Even though I consider my first night playing the game smoother than anticipated, the game does have some glaring flaws and glitches. The first of which is unless you have a decent gaming computer with a good video card, you will not get the best gaming experience out of Vanguard. The game has been greatly optimized since beta, but it still has a long way to go.

The game still stutters and hitches, even with my Nvidia 8800GT card with 512mb of video RAM. It is very smooth when I’m out in the country by myself, but it really slows down when you get nearer the cities. This is with the base options set to High. Vanguard’s graphic design is based on realism, and you pay a heavy price for making things look as real as possible. I prefer this style of graphics, so the occasional hitch or stutter doesn’t bother me at all. There is a wide range of graphical options, so it would be easy to lower the settings to make it play better on slower machines.

My half-elf druid started on the Kojan continent, which is a series of islands. The culture is Asian-based and leans heavily towards a Samurai style. The inhabitants worship a way of life known as “Jin” that permeates everything they do. There is a “good” Jin known as Lao’Jin, and an “evil” Jin known as Ra’jin. The two Jins are at war with one another, each trying to become the dominant way of life.

Most quests during these early levels almost always have something to do with Jin. In fact, as I continued to gain levels, the Jin quest line became more and more heavy-handed. I am now level 11 and I can say that I am completely tired of the subject of Jin. I hope a new type of quest line starts soon, because I need a new subject to keep my attention.

With that said about the long Jin quest line, the bad also comes with some good. There is a wealth of quests and I never lacked for something to do. I still have many quests in my quest log at level 11. I just wish they all didn’t have something to do with Jin.

My druid plays like a cross between a wizard and a standard druid. I have big nukes and powerful damage over time spells. I can root and snare, which allows for solo kiting. Small heals help if I get beat on. So far, I really enjoy this style of character. It seems to have the best of both worlds. Time will tell if it stays this way as I level up.

The world is massive, beautiful, and fun. It is also very under-populated. Even with just four servers, it is obvious that most players gave this game a wide berth. I also average two crashes to the desktop each night, so the developers still have much to do.

My next postings will get back to my gaming adventures. I will detail the good along with the bad, of which I have encountered plenty of both. You will get the true opinion of a so-called “veteran noob,” so that the average player can get an idea of what to expect when playing this game.

–Wolfen

My new computer, video card, and power supply all arrived, so I got all of them put together and running smoothly. My computer specifications are: AMD X2 6000+ processor, 3gigs RAM, and Nvidia 8800GT 512mb video card. Screen resolution is 1680×1050. I tested everything to make sure all was working and then I launched myself into Vanguard.

The first few minutes into the game was disconcerting. My frame rate was horrible and it didn’t get better no matter how I changed the game settings. The game then crashed to the desktop and I began to get a bit worried. My concerns didn’t last for long. Once I got back into the game, everything worked just fine. Everything was smooth and looked great. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued on. On a side note, the name Wolfen was already taken, so I had to use Wolfenn.

I created a half-elf druid and started in the Tanvu area. When my character’s eyes opened, I was standing on the beach near the Shang Village. These first two pictures show what was in front and behind me. (Click on the thumbnails for a larger view)

The object in the distance of the first picture is of a man riding a dragon. He is the first person to give me a quest. He told me that the soldiers on the beach were low on morale and needed a cheering up. So, I talked to a few of the soldiers and raised their morale. I wondered why their morale was low.

It turns out that these are troops of a powerful emperor and they were in the middle of attacking the Shang Village. My next quest was to go kill some of the villagers. This made me pause a moment. I know that half elfs are not an evil race, so why was I being told to kill villagers? There was nothing for it but to see it through, so I ran up to the village and killed the required number. Several of the houses were on fire, which was neat to look at. I returned to the dragon-riding commander and got more quests.

One of the village quests did amuse me. Some of the soldiers were not attacking the villagers, so I was tasked with setting them straight. I found one of the “pathetic” soldiers and clicked on him. A status bar appeared on my screen and it said “Laying down the law.” My character was slapping the soldier. When the deed was done, the soldier started attacking a villager – and lost. So here are more soldiers not wanting to do what they were told. Interesting, indeed.

In the end, I was tasked with assaulting a fortress house where a Master Fhungusu lived and kill him. None of the monks surrounding the house attacked me. I entered the house and found the room that Master Fhungusu occupied. As you can see by the screenshot below, something was wrong with this.

What was the problem? I am level 3 and he is level 50. He didn’t attack, however, so I clicked on him, and what he told me cleared up some of the mystery. He said that the emperor is an evil man and that I shouldn’t follow him. I was chided for killing innocent villagers and getting their blood on my weapons. He wants to change my ways for the good. My weapons were taken from me, and I was sent to Dallerjuba Village to begin my reclamation.

More to come in later posts.

–Wolfen