Curse

WasAGuest · Jul 24, 2006, 01:42 AM // 01:42

While neither stories were the best, Prophesies story was tons better and has seemingly laid the ground work for more chapter story lines. Chapter 3 will be taking place in Elona, and there is also Orr to be seen. We could also see a return to Ascalon as it is rebuilt someday (maybe even as "traitors" as we left with Rurik).
Factions, with it's on going turmoil (Luxon vs Kurzicks) is a dead end of a plot though it did let us know Mhenlo is a ladies-man... so maybe Factions was more a character building "story" than anything? Which also may mean Nightfall could do the same, just build a charcter back story...?

0mar · Jul 24, 2006, 02:01 AM // 02:01

Factions storyline was absolutely atrocious. It was boring, derivative and not at all engaging. It's not even worthy of being put in a dime novel, let alone a top tier game.

The cutscenes are bad (half the time you need to skip them otherwise you run the risk the party will be attacked during it), the voice acting is even worse and the overall manner the story is presented is just not good at all. Just because this is an MMORPG doesn't mean the story has to be garbage.

Thallandor · Jul 24, 2006, 04:20 AM // 04:20

For Anet sake i hope not, then again they want this as a PvP game so they wont care much about PvE as long as people still foolishly buy it for the PvE content.

FujiwaraKazuma · Jul 24, 2006, 05:53 AM // 05:53

The Prophecies story was quite good, except it left one major plot hole: what did ever happen to Ascalon after you left it? Was it destroyed by the Charr? Did the Ascalonians remain victorious? Is the war still going on? Did the Charr eventually invade Ascalon City?

While the story of the Lich rolled on forward, the story of Ascalon was left behind, and when you think about it, the story's incomplete without knowing the fate of Ascalon since Ascalon is the place where the hero's whole journey was driven upon. Because of the Charr, the hero decided to move on to Kryta with Rurik. Because of that, they get all immersed into some gigantic plot. And that makes you think: it's because of the Charr that we left... what happened to them? did they win?

If Nightfall comes out, hopefully, we will get some new stuff about Ascalon. I doubt it. Supposedly, Elona is in the south. The Charr hail from the north. Doesn't really fit, does it?

Paperfly · Jul 24, 2006, 06:38 AM // 06:38

@FujiwaraKazuma: It's not clear from your post whether or not you are aware of the Titan quests after the final mission. Admittedly, they don't provide a lot of extra storyline, but The Last Day Dawns and The Titan Source at least let you revisit Ascalon and see where they kinda-sorta end up.

If you've beaten these already and mean that they still don't resolve enough, then fair enough and ignore this post.

The Titan quests become available after you beat Hell's Precipice. To receive them, /kneel in front of the shrine at Droknar's Forge and a vision of Glint will appear. The Titan Source is available only after you beat the other Titan quests.

TheLordOfBlah · Jul 24, 2006, 07:00 AM // 07:00

Prophecies was pwnage, it had a lot of differnet things going on at once and it was very creative.

Factions=
oh noes a plague
2 groups of people hate each other
ally and kill teh shiro
end of the plague
story over.

I hope this one is like prophecies.

TheLordOfBlah · Jul 24, 2006, 07:01 AM // 07:01

Prophecies was pwnage, it had a lot of differnet things going on at once and it was very creative.

Factions=
oh noes a plague
2 groups of people hate each other
ally and kill teh shiro
end of the plague
story over.

I hope this one is like prophecies.

TheLordOfBlah · Jul 24, 2006, 07:01 AM // 07:01

Prophecies was pwnage, it had a lot of differnet things going on at once and it was very creative.

Factions=
oh noes a plague
2 groups of people hate each other
ally and kill teh shiro
end of the plague
story over.

I hope this one is like prophecies.

Tamwyn · Jul 24, 2006, 07:14 AM // 07:14

I, Personaly, Liked both story lines. I really enjoyed playing Proph. Factions was okay, jumped you around ALOT. and I think it should have been way longer. I think they only reason Anet came out with Factions was to get ready for nightfall. Like Factions was a filler. I HATED all the vidoes on Factions, they ALL sucked. Other then that I didnt mind it at all. Good skills, Loved the scenary. One thing im really hoping for with the relase of Nightfall is that Anet will allow you to merdge your Nighfall account with your already merdged Factions/Proph. account. So that you would have 8 characters on one account and be able to take them to all the lands. Im hoping for that more then anything else.

Anyone have any info on that?

Kareem · Jul 24, 2006, 07:29 AM // 07:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansamy

I don't really give a hoot about the story line.

Same, but I hope they make it somewhat interesting this time around...

Domino · Jul 24, 2006, 07:30 AM // 07:30

Quote:

Factions storyline was absolutely atrocious. It was boring, derivative and not at all engaging. It's not even worthy of being put in a dime novel, let alone a top tier game.

