Guild Wars 2

Are they ever going back? I love reading them, they give a feeling of side-stories that’s not present in the game (too much linear).

Unless they somehow incorporated them in-game, no thanks.

I liked them too, don’t really see why they would need to be incorporated into the game rather than how they where done before.

I liked the short stories as well. I guess too many people were shunning them because they weren’t included in game. Shame…

I’m not sure I know what any of you are talking about. Where were these? Seems interesting.

zenleto.6179:

I’m not sure I know what any of you are talking about. Where were these? Seems interesting.

Something like this:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-what-scarlet-saw/

They wrote these for some of the living story releases.

vikkival.2459:

zenleto.6179:

I’m not sure I know what any of you are talking about. Where were these? Seems interesting.

Something like this:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-what-scarlet-saw/

They wrote these for some of the living story releases.

Okay, I get you now, thanks.

These ones (in order):

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mr._Sparkles,_A_Tale_of_the_Asura (this one was released before the game)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/brahams-story/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/roxs-tale/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/welcome-to-paradise/ (southsun introduction)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/canachs-story-an-after-hours-meeting/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-1/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-2/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/community-news/short-story-the-trek-of-the-zephyrites/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-shipwreck-how-ellen-met-magnus/ (Ellen Kiel)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/delegation/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-what-scarlet-saw/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-shadowbox/ (SAB)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-twilight-preparations/ (before twilight arbour’s new path)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-family-business/ (halloween backstory)

Wow! The only one of those I ever remember seeing anything on (and didn’t read) was the one Vikkival linked. I might actually be able to find out what Canach’s deal is now.

This is why they were a bad move.

I’m on the forum pretty much every day and I follow the GW2 page on Facebook. I also check the main site fairly often. But I only remember seeing about 1/2 of those.

If I approached this game like GW1, where I wasn’t particularly active on the various websites and relied on the game itself to give me the story I’d never know any of them existed at all.

Justin.7163:

Unless they somehow incorporated them in-game, no thanks.

I would LOVE to see them put in game.

Maybe a traditional quest merchant in each zone or something. Maybe get to see the location some stuff happened with a few new assets thrown here and there to make it feel a little more “real”.

End of the quest you unlock a book (that can be sold) and a double click unlocks it like a dye adding it’s short story to your collection.

locoman.1974:

These ones (in order):

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mr._Sparkles,_A_Tale_of_the_Asura (this one was released before the game)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/brahams-story/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/roxs-tale/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/welcome-to-paradise/ (southsun introduction)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/canachs-story-an-after-hours-meeting/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-1/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-2/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/community-news/short-story-the-trek-of-the-zephyrites/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-shipwreck-how-ellen-met-magnus/ (Ellen Kiel)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/delegation/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-what-scarlet-saw/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-shadowbox/ (SAB)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-twilight-preparations/ (before twilight arbour’s new path)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-family-business/ (halloween backstory)

Why not an ingame library with books with these stories?

But then in the lore forums we were specifically told that anything not in game isn’t canon and is subject to change. So there’s that…

I love the short stories, and I love the various books even more. You’ll find the whole collection here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Category:Tales
+ http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Category:History_of_Tyria (“An Empire Divided” is a must read!)

Now, I would rather have them on the website/wiki than not having them at all. But yes, it would be wonderful to see them in-game. And it doesn’t have to be a lot of work.
I wouldn’t try to justify all these documents with specific quests etc. required to unlock them. Just put them in the game, within the Durmand Priory archives, Durmand Hall in Divinity’s (and on bookstands etc.).

A new book UI needs to be created, sure. But when that’s done, it will give a wonderful new opportunity of storytelling and expanding the depth of the GW-universe (this could have been used e.g. for the various notes found in Dry Top during Season 2, e1).

No Thanks!

Stories should be presenting ingame through cut-scenes and should be experienced through gameplay.

