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Guild Wars 2 |OT3| Two Week Updates, One Box, Zero Subscriptions

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R

Retro

Member
Hawkian said:
Finally listening to this and paying attention, it's really an even better track than I realized during the fight.
Click to expand...

Leif Chappelle has done an amazing job, especially when it would be so easy to try and ape Jeremy Soule and just call it a day, though I think the quality would be noticeably off. That's not an insult to Chappelle, just that any time one artist mimics another it rarely feels genuine. The last time I can remember being impressed with an obvious emulation was Michael Giacchinos' "Jurassic Park: The Lost World" game score which isn't just pretending to be John Williams, but almost gets to themes he wouldn't do until later(that first theme for the compy is creeping into Harry Potter territory Williams wouldn't get to for almost another 5 years later). But I digress.

The post-launch music has all been really solid (crazy guitar noodling for the Nightmare Tower trailer aside, but that's just because it stands out as so different). Soule did a respectable job giving each race a sort of thematic tone that spills out into their respective regions without harping on a single leitmotif, and I think they've done a solid job of keeping that approach with the Living Story. Scarlet does have a theme, and it does play in short little twists in each track, but it's more a general bombastic/menacing tone that runs through each of them, without the fluttery fantasy notes that Soule would have had.

I guess what I'm saying is, it's not Jeremy Soule, but that's goodbecause any attempt to emulate him would only be an obvious imitation and because Scarlet's story needed something less his style and more like what we actually got. For example, there are parts of the Marionette theme that are clangy and metallic that seem more in line with Brad Fiedel's Terminator score, and that's something I just can't see coming from Soule.

TL;DR: Damn that music is good. I feel like I'm still digesting Breachmaker, but I know good when I hear it.
 
P

Proven

Member
Before I forget, I'd like to mention if there are certain things you're confused concerning characters (outside of Scarlet) then it's probably because you missed some dialogue somewhere. Looking around the internet, I've seen some people confused by Rox's actions during the instance (if you stick around the Trader's Forum, the two of them have finally talk out their issues with one another). Some people were annoyed by Kasmeer's hiccups (explained during the Tower of Nightmares as happening when she's scared/nervous). There are also dialogue changes after you complete the instance if you talk to them directly rather than waiting for the ambient dialogue. I cannot currently answer why Kiel seems to look like a lumbering drunk half the time before the Assault Knight fight.

Kos Luftar said:
Why would she want to wake another one? Or was she being controlled by him? If he wasn't awake how can he control her? It doesn't make any sense what she could have gained even if we didn't stop her. I doubt the dragon would keep her around.
Click to expand...

Kos Luftar said:
The idea of using/controlling Scarlet even though he hasn't awoken is strange and doesn't make sense.

If there is a champion controlling her and not Mordremoth himself then it is kinda shitty we still haven't seen who this is.

Kinda just want to try and not think about lore till 18th because to me it still has way too many plot holes and almost feels like the revelation was shoe horned after all the crying from the fans.
Click to expand...

The big hint came a couple weeks ago during the EotM update. When you go to the bar to dissect all the clues and inspect the info from the chamber Caera used to try and view the Eternal Alchemy, the Asura there says:
Player: When Scarlet looked across the open threshold, she saw things. And something looked back.
Vorpp: Ceara encountered something that literally broke her mind, but the only things in there were things she brought.
Vorpp: I surmise she was directly exposed to a part of her own psyche that had been carefully walled off. Perhaps for her own protection?
Vorpp: We'd need to do far more extensive study of the sylvari Dream before I could draw any more-detailed conclusions.
Vorpp: What I can conclude now is that she's preparing to strike. Mark my words: Scarlet's next attack is planned and ready.
Click to expand...
The assumption there is that instead of seeing the Eternal Alchemy, Caera could only see things that she was already connected to. Which unfortunately leads back into the Sylvari being dragon minions that somehow have their connection blocked. The reason can be linked to Ventari, it could be linked to the dragon itself, but there's a reason there. Caithe probably knows, and that's secret she's been keeping. If the Nightmare Court is linked to being Sylvari closer to the dragon, it also leads back into Caithe's constant consideration over giving up on the world and joining the Nightmare Court. When and how Caithe came across the secret, even if I'm wrong about what the secret is, is another mystery.

At the end, you still cannot forget that she started covering her face since it started showing signs of a corruption. Oh, and then there's the fact that Glint was moving about before Kralkatorrik started moving about.

