Guild Wars 2

I just finished the personal story for the first time, with the exclusion of the quest that requires five people. I… this is… appalling. There are so many issues with this story. I had quite a bit of fun at some points, but it was totally outweighed by everything being predictable, over-the-top, and often nonsensical. Maybe I was expecting too much, since I’m a Bioware fan, but I think my assessment will be pretty fair.

Lack of Continuity

My first character was a Female Charr Engineer. I chose Iron as my legion, Reeva as my sparring partner, and Loyal Soldier as my father’s legacy. The earlier levels, in my opinion, had the strongest writing.

After [spoiler]my first warband was killed, I liked how Reeva started to be developed as a character. It was even more awesome when I found that I could recruit other members into my new warband based on the choices I made. [/spoiler] For those first levels, it felt like the choices I made mattered. It reminded me of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, to some extent.

Then, the time came to join one of the three orders. I assumed I would get to bring my warband along. Nope. Reeva took over and I never saw my warband again. Seriously. I spent 40 levels building my relationship with these characters and they vanished to make room for the rest of the Personal Story.

Once you join an order, it stops being a “personal story”. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING you did in the first 40 levels makes any difference. It’s not even acknowledged. A handful of characters make reappearances, but most of them don’t seem to recognize you.

But wait, the Order stories aren’t so bad. My female charr joined the Priory. When you join the Durmand Priory, your mentor is Magister Sieran, who's an extremely optimistic and adventurous Sylvari. Her voice acting is excellent, and the character is well-developed... and then she gets killed, because apparently, killing off literally the ONLY INTERESTING CHARACTER in the game is considered deep. Her death is totally pointless and unnecessary. As the title of the section says, this was done because Anet didn't want to have any continuity between story sections. That’s when the Impersonal Story starts to go down hill.

Non-Sylvari are introduced for the first time to Rear Admiral Rutabaga, who is the only persistent character in the entire game. He gets his own section in this, don’t worry.

For the next 30 levels, here is what you can expect: You will be introduced to many, many named characters. You will find at least some of these characters engaging, and you'll want to know more about them. They will then do one of two things: A. Star in a mission and disappear, never to be seen again outside of brief appearances where you can't interact with them in any meaningful way, or B. Die in a pointless and nonsensical way. The latter is much more common, and it quickly becomes comical as you realize the characters are being introduced solely for the purpose of being killed. Gratuitous death does not a deep plot make.

Batman and Robin

You will very quickly discover in GW2 that you are not the protagonist of the story. No. That honor goes to…

TRAHEARNE.

Also known by the following names:

Broccoli Batman
Marshal Salad
Rear Admiral Rutabaga

Trahearne is a character whose voice actor is qualified by the merit of being able to speak in a total monotone and mispronounce words in funny ways. You may know him from such productions as “The Battle of Clawr Island”.

Now, you might be wondering, “But of course we’re the protagonist! Who are we if not the protagonist of our personal story?”

Well, the short answer is: You’re Robin.

He’s Batman.

Except in this case, Robin fights all the battles while Batman lies facedown in the dirt after being roflstomped by a single Risen. Batman also gets Excalibur and can summon monsters to protect himself while he stands on the battlements and surveys the battlefield, like a good general. He comes with the added feature of running slowly while shouting vague orders and not moving towards objectives if his babysitter commander isn’t escorting him 24/7.

My biggest grievance with Trahearne, if you haven’t figured it out yet, is that he hogs the spotlight. In a video game, the spotlight should always be on the player character. It’s called the PERSONAL STORY for a reason. Have you ever held your cursor over the exact point of entry to your story instance? It says “My story continues here…”. That’s MY story, not the story of some stupid vegetable. Unless I chose to roll a vegetable. But that’s my choice.

With Extra Cheese

However, it’s not just small details like Trahearne or the lack of continuity that cause issues. There’s also the nonstop use of clichés, stereotyping of the in game races, ridiculous talking heads cutscenes, and generally bad voice acting. These all do much more damage to the story than Marshal Salad did.

Everything is a cliché. The overall story is practically the story of DAO. I have no problem with that, original overall stories are not something I really expect. However, when the sub sections are then divided into smaller clichés… and the characters themselves are clichés… it gets kind of old.

As for the stereotyping of the races, almost every member of a race is the same. There are few exceptions. All Sylvari are optimistic and bubbly. All Norn make references to their spirits and culture constantly. All Charr are sarcastic and aggressive. All Humans are shining beacons of heroism. All Asura are arrogant and talk a lot. There’s very little variation.

The talking heads are annoying. That kind of cutscene disconnects you from the action and takes the scene out of context. It’s literally the worst possible way to implement a cutscene, because it altogether defeats the purpose. In addition, it restricts the scene to two people at once, gives you no sense of the physical activity occurring in the scene, and involves very little animation aside from standing and staring at each other. That’s the one thing Tortanic did right. Those cutscenes were amazing.

