(edited by Midnight Gypsy.9360)
Most hated and favorite NPC
Least favorite: Trahearne, though not for stealing the spotlight as many believe he did. I think it was fine to have a General while the PC does the legwork, and I really didn’t feel like I didn’t get due credit. The reason I hate him is because for such an important character, he’s badly written and badly voice acted, and he really has little depth beyond “reluctant hero”.
Outside of the Sylvari storyline (apparently, I have not played it due to my general dislike of the race), he just comes out of nowhere and shortly after his first appearance he becomes Marshal of the Pact. And despite being a scholar with no experience for warfare, he seems to have a ton of respect from a lot of NPCs, many being military types. His transition to Marshal seemed forced, and his ‘learning to become a leader’ felt shallow and contrived instead of genuine. I care nothing if the Pale Tree thinks he’s destined to cleanse Orr – why would any non-Sylvari care what a magical tree says? Plus in general I just hate “it’s his destiny” as an excuse to put someone unqualified in charge.
I also dislike most of Destiny’s Edge when they interact with the others – particularly Zojja, Logan, and Rytlock. Zojja acts like a spiteful child towards Eir, and Logan and Rytlock’s rivalry feels more like that between middle schoolers than grown men (or Charr). I don’t put them at the top though because these characters are decent on their own. It’s just when you put them with the other members of Destiny’s Edge that I can’t stand them.
I also disliked Sieran and found her extremely annoying, but that’s more a personal dislike for air-headed, overly bubbly characters. I don’t regret going Priory but I shed no tears when she died.
Favorite: Multiple Charr NPCs, I think overall they have the best NPCs out of all the races. Top probably goes to Clement Forktail; that line of quests was probably my favorite personal story bit. I wish I had more character slots to try out Dinky, since people seem to love him, and I’d love to see if Charr NPCs in other storylines are as well-done.
Rytlock and Logan, when not dealing with each other (or Jennah in Logan’s case), I like quite a bit as well. They were good mentors through the first 20 levels of personal story for humans and Charr.
And though I don’t really like him as a person, as he’s a smug SoB, I think Caudecus is a good antagonist. I appreciate an antagonist who doesn’t have any magic or fighting prowess or extraordinary abilities, and can be more subtle in achieving their goals than your typical fantasy villain.
(edited by Caledore.6271)
Yeah, I don’t think largos are all that great, either. They have an incredibly awkward and unwieldy design. The one ‘unseen hunter’ event where he’s scorpion-wiring sylvari into the lake is pretty awesome, though.
@smeen:
The ‘you can’t be the General because you have to be the freelancer’ argument is missing the heart of the issue. I don’t feel put off because I don’t get the fancy title with all of the micromanagement or glory it entails. I get put off because the story switches to fulfilling Trahearne’s destiny. The fact that he becomes general is totally cool. It makes sense. We can’t be the responsible leader, we’re the adventurer.
But as soon as he is introduced, my great quest to finish Zhaitan is muted by Trahearne’s great destiny as leader and hero. I’m going to resent him for that. Even the major plot point of uniting the races and orders (which is more important than my intent to kill Zhaitan, really) takes a backseat to Trahearne trying to get comfy on his new throne.
On another note, I think people underestimate how much his character design plays into the disdain for him. He’s really pretty ugly, sylvari or no. I can make all the plot-related excuses I want for disliking him, but honestly a lot of it is just hating to watch him appear on-screen, and his voice not making up for it by being more awesome. He’s just a big mess of spinach-green and mud-brown. Poor guy.
Well lets see who there is.
Most hated NPCs for me:
Zojja: I don like asuras who are arrogant and irritating and for me Zojja just seems to press these buttons. I never played an asura but most asura npcs that i encountered was pretty annoying and Zojja stand at the top.
Trahearne: I dont think i really need to explain this one.
Sieran: I hated her from the moment i met her. Her cheery attitude simply just annoy me. TO CHEERY!!!
Most kodans: To me they seem arrogant and wanna-be-know-it-all. I get that they actually perfer avoiding other races that “disrupts” the balance and are slow to test them but i hate how they put them selves above everything else by saying that only koda can understand the balance.
NPCs that i like:
Tybalt: Tybalt had some cheerness like Sieran but in a way i liked. He seemed more reasonable and was pretty nice. Just overall a better character than Sieran.
Forgal: Forgal is actually pretty simple to me which some people might find boring but i liked him and his kittenness. His simplicity is his charm.
Dark Elves: It’s not just the ears. It’s the dark skin tone, the white flowing hair (on a deep-sea creature? REALLY? hah!), the hyperfemine and hypermasculine male and female bodies, and the fetish armor. They resemble dark elves and/or night elves to a great degree—their design, from their colors, to their ears, to their sexuality—screams cliched evil fantasy elf. Metal fetish armor and humanoid body types are NOT what you should find on something that lives underwater.
Wings: Those bulky butterfly wings would actually PREVENT a creature from swimming. The lore excuse that they’re fins is rediculous and easy to see through. The designers can’t implement air-combat, but corny aion wings and butterfly fairies are in high demand among kid gamers. So, they slapped some butterfly wings on something and then called them fins. The intention wasn’t to be creative or design a functional sea race—it was to suck in a certain player demographic. As a result, those things growing out of the Largos’s backs aren’t remotely belivable on a sea race.
Pretty much what I have to say about them. Many people think they are a realistic playable race, I sure hope they are wrong. Otherwise we have the terrible Sylvari already, so it wouldn’t get worse, we just had another bad race to evenly spread our dislike too.
