P1/2
World (and maps) is missing atmosphere?
Disclaimer: I will be using other MMO’s as examples.
I recently made 3 threads about things that in my opinion are some of the core problems in GW2. Problems meaning the reason behind the things many people are complaining about.
There was one subject I did slightly touch in one of the threads but I never really went deep into it because I found it hard to describe the feeling. However I now think that atmosphere is the best word.
Maps in GW2 are beautiful but what I miss is a bound to the world. You know when you played a game and you have this sort of homesickness towards area’s in that game. Places you just like to visit again.
I think that feeling is related / created by a number of things and together they create the ’ atmosphere’ of the world.
1 Diversity in the maps including the transition from one to another.
2 Good colors.
3 Learning to know the area and the people (NPC’s) and the history of them, becoming friends with them.
4 The art of the world.
5 The atmosphere of the map.
6 Background sounds.
Let me go by the threads one by one and also see if GW2 has that or not.
1 GW2 has a great diversity in maps. No doubt about it. You have beautiful maps, ugly maps (thats not a negative, MMO’s should have ugly maps) icy maps and so on. It’s however the transition where it lacks.
First of all, all the different type of maps are in one area. You have the jungle area, the ice area, the char area (don’t know how to name that) and so on. Of course it make sense you have more of one environment in one area and more of another in another area but for the transition it needs to be mixed. You need to go from a ugly area in a new area to a icy area and so on.
Also the maps are instances. So you don’t walk from one area into another, no you are in one area, get a load-screen and are suddenly in another area. That takes away from the whole transition and the feeling it gives you when playing a game where that is.
Because what we are talking about here is a feeling.
2 Colors. GW2 has that totally going for it. It mainly uses good bight enough colors but also has area’s with some less bright colors (part of that diversity). There are many games and mmo’s that have the whole world very gray and that just does not work.
3 Learning to know the area and the people. That is pretty much non-existing in GW2. Some events can help with this is a veyr basic manner but overall you don’t learn to know the people (NPC’s), you don’t learn there story. They don’t learn to know your. You don’t get a nice reward from them for helping them. You don’t go into a cave to find something for a friend (npc), you go in a cave because on the map you see there is a hearth, an event of a poi. The more traditional quest seem to be better at providing that.
4 GW2 has that totally going for it. Its a buatifull world with great looking maps. An obvious artstyle they are going for.
5 The atmosphere in a map. Misses in GW2, and it is hard to say why. I know forest do help create such a feeling just as very open maps and canyons. GW2 does not have the forest or the open world and canyons only partly. No real forest even in the ‘forest’ area you are walking in between many trees but you are not walking in a forest, that is a big difference. There are also not really open maps where you can look very far and see not much then grass of sand. Kessex Hills does have that a little bid but still limited. Also effects like smog or weather help create such an atmosphere.
I remember being in one map in GW2 when it was night and it was raining, there was lighting. The map had many torches (was one of the maps filled with centaurs) and at that moment there was a great atmosphere in that map. But during the day (or no storm) it’s just a beautiful map with no atmosphere.
As en example I would like to have a look as some images from EQN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-RNx4bb5-Y&start=6m2se&end=7m55se
If you watch from 6:02 to 7:55 you can see many of these examples. How they play with the light, smog, the forest and the day and night cycle (playing with light in a way, but also colors because of a red sun)
6 Background sounds.
Not sure about this one. GW2 does have the sound. You do need to turn music sound way down and the environment sound way up to get it to work. However it could use a little extra work I think. When I am in a cold windy place I want to hear that wind and in a forest I want to hear the monkeys (as far as they exist) and during the night I want to hear the wolfs. In the video I linked you also have that. Some area’s might be silent. There is that diversity again.
As a final example of the combination of most the things I mentioned here I will take an example of a little journey in WoW. Yeah I know, these days you are supposed to hate WoW or something but fact is that the game has it’s popularity not for nothing.
(edited by Devata.6589)
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