The voice acting… how did we get such bad voice acting? To be fair, the factors I mentioned above might have degraded our perception of it, but it’s still not that great. I mean, I mistook the female norn for a male asura when she shouted “Might makes me right”. It’s especially odd, considering how the voice actors they chose have done such excellent work in other games. Troy Baker, for instance, was the voice of Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite, yet his character (Logan) in GW2 is so bland. How does that happen?

I could go on for much longer, but I’d rather not extend this wall of text even more.

Just post intelligently. Which means no stuff like “Why are you playing MMOs for the story?” This game

I agree with many of the points you made, especially with regards to continuity. The problem seems to stem from the fact that because ANet split the Personal Story into arcs and added different choices, that they decided it was much easier to disconnect them all from each other. While much easier for them, it just makes the story feel very disjointed as a whole, and when you finish one arc, everything you accomplished is forgotten about, and any characters you’ve met disappear forever, or turn up later, occasionally with amnesia as to who you are.

One of the most noticeable ways this shows itself is as you pointed out, the Charr Personal Story and your warband. You work in the first arc to put you warband together, only for them to gradually fade into obscurity throughout the next two arcs, and then vanish completely afterwards. This is made even worse if you choose Iron Legion, since I did and after assembling my warband, never once saw Cimmara Pistolwhip ever again, she vanished immediately after I recruited her!

The charr even get a utility skill to summon aid from your warband, surely a great opportunity to bring them back regularly? Nope, we get nameless, generic charr. Yes they’re from your Legion, which is something at least, but they truly missed an opportunity here as well.

Great post. I agree with a lot of your comments.

VIVorcha.7853:

As for the stereotyping of the races, almost every member of a race is the same… All Charr are sarcastic and aggressive…

Very true, and THIS is what made characters like Tybalt, Zott, and Elli so cool. You could tell Tybalt fit into his warband before his accident just fine, and was a part of Charr society, but was so different from the stereotypical Iron Legion Engineer – lots of flaws, fears, and a sense of humor and sentimentality. Zott and Elli (Zott especially) had bits of that Asuran snarky quality, but it didn’t define their personalities – Elli in particular was bubbly and optimistic throughout – not typical of Asura – and these qualities made these characters so lovable.

VIVorcha.7853:

The voice acting… how did we get such bad voice acting? To be fair, the factors I mentioned above might have degraded our perception of it, but it’s still not that great. I mean, I mistook the female norn for a male asura when she shouted “Might makes me right”. It’s especially odd, considering how the voice actors they chose have done such excellent work in other games. Troy Baker, for instance, was the voice of Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite, yet his character (Logan) in GW2 is so bland. How does that happen?

In Logan’s case, I actually liked Troy Baker’s acting. I -really- like how he puts emphasis on the -right- words, lets his voice rise and fall a lot (sort of subtle hope into resigned disappointment). I think where the issue is with him is that his writing is a bit one-dimensional. His devotion to the Queen is just… ugh. Annoying… considering how she treats him SO coldly – like she couldn’t care less if he’s there or not. The end of this new Living Story instance gave me some hope regarding that – Anise’s questioning of Logan and the slight rift I’m seeing developing… I hope that goes somewhere and makes that side of his character less bland.

Ara.8540:

VIVorcha.7853:

The voice acting… how did we get such bad voice acting? To be fair, the factors I mentioned above might have degraded our perception of it, but it’s still not that great. I mean, I mistook the female norn for a male asura when she shouted “Might makes me right”. It’s especially odd, considering how the voice actors they chose have done such excellent work in other games. Troy Baker, for instance, was the voice of Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite, yet his character (Logan) in GW2 is so bland. How does that happen?

In Logan’s case, I actually liked Troy Baker’s acting. I -really- like how he puts emphasis on the -right- words, lets his voice rise and fall a lot (sort of subtle hope into resigned disappointment). I think where the issue is with him is that his writing is a bit one-dimensional. His devotion to the Queen is just… ugh. Annoying… considering how she treats him SO coldly – like she couldn’t care less if he’s there or not. The end of this new Living Story instance gave me some hope regarding that – Anise’s questioning of Logan and the slight rift I’m seeing developing… I hope that goes somewhere and makes that side of his character less bland.

Okay, it wasn’t the worst, but his ridiculous appearance, insane devotion to the queen, and talking heads are what really did him in. Also the “shining beacon of heroism” that applies to every single human. I think that a lot of the bad acting isn’t the fault of the actors, but the way in which their work was presented.

The Norn were, as a rule, all totally ridiculous. The women all sounded masculine, and the men sounded fat and dumb.