Finally, a number of small bits still point to something she's done or has been doing through all of this as helping us against the upcoming dragon fight. But I can't fathom what, outside of teaching a number of antagonistic factions how to work together.

Or maybe, just maybe, she was all just ANET's meta-will of wanting the players to learn more self-organization skills for harder content. We helped her get stronger with every defeat, and she helped us get wiser with every victory.

Hawkian said:
Actually, apparently that's totally untrue if it's a coordinated group. If you can kill them at the same time, you skip the 18 mini-holos altogether (http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1zmj9u/holo_fight_read_this/)

edit: 30s-1m window to get them killed apparently.
Click to expand...

I actually hate the current tactic of zerging the three Assault Knights down, because even the achievement for them (kill all three within 6 minutes) begs people to organize into three groups. It also means that you have to join the zerg at least for the final knight. If you want to get into the drill and not end up alone you have to at least go through the same portal the zerg ends up going into.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Battle on the Breachmaker on repeat. Check.

Also Twisted Marionette Part 1 and 2 are fucking awesome. The Part 1 music with the interlude in the middle with the guitar is fucking amazing. Part 2 evokes memories of being up on the platforms, working with your nearby strangers united to take down this giant abomination. Also the godly insert of the Guild Wars 2 theme made it feel really important. The clockwork sounding ticking noise underlying it all, with the absolutely perfect separation of the players between lanes, with no way at all knowing how it's going except a bar on your right side to show whether leaks were coming through, and the messages that popped up in the center.

God, Twisted Marionette was one of the best updates.
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Wait, so Scarlet is easy especially if you have the backpack item (skips through the boss fights) since you just have to F her?
 
S

Sonicbug

Member
Urgh. I keep crashing to desktop during the knight fights and getting kicked to empty overflows. Apparently it's happening to ... what else, mac users. =/
The one time I managed to jump back in and make it through a portal I instantly got stuck and killed. Awesome.

So, if I have a backpack I can skip to the final cutscene right? I think I might just do that. I can't wait around until anet decides to fix or not fix the issue.
 
S

shysaursoft

Member
What's the dumbest, most idiot-proof Warrior build for general play, like dungeons and EotM? I need to get this dumb charr to 80 so I can put the Blade backpiece on him, for the achivement.
 
crazepharmacist

crazepharmacist

Member
So I just purchased an R7-265 graphics card. I know this game is mostly CPU intensive(running I7920@4ghz) but do you think this card will be able to max the settings at ultra/high and super sampling at 1080p? I'm coming from an old 4890. GW2 is the only game I play so I'd really like to be able to max it. Otherwise any kind of hardware upgrade for me is pretty pointless.
 
N

Nemesis121

Member
Miktar said:
What's the dumbest, most idiot-proof Warrior build for general play, like dungeons and EotM? I need to get this dumb charr to 80 so I can put the Blade backpiece on him, for the achivement.
Click to expand...

The new BP is account bound you can move it to any character, unless it was changed in this last patch...will check for you gotta update the game on the lap top..

Edit:Holyshit they changed it i was able to move it from character to character last week, WTF, why change it? sheeeesh i swear these guys don't have a fucking clue what they are doing..
 
L

Lunar15

Member
I hate to fan-fiction here, since this is so much easier in hindsight than it probably was for the team, but I think there were two better options they could have gone with here:

Option 1 (the closest to what they actually did)

Upon the defeat of her holograms, we find that Scarlet has retreated to her final resting place. In her last breaths, she reveals that she is merely the avatar of a much greater threat: Mordremoth. Mordremoth then speaks through her, revealing that everything Scarlet had planned was merely paving the way for his return, and that now he could speed up the process of his return by tapping into the laylines below Lion's Arch. The group would stop the giant Drill from tapping the laylines, preventing Mordremoth from being revived right there and then, providing them time to prepare for his coming arrival.

The difference between this one and the one they went with is that Scarlet actually reveals the source of her madness and we get to hear the big evil guy himself. It's a little more powerful, allows a sense of victory while also setting up the next arc quite nicely and making it clear why there's time in between the arcs.

