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Guild Wars 2 - Hitting the Right Note - MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Guild Wars 2 - Hitting the Right Note - MMORPG.com
I’m going through a part of Guild Wars 2 that is often celebrated but rarely explored. While I had a chance to talk to ArenaNet about the tech behind their graphical updates during our hands on for A Bug in the System, it occurred to me that most of us rarely notice all the ways the development team build the world around us and never notice that this is probably one of the most diverse soundtracks you’ll hear.
Comments
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
The world approach, the content, the story, the visuals, the music and so forth is well done but there is still something amiss with GW2 that I can't quite put my finger on that makes me not keep playing it.
Jeremy Soule did an amazing score for the original game and GW2, I'm still pumped by the score and espicially enjoy hearing parts of the GW soundtrack around GW2, loved GW, and it's taken its time, but now love GW2 as much, really impressed how the game has grown and changed over the past couple of years.
I think the new composers have done an amazing job moving forward, keeping a unique emotive feel to the world of Tyria. Super Adventure Box was never for me, not a fan of 8 bit games, art or music so I always ignore it when it's around.
Hard to pinpoint my favourite piece, there are so many, and some are purely nostalgia based. This has to be in my top 5
I am legitimately curious as to what you are referring to in that case. I haven't seen any controversies regarding Anet politically. Certainly not on the level of Bioware.
Regardless, respect for a company should be about their product, not their employees' views.
Bioware is worthy of disrespect not because of politics but because the quality of the writing and games has taken a nosedive.
Anet has only been improving as a development studio and as storytellers over the past couple years. They continue to be as consumer friendly as humanly possible.
I'm referring to the social media part of Guild wars 2. Bioware i'm sure has done enough to rival the God's.
Anet is a talented team, just wish world views weren't apart of the world of Tyria. It's hard to turn a blind eye too it.
I don't spend much time with their social media. Keep in mind that social media is meant to be a friendly atmosphere. It's part of PR. It is their job and responsibility to foster acceptance in all parts of their social media community. That is normal and expected.
And no, it really isn't hard to turn a blind eye. Tyria is a beautiful, lighthearted world with very little to say politically. If any political message can be gleaned from the game, it is a simple statement of the importance of unity. That shouldn't be controversial.
Tyria is all those great things you said But, for how long? Hopefully 2018 and beyond won't ruin them.
From a business standpoint, you want to be as inclusive as possible so you can attract as many people as possible so they can purchase your product/ harness loyal diverse fanbases.
Paying attention to the media, not just now a days, but for years, companies that don't go politicly correct tend to get boycotted or end up in horrible press. Its just better safe than sorry, especially when you're dealing with peoples lively hoods. (the employees)
I've seen a few examples of what he's talking about. Namely a few days ago, I saw the recent small controversy when they put up a pride flag version of the GW2 logo on their Facebook page. This shouldn't be a controversial gesture, but there was an unsurprising backlash from a certain vocal minority. They have a small subset of LGBT players (and probably some LGBT staff or family members of staff). It's nice to acknowledge that subset of your community and to make them feel welcome. From an observer's point of view, it's heartwarming to visit their Facebook page and see these people post happy replies because they've been acknowledged by the developers of a game that they put their time and money into. And for those people, it is evident that ANET do care about them, because they have taken the time to place multiple small, subtle representations of them in their game world. It's morally wrong to attack the company representatives or the subset of the community that they have pleasantly acknowledged.
It's nice to be acknowledged, especially when those doing the outreach have created something that you love and/or escape to.
Yes, that piece is lovely, and so fitting for that area.
I think my all time favourite is from Living World 2/The Silverwastes:
I run mine at a max 30 fps so I wouldn't mind that too much (15 is getting a little low though). And yes, the zone crafting is amazing. I was only just thinking that earlier today actually when wandering around with a friend in Dragons Stand. We were not in an assault map so were doing some cartography for their map completion and strongbox hunting, and it gave me time to appreciate the effort put it (flying about on griffons helped too). The zone is simply amazing, the amount of work that must have gone into it.... Very impressive even after all this time.
Current game: Pillars of Eternity
Played: UO, AC, Eve, Fallen Earth, Aion, GW, GW2
Tried: WOW, Rift, SWTOR, ESO
Future: Camelot Unchained? Crowfall? Bless?
Good luck because tons of people are getting disconnects at the moment that reset the story instances and force you to try again from the beginning.. only to get disconnected again.
I am totally stuck and can not progress the story. No word on a fix. No official replies to the many, many posts on the forums about it.
Very close to quitting the game altogether.