It recently dawned on me that nearly every playable race in Tyria CONTRADICTS, in some way shape or form, a stereotype or archetype commonly seen in other games/books/films of the same genre.
In many cases, Anet has taken a well known race and completely turned around all codes, conventions and tropes associated with that particular race in other mediums.
I’ll show you some examples.
Sylvari:
Sylvari are quite obviously Anet’s take on Elves. Yes, I know Sylvari are not elves, but they share enough conventions with elves that indicate that elves are quite obviously the inspiration behind the Sylvari, such as their closeness to nature and their long pointy ears in many cases.
So, whilst Sylvari share a lot of similarities with elves, they also completely contradict other tropes commonly seen in elves.
For me, the glaring example of this is their age.
Elves and Dwarves are almost always the eldest race in most fantasy settings. Elves are more often than not depicted as aloof, ancient, wise and yet in Gw2, Sylvari are at the oldest, 25 years of age. They are mischievous, naive, curious.
See?
There are so many other examples:
Humans:
Humans are almost always depicted as the colonials of the fantasy world, with big empires and all that. This was true in GW’s history books, but in Gw2, the game of genre-defying contradictions, humans are a defeated race. They are technologically inferior and only have 1 kingsdom left.
Asura:
The whole short-stature-big-ego thing has been done loads of times before. But normally, in fantasy settings, it is always magic vs. science. It’s either-or. Magic and science are opposites. Magic is mystical and unexplainable, science is factual. And yet, in Gw2, Asura are magical scientists. This for me is an awesome new take on the genre
Charr:
Beast races are normally primitive, unorganised and closest to nature. Beast classes normally live in packs/solo, but the Charr are the most unified race in Tyria, their entire race is literally part of one large army. They are extremely technologically advanced compared to the humans and sylvari, highly intelligent as opposed to the whole ‘knowledge vs instinct’ thing in the fantasy genre, and far from being superstitious, they have completely rid themselves of any gods and/or religion.
Charr are probably the most ‘backward’ race of any game I’ve ever seen, lol. They are awesome!
Norn:
I can’t think of anything for Norn! Tell me your ideas!
Please, try and keep this thread on-topic if you choose to reply. I know we have had a rough patch but I want to get the forums back to a place of discussion, not incessant, self-entitled whining and crying.
I’d simply love to hear your thoughts regarding Tyria’s races.
Cheers!
(edited by Romeo.4378)