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Affilliation
GWEN and EVE
Since its release, I’ve been having some fun in the northern and underground sides of Tyria with Guild Wars: Eye of the North. It does feel a bit short, and the new skills are not as groundbreaking, but I did feel that the story and quests/missions were a lot better than the previous ones. The cutscenes and an actual story helps a lot in the experience. For an expansion, the price is practically a full new game, which might turn off some, but if you’er into the PvE, this short expansion is an improvement.
For some reason, though, I wandered around and remembered EVE Online. I remembered that there was a certain degree of local support for it, so I decided to take another look.
It turns out that the local support is not in having a regional server, but in the mode of subscription payment. Ergo, the world (or rather, the universe) where everyone in the world plays is the same world you’ll get to play in the Philippines. Given the 14 day free trial, I was intrigued enough to give it a shot. Here’s what I can say from my few hours of play.
EVE Online is a universe in its own. The freedom you have in the EVE universe appears to be as close as you can get to actually living in a sci-fi world. Everything is pretty much free form. The in-game economy is almost a self contained economy on its own. You can make alliances, start businesses, even be pirates and outlaws. It reminded me Puzzle Pirates in the sense that the world pretty much runs its own course. EVE, however, is much more vast.
I also think that the skill system they use feels very similar to real life. When you make your character, you basically setup the physical constraints of your capabilities. Like life, anyone can theoretically learn to do anything, but some people are just predisposed to excel at certain tasks than others.
In EVE, your effectivity in several actions are determined by the skills you know. Pretty much anyone can learn any skill, but your character pre-disposition will allow you to learn certain skills faster than others. Also, learning takes focus and time. If you want to do something, you gotta have the skills. Better ranks at key skills makes you more effective at a specific task.
In the same way, this “taking time to learn” is a real drag, you literally have to wait to learn. Of course, you can do other things while studying, but the time you need to spend to learn does prevent you from achieving certain things early on, even if you’re a game veteran.
EVE is a simulation of an alternative life, a life in the far future we might not live to see. My interest has been piqued.
Tags: EVE Online, Guild Wars
