Curse

Cassandra Tanacel · Jan 08, 2007, 04:13 PM // 16:13

I followed the story without much problem in Prophecies. My only complaint is that the whole section with Rurik was a bit squiffy. Ideally, we needed to do some more sub-quests for Rurik in Ascalon (post searing) - build up that we aren't just common soldiers but his righthand, we support him every step of the way and are essential to him.

When we save Rin and the King banishes him, a short bit of Rurik asking us to join him and help the people of Ascalon would have tied us to his dream of resettling in Kryta, then upon his death we would probably have felt that carrying on his vision (and therefore joining the White Mantle to gain their support to settle our people) was important. Whereas, to be brutally honest, i was glad the demanding basstard was dead!

Factions and Nightfall got this right in that you did want to help Togo / Komir. My main complaint in factions is that you had to earn the faction points, but for no story related reasons. Some miniquests exposing the afflicted corruption and how working with Luxons/Kuzicks would allow you to defeat Shiro, rather than a "Crikey we'll get murdered unless we work together"

Nightfall i loved, but i think a major reason for it success was that Anet's story writers had game lore to work from, rather than potentially making it up as they went along (they may have had a plan from word go and just didn't at the time have the people on board or quite the expirence to implement it). This made it a very rich, engrossing chapter - so much that i actually played well into the mornings purely to advance the story!

So back onto topic, i can see why the original poster got a bit lost, especially after doing the three ring of fire missions back to back with some Guildies this weekend for one of them to ask at the start of Hell's precipice "Whats going on then??"

Ninna · Jan 08, 2007, 07:34 PM // 19:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassandra Tanacel

Nightfall i loved, but i think a major reason for success was that Anet's story writers had game lore to work from, rather than potentially making it up as they went along

NF had a *new* story writer - thats what made the difference for better story

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Jeff_Grubb

PersephoneSaturna · Jan 08, 2007, 08:05 PM // 20:05

I loved the Prophecies story much better than the two "expansions"; it was more open ended. You started out as a native of Ascalon but the tides of fate carried you off to foreign lands. You meet different people, some become your friends and allies while others betray you. The story quests and missions clearly pointed you to the next destination, but it never felt like you had to follow the games route if you'd rather go your own way.

Most importantly, playing through it again with your next character doesn't have to be the same as your previous playthrough. It was epic in a way because you aren't bound by race or ethnicity or allegiance to one land.

In contrast, the Factions and Nightfall stories are so contained and rigid, holding your hand from one point to the next whether you liked it or not. I swear, in someways Nightfall has you committing genocide against the Margonites because their religion conflict with yours, as you constantly have to exterminate them :P

You always follow the same character, fetching this and running that. The first playthrough is fine, but each subsequent experience is dull and just a case of "run to point B now that I've reached point A because that's the way it goes."

Personally, don't enjoy being lead through the hoops forced upon you by the "better story."

Cacheelma · Jan 09, 2007, 03:09 AM // 03:09

....Yeah, so you said Prophecies's story is good because you can skip around, making your own "epic" story of Beacon Pearch > Drokna's Forge, or Lion's Arch > Sanctum Cay (No Maguuma or Shining Blade to bother you in any way).

.....right.

PersephoneSaturna · Jan 09, 2007, 07:42 PM // 19:42

The "epic"-ness of a story is purely subjective, so no need for such castigating sarcasm. Besides, you derive quality from NPCs leading you around by the nose, I enjoy interpreting the story as I see fit, obviously our paths aren't going to cross.

wsmcasey · Jan 09, 2007, 10:39 PM // 22:39

First chapter is the best in my book. The only thing I can stomach to do now is pvp. I really got sick of pve in chapter 2, because of having to take a chapter 2 character all the way thru chapter 1 just to get an end game elite skill that wasnt offer in chapter 2 at the time. Total BS. I'm not sure if its the same crap in chapter 3, but I got pissed off when I took a quest and my armor magically disappeared due to some type of game glitch. Needless to say I put chapter 3 on the shelf for a while. I know alot of people like the heros, but I dont. The introduction of heros separates and makes it harder to form parties imo, plus I noticed theres not as much people talking to each other like in good old days of chapter 1. just my .02 cents.

kazjun · Jan 10, 2007, 12:49 AM // 00:49

Prophecies was good. An alright story and a large continent. But a lot of it is annoying the second and third time thru. And not that rewarding. Timewise, I can spend an hour killing and doing quests in tyria for like 200xp a quest and peanuts in loose change. The items are worthless unless you go to the areas in like the last tenth of the game. And yeah, I guess some people think its pretty, but if you actually look, you'll see that the textures seem pretty low res compared to nightfall, or even factions. To be expected of course, chapter one is pretty dated now.

Factions was okay, annoying how so many areas are locked all over. You pretty much spend the game being a hench for Togo and Mhenlo (you the man, you pimpmeister, you) and follow them wherever they tell you to go.
Wished they got rid of some of the faction reqs after you finish the game. I mean, yeah, I'm with the kurzicks cause your luxon armour's lame, but I just saved you all from shiro. Don't you think your merchants could at least talk to me whenever I'm in the area?

Nightfall I think is the best of the series so far. Got NPCs you actually like. Koss and some of his quests just cracks me up sometimes. And having heroes is great. Imagine if you could have taken Rurik as a hero. I'd have brought him along for his sayings alone. The story I like. Not too original (corrupt leader, escaping to be part of a rebellion, stopping a fallen god) but still the best so far. Bounties gives you an incentive to kill things and the environments and monster designs are top notch. I mean, you get enemies that roll, and enemies that swim through the ground.

stormrunner · Jan 10, 2007, 02:31 AM // 02:31

While Nightfall had the best presentation out of any of the Guild Wars games so far,(with facial animation etc.) I have to say that overall my favorite storyline so far was Prophecies.

The storyline in Prophecies felt epic as you moved from place to place and as the storyline constantly shifted. While I do agree that at times the story seemed to lose focus, the last three or so missions did a good job at wrapping up the story.

The other part of the Prophecies campaign I like is that the game doesn't rush you. In Factions and Nightfall the game seems to rush your character progression, where most characters seem to be close to level 20 by the time they leave the beginning area. In Prophecies, it takes a normal character over half the game to reach the level cap, and in turn each new level feels like a notable achievement. It presents the illusion that your character is progressing from a lowly soldier to an epic hero.

Cacheelma · Jan 10, 2007, 03:12 AM // 03:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by PersephoneSaturna

The "epic"-ness of a story is purely subjective, so no need for such castigating sarcasm. Besides, you derive quality from NPCs leading you around by the nose, I enjoy interpreting the story as I see fit, obviously our paths aren't going to cross.

Well, what I tried to say was this:

I understand that you like how you can skip some areas/missions in Prophecies. But you can't just come out and say that the story of Prophecies is good when you don't even follow it the way it is intended to be. It's the story we're talking about here, not the gameplay.

Rurik dies protecting you and other Ascalonians in The Frost Gates, before you arrives in Kryta. That's how the story is. You don't just come to Post-Searing Ascalon, go to Drokna's Forge, then fight with Undead Rurik before going back and see him gets killed in The Frost Gate, only to go help him in Nolani Academy. That could be SO epic (in whatever way), but that's not what Prophecies's story is.

You can't judge a book if you read chapter 1, skip to chapter 11, jump back to chapter 5 and then read the last 3 pages of the book, can you?