''The Guild 2'' is a

life simulation Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters (human or otherwise). Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by 4HEAD Studios and published by

JoWooD Productions JoWooD Entertainment AG (formerly JoWooD Productions Software AG, commonly referred to as JoWooD) was an Austrian video game publisher that was founded in 1995. JoWooD went into administration in 2011 and all assets were purchased by Nordic Games ...

. It is the second installment in The Guild series, following '' Europa 1400: The Guild'' and preceding ''The Guild 3''. The game was released worldwide in November 2006 for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. Taking place within fictional versions of provinces of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in the fifteenth century, ''The Guild 2'''s main focus revolves around the

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

's aim to simulate life in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

. At the beginning of the game, the player can create a self defined character, whereby characteristic attributes points and skills can be adjusted and developed over the course of the game, by improving its properties and special abilities. ''The Guild 2'' was developed using the Gamebryo

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

and features open end gameplay. The game was released to average acclaim and earned a nomination for "Best Sound Award". Three

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

(DLC) stand-alone add-ons were released—Pirates of the European Seas, ''The Guild 2: Venice'' and ''The Guild 2: Renaissance''—which were repackaged into ''The Guild: Complete Collection'' and released in January 2013.

Gameplay

''The Guild 2'' is a

real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

life simulation video game that incorporates nonlinear gameplay, playable from a

bird's-eye view A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object or location from a very steep viewing angle, creating a perspective as if the observer were a bird in flight looking downwards. Bird's-eye views can be an aerial photograph, but also a draw ...

, allowing to zoom in and out of the game. ''The Guild 2'' introduces features including construction and management, tactical role-playing and

social simulation Social simulation is a research field that applies computational methods to study issues in the social sciences. The issues explored include problems in computational law, psychology, organizational behavior, sociology, political science, econom ...

elements, in which players assumes control of a defined

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

, to simulate medieval life with characteristic features, role-playing game-style ability scores, classes and special abilities in European cities. It can be played using a

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

and

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

. Similar to its predecessor, it features character classes and affects what buildings can be constructed and upgraded, which grants access to more improvements and therefore what businesses can be run. Players have the option to develop and create their character at the beginning of the game, benefitting from a variety of customization, during the character creation, by selecting the appearance, first- and surname, class, sex, zodiac sign, religion and spent

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

on talents. An objective for players is to improve their character's skills at levelling up, which are numerical representations of their ability in certain areas.

Modes

The game features an extended

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...

campaign, a comprehensive tutorial placed in the 15th century, that has additionally crafted scenario maps with a German Hanse campaign in the cities of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and Lübeck,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

and

Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. The area has been wooded since the end of the Last Glacial Period (as attested by pollen sampling cores ...

and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

). Available

game modes In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-shap ...

for playing are the ''dynasty mode'', in which players can play an open-ended game without a defined objective, ''extinction'' sets the goal to eliminate the entire opposing dynasties, with ''time limit'', players first selects a time limit and after its expiry, this limit, the points of profit - a comparison representation in the game - compared, the mode''pro team a random mission'' specifies as a game objective, that each team must fulfill a random mission and ''all teams with the same mission'', where the game objective is to choose an assignment, only the first named one comes with varying objectives and allows to alter some adjustments to the economic, social and political conditions. Dealing with a medieval legal system, town politics and rivalries between families can range from friendliness to open warfare. All game modes can be played in varying difficulties ranging from easy to hard. ''The Guild 2'' provides

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

and

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

play with up to eight people that can playing simultaneously, cooperative and in competitive game modes.

Talents and signs

The game features talents, including

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...

signs, which grants players a free talent point, depending on the choice of the sign.

Titles

The house, level of intrigue and position in government, players may obtain depends on the title, obtained by a generous donation in the

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

new titles which confer different benefits. Each title allows to upgrade a hovel by one level and to extend the influence, since both types of upgrades allows, to engage in darker projects, players may even spy on opponents, rob, sabotage competitors business, or let assassinate them. The title progression is linear, beginning with "

commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

" and proceeding through "

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

", " patrician", and then to titles of royalty. With the titles come privileges that allow the character to perform political acts, like applying for public office and owning more businesses. A higher title allows characters to improve and upgrade their homes.

Plot

Setting

''The Guild 2'' takes place in the fictional medieval world of the 15th century and begins in European cities like

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. The player chooses where to play. Set in a medieval environment, a setting influenced by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the game focuses on the common ideas of the centuries between ancient and early modern times, which has been transformed into an astonishingly diverse and evocative view of life. Especially in the middle age and the transition to the renaissance in which many important influences, such as entry into politics and the potential associated rise of the civil society, as well as a growing meaning of cities are just as palpable as ubiquitous differences in status between different

social strata Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political). As ...

, reflects the division of the church its entry and a spirit of optimism has been designed by a good development of action combined with a family empire foundation, to compete against players or computer-controlled opponents.

