Guild Wars 2

Look everyone! Anet was to lazy to add NPC dialogue to the game again!

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-twilight-preparations/

Why do something well when you can pump out crap every two weeks, right?

It’s creative writing dude. You don’t like it then don’t read it. I think it’s VERY well written and I appreciate those who worked their kitten out just to give us a nice short read to introduce us to the NPC that we’ll LEARN ABOUT WHEN THE UPDATE HITS.

This is good backstory. It’s not essential to the game and most people would just skip through it, because it would get tedious. I think your judgement is rediculous when you consider the update hasn’t been released. It’s like your trying hard to prove how cool you are by being the first to whine. Guess what, whiners are never cool.

^ I subscribe to that too.

roque.5162:

It’s creative writing dude. You don’t like it then don’t read it. I think it’s VERY well written and I appreciate those who worked their kitten out just to give us a nice short read to introduce us to the NPC that we’ll LEARN ABOUT WHEN THE UPDATE HITS.

Your missing the point. Why is this lore outside of the game. Why has every revelation we have had about anything in the lore either given by a piece like this or through an interview with their lore team?

Parisalchuk.9230:

Your missing the point. Why is this lore outside of the game. Why has every revelation we have had about anything in the lore either given by a piece like this or through an interview with their lore team?

It hasn’t.
Scarlet was introduced in game for one.
So was the Molten Alliance and the Aetherblades.

Some things simply don’t make sense to put in the game and is not needed to understand the story, thus they can add them outside of the game to give it some extra flavor.

Just as WoW has novels written about the settings, GW2 has short stories. The existence of these short stories are not indicators of bad story telling.

I was going to reply but you both just covered all I had to say.

lordkrall.7241:

Parisalchuk.9230:

Your missing the point. Why is this lore outside of the game. Why has every revelation we have had about anything in the lore either given by a piece like this or through an interview with their lore team?

It hasn’t.
Scarlet was introduced in game for one.
So was the Molten Alliance and the Aetherblades.

Some things simply don’t make sense to put in the game and is not needed to understand the story, thus they can add them outside of the game to give it some extra flavor.

For content that is billed as ‘Living’ it sure would be nice if NPCs in the world actually lived in it.

Yes a bunch of stuff first appeared in the game, but they were never explained nearly enough until their respective short stories came out and explained everything, or an interview was given and more details were released. The ‘quest’ type content we get for achievement points are less history telling and learning and instead just random tasks. Take a look at Tequatl. Why exactly did we run around looking at scales, and teeth randomly on the ground?

Anyone else see this picture when they mention an airship factory?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FrsZY8KOuJo/Trv9q0MhcHI/AAAAAAAAAxM/6qdMWx_6HsM/s1600/Construction_of_the_Death_Star.jpg

lordkrall.7241:

Parisalchuk.9230:

Your missing the point. Why is this lore outside of the game. Why has every revelation we have had about anything in the lore either given by a piece like this or through an interview with their lore team?

It hasn’t.
Scarlet was introduced in game for one.
So was the Molten Alliance and the Aetherblades.

Some things simply don’t make sense to put in the game and is not needed to understand the story, thus they can add them outside of the game to give it some extra flavor.

95% of everything we know about Scarlet, comes from either the short story on her or the interview about the short story.

The creation background of the Queen’s Jubilee the same. How old the Molten Alliance is, is also the same. The nature of magic in the world. The history of Cantha from Faction’s time. The majority of the origin story of Abaddon. Marjory being former Ministry Guard. All of this – comes from out of the games.

They don’t need to shove things in our face, but doing like they did with Ghosts of Ascalon lore – where you have Dougal Kaene, Killeen’s grave, Ember, Gullik, and a random plinth telling a majority of the important lore behind the novel in the game is perfect enough. All you need is some interactive objects or some NPCs to tell the main important parts of the short stories in the game, no more.

Let those who want the story dig for it if it must be so, but don’t force them to dig through the wide internet for an interview never mentioned by ArenaNet.

The sad thing is, the only revelation revealed in game during the course of the Living Story is “Scarlet made the Molten Alliance and leads the Aetherblades” – aka “Scarlet did it.” That’s the only revelation in the Living Story. But slap in those short stories and the interviews/look-backs by Angel and Scott, and you get so, oh so much more. Enough to make the lackluster villain called Scarlet Briar somewhat interesting. Enough to explain why the Molten Alliance can do so much damage so well. Enough to explain most of the issues to the LS’s plot (sans Tequatl…).

It doesn’t even have to be voiced, make it an ingame book or something that I can read, but I want my game story inside the game not somewhere on the website.

