Your opinion on 'Real Life References' in Guild Wars

For quite some time Arenanet is using Real Life References for naming various aspects of their game. Boss names like Enadiz (Zidane), cultural references in titles (People Know Me and such) and oneliners taken from movies and converted to the GW-universe (Balthazar blasted drakes on a plain...)

At first glance, I liked these little inside-jokes. Made me wonder what funny boss would be around the next corner. On the other hand, these references completely destroy the world of GW for me, making it just a substitute of our world. Compared to other roleplaying games, GW hasn't got decades of lore to back it up, everything has been invented in the last 5 years or so. So I'd rather have some references to the 'Gods of Old' or such, further expanding the GW-universe, then yet another funny remark about a new song some populair person has just released.

I'd like to hear some of your opinions about this matter. Are you people content with all these references, or would you rather like a closed-off world?

Gr. Arduinna

you want games with lots of lore? play text based games where the author writes up 10 pages of the stuff and see whether you can read through half a page of goblin warlord god masters rebellion or something

well they only destroy the game if you know the refernce, few of them are game breaking (no comment on the latest KoaBD)

you can always just pretend they arnt there?

I love them personally, specially the shouts

I think keeping in touch with reality is a good thing...No matter how bad someone wants to emerge themselves in another "world"...it can cause problems in your actual life if you become too detached from it. I know tons of my own guildies who have skipped school/work to stay home and play guild wars, or who have stayed up too late the night before playing, so they sleep in the next day. I find that even this is a little disturbing but...to each his own.

Aside from the latest titles in the KoaBD track, I find the real life references quite refreshing and amusing.

Well, I for one like to immerse myself completely into a video-game. As far as I can tell, I am still able to keep in touch with the real world, but I now some (Asian?) people died because they played a video-game for over 24 hrs non-stop. So it's a positive thing developers are implenting stuff to keep you from getting addicted, 'you have been playing for x hours' is a nice example.

When I first started playing Guild Wars, at the official launch date 2 yrs ago, a whole new world opened for me. You got 5 Gods, everyone of them worshipped by certain professions, you got the Guild Wars themself, a remnant of the past. There was a mysterious desert, where people were seeking 'ascencion' to get them closer to the Gods... It seems to me that a lot of the mystique has been left out during the release of the two succeeding chapters. People are so fucosed about what new armor/green weapons/skill will be released, it seems to me the entire story gets a bit neglected by all this new content...

So....you'd prefer they have less new content simply so that you can completly block out having a life outside your computer?...I think you're a minority here.

And besides, I quite like the references from movies and such. I laughed so hard when I first did the 'drakes on a plain' quest. And the Grabthar's Hammer green(reference from Galaxy Quest) had me smiling too. It's not like everything that happens in the game is a reference, so if you want to stay with the story then stay to the story, do nothing but missions, whatever makes you happy.

I don't mind as long as they at least somewhat still fit in; things like 'I'm Very Important' at least make sense in context.

If you don't read the wiki notes or the forum posts about where people think ANet got the name, you'll probably never connect it on your own, at least not to the same source.

To me Nightfall means Isaac Asimov's short story, but when suggested, it was immediately decried as not being a possible connection. (No one reads the classics anymore.) As the story concerns a struggle to prevent the fall of civilization, I thought it was more relevant than the first 3D game.

I also (not being male) am not a big Monty Python fan nor a fan of the "how stupid can it get" movies. (Not bashing, proven facts about male/female preferences in TV/films.) In addition, I don't seem to listen to the right music, so I missed all those connections.

So, ignore the posts by the trivia hunters and stick to the Lore section of guru for your satisfaction. They have created some wonderful background for GW.

I agree with Arduinna.

Too many pop culture references destroy the immersion and are rather cheap. This asks if the actual story of the game itself is so weak that it cannot make do without thigh slapper one-liners or pop culture references.

Do not get me wrong, those references are nice in the right dose. But they have totally overdone it with inscriptions and in Nightfall's quests/NPCs.

hahahahahahahahha

I don't really like the cornball references either. It's cute but when entire quests are based on bad pop culture jokes it becomes a bit much.

It's kind of hard to feel any immersion anyway when you occasionally get messages like "so-and-so wins the Hall of Heroes and keeps the favor of the gods for Europe"

This thread (and others like it) just go to show that there are some people that just must have something to complain about, no matter how inane it looks to every one else.

I think that the pop-culture references, smartly done, are great - I also lol'd at 'Drakes on a Plain'. However, sometimes in Nightfall it seems like almost every shout and inscription seems to be a reference to some film or song, and at times it can get a bit close to breaking immersion for me. It's not a big issue by any means, but it's something which, ideally, I'd like to see handled with a bit more restraint in future.

It reminds us that games are just games. It's GOOOOOD to be in contact with REALITY.

Of course everyone is free to play this game to their liking, and I know I've enjoyed it a lot for the past 2 years and will probably enjoy it as much for the years to come. Maybe Guild Wars 2 gives the developers a new oppertunity the make the GW-universe a bit more compelling.

Stuff like 'zone-wide-events' made me get excited already, I did like the Factions idea of the Luxon-Kurzick Alliance Battle, if not the implimentation... If something like this is implemented in Guild Wars 2, like some epic battle, or the need to defend a town against an onslaught of monsters in realtime (defend Ascalon from the Charr?) it will be a nice addition to the game. These kind of content would give you the feeling you actually are important to this world, and not some innocent bystander that randomly finishes some quests or missions and isn't bothered what's going on in the rest of the continent.

Gr. Arduinna

My opinion is that you're taking it far too seriously. You dont think using references from films like "Anker man" is funny? Its Anet having a laugh, and paying homage to a great comedian and film.

Lighten up a bit

Came to post this. Stop complaining people.

It's funny.

Especially the Monty Python references. There are loads of Monty Python references such as "It's just a flesh wound", "Victory is mine", "None shall pass", "Victory is mine".

Just look at these and you'll understand.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Special...y+python&go=Go

But yeah, to be honest, the new titles in KoaBD track are going too far.