Though I have to say, I kind of like the Predator feel from the Largos, they just don’t look like they would act like this. They are far too “elfy”. Besides they don’t look like deep sea creatures at all. They look like happy butterfly people on their way to the magical dolphin land, not like mysterious assassins from the ocean depths.
With a bit luck we soon find out that the Largos have a caste system and those wimpy butterflies are just scouts, while the real warrior caste looks like a mix of a shark, manta ray and a Norn. I would role one like this!
How do they look happy to you? And magic dolphin land, Foo!
The Knights Temple [TKT] — Aurora Glade
Likes
GW1: Devona, Rurik
GW2: Riel Darkwater, the Dolyak scout escort(they blind thieves)
Dislikes
1: Pyre, Gwen/Keiran
2: Rytlok, Logan
I troll because I care
Largos are like Quarians? Wha..?
@Weindrasi Have you ever seen a stingray swim? I could see very easily how those back ‘wings’ could be very effective in helping Largos swim. If anything its the fact they use swords as an aquatic race that is more out of place.
While I disagree, I could understand the dark elf analogy.
However, I greatly disagree with your “wings” – since, as you yourself show, their appearance is that of mantra ray fins (in texture, thickness, and mobility while swimming) that is placed on the body akin to wings. The idea of wings – especially butterfly wings – being used underwater indeed doesn’t make sense… until you see their swimming animation. If you really want to hold to your “wings aren’t realistic for living underwater” you should explain how the swimming animation doesn’t work, because it does kitten well.
Also, there’s one massively major flaw in your claim. If they were made to suck in an age demographic, then they’d be more prominent. They’re greatly hidden in the lore – things made to bring in certain demographic groups are often more prominent and obvious. It’s entirely possible to play through 90% of the game without ever knowing of largos (up to the Orr storyline, and in almost every zone, even the five zones which have largos in them).
The structure of stingray fins is WAY different from Largos wings. Largos wings have one tiny point of connection along the spine, and they’re awkwardly shaped. They would create drag in the water. To be like a stringray, they would have to be attached all the way down the spine—from neck to tailbone, and they would have to be a simpler triangle shape. Largos wings aren’t logical at all. Now since a fantasy game is fantasy, you don’t need to be 100% realistic, but you should at least be belivable… and the Largos wings are just too blatantly NOT belivable to be in good taste. The reason Largos wings were not designed with belivability in mind is because stringray fins aren’t very interesting or appealing—but huge, mutant butterfly wings are. Even awesomely designed, supercool stingray fins will never win against mutant butterfly wings in the mind of a 12 year old or aion fan.
Also, I don’t see sense in what you’re saying about demographics. Guild Wars 2 can’t target EVERY niche of EVERY demographic right upon release—or ever, to be honest. The fact that Largos are, at this point, not very prominent in-game does not mean they weren’t designed to target a certain demographic. As I see it, they are not prominent now because Arenanet is focusing on other areas of the game that target player demographics. The Largos were implimented in such a way that they can be expanded upon later, as the game gets further expansions. And why would the Largos be expanded upon? So they can drag in certain kinds of players.
(edited by Weindrasi.3805)
. . . are we still on about the largos?
A few things brought up make me scratch my head:
- They’re not only female, there are males which exist in game. I think one of the assassins which jumped me in Frostgorge was male. Claiming they’re solely “big-busted females” falls flatter than an asuran lady’s bust. Also, the sad truth is that I don’t often see terribly ugly, overweight, unattractive people in a game.
- The wings are supposedly used for swimming help, but then again I haven’t payed them much attention. Wings on any humanoid seem really out of place if arms are also present, but that doesn’t stop people from trying.
- They’re not a blatant ripoff of drow. Anyone who actually has looked into drow culture would probably laugh that off before you finished.
- The “fetish armor” comment is very vague, because anything is a fetish. Please don’t look into where you can go from the charr, or the sylvari. That can scar you for life. I also note that there are armors for player characters which is far more fetish-ized. FAR.
- They’re not a ripoff of quarrians from Mass Effect. For one, quarrians were always fully covered. Always. It was a plot point. Secondly, the largos didn’t lose their homeland and travel everywhere in a large gathering (that we know of, admittedly, but then there’s no evidence it is so). And the largos are definitely less personable than your average quarrian – they aren’t fond of anyone unless they prove their value.
- The naming seems to follow convention of middle-eastern names, which while much like the quarrian naming is, there is a common root here which leads them to be similar. However, it’s also different enough from the other cultures’ naming conventions to stand out. Probably the intent.
Anyway. Back to the point. Make a new topic if you want to complain excessively about how the largos are trying to trap certain demographics. I’ll come over there and work harder on the point. This topic isn’t for that.
This is only for GW2, since I haven’t played GW1.
Favorites
Rytlock Brimstone, although the exception to that is when he’s around Logan.
Dinky
Sieran
Lord Faren I wish he would bother to hit on my female characters though, and stop bumming around
Ash Legion Charr (My Charr’s in the Ash Legion, so I think I have some bias there)
I actually like a lot of the Charr. I might just be blinded because all I see is cute felines when I look at them; I love larger cats, like lions.
Disliked(I haven’t run across any character I’ve absolutely hated yet.)
Trahearne (He’s very close to being hated)
Logan Thackeray
I don’t like a lot of Sylvari either. They’re either too good or too evil.
I’m sure I’ll have more dislikes, and probably some absolutely hated characters, later on. I’ve only had the time to get one character up to 80 due to school and general derping.