Guild 3 – Review
Industry Giant, which was released in 1998 by JoWooD Entertainment, was the first of a series of video games published by the Austrian company, and Gothic and The Guild are two of the most well-known examples of the company’s work.
In 2002, 4HEAD Studios created Europa 1400 The Guild, which was then taken over by Purple Lamp Studios, an Austrian studio that also worked on SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated (here our review of SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated)
A long period of early access in which the public repeatedly complained about the bad game experience between infinite bugs and a revisable optimization has finally led to The Guild 3’s release. Because of this, we’re ready to go into great detail about the final product.
The Guild 3 has a simple advantage over other Life Sim RPGs currently on the market: it combines elements of The Sims with the microscopic and macroeconomic management of resources in a constantly evolving economic and political context. Our character and NPCs, whom we can freely interact with at any time even if not to the same extent as in the EA title, are also given personal management of their commercial empire and their career, with tracks on which to move but without excessive restrictions.
When framed this way, it appears to be a very ambitious and interesting project, which it most certainly is, but where it stumbles is in the finer details. With either a tutorial in Wenighausen or a choice to immediately enter one of the available settings, the mediaeval single-player adventure begins. Many famous cities, such as Magdeburg, Prague, Dijon, London, Warsaw, Paris, and Vienna are recreated in The Guild 3. It is possible to play as a plebeian or as a citizen with an economic and social base that is more favourable for beginners in each of these games. The number of opponents can range from one to as many as eighteen. The length of the rounds, the difficulty, and the goals of the match can be altered. Instead of simply trying to become sovereign and hold that position for a full turn (four seasons), we could aim to be the best traders, the most vicious warriors, or even a regent family in the city. There are many possibilities. In order to create our character, we will select a coat of arms, a name, a religion, and a career. We can also customise our abilities and physical characteristics. There are three religions, and the professions are classified as plebeian, citizen, or a combination of the two. We’re talking about 13 different “careers” here, each with their own set of tasks and responsibilities.
With only five skills and four stats to choose from (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Perception, and Charisma), character customization is severely constrained compared to The Guild 2. Overall, the previous chapter offered a greater variety of jobs and a more comprehensive system for managing abilities (then referred to as “Talents”) than the previous chapter did. So it’s a shame that the Purple Lamp Studios team hasn’t defined a specific role component.
When the game begins, one can’t help but notice a noticeable improvement in graphics quality over The Guild 2: textures and models aren’t perfect, but they are still vastly improved and updated. Individuals who populate the city are the only exception to this rule; while their faces have been improved, their hair and beards have been rendered in the same texture as the face. The character’s clothes, compared to vegetation and buildings, are extremely unappealing to look at.
Although the UI is more voice-rich than its predecessor, it can be difficult to navigate because of the aforementioned aesthetic choices. On the other hand, the voice acting for the non-player characters is mediocre at best, and the dialogue lines that are provided are both brief and trite. Even so, the experience’s most important aspects have been thoughtfully crafted. From the small villages that surround the city walls, we begin our lives with varying amounts of money and a variety of ways in which we can exert influence. A family must be started as soon as possible in order to avoid paying for helpers after constructing the main building for our profession and putting in long, exhausting hours of work there.
Since dialogue lines are tied to social statistics, it will be possible to start a relationship with an NPC who is influenced by the dialogue lines with varying success rates.
It will be possible to immediately marry in private or in church once the sweetheart is conquered, thus adding another character to those we can control. Upon completing these first essential steps to achieve our goals, we will begin writing our own history: as we carry out our duties to earn hard cash and influence points, we can, through the skill tree, claim a higher rank to become Archduke and unlock other key knowledge, perhaps in the fields of carpentry, medicine, or contraband. With the help of an assembly line, we can automate the production of more expensive manufactured goods in the long run and increase our assets in addition to managing a farm.
As a doctor or herbalist, we can cause an epidemic in order to raise our value and earn more money, for example, by ignoring the city’s laws and ignoring the needs of our patients. This is a management aspect of the profession that transcends the trivial concepts of having to feed or keeping a relationship with the sweet half alive, aiming instead at a constant climb toward wealth and prestige, respecting or breaking the law. As a member of one of the game’s many guilds, you’ll receive various benefits, including the ability to take part in special events like the search for the philosopher’s stone.
Macroscopic management and work automation are overriding, but it is nearly impossible to go red as AI tries to choose purchasing options. believed to be better in order to reduce costs to a minimum and increase profits. Overall, we have the opportunity to accelerate our company’s growth by stepping up our game. Artificial intelligence (AI) can sometimes make mistakes and end up buying the wrong product because it halts the production of processed goods and forces us to intervene.
As long as the employees are allowed to work, we can make our character into a free trader and still find a middle ground. In this case, we will need to closely monitor market trends and differences in the production and trade of resources between urban centres. It will take a lot of time and effort, and it will only be worth it in the long run, but it will be worth it in the short term. Our dynasty’s growth can be limited or unrestricted by the achievement of the set goal, or it can be unrestricted in a free game.
Innumerable choices await us in The Guild 3, and delving into each one is a daunting task. As a result of this seemingly set pattern, there is the possibility of the title becoming monotonous and uninteresting in the long term. get married, make some money, grow your business, and then complete your rise to political power. In terms of political management, we would have liked to see more intrigues and subterfuges, or rather, unanticipated events that could have changed the course of the game. In contrast to the monotony that sets in after about ten hours of play, the long-term satisfaction of the game makes it worthwhile.
Despite the prevalence of AI-driven characters on city streets, they often fail to notice illegal activities taking place right in front of their eyes, from murder to gambling. It is also difficult to give orders to our allies because of the large number of NPCs. Finally, even on the hardest setting, we found the game to be too easy. A lot of bugs have been fixed, and the multiplayer mode works better and is more entertaining than the early access version. Purple Lamp Studios will always be remembered for what it could have been, and that’s a bad taste in the mouth.
