A darkness falls on Elona (Guild Wars: Nightfall (PC))

Member Name: RPnecroranger

Product:	Guild Wars: Nightfall (PC)
Date:	06/05/07 (150 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: MMORRPG meat people controllable heros

Disadvantages: cant be played offline

This is the 3rd Campaign in the Guild wars MMPORPG saga. OK so some would say this isn't a typical 'Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game' down to the fact you gather a group of people to enter a area , and once you enter the area it is 'instanced' - actually created just for that group so you don't see other groups/users in the same area.

As Prophesies is/was based mostly on Europe, factions on china/Japan Elona appears to be based on Africa. This can be played on its own or in addition to the other campaigns

The storyline starts with a mystery. Some really darn strange things are going on, and the sun spears (previously protectors of Elona) seem to be under threat from Warmarshal Varesh - leader of Kourna, and her seeming passion for her god Abandon.

Quick look into the land - Elona is split into 3 provinces, Istan, an island off the west coast, home of the Sunspears and the starter island for players created in this campaign, as well as a 'joining' point for characters from the other 2 campaigns. The other two areas are: Kourna, home of Warmarshal Varesh and her troops, and Vabbi, the rich opulent province ruled by 3 princes.

There is a 4th & 5th areas, the 4th being the 'desolation' a sandy sulphurous waste ruled by the undead 'Palwa Joko' and the 5th being the realm of torment, but the 5th doesn't appear till much later in the story line, and without spoiling it, it would be hard to talk about.

What I can say about the 5th area is that this is the ultimate in the story, you meet up with The Lich (1st campaign ultimate baddie) and Shiro Tigachi (2nd campaign ultimate baddie) before going on to the ultimate battle... can you beat a fallen God?

A lot of the game storyline in the Player V Environment section can be confusing to start with, sometimes leaving you with the feeling of 'what do I do next?' type of feeling. There was times where I got confused and found finding the primary quest to get on with the storyline was often a quest on is own!

Arena net have supplied 2 new types of professions for this campaign. Both based on 'holy' warriors: Paragons, mostly in white, with shouts and skills that appear to give you 'wings' and spears for ranged attacks. Dervishes, (yep based on those famous 'whirling dervishes') use scythe skills and mysticism and can hit multi targets in a swipe.

Other new additional features include:
Heroes: rather more controllable than the normal henchmen, they are earned through progression on the storyline. Occasionally you will have to 'choose' between 2 heroes... but no panic; as soon as you complete the campaign you can 'enlist' the ones you didn't get. Heroes can be customised, you can add runes (+ features) give them different weapons and even earn different armour for them in the challenge missions

PVP
With the advent of heroes comes 'hero battles' in addition to team arena and random arena.

So what are you paying for?
At the end of the day you are basically paying for access to a game server. This game can't be played off-line at all. The actual game software engine can be downloaded from the website

Price £29.99 for standard, £39.99 for collectors

Standard you get: booklet (well a big booklet really), key reference, access key on collectors credit card

Collectors: booklet (well a big booklet really), key reference, access key on collectors credit card, 2 skills pin badges in a pouch, pop out stand up 4" image of Warmarshal Varesh Ossa, Minipet key for a in game minipet Varesh Ossa, Music CD 'Music of Nightfall', Documentary DVD 'Making of Nightfall'

Summary: Elona: land of the golden sun. A darkness befalls this land... it needs heros to stand up and fight!