I went through doing map completion in Frostgorge Sound recently so I had a lot of time on my hands checking out the Kodan. For me, they are a pretty big disappointment-
The models have only minor variations in the armor, so the entire race is basically a clone army. I also don’t see any way to tell apart the males from females by sight.
It seems silly to have a polar bear race in the same game as polar bear animals (and on the same map even).
The Kodan mythology is fairly laughable. Talking to them is like having a conversation with the Sphinx from `Mystery Men` (if you don’t know this character, most of his dialogue is statements like `you must master your anger before it masters you`, `you must find your way before your way finds you`, etc.)
From reading developer comments, it sounds like they just threw them in GW2 because the concept art was `cool`. I’ll agree that the idea of a polar bear race sounds cool, but the implementation is so weak I would have preferred it to be left out.
Personally, i don’t think they’re silly. They give off a pretty cool Tibetan feel, the real issue with the Kodan is that they have not been touched on at all throughout the whole of GW2 since launch. I wish Anet would flesh them out a bit in-game, but i guess that will have to wait untill we take on Jormag.
All non-playable races are like that. Don’t expect too much variations in the models unless they become playable. Though, the mythology is a lot deeper than just the quasi Sun Tsu phrases the NPC’s keep repeating.
As far as the fans go, I think we see the potential of the race since being non-playable means a-net doesn’t already fill in the details. But the ground work is well laid.
I don’t really buy that. There’s a world of difference between the Kodan and the Quaggan- why would being non-playable be a good excuse for poor development?
I don’t really buy that. There’s a world of difference between the Kodan and the Quaggan- why would being non-playable be a good excuse for poor development?
It’s like you read my mind! WITCH! Burn this warlock!
Yeah, quaggans are so much more fleshed out than kodans. It would be silly to have quaggans as a playable race, but being so adorable, quaggan wouldn’t mind.
I like them. I would love if they had more model variation though, at the moment there is mainly just the one (and the Speaker in Snowden who has slightly different armor and some facepaint.)
Laurelinde & Cookie/Beorna Bearheart
[TWG] – Gunnar’s Hold Always remember Wheaton’s Law
Kodans are awesome!
Their backstory and links to the Norn are pretty awesome, but, yeah, in Guild Wars 2, they aren’t presented that well.
Maybe when we deal with Jormag they’ll be given the love they deserve.
I don’t really buy that. There’s a world of difference between the Kodan and the Quaggan- why would being non-playable be a good excuse for poor development?
Considering the grawl, hyleck, skritt, and jotun, the quaggan seem to be the exception to the rule because they provide more benefit to a-net than simply another non-playable race to fill the world. A-net is incentivized to continue to develop the quaggan as they provide a cute factor that draws a specific fan base.
I would also find and Ape race and Ape ambients odd. Consider that the Planet of the Apes movies don’t depict dumb and smart Apes in the same film unless it is one of the films that explicitly attempts to show the transition between the two. And if the implication is that Humans are the Ape race, then I’ll just say… seriously?
These other examples illustrate that the whole thing is just a spectrum and not a binary set of acceptable/nonacceptable. There is more difference between the Sylvari and regular plants than the Kodan and regular polar bears. If the in-game rats and frogs were significantly larger, maybe I would have the same issues for the Skritt and Hylek, but as it is those ambients don’t have as significant a role in the game as the polar bears, which you can have as pets. You can argue that the Charr are cats, but they are not literally one of the in-game cats that now talks and wears armor.
Lol, you are cherry picking aspects to support your argument here. Skritt for instance are essentially large rats and you don’t complain there. You just don’t like that polar bears and the Kodan look much alike. But that is not a real argument against how the Kodan race is implemented in GW2.
[ROSE] – Fissure of Woe
Chronomancy works, I am proof of it. Now stop asking me questions. Time must be preserved!
Lol, you are cherry picking aspects to support your argument here. Skritt for instance are essentially large rats and you don’t complain there. You just don’t like that polar bears and the Kodan look much alike. But that is not a real argument against how the Kodan race is implemented in GW2.
Well, I’m not really making an argument, I’m supporting an opinion. As an opinion it isn’t provable or disprovable. I mentioned that even though GW2 has the Skritt and rats, the rats are so small and play such an insignificant part of the game that they don’t warrant comparison to Skritt- same with the Hylek and frogs. I also said that this isn’t a black-or-white issue, not everything is. I don’t call it `cherry picking` to point out that my shades of grey are different than somebody else’s.
