I've been trying to wrap my head around this because I've been coming at it from the direction that the personal story IS the story of GW2. Apparently it isn't according to a dev on the forums.
"Personal Story – the story of you
Dungeons – the story of the iconics (Rytlock, Logan, Caithe, Eir and Zojja)
Events – the story of the world"
Because of that quote, I see the PS differently now and can accept it as a side issue that can be visited or not and has little to no effect on the outcome of the world, only to you personally. I get that now. However it raises the question, WHAT is the world story? Events? Hu? The world story is something I would have considered the overall plot. The purpose for us collectively being there in the world. Do the events unfold a story in some sort of sequence then? Most events I have come accross are already in progress, and reveal nothing except an opportunity to smack on some stuff. If you miss an event are you missing part of the story? Do these events build up to the elder dragons and this is the purpose for being heroes to save the world? Anyway in light of this, I don't see the personal story as the weakest link any longer, I see that as the DE's which should be the world story but seem nothing more then random opportunities to smack on things. Maybe I am trying to find a plot where there is none. I don't get it
Well, it seems that every place has it's own theme and story much like in World of Warcraft.
Starting in the human lands of Queensdale is all about dealing with centaurs and human problems. That's the general social census. You're just helping the body of Divinity's Reach do what they gotta do.. your like a social security officer fighter who assists common folks with their day to day trouble. your the handy man for the kingdom.
That's fine IMO. The world quests are great as they are. We know from trailers that there is a even bigger theme with Zhaitan and the dragons. It sounds like things we've heard before in Warcraft and Elder Scrolls. All powerful entities and all that.
IMO the most interesting parts of Guild Wars 2 is all the stuff about the mists. and about how humans are aliens in Tyria. Humans didn't even come from Tyria. Essentially they don't belong there. Humans were conqueres for a while. But not the rightful owners. Never will be. Ascalon maybe was deserved?
What are the mists? what are these all empowered links between dimensions? were did the humans really come from, and why did the six human gods bring them here? why are they silent now that humans fall on their darkest times now?
I am not sure I get the idea behind the dungeon stories. why follow the 5 racial heroes..? Thackaray himself certainly don't how the mustard to be a cool guy to deal with.
The Dynamic Events stories are great. they are short, and they work in a way that makes us play together. dungeons and personal story seems much more solo and anti-mmo centric. focusing on a few npcs... ?
i actualy enjoyed the charr personal story. Anyways im hyped for this game. Played it on a 46'' TV and the scale was.... mind blowing. Whoever designed and planned the zones and cities should get a raise, because this is how games should be in terms of level design.
Norn, and especially Human Noble/Orphan/Commoner. Can't speak for the Char.
I expected a cheesy and prejudices meet with the stories, but what kinda annoyed me was the "Art" of Personallity the characters had.
Commoner: Barmaid looks like 12year old. Father: 60 years old. Main plot enemy: 8Year old pig face. Orphan: 8 Year old Friends in mature bodies again. urgh
Having this whole human plot around smal size robbery while a war is raging makes the whole thing pointless and petty. You start out to seek your destiny and get into the centaur war (intro). Just to huffle back into the city and fight youth gang "wars" with friends and enemies looking like the plot feels. Utterly childish.
I don't like the Asura either *cough* *cough* but i want to try out the Silvary and Char. Else i'd definitely make a Norn.
I've been trying to wrap my head around this because I've been coming at it from the direction that the personal story IS the story of GW2. Apparently it isn't according to a dev on the forums.
"Personal Story – the story of you
Dungeons – the story of the iconics (Rytlock, Logan, Caithe, Eir and Zojja)
Events – the story of the world"
Because of that quote, I see the PS differently now and can accept it as a side issue that can be visited or not and has little to no effect on the outcome of the world, only to you personally. I get that now. However it raises the question, WHAT is the world story? Events? Hu? The world story is something I would have considered the overall plot. The purpose for us collectively being there in the world. Do the events unfold a story in some sort of sequence then? Most events I have come accross are already in progress, and reveal nothing except an opportunity to smack on some stuff. If you miss an event are you missing part of the story? Do these events build up to the elder dragons and this is the purpose for being heroes to save the world? Anyway in light of this, I don't see the personal story as the weakest link any longer, I see that as the DE's which should be the world story but seem nothing more then random opportunities to smack on things. Maybe I am trying to find a plot where there is none. I don't get it
Well ahem "certain people" are coming at this from a SWTOR point of view, they believe the story should be scripted for your character, but in GW2 besides the origin stories you do in town, the rest of your, "personal story" is done in the acutal gameworld through dynamic events. You don't need a scripted VO nightmare for that. They went the actions speak louder than words route, as far as story goes this is one aspect they went the sandbox route. Environment creates the scenario, not the scenario enforces the environment. All these ninja TOR comparisons are tiresome.
