Guild Wars 2

A pretty standard 50’s detective film/film noir spoof, but quite nicely done!

What spoiled it for me was that (imo!) Marjory’s appearance didn’t fit the character.
Plus Logan Thackary’s presence is always a negative.

I’m praying they’re not moving towards a Destiny’s Edge: The Next Generation.

daimasei.4091:

I was really enjoying it until that parasite of Thackeray showed up -_-

This exactly! Please just kill this guy off, along with his queen, Rurik style.

I’ve been pretty grumpy lately about this game with that horrible southsun story arc, then dragonbash seemed to be serving us up another dish of boring. But that cutscene, the Mr.E (Mystery) notes, Logan’s connection, Lady Kasmeer… Things are looking up.

This is how the story should be told- and the importance of cutscenes, they really help set the mood. Lets hope the detective quests are entertaining.

I’ll be watching that scene again on youtube. I wish there was a way to replay it in-game. maybe in the achievement panel instead of a chest there was a film clip icon so you can watch it again if you like.

I really liked this. The presentation was simple, yet fresh. I’m one of the few people who like Logan, so seeing his involvement makes me happy.

This is how a story should be told! Full of suspense and mystery!

Kain Francois.4328:

I really liked this. The presentation was simple, yet fresh. I’m one of the few people who like Logan, so seeing his involvement makes me happy.

This is how a story should be told! Full of suspense and mystery!

I’m with you on this one. I like logan as well. mr nice guyHe fought with me at the trial, saved brimestone for death, sacrificed himself at Arah, came to the rescue verses Zhaitan.

I was going to start my own thread for this one. It’s one of the only cut-scenes that I would consider memorable. More like this please, and I did really love it!

So I can seem to find a reset button for this scene again AND the scene with Kasmeer after either… or am I wrong and theres way to reset it cause right now I don’t even wanna continue this event if they actually failed to have a reset button like they had one with F and F…

Cannot even begin to tell you the amount of love I have for this. My main character on Tarnished Coast is a noir-style PI, and I think I just won the game. Happiest game day ever! Sooooo well done.

Logan needs to die by a speeding oxcart or something and buried in a random grave in Queensdale. Don’t even make it a major event, just tack it onto the beginning of a living story segment as sort of a “btw this happened since last time we spoke” thing.

OMG ITS SOOOO GOOOD OMG OMG ANET ARE AWESOME

Wait, what am I saying? bashes head to wall

Thobek.1730:

I’ve been pretty grumpy lately about this game with that horrible southsun story arc, then dragonbash seemed to be serving us up another dish of boring. But that cutscene, the Mr.E (Mystery) notes, Logan’s connection, Lady Kasmeer… Things are looking up.

This is how the story should be told- and the importance of cutscenes, they really help set the mood. Lets hope the detective quests are entertaining.

I’ll be watching that scene again on youtube. I wish there was a way to replay it in-game. maybe in the achievement panel instead of a chest there was a film clip icon so you can watch it again if you like.

Or if you LEAVE EARLY not knowing you cant rewatch it! I am not buying stuff off the store to watch GW2 stuff on youtube! I already missed most of the event with the Karkas with all the bugs and server failures! Now I miss this cause i wanted to set up fraps and left early? No thanks!

With regards to improving Logan’s character, I believe the best way to handle him is to put his past behind him. This is a great step in the right direction.

I loved it.
I loved it.

absoutely stellar. tremendous like.
hopefully we get to see more of this style of conversations / cutscenes at least for the duration of the rest of the Dragon Bash story…

haha so good when Logan was like..."No names... O HAI KASMEER"

I think it was modelled after Sin City, if you’ve seen it you know what I mean. Especially the black and white thing. I loved it though, it was very cool

Yeah, the cutscene was fantastic, lol. Couldn’t stop laughing the whole time, it was so beautifully corny and enjoyable! xDD

I just hope the writers and designers for this aren’t looking through this thread like, “W-what? Corny..? No, it was… supposed to be serious… ; A ; guyswhyy”

Nope, those cinematics are bad.

For the records, this is a good example of how the opinions of players are more often than not misleading. It’s very easy to see the new cinematic system and think “ooooh, shiny!” and go gushing all over it.

There is a huge, critical flaw in them, though: they do not work with our characters. They require premade images showing premade characters, and cannot be adapted as they are to work with variable characters (aka, the PC characters).

So if you people want ArenaNet to keep using them… This means making stories about the NPCs, not about our characters. As if watching Traheanne’s rise to glory wasn’t enough, do you really want to see more stories in which our characters are only footnotes?

This kind of cinematic isn’t even that new to the game – the opening cinematic immediately after character creation uses a much smoother combination of concept art and in-game graphics, in a way that actually can show our characters as a part of the story. Too bad that ArenaNet can’t do much more of that, given how many of the artists involved have left the company.