The cutscenes are bad (half the time you need to skip them otherwise you run the risk the party will be attacked during it), the voice acting is even worse and the overall manner the story is presented is just not good at all. Just because this is an MMORPG doesn't mean the story has to be garbage.

The factions voice acting literally made me cringe at times. The sheer fact that they let that kind of quality ship out the door just amazes me. Did they just give some college students a microphone and a script and say "Make it happen" and then never checked up on the final product? Either way, my guildies and I had a blast mystery-science-theater-ing the entire Factions storyline over Teamspeak. The resulting laughs were worth the 49.99 price tag, even if the story was not.

meh... I wish A-net would look to such titles as Neverwinter Nights, The Elder Scrolls, or anything to see what a good story looks like. Prophecies was just a mish-mash of cliches and Factions was .... just a literary mess, by pretty much all standards.

I don't know whether they need some more authors over at A-net, or better authors, or what... but I hope they put a lot more into the storyline this time, and give Guild Wars more lore and history, and create stories that you actually want to see how they end (as opposed to Factions.... "Are we there yet?" implies the mentality most of my friends/guildmates had while playing through the storyline.

Arcador · Jul 24, 2006, 07:39 AM // 07:39

Well, there is no way chap3 story is bad, I mean how it can get more worse than the Faction's one??? I play pc games from a long time and this almost wins the title of "What were you thinking when making the story and cut scenes?".
The only part I don't like in Factions.

WhiteZombie · Jul 24, 2006, 07:42 AM // 07:42

storyline doesnt matter much, as long as its over quickly. case in point, the shorter a story, the less depth it typically has, so itll probably be just as bad as both of the others ;P

sassoonssamson · Jul 24, 2006, 07:45 AM // 07:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by harshateja

The prophecies storyline was great. The factions storyline was rubbish. It was far to disconnected and rushed. The ascension process in Prophecies was well thought out and made sense and actually made you feel special. Becoming closer to the stars really didn't make me feel any different. Some of the things that happen in factions didn't have any thought behind them past "oh my gosh, the [Kurzicks/Luxons] are attacking us. Protect us." If they use prophecies rather than factions as the base, I will definetly purchase Chapter 3 - no questions asked.

agree with u , i enjoyed every bit of prophecies storyline and pve

Factions atleast storyline was weaka dn the PVE content crap

But Chapter 3 is made by 1st teams who made prophecies so expectations are high
I hope they raise the cap level

Kareem · Jul 24, 2006, 07:47 AM // 07:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by sassoonssamson

I hope they raise the cap level

They are not going to raise the level cap for the BILLIONTH time

Navaros · Jul 24, 2006, 08:10 AM // 08:10

As to the OP's question: depends, but I doubt it will be any better.

Is Anet going to bother to hire professional, talented voice actors this time around?

They didn't for Chapter 1.

They didn't for Chapter 2.

Logic would seem to suggest this pattern will continue, and hence the storyline will again not be very good in Chapter 3.

The Silver Star · Jul 24, 2006, 08:51 AM // 08:51

I personally felt that the PvE side of Factions was very boring and predictable, however the new class's and skills have really improved the PvP side. I hope that Nightfall will not be released for some time eg Christmas or just after and i am looking forward to see if the PvE side of it will be more interesting and less predictable, i have high expectations for it. I guess we will find out a little more in the preview event comming up

As for the voices in Prohicies and Factions i also felt they could be better they all sounded abit dull in my opinion lol

Lord Dobo · Jul 24, 2006, 09:34 AM // 09:34

Excuse the length...

Looking back to my first experience with Prophesies, I can hardly remember if I can make a distinction between great and good, but I can say that even with over a year's time between then and now, I still have a nice feeling about what I went through.

I can't say that much about factions. I beleive that a well thought out plot exists on paper somewhere, or in the minds of the developers, but it definitely did not come across in general gameplay. I was so annoyed by the limited path I was given, it was hard to feel like I had any say in what was going on. Even though prophesies only gave you an illusion of control by allowing you to wander, that illusion was vital to how I felt about tackling the story. Factions was like an overbearing GM. "My story unfolds MY way players, you are simply unimportant place holders at the table." Some of you will understand what I mean...

You can still include barriers that the players must overcome to move the main story along, just not so frequent and overbearing. I kinda wish that factions happened this way...

Your new character starts out training on Shing Jea Island, moving from place to place fulfilling quests to impress your instructors. You can travel anywhere on the island, but find that tavelers to the city on the mainland have been mysteriously turned away by order of the emperor. Togo askes that you not interupt your studies as he will be looking into matters himself, (only block needed at this point, not multiple.) After you've achieved a certain noteriety around the monestary, a cut scene is triggered to move the story along, (this inserts a mission location into an already explored map, showing that you do not need to limit travel to corridors, you just script events to flag very specific locations on or off). You are taken by togo to visit his magistrate friend, passing a large mass of troops on thier way out of the holding, only to witness his corruption. You defeat him, witness a short cryptic speech about "his" return, then you spend the rest of the mission trying to stop that passed group of soldiers from attacking the monestary. You then unluck new quests related to a gathering evil that culminates in togo deciding that he needs to visit the mainland to conferm his fears about "his" return.

