The Personal Story does not feel like a Personal Story
Nope.
- Trahearne is not nearly as ‘over shadowing’ as you’re making him out to be. He’s a scholar and political figurehead, you’re the champion. As this complaint is everywhere, I point you to retaking Claw Island, one of the MOST important battles in the war. Every soldier there on the frontline ISN’T crying Trahearne Trahearne! They’re calling for YOU, the Warmaster.
- I’d love for an opportunity as a human to smash the Flame legion’s face in for what they did to Ascalon. That’s not gonna happen though. Why? Because the story is about defeating Zhaitan. Do you seriously think the Norns will be safe as long as a single Elder Dragon still stands? Zhaitan is the first name to be crossed off the list, he won’t be the last.
- Your complaint about picking your battles is silly. Each Order has drastically different missions available to them.
It sounds like you want Dragon Age, not an MMO that let’s you pick some key story moments. It’s not fair to judge GW2 by those standards.
The “personal” story ends when you join an Order, because that’s when the main story takes over – the one which you signed up to play. If anything, A-Net should clearly make this distinction, but they don’t because they consider it “personal” if you can still make a choice (even if the choice isn’t very significant). The main story in Guild Wars 2, at least until we get some expansions, is defeating Zhaitan. I’m sure we’ll get to swing at Jormag, Kralkatorrik, and Bubbles soon enough, but for now, it’s all about Zhaitan.
Your “personal” story is meant to give some “personality” to your character, but that is overshadowed when you join an Order. When you start off, you’re a stream; a meandering stream, the direction of which you can control. Eventually, though, you’re going to flow into a river, and if you think you can control where the river flows, you’re being silly. That river flows straight into the ocean, and by that point, you’re just along for the ride.
Is it ideal? No, but your personal story is not more important than the one the world is scripted to act out: the main one.
“Quaggan will kick your tail so hard it slaps you in the face!” – Willoo
It sounds like you want Dragon Age, not an MMO that let’s you pick some key story moments. It’s not fair to judge GW2 by those standards.
Dude, you can’t blame the OP for complaining that he didn’t get what was advertised. Calling it a ‘personal story’ (which they still do) is more than a little cheeky, and if you go to the main page and look at the way they market it, it’s markedly different to what we’ve got.
They say that decisions you make will be ‘fateful’ – they aren’t. No decision you make matters in the scheme of things.
They say no two stories will be identical. Not only are there going to be thousands of identical stories, but even when they’re non-identical, they’re very, very similar. The last third is always identical, the middle third only meaningfully differs in who your mentor is, and the first third is a string of disconnected missions.
This would be fine if:
(a) The writing standard was a lot better than it is.
(b) ANet had been clear and accurate in their way of describing the system. They should have just said something like, “The story has multiple branches and missions leading up to an epic final battle.”
I agree with OP, I’m afraid – it’s a bit of a letdown. I was really gunning for something like Planescape: Torment, where the way you act affects who your allies are, what paths are open to you and how you approach your final confrontation.
I understand the lack of ability to really make it a “I go where I want” open world and “personal” story. I get it, I really do.
When we join an Order for a way to fight a dragon, we see the strengths and weaknesses of all three, we’re tested and we find the one we like the most, the one we agree with. We join, we do two whole missions of significance, and then we go to Claw Island, after which it doesn’t matter which Order we joined. Because it’s Trahearne’s story.
A character that no one outside of a Sylvari with a single specific start up even knows who he is. Rescuing my human sister, or rebuilding my charr’s warband? Completely irrelevant. That we rose through the Priory, or poor poor Tybalt, nope. Trahearne’s got a legendary sword for some reason, he’s the only one who can wield it for some reason, and that’s all that matters.
As soon as he’s entered the story line (or re-entered) everything of value in your personal story has been swept aside. It’s not Destiny’s Edge (whom we’ve been trying to rebuild, and working so freaking hard to do so). It’s not the overarching story of events told through the zones themselves and what’s going on in them. No, this is our PERSONAL story.
And that sucks kittens.
As soon as he’s entered the story line (or re-entered) everything of value in your personal story has been swept aside. It’s not Destiny’s Edge (whom we’ve been trying to rebuild, and working so freaking hard to do so). It’s not the overarching story of events told through the zones themselves and what’s going on in them. No, this is our PERSONAL story.
