Guild Wars 2

Hello and welcome everyone.

A couple of months ago, Bobby Stein asked me to review the Living World Season 1 once it has finished. That time has now come.
I have decided to post this directly to the official forums for all to see. Arenanet is free to do with it as they want, but I wanted people to see this.

So who am I?
In real life, I am Johan Lenaerts, a young and ambitious writer. My formal education was in IT, however. I studied writing on the side during and after my studies. This gives me the unique perspective of knowing both programming and writing on a professional level.
I am currently employed as a programmer at a local medical center, and I am putting the finishing touches on my own novel.
As for my writing, I mainly write fantasy/science fiction for mature audiences.

The review
I have edited this to be as accessible as possible for all readers. It wouldn’t do much good posting this for everyone to see if only another writer could understand it. Hence, some things I explain here will be much more basic than usual.
Unlike a traditional review, I’ll break this up in sections and talk about each aspect individually before tackling the whole. I thus will provide a complete analysis of the story.

A) Characters

Living World Season 1 has introduced several important new characters to the plot. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Rox Whetstone (Charr)
Formerly known as Rox Pickheart and used to be a miner.
We meet her early on. She’s a gladium and her dream is to join Rytlock Brimstone’s warband. Lost her loved ones and her pet in a cave-in.

From the start, we see Rox maintain a strict composure. She is slow to show emotion. As a character, she plays the stoic role. The unwavering pillar to fall back on when things go wrong. In that respect, she seems to have a lot of traits in common with Rytlock. However, given her backstory, it is no surprise to learn she isn’t made of stone entirely. For example, her interactions with her pet; Frostbite; show a more caring and nurturing side of her than one would expect at first.
As for people, she often comes across as stubborn, refusing to give in even when she’s wrong. In the final confrontation with Scarlet, her mask finally breaks when Braham is injured though. Rox gives up on her dream, and feels lost in the aftermath.

Overall, Rox is a balanced character. While she may have seemed a bit boring at the start, that’s nothing out of the ordinary with stoic characters. With the current state of the story, I’d say she’s evolving in a natural direction. Her fears are real, her feelings are complex enough to drive the narrative if desired.

Frostbite (Devourer)
An albino Lashtail Devourer. Listens only to Rox. Smart for his kind.

Rox’s pet companion is cute for something that has pincers and venomous stingers. It’s uncommon enough to pick something that’s not warm and cuddly for the pet companion character, and it is arguable he makes up for some of Rox’s initial boringness. For a character with no speech, he’s undoubtedly endearing and can evoke a wide array of emotions with the audience.
I hadn’t expected this one to make me smile, but he did.

See next post.

Braham Eirsson (Norn)
Son of Eir Stegalkin. Lived his entire life in Cragstead, and never knew who his mother was until his father died. He resents his mother for her absence.
We meet Braham when his hometown is attacked by the Molten Alliance. It is telling how he went to Rytlock Brimstone for aid before even considering to ask his mother. He receives none from either. Abandoned by all, Braham relies on the player character to help him out.
He joins Rox to save the prisoners from the Molten Alliance.
Braham wants to rebuild Cragstead after the battle.

He’s witty, or what passes for wit amongst norn, which makes his pairing with the stoic Rox a classic one. From the start, Rox loosens up a little whenever he’s around.
The story never lets Braham develop a darker side, even though he clearly has potential for one.
He lives in his mother’s shadow, and loses his hometown. Wherever he goes, he never gets any answers. Worse, the one behind all of it, Scarlet Briar, doesn’t even seem sane enough to know why she’s done any of it to begin with.
However, the ramifications of the path of vengeance may have been out of reach for the Living World Season 1.

It’s too bad, but it makes him a rather bland character. His introduction as Eir’s secret son is also stretching the suspension of disbelief rather thin. Despite that, he redeems himself as a character when Taimi is introduced. Taimi plays off his simple-mindedness well, and the two have an interesting dynamic going between them. It wouldn’t have been a stretch to set him on a destructive path and having the responsibility of having to look out for Taimi save him from losing himself.

In the end, he comes a bit short of being a main character. He makes a decent support character, but the moment you cut him loose from the team he’d fall apart. Some extra care for his personal development is advised.

Ellen Kiel (Human)
She’s an orphan, and owes her life to Captain Magnus Irondawn. This led to her becoming part of his lionguard.
We first meet her with the introduction of the Karka, an ancient and deadly lifeform that has survived the dragons’ rampage once before.
Though she was only a main character briefly, she has remained a public figure when she won the elections and became Captain Ellen Kiel.

She has a solid backstory, and a history with the audience. However, her recent ineffectiveness with the council makes her unpopular. Despite everything, she’s still better at what she did before (keeping Magnus from doing something stupid), as she is at being a Captain.
This character can still evolve naturally in any direction. I’m not worried about her.

See next post.

Canach (Sylvari)
A mercenary hired by the Consortium to explore Southsun Cove. He’s introduced as ruthless, and later even his attempts to make amends made all hell break loose. He’s currently serving his time and intends to return to civilian life afterwards.

He was a villain, of sorts, in the Southsun Cove story. His actions speak louder than words.
This is a good thing. It defines him as a character.
I was suprised to see him in the recent story updates. Is there a future for him? Time will tell.

Kasmeer Meade (Human)
A noble. Now orphaned. Her mother died when she was young, her father died in prison. Lost her fortune. Still has a brother, Kyle. Is in a loving relationship with Marjory Delaqua.

Kasmeer has always been the meek one. She’s combines a number of stereotypical girlish and noble traits that tends to diminish her character’s ability to be taken seriously by the audience. Her tragic past mitigates this, but was touched upon too late in the storyline. She has a pleasant rhythm going with Marjory, though reaching this point has not been flawless.
At several points in the story, scenes that should be building the romance between Kasmeer and Marjory miss their mark. It sometimes seems as if Marjory is taking advantage of Kasmeer’s weakness, making some parts of their dialogue creepy rather than endearing.

Overall, Kasmeer is the type of character you’d expect a damsel in distress to be. However, at the final confrontation, when Scarlet injures Marjory, Kasmeer snaps and attacks Scarlet head-on. The effect this moment of heroism has on her character and personality isn’t yet fully known, but as she has overcome adversity, it should affect her to some degree. It’s definitely a good thing for the next installment.

Marjory Delaqua (Human)
She’s a detective, and used to be a member of the Durmand Priory. Has 3 sisters. Used to be in the Ministry Guard, but left after learning of some of the horrors going on in the upper echelons of Divinity’s Reach.
Located the Aetherblade Retreat in Lion’s Arch.
Developed the antitoxin for the Tower of Nightmares.
Is in a romantic relationship with Kasmeer Meade.

She puts up a strong front, and ever since her introduction she delivers most of her dialogue in film noir style.
That fact alone contributes to her sounding so distant and robotic at times that it makes it hard to consider anyone but her to speak in such a manner. While it makes her easy to identify, it’s also accepted by the other characters without as much as a question about her strange manner of speech.
For the style reference alone, it is probably not worth to keep this up. If her speech pattern actually has a backstory reason, it’d be justified, and it could lead to a possibly interesting story path about her past.

Marjory is a very narrow character with few avenues of development. We know a lot about her skill and work, but surprisingly little about her as a woman. Exploring the other facets of her personality seems paramount to me here.

See next post.

Taimi (Asura)
Apprentice of Zojja. A golemancer. Suffers from a degenerative disease. Cannot walk far on her own. Has a golem, Scruffy, to help her out. Interested in Scarlet Briar. Only 13 years old.

