Top 10 PC Games

[Evil Avatar]

For your Thursday reading pleasure, The NPD Group has released the Top 10 Best Selling US PC Games for the week of May 8th to May 14th. As should be no shock to Evil Avatar.com readers, NCSoft's Guild Wars (http://guildwars.com) is the #1 title.

Guild Wars - NCsoft
World Of Warcraft - VU Games
Empire Earth 2 - VU Games
The Sims 2: University - Electronic Arts
The Sims 2 - Electronic Arts
The Sims Deluxe - Electronic Arts
Stronghold 2 - 2K Games
Lego Star Wars - Eidos
Half-Life 2 - VU Games
Galaxy Of Games 350 JC - eGames

[GrinR]

I don't get the Guild Wars love. Can someone explain it to me? It seems like a clunky and limited version of every other MOG I've played, but with really nice graphics.

[Hieremias]

Guild Wars certainly doesn't interest me, it just seems like another level-grind with restrictive environments. Its only draw is the no monthly fees, but that's not much of a draw to me, it should be standard on ANY game.

As for this list, damn, must have been a slow week. What the hell is Galaxy of Games 350 JC? And Lego Star Wars in #8 spot?

[netcraazzy]

Three sims games.....man when was the last time that there were no sims games in the top ten?

[Hijinx]

Kudos to the GW and an eGames breaks the top 10!?........Doom I tell ya.

[King Drewsky]

PC gaming is dead.

[Foe]

PC gaming is dead.

Yeah, okay sure...:rolleyes:

[Steele Johnson]

I don't get the Guild Wars love. Can someone explain it to me? It seems like a clunky and limited version of every other MOG I've played, but with really nice graphics.

Guild Wars is not like any other mmorpg. In fact, it's not an mmorpg like they've stated. Think of it more like Diablo meets Counter Strike. That's the way I see it. You can start playing in the PvP area at max level (20), so it's more like team vs team right from the start.

On the other hand, you can choose to play on the Roleplaying server, where as you do go on quests that are all instanced.

If you don't like killing things and finishing quests to gain experience points and buy new powers, then you shouldn't be playing roleplaying games at all. The reason it is selling so well is that there are a lot of people who like playing rpg's, like myself. On the other hand, you don't need to go though levels at all, just jump in, adjust your load-out, and play 1-on-1 or team battles.

But like I said, don't expect the same feeling you get when you play an mmorpg. That's not what it is.

[bapenguin]

Guild Wars certainly doesn't interest me, it just seems like another level-grind with restrictive environments. Its only draw is the no monthly fees, but that's not much of a draw to me, it should be standard on ANY game.

As for this list, damn, must have been a slow week. What the hell is Galaxy of Games 350 JC? And Lego Star Wars in #8 spot?

That's the thing, it's not about the levels. It truly is a content focused RPG. Then it throws in good PvP, CvC battles to keep things spicy. Add in clan rankings and you've got a hit.

[GrinR]

"If you don't like killing things and finishing quests to gain experience points and buy new powers, then you shouldn't be playing roleplaying games at all."

And the last, lonely bell tolls for the definition of RPG.

[GrinR]

" It truly is a content focused RPG."

BA, where is the content? I understand that there are quests, I played for about 2 hours and completed quests, gathered items, etc. But there wasn't anything there I wasn't already getting from WoW, and with more freedom. I liked an escort mission I got through some poisoned waters, where I had to heal the NPC over and over.. that was interesting. But ultimately after my 2 hours I just had a guy with armor/spells wandering about. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't spell 'bad game' by a long shot, but I can't figure out why this game is so popular. I'm asking honestly, what's the "content" you speak of?

[Heretic Machine]

Because it's the new Diablo. So everyone who used to play Diablo, can play this now. And since it's actually better than Diablo, that's a good thing. As well, people like me who subscribe to MMO's but get sick of playing the same game sometimes, we can always hop onto Guild Wars to screw around, but we don't have to worry about "getting the most out of it" because we aren't paying to play.

However, it's not an MMO.

[Nesta]

What about Empire Earth 2 and Stronghold 2, anyone get these yet and like them?

[carneconcarne]

Guild wars gets much better as you get into it. The game is built around group skill use. So, when you can only group with one other person and use a few skills, it doesn't seem like anything special. It gets much more fun when you have a variety of skills to choose from, and pick a "build" to go out and do a quest with. At later levels, how well you pick and use your build, in addition to team cooperation, really make a difference in the success of a mission. The combat is also fast and fun, imo.

