Curse

Sekkira · Mar 15, 2006, 05:09 AM // 05:09

I'm going to quit Guild Wars because the story is bland. I'll just ignore how much FUN the GAMEPLAY is, because I expect this GAME to be on par in every aspect with a NOVEL.

Celios · Mar 15, 2006, 05:14 AM // 05:14

Am I the only one who looks at the cutscenes and can't help but laugh at how ridiculous it all looks to have dramatic voice acting mixed with stone-still faces? The in-game engine simply doesn't lend itself well to making the story involving.

trankle · Mar 15, 2006, 05:30 AM // 05:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rilder

The Guild wars plot line and lore goes much deeper then everyone thinks... i'd hate to "Promote" another forum but that other major guild wars fansite's forum has an entire forum area devoted to the lore and history of guild wars.

Yeah, I was going to mention this as well. The 'archaeological' work that some players have done is dizzying. Seriously. The devs created a game with a lot of subtext and dots to connect.

There are clues all over the world that players have used to construct speculative but plausible backstories between Saul D'Allessio, the Mursaat, the Charr, the Titans, etc. I think that the game developers have given us a slice of a much bigger story. Alot of people say that the story is weak, and that there's no reason to explore. Looking at the work some others have done, I'd say that thorough exploration can illuminate many details that many of us walk right past.

To me, that's a lot cooler than having flashier cinematics.

Celios · Mar 15, 2006, 05:38 AM // 05:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sekkira

I'm going to quit Guild Wars because the story is bland. I'll just ignore how much FUN the GAMEPLAY is, because I expect this GAME to be on par in every aspect with a NOVEL.

Yes, because everyone here is clearly boycotting the game rather than offering criticism in the interests of improving it.

Duckchow · Mar 15, 2006, 05:51 AM // 05:51

I must be easy to please or something then because I thought the story was pretty good.

MadLep · Mar 15, 2006, 07:17 AM // 07:17

Part of the problem is that most of the story is exposed via cutscenes, and most people skip cutscenes.

First time through I was thorougly confused by the time I got to the jungle as to who was who, why we were helping people we were just fighting, why we are fighting people we were just helping and so on.

I gave up and just followed the missions to get past it and look at the pretty scenery.

Lawnmower · Mar 15, 2006, 07:27 AM // 07:27

My thoughts on this:

Storyline in RPGs is always something that many people talk about.

I will agree with the statemente that the actual story in Guild Wars is not good. It's alright. Nothing memorable. Yes, it's flawed, yes it's cheesy and the voice acting is a hit or miss and not everything works, but sometimes it works. Sometimes there are some decent plot points or cool moments happening. I sorta felt cool when I came to Kryta and got the feeling of making a new life there, and I enjoyed the characters I was introduced to in the Breach and in Piken Square, so on.
But it's by no means anything speciel.
However, what I will say is that I think the "Lore" is awesome. The actual world; the gods, the wars, the lands, the monsters, creatures and so on. I like Tyria and the hole concept of it, and I think it's a great building block.

I think the actual problem with all of this was that GW didn't needed all this stuff like voice acting or constant use of cut scenes. I think the game would have been much more effective if you ripped does off and sticked to something you knew would work well. Trying to focus on a good script, and so on.

Sometimes a story that is open to be analysed with different possible conclusions can be more satisfying that one that is not. That's not th say that the developers should leave the players in the dark with a major cliff hanger, but I do think that saying less and expanding the conclusion can be better.

One of the major points I think is that GW just follows the avarage mold. It's clichee and simple and none of the characters feel speciel. At the same time, GW has a hard time. It's probably very hard for the game to make a story quality of a dynamic single player RPG.

I think GW could have worked great with just a main narrator, and in game stuff being open to analysed.

I also think that "reading" in GW can be a hazzle. I often thought that the NPCs speech bobbles where very hard to read. In fact I also think that about reading others in the cities.

Synxernal · Mar 15, 2006, 08:17 AM // 08:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadatog

That's cause reading is fun-dimental. Seriously don't people read any of the text that NPC's say in the mision outpost, in the missions, or in the book that came with the game/monuments/god's statues? Most of the story can be found there. Oh and also in the text for the quests. You know that squggley stuff that is there before you click on that large green check mark.

