More screenshots:     Isle of Dawn (Vanguard Free Trial)     A Romantic Sea Trip    Other misc. screenshots

I avoided Vanguard when it first came out, and now I could just kick myself for that. I have played a lot of MMOs (the original Asheron's Call probably being my favorite of a very long list), but while I consider myself an obsessive gamer, I was scared off by the term "hardcore player" -- I read that as difficulty (ie, super hell mode, are-you-man-enough-for-this) when in fact it meant depth. This is old school from back when the RPG took precedence over the MMO. In Vanguard, I get to be a diplomat, a druid, an explorer, a tailor, a poet, and a captain of a small coastal sloop. It's a busy life, but never a rat race. I don't care so much for a game with aggressive "leet skillz" competition and huge "risk vs rewards" macho challenges, but I absolutely love games that have increasing levels of complexity that peel away like an onion, and much favor immersion over convenience. Vanguard fills a lot of gaps that other games seemed to be missing, at least for me. For that -- I am willing to be patient through bug fixes, performance issues and minor frustrations, because those temporary frustrations for me are well worth such a rewarding overall experience.

Anyway, for now just some pictures ... I am too busy exploring to write much! So far I have about 120 hours into the game, and I can see this as one I stay with for a good long time.