Customer Reviews

Champions of Norrath

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

As if the EverQuest juggernaut needed any help, the Champions of Norrath game brings a new chapter to this RPG saga.

First, you choose your character. There are barbarian warriors, wood elf rangers, high elf clerics, erudite wizards and dark elf shadow knights. We seem a bit elf happy here, with none of the other interesting races represented. You do get to choose a male or female of each, but the females all look like Playboy models rather than normal human beings (or elven beings for that matter).

You get a tiny bit of customization - hair style, hair/skin color. A few point modifications to your stats and you're set. A quest to fight orcs, and you're all set!

The game is extremely Diablo-like. Your inventory lets you arrange your items tetris-like in a grid, and there is almost infinite variety in the combinations of weapons and armor available. This on one hand is good, but on the other hand, do you really need 80 different types of boots to choose amongst?

The graphics are VERY sweet, with whirling mists, swinging lamps on ropes, and well done body movements. This isn't a splinter-cell reality look, it's more like a 'living cartoon'. There are shadows and glows from lights, the flames flicker quite realistically. Even the menu scenes are very nicely done and get you in the mood.

The sounds are reasonably good, from the clicks of swords to the haunting music in the background. As in all games you can get tired of certain phrases or songs rather quickly, but that's what the mute button is for.

Gameplay itself is very much like other RPGs out on the market. You run around the randomly generated map slashing at everything. Creatures die. You gain experience points and push for the next level up to give yourself more stats. Depending on your character type, you can move along different skill trees to become more advanced at tasks you want to do. Note that unlike other games, if you click on something you're stuck with it. So think carefully before you click.

As enjoyable as this is, there are a few flaws to at least watch out for. One, the random maps are fun, but the randomly positioned save points are either really good or REALLY awful. If they were going to do a random map, they should have just let us save at any time.

Most RPGs let archers have unlimited arrows - but here you have to buy them. Then you're stuck running back for more all the time. Especially for a newbie archer, this really means you don't arch much at all. Not fun.

The bad guys seem to lurk by the spawn points, so if you die, you often come back to life only to watch in anger as your character is slain on the spot. This falls into the Not Fun category.

Also, the camera could use a fair amount of work. There are many times when you're caught fighting and can't see at all what you're doing.

Still, these are just things to keep in mind - the game in general is gorgeous to look at and great fun to play. Because it's random, and because it plays well in multiplayer (both in person and on PS2 Online), this is where it really shines. Much like Diablo was AMAZINGLY fun in an online setting, the Norrath online can keep you having fun for weeks and weeks, if not months and months.

Highly recommended for the RPG fan who wants to play with friends!

Champions of Norrath is one of the very few video games that I actually enjoy playing AFTER I have already beaten it. The game play is fun and challenging - definitely worth purchasing.

The story line is very very confusing, and too be honest I have no idea what the "Story" actually was. However, to me, this is a pretty minor point. If I want a great story I will watch a movie... I just want a fun video game

Here are some of my highlights-
- Plenty of save points
- Lots of interesting weapons and weapons (all of which are upgradeable)
- The graphics are good enough that you never distracted.
- Parts of the game are very challenging
- Pretty good length - at least 20-25 hours.

Cons-
- The camera angles can be a bit tough to get quite right
- The story line really doesn't make any sense.
- Certain magical powers (like holy hammer) simplify the game considerably.

As a whole - I give the game a five full stars and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys RPSs.

I played this game with a couple of friends and we kept on for hours, never bored. The graphics are extremely attractive (we'd expect nothing less right?). The characters are very customizable as are the weapons and armor (using special items you can find).

With more than two players you lose camera control, but that is really the only negative thing we encountered with the game.

If you dig hack-n-slash games then I can highly recommend this title.

Champions of Norrath is a standard hack'n slash action RPG similar to the Baulder's Gate series. Nonetheless, the fun that it brings to the player is far ahead of Baulder's Gate.