So far I like the brutallity of the charr story line.
Where my least favorite is the Norn story line.
Technically speaking though, we haven't even hit "The Searing mark" of the story line, using that a reference where the story completely blind sides the player.
Strictly speaking from rumors I've heard, said event is supposed to be around level 45-50. We wont know till probably this summer is my guess.
From what I've noticed so far is that your choices don't change where you end up, but rather how you get there. I'm ok with that.
What I'm not okay with IS THE WAY HAND GESTURES ARE OVERUSED AND REUSED OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN!
I really do hate monotonous meaningless hand gestures, if only more companies had their own motion capture studio, things would be so much better.
That's also something that I'm waiting for since the Searing from GW1 was an event that a pretty big impact on me when I first played it.
However, I still have to agree that the personal story is the weakest link in the GW2 chain. But for me, everything else in the game sets the bar so high that it would be pretty hard for the personal story to keep up. And I should also say that I actually like the story itself so far, even though it isn't all that hardcore. I bear in mind that all I've seen so far, in terms of say Lord of the Rings, would be the fun and games part in the Shire at the beginning. Nary an orc to be seen yet.
For me, the biggest problem I have with it is the delivery. The voice acting isn't very engaging (for the most part), and even the voices themselves rarely suit the characters I create. This is especially apparent as a norn female, where the only voice is Helga Moosedottir. For this character, it just didn't fit:
Unfortunately, ArenaNet has painted themselves into the same corner as I felt SWTOR did. Although SWTOR has a much superior method of story delivery, changing anything is almost impossible because everything has been "locked in" with voice recordings. It also makes adding new material difficult because the all-voice precedent has been set.
I think the stories will improve as we level further and see the REAL storyline reveal itself, but that won't help the disconnection I and others feel when watching and listening to them. At least the events that we get to play through are interesting. Some are even challenging. Given that the cutscene intros and outros are such a small part of the game, I can't complain too much. Just enough that ANet knows where they could improve the game.
I've been trying to wrap my head around this because I've been coming at it from the direction that the personal story IS the story of GW2. Apparently it isn't according to a dev on the forums.
"Personal Story – the story of you
Dungeons – the story of the iconics (Rytlock, Logan, Caithe, Eir and Zojja)
Events – the story of the world"
Because of that quote, I see the PS differently now and can accept it as a side issue that can be visited or not and has little to no effect on the outcome of the world, only to you personally. I get that now. However it raises the question, WHAT is the world story? Events? Hu? The world story is something I would have considered the overall plot. The purpose for us collectively being there in the world. Do the events unfold a story in some sort of sequence then? Most events I have come accross are already in progress, and reveal nothing except an opportunity to smack on some stuff. If you miss an event are you missing part of the story? Do these events build up to the elder dragons and this is the purpose for being heroes to save the world? Anyway in light of this, I don't see the personal story as the weakest link any longer, I see that as the DE's which should be the world story but seem nothing more then random opportunities to smack on things. Maybe I am trying to find a plot where there is none. I don't get it
From what I understand, the personal story is the tale of your exploits as you move through the major events that unfold in the world. The story of Tyria unfolds around you and your story documents your movement through them. DEs are more mundane happenings that you come across, at least in comparison to the threat posed by the elder dragons and your efforts to learn about them and eventually defeat them.
The part of the storyline we've been exposed to so far is just an introduction. As someone aptly put it earlier in this thread, we haven't had our Searing moment yet. When that happens, the point of the personal story should become more apparent.
I expected a cheesy and prejudices meet with the stories, but what kinda annoyed me was the "Art" of Personallity the characters had.
Commoner: Barmaid looks like 12year old. Father: 60 years old. Main plot enemy: 8Year old pig face.
Orphan: 8 Year old Friends in mature bodies again. urgh
Having this whole human plot around smal size robbery while a war is raging makes the whole thing pointless and petty. You start out to seek your destiny and get into the centaur war (intro). Just to huffle back into the city and fight youth gang "wars" with friends and enemies looking like the plot feels. Utterly childish.
I don't like the Asura either *cough* *cough* but i want to try out the Silvary and Char.
Else i'd definitely make a Norn.
Everything starts out small and builds up. I liked it for what it was and you haven't seen cheesy until you play Norn dude. Seriously those guys are the cheesiest and I think the Norn is why many people think the story is week when it's just the nature of the Norn.