But the first 5 levels, or pre-searing basically, do not do the game justice.

[GrinR]

carne, "searing"?

I guess I'll try it again for longer...

[dr_qwandry]

At least Halo isn't on there
and I find it funny that Lego Star Wars is doing better then HL2. even though it makes sense considering that HL2 has been out for a while and lego star wars just came out. But I still laugh)

[Genital Eclipse]

All I can say is if you want the full GW experience don't quit out during what is basically a long tuturioal mission: pre-searing.

GW 4 EVA!

[Zawath]

All I can say is if you want the full GW experience don't quit out during what is basically a long tuturioal mission: pre-searing.

GW 4 EVA!

Aye, in Guild Wars you actually need skill. PvP isn't like in WOW where levels and items are everything and every class has couple effective tactics.

[Com_Gaunt]

@Nesta, I played Strong Hold 2 and was amazed how much a piece of crap it is.... and I still play Stronghold Crusader quite a lot...
It really looks awful in 3d and it feels like the original gameplay is gone.

Empire Earth 2 was a disappointment for me as well.... I went through the tutorials and tried a couple of skirmishes, it's a confusing version of Rise of Nations too me.....
The maps feel unplayable and the 15 epochs are just too much.

[KarmaGhost]

At least Halo isn't on there
and I find it funny that Lego Star Wars is doing better then HL2. even though it makes sense considering that HL2 has been out for a while and lego star wars just came out. But I still laugh)HL2 has also been out much longer than Lego Star Wars.

[Draft]

I do not like Guild Wars, and let me tell you why:

As GrinR so sadly stated, RPGs are basically fed ex jobs with stat based combat. LOTS of stat based combat. And let's be honest, it's generally pretty boring. You click on the monster, or the other guy, then you click on your spells or whatever, and after a few minutes you or the other guy are dead.

Now, I can tolerate this boring stuff because building a character can be a lot of fun. I have a level 60 Shaman in WoW and I'm very attached to him. We've spent a lot (too much) time together, and his victories are mine. When he finds a cool new weapon or a sick piece of armor, I feel a genuine sense of pride for my little bovine buddy. And so I plow forward into this boring combat because I like seeing my little guy win. I like the amount of control I have over what gear he has and what talents he uses, and I like seeing other peoples builds lose to mine.

That covers standard MMOs. Diablo is an entirely different beast. I like Diablo because it's fast. Oh man, so fast. I wade into dozens of enemies at a time, and seconds later they're all dead, and I'm swimming in their loot. Wash, rinse and repeat. And repeat I do, because the rewards are doled out in such a rapid fire fashion, I'm never more than a couple minutes away from something. I lack any sort of connection with my Diablo character, but that's OK, because what I'm really there for is monster genocide.

And then there's Guild Wars. I will admit, I only played for about 5 hours. And I never had a lick of fun. Couldn't figure out why either. Game's gorgeous, skill system seemed neat, lots of quests- what's not to like? Then it dawned on me- the game marries my too least favorite aspects of the modern dungeon crawl RPG: slow, boring combat and shallow, underdeveloped characters. It's like Arena.net took my least favorite thing from Diablo and my least favorite thing from World of Warcraft and smashed 'em together into a very pretty game.

Of course, your mileage may vary, and probably does, judging by the number of copies sold and the glut of people here playing. But Guild Wars is definitely not for me.

[Murmillo]

OMG!! is it true.. had Halo finaly been knocked off the top 10 chart?. OMG... PC GAMING IS DEAD!!!..

Glad to see GW up on top. :). Greatest Multi-SinglePlayer Game Ever.

[DeadPixel]

I kept trying GW as well and just could not get into it. This isn't because I have anotehr MMO taking up all of my time. WoW was that game, but not anymore, I am looking for something new again.

Now GW, as I have posted before over and over just seems too limited to me. Maybe people say it's not a MMO, yes and I realize that everything is instanced, level 20 PvP is a click away. But let me ask you this question, why are the instances so damn limited? All these places to go and see, yet I need to stick on a path the devs scripted for me. Endless invisible walls, boring slow combat, animations that are just not linked together well. Try running diagonally and it looks horrible.