The youngest character of the cast, and slated to be a main character sometime in the future.
She helped out in the battle against Scarlet’s Marionette. However, she wasn’t allowed to enter Lion’s Arch after the destruction of the city due to being too young.

I’m going to keep this short because I think Taimi is a great character. Her interactions with Braham complete him as a character and add to the both of them. The relationships between her, her peers, the team, and her mentor are all more complex than meets the eye. Each would be worth looking into and can have an interesting resolution.
If there’s one thing I can complain about, it’s that she had such a small role in Season 1.

See next post.

Scarlet Briar (Sylvari)
The villain. The Antagonist. The Big Bad.
Scarlet is a Sylvari gone crazy, (or is she?), after an Asuran experiment.
Her background consists almost entirely out of incredible feats.
Let’s take a closer look:
1)Spent one winter to learn metallurgy from one of the best norn blacksmiths.
2)Studied firearms and artillery under the gladium Asagai for two years.
3)Took courses in all Asuran colleges. She finished the colleges of Statics and Dynamics each in under a year.
4)Was taken in by the Inquest for a brief time but was expelled from Rata Sum soon after.
5)Wandered about and studied Hylek alchemy in the process.

That’s quite a bit, especially compared to the other characters. This is not good.
More about her: She was born with the name Ceara, but changed her name to Scarlet after Omadd’s experiment. Ceara was always a rebellious one. She rejected both the Dream of Dreams and the Nightmare and set off to find her own truth.
After the experiment, Scarlet was plagued with night terrors. The menders couldn’t help her. Something looked back at her in that machine, and it won’t leave her alone. She reaches a point where she’s scared of falling asleep. Afterward, she finds a new determination to learn more of this entity, confront it, and end the madness.

She helped the Inquest with their research at Thaumanova, and discovered the existence of the ley lines. A plan began to take shape in her mind.
Scarlet began by getting the sub factions of the Flame Legion and Dredge to work together and form the Molten Alliance. The Dredge gained the Legion’s flame magic, the Flame Legion gained access to sonic technology, and Scarlet could work on her research to create probes capable of locating and tracing the ley lines.
She then teamed the Inquest up with pirates to create the Aetherblades. After stealing Pact airships, these sky pirates soon became known all over Tyria.
While everyone was running after the slippery pirates, Scarlet did some research on the steam creatures in Lornar’s Pass, and managed to find a way to gain control over them.
Later, when Queen Jennah introduced a new kind of mechanical soldier based on the steam creatures during the Queen’s Jubilee, Scarlet and the Aetherblades crashed the party. It was child’s play for Scarlet to bring the watchknights under her control.
For the next step, Scarlet teamed up with a splinter group of the Nightmare Court and used them to push an uneasy alliance on the krait. From this toxic alliance, Scarlet gained a power poison.
On top of these, she finished developing her most powerful weapon: the Aethercannon.
Fully armed, Scarlet began probing for the ley lines and found what she was looking for under Lion’s Arch. Her armies attacked the city and she managed to disrupt the ley line shortly before she died in combat, waking an Elder Dragon.

Where to start with this one.

+What I like about Scarlet:
She’s her own woman.
Interesting personality.
Focuses on engineering over combat.
Succeeds where others have failed.
Has a well-defined presence.

-What I dislike about Scarlet:
Horrible character stereotype.
Gets her way done too easy and with too little resistance.
Unbalanced performance.
The lack of it being personal, considering she was introduced as a personal nemesis.

-Scarlet’s greatest flaws:
Overly romanticized character.
Lavish, but largely meaningless backstory.
Terrible portrayal of a person with a mental condition.
Predictable unpredictability.
Unrealistic character on nearly every level.
Unrelatable, for the most part.

I’m truly sorry, but this character would have needed a major overhaul to be passable in modern commercial fiction. With just her background description alone, Scarlet already has all the hallmarks of poor character design. This happens. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. However, she shouldn’t have been given a pass to go live with these traits and this background, especially given the schemes she pulls off during the story. The villain is one of the most important characters in most plots, and needs a great deal of care to be just right.
In Scarlet’s case, it looks like a character concept that has yet to be fleshed out. Perhaps there wasn’t any time for that, perhaps there were other factors at work I, and the audience, don’t know about.
In either case, I have to judge the character based on what I’ve seen, not on what could have been.

See next post.

Explained concepts:
-Well-defined presence.
By the end of the story, even without seeing Scarlet herself, it is instantly clear to everyone when an event happens she has had a hand in.

-Horrible character stereotype.
Scarlet would be classified as a mad scientist kind of character played straight. You rarely see this used outside of cartoons these days for a reason. The mad scientist is a terrible stereotype most often used to evoke the spirit of anti-intellectualism, and as a result is rarely portrayed in a realistic manner. Scarlet is no exception to this, and I feel that’s a huge missed opportunity.

-Unbalanced performance.
The Scarlet we meet at Queen’s Jubilee and the Scarlet we see operating the Breachmaker may as well be two completely different characters. She hasn’t been as consistent during the season as the rest of the characters.

-Overly romanticized character.
As in, a character with a huge number of romanticized traits. This isn’t bad in and by itself, but Scarlet fails to do something interesting with it.

-Predictable unpredictability.
She’s so unpredictable that whenever she initiated one of her plots, everyone knew how it would end more or less. The fact she’s such a huge stereotype makes it easy to guess what her next action will be once she shows up and makes as much as one move.

-Unrelatable, for the most part.
Aside from how she was during her background story, it is difficult to understand how Scarlet actually feels in any of the scenes she shows up. She’s too distant while being right in front of you, her psyche completely locked away behind cheap smiles and a laugh.
Written right, that could have been a good character trait. In this case though, it feels like it’s the result of the rest of the character design that makes her so difficult to understand.
That, in and by itself, is a problem.

How I would have approached rewriting her.
First I’d look at her backstory and get rid of as many of the romanticized traits as possible.
Which of these traits does she need the most?
Scarlet is a genius.
This can stay. Scarlet can be a smart character, even a very smart character, as a Sylvari.
Backstory traits #1 and #2 can go completely. There is no benefit to linking her to either of these characters and she could have learned both metallurgy and firearms from undisclosed sources. It’s likely not even necessary to mention that at all, since as an engineer she is supposed to have basic knowledge of these fields anyway and it is only logical that she does.
Trait #3 is without a doubt the most unbelievable one, yet her designs incorporate Asuran ideas a lot.
There are several ways to mitigate the damage here, but I’m going to pick the one that deals the least damage to the background.
First, I’d have one of the higher-ups of the Inquest pick her up after seeing one of her designs and taking a personal interest. The Inquest then pull the necessary strings to have her enrolled at Rata Sum. Timeline-wise this can be set up in such a way that due to working with the Inquest Ceara already has gained an understanding of the Asuran colleges, which makes it believable for her to pass the entry exams and finish her quick courses. The fact she was so briefly in Statics and Dynamics, I’d argue that it was because the Asura didn’t want to teach her rather than Ceara mastering it so quickly. In fact, as the only Sylvari in the class, it is not unusual to learn she was bullied and mocked. It was a difficult time for Ceara.
The situation changes at Synergetics, as Omadd has watched her struggle and pities her. So, he lets her stick around and becomes a kind of father figure to her, until she gets caught with the Inquest doing unsavory things and is expelled.
Despite being thrown out, Omadd wants her to stay nearby until she hears from him again. He’s determined to find a place for Ceara in Rata Sum, the Council be kitten ed.
Ceara then finds refuge in a nearby Hylek village where she picks up some odds and ends from Hylek alchemy, inquisitive and curious as she is.
The time comes for Omadd to sneak her back in, and after the ill-fated experiment, she becomes Scarlet Briar.

