Oh I saw lots of story from 1-80. Doesn't mean it's any good. This game has sub-par writing. It's painfully obvious that they focused on other parts of the game a lot more than the story. Which as I've already said, I expected because it's an MMO. It's not going to be anywhere near the quality of writing as most other RPG's that have wonderful writing.Originally Posted by Vayne
Which is the point. Because in MMO's, other things are more important.
I don't think most of the writing is subpar. Some of it might be, but a lot of it is very good. It's obviously not going to be a Shakespeare, it servers a purpose and does it well. Much of the dialogue is quite entertaining. And writing is one thing I know a lot about.
You see, writing to spec means writing to your audience. It doesn't mean writing great literature. For what was required of the writers, they've done quite a good job. YOU don't like the writing, and that's fine. A lot of people don't, but that doesn't mean it's not good writing.
The story is fine. It moves the action along, it gets you a bit involved, and I've talked to more than one person who did think the personal story was epic. I found some very good individual moments, and most of it was fine. Was it amazingly surprising? No. Did it do it's job? Yes.
I've played plenty of games with worse writing than this and some games with better writing. But it's definitely not as bad as you're making it out to be.
I'm not talking about perspective, about whether or not I liked it. I'm talking quality. I would go in depth and post my analysis but there's no point. I've determined through this conversation and other posts in other threads that it's impossible for you to look at this game objectively and critique it.
I love this game, I truly do. I spend, waaayy too much time playing it. But that doesn't mean I'm going to turn a blind eye to it's shortcomings. I'm not saying the story is terrible. I'm not saying there aren't worse games out there. I'm saying it's not much better than any other MMO, it only has more fluff attached to it. And it's definitely no where near the quality of most RPG's.
It's a small step in the right direction for this genre. Nothing more, nothing less.
I'm a professional writer and I've been a professional editor. Your analysis of the writing is likely that of an amateur. I'm sure I could edit the hell out of this and make it "better"...but better for whom and how.
I'm more objective of the writing, when I look at it, than anyone else, because it was my job to be objective. It's very condescending to say that if I don't agree with your opinion that I can't be objective.
The writing is the way it is because of the format. Writing to spec, within format often creates results that aren't optimal, which isn't about sub par writing at all. It's about writing to spec.
When you look at the paths and how they intertwine, which I can see, having done most of the stories, it really is quite brilliant. How characters from the different beginnings all come together, and are part of the story later on, depending on which character you choose.
Some of the passing NPC conversations are also quite good. There are some that aren't as good, but that's how writing works. You can't write hundreds of pages of dialogue for characters and have all of it amazing.
Some of it is trite, and some if it is cliche, but to some degree that's to be expected, because they're following the Guild Wars 2 brand. They'd have had a lot more freedom of the game had an older rating, and they hadn't decided that everyone was going to be a white knight kind of hero. Tha'ts a design decision not a writing decision that the writers have to live with.
But frankly, if you want to believe you know more about writing than I do, go right ahead. I still won't make you right.
OGM we get it, you have different opinions. You think story is blah. You think story is pretty good. Lets see how many times we can say the same thing!!! We get it, you're both special little snowflakes and pretty and smart and... Now drop it.
Bravo
That's EXACTLY the problem. You hit the nail on the head. In WoW there was real motivation. It wasn't just "whoah we're being attacked!" It was GRAND and EPIC. There were ancient demons warring on other planes and there were jealousies and vengeance stories to which all the living beings of Azeroth and Draenor were just pawns. There were the "old gods" who were eternal beings of chaos trapped beneath the surface that had no physical power but they drove great beings mad with whispers and then fed on the suffering of souls that resulted. The planet itself, Azeroth, is a trapped entity inspired by Lovecraft's "Azatoth", a chaotic swirling mass of tentacles and pain! The content of Kalimdor was shattered into four pieces because of some night elves abusing their magic well, and for all ages afterward, there is a maelstrom in the middle of the world because of it. This stuff is awesome!!
Tyria just doesn't have it. It has small stories, where WoW has BIG stories. It has a king, and a son, and some dragons, where WoW has world-destroying ancient beings of chaos. Kil'Jaeden and those who employ him are much more terrifying than Zhaitan or Kralkatorrik.
Again, I do think GW2 is the better game. I'm just waiting for them to step up the lore aspect.
I'm not trying to be right or better, I was trying to discuss two areas of the game which are lacking. First dungeons, then story. Apparently you'd rather make it personal so I'm going to take my leave from this thread.
I wish I had read this before I posted my last one! Sorry for perpetuating it!
WOW, you almost made me want to reactivate my wow account......almost.
I agree, the lore in wow is 100times more epic. I was a huge fan of the warcraft rts games and when they took all that lore and put me in to a living breathing azaroth is was amazed. But years of raiding have burned me out and I no longer want to spend endless nights doing it just to keep up.
That said, i would love to see more structered encounters in gw2 as now it is mostly a zergfest. It seems they could included some bosses with maybe floor panels that fall or rooms fill with lava and people need to stand in the right places at certain ques. none of those functions require a trinity to add organization. Dungeons built for 10 would be nice.
Though I do stand on the side of the fence where it should be cosmetic only. If you add better gear, its a slippery slope to gear treadmilling and I am not going down that path again.
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