Showing Posts For Vengerin.6013:
I had the same issue this afternoon with my asura mesmer. I don’t know if is one minion or the krait veteran, but some mob made some kind of explosive AoE that let me downed every time and Apatia dead and the guy I’m suppose to rescue isn’t around to be seen, rescue or whatever. I tried the quest four times, all the same.
Love to see that could be fix soon ^^
Same here. I went to check on the dragon on Frostgorge Sound, ori tools and everything ended up ruined.
I sent a bug report via in-game but I thought will be wise to post it here too.
I didn’t dare to touch orichalcum, just in case >_<
…
The problem maybe is that you relate to them in terms of professional view and not a player/dev relationship like the rest of us.
Sure a writer should write first for himself and then to sell… unless you really want to sell, then you have to let aside your personal taste and write what people really want to read.
In the case of a videogame, that’s more true than ever.
If you create a story people don’t like, you risk yourself to don’t sell your product. And rpg videogames, doesn’t matter if it’s mmo or single player, I see them more like ‘Follow your own adventure’ stories, not like novels.
In a videogame you have to make sure your player is the protagonist. And if you introduce an element, naming a right hand, npc that dies, best friend, girlfriend/boyfriend, you have to make the sensation real, you have to make the player care for that character or like/love it. In the case of villains the two best possible choices are absolute hate and ‘I kinda like him/her but I want him/her dead’.
They did a marvelous job with Tybalt and Forgal (I don’t like that crazy plant of Seiran but I get why some people like her) and some other characters… Logan, for starters… I hated him badly. I hate him with all my guts… In fact I made my human characters last ‘cause I couldn’t stomach the guy. In Citadel of Flame I started to like him, a little, but I loved him in Arah… A guy that can break a rope with a fist have my respects :P
But Trahearne… Unless you are sylvari, the guy pops up from nowhere. And I noticed the writers tried hard to make him look cooler, with the flesh golems thingy, how he changes from being insecure to a bossy son-of-a-tree… But I can’t stomach this kind of characters, those that the writers love so much they push aside protagonists to try to make us swallow them.
And characters that doesn’t make sacrifices… Elminster and Trahearne are in the same category for me. Not ‘cause they are equally good or something, but because in my mind I’m always saying ‘Die, please’.
Guys that doesn’t bleed. I hate that kind of character, characters that are always cool, hair in the wind, smile to the camera and like an eau de toilette commercial.
If Trahearne had died in the end, man, I could forgive and accept everything. He poped up, he took command, he finished his ordeal, he died… That’s perfect.
But the guy lived, like a freaking threat from A-net to include him, again like a protagonist, in another part of the story. And sorry, unless the guy turns evil and I get the possibility to kill him badly, I really want him to take the retirement.
It’s like the thing with Jormag and the fang or tooth or whatever… If pops up some Random son of Randomness, son of Plot no Jutsu the 3rd, rightfull owner to the throne of the Eye of the North, Hand of the King and master of the mytical sword Greyskull, I swear the only way A-net is gonna see my credit card again is by looking to a photo of me that I will send to them in that case: with my credit card in a hand and my finger in the other.
Sorry, but still I have the voice of the lovely Felicia Day in my head from the trailer of the races with Destiny’s Edge when she ask: What’s your story?
I don’t want, with that question in my head, to point to Trahearne or another random guy.
I know they (A-net writers) have limitations and so on… but are things that even lore wise they can easily do. They don’t need to turn our characters into spectators to create a good story. On the contrarie, they NEED to bring up our characters in the front and let us experience the feeling of being a legend.
I will note this: If and when you guys get around to initiating the final battle storyline against Jormag, the lore apparently indicates that this series of events will begin when “someone” is capable of breaking Jormag’s tooth in Hoelbrak. I’m giving you a friendly warning right now, if, in some strange fever dream, you guys have even considered making this “someone” be a random NPC, rather than the player character, I would strongly advise against it. If you think the Trehearn hate is bad, you can’t even begin to imagine the deluge of hatemail that “Mary Sue Toothbreaker” would have showered upon her for “tooth-blocking” the player character like that.
