it has-been rated by reviewers less favourably When Compared To other Guild Wars campaigns, Factions and the original Prophecies . It received a score of 84.20% on GameRankings ^[2] and 84/100 on Metacritic . ^[3]

Heroes were viewed by many as a significant gameplay modification introduced by Nightfall . Heroes were more flexible and more flexible in the game, ^[6] [7] were also felt to be mixed-wound, unlike henchmen, heroes require micro-management, ^[6] and often take slots in which one would normally be filled by human players. ^[5] [9] Many commented That It Was Seemed que la now more solo game player than previous Focused Installments, ^[5] [7] Eurogamer suggéré heroes bring ” Guild Warscloser to the party-based RPGs of old … instead of the solo-but-with-people RPG that it had it delivered. ” ^[4]

There were few Nightfall specific complaints. Several criticisms noted that existing characters from the previous campaigns had to grind for Sunspear points to advance the storyline. ^[6] [7] This grinding for non-Eleani characters has been removed. Others noted that for Elona-made characters the story starts slowly, only really starting when the characters have joined the story has passed. ^[7] [9]

Some reviewers mentioned issues with the Guild Wars games in general. Some noted that while some modifications have been made to the interfaces, that other interfaces in the game were still lacking, ^[5] [9] for instance Yahoo! opined, “the cat and player-info features are easy, and you only meet when you’re in a town.” ^[10] It was also felt that Guild Wars is becoming a more complex game due to the vast number of skill interactions. ^[5]

Awards

Guild Wars Nightfall has received several game awards. MMORPG.com awarded the Nightfall RPG of 2006. ^[11] PCs received their 2006 awards for Best MMO and Best Value. 1UP.com awarded Nightfall Best Online / Multiplayer Game of 2006. ^[12]

References