Sin City itself was heavily themed in a Noir style. The cutscene was made with with that styled feel. Now if one of the future cutscene in this arc (if there are going to be more) has a scene that is similar to the movie then we could say that.

Absolutely a marvelous cutscene! I hate the common “2 characters facing while talking” type of cutscene which I mostly skip, but this one, just wow! I watched it in full and was amazed at how cool it was! Please Anet, more of these cutscenes!

Astraea.6075:

I also loved the new cutscene, especially the film noir style employed in it as that really worked to set the mood. While it’s too late to go back and redo the personal story using a similar technique, I hope to see more like this in the future.

The art team is developing a new format called “Charr-Noir”.

Erasculio.2914:

Nope, those cinematics are bad.

For the records, this is a good example of how the opinions of players are more often than not misleading. It’s very easy to see the new cinematic system and think “ooooh, shiny!” and go gushing all over it.

There is a huge, critical flaw in them, though: they do not work with our characters. They require premade images showing premade characters, and cannot be adapted as they are to work with variable characters (aka, the PC characters).

So if you people want ArenaNet to keep using them… This means making stories about the NPCs, not about our characters. As if watching Traheanne’s rise to glory wasn’t enough, do you really want to see more stories in which our characters are only footnotes?

This kind of cinematic isn’t even that new to the game – the opening cinematic immediately after character creation uses a much smoother combination of concept art and in-game graphics, in a way that actually can show our characters as a part of the story. Too bad that ArenaNet can’t do much more of that, given how many of the artists involved have left the company.

Actually, I think you can use dynamic characters here. The stock images in the first parts of the cutscene were probably designed on it’s own, but the next few shots are doable with the ingame facial models – they just had newer facial animation added to them, and then rasterized with background models and other 2d options. If you want verification, you can check the ingame dat files for how the cinematic system is rendered (namely through layers and layers of simple textures overlaid against one another)

Programming it to work with dynamic characters might be difficult, but doable.

I love it too! Great job Anet!

http://goo.gl/vo02V

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. I had a smile on my face the whole time. This is the new bar for cut scene narrative and Majory has to be my new favorite NPC. I really hope she sticks around after the event.

We know Josh is the awesome Puzzle and SAB guy, do we get a specific dev to credit this gem to?

My bet is on Ree. I think she is involved in that Laws of the Night relaunch so her mind already has to be in a slightly darker themed – super characterized personalities sort of place.

Oh yeah. THAT’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. Best cut scene in any game, ever, as far as I’ve seen.

I don’t consider myself a fanboy by any stretch (waaaay too old for fanboying – I remember the days before the internet; I worked with punch cards for crissakes) … but that made me cry tears of joy, and is just the latest and greatest reason why I absolutely love this game and these ANet people (on balance).

Please, ANet, keep being different, creative, and unique. Like Ms. Frizzle says – take chances, make mistakes – because THAT’s what delivers awesome cultural content like this.

Thank you, thank you!

That scene defiitely was a pleasant surprise. I’m actually really looking forward to the rest of the story now. Whoever wrote that deserves a huge pat on the back.

Agreed! That was an impressive cut scene. <3 It had flair and personality and it was delightfully charming. You could tell that everyone who worked on it had fun.

I love Malaqua, she’s so sassy.

really love that cut scene. awesome!!!

- so art.
- rich detail especially Alaqua face. She look real.
- Her personality is shining even in a min cut scene.
- Also her dialog is not boring.

Can we have more of them? PLS I ll be a good boy, I promise

Great job!!

BTW: Is there any chance i can have Casmeer’s shoulder gear? (medium gear lol)

I thought Marjory Delaqua was a hottie. {;þ

Agreed, cinematics are much better than the 1 on 1 conversation cutscenes, I enjoyed the part where Magnus was speaking during the Dragon Effigy Ceremony instance.

That film noir cutscene with Marjory was really great! I tried to repeat it immediately and was disappointed that it did not play again. :P

Erasculio.2914:

Nope, those cinematics are bad.

For the records, this is a good example of how the opinions of players are more often than not misleading. It’s very easy to see the new cinematic system and think “ooooh, shiny!” and go gushing all over it.

There is a huge, critical flaw in them, though: they do not work with our characters. They require premade images showing premade characters, and cannot be adapted as they are to work with variable characters (aka, the PC characters).

So if you people want ArenaNet to keep using them… This means making stories about the NPCs, not about our characters. As if watching Traheanne’s rise to glory wasn’t enough, do you really want to see more stories in which our characters are only footnotes?

This kind of cinematic isn’t even that new to the game – the opening cinematic immediately after character creation uses a much smoother combination of concept art and in-game graphics, in a way that actually can show our characters as a part of the story. Too bad that ArenaNet can’t do much more of that, given how many of the artists involved have left the company.

Boooo!

And yes to everything else. I nearly fell out of my chair when the Dead End scene started. I’m a sucker for that sort of stuff.

