Hitherby some spoilers
The Edge of the Mist is quite possibly the most beautiful map in Guild Wars 2. The only negative I have is I’m a bit unsure of all the clouds getting in my way. Otherwise I am just in awe. The land is so rich. I stop and stare at some statues with tattered flags, and get run over by a zerg. The landscapes in Guild Wars 2 continue to get better and better.
Edge of the Mists, the new World vs. World (“WvWâ€) map is also rich in secondary mechanics. For instance, one can turn into an invincible ball of light for a few minutes to scout. Or, sick of your professions lack of awesome? Turn into a Kodan with all new skills that make the current kings of Guild War(riors) 2 jealous. There are bridges to destroy, pre-built cannons to fire, and it feels much more like a huge sandbox instead of the comparatively sterile environment of WvW proper. I like it a lot better, but I am going to have to spend significant time to understand it all. Initial reports say it is amazing for small scale PvP, and bring your stability and knockbacks because falling deaths are what’s on tap.
I think everybody understands, including ArenaNet, how poorly Scarlet was conveyed. It sucks for “The Enemy†to feel so trope-y and distant. Her story is hopefully coming to a close, although with a nuclear bomb of a closer it seems.
On the other hand, I am in love with Destiny’s Edge Zwei! Braham and Rox were a little rough in starting. However, I’ve really begun to love Braham’s caricature of rebellious teen. He reminds me a lot now of Conner from Assassin’s Creed 3. Rox is pretty good, but I feel much of her story is in Rytlock’s shadow. Hopefully that will change.
My favorites are Marjory and Taimi by far. Marjory’s text and voice overs are just brilliant. She gives off that 1920’s radio hour vibe without it being overdone. Taimi is an asuran youngster who relies on her golem in the way many kids rely on their wheelchairs. ArenaNet is doing a brilliant job of it just feeling real. She’s not the disabled asuran, first. That’s just a bit of her. Notable, sure. But not forced down our throats.
It’s the same way with Marjory and Kasmeer’s relationship. They seem like good partners. I can label it lesbian, homosexual, or whatever, but ArenaNet has done such a good job of showing That Doesn’t Matter. What matters is they are a pair. Braham and Rox might become a pair too. Good for them. It’s just so good to view things for what they are instead of having all these labeled prejudices and connotations come first.
Kasmeer is the one I’m still not sure about. She feels the least fleshed out. She’s in Marjory’s shadow, and she kind of has that ignorable pretty, rich girl vibe. Kasmeer’s not quite comic relief in some conversations, but it comes close…. so that kind of puts her even more in the prop room. Hopefully she will have a chance to shine later on.
The main story instance was a bit long, but it’s a good recap. What I really liked throughout this bit of the Living World portion was that I was the conveyor of a critical bit of information: the Lion’s Arch probe turning green. I had something to tell the NPC’s, which is kind of an MMO trope role-reversal. It was good. It seems each release the story is getting clearer and better.
The chatter is also great. I find that each time I enter the Edge of the Mists I want to see what Braham and Taimi are chatting about. The NPC chatter has become such a great feature in the Living World updates, and I hope ArenaNet continues the trend. I feel like the chatter puts me more immersed in the world than if I ran up to named NPCs and clicked on them to see what vital information they had. I think the chatter also allows ArenaNet to impart more run-of-the-mill talk that would be seen as a waste if I had to click through it.
I want to know what’s behind Scarlet. My guess is either a god (one of the evil three of Guild Wars 1), or something greater than a god. I tend to doubt it’s an elder dragon. Scarlet and krewe seemed unconcerned with that. But, I am also ready for her to be finished as the story’s fulcrum. Honestly, Taimi’s interest is what is really driving my interest in Scarlet at all beyond mere Big Bad.
Back to learning the crazy world of Edge of the Mists.
–Ravious
Do we have some hard evidence for the “nuke LA” theory yet? I heard people talking about it at Marionette and now you’re voicing it too. All I’ve seen so far is player speculation, though.
I agree on Destiny’s Edge 2.0. Not had a chance to investigate EOTM but it’s interesting how your take on it is diametrically the opposite of Jeromai’s and Mrs Bhagpuss. Guess I’ll have to go see for myself.
Well it seems pretty clear the target is LA. And then as you examine each thing in the story instance it’s like “here’s a horrible thing” “here’s another horrible thing”, and so on. So…. I’m just assuming all those horrible things will likely come to fruition since we seem incapable of getting ahead of Scarlet.
I suspect a little bit of misdirection, actually. Probably not to the point where Scarlet blows up Divinity’s Reach instead of LA, but I don’t think LA is her primary target per se.
She’s trying to drill and/or poison something underground, and LA is probably going to be collateral damage simply because that something is underneath LA.
That something might be Primordius, Mordremoth, wherever the leylines of magic are congregating or a bloodstone, but that’s probably what she’s going for.
I’m expecting an event with at least -some- impact and consequence on the world though, after all this tiresome buildup, though admittedly the story conveyance has gotten better since the Wintersday break.
I have not, in the past, been a fan of the theories that claim that the Pale Tree originates with the unknown jungle dragon (tentatively Mordremoth). However, one has to admit, between the fact that Scarlet seems to be driven by an outside force which has partial control of her mind, and the in-game theorising that what she encountered in Omadd’s machine was a hidden part of her own psyche… it’s starting to look less unlikely.
I’m really, really curious about how this finale event goes. If they actually take LA out of action for any length of time due to disaster, I will be pleasantly surprised.
With relation to Edge of Mists, I think it is funnier than the normal wvw maps. I fear we will see an uninteted consequence: more people playing Edge of Mists than playing wvw maps…
With relation to living story so far, I think that need put the info we get from last chpater under spoiler tags. Yes, the target will be LA and something big will happen there that probably will be like a “nuclear” attack to that city.
I am not sure what Anet intend to do, but they said they will change everything and we know they changed a full zone with the living story. So, I guess we see something very big happening to LA, maybe the complete destruction of the city or maybe we will have parts of the city destroyed after the event. Remember that some players explored deep down LA sewers and aparently found a dragon there…
With relation to how the living story was made so far, I hope Anet learnt the hard lessons and try tell us a better story next living events, with better villains and with better ways to tell us that story. Some cutscenes were genial, but other events were not a good way to tell us a story.
PS
If they intend to create a tengu starting city sooner or later, the Edge of Mist map is a good preparation for that. I guess that tengu city and starting zone will be full with floating isles.
@João Carlos
“Remember that some players explored deep down LA sewers and aparently found a dragon there”
Where did you read that pls? Players actually found the dragon? got any links pls?
deep down LA sewer system there is an underwater cave with sunk ships.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpVjM3cq0tE
around beta, some people found a giant dragon eye deep below that place. sadly, the links to that pictures are lost and google don’t help me.
some people think Zaishen is hiding below LA. http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1ek2bm/zaishen_in_lions_arch/
Interesting. I remember hearing about that, but never saw any evidence. Thanks!
ah thanks for the link. However the current fan favourite seems to be elder dragon Mordremoth somewhere under LA and Scarlet plan to kill him and LA will be collateral damage. It will be fun to see what actually happens!