Guild Wars 2

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Explorable zones are mechanics. Time progression via individual zones are mechanics.

Nope. If you want an example of a game which plays with time as a game mechanic, check out “Braid”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgTL_kVPq0Q

GW2 does not do that. There is no time travel in GW2. You cannot undo choices you made. Therefore all zones exist at the same time and the only linear time progression is that of your character moving through time, and that is fixed and one way only, just like in real life.

Gaudrath.6725:

You confuse mechanics with story consistency. A damage formula is a game mechanic. A loot system is a game mechanic.

Shoddy storytelling creating impossible and contradictory situations is bad storytelling, not game mechanics.

There are no contradictory situations for anyone capable of suspending their disbelief even the slightest bit. It’s you that’s mistaking mechanics with storytelling. I’ve explained why countless times.

May I ask, when you (in-game) find another player who’s chosen the same facial model as you during character creation, do you have any choice but to roleplay “long-lost twin”? Is it a paradox? Why are there so many others running around with the same face as you?!

Seriously, THAT is the level of disbelief-suspension that is being asked of you. Pretty much the same amount that’s asked of anyone playing any game.

Gaudrath.6725:

There is no time travel in GW2.

You’re really stuck up on the example for comparison I made.

As I have said before to correct your misconception, it is not literal time travel.

For example, in Guild Wars 1, Prophecies takes place before Nightfall, however you can play Nightfall and then go play Prophecies, or you can play Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, and return to Prophecies.

It’s the same situation here – Queensdale takes place before Cursed Shore, but you can go back to play old content. And that’s all you’re doing – replaying old content, no different than if you were to do Arah story mode multiple times. Zhaitan isn’t coming back to life, you’re just replaying old content.

It’s not time travel. It’s not inconsistency. It’s not paradoxes. And it’s not storytelling.

It’s a game mechanic that allows you to replay events. No different than events that repeat, or how in Guild Wars 1 every year you can do the same old festival quests – unless you want to say that Hapless Chong dies every single year, or that Hai Len gets robbed by the same woman he just fell for every year, learning each and every year that he made a mistake.

Same concept, the only difference is that it’s an instanced world versus persistenced world.

No meeting your past self. No time travel. This isn’t Annihilator, it’s just a mechanic that allows you to replay old content. No different than how Assassin’s Creed has open play at the end of each game, allowing you to replay earlier parts of the game via the animus.

Konig, do not bring repeatable events into this. We are specifically discussing your idea that geographical zones in GW2 are situated at different points in time.

If that is indeed what you claim, then yes man, you are claiming there is time travel in GW2 and, by the way, that each zone is frozen in time as well.
If Queensdale takes place before Cursed Shore, then the ONLY way I can go back to Queensdale after visiting Cursed Shore is to travel back in time! Which is a ridiculous way to explain inconsistencies in causality when developers try to fuse open world gameplay with closed linear storytelling.

Your explanation requires more suspension of disbelief than if players just friggin’ shrugged at why everything is the same after Zhaitan and simply played on.

But I think I know what’s the problem. You are talking about the story. I am talking about the virtual world. For you, the world is a collection of stories which take place one after another, and to revisit “old” areas is same as to reread an old chapter in a book.

I am, on the other hand, talking about the virtual world. The consistency and believability of this virtual world is the #1 requirement for player immersion, which is a big reason why people keep playing the game. They can “get into it”. That is why I harp on and on about paradoxes in the open world and why they should be avoided… if you look at the game purely as a linear story, sure, there are none.

But open world MMOs are not linear stories. They are hugely interactive experiences which aim to simulate a fantastical version of reality. Players must feel that. If they don’t then they simply don’t get hooked. And your MMO fails at worst or bleeds players at best.
So no, you can’t treat a MMO the same as a book or a movie. It doesn’t work that way. Look at SW: TOR. That game is a prime example of what happens when you treat an MMO as a movie. It flops harder than Zhaitan.

You’re still not understanding the concept. I’ve attempted several times to explain it, and you’ve brought this discussion into multiple threads.

I should bring repeatable events into it, because guess what? “Ice Raking and Silent Snowfall don’t resurrect if they’re killed by a largos,”http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Kodan_Claw given resurrection isn’t accessible (except by Flame Legion) in GW2. Nor are you killing Taidha Covington multiples times. Similarly you don’t kill Chief Otyugh several times either

Most events are designed to appear as different situations, but there’s still a good number where named individuals are killed and gasp they’re suddenly back! Makes no sense! It’s inconsistent! It’s contradictory! It’s paradoxical!

Actually, it’s not. It’s mechanics. Repeating events so that everyone can enjoy them and so that people can re-experience them.

This situation, that is that zones are progressive in the timeline, is little different.

Gaudrath.6725:

Your explanation requires more suspension of disbelief than if players just friggin’ shrugged at why everything is the same after Zhaitan and simply played on.

But… that is… suspension of disbelief…

Okay, at this point, I’m pretty much doing this at your posts.

Also: not really. It’s just putting more thought into the mechanics behind it.

Why exactly are you guys arguing about the same topic in 3 seperate threads now? Let’s just settle on this: No one will convince the other one. Done.

Not that I’m not appreciating a good argument, but it’s the same points over and over and over again.

mind if i make a suggestion here?

the maps/zones/areas themselves all exist at the same timeline, there is NO time travel required whatsoever for a character to be in one or the other

SOME of the events that happen in them, inhabit a specific spot in the timeline of the main story. it is a necessity of the game, nothing more, nothing less

if one cannot bend their imagination around it…

/shrug