[SPOILERS AHEAD] I have been sitting at 80 on my “main” necromancer in Guild Wars 2 for sometime. I have done a few dungeon runs, and with the token rewards, have gotten some very spiffy armor for him that I think looks smashing. Now, he sits in the high-level areas picking up orichalcum when he can while I level my alt characters. The problem, if it could be considered one, is that he is sitting at the level-75 story mission to…oh, I guess I should warn readers that there will be spoilers ahead if you missed the first words of this article. There will be spoilers.
As I was saying, my necromancer is sitting at the level-75 story mission to kill a mouth of Zhaitan, but I’ve yet to progress any further with it, and I feel I might never unless it is a blue moon and the planets have aligned. Before, I have stated that Guild Wars 2 would return the acronymic-term “RPG” back to the MMORPG genre, and I would say the game accomplishes this. Sadly, however, this is not because of the inhabitants of Tyria and their own little stories.
Despite a few, if not more, elements being cliched, the overall story is fairly standard with a few nuances that the world of Tyria lend itself to very well. This usually comes from the races and their plights and quirks. However, the biggest flaw of the story, and maybe even the game, is that most of the characters are near-forgettable, and the ones that are memorable are the ones I want to bash over the head with my scepter. Save for Rytlock, despite his character doing some silly things over the course of the game. Mainly saving Logan in the Citadel of Flame, but I digress.
The characters I met along the way doing story missions never seemed to stick out in my mind beyond their characterizations. Just when I thought I would get to learn about them a little more and start to like them, the game takes them away and tells me to play with someone else. One example of this are when, as a sylvari, I’m asked to help Trahearne (Whom, I point out, is second only to Logan in my spite simply because of his voice during cutscenes. It is the most dry and wholly emotionless voice that really sticks out and takes me out of story so much.) He (Trahearne) asked me to find his friend, Tegwen, who was searching for an artifact. Starting out, I met Carys, who is a sort of protegee of Tegwen and had a ‘Derpy Hooves’ vibe going on; Sort of simple-minded, almost “child-like” (which is a weird way to describe a sylvari) but always having good intentions and a good heart. In short, a lovable character that would make for a great adventuring buddy. But, once Tegwen is saved from the mirror artifact, I never see Carys again until much later for the shortest of time during the defense of Claw Island. And even still, when I talk to her, she acts as though we never met which really rustled my jimmies.
I can say the same thing for Tybalt Leftpaw, who’s character I would have the greatest bromance with except that he decided to go and die for no real good reason that I would know about because I never got to know the character or his reasons for anything. There were very few hints, and even then, they were very subtle. After completing the mission ‘Chosen of the Sun’, Tybalt very quickly, and very briefly, brings up his old warband with a single line of dialog, only to never talk about it again. Again, my jimmies were thoroughly rustled.
Despite having my jimmies rustled by these characters and their awkward departures from my own story, I still feel attached to them based purely on what I did witness of them fighting alongside them. I just can’t tell you anything about them and how they came to be where they are in the world. It’s a purely emotional experience which may work for some, but it leaves a lot to be desired of the characters and their own personal stories. I want their story more than simply it being a chapter in my own. Hopefully, though, in future travels across Tyria, I run across more ‘characters’ and not simple ‘characterizations’.
Also, I want a minipet version of Carys that shouts “Oh, brambles!” whenever I enter combat.
Stay lazy, characters.