For every short stories they make not ingame, is a miss opportunity to present us new story driven content ingame.

unfortunately arena net needs to focus on using their true medium, which is the game itself.. although i found some of these stories good, some of the material just didn’t transfer over to game very well.. it leaves me with a feeling of them being disingenuous.. i don’t need a fanfiction of a fanfiction congesting the official channels.. either streamline it and put it in game or deliver it as “hey guys, check out the ‘fluff’ we worked on”

Astral Projections.7320:

locoman.1974:

These ones (in order):

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mr._Sparkles,_A_Tale_of_the_Asura (this one was released before the game)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/brahams-story/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/roxs-tale/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/welcome-to-paradise/ (southsun introduction)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/canachs-story-an-after-hours-meeting/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-1/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-2/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/community-news/short-story-the-trek-of-the-zephyrites/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-shipwreck-how-ellen-met-magnus/ (Ellen Kiel)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/delegation/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-what-scarlet-saw/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-shadowbox/ (SAB)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-twilight-preparations/ (before twilight arbour’s new path)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-family-business/ (halloween backstory)

Why not an ingame library with books with these stories?

I say we build it where the old Black Lion building used to be, and set it up to be a place you can read not just these “books” but others of importance too which are little more than text transcriptions.

. . . everything except for the secret recipe to Rata Sum Pie.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Astral Projections.7320:

locoman.1974:

These ones (in order):

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mr._Sparkles,_A_Tale_of_the_Asura (this one was released before the game)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/brahams-story/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/roxs-tale/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/welcome-to-paradise/ (southsun introduction)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/canachs-story-an-after-hours-meeting/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-1/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-2/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/community-news/short-story-the-trek-of-the-zephyrites/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-shipwreck-how-ellen-met-magnus/ (Ellen Kiel)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/delegation/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-what-scarlet-saw/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-shadowbox/ (SAB)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-twilight-preparations/ (before twilight arbour’s new path)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-family-business/ (halloween backstory)

Why not an ingame library with books with these stories?

I say we build it where the old Black Lion building used to be, and set it up to be a place you can read not just these “books” but others of importance too which are little more than text transcriptions.

. . . everything except for the secret recipe to Rata Sum Pie.

:)

Great idea.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Astral Projections.7320:

locoman.1974:

These ones (in order):

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mr._Sparkles,_A_Tale_of_the_Asura (this one was released before the game)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/brahams-story/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/roxs-tale/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/welcome-to-paradise/ (southsun introduction)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/canachs-story-an-after-hours-meeting/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-1/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-2/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/community-news/short-story-the-trek-of-the-zephyrites/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-shipwreck-how-ellen-met-magnus/ (Ellen Kiel)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/delegation/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-what-scarlet-saw/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-shadowbox/ (SAB)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-twilight-preparations/ (before twilight arbour’s new path)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-family-business/ (halloween backstory)

Why not an ingame library with books with these stories?

I say we build it where the old Black Lion building used to be, and set it up to be a place you can read not just these “books” but others of importance too which are little more than text transcriptions.

. . . everything except for the secret recipe to Rata Sum Pie.

From what they said a while ago, when they stopped with the short stories (and players first complained about it), putting a large amount of text in the game isn’t only an implementation but a technical problem. I can’t remember exactly how they said it but I would bet they have some kind of wordpad based text engine similar to how the old TP pulled coding from internet explorer, which, if its like most microsoft stuff, is very limiting in how you can modify it without it exploding. And also why the classic TP had so much crap go wrong with it all the time.

I’d love to see more short stories, personally. They offer something that you can’t really get in-game, a real sense of immersion. (Frankly, that’s just about impossible to do in an MMO.)

Gaile Gray.6029:

locoman.1974:

These ones (in order):

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mr._Sparkles,_A_Tale_of_the_Asura (this one was released before the game)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/brahams-story/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/roxs-tale/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/welcome-to-paradise/ (southsun introduction)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/canachs-story-an-after-hours-meeting/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-1/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/marjorys-story-the-last-straw-part-2/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/community-news/short-story-the-trek-of-the-zephyrites/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-shipwreck-how-ellen-met-magnus/ (Ellen Kiel)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-evon-gnashblade-disembarks/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/delegation/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-what-scarlet-saw/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-shadowbox/ (SAB)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-twilight-preparations/ (before twilight arbour’s new path)
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-family-business/ (halloween backstory)

Nice job, locoman. Thanks for posting that for those who want to read up!