Basically Champions is created with the idea of being a fun multiplayer game. It is a great game to play with when you have up to four players. The single player mode is not bad for you would be able to get the standard satisfaction from an action RPG. You still level up and solve very basic puzzles but when being ambushed by enemies, you would regret coming on to the adventure alone. Some of the boss fights are tremendously difficult when you are in the single player mode. Luckily you could save and reload your adventure at any point to go through the level again and again for a speedy level up. That could help you a bit at the beginning of the adventure.

In terms of battle system, it is basic hack'n slash with the support of a quick spell book menu where you assign your different spells to your convenience. However, since all the other buttons on the controller are already occupied, you would only be able to assing two quick spell or ability at one time. So in case things go bad in a battle, that means your strategy is not working out. Once the quick spell book is full you have to change it from the menu screen. Certain abilities and spell consumes mana, and mana is the only thing that you can use to cast spell, so for magic users, carrying a lot of mana is a must, but this at the same time reduce your load capacity, which in return limits your the number of items that you can carry and sell (for all the hard earning gold). So some strategy is needed if you want to go through the battles and adventure more easily. Also replenishing life by usuing potion takes time too. So if you try to heal in the middle of an ambush, there would be a good chance that you die during the healing.

Different classes - Dark Elf, High Elf Cleric, Wood Elf Ranger, Babarian and Wizards - have their own abilities and spells that you could upgrade throughout your hard earned level up experience. Further, you need to open up certain abilities or reach certain levels before you could open up other abilities or spells in the line. So you have to really plan what you want so that you won't be wasting the ability points that you earned through the levelling up. The maximum level of each ability and spell is 20 and there are quite a number of them for you to master, which keeps the game replayabel in this aspect. Also at the beginning of the game, you can assign a basic 20 upgrade points for your character to customise the style and ability that you want to start the game off with. You can also customise the look of your character and every time you assign or equip new items to the character, it will be shown in the menu screen, which adds to the fun as some of the equipment make them look very silly indeed. :)

You can also assign gems and stones to your weapon and armours to increase certain stats or add certain status effects to your attack. Nonetheless, gems are hard to find and in case you are in a four player game, that could be one of the things to compete for and start arguments. However, not all the gems are useful for they may benefit more to certain classes but this is also the interesting part as throughout the course of the game you could even change a magic user into a striker.

The levels are well design and each area have their own type of enemies. The enemies once got killed will lie on the ground so you know that you have visited this area before. That is something really good as the whole environment in a level looks a like, it is a good indication of showing that you have been here. Also the dungeons are randomly generated, so every time you revisit a place it could be different, which adds the replay value of the game. In terms of puzzles, there aren't a lot and most of them you know what to do through the storyline. It is just that some of the puzzles and missions could be pretty annoying if you just fast forward the conversation when you play it for the first time.

Storywise, the story is quite basic with some twist and turns but the fun you gain from the game is from the customisation and gameplay, which makes the story less important which could be a down side in a way that this is after all a RPG. You couldn't not expect an epic story like the Final Fantasy or Tales of Symphonia, but it offers a different type of enjoyment. Also the way the character communicates with you when his/her load capacity is full is very funny too.

For gamers, this is a definite good choice as a multiplayer RPG and it is great fun going alongside with your commrades to kill orcs and zombies. Nonetheless, there are quite a number of bugs in the game, including frame rate and also the most annoying freezing when you are in 4 player mode (usually happens when you try to get into your inventory. So save before opening inventory when you are in 4 player mode). Once froze you have to restart and all the hard work are gone. Hopefully Ubisoft will pay attention to this in the sequel release. Othe than that it is one of the more promising multiplayer RPG in the market.

This new Everquest game puts the 'G' in RPG! Awesome attacks and skills that can be improved! This game never gets boring with the ability to play online and beat the game again on a harder setting! Without the network adaptor i would probably give this game 4.5 stars because playing online allows you to get help from friends if you are stuck at a certain boss or area. This game is great for anyone who loves LOTR type games, all ages too because the blood feature can be turned off (great feature for people with young children who could also enjoy this game).

Lets re-cap with the ratings here:

Overall 10/10
Graphics 9/10 - not the best, but you can zoom in and out!
Sound 8.5/10 - needs a bit more variety.
Controls 10/10 - SOOOO simple and easy to remember!
Replay Factor 9/10 - you can replay the game on a harder setting but everything is still the same, except harder (duh, lol).