And that sucks kittens.
Do you really think EVERYTHING in your personal story that happened prior to Claw Island has to be significant somehow? What the hell does saving your sister (or, in my case, finding out about my true parents) have to do with fighting Zhaitan? If there’s a legitimate connection, then fine; A-Net showed some previous choices in the Order missions having later relevance, such as Ftokchak helping out in Orr (he first appeared in a Vigil mission to save a skritt colony). But it’s more like those earliest adventures helped shape who your character is emotionally, and they’re in the past. They’re done. They’re memories. Why should they come up again when your character has moved on to a much greater threat?
Again, I think A-Net should make the distinction between “personal” story and the world’s story. The longer they call the entire chain your “personal” story, the more confusion and dissension there’ll be.
“Quaggan will kick your tail so hard it slaps you in the face!” – Willoo
I agree to a certain extent. Things are different…from which they have told us, or we simply misunderstood what Anet has been trying to tell us about story.
I chose a Charr, and as such I got the feeling from the very beginning that I will be tied to my warband and legion – turns out not so. I chose Blood legion because I think they’re freaking coolest of them all, especially how effective it sounded in first intro when you create a character.
It was good for the first 30 levels, it felt like my story. Doing various missions with my growing warband and Rytlock were probably best ones (although I still wish to kill that kitten Steelbane at some point since I left him live on the first try).
The moment I joined the Vigil things changed – it’s not like the change of NPC’s that accompany you was bad or anything but i did start to miss my warband for some reason. And Rytlock nowhere to be seen, occasionally I just get a letter of congratulations on my successful mission. Good thing to know that he’s spying on me while I’m on Vigil duty.
Anyways, I’m level 53 now and still no word from Blood legion or warband. I hope I’ll get to see them at least in final battle, because it seemed to me in CC that it was the most important thing about your character. Legion that acts like your both parents and a sparring partner that will accompany you everywhere. Now poor Reeva rots somewhere in Black Citadel. Nobody ever told us we are going to be stuck with one of the 3 main orders of Tyria and do their bidding.
And what about Destiny’s Edge? Not a single thing about them, and they seemed like a pretty big deal before the game was released. Maybe they’ll re-join in later game expansions?
Concerning Trahearne I don’t find him uninteresting I just find his voice boring compared to Forgal, who was much more kitten. I understand he is a different person but that doesn’t mean he has to sound like Microsoft Sam.
Overall I’m not dissapointed – I just thought that choices I made in character creation regarding my legion, warband and heritage would have more meaning. The game does however have a huge replay value since there are many choices to make.
(edited by CharrGirl.7896)
I tend to agree that the personal story is the weakest part of the game. The early stuff, when it is still about your race, I generally enjoyed. Everything after that… was just okayish.
I also agree that the personalities of our characters are weird. I play Asura, and I have never felt like an Asura since I joined an Order. I’m nothing but loving and respectful and kind and blah blah… where is the Asura attitude? One of the main reasons I rolled Asura was because of their arrogant attitude. There’s lots of great writing in the Asura-specific content, but my own character at level 30+ might as well be human.
The “personal” story ends when you join an Order, because that’s when the main story takes over.
I don’t see why they two have to be mutually exclusive. It would have been so much better, in terms of both immersion and replay value, to have the personal story as the main story, or at least heavily influencing it. Instead we go from"immersed in an interesting new culture" to “generic faceless filler” and a horribly disjointed mess with no continuity whatsoever.
I want my sylvari (charr/norn) to continue to feel like a sylvari (charr/norn). I want my own people to recognize me instead of treating me like that generic faceless filler. I want the chance to closely bond with recurring NPCs instead of being partnered with one throwaway after the other. I want a basic sense of continuity. A story which fails to deliver that is a sorry excuse for a flimsy figleaf that might as well have been left out of the game altogether for all the impact it has.
I love the early chapters, the cultural ones. After that, there’s just so much wasted potential that it makes me sad and angry at the same time.
Yep, I pretty much put my thoughts out here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/story/Can-we-have-this-please/first#post456937
The Personal Story aspect of the game has been dramatically over-hyped and has woefully under-performed.