Same skillset, less strain on the suspension of disbelief. That’s the goal here. Added benefit of a father-daughter like relationship between Omadd and Ceara is that it is arguable, that when Scarlet comes out of the experiment, she kills him without fully understanding what she is doing, and later regrets this. This then becomes a weak point, adding more hurtful undertones to when Kasmeer taunts her with her real name, Ceara, and Scarlet denies ever being that person.
That may be one step too far for teen fiction. Again, I write adult fiction myself, so it’s difficult to know where the line is when you don’t usually mind crossing it.

See next post.

(Job)-o-Tron (Golem)
Changes name frequently. He’s currently known as Heal-o-Tron. Started off as a joke character, but became recurring because he turned out to be quite amusing.

While the down on his luck golem was never intended to have a big role, he has remained a part of the story since his introduction. He can usually be found with a new name doing a new job in the background, sometimes alongside the minstrel Marcello DiGiacomo.
Somewhere between his quibbles with Marcello and his function as a medical golem at the Battle of Lion’s Arch, I’ve found to have become more invested in this character as expected. His struggle to escape the Seraph, who want to arrest him on suspicion of being one of Scarlet’s agents, and his subsequent plea to Evon Gnashblade to become sturdier without packing a punch, were more relatable as could be imagined.
I look forward to seeing him again in the future.

B) Story

For each part, I will briefly summarize the story and review it.
The player character will be referred to as the Pact Commander, or PC.

Flame & Frost

Our story starts off with a sudden flood of refugees in Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel. It doesn’t take long before reports start flowing in about attacks by the Dredge and the Flame Legion.
Refugee camps get crowded fast, and the refugees start moving to Lion’s Arch, where the Consortium is eager to sell them a new home on Southsun Cove.
The Flame Legion and the Dredge are confirmed to be working together. This Molten Alliance keeps attacking various Norn and Charr homesteads.
From the town of Cragstead, Braham Eirsson arrives at the Black Citadel and seeks help to save his homestead. Meanwhile, Rox is sent on a mission to secure the devourer hatchery. The PC promises to help her out.
Braham doesn’t get any help from the Charr, and heads to Hoelbrak. He also doesn’t find any help there. Together with the PC, he heads back to Cragstead and they attempt to save the villagers from the Molten Alliance. The Molten Alliance operatives in Cragstead are swiftly defeated, and retreat. They took prisoners with them, including Ottilia and her family. Braham would like to go after them, but decides he’ll escort the remaining villagers to Hoelbrak first.
Rox is waiting for the PC at the devourer hatchery. They attempt to sneak in, but are immediately ambushed by the Molten Alliance. After a hectic battle, a baby devourer seems to keep following Rox around. Though Rox is hesitant to accept the little one, she decides to take care of him while the hatchery staff are scattered. The Molten Alliance have taken prisoners here as well.
The Vigil begins to attack Molten Alliance weapon facilities.
Later, the Molten Alliance is tracked back to the Molten Facility. Braham and Rox meet each other as they both want to rescue the prisoners, and together with the PC, they go in and fight.
With the defeat of the Molten Duo and the destruction of the Molten Facility, the Molten Alliance are forced to halt their activities. The surviving prisoners have been rescued and a party is thrown for the heroes of the day.
Meanwhile, Rox interrogates some of the Molten Alliance members they managed to capture.
From the interrogation, it is clear there was another party active behind the scenes.

-The formative days of the Living World. It wasn’t the strongest part of the story, though the concepts are there. Looking back this far, it is all the more apparent how far the Living World has come.
Rox and Braham are introduced. In terms of character development, the focus is on Rox and Frostbite, while Braham ends up with a less than stellar conclusion. The Molten Alliance is presented as a credible threat, but they are too faceless and distant for the player to have any clear feelings about them or their leadership. Scarlet’s actions are implied through one line only, making her much more mysterious than she should have been.
The defeat of the Molten Alliance also seems far more decisive at this point than the later story requires it to be.
The story is a lot less bold here as it has been recently.
There’s also the weird split between players who have completed the Personal Story and the players that haven’t here. A decision that has since been reversed.

See next post.

The Secret of Southsun – Last Stand at Southsun

The refugees on Southsun find out the Consortium has tricked them. The contracts they have signed have indentured them, and they are now forced to work on Southsun Cove. Ellen Kiel is dispatched to quell the riots. Meanwhile, crazed animals begin attacking settlements on Southsun.
Ellen Kiel discovers the crazed animals are Canach’s work. She intends to capture him once more.
With the PC’s help, Canach is arrested. He reveals he only wanted to help the settlers, and wanted revenge against the Consortium.
Subdirector Noll of the Consortium accompanies Ellen Kiel to secure the contracts. Just when it seems the contracts are safely aboard a ship, an explosion takes ship and all to the bottom of the sea.
Noll’s profits are ruined, and the settlers are free once again.

-A side story following the events of the main plot. Ellen Kiel returns and takes a more prominent role, while revealing to what lengths she is willing to go to do the right thing.
The situation and events are made apparent to the players with little exposition and dialogue successfully.

Dragon Bash – Sky Pirates of Tyria

Tyria celebrates Dragon Bash, and the city-state of Lion’s Arch has something special in store. Holographic dragons fill the skies, and hologram projectors around Tyria dispense goodies for those willing to test their mettle against holographic dragon minions.
The celebration is cut short when Captain Theo Ashford is murdered.
The PC recieves a mail from a mysterious character only known by the initial E, and is told to go to the Dead End in Divinity’s Reach.
Once there, the PC meets Logan Thackeray. He’s there to request the services of Marjory Delaqua, a private detective. He wants to know who killed his old friend, Theo Ashford, but can’t act because of his position. Marjory is not to speak of his involvement.
The PC meets Marjory and Kasmeer. They already seem to know E, and let the PC help out right away.
It turns out a group of pirates have strong-armed several of the cultural representatives to aid them in executing the murder.
Mai Trin is found to be the one behind the plot, but she escapes capture and runs to the Aetherblade hideout in Lion’s Arch. The pirates had been operating from within the city all along.
The PC and Ellen Kiel fight through the Aetherblade base and succeed in apprehending Mai Trin, though Mai’s first mate Horrik did not survive the battle.
Ellen Kiel secures an Aetherblade airship for the city of Lion’s Arch.
Meanwhile, the Aetherblade pirates manage to tinker with some of the holographic projectors from the festival.
It is confirmed the Inquest are working with the pirates. Scarlet is first mentioned by name.

-Dragon Bash and the murder mystery was an interesting way to reveal the Aetherblades and their plot to secure a spot on the Ship’s Council. We were also introduced to Marjory and Kasmeer.
Again, we only have one line that implies there’s someone working behind the scenes. Someone named Scarlet. That’s all we’re given. It’s not enough, especially at this stage of the story. On the other hand, Mai Trin and the Aetherblades are great. Unlike with the Molten Alliance, the Aetherblades have a face. They are a threat, and the audience knows it.
Unfortunately, the entire plot to replace Theo Ashford with one of their own is subject to one big problem. The question of why they did this.
If it was to weaken Lion’s Arch for Scarlet, then that’s a plot hole because Scarlet had no intention of attacking Lion’s Arch before she knew the ley line she was looking for ran through there.
It could have been resources she was after, but given how the plot likes to avoid questions about the logistical problems involved in maintaining a large force like Scarlet’s alliances it brings all of those crashing down on the plot as well.

See next post.