It won’t be a random NPC. It will be someone who hasn’t already tried it, I’m wagering, and probably someone from among the kodan or norn. I’m putting my money on a kodan, I think, because the norn have been trying for ages and the kodan have seen no need to try yet.
Will be a random npc from the very start that isn’t our character the one who makes it.
Why can’t be our characters? And from the point of view of a Norn fan with a norn main, I will be really really kitten off to the devs if they make another ‘Kormir’ to do the job.
Seeing your message posts, I guess you are a fan of the character story and don’t mind/like Trahearne and that’s cool, but for another kind of player like me, the ones that took to the letter the ’you’ll be the hero of your story’ promotion, the ’What’s your story?’ selling line from A-net, the thing with Trahearne is that we don’t feel so heroic or epicness being a delivery boy.
Sure, you said Trahearne wasn’t doing a thing until our character moved things and that only adds weight to the thing saying he’s big enough for his post and characters in game, npcs and lore side, are giving him much more credit of what he really deserves.
The Caledborg thing and the rest is a mere point of view. But for me, the actions of A-net with him are just saying who they think the hero is… and the problem is that what they think is the thing forced on us.
A-net did what they did and nobody can change that (for more that I saying mentally every time I have a cinematic with him: Gasoline, fire… please…) but as I said, they can fix that up don’t doing the same mistake again with another dragon.
I think A-net writers are advised by George R.R. Martin XD
Thinking of that I really enjoyed Tybalt’s and Forgal’s deaths. Very dramatic, very amazing dialogue… Sieran… I have to restrain myself to kick her through the door :P I really disliked her, all the Priory part of the story, in fact.
And there are other deaths very emotional for me, very well delivered in fact.
I like they choose to show this is a real war and people die, dramatically… and I really thanks the devs to not making my character develop a more deeper relationship with all the characters that died.
Tybalt and Forgal were enough
…
Lets put aside Ed Greenwood. I didn’t say he thinks he’s Elminster… I said he LOVES his character so much that the character is annoying and unbeareble. It’s so awesome and can do pretty much everything that I wanted to throw out rainbows reading the books or the D&D Forgotten Realms manuals in where he shows up.
I know it’s his baby but I like characters that can bleed, that overcome difficulties… Elminster is so freaking awesome, even in the beginning that I can’t relate with him at all.
That comes for Trahearne too.
The guy can freaking cast SIX flesh golems at once!! Not even a party full necro can do that because the party size is five!! It’s like saying: Hey, this guy is so awesome, look at this.
Sorry, but I don’t enter for the: They told you how awesome he is. I don’t care if he’s so awesome.
First for the point of view of a norn (my main ele is a norn girl) the character doesn’t care… I need hard rock solid proof. The Issomir body is there, you can see how good my character is but my character only have words. And she trusted him right away like a forever pal.
About you acts, he leads… Amazing, but should be my story, not his. I could be cool with him leading if my merits as character were recognize but the only freaking thing I heard about playing one of my characters in the story is: How freaking awesome Trahearne is.
Was your character’s idea to create the pact, you secured Fort Trinity… The freaking plant even can’t make a decision of his own, you choose everything… And he’s leading the pact? I could pretty much do the same with my character in command, for that I don’t see the necesity of Trahearne around. He could be your second in command and pretty much do the same.
And don’t come with ‘Balance in the pact, being from an order’… In the story your character could or drop the order to maintein balance or make trials for the other orders (access to armors and weapons from other orders… I’m really all for that) to earn their respect.
Placing Trahearne is just cheap and easy… and I could buy it if my character have had prominence but I end up, even in the end, being Trahearne’s girl.
And I’m sorry, but I read the books before playing (and taking A-net didn’t sell them in Spain, I had an ordeal to access them) and also I loved the characters in the game and for me Destiny’s Edge is more interesting and huge than a plant, that like a bad seed, poped up nowhere claiming to be amazing and your boss.
And about the sylvari sword… It’s a seed and yadda, yadda… but he gets the sword to clean Orr… What is what you have from your Mom with the task of killing Zhaitan up front? A pad in the back and a smile. You have to face it with your guts and your jewels, nothing more. And they celebrate Trahearne’s leadership, even when you fixed Destiny’s Edge, who, like it or not, are critical to defeat Zhaitan.