Comments
Well, it seems that every place has it's own theme and story much like in World of Warcraft.
Starting in the human lands of Queensdale is all about dealing with centaurs and human problems. That's the general social census. You're just helping the body of Divinity's Reach do what they gotta do.. your like a social security officer fighter who assists common folks with their day to day trouble. your the handy man for the kingdom.
That's fine IMO. The world quests are great as they are. We know from trailers that there is a even bigger theme with Zhaitan and the dragons. It sounds like things we've heard before in Warcraft and Elder Scrolls. All powerful entities and all that.
IMO the most interesting parts of Guild Wars 2 is all the stuff about the mists. and about how humans are aliens in Tyria. Humans didn't even come from Tyria. Essentially they don't belong there. Humans were conqueres for a while. But not the rightful owners. Never will be. Ascalon maybe was deserved?
What are the mists? what are these all empowered links between dimensions? were did the humans really come from, and why did the six human gods bring them here? why are they silent now that humans fall on their darkest times now?
I am not sure I get the idea behind the dungeon stories. why follow the 5 racial heroes..? Thackaray himself certainly don't how the mustard to be a cool guy to deal with.
The Dynamic Events stories are great. they are short, and they work in a way that makes us play together. dungeons and personal story seems much more solo and anti-mmo centric. focusing on a few npcs... ?
I tried a few stories.
Norn,
and especially Human Noble/Orphan/Commoner.
Can't speak for the Char.
I expected a cheesy and prejudices meet with the stories, but what kinda annoyed me was the "Art" of Personallity the characters had.
Commoner: Barmaid looks like 12year old. Father: 60 years old. Main plot enemy: 8Year old pig face.
Orphan: 8 Year old Friends in mature bodies again. urgh
Having this whole human plot around smal size robbery while a war is raging makes the whole thing pointless and petty. You start out to seek your destiny and get into the centaur war (intro). Just to huffle back into the city and fight youth gang "wars" with friends and enemies looking like the plot feels. Utterly childish.
I don't like the Asura either *cough* *cough* but i want to try out the Silvary and Char.
Else i'd definitely make a Norn.
Well ahem "certain people" are coming at this from a SWTOR point of view, they believe the story should be scripted for your character, but in GW2 besides the origin stories you do in town, the rest of your, "personal story" is done in the acutal gameworld through dynamic events. You don't need a scripted VO nightmare for that. They went the actions speak louder than words route, as far as story goes this is one aspect they went the sandbox route. Environment creates the scenario, not the scenario enforces the environment. All these ninja TOR comparisons are tiresome.
That's also something that I'm waiting for since the Searing from GW1 was an event that a pretty big impact on me when I first played it.
However, I still have to agree that the personal story is the weakest link in the GW2 chain. But for me, everything else in the game sets the bar so high that it would be pretty hard for the personal story to keep up. And I should also say that I actually like the story itself so far, even though it isn't all that hardcore. I bear in mind that all I've seen so far, in terms of say Lord of the Rings, would be the fun and games part in the Shire at the beginning. Nary an orc to be seen yet.
For me, the biggest problem I have with it is the delivery. The voice acting isn't very engaging (for the most part), and even the voices themselves rarely suit the characters I create. This is especially apparent as a norn female, where the only voice is Helga Moosedottir. For this character, it just didn't fit:
Unfortunately, ArenaNet has painted themselves into the same corner as I felt SWTOR did. Although SWTOR has a much superior method of story delivery, changing anything is almost impossible because everything has been "locked in" with voice recordings. It also makes adding new material difficult because the all-voice precedent has been set.
I think the stories will improve as we level further and see the REAL storyline reveal itself, but that won't help the disconnection I and others feel when watching and listening to them. At least the events that we get to play through are interesting. Some are even challenging. Given that the cutscene intros and outros are such a small part of the game, I can't complain too much. Just enough that ANet knows where they could improve the game.
From what I understand, the personal story is the tale of your exploits as you move through the major events that unfold in the world. The story of Tyria unfolds around you and your story documents your movement through them. DEs are more mundane happenings that you come across, at least in comparison to the threat posed by the elder dragons and your efforts to learn about them and eventually defeat them.
The part of the storyline we've been exposed to so far is just an introduction. As someone aptly put it earlier in this thread, we haven't had our Searing moment yet. When that happens, the point of the personal story should become more apparent.
Everything starts out small and builds up. I liked it for what it was and you haven't seen cheesy until you play Norn dude. Seriously those guys are the cheesiest and I think the Norn is why many people think the story is week when it's just the nature of the Norn.
This is not a game.