Bazaar of the Four Winds – Cutthroat Politics

Magnus makes Ellen apply for a position on the Ship’s Council and gives her the Aetherblade airship to open this path up for her.
We follow Ellen Kiel as she tries to secure a trade agreement with the Zephyrites of Zephyr Sanctum.
Evon Gnashblade and Ellen Kiel both want the free spot on the Ship’s Council. The elections have begun.
Ellen Kiel wins the elections and becomes Tyria’s newest Captain of the Ship’s Council.

-Another subplot, but one that has had major consequences. One or two big choices like these in a season of the Living World wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Queen’s Jubilee – Clockwork Chaos

A celebration of Queen Jennah’s decade long rule begins in Divinity’s Reach.
A grand tournament opens, and Logan Thackeray has the honor of participating in the demonstration match. Queen Jennah introduces her new Watchknights, which turn out to be powerful adversaries.
Rytlock had been invited to the celebration as the Charr representative, but he has chosen to send Rox in his place. Rox has brought Braham along.
Logan defeats the watchknight, but as he declares his victory over the mechanical soldier, the thing springs back to life. It no longer responds to commands, and just then an Aetherblade airship portals in. With Logan preoccupied, it falls to Rox, Braham, the PC, and Anise to protect the queen from the Aetherblade crew.
A figure appears on a pillar above, watching the spectacle. Rox takes several shots at the figure, and receives only taunts in return.
With the Aetherblade crew defeated, the mysterious figure disappears, for now.
Control over the watchknights seems regained.
At the closing ceremony, the mysterious figure returns and reveals herself as Scarlet Briar. The queen escapes harm, but Lord Faren is captured.
Scarlet takes control of the watchknights once more and turns them into the Twisted Minions. The twisted wreak havoc in Divinity’s Reach. The PC, Rox, and Braham fail to disarm all the bombs Scarlet has planted, causing civilian and Seraph casualties.
Scarlet holes up in the Queen’s Pavilion. The Molten Alliance, Aetherblades, and Twisted Minions begin their invasion of Tyria.
Emissary Vorpp helps the PC to gain access to Scarlet’s Playhouse.
Once inside, the PC joins up with Rox and Braham to take Scarlet down. They succeed in rescuing Lord Faren. The PC faces Scarlet in single combat, but Scarlet manages to escape though a portal.

-Scarlet’s introduction was strong, with the bombing and the twisted minions being highlights. Unfortunately, her unbalanced backstory breaks the immersion to some degree. Fighting Scarlet was a good idea, but the execution in game felt too gimmicky to be taken serious. At least the final battle against Scarlet should have been a straightforward one on one.
The invasions are more of a gameplay than a story event, but the reintroduction of the Molten Alliance managed to confuse many in the audience due to poor foreshadowing.
Character development for Rox and Braham is solid in this part. The bombing should have affected Logan in the long term as well. Failing to protect is one of his greatest fears, after all.

Twilight Assault

One of Scarlet’s bases is found in Twilight Arbor. The PC and Caithe go to investigate.
The Aetherblades have been building airships here, and use the facility to train their men. Scarlet is only present through holograms, and taunts Caithe with some secret she knows about her.
With the help of the Lionguard, the base is shut down.

-We’re never told what Caithe’s secret is, if there even was one to begin with. We also meet the Clockheart, an indication that Scarlet is experimenting on living beings now.
There wasn’t much story here, but it’s another one of Scarlet’s bases that has been shut down.
The dungeon path is still intact and playable, so anyone can go check it out for themselves.

See next post.

The Tower of Nightmares – The Nightmares Within

Something is going on in Kessex Hills. Forests have been stripped, the waters of Kessex lake are not as harmless as they once were, and there are krait everywhere.
Marjory and Kasmeer meet up with the PC to investigate, and Kasmeer’s magic reveals the previously cloaked Tower of Nightmares. It doesn’t take long before a new kind of glowing krait and nightmare courties start pouring out to secure their turf.
A powerful poison spreads across the land. With the help of the PC, Marjory cooks up an antidote for the poison. This allows the Pact to attack the Tower of Nightmares.
Inside, they find Scarlet, about to leave. Scarlet taunts them once more and goes, just as the Toxic Hybrid is born. The terrifying creature attacks.
The PC, Marjory, and Kasmeer overcome the battle and now face the heart of the tower. The anti-toxin is injected, but something seems wrong.
A closer inspection reveals one of Scarlet’s laboratories, and some of the things she’s been working on.
With one last dose of anti-toxin, the tower collapses while the party portals out.
Outside, Marjory and Kasmeer meet Rox and Braham.

-The meeting between Marjory, Kasmeer, Rox, and Braham was every bit as awkward as could be expected, though they did become friends after this. It was a bit strange to have Marjory and Kasmeer along for the final instance, but not Rox and Braham.
Scarlet’s need to explain her alliances, only to then leave right away, was alienating, and felt out of character given how eager she was before to watch us suffer.
The Toxic Alliance raised more than one eyebrow in the audience, and a lot of questions remained until answers were given on the forums about the Toxic Alliance and its likely future.

The Origins of Madness

We learned about Scarlet’s involvement in the thaumanova incident before, and then strange mechanisms appeared all over Tyria.
It still took months before we heard of her again. Scarlet returned with an enormous sky battleship and tested her newest weapon, the Twisted Marionette. Her minions returned to her side, while the alliances protected them along the way. The PC, Kasmeer, Marjory, Rox, and Braham are joined by Taimi to stop the mechanical monstrosity.
Even with the Marionette dismantled, Scarlet’s weapon test was successful, since what she was actually testing was the Aethercannon.
After the battle, Logan Thackeray approaches Taimi and wants to send her back home. Taimi clings to Braham, and before he knows what’s going on he has become Taimi’s unofficial guardian.
Meanwhile, Rox shows Rytlock a piece of Tequatl’s tail to prove her worth, but Rytlock is not impressed. He tasks her with slaying Scarlet, and tells her she’s in the warband if she does.
Braham tries to talk Rox out of it, but Rox won’t listen.
Marjory tries to calm Kasmeer down, and hears her out. The two share some quality time at the beach.
The PC takes a look at Scarlet’s Lair and finds her diary. Scarlet’s past is revealed further, and a possible motivation for her actions is established. The room contains a lot of designs and intricacies, and tells a story by itself.

-Taimi is introduced, and her interactions with Braham were great from the start. We have some development on each character in this chapter, which is a nice change from the usual pace. The plot crawls along, with Scarlet doing one thing, but actually another, again. The exposition on Scarlet’s past, and the story treasure vault her Lair is, was great. From this alone, most people in the audience had some grasp of what Scarlet’s plan really was. It’s just too bad it’s come so late in the story.

The Edge of the Mists

The Aetherblades break Mai Trin out of jail and flee to the Edge of the Mists. Taimi and Braham pursue them, but Taimi’s golem breaks down. The PC braves the dangers of the Mist War to help them out.
Meanwhile, Marjory, Kasmeer, and Vorpp have collected clues from Scarlet’s operations and have begun putting them together. The PC helps them sort it out and they conclude Scarlet’s next target is Lion’s Arch.
In L.A., Captain Ellen Kiel understands the danger, but fails to convince the rest of the Ship’s Council of this.

-We learn more about Taimi, and Braham finally gets to show another side of himself. The part in the Dead End with putting it all together revealed painfully little new information. The Ship’s Council’s reaction to the news Scarlet will attack their city is terrible, and unrealistic given what they ought to know of Scarlet by now. The big missed opportunity in this chapter must have been Thrahearne and the Pact. The fact they had no new information to impart at all felt like an oversight.
This chapter could have been handled much better, but the character development was good.

