I take story decisions in games way too seriously. I'm the kind of guy who still gets disgusted every time I see Stormcloaks wandering around in Skyrim's Whiterun because I decided to side with Ulfric in my favorite playthrough (just to get the swanky house he offers, even though I disagree with almost everything about his arrogant, quick-fix separatist views). Two nights ago I found Guild Wars 2 forcing me into a similar decision at level 25: I could align my Norn Ranger with the intellectual, history-loving scholars of the Durmand Priory (which complements my academic background), or I could join the in-your-face rabble of warriors known as the Vigil (which, I'm sad to say, probably complements my essential temperament). There was also secretive Order of Whispers, but I've never been a big fan of underhanded methods.
And you don't get less underhanded than this.
I immediately started wondering if I made the wrong decision.
It's a big step, and one you can't undo. I eventually chose the Priory out of a desire to learn more about Tyria's dwarves (who, like the Elder Scrolls' Dwemer, are largely out of the picture even if they're not completely extinct), and I immediately started wondering if I made the wrong decision. Not because the first couple of missions with the Priory weren't interesting -- we did, after all, immediately get to the business of exploring dwarven tombs -- but because I worried that my scholarly path would be light on the hacking and slashing I could almost certainly expect from siding with the Vigil. My mentor was a jaunty Sylvari, who struck me as a chlorophyll-powered incarnation of Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, and her grumpy Asuran overseer bore all the dour academic command of Alan Rickman's Snape. But not to worry: after scolding my mentor for taking me on a dangerous mission without his permission, he immediately sent us into the depths of enemy territory to hack and slash our way toward enlightenment.Lore With a Bite
As you can probably tell, there's enough story floating around in Guild Wars 2 to satisfy any lore hound, even if it's only lightly touched on in the hearts and dynamic events that make up most of the gameplay. You get the most of it from your personal storylines, which you customize by answering vague questions at the character-creation screen. In my case, I chose the option that had me losing a prized warhorn owned by one of my ancestors, and many of the first levels revolved around following the legendary Norn Ranger Eir Stegalkin across the Shiverpeak Mountains after we learned that the warhorn was far more powerful than it originally seemed. In the beta, I played a human who'd always wanted to join the circus, and that storyline took me through a wild ride of bar fights and bandit tussles while I investigated some strange proceedings at the local circus.
But the circus didn't let me run around on these contraptions.
Most of the time you'll simply be watching the proceedings as you would a movie.
All of this takes place amid a see-saw of cinematics and instanced action sequences that will be familiar to anyone who played Star Wars: The Old Republic. In Guild Wars 2's favor, ArenaNet limits these cinematics to the story-based quests, and unfortunately they're far less dependent on choice than those in SWTOR. Most of the time you'll simply be watching the proceedings as you would a movie, although Guild Wars 2 suffers a bit in that the cinematics aren't the rich, dramatic sequences you find in BioWare's MMORPG. Without exception so far, cinematics consist of my character standing opposite the person she's talking to with appropriate physical gestures acted out by both interlocutors, which would quickly grow boring if the story itself weren't largely enjoyable. If you're not the kind of person to sit through such fluff, though, you can always skip to the end, although you'll undoubtedly be taken by surprise when a major choice does get thrown your way.The good thing about the choices is that they almost always affect the gameplay of the instanced missions, such as when I had to choose between being transformed into a minotaur to slaughter some evil Norns or disguising myself and Eir as beer merchants to slip into their hideout undetected. Both choices ended in combat, although the style of its execution was considerably different. By the time I had to make my big decision to join either the Durmand Priory, The Order of Whispers, or the Vigil, I had enough experience with my own personal story to decide which faction's playstyle best suited me, although there's little indication up until the moment you actually have to choose that there's even going to be a choice.
A Killer Ending
They're also quite challenging. ArenaNet spread out the personalized story quests by tailoring them for every other level or so, presumably to keep you out in the world completing dynamic events and hearts instead of spending all your time on the story, but they're still tough as nails at the appropriate levels. At least three times I've found my character completing a storyline in her underwear because all of her gear was broken, and I had the boss' health down too far to abandon the mission and come back at a higher level. In a way, this punishment is good. It forces me to make smart use of secondary abilities (which you unlock through points that you accumulate as you level and explore), particularly since many of these add crowd-control utility and extra damage or healing. There were a couple of secondary abilities, in fact, that I never would have dreamed of using until the challenges in the story mode forced me to unlock them and realize their usefulness. And the best thing? You can always bring along a friend if things get too tough.
Who needs armor when you have a few rocks to throw?
Hey, what's wrong with underhanded methods? I find that a little cloak-and-dagger action, properly applied, can go a long way. Which of the three factions speaks most to your style of play?
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