Insight on the Game
It’s towards the end where he sums it up.
I think the game’s social areas could use NPCs with this icon above their head…
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/b/bc/Event_star_%28map_icon%29.png
…that start a mini event.
And the idea of objects you can interact with to initiate something is cool.
Also, even loot drops that can be inspected and start a quest would be neat.
There are lots of lively environments that offer no sense of potential adventure. The charr area of the city his video refers to is the perfect example of it. So much going on there atmosphere-wise, but nothing you can play with.
Totally agree OP.. we need more
Quests are effective because they’re informative- they’re tools that help to deliver the game’s narrative. GW2’s downfall is that it’s narrative is weak. The lore it’s built upon is rich and there’s little interesting tidbits of information strewn about, but the delivery is totally unstructured, almost schizophrenic.
No matter how much boogeyman the quest system, you can’t deny the potential of its effectiveness.
(edited by TwoBit.5903)
GW2’s downfall is that it’s narrative is weak. The lore it’s built upon is rich and there’s little interesting tidbits of information strewn about, but the delivery is totally unstructured, almost schizophrenic.
As overall fun as the dynamic event system is I have to agree that the dynamic event system does fall short in being able to deliver a complex narrative, beyond A is attack B because A doesn’t like B alot.
However I don’t necessarily think that implementing classic quests is a must to convey narrative.
How about something like a vista but for lore, you go to the specific area or speak to a NPC and you get a few minute long audio / video giving you the history of an area or some insight into the locals. Alternatively mobs can drop lore related items, books/scrolls etc. that convey some plot and narrative. I know there was once a suggestion that GW2 could copy something Rift (I think, never played it) does for it’s area lore.
Furthermore some mechanism that are already in the game can be improved to convey narrative, for example NPC dialogue in town can be very useful in giving you some idea of what’s going on (presently the dialogue is nice but I feel under utilised). The personal story instead of heavily focussing on some giant looming threat can be more focused on a smaller more detailed scale and be used to flesh out the lore of the world. Mind you this might go against the “I’m the hero” mentality usually associated with RPG-single-player-stories.
Of course we still haven’t seen what ANet is going to do with the living stories yet, so hopefully it would be used to convey narrative while the dynamic events can remain as a fun gameplay mechanic.
I hate to say it, but yes, we need some sort of quests in GW2.
Dynamic Events are fine, I like them, but there are times where nothing is happening and I find myself running around trying to find one. Granted some maps are easier then others to find DE’s but others not so much.
This game has a lot of areas that nothing is happening but it’s simply there so you can enjoy the npc’s that are there talking amongst each other, which is enjoyable, but you also wish you could somehow interact with them and maybe start a side quest to complete.
Traditional quests don’t need to be in this game, but some kind of quest activity/system needs to be in the open world. I’m afraid DE’s are not enough, unless ofcourse there were far more of them, but most defenitely this area needs to be looked at imo.
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GW2’s downfall is that it’s narrative is weak. The lore it’s built upon is rich and there’s little interesting tidbits of information strewn about, but the delivery is totally unstructured, almost schizophrenic.
As overall fun as the dynamic event system is I have to agree that the dynamic event system does fall short in being able to deliver a complex narrative, beyond A is attack B because A doesn’t like B alot.
However I don’t necessarily think that implementing classic quests is a must to convey narrative.How about something like a vista but for lore, you go to the specific area or speak to a NPC and you get a few minute long audio / video giving you the history of an area or some insight into the locals. Alternatively mobs can drop lore related items, books/scrolls etc. that convey some plot and narrative. I know there was once a suggestion that GW2 could copy something Rift (I think, never played it) does for it’s area lore.
Furthermore some mechanism that are already in the game can be improved to convey narrative, for example NPC dialogue in town can be very useful in giving you some idea of what’s going on (presently the dialogue is nice but I feel under utilised). The personal story instead of heavily focussing on some giant looming threat can be more focused on a smaller more detailed scale and be used to flesh out the lore of the world. Mind you this might go against the “I’m the hero” mentality usually associated with RPG-single-player-stories.
Of course we still haven’t seen what ANet is going to do with the living stories yet, so hopefully it would be used to convey narrative while the dynamic events can remain as a fun gameplay mechanic.
I agree. Structure is what’s important for the delivery of information, and quests are only one tool that can help writers and developers structure the information they wish to convey.
You bring up a good point about loot. One of my main issues with the loot system is that mob drops don’t feel endogenous. When I kill a skelk I somehow have a high chance of getting a piece armor that the animal carrying around inexplicably. That piece of armor that I may get doesn’t teach me anything about the mob or the environment it’s living in.
NPC dialogue is definitely a narrative element that can use some work. It’s been brought a few times before that much of the dialogue is generic and I have to agree.
You get a few bits of information here and there that can be very evocative, but most everything else feels somewhat detached. The writing feels as though the NPC is reading about a character living in the world rather than speaking as one. It’s something I can’t really put my finger on. Perhaps it’s because there’s little to distinguish between each races’ dialect. There’s probably more to it than that.
(edited by TwoBit.5903)
Over time I hope they do add more flavor to the game. I do miss quests that tell a story and missions that are repeatable that tell a story (similar to gw1).
To give lore, they could use the orders. The priory could be giving us more of the history, recent and further back, the order could be giving us current information and political/family stuff, and the vigil could give us the information on the military, guards, etc.
The towns could have lots of quests that let you get to know the people of the town. They could even be repeatable with little rewards but would make the town seem more in depth. The video the OP linked to explained it very well.
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(edited by Katz.5143)
I completely agree with this video, which is why I’m bumping the thread.
I recently came across the Gladium Canton for the first time in almost a year, and I had a pretty much identical experience. Without any quests, there’s next to no cohesive narrative, and the lore all feels watered down as a result.
GW has some of the strongest base lore of any franchise, but repeating events with binary outcomes just can’t take advantage of that. Neither can the living narrative, it’s good for showing story movement on a grand scale, and I don’t feel that the living narrative is bad (quite the opposite), but it’s completely impersonal, and there aren’t really any memorable characters.
(edited by dregoloth.8763)
Just a video by WoodenPotatoes giving insight on this great game as a whole. I thought it would be a good idea to put this out there. Developers can always use positive feedback, whether they implement anything or not.
Thanks to WP for the video.
I think BogOtter nails it in the comments section for me. Traditional quests aren’t the answer, but extra bits and bobs, things to interact with, secret codes, clues, mysteries, puzzles etc. would give some extra zest, zip, vim and/or vigour to the game-world.
One of my friends found a secret cave in Lion’s Arch with a candle, shovel, a coin and a suitcase (with impossible-to-read text on it -too low resolution to make out the letters). This was something special and we spent an afternoon trying to decypher the text on the suitcase. Things like this are great!