GW2: Scarlet and the 2013-2014 Living Story (p2)
I feel like I'm being repeatedly told "Just one more update before we reveal everything to you. Really!" While Escape from Lion's Arch was said to be the penultimate living story release for Scarlet's plot line, now that Battle for Lion's Arch is out, it's been said that there will be some sort of epilogue on the 18th. Whee!
The zone activities are kind of a mess, and Arenanet has been scrambling to adjust the way credit are rewards are given for several of the key events. In what feels a strange design choice, there's a map-wide event that requires coordination and timing to get to a major battle that sort of leads into a solo instance with the finale - or you can go straight into that instance with a shortcut and be confused at the state of things.
Well, the Mordremoth theory I referenced/mentioned seems to be supported. Though I have to say, the first time I saw the end cinematic I thought the "jungle" scene looked like a "sea floor" scene, making me think the dragon that was waking might be the nicknamed "Bubbles" instead. Additional support to the theory has come to my attention in the form of some quest that I apparently missed (perhaps a low-level sylvari quest?) in which it's shown that some sylvari are born from a second tree.
Seeing Scarlet finally dead was... hmm... lacking in impact, I suppose. Perhaps the fact that I did things "out of order" is a factor. The first map I was on failed the knight event, so I jumped into the instance instead of going through the hologram fight. This leads to seeing Scarlet vulnerable and injured on the floor with no understanding how that happened. That may have detracted from any satisfaction or whatever I was supposed to feel at her final defeat.
The interplay between the NPCs, at least, was good. Braham and Rox have a meaningful exchange. Kasmeer and Marjory have some genuine emotion between them. I didn't see Taimi anywhere, though, and that stands out considering her fascination with Scarlet.
Still, my largest problem with this living story plot, from a narrative standpoint, is the lack of behind-the-scenes explanation. Scarlet's super-everything abilities are hard to buy, but even more so in my mind are things like where she got the ridiculous amount of resources necessary to make her toys, how disconnected from everything else the marionette boss is, and why anyone would have gone along with her plans. She offered something to each faction, yes, but in most cases it wasn't anything she was in some exclusive position to give. Maaaybe that can yet be wrapped up to my satisfaction, but I'm doubtful.
And while I think the initial lead-in was also weak, I have to give props for the managing of a large story with a lot of interconnected parts. There are gaps, but the overall arc feels like it was conceived in advance rather than made on the fly - and that feeling (true or not) does a lot for a story in my mind.
My non-spoiler, non-story complaint is in presentation. I fully acknowledge the difficulty of it - it's hard to tell a story in an MMO. I like how everything pretty well is coming together at the end. But it's only doing that if you know basically all the pieces. And those pieces are scattered all over. If I hadn't gone outside the game to find reference material, I would be drawing the wrong conclusions, even at this stage. That, I feel, is a failure on the part of those presenting the events.
But... it's still pretty impressive all around to see what's been done. It certainly does make the game more interesting than it would be without the living story.
The zone activities are kind of a mess, and Arenanet has been scrambling to adjust the way credit are rewards are given for several of the key events. In what feels a strange design choice, there's a map-wide event that requires coordination and timing to get to a major battle that sort of leads into a solo instance with the finale - or you can go straight into that instance with a shortcut and be confused at the state of things.
Well, the Mordremoth theory I referenced/mentioned seems to be supported. Though I have to say, the first time I saw the end cinematic I thought the "jungle" scene looked like a "sea floor" scene, making me think the dragon that was waking might be the nicknamed "Bubbles" instead. Additional support to the theory has come to my attention in the form of some quest that I apparently missed (perhaps a low-level sylvari quest?) in which it's shown that some sylvari are born from a second tree.
Seeing Scarlet finally dead was... hmm... lacking in impact, I suppose. Perhaps the fact that I did things "out of order" is a factor. The first map I was on failed the knight event, so I jumped into the instance instead of going through the hologram fight. This leads to seeing Scarlet vulnerable and injured on the floor with no understanding how that happened. That may have detracted from any satisfaction or whatever I was supposed to feel at her final defeat.
The interplay between the NPCs, at least, was good. Braham and Rox have a meaningful exchange. Kasmeer and Marjory have some genuine emotion between them. I didn't see Taimi anywhere, though, and that stands out considering her fascination with Scarlet.
Still, my largest problem with this living story plot, from a narrative standpoint, is the lack of behind-the-scenes explanation. Scarlet's super-everything abilities are hard to buy, but even more so in my mind are things like where she got the ridiculous amount of resources necessary to make her toys, how disconnected from everything else the marionette boss is, and why anyone would have gone along with her plans. She offered something to each faction, yes, but in most cases it wasn't anything she was in some exclusive position to give. Maaaybe that can yet be wrapped up to my satisfaction, but I'm doubtful.
And while I think the initial lead-in was also weak, I have to give props for the managing of a large story with a lot of interconnected parts. There are gaps, but the overall arc feels like it was conceived in advance rather than made on the fly - and that feeling (true or not) does a lot for a story in my mind.
My non-spoiler, non-story complaint is in presentation. I fully acknowledge the difficulty of it - it's hard to tell a story in an MMO. I like how everything pretty well is coming together at the end. But it's only doing that if you know basically all the pieces. And those pieces are scattered all over. If I hadn't gone outside the game to find reference material, I would be drawing the wrong conclusions, even at this stage. That, I feel, is a failure on the part of those presenting the events.
But... it's still pretty impressive all around to see what's been done. It certainly does make the game more interesting than it would be without the living story.
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