See next post.

Escape from Lion’s Arch – Battle for Lion’s Arch

Lion’s Arch is completely unprepared when Scarlet strikes. The once proud city is reduced to rubble in minutes as Scarlet’s Alliances attack and spread a new kind of toxin. The casualties run up high.
The PC, Rox, Braham, Kasmeer, and Marjory help the Lionguard evacuate the citizens. Taimi isn’t allowed to come anywhere near the city, even though she really wants to meet Scarlet.
The miasma makes the city inhospitable, and Scarlet begins her drilling operation.
In the refugee camps, the carnage becomes clear as the dead are shoveled in mass graves, dead children plucked from their mothers’ arms, and the aftereffects of the miasma become clear. Blindness, burned lungs, death, and misery rule the camps.
The wind changes and blows the miasma out to sea, allowing the Lionguard to strike back.
The party takes the battle to Scarlet, but just as she seems defeated, she releases a powerful shockwave. Braham broke his leg, and Marjory won’t respond. Kasmeer snaps while Rox gives up on her dream to be in Rytlocks warband and stays behind to tend to the wounded. With Kasmeer’s help, the PC slays Scarlet. They are unable to stop the drill in time. A slumbering Elder Dragon wakes up.
Kasmeer returns to Marjory’s side, and is delighted to find out she’s still alive.

-Skipping quite a bit here because there was a lot of story loaded in the final chapters. The confrontation between Magnus and Ellen, for example, was brilliant. The atmosphere in the refugee camps was downright depressing, and suitably so. The whole reminds of the aftermath of WW1, and is packed with feelings.
The ending chapters took the Living World to a new level.
Scarlet died as she lived, completely obscured to the understanding of the audience.
We have a lot of character development here. It’s big and bombastic, yes, but it was more of a finale than the previous updates had indicated. The level of craftsmanship that went into making this is high.

Aftermath

Scarlet’s airship explodes, the drill is destroyed, and her alliances are driven out of town. The Pact finally shows up.
The PC meets up with the party in the Dead End for a drink.

-And that’s the end for now. The serene ruins of Lion’s Arch, the dialogue options for my Sylvari character, and the reactions he sometimes gets; they all paint a world that is alive. It doesn’t feel static, not anymore. There may have been some bumps along the road, and a list of improvements to run over, but in the end, the Living World succeeded in making the game world feel that bit more alive than it was before.

See next post.

C) Technique

Books have been written on the subject. Effective storytelling techniques.
Contrary to what a lot of people on the forums seem to believe, the average technique employed in the game is good. In fact, if I were the kind of person to give scores, I’d score this aspect the highest.

Dialogue is often crafted well. In most instances, the lines for each character feel natural. There are some notable exceptions, but on the whole it holds its own. Sometimes, it does feel like the author is trying to cram a bit too much information in per line. There are also a couple of moments where characters have suddenly seemed to have had their IQ cut in half, which isn’t an ideal situation.
Dialogue between Braham and Rox tends to fly under the radar, while Marjory and Kasmeer have their relationship hints that may not have been enough to get everyone up to speed in time for the big reveal.
Scarlet’s dialogue options changed a lot over the course of the story. When she was first introduced, she came across as unhinged, where as she became more menacing later down the line. There also have been precious few moments where the main characters got to interact with Scarlet.
Nevertheless, the quality of the dialogue tends to be on the high side of the spectrum. It could be said it makes it all the more blatant when characters do act out of character all of a sudden though.

One often unmentioned excellent aspect of the writing, is the lines of the NPC’s along the road. Especially memorable are the final updates, where the misery and pain in the refugee camps was so real it made people forget how colorful the game otherwise is. This couldn’t have been done, on this scale, in a novel, movie, or play. This is breaking new ground, a place where games can go that other media cannot. I am glad to see it happen.

Punctuation. A few minor errors here and there. It brought a smile to my face to see a wholesale “TAIMI:” line pasted right from the script in the epilogue, and I’m sure most people didn’t notice it that much, but yeah, it was there.
Aside from the odd runaway comma and weird punctuation events, the quality overall is high.

Setting the scene:
As I explained in the story section, some scenes were weird. Others were dull, or brought in a less than optimal manner. However, as also said before, a lot of this can be blamed on the technical side of things, and thus isn’t a writing fault.
When the engine did allow it, scenes were displayed in a manner that is superior to other games in the genre.

Cutscenes:
Crafted in a manner unique to the game, they’ve fit the setting and story well. There is no overuse or reliance on them either. One common complaint is that they seem maladjusted to relay action scenes, but then again, with some work, action scenes could be done well with the in-game environment.
There is, however, this strange bug that makes cutscenes sometimes not display when they should. Yeah, that happened to me with the epilogue update. I didn’t get to see the Breachmaker explode until after they fixed it, which is part of why this review is so late.

Voice Acting:
Great. In fact, that goes for most of the voice acting in the game. With the notable exception of Trahearne. You got a decent actor for that character though, I’ve seen his work before. It makes me wonder why Trahearne has such a monotone voice.

Narrative identity:
This was a huge problem the first year or so, where there was a lack of narrative identity. It has improved down the line, and it made little sense to me until I read somewhere the writers had been relying on the programmers to realize their vision instead of working with the game engine directly. I’m sure this will stay a strong point in the future.

See next post.

D) As a whole

The Living World season 1 was a story that started off slowly. The engine did not support many of the features the developers wanted to see in the game. The writers could only make due with the resources they did have. They’ve tried to tell a story much like a novel is written. The difference is that the audience is the player, and that this audience considers their own characters to be the main character in the story. As the main character, they will primarily look at the development of the villain and only then at the supporting characters.
This made flaws that wouldn’t have broken a story in a novel or TV setting get enlarged to a frightening degree. It was an unforeseen effect, perhaps, but it’s a good idea to keep it in mind for the future.
The pacing has been much subject to scrutiny as well, and I know we’ll see improvements there for sure.
I think we’ve seen but the tip of the iceberg of what the Living World concept truly can be.

See next post.

E) My take on it

Flame & Frost

I’d keep most of it the same, though with what we know now, it would definitely be set after the fall of Zhaitan.
I would have added one important piece, namely, a villain with a face.

Scene: Molten Facility.
After the fight the Molten Duo, the party runs into a huge Charr. He’s a battle-hardened Flame Legion fire shaman equipped with a powerful sonic weapon; the commander of the Molten Alliance.
He taunts the PC, and rushes in.
A brief battle ensues.
The Molten Commander is defeated, and staggers back. The PC raises his weapon, (or spell if the PC is a caster character). A glint can be seen in the distant darkness. Braham responds right away and pushes the PC aside, only to take a bullet to the leg.
Rox immediately returns fire, but can’t tell if she hit anything in the darkness. Silence falls, and the Molten Commander grins despite his grievous wounds.
Rox notices a movement at the right and readies an arrow, only to see a grenade roll under her feet. It’s a smoke bomb, mixed with pepper. The PC, Rox, and Braham are stunned and see a figure leap to the Molten Commander’s side. The figure opens up a portal, and they teleport away.
Rox helps Braham move as time is running short for the Molten Facility, and they get out safely.

This method has several upsides.
1) The Molten Commander is a villain with a face from the start.
2) Scarlet, as the mysterious figure, is introduced from the first chapter. The audience won’t know who she is, but they’ll definitely know someone just helped the commander of the Molten Alliance, and that the Molten Alliance will be back to fight another day as long as their commander is around.
3) Braham’s leg injury returns to haunt him during the final battle. (Not the leg, not again!)

