The Fallouts and Guild Wars (or: The beginning of an addiction?)

Hi Danda,

Wow, if you really want to play all the previous games to any new series you start, you'll have your hands full, I tell you. I played Fallout 1, it was fun, and then I tried Fallout 2, but it was way too difficult. For me, anyway. And the first Fallout 3, I thought that wasn't even released? As for playing Oblivion first... well, that's a little far-fetched, I'd say. But it's not like I'd want to discourage you from it. It's a fun game, although so far not as gripping as Morrowind. It's easier to get into it, though, because it begins with a clever tutorial in a prison dungeon at the beginning of the game. Just like Fallout 3 had a nice beginning, where the tutorial was cleverly built into the telling of the background story. Bethesda does that well. However, as you pointed out, it's also a time consuming game, and when you're not completely taken by the story or you get side-tracked and do something else, you forget what you did before and then you'd almost have to start again to enjoy it. And then you'd have to go through the tutorial again. And it won't be as much fun the second time around.

At any rate, I did go out yesterday and bought Guild Wars - the first chapter, entitled Prophecies. A friend of mine talked me into it, since he is playing it all the time, and so I bought it knowing that he'd be joining up with me and explaining the basics. I can see how such games make people addicted to them, especially when there is someone else who has an interest in you playing. The graphics are pretty good, considering the game was released in 2005. But it's still being played four years later, and the good thing about this MMORPG is that you don't have to pay for anything else but the game itself. No subscription fees. That is certainly a good selling point.

The game has a story, of course, but you can also just go out and do quests for a long time, just building your character, learning the basics, looking around. The fighting is still a bit confusing to me. You basically just click on the enemy and your character starts beating on it, and then there are special skills you can use, some of which become available when you get adrenaline from fighting. So basically I just clicked on the enemy and then was frantically clicking on my skills, and many times I ended up winning. There's still a lot I have to learn. But it will be nice to have my friend teach me.


Anyway, I imagine if "normal" games are too time-consuming for you with their 100 hours (which I entirely understand, after all you're a casual core gamer!), you're likely to stay away from MMORPGs until you retire. But if you don't, get Guild Wars and we can kill monsters together!

And last but not least, let me tell you that that Bionic dude looks a lot like Duke Nukem (see image). Which reminds me, I think Duke Nukem Forever is coming out this year. Heh.

Talk to you later!
- SuperViv