This is a Sony Playstation 2 video game that is in the Fantasy Role Playing (FRPG) genre and basically just hack and slash with some cool strategy involved. You choose from the potential characters of Barbarian, Archer, Cleric, Mage or Shadow Knight (this game's version of Dark Elves, I think). Up to four players wtih a multitap, but without one, two players can play at the same time. Players can be dynamically added or deleted as gameplay continues, so it's possible to play your character separately AND in a two player game at the same time. I think there is an online aspect to the game too, but I haven't tried it. Similar games are Baldur's Gate "Dark Alliance" 1 and 2, Bard's Tale, and Dungeon Siege.

You can unplug from daily life and enjoy a basic dungeon crawl with no puzzles to annoy you, and enough strategy to keep your mind occupied. This is an extremely replayable game. I've been playing it for more than four years (on all three levels) and still enjoy it. It's the best bargain in old games. Not only is it classic, but it can be brutal if you aren't ready for its difficulty level.

It can help train your reflexes for online games, and it has made me a better player overall. I've learned about blocking, using the map to my advantage, summoning creatures to help me fight, or as a distraction, running in circles to ruin the targeting of sorcerers, and making decisions about which items are worth keeping and which are to be sold. I also learned a lot about cooperative fighting, communicating during a boss fight, and division of spoils. This game made me grow as a gamer.

Couple of warnings:

1. If you're on a tight budget, keep in mind that you'll need a lot more memory cards than just one. The game only uses 8MB cards, and the first save is 2MB. Subsequent saves are smaller, and you can fit up to ten saves on an empty card. You must not delete the "Completed Game" saves, or you lose your ability to move on to the next level of the game (there are three levels, Adventurous, Courageous, Champion). Once you start playing multiple characters, and wanting to save items for other characters, your memory cards will multiply like rabbits.

2. You may find references to a multitap for multiplayers. It makes it sound like you can't play multiplayer without it. Not true. You don't need a multitap unless you want to play with 3-4 people. Two players don't need a multitap.

3. If you're religious, you may not be happy with the last level of this game which is a convincingly scary version of Hell complete with lakes of fire and tortured screaming. However, your goal on this level is to save souls from the local prince of darkness, and then to destroy him, in order to end his reign of evil.


What's Sweet:

1. Random maps and random drops keep the game interesting. After a while you start to recognize which "style" of map you're in. Each type of map has its advantages and disadvantages and if you replay a lot, you'll get familiar with it. Random drops can be annoying because it can seem to take forever to get good items. The easy way is to realize that most bosses have the best drops, and refight them using the "save before, save after, import yourself from 'after' to 'before' and fight again" method. This is also my favorite way to level up.

1a. This game is beautiful! There are two underwater sections that just take your breath away. And they still look good on an LCD TV, though a little blocky. The sounds are realistic and change depending on what armor you're wearing (plate clangs, chain links tinkle realistically), and depending on where you are (caves echo...).

2. All kinds of pre-gunpowder weapons are available. Pole axes, spears and picks are some new ones to me. Pole axes have an extremely long reach and that's helpful in this game with some creatures. Spears may be the only way to quickly damage an enemy before he can cream you with a spell (in some fights). Picks have great damage compared to swords early in the game. Later, they're less of a focus. Bows seem hard to use at first. But if you hold down the x button and rapid-fire them, then you can turn your character to face the enemy better at the same time - or turn in a circle to get a "spray" effect.

3. Weapon and armor upgrades are available and the system is simple and quick compared to the onerous one in Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2. You're limited to 1-3 upgrades per weapon, usually two. And some upgrades require two slots. Because of the rapid fire feature in bows, adding fast to a bow is a bonus. Using super fast upgrades on swords just makes you miss, so save those for the bow.

4. The creators did a good job balancing this game. Each character class is very good at the strategic goals of the game. For example, all characters can block. All have some way of doing continuous ranged damage, they all have a means of attacking multiple opponents at once, and they all have a means of self protection (Holy Armor for Clerics, Increased Health Regen rate for Barbarians...). Also all characters can tank to some extent, even Mages.