Most of it is there. Just read it.

Definitely! I would always stay behind and read everything while everybody else is killing all the monsters.

There definitely is story in GW, but it's more of a "slice" of a bigger whole. There's so much potential for the GW world. I just feel that ANet could integrate it better.

The text bubbles were annoying too, if you missed something an NPC said, you missed it (Or you just have to wait an insanely long time for it to repeat).

Jalmari · Mar 15, 2006, 08:26 AM // 08:26

Well, the story isnt best I've seen but it is not worst. But what really disturbs me is that npc's and your character's faces dont move while you or npc speak.

beleg curudin · Mar 15, 2006, 08:44 AM // 08:44

Most the real stroy comes from the quests and the NPC's you speak to, The should redo the cutscenes with a bit more flair, and have more then just the leader of the group talk. although I do not know what that would do to solo runs >_>

Maybe remaking Rurik as a bit more noble, and not so much a smart ass, "I defend ascalon from another Charr invasion, heh, and my father trifals with doors!" Its a bit corny, and stating the obvious.

Another thing is, Ascalon is so depressing, every NPC you talk to is like "times are tough, we'll probably die tomorrow, oh woe is me" and the only character that really wants to get things on track is Alderbern, and he is bypolar >_< talking one minute loosing his temper the next.

I gave up on the story and resorted to writing my own lore involving my guild going through the story, this allows me to open up the amin characters more, remove the stupid things and rewrite them to better more plausible speeches. It also lets me give each character personality, instead of "Thats the new bad guy? ok Me kill him"

blue cheez · Mar 17, 2006, 02:28 AM // 02:28

Err...i hate it that you have to TRY to get a good story line at what they throw out at you.

Ende · Mar 17, 2006, 02:06 PM // 14:06

i have responded to a similar thread way back. i agree completely that the storyline is terrible. it just lacks structure. there is no progress (unless you call leveling-up story structuring). characters appear and then later forgotten forever, most conflicts are never resolved fully, there is no closure from beginning to end. so you end up with a plot that only serves the transportation of characters to different gameplay environments.

here is a very similar plot, yet this time it is STRUCTURED:

1. ascalon is in ruins, the char are kicking ass in a huge war.

2. the characters try to help and win this war, but somehow they cannot. the char seem invincible.

3. the characters are sent to kryta, to seek advice from a legendary wizard, on how to defeat the char.

4. the wizard (extra points for guessing who this guy will be) tells them they have to kill the skeleton lich and destroy his magical (insert char-helping magical device here). but first, they must go to the desert and ascend.

5. the characters embark on a journey all the way to the ring of fire in order to destroy that one object and kill the lich (who turns out to be the same wizard who sent them on this quest.)

6. the characters RETURN TO ASCALON, for one final mission, to kill the char king.

7. the end.

we can argue about this plot forever, but at least it provides closure to the entire story and not just the past 4 missions.

the point is, i spat this one out in less than a minute. give me a week and i'll come up with something much better. i am sure anet's group of professional story developers can create a wonderful plot. i'm just disappointed they didn't.

Melkor_The_First · Mar 17, 2006, 03:17 PM // 15:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celios

Am I the only one who looks at the cutscenes and can't help but laugh at how ridiculous it all looks to have dramatic voice acting mixed with stone-still faces? The in-game engine simply doesn't lend itself well to making the story involving.

And in those weird moments when you can't go anywhere, and rurik is talking up a storm about how great you are for being a level one going into post. Or when rurik does no spams his battlecry "For ascalon!" again and again.

And then theres those boring missions like the ones in Kryta that keep going on and on and on "go put the thingie into the thinge well of truth so it can be clean from some power we can't identify."

Man the story is weak, but the gameplay is top of the notch.

Phrozenflame · Mar 17, 2006, 06:33 PM // 18:33

I didnt play just for level, with my first character, I really enjoyed the storyline, I felt it was v. good compared to other online games.