Monday, June 18, 2012

Almuten Mansion


One of my favorite places in the game is a rather out-of-the-way house called Almuten Mansion in Gendarran Fields.

At first glance you notice two themes: a cool-looking mansion and a rather bland renown heart asking you to clean up the house. If you are unfamiliar with renowns, these are extremely different from dynamic events, and instead are basically your standard run of the mill quests with the reward of permanently unlocking a vendor offering you decent upgrades. However, as I completed the arguably “boring” quest, I slowly became attached to the place.

What I really began to feel was the complexity of the emotions and storyline of the household. The pretentious asura owners, the eager little golem-butler, the over-worked servants, the salty uncle, the heroic Norn bodyguard Tholaun, and of course the absolutely, adorable Mipp. Mipp is the daughter of the owners, and shows the kindness that her parents so desperately lack. She is really the only small joy to be found in that giant, sprawling mansion.

As I began to clean up spills around the lavishly covered floors, I fell in love with that gorgeous little asura. I had nearly completed the renown, when suddenly a dynamic event started. Pirates broke in and began killing the guards and stealing valuables around the house. Mipp and her parents were transported in the corner of the basement by the bodyguard Tholaun, and I struck up a position attempting to stop the bandits from pouring in. This event was a little overtuned, at least for a single player, but God did I have fun. I was simply overwhelmed by the numbers of pirates, and kept aggroing far too many. I couldn’t even save the guards or gain enough time to resurrect them, and I began fighting for my life. I tried using the environment as an advantage, ducking behind hallways or pillar to line of sight my enemies, but I was slowly pushed back from the entrance. Wave after wave pushed offensively against the house, and I fell under their oppressive weight. When I resurrected and ran back, the valuables were stolen, Tholaun downed, and worst of all, precious Mipp was taken. For the first time in Guild Wars 2, I failed an event. Not only that, but I failed adorable, little Mipp. I vowed my revenge.

I began to resurrect Tholaun and once up, triggered another event. Tholaun, having lost his beloved Mipp, began running off to rescue her from the pirates. I ran after him, and along the way we picked up a couple of other players. At the end of the day, we fought long and hard, and eventually saved the day. We returned Mipp to her parents, and I actually was moved by the dialogue between Tholaun and Mipp.

What started out mundane ended up being a wildly, thrilling ride with a complex, multi-layered storyline woven in. From my point of view, dynamic events really have made the world of Tyria seem alive and offers the opportunity to actually become attached to the NPC’s around you. A feat, to be frank, no other MMO has managed to pull off.


(Image above adapted from guildwars2gossip.blogspot.com)

5 comments:

  1. Coming from the "ye olde wow" standpoint, Gw2 has an amount of attachment that I've never felt before in a game. I know comparing gw2 to WowW may be trite to fans of either game so I do apologize for that comparison but that is my background in MMO's. But I digress. GW2 has done a tremendous job in immersing a player into a world that you become a part of, where your character feels like an actual entity, where not only can you make decisions but you legitimately want to put your all in an event because you not only want to succeed but because you want to see your character be victorious. I agree with everything you've said Entombed. In other games, I make a character and that character can make it to max level or I delete him or I refer to him as whatever class he is, I.E. "let me get on my druid" or "let me log my warrior". But in gw2 I find myself having a bond with each character I try

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  2. FUUUURRRRRIIIAAAN!

    Yea I agree, I kinda am particulary fond of meh wee mesmer, despite only playing him one bwe. I'm kinda getting tired of watching videos and reading articles because I do not want to spoil the game and i want to experience it for myself.

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    1. Indeed. Instead of wanting to be shown where to go or what to do, I just want to wander around myself and see what mischief the world has for me. Now, if only I can find a profession that suits me.

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  3. Hmmm which ones have you tried so far?

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  4. well.... necro, ele, warrior, guardian, and thief. Now dont get me wrong, I've loved each one for their own reasons but I just havent found one that "feels" like me

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