Development and marketing

Development for ''The Guild 2'' began in early 2003 with a team of more than 80 people and was headed by Lars Mertensen, director of ''Europa 1400: The Guild'', which was published in 2002. The game is characterized mainly by the increased importance of the private life of the individual figures and released in September 2006 to largely mixed reception at its launch. The Guild 2 was first announced at the

Games Convention The Games Convention (GC), sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment. Its concep ...

in Leipzig, Germany, on August 21, 2003. After initial logistical delays, the first expansion pack named ''Pirates of The European Seas'' was released in May 2007. / This stand alone expansion pack added several features, such as new professions and several different types of ships. This first expansion pack met with slightly better reviews than the original game.

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

gave it a "fair" score (6/10), and from Game Watcher a score of 8.2 out of 10. As a result of this, then-Community manager, known only as ''Fajeth'' had between the years of 2010–2012 in a fan community forum announced, that he and some of the members of the game's community led by Fajeth, has taken over the flawed game issues and attempted to fix them with an overhaul and updates, that the issues has been adequately addressed. ''The Guild 2: Pirates Of The European Seas'' an add-on, added new features like a hospital and a fishery. On August 31, 2007, ''The Guild 2 Gold'' was released, which includes the main game and ''Pirates of the Seas''. All previously published titles in the series, so ''The Guild'' and ''The Guild 2'' add-ons with each, were placed under the name of ''The Guild Universe'' in July 2008 in the trade. ''The Guild 2: The Royal Edition'' appeared on July 25, 2008 and contains ''The Guild 2'', the add-on ''Pirates of the Seas'', new maps and patch 2.1. A stand-alone expansion for the game called ''The Guild 2 - Venice'' developed by Trine Games was released on October 10, 2008. It includes the city of Venice, a new building style, and some minor new features. This expansion, which added the city of Venice to the game world On August 25, 2014, Nordic Games announced the new patch 4.2 for ''The Guild 2 Renaissance''. It will fix a lot of map bugs, add some scenarios and remaster the audio track for the game, it was released as stand-alone expanded version by Runeforge Game Studio and JoWooD Entertainment on July 27, 2010. During gamescom 2014 Nordic Games announced that they are developing ''The Guild 3''.

Engine

The Guild 2 is powered by the Gamebryo

, the speedtree physics engine, the Quazal rendez-vous technology and supports online multiplayer for playing cooperatively or competitively with other players.

Audio

The team employed Pierre Langer of

Dynamedion Dynamedion GbR is a German music composition and production company based in Mainz. Founded in 2000 by composers Pierre Langer and Tilman Sillescu, Dynamedion specialises in composing music for video games. The group has won several industry aw ...

, to produce the album music and the sound effects for ''The'' ''Guild 2''. The soundtrack was composed and recorded in the Thuringian Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl under the conduction by Bernd Ruf with a symphony orchestra. The German band

Versengold Versengold is a German folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainmen ...

has since 2014 musical performances in taverns in the game, with a total of three songs.

Reception

Upon release, ''The Guild 2'' received average acclaim from magazines and websites. The game received a 6.2 out of 10 points from

. Eoghan Brophy of the former gaming website gamers Europe praised the opportunity, that players can gain through accumulated experience in the form of redistributable points and noted that it is beneficial to invest them immediately upon receiving in class-related talents. Stuart Thomas of game debate praises the combination created by modifications made by the modding team in the community around the game, calling it an incredible piece of work, that would pay a little patience as the game progresses in terms of the opening complexity of the game. Ludovica Lagomarsino of Italian reference point multiplayer praised both, the particular system of "favor" for both sentimental and political as well as commercial relationships as useful and also the

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

for its user-friendlyness. GMC's Vincenzo Beretta noted that the "developers try to overcome their receding success" while criticizing that the "results are not entirely the same" continuing with criticizing the user interface "that more problematic than functional" is, but lauded the game's setting as "very lively and fascinating 3D environment". Despite the praise, Joe Martin of VideoGamer.com gave the game 4 out 10 points focusing on the game's variety to gameplay and lack of focus in its design stages, he noted that it's an

rpg RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

game that was "ruined by a lack of focus in its design stages" or had it been a little faster paced and involving it may have made a mediocre

rts RTS may refer to: Medicine * Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim * Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma * Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...

game. Game Watcher gave the game 7.1 out of 10.

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave it 6.5 out of 10, and Hooked Gamers gave it 5 out of 10. ''The Guild 2 Renaissance'' was awarded the Sound Award by ''PC Games'' magazine. It earned nomination for "Best Sound Award".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guild 2, The 2006 video games Video game sequels Windows games Windows-only games Video games set in the Middle Ages Video games set in the 15th century Video games developed in Germany Lua (programming language)-scripted video games Gamebryo games Video games with historical settings Guild 2: Pirates of The European Seas Video games with expansion packs Video games set in Europe JoWooD Entertainment games The Guild Fictional guilds Real-time strategy video games Aspyr games Deep Silver games