Dragon Bash – Sky Pirates of Tyria

Again, keeping as much the same as before. Mai Trin is the Captain of the Aetherblades, so no need to introduce another character.
I’d have the incarcerated Mai Trin state her reasons for the plot as being: “Scarlet needs funds.”
PC: “Who’s Scarlet?”
Trin: “I’m not saying a word more. I like living.”

Bazaar of the Four Winds – Cutthroat Politics

By this point, a base of sorts for Scarlet should have been added somewhere in the world. It’s masked behind holograms and heavily fortified, and approaching it means instant death, but players would soon find out there’s this huge facility somewhere with overpowered weaponry guarding it. Some visible Aetherblade airships would make sense.

See next post.

Queen’s Jubilee – Clockwork Chaos

Same, except that Scarlet shouldn’t keep playing with the player character all the way up to the end.
The final battle in the playhouse should have been a one on one fight with Scarlet, no tricks. This battle should have been hard as nails, but not impede story progress. Scarlet behaves in a player-like manner for this battle. She uses her rifle, dodges, and brings the pain with various engineer-like skills modified to her flavor.
If Scarlet wins, she laughs and taunts the player, then teleports out before the rest of the party arrives.
If the player wins, she curses the player, says something about the player not being worth the trouble he’s causing, and teleports out before the player character can cut or cast her down.
Bonus: if the player goes to the Pale Tree, he can ask her about Scarlet and be told the tale from the Pale Tree’s side.

Scarlet’s fortress develops further with the addition of the Twisted.

This approach could then set up a final battle between Scarlet and the PC, with the only difference being that the PC will have Rox, Kasmeer, Braham, and Marjory at his side then. The fact the battle is incredibly hard without friends, and much more manageable with their presence, would then serve to underline the theme of teamwork.

The Tower of Nightmares – The Nightmares Within

Having Scarlet leave right away was kind of a letdown, and the Toxic Alliance raised too many questions. Some chatter between krait about enslaving the courtiers afterward, etc would have helped to mitigate the issue a lot. Since this alliance shares its identity problem with the Molten Alliance, adding in a leader of the Toxic Alliance would also be a good idea.
The Hybrid battle.
Scarlet should have done her exposition, but Marjory and Kasmeer block her way before she can leave.
The PC takes on the Hybrid while Marjory and Kasmeer can be seen fighting Scarlet in the background.
As the Hybrid falls, a scene triggers where Marjory takes a swing at Scarlet, only to miss and almost hit Kasmeer.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Jory! Watch out!”
Scarlet knocks Marjory into Kasmeer.
“Weaklings! I’m out of here.”
Scarlet runs into the portal before the PC can join in on the brawl.

Scarlet’s fortress develops further with the addition of the Toxic Alliance.

See next post.

The Origins of Madness

Scarlet’s fortress reveals its true form as the Breachmaker and takes to the sky.

The Edge of the Mists

Ellen Kiel brings the issue to the Ship’s Council, and they agree. However, they have no heavy anti-air weaponry in the city. Magnus decides to send a messenger to fort trinity.

The PC can go to Trahearne at fort trinity and ask for help.
Trahearne: “So I’ve heard. The Pact is spread thin at the moment though. The Risen have grown more vicious than usual lately, despite Zhaitan’s demise.”
PC: “Is there nothing we can do?”
Trahearne: “I’ve sent some of our engineers to install weapon banks at Lion’s Arch. They should arrive there soon.”
PC: “Do we have any airships we can spare?”
Trahearne: “None at the moment, but I’ll see what I can do.”
PC: “Thanks.”

Escape from Lion’s Arch – Battle for Lion’s Arch

Despite being prepared, Lion’s Arch cannot win. From the clouds come cannon shots, hitting the city hard. The anti-air batteries return fire, but it is unknown if anything is hit.
An aetherblade airship comes down and unloads its cannons. It has been hit, but soon turns out to be on a collision course with Lion’s Arch. It crashes into the buildings and reduces them to rubble.
The cheers from the men turn to stupefied gasps. A commander of the lionguard mutters “Something’s wrong.”
Lionguard: “What’s wrong, sir?”
Commander: “No screams, no people jumping off that burning ship. They’re unmanned!”
A rumble from the ground is followed by the appearance of the dredge machinery. The Molten Alliance comes forth and takes out the anti-air weaponry in a flash. From the seas come the toxic krait. The Lionguard is spread too thin trying to fight them and fall back. Civilians run for their lives.
The Breachmaker comes down from the clouds, using aetherblade ships as a shield and a weapon at the same time. Once their cannons are emptied, the aetherblade ships crash into the city, taking out defenses faster as anyone had anticipated. Aetherblades rappel from the Breachmaker while Twisted jump or fly down. Despite the Lionguard’s best efforts, the city was taken in mere minutes.
Scarlet’s generals make a return as they take to the city.

Fighting back would be the same, though in the instance, Scarlet should fight the PC and party first. She uses the same moves as before with some variation, but can’t beat the odds this time.
I wouldn’t change the ending one bit.

See next post.

F) For the Future

We now have another Elder Dragon waking up. The question remains though, how interesting can he be as a character? Zhaitan was not exactly fearsome, despite his exterior. The fact they have non-existent personalities make them tricky to write.
But do they?
Elder dragons are described as forces of nature. They don’t really think, they don’t plot, they simply are.
However, Kralkatorrik went out of his way to track down and kill the traitor Glint. It wasn’t a dragon champion, it was Kralkatorrik in person. I’d argue a force of nature couldn’t care less about concepts like loyalty and betrayal. Kralkatorrik’s actions imply thought and intention.
Perhaps Zhaitan didn’t speak to us because the dragons see us as meaningless ants. Perhaps with Zhaitan’s demise, the other Elder Dragons will be more wary of us.
What if this new dragon would speak to us? What if it had a personality? What if everything we thought we knew about Elder Dragons turned out to be wrong?

Time will tell.
For now, I recommend to Arenanet to keep building a stronger engine for the Living World. The game needs true instancing capability, and a way to make players revisit the Living World story of the past.
I’d recommend creating brief solo instances that recreate the story and players can play through at their leisure. So, for the tower of nightmares, for example, you’d get the initial scenes, a run through the tower culminating in the Toxic Hybrid battle, the ability to look through Scarlet’s lab, and the ending scenes.
This condensed content isn’t the same as being there when it was released, but it’s a good way for new players to experience the stories that have come and gone.

Keep up the good work.

By the gods… that text wall.
I did read it all, however, and I agree with most of your points. However, the SINGLE, BIGGEST, problem, that you failed to mention was the lack of answers. To list the unanswered questions would be blasphemy, but we, the players, require resolution. Scarlet would have been an adequate villain had we actually know what she was doing all of it for and why and how.
LS Season 2 needs to answer these questions, and tie up plot threads that should have been tied up this season. Having a tease of a dragon is simply not enough to answer for the enigma that is Scarlet.

I read the entire thing. By far, the most detailed and thorough review of the living story! I have to ask, why didn’t you address the short stories that were posted on the site? As far as I’m concerned, if it didn’t happen in-game or was shown in flashbacks, then it doesn’t exist.

Anonmly.2436:

By the gods… that text wall.
I did read it all, however, and I agree with most of your points. However, the SINGLE, BIGGEST, problem, that you failed to mention was the lack of answers….

I (and I think everyone else) wholeheartedly agree with that. But from what I’ve seen so far I seriously doubt they can pull that off. From what I’ve heard there’s even still stuff like this in GW1 (I haven’t played it) so that leaves no hope in me that our questions will ever get answers.