I like calling Trahearne Caeser, makes sense on so many levels…

I like that the women sound masculine. Though there are definitely cases where it’s overdone. There’s a particular Norn voice actress that just like… sounds like a woman trying really hard to sound like a man. Like when Mulan was pretending to be Ping.

Obsidian.1328:

I like calling Trahearne Caeser, makes sense on so many levels…

I call him Treesus, personally.

As for the OP, I agree. Tybalt’s “deviation” from the stereotype (while still being Charr-like in a subtle way) is one of the things that made me fall in love with him. (other than being easy on the eyes)

Also, regarding the continuity, it seems that it’s… half-done. There are a lot of places where it feels like characters in later parts are affected by what happened before, but not always. It’s especially bad with Charr. (see another thread about problems with the Charr PS)

VIVorcha.7853:

Trahearne is a character whose voice actor is qualified by the merit of being able to speak in a total monotone and mispronounce words in funny ways. You may know him from such productions as “The Battle of Clawr Island”.

This can be attributed to the fact that Trahearne is voiced and acted in a terribly accurate British way. You will hear that ‘r’ from “Clawr Island” in a lot of other word combinations when spoken in an official tone. Also his entire character is built around a standard “British General” model so his dialogue always seems monotone (this is actually how they talk in higher circles/information in the army).
Hopefully they will address all the discontinuity in the personal story with major living world events (as they stared doing with Logan in the previous patch).
And I have to admit that the nicknames for poor Trahearne made me laugh way to hard.

i lol’d at the clawr island thing because its true but

^^ is right, its part of Received Pronunciation (stage british accent) to pronounce that word that way.

other comments: everything in OPs were accurate. A+

One thing to keep in mind with the Charr, regarding their warband: It’s quite nearly impossible to weave them into the same story as the rest of the races if their ‘band is included, since it would give them an unfair advantage. But i still agree that it’s a downer.

As for the rest, including the gripe with Trahearne: I don’t think we should have been made 2nd in command of the Pact at all. That’s what leads to this oddity we have now. At best, we should be leader of a squad – the “best” squad in the Pact, since that’s more generic and subjective to the player’s point of view. There’s only one 2nd in command, and we can’t all be it. But everyone’s squad can be said to be the best (it’s kinda normal that a very good squad would say they’re the best).

From the time we start, those “co-starring” characters we see could/should become part of our squad, possibly even starting with our Order mentor. Instead of killing them all off, how’s about some of them become part of our squad? Build it up until…. dun-da-dunnn! We are ready to face Z-face himself. Then make the personal instance of Arah need our squad, Destiny’s Edge… and that’s it. PERSONAL story, eh? Meet up, shoot the dragon down, and then…. finish him off in a (difficult to design, but still doable, i’m certain) fight, that while still epic, it can be done.

And then we can party back on Clawr Island. I mean… ahem Claw… Island.

I have to assume that anyone who thought they would be the main characters didn’t play Guild Wars 1. The player has never been the main character, ever. You are just some guy who happens to also be there, even though you’re actually the one doing all the work.

Destiny’s Edge and Trahearn are the main characters. I will admit that everything about Trahearn is a little nonsensical, he’s a researcher, he has no place being the leader of the Pact, but it is what it is. Destiny’s Edge couldn’t do it cause they’re always busy getting lost in dungeons all over the place. That and they don’t actually make up with each other until you’re already well into Orr, so it’s too late to recruit them.

Also, every single person you connected with in any meaningful way, who survived, through your personal story returns just before the end. They all have something to say relevant to your experience together, and it’s just a good time as they all help you defeat the final obstacle between you and Zaitan.

Kal Spiro.9745:

I have to assume that anyone who thought they would be the main characters didn’t play Guild Wars 1. The player has never been the main character, ever. You are just some guy who happens to also be there, even though you’re actually the one doing all the work.

Destiny’s Edge and Trahearn are the main characters. I will admit that everything about Trahearn is a little nonsensical, he’s a researcher, he has no place being the leader of the Pact, but it is what it is. Destiny’s Edge couldn’t do it cause they’re always busy getting lost in dungeons all over the place. That and they don’t actually make up with each other until you’re already well into Orr, so it’s too late to recruit them.

Also, every single person you connected with in any meaningful way, who survived, through your personal story returns just before the end. They all have something to say relevant to your experience together, and it’s just a good time as they all help you defeat the final obstacle between you and Zaitan.

In Guild Wars 1 there also wasn’t such thing as “MY” story, or being “THE” hero. You were an elite soldier that would swing the favour of the battle.

In Prophecies you effectively start out as a soldier in training, literally. Never is it said you are the hero. You then do what any good soldier does and follow your commander, then your commander gets killed and you’re sort of wondering ‘now what’. The rest of the game your worth is proven by the fact that EVERYONE wants to have you on their side, the White Mantle, the Shining Blade and even the villain want you on their side because of what an awesome force you are, capable of changing the course of events. Plus the Crystal Desert part is entirely about you.

