Wednesday, August 4

Getting personal



My view on Guild Wars might be a bit tainted. It is mostly based on what I have seen and read on gameamp. I think of it as a nice fantasy game with tough six-packed body builders and scanty clothed babes operated mostly by younger players that enjoy chasing up titles and armor pieces in an almost obsessive compulsive manner. It is a great game for achievers and with the PvP addition a great game for killers as well.

My three fellow authors here were all three GW junkies in their past. And all three value exploring, socializing and immersing themselves in the world of the game above all else. So I should know better than to think GW is just about titles and armor. But several years of gameamp drama, and even being part of the MuTants for a while now, I just can't see Guild Wars as a role playing game.

So I was pretty pleased, and rather surprised when I was reading this post over at killtenrats.com. The post is an analysis of Personality In Guild Wars 2. ArenaNet is implementing a role playing mechanism that really is putting consequences to your behavior in the game. Your interactions with the NPCs can change as you move about. Of course you can all ignore it, and I suspect most players will, but I will enjoy it. A perfect reason to play through the game with several characters and enjoy the world from every angle.

Just imagine grumpy Lani and me walking up to an NPC trader and I can genuinely tell Lani to leave this one to me, because I can smooth talk the trader out of a bargain. Then head to the alchemist and Lani will give one of those rock solid speeches that the alchemist will just give the chemicals we need out of sheer bewilderment.

Of course the impact of the NPC dialog and item pricing/availability will not be that elaborate. But it will really help getting immersed into the character. Much more than the contra productive dialog options in AOC.

4 comments:

  1. They have thought this one through well, it's purely optional so that speed levelers and the fast devourers of content can cut to the chase while we can think and toy with which way we want our characters to develop.

    I'm intrigued by the Karma mechanic, the GW/Anet ethos was all about co-op play, having karma to reward it and help people out with content is a good move and a natural extension of what came before. Some comments on kill ten rats speculated about karma farming, beats the hell out of just farming for gold imho.

    GW is a linear theme park ride on heavy rails, freedom only appeared once you unlocked the destinations. GW never struck me as an RP game I'm glad theres such a big departure from that in GW2.

    Five races and none are restricted to any of the eight classes, each race has it's own starting area before being funneled into the main story, character backstory options at the point of creation, dialogue choices that develop that character out in the world, a personal story again driven by choice, instanced but allows you to invite others to join, your own housing and landscape within that personal story whose style is dependant on choices previously made. It's sounding like one hell of a rich tapestry to develop your character, let's hope they use quality thread :)

    It should be altalicious :)

    I suspect that most of my fellow Mutants will be going crazy to unlock and explore, it's a heavy achievers guild, I predict I'll be lagging behind savouring, exploring and developing my character, wallowing in the joy if the game has the depth it seems to be hinting at.

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  2. The scaling/mentoring down mechanics also means I have nothing to fear from being in that achiever heavy guild, the karma mechanic also provides the incentive for those who have raced ahead to step back and revisit content above the fact that we are all good mates willing to help each other out. Dynamic content also provides another reason to step back to see how x pans out this time around when y had happened before it.

    There's a lot to like and some things I'm still weary about, no mention of crafting yet and that raise in level cap. So far for me the good outweighs the bad, which keeps it my most to look forward to game.

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  3. I'll say it again and differently this time:
    So far the only difference between GW2 and WAR is that ArenaNet didn't/couldn't hire Paul Barnett to hype their game to high heaven.
    Show me the gameplay is actually there and working...

    I'm seriously getting worried about the sheer number of data GW2 is apparently going to track about your character. Karma, personality, those things have in the past led to disaster as surely as migrating fauna and weather patterns.

    If GW2 manages to be the first MMO in the history of MMO's to live up to the hype and deliver all they talk about before showing their actual hand, it's going to be a sweet game for sure. I'm still not holding my breath though.

    Not sure why I can be hopeful about SW:TOR and yet unable to lose my scepticism when it comes to GW2. Maybe Phe's right and I am grumpy?

    I'm somewhat hopeful about the fact they seem to be looking at CoX's merits. Of course they still get mentoring and sidekicking mixed up and call it wrong but that's ok. It's such a hard concept, lowering your effective level down, that only 2 MMO's have grasped it so far.

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