And the thing with the sword for me goes deeper… Look to those stories where the hero gets a magical freaking weapon to face evil. Excalibur is just an easy example.
Look who gets the magical weapon and try to guess, from A-net point of view, who they think is the hero of their story. The seed matter to clean Orr is just a literary resource to justify the weapon. They could make our sylvari character have it and only can use it to kill Zhaitan, giving a similar object to every race… And letting Trahearne seeking for a cool, preserved, amazing seed of power kept in a part of Orr for that matter.
I said it before, I enjoy leveling up characters and going across the story, but I take the story like a beginning explaining Trahearne’s story and I’m waiting for the devs to deliver my own… That story about me where I’m the hero and the center. Not a npc.
You may be lucky, I could never find a copy of Planescape. Legitimately.
I think the biggest problem with any MMO is that they want the story both ways. They want the player to feel good and the center of the world (maybe), but on the other hand, EVERY player can’t have that or you wind up with some interesting things. I mean, look around the game at other players. See all the humans? They’re all the Hero of Shaemoor. The norn are all The Slayer of Issormir. All the charr lost everyone in their warband except one person, while taking out the ghost of Duke Barradin.
Yes, it’s epic and it makes you feel good as you play those first few chapters of the personal story. But once you stop to think it gets ludicrous . . . and it starts to unravel. Unfortunately, you went and peeked at the man behind the curtain. You pulled Santa’s beard.
This is a problem I don’t know IF it can be solved. Everyone wants to be the hero of the story, but the limitations prevent it from working out where everyone has a definitely unique story to be the hero of. That’s just not possible (yet) in an MMO as written by the developers.
I almost want to go back to some of the older, ancient MMOs where you were just some idiot who wandered around doing things of minor interest except for one-off events.
I had a copy of Planescape thanks to a friend :P
And about the story…
Not so much, not so little. Of course could be amazing if a group of devs could give every single person a story, different from one to another. But isn’t possible and we have to deal with that.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t have our epic story.
Similitudes with other players aside, we could have a personal appealing story with more in our hands and less in npcs’ hands. I mean, you don’t need to over analyze a story to enjoy it… I like thinking in my main like the Slayer of Issomir, the only one… but I hate think in her like Trehearne’s second in command.
I don’t know the rest of the players, I’m only speaking for myself but when I was a little girl I wanted to be Skeletor, not Evil-lyn, if you know what I mean.
And there are a lot of things that bug me about Trehearne.
Unless you are sylvari, the first time to meet him is in Claw Island and you trust him right away enough to suggest him like Marshal of the Pact. And not only that, the guy accept right away.
I know he saw the dream from the Mama Tree like you and saw his future but… That creeps me out.
The same with Caladbolg… As a sylvari you save the sword and you have the task to kill Zhaitan. And Mama Tree gives the sword to the guy with the Wyld Hunt of being an exalted gardener for Orr?? Really??
Yeah, yeah, I know, the Pale Tree sees the future, yadda, yadda… But seems wrong from the very beginning.
And those lines ‘With him we have an oportunity’, ’Trahearne’s right hand’…
It’s like salt in the wound.
I know the devs should love their own creation, I can get that, it’s the typical Ed Greenwood complex (that guy really loves Elminster), but we players only want what we want. I said it before: I’ll wait for my real personal story to begin.
Not Trahearne’s, not Almorra’s, not Logan’s (please…)… My character, full in glory, being the hero and being calling that.
But also I won’t mind more from Destiny’s Edge, specially Rytlock and Felici… I mean, Zojja :P
Even something about Logan (I hated the guy until Arah, story mode).
Oh don’t get me wrong, Baldur’s Gate is a favorite of mine and I enjoyed beating the tar out of it. (Except for how there were items hidden in really . . . impossible to find places unless you knew they were there.) But the dialogue choices and the way I was drifting one way or another fits into the standard video game morality scale of "faultless saint’ vs “puppy-kicking maniac”. I hate that system. I also hated that I was automatically docked for bringing along Viconia for no real reason. And I don’t mean that NPCs reacted badly and that is it; I mean I was unable to be as good as I wanted to be because she was within ten feet of me.