Option 2: (The more fan-fictiony but more appropriate ending given all of the context clues they had given)

We arrive at the final climax where Scarlet has taken her final refuge. In her final moments she reveals that she saw Mordremoth in her original dream inside the Pale Tree, and that her Wild Hunt was to ultimately defeat him. With such a seemingly impossible quest, she was tormented by visions of Mordremoth constantly, to the point where she went mad in trying to find ways to defeat him. Eventually she had developed the plan of tapping into the world's magic laylines in order to gain enough power to match Mordremoth and defeat him herself, even if that meant causing massive catastrophes across the continent of Tyria. Having learned the truth, the group would then be faced with the knowledge they were caught between two bad outcomes: Either they kill scarlet and have to take on the brunt of Mordremoth's force, or she would enact her plan and end up being just as destructive as Mordremoth himself. They would then re-affirm the game's core themes of strength through unity and perseverance against all odds, and decide that Scarlet's violent solution is not what is right for the world. You would defeat her and end her vile plans, but the group would be left with the lingering shadow of Mordremoth that now hangs above them.

The core problem with Anet's storytelling in the Living Story is that the medium they're in actually requires more up-front motivations. I understand their thinking: If we leave it intentionally vague, people will want to "tune in" and remain connected to the game. However, you can mitigate this by front loading your villian's motivations and then adding twists in each arc as they go along. For some reason, perhaps because of Lost and other J.J. Abrams works, writers now think its perfectly acceptable to keep all of your story elements behind wraps until the end or whenever they feel is appropriate. But I think that's just a cheap way of making people seem invested, when really you should be providing motivations up front and then making people live them out before us. House of Cards is a fantastic example of this. We know exactly what Frank Underwood wants, but the joy is in seeming him go through with it and constantly wondering if him gaining what he wants is good or bad. The twists the writers come up with know that we expect him to achieve his goals, and therefore play with our expectations.

EDIT: Oh hey, there's a good film crit hulk article that actually kind of explains what I'm talking about: http://filmcrithulk.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/the-age-of-the-convoluted-blockbuster/
 
M

Mxrz

Member
Unskippable cutscenes are annoying. Finally finished it (yay SBI).

Scarlet:
Killing her, plot wise, seems dumb. A lot could've been learned, and better yet expanded on for the player. I don't feel like the in game content ever did Scarlet's story justice. There would have been a lot of potential and seeing her develop and reform more along side the player. Every group needs that one character that brings a bit of levity to counter all the peaches & cream dialog. Scarlet could have been that. At the least, she would've been more interesting to have around than Kasmeer and Majory.

I hope Rox gets more screen time at least. Her scene with Braham had legit feels to it. Out of all the living story stuff, she's the only character that has had some genuine growth
 
K

Korten

Banned
Took a nice screenshot in GW2 tonight. :D

nkB.png
 
A

AFollowerNotALeader

Member
I finally managed to do the whole knights->hologram fight last night without crashing by setting everything to minimum.

Crashes aside, I really like the event - the boss fight mechanics are just the right level of tricky for randoms in an overflow to be able to do it and have a blast :)
 
S

Shiokazu

Member
Miktar said:
What's the dumbest, most idiot-proof Warrior build for general play, like dungeons and EotM? I need to get this dumb charr to 80 so I can put the Blade backpiece on him, for the achivement.
Click to expand...

mine is very idiot proof, want to give it a try?

edit:

since mordreroth has a twitter account i had to ask him how the hell did he get one. and how the hell he uses it.

if dragonmagic i throw my shenanigans and start a religion that talks about the final days of tyria.
 
M

Mr_Antimatter

Member
Mxrz said:
Unskippable cutscenes are annoying. Finally finished it (yay SBI).

Scarlet:
Killing her, plot wise, seems dumb. A lot could've been learned, and better yet expanded on for the player. I don't feel like the in game content ever did Scarlet's story justice. There would have been a lot of potential and seeing her develop and reform more along side the player. Every group needs that one character that brings a bit of levity to counter all the peaches & cream dialog. Scarlet could have been that. At the least, she would've been more interesting to have around than Kasmeer and Majory.

I hope Rox gets more screen time at least. Her scene with Braham had legit feels to it. Out of all the living story stuff, she's the only character that has had some genuine growth
Click to expand...

This isn't naruto where you have some ultra paragon of justice who can convert any villain to his side. Scarlet had caused untold death and destruction, killing scores of people and doing insane amounts of damage. Not 5 minutes before that scene she had been actively trying to kill you and your party. All without even a shred of mercy, remorse, etc.

I doubt there was a soul in Tyria who wouldn't have finished her off on the spot.
 