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Category:Tales

A long-standing source for all short stories and other in-universe or lore documents related to GW2. Has more than locoman’s list, including the Letter from Queen Jennah (post Clockwork Madness).

For GW1 stories and lore documents, see:

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Category:Stories
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Category:History of Tyria

Why not an ingame library with books with these stories?

It’s been said that their system cannot handle such long texts like that.

I imagine it’d have to be set up similar to the Personal Story summaries. Hopefully when they make Season 1 permanent, they’ll be including the short stories in the Story Journal tab.

DreamyAbaddon.3265:

No Thanks!

Stories should be presenting ingame through cut-scenes and should be experienced through gameplay.

For every short stories they make not ingame, is a miss opportunity to present us new story driven content ingame.

I partially disagree.

The issue is how GW2’s system is set up. Because of a lack of a side-quest system, everything has to fall under three formats:

1. Main storyline
2. Dungeon
3. Open world

They tried going a third route, a non-main storyline instance route, but such instances could only be tied to achievements (or so it seemed) and thus were one-time-accessible per account.

Because of this, anything that would usually be a side story must be put into the main plot.

In the grand scale of the main plot, it would either make no sense or feel like a distraction to delve into the history or the personal lives of the main characters. This is what the short stories served. They were basically GW2’s variation of The Dejarin Estate quest chain from GW1. Side quest content.

Putting it in-game would force it to be either temporary open world content, or makes-no-sense-to-be-permanent open world content, or in the main storyline, given GW2’s current systems.

And that just results in what we got with Season 1 and Season 2’s feeling. Either disconnected and going every which way as each release deals with a different sub-plots (remember how we got 3 months focusing on Kiel rather than the main plot of Scarlet? and then a month on SAB and Tequatl Rising? All side quest stuff, really), or we get a checklist feeling like these unrelated things must be added (go visit Scarlet’s lab, discover things about her, but not overall necessary to advance the plot but it does anyways).

What you want has thus far just led to ArenaNet elongating the storyline to such annoying lengths, because they cannot leave the simple things in other formats – because it ‘has’ to be “part of the gameplay” and “should be presented ingame”.

Does the game’s plot really hinder by Edge of Destiny and Ghosts of Ascalon not being part of the game? No. So there’s no reason these short stories hinder the game either.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

It’s been said that their system cannot handle such long texts…

I’m not sure this is accurate. If I remember right the earlier version of the game actually had “books” in them to carry some lore. They were removed but I don’t think Anet ever said why let alone that is was because the game couldn’t “handle long text”.

One would think text would be the easiest thing to actually put in a game.

I don’t mind reading them in website, but I’d like them organized in a book-style (maybe under Releases tab?). It really would be a one-man job.

yeah I miss them too

the custscene suggestion wouldnt really work, they’re too long for a cutscene but what would be awesome is something like Gw1 bonus mission pack, getting to play the story as that character now that would be awesome

I would love those stories – ingame. Not out of the game. I expect game content do be in the game, not somewhere distributed over the world wide web.
If the game engine of a lore-based RPG doesn’t allow presenting longer text in a mini bookviewer from within the game to elaborate on the lore, it is somewhat disappointing.

Here is the reason there are no in-game ‘books’ so far. Perhaps, the Devs will find a way around the restrictions, some day.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Living-Story-Lore-vehicle-needed/page/2#post2800782

The story panel seems to be able to accomodate large texts nicely:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:September_2014_Feature_Pack_Story_Panel.jpg

Maybe add something like that where the stories are unlocked for reading after finishing some milestones, an extra panel for lore stories. For example, finishing the story for Last Stand at Southsun would unlock the Canach short story. Or maybe make them just unlock them when a living story chapter is released.

Personally I have no problem with them being out of the game, provided the relevant information is also available in the game. To put two examples, on the bad side I’d put Rox’s Tale. IMHO it’s a great bit of story that makes you connect and care about her character and motivations a bit more, but that information isn’t available anywhere (that I remember offhand) in the game. On the good side I’d put What Scarlet Saw, even if you haven’t read it all the relevant information is eventually revealed in the game as the characters investigate about Scarlet. Reading it is a plus, but isn’t really necessary to get the full story. It’s sorta like watching a movie after you’ve already read the book it was based on.