Oh, about Imoen . . . did you play the sequel? She winds up almost as much of importance as the Protagonist due to a few things.
Aside from that…. Stop the ones that didn’t played NWN or KotoR ’cause is spoiler time.
(Snip)
Yeah, pretty much the same!!Oh you also had your mentor go Dark Side for apparently no reason. Like Aribeth. You were supposed to find parts of something to lead you to the weapon Malak was after. (Was it Malak? I forget.) Like in NWN finding the Words of Power . . . yes, there is enough going on similar in plot.
As for that twist in the story? That alone would make me rate it better than NWN, because the twist in that story towards the final act was not worth discussing at all. It barely counted as a twist. At least the final encounter was interesting.
Sorry, but even when I love A-net and I think they can create the most appealing npcs, they also are very capable to create the most annoying ones. And the way they try to balance things out in the story line and shorta… I prefer something that give me the sensation of epicness and that my character IS really important.
Really, isn’t so difficult let us having a moment of glory >_<
It’s why I say that most great videogames suffer from the same problem lately: either the main plot isn’t interesting and the characters are, or the main plot is a wonderful idea and the characters drag it down. I haven’t seen many games in the last ten years balance it well.
(MANY games, I said. I know they exist and probably played more than a few, please don’t take time to cite them to me :P And the first one to bring up Planescape gets a cookie.)
BG, BGII, Throne of Bhaal… Different characters, different choices… I’m a very altoholic girl, even in single player games and I loved so much BG that I even enjoyed playing Icewind Dale, even when the story was worst for far.
And well, as a point in favor of Bastilla over Aribeth, she was tortured :P
And the find this or that isn’t so important than the story, which is YOUR story as Revan and the choice of redeem yourself or not. I see the other parts as complementary.
And yes, I agree with you that is a problem most games these days have.
I was sure I was about to play GW2 no matter what and I was very into the hype but I played other mmos in the waiting and tested some in BETAs or so…
The Old Republic is… crap. How something created by Bioware and based in Star Wars can be so bad?? Npcs that doesn’t recognice your gender or race, a story that doesn’t care about that too, that doesn’t change a little (yeah, little things… very little), a story with an end (in a mmo >< ) and very, very, very unappealing enemies or friends… And the thing they made in the lore with Revan made me wanna punch them in their faces ><
In Tera I don’t see even a story and in Secret world, in Beta was awful but it changes and grow up better…. I like it, not so much as GW2 but it’s ok.
I really, really think that GW2 story can be turn to be great if they start from this point… Let us call the story ‘till this point the beginning. Bring up the rest of the Elder Dragons, let us get our glory, let us use our choices in the character creation for something more…. And stop trying to make us into companions, we aren’t >_<
Ps: Planetscape Torment, ohhh, the memories :P
She is annoying, she is blank, she screwed up things and she ended up being rewarded for that. In the gameplay, having her around, with her model in the way the majority of the time and, in the only coop she can helps, she can really screw the perfect completition…
It’s a thing that I think A-net should change in their way of creating story for characters: They use too much the resource of a npc to mix things, or be the motor, in the place of being the character of the player itself.
Bioware did that right in Kotor or Baldur’s Gate: your character is the hero or the center of the story, it’s the important part and the glue of all.
Baldur’s Gate? Oooh, that game. Where you’re subjected to way more of Bioware’s “you are either a saint or a puppy-murdering madman” decisions of good vs evil. And where the story winds up missing a couple steps in the last few chapters . . . we find out what’s going on but the path of finding that out doesn’t make any sense at all when you look at it. In a way, I think it progressed worse than GW2’s because it survived entirely on “trust what we tell you without wondering how we know”.
KoTR (Knights of the Old Republic) I looked up once, and saw it was almost the same plot as Neverwinter Nights overlaid on a Star Wars backdrop. And NWN was . . . weak. It was very weak.
I could go deeper into how the protagonist of Baldur’s Gate is very much a character who doesn’t matter (hint, it’s his daddy that matters the most, and what he did) or the same in Neverwinter Nights (it’s Aribeth who drives the plot there). But the problem is much the same as with Guild Wars 1 & 2 – the games are full of interesting side characters but the main story characters we’re supposed to care more for don’t have as much . . . impact.