K

Kos Luftar

Member
crazepharmacist said:
So I just purchased an R7-265 graphics card. I know this game is mostly CPU intensive(running I7920@4ghz) but do you think this card will be able to max the settings at ultra/high and super sampling at 1080p? I'm coming from an old 4890. GW2 is the only game I play so I'd really like to be able to max it. Otherwise any kind of hardware upgrade for me is pretty pointless.
Click to expand...

I don't know much about that card but I have a 7950 with i5-2500k not overclocked. I got everything on High, but no post-processing and i get a pretty steady 60fps at 1080p but that is usually when I am the only one in the screen. As soon as the battles start the frames drop, and depending on how big the battle and how many people you have around you the further down the frame drops.

My culling setting are set to High Character Quality, and Medium Character Limit (sometimes drop this to Low in big zergy fights).
 
M

Mxrz

Member
Mr_Antimatter said:
This isn't naruto where you have some ultra paragon of justice who can convert any villain to his side. Scarlet had caused untold death and destruction, killing scores of people and doing insane amounts of damage. Not 5 minutes before that scene she had been actively trying to kill you and your party. All without even a shred of mercy, remorse, etc.

I doubt there was a soul in Tyria who wouldn't have finished her off on the spot.
Click to expand...

If we want to go with that type of in-game reasoning then the Charr should've wiped out the humans (and everyone else) long ago. But that would make for a meh game. There are allowances made on a lot of different levels, but especially in regards to its mmo nature. The in-game reasoning for that rings really hollow all things considered. It would've been neat to have seen an actual discourse instead of just puns and some action-one liners.

I just don't find any payoff in watching the friendly NPCs talk to one another, or get giggity in cincematics. I honestly cannot see the merit in spending all the time and effort on stuff like that over allowing the player to interact with the game's primary antagonist over the last year.
 
M

Mr_Antimatter

Member
Mxrz said:
If we want to go with that type of in-game reasoning then the Charr should've wiped out the humans (and everyone else) long ago. But that would make for a meh game. There are allowances made on a lot of different levels, but especially in regards to its mmo nature. The in-game reasoning for that rings really hollow all things considered. It would've been neat to have seen an actual discourse instead of just puns and some action-one liners.

I just don't find any payoff in watching the friendly NPCs talk to one another, or get giggity in cincematics. I honestly cannot see the merit in spending all the time and effort on stuff like that over allowing the player to interact with the game's primary antagonist over the last year.
Click to expand...

The char tried, for hundreds of years, to do just that. They failed. Heck, a good chunk of the storyline in the char areas involves folks who don't want to lay down their arms, on ether side.

The idea of the villain breaking it all down for you before the end is well, extremely cliche. At the point of scarlets end, no one honestly cared to hear her side of the story, after everything she had done. Anger, and wrath were what was on their minds at that point. There wasn't a person in that room, nor lion's arch proper, who didn't want her head then and there.

We know a bit about her motivations and mindset via the last few events, her journal, the short stories, etc. We don't need to play 20 questiosn with her at the end to figure out what was going on. I suspect a good deal of the early season two stuff will revolve around her actions and their consequences, and we'll see at last what she thought she was trying to do.
 
P

Proven

Member
Miktar said:
What's the dumbest, most idiot-proof Warrior build for general play, like dungeons and EotM? I need to get this dumb charr to 80 so I can put the Blade backpiece on him, for the achivement.
Click to expand...

Make a new backpiece. Unless you're set on saving the money it'll be a lot faster.
Edit: Unless it's for the Equip Your Own Backbone. Doh.

Sonicbug said:
Urgh. I keep crashing to desktop during the knight fights and getting kicked to empty overflows. Apparently it's happening to ... what else, mac users. =/
The one time I managed to jump back in and make it through a portal I instantly got stuck and killed. Awesome.

So, if I have a backpack I can skip to the final cutscene right? I think I might just do that. I can't wait around until anet decides to fix or not fix the issue.
Click to expand...
Not a Mac User, but it's been sometimes crashing for me too. I have not been happy.
 
G

GrizzNKev

Banned
Finally back from my ban. I'll definitely never be rude to anyone again. Still with the girlfriend during her spring break though, so I'll be back on Saturday night.

And I think I'm ready to say now that I've made it this far, tomorrow I have an interview with ArenaNet. At 3 PM PST. Wish me luck!
 
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