Guild Wars 2

Seems appropriate, on this Halloween day.

I picked up a collection of H. P. Lovecraft stories yesterday to get myself in the mood for today, and I started thinking about the many Lovecraftian aspects of Tyria…both in GW1 and GW2. The Realm of Torment in Nightfall was one of the most creepy zones I’ve ever seen in any game, with the landscape that “squishes” when your character runs. And in GW2 we have these monstrous dragons who feed on magical energy and corrupt everything they touch (the Brand, in particular, puts me in mind of the Lovecraft tale “The Colour out of Space”). And that’s to say nothing of Orr itself, with its immense ruined temples now swarming with monstrosities.

Have we ever actually had a dev talk about the influences for these zones? I’d like to know if this is my own overactive imagination or not.

Let the speculation commence!

Mad King Thorn is a pretty blatant one with some awesome lore. One of my favorite characters really.

There is not a lot about the the way the landscapes are based on but the are a fair few characters. Not to mention a lot of charters in the Underworld, and the Realm of Torment are based on dark, sinister and apocalyptic things. I believe there is a four horseman reference somewhere.

When I see the name Toxic Alliance, it always reminds me of the low budget horror/comedy Troma film, the Toxic Avenger. I’m sure that’s not what the developers intended.

Never played gw1, but Abadon always seemed like an equivalent of cthulhu to me.

Avatar Rage.4369:

Mad King Thorn is a pretty blatant one with some awesome lore. One of my favorite characters really.

There is not a lot about the the way the landscapes are based on but the are a fair few characters. Not to mention a lot of charters in the Underworld, and the Realm of Torment are based on dark, sinister and apocalyptic things. I believe there is a four horseman reference somewhere.

The 4 horseman reference was a quest in the Underworld in which you had to protect a reaper from 4 well horsemen. They had the skin of Banished Riders, and they had various names. One was Kazhad Dhuum (Obvious Moria reference) and another Gozer Dhuum (obvious Ghostbusters reference).

personally I really like this guy Victurus the shattered

here are some quotes from him(since you were interested in some branded stuff):
During Defeat Victurus and his Branded army
While patrolling Champion Victurus the Shattered: “March! I want to hear your feet on their bones. I want their skin floating like paper!”
Aggro Champion Victurus the Shattered: “Enemy inside the perimeter! Where’s your training? Kill! Kill!”
Champion Victurus the Shattered: “There! Target practice, you weaklings. I want it stripped to its bones. Now!”
When his army is defeated Champion Victurus the Shattered: “Useless! All useless! I’ll deal with this myself! The blood drives me, the steel speaks to me!”
75% health Champion Victurus the Shattered: “War! Just war! Rip off their fur! Melt them in their furnaces! Fill the sky with their terror!”
50% health Champion Victurus the Shattered: “Mercy? Mercy is for the weak. Step lively, you maggots! Ravage this land until you swim in blood.”
10% health Champion Victurus the Shattered: “I’ve tasted greatness. It’s breaking my bones! It’s making me stronger. Harder! Hit me harder, you weakling!”

Tanith.5264:

Have we ever actually had a dev talk about the influences for these zones? I’d like to know if this is my own overactive imagination or not.

Art of Guild Wars 2 explains that part of the inspiration for Orr was to recreate the Realm of Torment, but make it “orderly” – where the RoT was mismatched shapes of horror, Orr was to be organized shapes of horror. It also goes to say that many dragon minions and dragon environments (specifically concept art for such) came from the artists’ nightmares – like the intro to Terminator 2 did.