While I may not necessarily agree with the way the OP made his/her point, I do agree on the fact that one shouldn’t have to look at sources outside of the game to understand lore associated with events taking place within it. It’s not the same with say, the novels which give lore and information to events and plots that are unique to them, so those are okay I suppose, but much of the relevant backstories and character histories related to the living stories are presented in a blog rather than provided to us via cutscenes or dialogue which does not sit well with me.

The dialogue between Captain Magnus and that new Turma character is awful. It is shockingly unconvincing for a pirate captain. If is it that bad then it really shouldn’t be in the game. SAB has better dialogue. Any voice actor would probably ask for a rewrite.

DarcShriek.5829:

Just as WoW has novels written about the settings, GW2 has short stories. The existence of these short stories are not indicators of bad story telling.

The WoW novels add background to events the game is about to deal with (and they aren’t required or even central parts of the game’s plot) or they explore events and lore that is otherwise not going to be in the game. The only outside source of lore in WoW that crossed the line was the comic which is where most of Varian Wrynn’s history is established. Despite that he is still a very strong and well established character in the game itself and his involvement of the story always makes sense and is fairly fleshed out. Players who didn’t read the comics don’t usually miss out on important information – it’s given when it’s necessary.

The Living Story in the game is like the skeleton of a story. There really isn’t much going on in inside the game itself. The bulk of the story is either not being told at all (Scarlet’s involvement in Flame and Frost and the formation of the Molten Alliance) or it’s being told outside of the story (through the short stories or lore interviews). The story inside the game is fairly shallow.

If the point of the OP’s post was simply to trash on the lore pieces on the website I’d agree with you. I think the OP is saying that so much more of the story needs to be told in the game.

Supplementary lore outside of the game is fine. The problem is when there’s not enough in-game in the first place.

I was trying to figure out the lore behind Fractals of the Mists in game last night and i could find nothing besides that hamster woman telling me something about solidifying parts of the mists? Why am i in here.. why am i helping her? She did not even ask me to help her i just jump in the portal, portal to anywhere, i dont even know. Why am i killing these people, who is that titan, is he going to smash us later, or is he going to go king Kong on a dragon?

Just felt super empty, and when i asked around the other players all they said was “I dunno!” really quite disappointing. If the lore is on the web somewhere that is fine and dandy, hell I’m creative enough i can just make something up myself. It just makes the game feel.. shallow and cardboard when there is nothing to see behind the curtain but the back of the curtain..

The fractals are meant to be small scenes that are reflections of unknown memories within the mists. They could be anything. They could be nothing in particular. You bring your own interpretations of what you see. I think that’s fine and rather cool. The back story is that the Consortium tried an experimental portal and, even though it turned out to be dangerous, Dessa and her crew stayed inside to study it. The consortium lets people go inside to help Dessa, essentially by killing stuff for loot and glory. The fractal disturbances are generally unexplained.

If you can remember the TV show Quantum Leap then fractals are pretty similar. Each week the scientist would be in someone else’s body having to set something right, for no particular reason, and when all is done he jumps to somebody/somewhere else. It’s fun as long as you don’t worry too much about the science.

My 2 pence;

I agree mostly with Lord Kuru. Im all for short stories and extra lore providing more depth outside the game. Look at how successful and well loved woodenpotatoes is for best example of this. HOWEVER, when those sources become the primary means of understanding the complex lore behind a game, rather than actually playing, it should be evident theres more than a little bit of a problem.

This is what I dont get. I love the short stories. I love the writers behind them. I dont see the same spark of magic when playing, as I do when reading however. Its like the communication between writing staff and game designer is either non existent OR not of the same language.

They could have done the LA part of that story as an ingame cutscene like they did during F&F or at some points during the summer.

Why didnt they?

I think that is an important question. Mostly because one reason I can think of “its cheaper to put it on the website”. And that is a terrible reason that highlights the loss of quality we’ve seen all summer.

Truth be told all other reasons I thought of seem very contrived and trying too hard to see it in a more positive light. But maybe someone can think of another plausible explanation here?

Mastruq.2463:

They could have done the LA part of that story as an ingame cutscene like they did during F&F or at some points during the summer.

Why didnt they?

I think that is an important question. Mostly because one reason I can think of “its cheaper to put it on the website”. And that is a terrible reason that highlights the loss of quality we’ve seen all summer.

Truth be told all other reasons I thought of seem very contrived and trying too hard to see it in a more positive light. But maybe someone can think of another plausible explanation here?

I dont know if its particularly ‘cheaper’ but it certainly is easier to write a full story and post it to a webpage then break it down into text and give it to NPCs. Problem is, just because its easier doesnt mean it should be done.

If they have the time and will to add NPC chat to a homeless robot that competes with another street peddler then they certainly should be able to add meaningful lore into the actual game.

Also this whole “Living Story Journal” to catch people up with the current living story isnt that answer for me either. Thats still me reading a story that is sent to me rather then actually playing the game and trying to find it.