Guild Wars 2

It’s mentioned that the Tengu are super strict and private traders. I would imagine that the gate (which seems to head for an area of coast) leads to their private port.

Tengu territory almost certainly doesn’t cover the whole area, since you can’t see the wall streching across the sea or into the land from Wizards Fief.

Most likely, the honest reason is that an quasi-african country like Kryta just wouldn’t sell as well as the sole human nation as one with a more european ecosystem. It strikes the same itch for a generic beautiful fantasy kingdom that Ascalon did in GW1.

Grim as it is to say, that’s probably also the reason the majority of the people are suddenly white and the architecture is a lot more western.

I wouldn’t say this conversation is spurnned by “Good writing”. If anything, it’s a result of the dissonance in writing quality and it’s gradual improvement from the start of GW1 to now.

Also, the whole thing would probably be much better set up if it allowed the player to choose their opinion towards the whole issue in game (Give some anti-Charr dialogue options rather then “lets all be friends” stuff right off the bat, etc) rather then just dictating that the player characters personality. I mean, I’m not saying to let them be a seperatist or whatever, but rather just to give you the ability to say “I still don’t forgive the Charr, but I’ll work with them for the greater good.” Present the whole affair as less… Well, black and white.

And the Gwen thing is totally a matter of opinion, I suppose, but to me, it seemed like the writers trying too hard to oversell the “Maybe the humans were the evil ones” idea they decided to push for GW2, even if it makes sense logically under the new context.

Again, this isn’t actual history. Gwen didn’t turn out that way because of cause and effect. She turned out that way because a writer sat down and thought to her/himself, “I think we should make the beloved mascot character of our first game specifically regarded as a mass murderer.”

I’d agree with you if this were actual history, but I really doubt Anets writers were thinking about how the Charr felt when they wrote the plot of Prophecies. They were unspeaking, cultureless monsters until, at the bare minimum, Nightfall. That was my point.

It’s pretty obvious that Anet went to great lengths to humanize the Charr when they decided to make them a playable race. Making the human/charr conflict morally grey when previously it was black and white involved a lot of retconning, as well, and “we only saw one side of the story” or “it was all the Flame Legions fault” only goes so far when what was essentially presented back then was a bunch of LOTR Orcs with fur.

So, to people invested in GW1 (especially prophecies) it’s understandable that this kind of leads to cognitive dissonance as the themes presented in the past fly off in a completely different direction.

But then, if the Charr had remained what they were, nobody would have played them. So the humans had to take one for the team, so to speak.

I’ll admit, though, some of the revisions are completely absurd. Like the Gwen the Goremonger thing. Villainizing the orphaned, abused teenager to haphazardly make the Charr look good – who at that point were basically portrayed and merciless slavers and killers without a hint of moral ambiguity – was not the way to go, Anet.

I have to admit, I’m a little let down with how… Well, how whitewashed humanity feels in Guild Wars 2. Kryta had some stong african influences in the first game. But now it feels like everything, from the people to the culture to even the landscape itself has been made more generic and european. It’s a classic fantasy mishap, and a big step down from the first games incredibly diverse presentation of races and cultures.

Even if Sylvari are immortal, I think the fact that they can’t breed and also half of them look horrifying seperates them from elves by a good few factors.

Anet has said in the past that they chose to allow every race to play every class since those are just social rules/trends and player characters are, by their very nature, exceptional and special. Still, it exists in the lore.

But if you’re looking for things to feel superior and proud of, I’m happy to help. Here’s some stuff Guild Wars humans apparantly devised and are better at then anyone else:

Pretty much all art forms
Advanced Stonework and Architecture
Democracy
The Orchestra/Music
Agriculture/Irrigation systems
Astronomy
Historical understanding
(Seemingly) Medicine

All of these are just as impressive as crazy steampunk magictech stuff, they’re just less fantastical. Which makes sense, since they are, well, human.

Also, I think you’re probably looking at the whole “dying race” thing the wrong way. It’s not literal truth, more of a call to arms to set things right. To quote the official page:

Humanity’s long and tragic history may lead other races to think of them as a dying race that belongs to another age, but humans know otherwise. Even the youngest sylvari knows about the great human figures of legend—and the time has come for a new hero to walk in their footsteps.

I wouldn’t say that’s true. Humans in the guild wars universe are spectacularly good architects and builders. Their lands are covered in dams, irrigation systems, and especially walls.

In fact, the Wall is a great symbol for humanity in the setting as a whole (and not just for the obvious reasons). They’re a very constructive and creative race, and it can be seen in how they’ve developed – While the Charr have invented most destructive technology, guns, tanks, etc, the humans have spent their time trying to figure out how to get the best crop yield possible, or how to better reinforce their towns and keep the people safe. Almost all doctors you see in game are human. They also seem to have the most rich culture, being leagues ahead in terms of literature or art, and in the liberal sciences. They stick to the basics, and so do them better then anyone else.

The Charr might be the first to discover, say, electricity, but Humans will probably be the ones to invent antibiotics, or the flushable toilet. They care about quality of life above everything else. While the other races seek personal glory, destruction, or knowledge, Humans band together and build.

They also don’t limit themselves, and are very adaptable. Asura consider fighting by stabbing someone with a sharp object uncivilized and stupid. Humans don’t. Charr consider magic to be weak and often refuse to use it. Humans don’t. Norn consider fighting in big armies to be dishonorable and inglorious. Humans don’t. They’ll literally try anything to win, and they’ll gladly make use of the advancements that others have made for their own benefit, and put their own pragmatic spin on them.

And on the other side of the Wall-centered thematic coin, they’re really, really stubborn. They simply do not give up, especially when backed into a corner, and only become harder and harder to defeat as they are.

The think the best way to look at it is to consider this: The Charr spent the better part of a thousand years trying to take Ascalon back, and they still had to give up on getting all of it because they simply couldn’t break the final city. All their best weapons just couldn’t break through that last wall. Not to mention the fact that, even though the land was utterly destroyed, Aldebern and his soldiers simply refused to leave, even in death.

And what did they do with the land they won? They built more factories and weapons, just so they could continue fighting. They didn’t stop to think about what to do with what they’d won, how it would make their lives better or easier. How to make themselves happy. They just got ready for the next big fight.

I dunno about you, but if I lived in Tyria, I’d much rather be human then anything else. They’re smart enough to know what really matters.

The Charr are a clenched fist, a drawn sword, the Norn are a pack of hunting beasts; Humanity is an ancient oak, hard like stone. Slow, stubborn, and almost unbreakable – most will collapse from exhaustion before they can cut them down. And even if they do, they still slowly regrow, adapt, harder then ever before.