When I play an RPG, I consider these 5 things most important:
1. Skill system (stats, skills, character development)
2. Combat (animations, speed it takes to kill, tactics)
3. Loot (who doesn't like variety?)
3. World environment, primarily freedom (I hate over the top scripted missions/quests)
5. Interface (UI, key custmization, windowed mode, etc)

Guild wars does none of these as well as say World of Warcraft. About the only thing it has going for it is great graphics.

[Bushido]

Guildwars is the best game ever. If you preffer WoW thats fine, you are shallow and stupid. If you quit WoW to play GW then you are like me and I kick ass.

[51|RandoM]

Anybody notice that just about everybody who doesn't like Guild Wars is also somebody who doesn't get it?

You people don't like guild wars cause you don't know what guild wars is, and are trying to rate it/play it as something it isn't. I laugh at people who compare it to world of warcraft. The one thing that Guild War tries to excel at, it totally destroys WoW in.

GW is about PvP in a reasonably controlled/balanced setting. That is it. Everything else in the game is fluff on the way to the PvP, or fluff for when you don't feel like PvP. Class-based counterstrike in a fantasy setting, as has been mentioned previously.

When you can hit the level cap in about 3 days of play, it should tell you something about the goal of the game---it isn't a level grind, that should be obvious. It isn't a MMORPG. Get this through your collective head.

All that said, if you're willing to try to explore, there is some pretty cool/challenging PvE content in the game. Try working your way through Mineral Springs, for instance, or better yet, try it with a hench party, lol. If all you do is stick to the mission path, though, you'll soon end up bored to tears.

[Liquidize105]

Those who can't get into guild wars can trade me for something else.

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=463

[The_Reckoning]

For the people who aren't into Guild Wars: Try playing the level 20 PvP option.

Also, if the grass in the game is green, then you've not played long enough to appreciate the good part of the game.

[Mason]

" It truly is a content focused RPG."

BA, where is the content? I understand that there are quests, I played for about 2 hours and completed quests, gathered items, etc. But there wasn't anything there I wasn't already getting from WoW, and with more freedom. I liked an escort mission I got through some poisoned waters, where I had to heal the NPC over and over.. that was interesting. But ultimately after my 2 hours I just had a guy with armor/spells wandering about. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't spell 'bad game' by a long shot, but I can't figure out why this game is so popular. I'm asking honestly, what's the "content" you speak of?

This thread is old, but here we go.

You're in pre-searing Ascalon. It is the happy area where your character starts off. There are lots of quests, but you don't have to do many of them. Once you've picked a secondary class and (I suggest) done the quests which earn you new skills, you can advance to the post-searing phase, which is where the rest of the game takes place.

And while there's a lot of questing you can do, the "content" he was speaking of are the missions. Missions are team-based tasks that advance the plot, with cutscenes and such. In the early betas of Guild Wars the game had no quests at all, it was just the various missions linked together, so clearly they are meant to be the core of the game.

So once you're level 5 or 6 go ahead and leave the pre-searing time. That's when the game really gets started. I actually think that they should've included less pre-searing content and quests, as people tend to stay there too long with their first character, not realizing that it is merely the prelude.

[Mason]

And then there's Guild Wars. I will admit, I only played for about 5 hours. And I never had a lick of fun. Couldn't figure out why either. Game's gorgeous, skill system seemed neat, lots of quests- what's not to like? Then it dawned on me- the game marries my too least favorite aspects of the modern dungeon crawl RPG: slow, boring combat and shallow, underdeveloped characters. It's like Arena.net took my least favorite thing from Diablo and my least favorite thing from World of Warcraft and smashed 'em together into a very pretty game.

A well-reasoned opinion. And again, I refer you to the fact that you could very easily stop questing and hit the missions, which will advance the plot and pick up the pace a ton.

The missions also introduce you to some moderately interesting characters, from a plot perspective. There are definitely a few surprises, too. I think you'll say "Whoa" before arriving at Kryta.

In short, I can understand what you're saying, but you have not played the real game yet. Advance the plot and hit the missions before giving up on it. The questing and exploration in GW is passable, but they aren't the focus of the game. The missions and the PvP are what it is all about.

And if you want faster paced combat, maybe try a different character. Elementalists are the kings of damage output, but everyone has solid methods for death-induction.