My opinion about the storyline

My opinion about the storyline

in Personal Story

Posted by: Smelly Bookah.6957

Smelly Bookah.6957

Before you read any further, I’d like to inform you that this thread may contain spoilers. So if you havent finished your story yet, you might want to stop reading.
Also, I would like to point out that anything stated below is just my opinion. You are welcome to disagree.

I play since very first beta weekend and I haven’t finished personal story until now.
I started it, but it was rather dull at the beginning ( I played as human, tried all 3 of the options during betas) and so I just focused on the rest of the content instead. Eventually though I decided it’s a good idea to get rid of that quest log from my screen once and for all (which is the best reward for completing the storyline).

So, what was wrong about it?

1. Boring, poorly written characters.

Thats a general rule. The only exception I can think of is probably warmaster Forgal Kernsson. But he dies after few short missions and instead gets “replaced” by one of the most boring characters in any game I’ve played: Trahearne.
There were few more character’s that had their moments, but they would quickly disappear from the story completely (Countess Anise for example).
On top of that there are also character’s like priestess of grenth (not sure if she had any specific name) who make sure you do not get too immersed.

2. Too much ridiculous pathos.

In quite a few missions (especially on Orr) some of the character’s would sacrifice themselves to save others. The only thing is you don’t care about them. The only thing that distinguishes them from other npcs is name. But that’s it. They never even say anything significant. There was one character from Queensdale who joined the campagin in Orr. He laid down his life to protect some female npc (you could assume he loved her) who then acted as if she was happy that he died (and started talking about his dog). It’s just ridiculous.

3. useless rewards.

I can’t think of any decent reward (except for pact weapon at the very end and maybe also for claymore and human t3 racial weapons, providing you like those skins).
At the very end you also get 3 rare boxes. I was hopinh they contain some exotics perhaps, or rares at least. Nope. Got some useless greens not for my profession.

4. Poorly designed missions

Main objectives of the missions had similar scheme: go there, and kill few waves of weak enemies, lsiten to boring dialogue and you are done. I wouldn’t mind if those missions were at least challenging, like in Guild Wars 1.

5. Worst of all end game bosses: Zhaitan

The whole arah mission is one big let down.
Ground combat wasn’t too bad, but once you got on the airship, lamefest begins.
The only thing that saves the whole mission is music.
It’s ridiculous when you have to wait for like 2 minutes before new wave of enemies (or a dragon) tries to stop you.
You’d think that it can’t get any worse.
And here comes Zhaitan! At first he just flies around and pose no threat whatsoever. You don’t even get to shoot his tail off! And when you finally get to finish him off, he sits on some tower, alone and defensless. And you spam attack over and over again, until his hp bar reaches 0. Even risen quaggans are more dangerous!

All of that comes as a surprise, since story told in the dungeons is pretty good (except for mentioned Arah).

What are your impression on the storyline?

(edited by Smelly Bookah.6957)

My opinion about the storyline

in Personal Story

Posted by: Tobias Trueflight.8350

Tobias Trueflight.8350

Worst storyline?

Dwarf Fortress or Minecraft. Both have worse storylines than this game.

If you limit it to games which actually possess more of a storyline? Final Fantasy. No, the first one, not the series.

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My opinion about the storyline

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Posted by: Meryt.9823

Meryt.9823

“This isn’t going to end well!”

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.

My opinion about the storyline

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Posted by: Pirlipat.2479

Pirlipat.2479

I still suspect that the pale tree sent Trahearne away to this Orr task because she finds him annoying too.

My opinion about the storyline

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Posted by: Tobias Trueflight.8350

Tobias Trueflight.8350

I still suspect that the pale tree sent Trahearne away to this Orr task because she finds him annoying too.

Well, he was in Orr for a long time before showing back up at the Grove, I think. If she got tired of it, it’s more along this:

“Look, you moved out and then you moved back in. You’re a grown twig now, I don’t have to house you anymore. Look, there’s that lovely Caithe person, she gets out now and then, why don’t you . . . no? Oh, well look, I don’t care where you go but you really can’t stay here any longer. I’m going to show you this vision to try to motivate you to get your leafy butt up off my couch and out there doing something.”

Seeking assistants for the Asuran Catapult Project. Applicants will be tested for aerodynamics.

My opinion about the storyline

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Posted by: Smelly Bookah.6957

Smelly Bookah.6957

I still suspect that the pale tree sent Trahearne away to this Orr task because she finds him annoying too.

Well, he was in Orr for a long time before showing back up at the Grove, I think. If she got tired of it, it’s more along this:

“Look, you moved out and then you moved back in. You’re a grown twig now, I don’t have to house you anymore. Look, there’s that lovely Caithe person, she gets out now and then, why don’t you . . . no? Oh, well look, I don’t care where you go but you really can’t stay here any longer. I’m going to show you this vision to try to motivate you to get your leafy butt up off my couch and out there doing something.”

Caithe is a lesbian.

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Posted by: LegatusLeaf.5934

LegatusLeaf.5934

I finished the story last night, and I have to say that at the least I agree with the assessment of the fight with Zhaitan. I accept that it is a being on a size scale that one person isn’t going to run at it with their sword, but everyone manning a cannon and pressing 2 over and over isn’t epic. If we are going to make people group up for the final mission, wouldn’t having them work together be more exciting? Maybe one person mans a cannon, with one person needing the defend them and the others need to get into the ship and keep things working as it is damaged while others keep attackers off them? It wouldn’t have to be that, but at least it shouldn’t be everyone man a cannon and press the same button over and over.

My opinion about the storyline

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Posted by: Pirlipat.2479

Pirlipat.2479

I still suspect that the pale tree sent Trahearne away to this Orr task because she finds him annoying too.