In Factions you are the star student fresh from the academy travelling with his master to find and eradicate a threat to the Empire. This is important because a part of the drive for Canthan characters to do what they do is partly explained by patriotism and loyalty to the Emperor.

In Nightfall you are finally declared a hero from the start, and from the start it becomes apparent: You are the one telling Koss who to attack and Tahlkora who to heal and how. And after Kormir goes under all major negotiations with Vabbi / centaur / undead lord / forgotten keepers officials happens by you. This is the reason people (rightly so) feel cheated at the ending hen Kormir becomes a god. I’m not saying the player should have attained godhood, oh no, but that having such a useless (from 1/4th of the game onwards) person suddenly leap up and become a shining star did feel like a slap in the face.

In Guild Wars 2 your character is potentially a Norn who accepts a plant’s authority because ???

You’re right in your complaints OP.

Unfortunately a vast majority of the personal story was filler content. The converging paths needed to blend together, seamlessly or not. What you’re seeing with the magically-disappearing-warband thing is one of the largest seams in the converging plots.

As with all things, don’t expect Arenanet to patch it.

As with all things Charr, expect Arenanet to say “we won’t fix it because nobody plays [the poorly implemented race] in the first place”

Kal Spiro.9745:

I have to assume that anyone who thought they would be the main characters didn’t play Guild Wars 1. The player has never been the main character, ever. You are just some guy who happens to also be there, even though you’re actually the one doing all the work.

Destiny’s Edge and Trahearn are the main characters. I will admit that everything about Trahearn is a little nonsensical, he’s a researcher, he has no place being the leader of the Pact, but it is what it is. Destiny’s Edge couldn’t do it cause they’re always busy getting lost in dungeons all over the place. That and they don’t actually make up with each other until you’re already well into Orr, so it’s too late to recruit them.

Also, every single person you connected with in any meaningful way, who survived, through your personal story returns just before the end. They all have something to say relevant to your experience together, and it’s just a good time as they all help you defeat the final obstacle between you and Zaitan.

This isn’t true at all. If anything in GW1 you are more typically a hero than anywhere else.

You have to remember that a hero doesn’t start out as a hero, they are supposed to start out as a shephard, or a common soldier, or a student whatever. The hero then gets called onto a heroic journey.

Campbell explained it best:

The hero starts in the ordinary world, and receives a call to enter an unusual world of strange powers and events (a call to adventure). If the hero accepts the call to enter this strange world, the hero must face tasks and trials (a road of trials), and may have to face these trials alone, or may have assistance. At its most intense, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with help earned along the journey. If the hero survives, the hero may achieve a great gift (the goal or “boon”), which often results in the discovery of important self-knowledge. The hero must then decide whether to return with this boon (the return to the ordinary world), often facing challenges on the return journey. If the hero is successful in returning, the boon or gift may be used to improve the world (the application of the boon).

Just look at Luke Skywalker. He started out as a moisture farmer completely seperated from the war that was going on around the Galaxy. He only developed into a hero because of his journey. The same is true with your character. You are the hero of the story even though you don’ start out as a point of importance.

Trahearne job was to cleanse Orr so his story takes precedence and our job was defeat Zhaitan which is why he isn’t present there. I believe Anet felt cleansing Orr would take longer than a single mission to kill Zhaitan.

Kal Spiro.9745:

In Guild Wars 2 your character is potentially a Norn who accepts a plant’s authority because ???

He’s the leading authority on Orrians, while the Norn are not. He’s the only character all three orders respect.

reapex.8546:

Trahearne job was to cleanse Orr so his story takes precedence and our job was defeat Zhaitan which is why he isn’t present there. I believe Anet felt cleansing Orr would take longer than a single mission to kill Zhaitan.

Except that your mission is to defeat Zhaitain and not to cleanse Orr. It is only Trahearne who foolishly believes that cleansing Orr will result in the defeat of Zhaitain and he makes this assumption without any reasoning to back it up. So he has you run around wasting your time to complete his personal mission of cleansing Orr instead of the killing Zhaitain which was the actual reason why the Pact got together in the first place.

Trahearne’s personal mission (the completion of his Wyld Hunt) to cleanse Orr completely overtakes your more pressing mission of killing Zhaitain, and killing Zhaitain is the call to action and the actual focus of your story.

Actually, because Trahearne did have a personal and seperate reason for heading to Orr that was outside the scope of the powers and reason for the creation the Pact, this is a way larger conflict of interest than your having been a member of the orders and should have forced Trahearne to remove himself from consideration as leader of the Pact. Especially because he actually does prioritize his much less important mission over the Pact’s more important mission of killing Zhaitain.