DanteZero.9736:

I read the entire thing. By far, the most detailed and thorough review of the living story! I have to ask, why didn’t you address the short stories that were posted on the site? As far as I’m concerned, if it didn’t happen in-game or was shown in flashbacks, then it doesn’t exist.

Because they were essential to the story; which was a really bad move by the devs to not put it ingame imo. It could have been a story instance where you find Omadd’s lab notes or as the OP said the pale tree tells you.

I really like your take on it, OP, it would have been much better, but what’s done is done.

The only thing I disagree is your opinion on Trahearne’s VA. I think a monotonous and calm voice really fits a character well that has been on his own or was in Orr for most of his life and was trying to complete a seemingly impossible task falling into depression. Trahearne get’s a lot of hate because he “steals the show” but leave that behind and he’s actually a good character.

So uh … did we ever find out who “E” was? Remember that?

bluestocking.6148:

So uh … did we ever find out who “E” was? Remember that?

That will come. A dev said in an interview that there is a .txt file with all the future stuff in it including who E. is.

Hire him, now !

@SSalp Ramon is not a dev, but the german community manager

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Narrative-Lessons-From-15-Months-of-Scarlet/first#post3806908

A bit more concise review by Shriketalon.1937. The two of you have made similar points in several areas. Let’s hope Anet is paying attention!

Excellent points, I would hope all this doesn’t fall on deaf ears.

Really good post, i like it.

I might have just one thing that i might want to add in general for the whole concept of the narrative:
The B-Iconics as they are called are actually useless (in my book at least) to the mainplot aside from their first introduction, except Majory.

Think about it.
If you follow a group of people in a story, they are usually the key to solve the problem.
In this story this is Scarlet and her plans, however these characters at no point do have anything that stops her plan.
They are just there, mostly thanks to plot conviniences.

While they are interesting characters like you have discribed, aside from their developement in general, they do not bring much to the overall main plot, making you ask: “why are they there and no one else?”

While it allows you as a player to get some limelight, the B-Iconics feel more and more like sidecharacters with too much emphasis given.
They are supposed your support cast and even there they kinda fall flat.

This is a great problem, because they had a lot of potential.
Unfortunatly we never see them doing something proactive.
Braham and Rox usually just stumble upon the trouble through coincidence or because the plot said so (or they heard something was going on and rusehd over).
Majory and kasmeer are a bit more active, but even if she is Tyrias greatest detective, every acomplishment felt forced in my opinion (why was no one able to put the pieces together before in the priory, where everything was held, etc..)

The more i think about it, these characters felt useless to the plot, as their abilities were never used.

Braham and Rox would have been a great team to actually hunt Scarlet. Track her down by their wilderness experitse. Raid Alliance camps and gather intelligence, while Majory and Kasmeer put the pieces together.

Instead Rox and Braham were used as fanservice characters to get the “iconic” title bestowed upon them.
Rox was even used to “asure us” that Tequatle was still something very essential to Scarlet`s plot, which in the long run did not amount to anything.

Overall other characters, a real group of “Scarlet Hunters” would have been more convincing, then these people, as someone who is “essential” to bring down the antagonist.

Tehy got great character developement over the course, but failed to make them “usefull” in the grander sheme.

Anonmly.2436:

By the gods… that text wall.
I did read it all, however, and I agree with most of your points. However, the SINGLE, BIGGEST, problem, that you failed to mention was the lack of answers.

I second this… by the end I was just getting annoyed, even angered by the lack of answers.

I liked Johan’s introduction of scarlet in the molten facility, because all we got was some weak comment from a dredge prisoner which was never proven to be scarlet, just another question passed over with no definitive answer. Was it her? one of her helpers? who knows.

The delivery of this story reminds me of those annoying people that try to tell a story but keep going off on tangents and never explain fully how we got to this ending. “Yeah but hold on for a second, how did she manage to do that?” – “That’s not important, anyway this huge floating drill appeared…”

Since I don’t have infinite time I’m only going to take a stab at one small part of this. I’m going to leave my opinion out on the rest because I don’t want to go back and research everything I forgot about.

Naetell.3815:

Scarlet would be classified as a mad scientist kind of character played straight.

As a ‘mad scientist’ pursues conventional studies, cracks in the personality start to show that discourage others from continuing to train him/her. The mad scientist is left to research and operate in seclusion, the only place where one could fully embrace both the brimming insanity and evil. Usually, the strongest techniques of this person are those that have been learned from rudimentary practice and discovery (on self or former close associates). The mad scientist is the type of person who would infect another [and himself], and hold the cure as a means to gain work from assistants. Such is the difficulty of this person in making and keeping alliances. This stereotype is close to looking like the hyper-rational gone unethical (what most Asura are), where brutality scores highly for it’s efficiency; but the insanity portion often overtakes the rational and adds a sadomasochistically inefficient tint to the personality. Often, there is a former teacher or student who detects the remnants of the original person within what is now an otherwise unknowable adversary; and the mad scientist is treatable/beatable by appeals to the underlying personality.

The most well known mad scientist is Jekyl/Hide, and what amounts to being a story about alchoholism metaphor (drinking the serum); but which is commonly misinterpreted as a fictional variant disorder of multiple personalities. Melded within the story of the mad scientist is usually a description of some type of workaholic-substance abuser who does things to extremes and loses his/her humanity to achieve a goal. The chemical-induced insanity is vastly different from a naturally occuring or grief-provoked insanity; the substance abuser loses it’s humanity to a much greater degree because they end up wrecking parts of the brain that deal with emotion and pain regulation.

Correction: I made a mistake due to not having lived for hundreds of years, and now I should clarify how I misinterpreted towards the modern era. The theme of Mad Scientists is that they engage in ‘alchemical pursuits’, which may or may not include substance abuse or other extreme measures to prolong life, achieve invulnerability, etc.

Anonmly.2436:

By the gods… that text wall.
I did read it all, however, and I agree with most of your points. However, the SINGLE, BIGGEST, problem, that you failed to mention was the lack of answers. To list the unanswered questions would be blasphemy, but we, the players, require resolution. Scarlet would have been an adequate villain had we actually know what she was doing all of it for and why and how.
LS Season 2 needs to answer these questions, and tie up plot threads that should have been tied up this season. Having a tease of a dragon is simply not enough to answer for the enigma that is Scarlet.

Well caught, and yes, the lack of timely answers is a problem as well.

DanteZero.9736:

I read the entire thing. By far, the most detailed and thorough review of the living story! I have to ask, why didn’t you address the short stories that were posted on the site? As far as I’m concerned, if it didn’t happen in-game or was shown in flashbacks, then it doesn’t exist.

The short stories were not part of the game experience, and they know it was a problem. It didn’t need addressing at this point in time.

Jaken.6801:

Really good post, i like it.

I might have just one thing that i might want to add in general for the whole concept of the narrative:
The B-Iconics as they are called are actually useless (in my book at least) to the mainplot aside from their first introduction, except Majory.

Think about it.
If you follow a group of people in a story, they are usually the key to solve the problem.
In this story this is Scarlet and her plans, however these characters at no point do have anything that stops her plan.
They are just there, mostly thanks to plot conviniences.

While they are interesting characters like you have discribed, aside from their developement in general, they do not bring much to the overall main plot, making you ask: “why are they there and no one else?”

While it allows you as a player to get some limelight, the B-Iconics feel more and more like sidecharacters with too much emphasis given.
They are supposed your support cast and even there they kinda fall flat.

