Edgy dialog

[Rauderi.8706]

Just gonna throw it out there, because I find it odd...

 

Why was it necessary to start dropping more and more needless profanity? It's not out of some pearl-clutching, aghast sensibility, but just that it's weird in the context that it's used, especially after years of cleaner dialog. 

 

More to point, it's the scrubbing of the unique racial dialog and forcing them all to sound Human. For what? It was already starting with Rytlock in IBS (already being far more Human than a typical Charr with his unusual attachment to his kid) and then I end up hearing an Asura drop "godkitten" . . when they don't.. y'know.. have gods. (Though I suppose no one has gods now fuhuhu)

 

It just kind of sinks in that there's still some CW-level writing going on, and a lot of the world's charm is getting washed because leaning on modern language is easy. 

[DarcShriek.5829]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one that has this opinion about the language in the game.  It turned me off on multiple occasions where I thought it was totally unnecessary.

[Batel.9206]

You said it: because leaning on modern language is easy. After all, it's eDgY and sHoCkInG to have somebody casually drop a hard obscenity, right? It shows just how dire/shocking/bad/awesome the situation is, right?? ...no, it just reduces this fantasy world to everyday life.

That asura curse wouldn't even make sense if they were human. Wouldn't a human say gods[blip]? As in, plural? Because there are/were Five Gods? That would at least make sense in the context of this world, but it would still be rather startling after what's come before in the game.

(As an aside - someone else was complaining about one of the characters dropping an f-bomb somewhere in the EoD story. Never did get a straight answer on that: does that actually happen? Because that's just...bizarre.)

[Witch of Doom.5739]

I agree, and no, I don't have the Victorian pearl-clutching aversion to profanity either.  I just don't like it when it's the result of the lack of wit or presence to say something better or more intelligent.  Profanity shouldn't be a crutch.  ANet writers are better and smarter than this.  Just my two cents' worth.

[pallas.8150]

I won't lie, while I liked the STORYLINE, some of the dialogue was just cringe in general. 

Like... bad bad. Not even remotely good.

[AgentMoore.9453]

I've always considered profanity to be a form of punctuation, and so I'd say EoD's writing has far too many exclamation points. Not fantastic.

[Kikokuma.9405]

It seems like the story teams wants the game to be perceived as more of a mature game... but then they keep the story overall super PG (even more so than GW1 that was written like 2 decades ago) along with cringy teenage dialogue that they just throw random cuss words into now to.... spicy things up i guess? Like... throwing random cuss words into yer dialogue doesn't make a mature story. Mature themes make a mature story. 

[Taygus.4571]

I suppose I swear too much in normal day to day, rhat I didn't notice there was extra curses. It would help immersion if the curses were more race/lore based tho. 

[Gibson.4036]

Even though I don't swear much at all, I was pretty tone deaf to it. After we played for a bunch of time, my 15 year old son said, "They swear a lot".

Now that he's pointed it out, I notice it.

Obligatory "not pearl clutching" here, too. I mean, who can afford pearls?

[Rauderi.8706]

16 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

I mean, who can afford pearls?

I get nine Orrian Pearls every day from my home instance. Does that count? 🙃

[Tsakhi.8124]

I cuss a lot and even I was kind of thrown for a loop. I don't think it was edgy, per se, I just thought it was a strange departure from the usual sanitized game I've gotten used to. I don't mind cussing, but I do see how it can be a bit disconcerting given the past story arcs.  I did love the story, though.

[yoni.7015]

10 minutes ago, Jaunty.6018 said:

The writing is abysmal.  I had to do a double take several times when I heard someone cuss, use modern words and phrases, or when I saw a story mission called "Empty" which I first thought was a bug.  That's really all they could come up with?

But none of that pales in comparison to what I saw later on.  Anet just had to do it.  They just could not help themselves.

"Beat up the Bigot" quest objective.

After seeing that one it pretty much confirmed every suspicion I'd had about the writers.  The fact that there's only about 4 male characters in the whole story and half of them are unlikeable, obnoxious, loud, weak, naive, and/or just plain stupid.  Meanwhile every single female character is powerful, intelligent, and designed to be charming.  Even the ones who commit horrible atrocities get a redemption arc, or have their moments where you're supposed to feel something for them.  And of course, that "bigot" was a male.  Nothing like playing a game that makes you feel like the creators literally hate you because you were born with a kitten.  Look--I can't even say the word without it being censored.