(No offense Erasculio)

Best cutscene out of anything released since launch imo. Please, please, more of this and less of the press F 100 times stuff!!!!

Ameepa.6793:

That film noir cutscene with Marjory was really great! I tried to repeat it immediately and was disappointed that it did not play again. :P

Indeed A very Well done cut scene. Wish there was a Replay cut scene in-game and no I don’t want to watch a shoddy upload on youtube. so save your links. I love Black and White movies and games, there needs to be more with that tiny splash of color. Sin city is a good example.

Absolutely amazing. I was there at the moment the quest opened, when I got out of the cutscene, everybody in the area agreed that it was a very good job.

I think Erasculio has a valid point.

While I did love the cut scene (I thought it was extremely well done), I don’t “feel” my characters as much in Guild Wars 2 as I do in Guild Wars 1. I started wondering why that might be.

In Guild Wars 1, I could repeat cut scenes with my character in it, and in fact, did so every time I did a mission. It was me standing there talking to Prince Rurik or being blocked by a minion who was attacking Togo. lol But it was still me.

If we appeared in some of these scenes, and if we could repeat certain scenes, I’d feel more attached to my characters. The way Guild Wars 2 is set up now, I’m not nearly as attached to my characters as I was in Guild Wars 1.

3D characters can be used in these cutscenes just like they were used in the character creation cutscene.

Vayne.8563:

I think Erasculio has a valid point.

While I did love the cut scene (I thought it was extremely well done), I don’t “feel” my characters as much in Guild Wars 2 as I do in Guild Wars 1. I started wondering why that might be.

In Guild Wars 1, I could repeat cut scenes with my character in it, and in fact, did so every time I did a mission. It was me standing there talking to Prince Rurik or being blocked by a minion who was attacking Togo. lol But it was still me.

If we appeared in some of these scenes, and if we could repeat certain scenes, I’d feel more attached to my characters. The way Guild Wars 2 is set up now, I’m not nearly as attached to my characters as I was in Guild Wars 1.

Maybe but I’m not bothered by it. I like my characters so much I could sit around and have beers with them if they were real. Though the drunken boasting would get a bit much. I don’t feel they need to be seen in every cut scene, they’re there observing.

(I need to get a life!)

Awesome cinematic – very Sin City-like or influenced by noir PI scenes… classy, and avoiding puns in the dialogue. I like it when the story is done with players treated like mature adults who can follow a storyline without it derailing into spoofs and parodies.

More of this Anet!

Much rather have high quality cutscenes like this than drop them just so we could see our characters….

Storytelling>characters

Especially when the characters have all the same personality and same dialog and there are thousands of them trying to lie to themselfs each of them are the hero of the story.

Being the hero of a story does not work in MMOs :P

+1 to this thread. Great job ANET! MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE

Gathslan.1870:

Much rather have high quality cutscenes like this than drop them just so we could see our characters….

Storytelling>characters

Especially when the characters have all the same personality and same dialog and there are thousands of them trying to lie to themselfs each of them are the hero of the story.

Being the hero of a story does not work in MMOs :P

I agree. What I’d like to see is our characters in these cut scenes.

It was just great. It really helped set the whole investigation theme, voice acting was also really good.

Yes I agree, great scene……it was sort of tongue-in-cheek which I like. I feel overall some of the cutscenes in this game are too kiddie-fied. It’s the only term I can think of to use at this moment.

As for Logan appearing….I was concerned, but his behaviour was less kitten than usual, and he protects the Queen I serve most loyally, so I could never dislike him anyway. :-)

I definitely loved this cutscene!

Marjory’s face seems real, Kasmeere’s armor is golden awesomeness, Noir atmosphere is simply amazing, dialogues are engaging and Logan . . . showed his hero dark side!

Wonderful job, really!

There’s been some good points made in this thread, so I’ll expand on my earlier comments somewhat…

As a means of introducing a new (possibly major) npc, I feel that this cinematic cutscene was very close to perfect. I didn’t mean to suggest that all future cutscenes should be done this way, but I would hope that we do see this style used again where appropriate.

All I’d really like to see is a bit more variety in the styles of story telling that’s being delivered. There’s been some great use of game engine cutscenes in the Molten Facility dungeon, and I’m sure others have their own favorites, but the predominant style of 2 talking marionettes used in the personal story really didn’t work for me.

The fact that Logan doesn’t want to mention names while he’s walking into a bar wearing proudly his shiny seraph captain armor made me smile. We already knew Logan didn’t shine for his courage now we now he doesn’t shine for his subtlety either.

But globally, I’ve really liked this scene. It was much much better than the traditional dialogs we can see and I’m looking forward to seeing more of this in the future (even without the film noir atmosphere).
However, I don’t see how they could possibly add our characters in this kind of cinematics so let’s hope they also use some standarts cinematics ala GW1.

Oh Logan, you always make me laugh XD

Kudos to the team for the new cutscene, I see you Anetlings are experimenting
Good job. Keep up the good work