Your opinion on 'Real Life References' in Guild Wars

They are all references to something.

Useless? I think I may have something to say about that.

Besides, the skill was created on these very forums (I should know, I was one of the people who helped perfect it).

That's would be more pretentious than "right" IMO: the current tech pretty much guarantees that you are well aware you're playing a game at all times. From the graphics to the controls to the AI glitches, there is very little illusion in the first place. Games don't exhibit any of that "suspension of disbelief" that movies can achieve, there is no point in providing yet another reminder.

Before I even owned the first GW game, back in 2005, I was browsing through some skill lists and rofl'd at "For great justice!". I figured a game with a skill like that can't be bad, and I bought it soon after .

They really need to make a WRYYYYYYYYYY--! shout.

Obviously there are some SF fans among the developers too...The mission Pogahn Passage is an example. If you thought the mission area from the top looked like an unfinished death star, just take zhed along into the mission and here the discussion about his disguise....sounds a lot like a chewbacca impersonation.

And there are multiple references to Babylon 5 aswell...ah well there's plenty out there and I think it's fun.

made me laugh, and there's nothing wrong with that. Besides, it's not like GW is the only game ever to have done it. If you kept clicking on the characters in Warcraft they would say pop culture quotes as well. I think it was the Shaman of Warcraft III that would say "what, what, whaaat?" in the voice of Cartman's Mum. Pop culture is notorious for self-consciously referencing itself, and as GW as a game is already pop culture, it only makes sens.

i don't argree Monty Python was just stupid you probably just don't understand the source of the sketches
favorite items and skills
"Don't Fear The Reaper" Blue Oyster Cult
"Only a Flesh Wound" Holy Grail
and there was one i really laughed at but cant remember now

PS i think you mean Kyles mum not Cartmans :P

I Love them! The first time I saw a hench Ranger say "Head Shot, " (Unreal, Unreal Tournament) I almost fell out of my chair!
Also the one "It's a trick. Get an axe," (Ash from Army of Darkness).

Watch out!! Dunkoro is Borg!! "Resistance is futile."

I'm waiting for an NPC names Bahb Brakur to remind us all to get our mini-pets spayed or neutered.

(Not everyone will get this...)

But the ones that do will laugh uproariously, MSecorsky. Well played!!

I think the pop-culture references are a reminder to laugh a little bit, to be honest. I giggled like a 4th grader when I first found the More Cowbell quest, and again when I first encountered Enadiz the Hardheaded. The inscription titles, some of the shouts, and of course, Grabthar's Hammer are, plainly, pure entertainment gold. Kudos to the GW team for them all; it's a wonderful thing to see that the devs like having some fun, too.

And I don't see the big deal, either. If you get the "jokes," well, good on ya. If you don't, you're not missing anything.

I love them mainly my it's just a flesh would skill pin lol.

But the my apartment smells like rich mahogony or whatever....not so much>.>

I find way too many quite low-level references.

But we should not forget for what audience GW is targetted. If it is the average teenager, no wonder. Sorry to sound so negative, but it is really sad. I am pretty sure most do not even get half the references, but an older person does.

A strong writer can make good jokes without needing to refer to this or that permanently. I would like GW:EN to have a decent story, not only being a collection of one juvenile joke after another. That is poor man's humor.

This said, why hire Jeff Grubb if this is the end all of it... I hope this is not the pinnacle of his creativity. "Tymora's Luck" dates back to 1997, and since that he wrote some good novels for Magic: The Gathering, but his Warcraft and Starcraft novels are full of contradictions and just suck so much that Christie Golden should be nominated for the Hugo Award for her work, and I do not really have high expectations for novels based upon videogames.

Sometimes I wonder WHO is responsible for the many references. It seems like everyone has an idea and they all get used in the game. In this case, no wonder: Too many cooks spoil the broth.

I find the references are great. It shows the folk at ANet are human, and can relate to the real world's trends and whatnot. I'm as big of a fan of lore as anyone, though these humorous aspects bring out the lighter tone of Guild Wars.

And come on. Who doesn't feel great when they just figure out on their own the meaning of something?

"Victory is mine!"
"Can't touch this!"
"For great justice!"

Immersion is one of my favorite aspects of games, but, indeed, we need to be reminded of reality once in a while. Or at least it seems that we should, though, personally, even as a GW addict, I still have no problems remembering reality while still immersing myself.

I wonder why so many here say they "need to be reminded of reality once in a while".

If someone is really addicted to a videogame he does not get brought back to sanity because of some real world references ingame. GW, mostly due to its instanced nature, does not have this virtual world siphon effect that some "real" MMORPGs have.


I would prefer some more stuff along the lines of Lukas, the Kurzick Warrior Henchman. They play with the Wammo cliche quite nicely, this is much more to my liking than the overkill of references in inscription names and shouts.

Seamen! And they're sticky!

I love the references, but sometimes there's just too much for me.

I didn't.... Google Image Search is my friend.
I don't blame you for wanting it though.
I do have the Jojo Dreamcast game, and the Jojo OVA. Jojo Manga is next on my list.... if I can likewise find it somehow.


Emote. Blatantly needed. If it was just a shout then only certain classes could use it, and it couldn't be used in outposts.
... Besides... if it was to be used actually IN combat, the whole dropping of the steamroller would have to be there too otherwise it would be messed up and out of context.

In fact... you have no idea how frequently I've had bizarre little daydreams where I managed to hack GW, add Dio Brando as a character.... then play him in an Alliance Battle.

Hmmm... knockdown and do 200 damage to target foe and adjacent foes... followed by about 20 strikes of 50 damage each.

EMOTE! >_<;;

Some people pointed out skill names and such were named accordingly after the community told Anet it would be a good idea to add these names (like Can't Touch This, for anti-touching). So maybe this is one way to please the community.

On the other hand, way back before the addition of Sorrows Furnace, we were asked to name a few bosses. Some of the names are indeed funny (Yakslapper) without having to rely on any movie/book/artist or something.

Imagine the Asuran culture lore (they look Mayan/Aztec) is filled with references to the ... smurfs. :>

Or with Stargate references....

http://pc.ign.com/articles/790/790230p1.html

And browse the pictures