Anyways I don’t get why people are hung up on that point. There doesn’t seem to be any real argument that the Kodan aren’t the poorest-developed friendly race in the game. It’s okay for you (the faceless people on the Internet, not any one person who posted here) to agree with this and still say you liked them.
Yes, I was referring to humans as the ape race. Complaining about Kodan being around polar bears is about as silly as complaining about humans existing in a world with chimps. They have about as much in common with polar bears as we do with various other apes.
Lol, you are cherry picking aspects to support your argument here. Skritt for instance are essentially large rats and you don’t complain there. You just don’t like that polar bears and the Kodan look much alike. But that is not a real argument against how the Kodan race is implemented in GW2.
Well, I’m not really making an argument, I’m supporting an opinion. As an opinion it isn’t provable or disprovable. I mentioned that even though GW2 has the Skritt and rats, the rats are so small and play such an insignificant part of the game that they don’t warrant comparison to Skritt- same with the Hylek and frogs. I also said that this isn’t a black-or-white issue, not everything is. I don’t call it `cherry picking` to point out that my shades of grey are different than somebody else’s.
Anyways I don’t get why people are hung up on that point. There doesn’t seem to be any real argument that the Kodan aren’t the poorest-developed friendly race in the game. It’s okay for you (the faceless people on the Internet, not any one person who posted here) to agree with this and still say you liked them.
people are hung up on this point because you specifically bullet pointed it in order for it to stand out. But since you (clarified?) your parameters as to what qualifies as acceptable to you, it all seems very silly at all. The qualifications to your opinion of acceptability lack any form of consistency. And you’ve all but stated that there needs to be little rhyme or reason to the topic at hand. So, I guess all there really is left to say is “Thank you for sharing……”. shrug
I mean, they are neat, but it seems like (and maybe I’m colored by the personal story ones as a Norn being my early interaction with them) they are either Nice, or kittens.
They seem to either be “I’ll try to explain this to you.” or “You can’t even understand our beliefs/how things are. I won’t even try to explain it.”
@Kalavier.1097:
Are there more options then either explain or not explain?
@Eggman.1405:
As Dustfinger.9510 said, you pointed this one criteria out. So of course people will argue about it, if they disagree. If it’s only your opinion as in “I don’t like’em” you wanted to share, than there is really nothing to discuss. If you were complaining about a bad implementation of the Kodans in GW2 than your points do indeed represent arguments that could/should be discussed.
However, all in all your opinion/argument seems inconsistent. You didn’t complain that Kodans and polar bears looked alike. Your point was that it would be silly to have a polar bear race in a game with polar bears. Looking at other mmos and the rest of GW2 races I find it a very consistent concept as illustrated by others before.
It all comes down to the physical similar appearance. You refuse to call it that, but that’s what it is. You don’t like them to look so much alike. But hey, that is a different point, isn’kitten
[ROSE] – Fissure of Woe
Chronomancy works, I am proof of it. Now stop asking me questions. Time must be preserved!
The Kodan silly? No way, they’re one of my favourite non-playable races in the setting! I think they look awesome, and I mean .. they’re armoured philosophical polar bears! <3
What annoys the most is that they remind me of kittens. Just take this dialogue for example, or how they think that their way of thinking aka “balance” is far too complicated for other races to understand (except for Sylvari which seem to be special in every way possible).
What annoys the most is that they remind me of kittens. Just take this dialogue for example, or how they think that their way of thinking aka “balance” is far too complicated for other races to understand (except for Sylvari which seem to be special in every way possible).
Kinda what I was hitting at.
You can find several who WILL try to explain it, or are at least polite, but there are also a number who act superior and don’t bother because “You are a lesser being. Kodan are superior.”
It’s not that complicated. It’s just hierarchy of reincarnation. Trade “kodan” with “cow” or “boaconstrictor” and we parallels with actual ancient religious beliefs.
Yeah, but several Kodan come across as a bit rude when talking about it.
It isn’t really surprising : they consider themselves to be above the other races in their system of beliefs. So it is only natural that most of them sounds rude, especially when they are in “Norns” zones., and some of them consider that the Norns are a spiritual failure of a Kodan.
The models have only minor variations in the armor, so the entire race is basically a clone army. I also don’t see any way to tell apart the males from females by sight.
The Kodan mythology is fairly laughable. Talking to them is like having a conversation with the Sphinx from `Mystery Men` (if you don’t know this character, most of his dialogue is statements like `you must master your anger before it masters you`, `you must find your way before your way finds you`, etc.)
It all makes sense once you’ve completed the 6 months introductory course.