5. There are some very important cheats-by-design in this game. Playing a totally honest character is not recommended, and probably wasn't even intended. There are ways to duplicate items (such as weapon and armor upgrades). There are ways to level up, and special leveling up tricks in the character creation stage and by fighting certain bosses when you have zero experience, and even a keystroke sequence that brings characters up (or down) to level 20. There are ways to get more money without losing any of the items. Using the ability to import characters will lead you to discover almost all of these.

6. The characters speak when a map is first loaded, and if they're left inactive for too long. The Shadow Knight is funniest. The female Barbarian sounds like an Irish lassie, and the Cleric is kind of stiff-collar white knight, which is actually kind of funny when he's in the unholy temple and using Repulse Undead... I caught myself saying "Repent!" :-)


What's Sour:

1. There are significant bugs, but only one that I've found to be absolutely repeatable. In the City of Kathuun, if you put any items in the space between the pillar and the wall closest to the save point, the game will freeze when you try to get to the save point NEXT time. It seems to mess up the whole save and you have to use a previous one to advance anymore.

2. Another bug is the loss of items from the map. The safest place to put items is next to the save point (you do this because you can't carry everything you want to keep with you), except Kathuun when it's next to the light in the alcove in front of Gol Nazyn. Items also disappear right after they've been dropped by enemies. So snap them up quickly, and redistribute them later. Learn to trust your teammates.

3. The Boss fights are super hard. The point being that they force you to learn new strategies, but it's a mixed blessing. They all have multiple strategies for how to defeat them, but the most obvious is the first big boss, the Orc Leader. Depending on the map you may be able to defeat him by attrition using the two staircases on the map, and some great spears and arrows. Or you could learn to block and sneak attacks in when he pauses for a second before attacking again. The block method is faster, and if you have only one staircase, then it's probably the best strategy. You can fiddle with moving the urns around to make him walk a different way, but if you're using ranged weapons, you'll break the urns anyway.


Boss fight help:

The game doesn't penalize you for dying, so you might have to let yourself get scrubbed a few times to get a feeling for how the boss attacks, and start developing a plan. Don't panic, just watch calmly. Here are a few tips:

Orc Leader - block and sneak attacks in. If you have a "summon" type weapon (Hammer of Wrath, or Skeleton), cast it and block. Look under "What's Sour" above in item 3 for other methods.

Spider - have cold on your weapon, run around her, try to wedge in the corner between her jaws and her front legs and just keep swinging. Blocking when she snags and bites you will help you survive.

Ant Queen - find a pillar near a wall and use the space to evade her. Or wedge into the corner between her egg sac and the wall where she can't reach you. Then pepper her with arrows. She is the best "leveling up" creature at the start of the game. Lots of good drops and you make tons of money on all the drops of the small ants. Refight her at least once.

Giant on the hidden island - He's a miniboss, but he's nasty. Run away from him and get him with arrows (or Holy Strike), or try the Orc Leader blocking method, but it works less well on him. He can't get into narrow paths or between rock and tree sometimes and you can luck-out with a good map.

Cloud Giant - he's a special levelup boss. If you fight him when you've got zero XP, you get bonus XP, making character creation for the next level of the game easier. You must have 100% Magic resistance or close to it, and it's helpful if you can cast something like the Shadow Knight's skeleton to do continuous damage to him. When he's almost dead, save a "before" save, so it's easier to use him to level up. In fact, if you have a skeleton present, and you import another character, then the skeleton still stays and attacks until it is killed!

Innoruk - Skeleton or Hammer of Wrath (or some such), fire protection, and critical on your weapon should be your goals. He seems very easy (too easy) to kill with the Cleric. Holy Armor and Hammer of Wrath was my strategy until he dropped his hammer. Then I moved in and clubbed him with a weapon that has critical on it. It was very quick. He seems very vulnerable to both Cold and Magic.

Finally, this game is fun waste of time. If you're looking for quick, munchkin, no patience required, spend about 5 minutes in each dungeon and come out of it loaded with loot types of games, then you should look elsewhere. But if you're here to waste time in a very fun way, then get this game, and forgive the minor dents and scratches. When you get to the end of this game you have a feeling of wanting to do it again, and when you've been playing a while, collecting cool items becomes your obsession. In Champions level, you start becoming obsessed with 50th level items, and the game still doesn't lose its charm when you reach 50th (which is the maximum level). Get this game and beat it, so you can get to the victory-laps stage!