This is a great problem, because they had a lot of potential.
Unfortunatly we never see them doing something proactive.
Braham and Rox usually just stumble upon the trouble through coincidence or because the plot said so (or they heard something was going on and rusehd over).
Majory and kasmeer are a bit more active, but even if she is Tyrias greatest detective, every acomplishment felt forced in my opinion (why was no one able to put the pieces together before in the priory, where everything was held, etc..)

The more i think about it, these characters felt useless to the plot, as their abilities were never used.

Braham and Rox would have been a great team to actually hunt Scarlet. Track her down by their wilderness experitse. Raid Alliance camps and gather intelligence, while Majory and Kasmeer put the pieces together.

Instead Rox and Braham were used as fanservice characters to get the “iconic” title bestowed upon them.
Rox was even used to “asure us” that Tequatle was still something very essential to Scarlet`s plot, which in the long run did not amount to anything.

Overall other characters, a real group of “Scarlet Hunters” would have been more convincing, then these people, as someone who is “essential” to bring down the antagonist.

Tehy got great character developement over the course, but failed to make them “usefull” in the grander sheme.

You’re right, but this is actually a tricky problem because the medium the story is told through is a game. The writers have to be careful and try to strike a balance between the NPC input and the player input to resolve the story.
That being said, I am a huge proponent to making characters write the plot rather than having the plot fit the characters.

Master Fuhon.1068:

Since I don’t have infinite time I’m only going to take a stab at one small part of this. I’m going to leave my opinion out on the rest because I don’t want to go back and research everything I forgot about.

Naetell.3815:

Scarlet would be classified as a mad scientist kind of character played straight.

As a ‘mad scientist’ pursues conventional studies, cracks in the personality start to show that discourage others from continuing to train him/her. The mad scientist is left to research and operate in seclusion, the only place where one could fully embrace both the brimming insanity and evil. Usually, the strongest techniques of this person are those that have been learned from rudimentary practice and discovery (on self or former close associates). The mad scientist is the type of person who would infect another [and himself], and hold the cure as a means to gain work from assistants. Such is the difficulty of this person in making and keeping alliances. This stereotype is close to looking like the hyper-rational gone unethical (what most Asura are), where brutality scores highly for it’s efficiency; but the insanity portion often overtakes the rational and adds a sadomasochistically inefficient tint to the personality. Often, there is a former teacher or student who detects the remnants of the original person within what is now an otherwise unknowable adversary; and the mad scientist is treatable/beatable by appeals to the underlying personality.

The most well known mad scientist is Jekyl/Hide, and what amounts to being a story about alchoholism metaphor (drinking the serum); but which is commonly misinterpreted as a fictional variant disorder of multiple personalities. Melded within the story of the mad scientist is usually a description of some type of workaholic-substance abuser who does things to extremes and loses his/her humanity to achieve a goal. The chemical-induced insanity is vastly different from a naturally occuring or grief-provoked insanity; the substance abuser loses it’s humanity to a much greater degree because they end up wrecking parts of the brain that deal with emotion and pain regulation.

Correction: I made a mistake due to not having lived for hundreds of years, and now I should clarify how I misinterpreted towards the modern era. The theme of Mad Scientists is that they engage in ‘alchemical pursuits’, which may or may not include substance abuse or other extreme measures to prolong life, achieve invulnerability, etc.

Ah yes, I should have explained that one.
Thank you for adding this.

You start by telling us how you aren’t old and you have ambition. You go to say you have academic qualifications in two fields, then how you work in/on both those fields and how that makes you unique. Any uniqueness, ambition or other would be left for us to infer, you telling us what we should think comes off like you’re grasping a bit. (just commenting on your writing … you’re a writer). You are writing outside of your day job and then we get this sample of your writing/analysis skills: that implies (or doesn’t) motivation, talent, etc. (if my sentences here are seem clumsy, probably I’m not a writer)

The rest of it looks good and ups for putting in a decent amount of work. I lake any special skills to comment on its content, and I’m one of the lucky ones that got out of gw2 early, so I haven’t been through the pain of the stories. From the little I’ve been exposed to it, it sounds like to watch the characters in George Lucas latest SW films.

I couldn’t disagree more on Taimi. She’s naive to the point of being stupid, for an Asura, who are supposed to be brilliant. What’s with all that “When I grow up I want to be just like that (supposedly horrific mass-murderer)?” Spouting out sciency-sounding phrases does not make one an Asura. She’s no more an Asura than those “scientists” who act without basic critical reasoning in Prometheus are scientists. I hope, as part of a reset, ArenaNet makes her disappear, by sending her off to college and we never hear from her again.

The other character I hope they get rid off is Lord Faren. That character seems to have irritated most people. I hope we get to do the killing.

That was a really good breakdown. One thing that would have made the whole arc feel a bit better to me is if we actually defeated Scarlet along the way. I mean, we typically blew up a base or something, but only after Scarlet was done with it, after it had accomplished her purpose for it and she was ready to move on anyways. It would have been nice if we really got the impression that the Battle for LA was scheduled in her plans for early fall or so, but we kept getting in her way and forcing her to plan Bs, forcing her to look elsewhere for the pieces she needed.

Instead, it seemed like the Battle for LA would have happened exactly the same with or without us until the very last segment, with the only difference being that there would be more civilian casualties along the way, and more of her bases hanging around (but by that point irrelevant to her plans). That’s more clean-up crew than hero, and is a common complaint of how Superman gets used in film from time to time.

For me, as a lore junkie, I feel like the Scarlet story was clobbered together at the last second. The infamous Braham line: “It doesn’t matter now” almost shows us what AreanaNet was really thinking – perhaps they don’t have the answers to lead them out of this gigantic plot hole they’ve written themselves into. I’m sure they’d be able to think of a solution in time, however, until then, LS season 1’s plot remains a disappointment. And in a video game, where you’re not looking for artistic merit necessarily in the story, plot reigns supreme.

Ohoni.6057:

That was a really good breakdown. One thing that would have made the whole arc feel a bit better to me is if we actually defeated Scarlet along the way. I mean, we typically blew up a base or something, but only after Scarlet was done with it, after it had accomplished her purpose for it and she was ready to move on anyways. It would have been nice if we really got the impression that the Battle for LA was scheduled in her plans for early fall or so, but we kept getting in her way and forcing her to plan Bs, forcing her to look elsewhere for the pieces she needed.

Instead, it seemed like the Battle for LA would have happened exactly the same with or without us until the very last segment, with the only difference being that there would be more civilian casualties along the way, and more of her bases hanging around (but by that point irrelevant to her plans). That’s more clean-up crew than hero, and is a common complaint of how Superman gets used in film from time to time.

Yeah. A bit more back and forth play between us and Scarlet would have been great.

waylander.7695:

You start by telling us how you aren’t old and you have ambition. You go to say you have academic qualifications in two fields, then how you work in/on both those fields and how that makes you unique. Any uniqueness, ambition or other would be left for us to infer, you telling us what we should think comes off like you’re grasping a bit. (just commenting on your writing … you’re a writer). You are writing outside of your day job and then we get this sample of your writing/analysis skills: that implies (or doesn’t) motivation, talent, etc. (if my sentences here are seem clumsy, probably I’m not a writer)

The rest of it looks good and ups for putting in a decent amount of work. I lake any special skills to comment on its content, and I’m one of the lucky ones that got out of gw2 early, so I haven’t been through the pain of the stories. From the little I’ve been exposed to it, it sounds like to watch the characters in George Lucas latest SW films.

Yeah, I know. The problem was that someone would have either asked or dredged it up anyway, so I figured I might as well go for the short pain and get it over with.