I will admit, I rather liked what happened with Kormir, and sort of like Trahearne (I’m about to actually meet him in my sylvari’s plot, so maybe I’ll get a better feel for him there) and while I can see the point of some arguments . . . any time I hear that either of those two “stole” what was “rightfully” the player characters’ spoils? I wonder how in the heck I played a game entirely different from that.
Opinion aside from Baldur’s Gate (game that I find one of my favorites and an ideal of what a rpg should be) and its plot, I find myself more protagonist in that game that I felt in any other title that I played (and I played a lot).
Yeah, you are your father’s son… So what? Still your decisions are yours and you aren’t a follower. Sorry, I love A-net guys, but if they had develop that game, our character’s role have been Imoen’s or Jaheira’s.
Aside from that….
Stop the ones that didn’t played NWN or KotoR ’cause is spoiler time.
Yeah, NWN plot is weakest at its best and Aribeth is that kind of Kormir character that I hate, but its plot is so similar to Kotor like an orange to a rock.
In NWN you have to deal with a plague and looking how Aribeth turns evil for the most stupid motive… And in Kotor you have to deal with a memory lost, the way to recover it and finding that Revan, the ultimate bad guy of the galaxy, are you!!
Yeah, pretty much the same!!
Sorry, but even when I love A-net and I think they can create the most appealing npcs, they also are very capable to create the most annoying ones. And the way they try to balance things out in the story line and shorta… I prefer something that give me the sensation of epicness and that my character IS really important.
Really, isn’t so difficult let us having a moment of glory >_<
I didn’t dislike Kormir. I didn’t like her either. She was just bland to me as a personality and I found her blinding a meaningless plot device, given that she seemed just as able to run around in unknown terrain afterwards as she could before.
My personal dislike for her came from a very full glass.
I mean, I loved GW like nobody can know. I still do… and even when I enjoyed the stories, sometimes I get very frustrated with them.
In Prophecies the story is… not appealing to me at all. I mean, first I rescue my people from Ascalon, went to Lion’s Arch…. in the first moment the White Mantle showed up, the story went down the hill for me. Too much predictable and I didn’t like the Lich as a villain.
Factions I liked it a lot… Shiro Tagachi was a character I liked so much, very interesting and complex (and I loved try to break my own record to finish him in the final coop, with 4:20 minutes under my belt :P) but, I guess like every other soul, I hated to be a simple babysitter for Togo and Menhlo and the two parts coops depending of the success of the other group too.
I liked Nightfall story more. The only thing I disliked was Kormir herself.
She is annoying, she is blank, she screwed up things and she ended up being rewarded for that. In the gameplay, having her around, with her model in the way the majority of the time and, in the only coop she can helps, she can really screw the perfect completition…
It’s a thing that I think A-net should change in their way of creating story for characters: They use too much the resource of a npc to mix things, or be the motor, in the place of being the character of the player itself.
Bioware did that right (did, not now…. You only have to see The Old Republic to see how much down the toilet went Bioware in story crafting >_< ) in Kotor or Baldur’s Gate: your character is the hero or the center of the story, it’s the important part and the glue of all.
In the story in GW2, even when I like it, I have to admit that in some points you ask yourself ‘Why I’m doing this?’
You start being a new born sylvari or a norn champion or saving Shaemoor to ending up being the delivery boy (girl in my case) of, first your order, and then Trehearne. Doing all the job to others take the credit.
I know life isn’t fair and yadda, yadda… and in games like Secret World I swallow that ‘cause the characters themselves tell you ’You aren’t special, you aren’t unique and you aren’t a freaking choosen one’. But here A-net sold me ‘this is your story’, that my character is a hero with her own story… And A-net still needs to deliver to me that, ’cause the thing I have until now, from the beginning to the dead of Zhaitan, is the story of Trehearne from my point of view.
So… if they let us kill and put six feet under the freaking schoolar plant, I’ll be gladly to be a big kitten hero at last :P
What do you guys think about the incredible negative feedback you got for Trahearne?