In the city, you are not restricted from moving about, only from escaping the city. The Afflicted menace becomes more apparent the deeper into the quest threads you go, leading to a string of missions that lead you to defend various sections of the city's vital areas from destruction. You hold out against a seige to allow citizens to flee a district, you track down a mystic who shows you how to get "closer to the stars," which allow you to take on missions that require you to see the spirits that are under shiro's control... because he really isn't much of a badass without some sense that he has a network of badies running thngs on his orders. Togo comes to the realization that the city being closed off is what shiro wants as he is obviously preparing for an assault and that you need to escape the city through an infested underground to summon help from the rival vassal states of the currently uncaring Luxons and aloof Kurzicks.

You exit the city and find that the age old fueding has turned into downright genocidal campaigning. Through cutscenes you learn that shiro and his simpathizers (traitors!) are secretly fueling the flames to mire the two staes in a war that allows shiro an easy siege of the capital. A minipulative mastermind is far more evil than a guy who makes people sick by standing near them...

You work feverishly on BOTH sides to root out the traitors and make them see that they are being manipulated... and this means you have free access to both regions instead of single tracks as you are required to accomplish quests on the whole map this time to foil plots and convince hard headed warriors on both sides that you mean business... this stuff trigers the missions which would possibly be massive battles in which you have to chose a side temporarily to ensure that key figures don't get themselves killed as you gather evidence. Finally, once these missions are done, a cutscene reveals a large force of corrupted warriors from both sides are flooding to the harvest temple, scene of an ancient betrayal... You arrive with a force of both luxons and kurzicks to battle the traitors only to find when you make it into the temple that shiro is laughing at you, that his diversion succeeded, and he flies off to the capital with a spirit host, leaving you to fght the corrupted gaurdian of the temple... the dragon.

Once you defeat the dragon you learn about togo's bloodline. Rushing to the capitol by the speed of the dragon's magic, you are in time to fight off a seige of the palace. Fighting your way to the throne room, through shiro's minions and some new minions previously unseen(darkness/chaos), fearing that your noble sensei may sacrifice himself to give you a means to combat shiro, you are in time to witness his sacrifice and are drawn into the final battle against shiro. Upon his defeat, you not only save the empire, but you learn that shiro wasn't acting entirely alone, that this darkness/chaos had an interest in events happening here, and provides you with the desire to track the creatures back to the ancient desert home of the elonians (segway into chp3.)

The way I envision it, the game could have been blocking our progress at only three major points, given us an illusion of control over our movements, and still have scripted in major missions in events triggered by quests. Not only that, but provide us with a tease that suggests that events in this game are somehow tied to a bigger scheme of evil and dark deeds. I hope they take a more open route in this new chapter, and envision giving us grander things to do...

The Silver Star · Jul 24, 2006, 10:15 AM // 10:15

Well i agree with what you said, and i think that it feels like there "throwing" Nightfall in our faces without giving us a real chance to do most things in Factions on the majority of our characters, also some people have only just been able to purchase factions or ave yet to purchase it. However i only reached as far as Cavalon on one of my characters in Factions as i didnt like it one little bit, i enjoy playing Prophecies more and i have pritty much nothing to do in it.

angshuman · Jul 24, 2006, 06:10 PM // 18:10

Both Prophecies and Factions had pathetic stories. And when I say story, I mean both the overall plotline as well as the script and dialogue. Who writes this stuff, a 12-year old pre-adolescent? Don't get me wrong, I love fantasy. But even fantasy written for kids can be far, far superior and much more enjoyable (e.g., Incredibles, POTC, LOTR) than the garbage in the two campaigns we have seen thus far.

If there's anything worse than a bad story with bad dialogue, it's bad voice actors reading out the bad dialogue. Neither Prophecies nor Factions disappoint in this regard. You could actually picture the actors reading out from a typed script. Each and every cutscene made me cringe in pain, and yet I couldn't skip them because I would freeze with horror and disbelief that such a quality game could have such crappy dialogue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navaros

Is Anet going to bother to hire professional, talented voice actors this time around?

They didn't for Chapter 1.

They didn't for Chapter 2.

I've always wondered who actually did the voice-acting. There were several jokes going around that Anet got their programmers to sit and and read out the script lines that they themselves had probably written to begin with. Anyone know what the real story is? I wonder why they couldn't afford to hire professional voice actors.

Do I expect any better in Nightfall? I'd say it's very unlikely. Which is why I will hold off on purchasing this one until I have read detailed reviews. I expect that the combat will be the usual GW fare - stellar. I hope the exploration and feeling of adventure will be similar to Prophecies. But this time, I want a good story and good dialogue or its GG for me, for good.