Well, he was in Orr for a long time before showing back up at the Grove, I think. If she got tired of it, it’s more along this:

“Look, you moved out and then you moved back in. You’re a grown twig now, I don’t have to house you anymore. Look, there’s that lovely Caithe person, she gets out now and then, why don’t you . . . no? Oh, well look, I don’t care where you go but you really can’t stay here any longer. I’m going to show you this vision to try to motivate you to get your leafy butt up off my couch and out there doing something.”

Hehe, what I mean is she already sent him to Orr for 25 years and he still keeps coming back. So this Orr vision Thrahearne and your char are encountering is prolly not the first time he comes back to mommy. It’s rather that this time she has to think out something really cool to make him go, so she gives him this shiny sword. I really wonder what big mama is saying when Trahearne has finished his Wylde Hunte and is actually going to move in again.

He doesn’t seem to be very motivated. I’ve always got the impression that he is rather this awkward annoying guy who desperately tries to find friends but who is actually way to forced to be really liked. And yeah I always have the impression that he would really like it way better to read some nice books about the dragons than to actually do something against them.

(edited by Pirlipat.2479)

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Posted by: Tobias Trueflight.8350

Tobias Trueflight.8350

Caithe is a lesbian.

That was the joke.

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My opinion about the storyline

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Posted by: Smelly Bookah.6957

Smelly Bookah.6957

Caithe is a lesbian.

That was the joke.

That is NOT a joke.

She really is lesbian.

Or at least she had a relationship with another female sylvari.

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Posted by: Tobias Trueflight.8350

Tobias Trueflight.8350

Caithe is a lesbian.

That was the joke.

That is NOT a joke.

She really is lesbian.

Or at least she had a relationship with another female sylvari.

Yes. I know. I was aware of that. I had actual knowledge of that fact when I wrote that post. There was no doubt that it was true. It’s factual.

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Posted by: Bhargo.5306

Bhargo.5306

Worst storyline?

Dwarf Fortress or Minecraft. Both have worse storylines than this game.

If you limit it to games which actually possess more of a storyline? Final Fantasy. No, the first one, not the series.

BLASPHEMY! Dwarf Fortress story lines were randomly generated with each world creation, and could lead to some mind splinteringly awesome shenanigans going down. Like that dwarf king that bit of the leg of a colossus, or the queen that personally killed over 2000 enemies!

My opinion about the storyline

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Posted by: Tobias Trueflight.8350

Tobias Trueflight.8350

Worst storyline?

Dwarf Fortress or Minecraft. Both have worse storylines than this game.

If you limit it to games which actually possess more of a storyline? Final Fantasy. No, the first one, not the series.

BLASPHEMY! Dwarf Fortress story lines were randomly generated with each world creation, and could lead to some mind splinteringly awesome shenanigans going down. Like that dwarf king that bit of the leg of a colossus, or the queen that personally killed over 2000 enemies!

I’m sorry . . . I’m so, so sorry. But randomly generated “mad libs” type assemblies are not very good stories. This is why I don’t think we have the means of “procedurally generated storytelling” the same as we can generate content.

And this is coming from someone who played Gnomoria and had an awesome story unfold over six years of gametime which turned fun to write for after year two and then turned boring as heck in year seven.

Seeking assistants for the Asuran Catapult Project. Applicants will be tested for aerodynamics.

My opinion about the storyline

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Posted by: Bhargo.5306

Bhargo.5306

Worst storyline?

Dwarf Fortress or Minecraft. Both have worse storylines than this game.

If you limit it to games which actually possess more of a storyline? Final Fantasy. No, the first one, not the series.

BLASPHEMY! Dwarf Fortress story lines were randomly generated with each world creation, and could lead to some mind splinteringly awesome shenanigans going down. Like that dwarf king that bit of the leg of a colossus, or the queen that personally killed over 2000 enemies!

I’m sorry . . . I’m so, so sorry. But randomly generated “mad libs” type assemblies are not very good stories. This is why I don’t think we have the means of “procedurally generated storytelling” the same as we can generate content.

The backstory of worlds aren’t “mad libs”, they are generated in the background, by the AI playing the game as you create the world, and require you to go into the adventure game type and actually look around for books in destroyed castles and abandoned fortresses that tell you what happened and who lived there.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=42702.msg790500#msg790500
That is the story of an entire kingdom that rose and fell while the player had the game minimized to run world creation. It is an awesome story, were it a book, I would read the kitten out of it.
On a side note, it’s also a better story than the personal story.

My opinion about the storyline

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Posted by: Tobias Trueflight.8350

Tobias Trueflight.8350

Worst storyline?

Dwarf Fortress or Minecraft. Both have worse storylines than this game.

If you limit it to games which actually possess more of a storyline? Final Fantasy. No, the first one, not the series.

BLASPHEMY! Dwarf Fortress story lines were randomly generated with each world creation, and could lead to some mind splinteringly awesome shenanigans going down. Like that dwarf king that bit of the leg of a colossus, or the queen that personally killed over 2000 enemies!

I’m sorry . . . I’m so, so sorry. But randomly generated “mad libs” type assemblies are not very good stories. This is why I don’t think we have the means of “procedurally generated storytelling” the same as we can generate content.

The backstory of worlds aren’t “mad libs”, they are generated in the background, by the AI playing the game as you create the world, and require you to go into the adventure game type and actually look around for books in destroyed castles and abandoned fortresses that tell you what happened and who lived there.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=42702.msg790500#msg790500
That is the story of an entire kingdom that rose and fell while the player had the game minimized to run world creation. It is an awesome story, were it a book, I would read the kitten out of it.
On a side note, it’s also a better story than the personal story.

This is different than what I was told it was. My apologies

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