Before i bought this game i made sure i knew what i was buying. I read almost all the reviews and looked at game reviews from game informer and such magazines. And as far as i can tell, they were right. It is an endless hack and slasher with a plotline. It has almost endless amounts of enemies with tons of items. It has several camera views, and great graphics. Just about the only downside is that you have to stop playing at some point. I role-play on a normal basis and as far as i am into the game it is the only game I have played with that is this much fun. It isn't as in depth with the character customization as far as looks and appearence but it certainly makes up for it with its items, weapons, and armor, ohh the armor. Shiny.

EQ cutting in on your time with your honey? Try this. I played this all weekend with my girlfriend, and she looks forward to playing it more. If you have that RPG geek side that needs it's daily fix, but your girlfriend, wife, significant other complains you don't pay attention enought to them, this may be the answer for you!

I did make the mistake of having her be a Ranger, and myself a Shadowknight. She should be firing arrows at the mobs, but it is too hard for her and she just melees. But her skills advance in archery! Oh well, still lots of fun. Archery is tough, but very effective. And it does take skill, so my girlfriend, who isn't as familiar with the PS2 controls as me, had problems. She tended to freak out a little when we had to fight multiple monsters.

Yes, the game is a little tedious with the hack and slash dungeon crawling, ie. Diablo. But it still takes skill and strategy to succeed. It is pretty much the fix I need until the next time I play EQ.

Gameplay 9
Graphics 9
Fun 9
Diffic 7
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Overeall 9

I definitely recommend this game. Especially if you play with a partner. I probably wouldn't waste my time with this solo though, I could see it getting rather boring. (...).

Champions of Norrath is a great addition to the genre and has a high replay value. The graphics are fantastic and the customization of characters is a lot of fun. The only few small problems I've had are the score (which is lovely) dropping in and out at random on occasion and the odd laggy graphics moment (sometimes is fighting scenes with lots of enemies - not too bad and it doesn't last long). Load times are great on PS2, from my experience.

It's hack/cast/slash, so don't go expecting much more, but it does those things fantastically. I do wish there were a greater variety of character classes.

Since people can't stop comparing Dark Alliance 2 and Champions of Norrath for a variety of reasons, I'll say this: Dark Alliance is the better game if you're just going to play it once or twice. Item customization is much better in Dark Alliance than Champions - items are highly customizable and you can retrieve your stones (at some expense). In Champions, you can alter items to a lesser degree (1-3 stones max) and some stones take up several slots, so that limits the customization even more. Worse, stones are few and far between in the game and you can't retrieve them from your made item.

Dark Alliance had a couple of nice rewards for completing the game at various levels (new difficulty level, new character) which Champions does not.

However, Champions is superior in terms of character development. It's hard to exhaust your character development in Champions (50-something levels, vs 16 or so in Dark Allaiance) whereas I maxed out my Dark Alliance Barbarian character on the second play through. In Champions, it might take 1-2 plays through the game just to build your character up enough for the recommended experience level for the medium difficulty level. Even better, when the Norrath sequel, Return to Arms, comes out next year, you can bring your character to it and that game will have additional leves for your character to conquer.

I am 33 years old and I absolutely love role-playing games, but up until just recently I had only played PC games such as Diablo and Diablo II which I loved. I recently got the PS2 and was looking for a few RPGs and when I saw the review for the Champions of Norrath and they said that anyone who likes Diablo will like this one so I bought it. I am so glad I did. I love everything about this game, the many different characters and being able to choose their appearance, the graphics, the weapons (I found a sword that kicks butt), the armor, the enchanted items, and the challenge.

I am not that far into the game, but I look forward to every challenge to come. I played it for several hours last night and finally had to put it away to go to bed. This game is like that really good book that you just can't stand to put down!! Anyone just getting into gaming, take my word for it, this is definitely one to buy! And for those experienced gamers, if you like RPGs then you would love this one!