Narrative Designer Scott McGough and I talked about this very topic some time ago. In short, Trahearne was intended to fill a very specific role that, in terms of both gameplay and story, the PC could not fill—an order-neutral character with extensive knowledge about Orr and the magic of undeath who could coordinate a global war effort and make the necessary plans, thus leaving the actual gameplay up to the player. Further, Trahearne’s character design was intentional in that he would be a reluctant hero who, through interacting with the player, evolved into someone who could step up to lead the Pact.
This didn’t resonate well with some players for a variety of reasons. We’re comparing external feedback with our own, since we have plans for Trahearne and other existing characters in future live updates and expansion content. We won’t spoil what we’re discussing, other than to say we’re looking at many different options for his current implementation and beyond.
Do you use the feedback you got to try improving the writing for future storylines and their characters?
Of course. We want to improve our storytelling and characterization so that it complements the great gameplay that our designers work hard to create.
It’s possible for those plans to Trahearne to include some gasoline? Napalm maybe?
Man, you did to me again!!
I’m a veteran from original GW, in were you made me babysit Menhlo and Togo and then… Kormir!
I hate Kormir!
She made us enter in the mess with Abaddon, we had to rescue her, she only can guide us (and with the collision of characters, she bothers more than helps) and in the only cooperative mission she do a thing, she actually can screw your perfect completition killing ghosts… And in the end, when is your character the one that solve everything… She become a goddess!!! That’s fair reward A-net version!! >_<
No, our character couldn’t become a god, maybe naming it ‘Faceless One’ or ‘New Abaddon’… No, had to be Kormir, she screws up, she get the good part.
And with Trehearne you play a Kormir over us. Sure he doesn’t screw up but the character is complete unappealing and the only way I really like with him is the end quest before Arah Story mode… and wasn’t for him!! Was for ‘Fear not this night’ song in the background!!
This is some crazy idea: Let our characters be the heroes!!! Yes… No some second class henchman for an npc that nobody cares about or want to assassinate him/her for his/her behaviour.
I don’t have a problem with the rest of the stories. I have nine characters, six of them lvl 80 with all the varieties about race and choices possible. I don’t have a problem with the story, isn’t amazing but is good. My only problem is how my character develop from hero to his/her people to henchman for a schoolar plant >_<
I loved characters like Tybalt and Forgal (I hated that crazy plant, Sieran… All the Durmand Priory is very boring) and I hated when Trehearne didn’t die in the end.
I think the only way you can fix Trehearne is to let us kill him!! Make him a dragon minion and let us put him out of his misery >_<
Four characters at level 80, three of them full exotic gear, jewels and weapons and all. Some with some kick kitten expensive skins (my sylvari guardian have the helmet of tier 3 sylvari cultural set, the rest is a mix of Vigil set and draconic… the greatsword is also from the Vigil). My fourth character, my charr necromancer, is a recent lvl 80 and I have one of the daggers and the staff exotic and almost every part of the gear is exotic except boots and chest.
And I don’t mind at all the ascended gear.
First of all I didn’t expend a dime of RL money in exotics. I only bought gems twice and one was to upgrade my game version to the digital collector and the second was to get some bank space and character slots.
I maxed all the crafts and I have a decent luck with drops but not amazing luck, mind you. I like to play the game and I don’t farm a lot (not compare to what I had to farm in other mmos I was like DDO, DCUO, Lotro, Aion, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan… even WoW (and that was too much time ago, I left after burning crusade)) but I really love to equip my characters and I love to find for them the perfect look-personality rateo.
At the moment I saw there will be only a ring and a back piece (and we all admit we need a better backpieces) but if they add armor, I won’t mind. The stats are not so different and, thinking in cold, won’t add a lot of edge. Also they only take infusions so things like rune sets, that really make a difference, won’t be usable with those.
I’ll reserve my whole judgement when I see the complete update and I have time to analyze it but for the look of it, isn’t so bad as the criers maybe think or want everyone to believe.
I have a question:
Those ‘once only’ events… will be in a time frame for everyone or EU guys will have to be wake up all night to don’t miss them, like in Beta?
I don’t care when you release the update, what day you announced the update to be released or what time you used to announced but I’ll be really dissapointed if A) you give us EU the middle finger again with an event and this possible missible event counts toward monthly deed.
I’ll love pretty much an answer to this, thank you ^^