The Dusky Ramblings
(by Kilarith Duskleaf)
Rant #II : Story Time
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
When the time cometh, the song ringeth!
Now let's imagine a world in some
sort of stasis - and no, not a stasi - where things are repeating themselves
for eternity. Always the same'ol-same'ol, see? Well in a way that's what the
eternal battlegrounds are about… But that's another matter for another day. So
in this world we have quite a few sentient races, some
idiotic-barbaric-brainless gits that pass for fauna and plants, lots of plants…
And then there are big scary bastards - I rest my case, they have no parents! -
that most call "Dragons". Oh, and some of the bastards are old, you
know the sort of elderly dragons they put in retirement homes so they don't
forget to be nice and end up wrecking things?So now we add another layer of DrWhoyness to this brain purée and get science-fictional: this world is actually influenced by greater beings. Yes, let's get cocky, these beings are great, intelligent, sexy, and just perfect… well at least I am, I don't know about you… So now we’re faced with a subdivided multi-layered globally influenced cyclic micro-evolutionary storytelling system. Or, to stay short, Events. What I want to understand is in which way such a system is influenced by and influences it’s parallel linear story; which, to be precise, should actually be called a History, or Lore.
Yes, you got it, I’m trying to analyze
the correlation between the segmented storytelling that Guild Wars 2 offers via
Events and the overarching (hi)story told by both the personal story and
overall lore.
Living a day-to-day life
Me: So, Silee, What is the result of having a large part of a story told through constantly repeating events taking place in real time and each with multiple outcomes?Silee: Well, You must understand that due to the cyclic nature of the event, and since we are linear beings, the final outcome is bound to end up mapped out and the most calculatory of races, that is to say us Asura, being the brightest, will be able to foresee the outcome of each possibility. In simpler words Bookah, this situation clearly makes it easy to tell the future.Me: You mean to say that the important part of each event is predicting the outcome and outsmarting fate (aka. ArenaNet), not enjoying the present moment for what it is?Silee: You’re stupid, you know that? What counts is outsmarting fate and changing the outcome to your advantage. If a dragon threatens your laboratory and you can tell your cannon is too small, just make a bigger cannon I say!Me: Hacking then?Silee: You can hack at it all you want, a dragon’s got tough skin, too tough to beat it without my help!
So now we know what an Asura would
think, we can ignore it and get to the point: How good are Events at telling
stories? My belief is that they’re not very good at telling a story, but they
are a good way to make lore more accessible and friendly. As a potato would
say, the problem is that by taking down the wall (of text), you get a pile of
rubble; it’s still stone, but not quite a house. So enjoy what you have, and hope
for more.
History Lessons
Having proven that Guild Wars 2 will
be slightly unsatisfactory for all of you lore maniacs out there, can we hope
for the overarching story and the flavor dialogues to help us survive a while
longer?
The personal story is not about the
world; it is not about building a potato-cannon either, it’s about giving a
sense of reality to a story taking place in a virtual imaginary world. To do
this, one is bound to use the traditional “Initiation, Quest, Shit Happens,
Happy Ending” scenario. But this is where a RolePlayer gets frustrated: “I don’t
want to die!”
So the Personal story is nothing to
a RolePlayer but a way of getting crucial information about factions, the state
of the world, NPCs, if the Sylvari have Sex and if the Charr fart after eating
beans. Yes, it’s that simple: “I don’t give a shit about you, just lead me to
the cool bits of lore!”
And as far as flavor text, the
tidbits you find when talking to people around you, well that’s the place to
get the good stuff!
I’ll stay simple: learn your Tyrian
lore like a pro with the Wooden Potatoes and you will discover how amazing each
piece of dialogue can be. Just do it.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Guild Wars 2 is not as good at
giving out the most complex and obscure bits of lore as its predecessor, but it
does a fair job at getting the common player interested into what it offers -
up to a certain point.
And if you didn’t understand half of
what I just wrote about, well Silee must be right about you then: you’re an
idiot compared to his far-superior mind.
PS : Thanks to Illeander for Silee's portrait !
PS : Thanks to Illeander for Silee's portrait !
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