Josh and I gave the game Sacred 2: Fallen Angel a go a couple of months ago at the recommendation of a friend and co-worker. Like most hack-and-slash RPGs, Sacred 2 is strangely addicting. One moment you find yourself playing a few minutes before dinner starts and the next it’s 11:00 PM and your significant other is calling for you upstairs to go to sleep (unless you’re playing multi-player). However after playing World of Warcraft the last two months we’ve come to realize why no other RPG will do it for us quite like WoW can. World of Warcraft gets an unnecessary bad rap from a lot of people, but usually those people haven’t even played it before. Here’s some reasons why we love it and why you, yes YOU!, should give it a shot.
The music is phenomenal.
There are few games where the music is as highly praised as the music from the World of Warcraft games. No matter what faction or race you start out as, it will have its own unique music that will totally immerse you in the world of Azeroth. Want to try a night elf? Then you’ll experience a melody with strings, gentle horns and strange minor chords that will make you feel right at home in the forests of Teldrassil. Feel like testing an orc? Then you’ll hear a rush of timpani drums, intimidating brass and crescendo after crescendo that sets the stage while you stride through the angry streets of Orgrimmar. Whoever wrote the music for this game really knew how to create the perfect atmosphere.
It’s perfect for any kind of gamer.
You may be avoiding World of Warcraft because you think there are too many expansions or you didn’t jump on the band wagon sooner so now you’ll be totally out of the loop. This is no problem at all, because there are many kinds of Azeroths. From the get-go you can choose what type of server you wish to join: a role-playing realm, where you can take your time and enjoy playing your personal avatar, a player-versus-environment realm, where your main focus is mostly leveling, and a player-versus-player realm, where you can focus more on competition and defeating other online players. Any way you go, the game is set up so you can enjoy it at any experience level.
The humor and number of pop culture references.
You wouldn’t believe the amount of creative writing found in this game. The writers do a fabulous job of keeping the gamer entertained not just with quest lines, but with the story within the quests. Here’s a few of my favorites…
- Haris Pilton, a blond blood elf staying in the inn (i.e, hotel) of Lower Shattrath City. She sells a bag called”‘Gigantique’ bag” and three rings, all outrageously priced. Running around next to her is her tiny wolf puppy, Tinkerbell.
- In the Undercity in the War Quarter, you’ll see a group of undead gathered around a fight. There are two judges watching, and even after the fight is over a new one will begin. This is a reference to Fight Club as the two characters throwing the punches are named “Edward” and “Tyler”.
- There’s a radical looking undead character in Thrallmar named “Floyd Pinkus”.
- In the Mage Quarter of Stormwind there are three mages-in-training chatting with each other. If you hang around them long enough one of them will say “…wouldn’t that be bad, like crossing the streams bad?” which is a reference to Ghostbusters.
- One of the quests in Dragonblight is called “Slay Loghun” and requires you to killed a wolverine creature (complete with long, metal claws) named “Loguhn”. Obviously a tribute to the X-Men‘s Wolverine/Logan.
- In the Purple Parlor at the top of the Violet Citadel instance is an NPC who walks around and sells drinks. His name is Alfred Copperworth, which is an allusion to Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred Pennyworth from Batman.
For a longer and more complete list, click here.
It’s relatively cheap.
You’d expect the most popular MMORPG evar to be a tad costly for its size and limitless possibilities, but Blizz only charges $14.95 a month.
There are many customization possibilities.
There are currently two factions, ten different races, ten different classes, fourteen different professions, and over 200 North American realms alone. The highly anticipated Cataclysm expansion, set to come out sometime in 2010, will give gamers two more races and another profession. Choose the wrong realm/profession/talent tree/faction? No worries, nearly every aspect of your character can be edited if you decide to change their stats. Another reason there is something for everyone and you can customize your character to your preferences.
The quests and objectives are fresh and keep you on your toes.
The process of leveling is actually much quicker than people realize, and it’s because the quests are genuinely fun. Whether you are completing quests, fighting in the Alterac Valley battleground or looking for a group to run the Sunken Temple with you, gaining experience is an enjoyable experience on all levels. Also, Blizzard does an amazing job at keeping enemies varied; one moment you could encounter a Dark Iron dwarf and the next you’re running up against an Earth Elemental, all in the same zone. The quests in the new Wrath of the Lich King zone, Northrend, are especially fun. Northrend offers dozens of new enemies and dungeons, but also types of quests, like where you can play as a 200-ft. tall giant and take on hordes of enemies at one time. There is always something new in World of Warcraft.
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[...] I’m not going to start playing videogames with CH, just because videogames ain’t my thing. But if I were to play videogames w/ my SO, it would be b/c of Geekpodcast.com, which is run by two soul and gaming mates and which I now read regularly, even though I don’t play videogames. So good job. Also, if you’ve been thinking about getting on the World of Warcraft bandwagon, read this. [...]