Anet, your edgy writing and misandry has no place in Guild Wars.  Take that to Twitter.  Or better yet, realize that feminism is not about bashing men, and female dominance--it's about men and women existing together in harmony.  Equality.  Whoever wrote this garbo needs to be fired.  You have forever tainted Guild Wars.

You seem to have a problem with female characters that don’t behave like it’s 1950. I don’t consider the male characters to be just weak , naive or stupid. I really like Canach and Rama. 

Edited March 8, 2022 by yoni.7015

[pallas.8150]

22 minutes ago, yoni.7015 said:

You seem to have a problem with female characters that don’t behave like it’s 1950. I don’t consider the male characters to be just weak , naive or stupid. I really like Canach and Rama. 

I will say that it is a female heavy storyline - and I have no issue with that. It was kind of refreshing . Rama was awesome and Canach is always fun.

 

I WILL say it was a bit jarring (ie writing fail) that when one character tries to assassinate the Commander, they are imprisoned (the male character) and when the female character does the same thing, she is effectively given a free pass for it and a handwave. 

 

I don't think it was purposely anti male bias - but it was, honestly, poor storytelling and a bit of a headscratcher.

Edited March 8, 2022 by pallas.8150

[Kikokuma.9405]

9 minutes ago, Jaunty.6018 said:

The writing is abysmal.  I had to do a double take several times when I heard someone cuss, use modern words and phrases, or when I saw a story mission called "Empty" which I first thought was a bug.  That's really all they could come up with?

But none of that pales in comparison to what I saw later on.  Anet just had to do it.  They just could not help themselves.

"Beat up the Bigot" quest objective.

After seeing that one it pretty much confirmed every suspicion I'd had about the writers.  The fact that there's only about 4 male characters in the whole story and half of them are unlikeable, obnoxious, loud, weak, naive, and/or just plain stupid.  Meanwhile every single female character is powerful, intelligent, and designed to be charming.  Even the ones who commit horrible atrocities get a redemption arc, or have their moments where you're supposed to feel something for them.  And of course, that "bigot" was a male.  Nothing like playing a game that makes you feel like the creators literally hate you because you were born with a kitten.  Look--I can't even say the word without it being censored.

Anet, your edgy writing and misandry has no place in Guild Wars.  Take that to Twitter.  Or better yet, realize that feminism is not about bashing men, and female dominance--it's about men and women existing together in harmony.  Equality.  Whoever wrote this garbo needs to be fired.  You have forever tainted Guild Wars.

It's fine if you wanna throw bigotry in yer game... just have a REASON for it in the game world. And don't have some thinly veiled excuse mimicing real lifes issues to piggy back off of. And in the case of redemption arcs and whatnot... again have a REASON with STORY and PLOT to back up the redemption arc or else... why? Look at Caithe... She got a redemption arc. Why?.... soooo she can.... umm... err... babysit Aurene? And umm... errr... well... yeah that's about it. 
Look at Braham... he's gotten like 2 redemption arcs... why?... soooo he can... ummm... be more umm... stupid? Like seriously... i think Braham would ride the short dolyak if ya know what i am saying. If anyone was truly this dumb in tyria while still being in the front lines of battle he wouldn't last 2 minutes. Let alone being in world fate deciding battles... 
Story team needs to have some balls, tell some meaning full stories... remember when Aurene died? And everyone was left with that cliffhanger... dude tragic... Very next release, "just kidding! She is fine! Totally nothing to worry about!" Like why not let it sit for awhile? Let us panic... let us worry... let us feel like everything is lost and we are doomed while we get our butts handed to us for once and maybe even have other people killed off while Aurene is gone? Then when she comes back finally some people actually hate her for not coming back sooner... for not saving everyone.... why is this so hard for the story team to think of?

4 minutes ago, yoni.7015 said:

You seem to have a problem with female characters that don’t behave like it’s 1950. I don’t consider the male characters weak , naive or stupid. I really like Canach and Rama. 

No people have a problem with poorly written characters and stories... and they are everywhere now a days. Why everyone seems to hire these fanfiction writers is beyond me. And why you seem to be ok with subpar quality if beyond everyone who is actually asking for better. 

[yoni.7015]

1 minute ago, Kikokuma.9405 said:

No people have a problem with poorly written characters and stories... and they are everywhere now a days. Why everyone seems to hire these fanfiction writers is beyond me. And why you seem to be ok with subpar quality if beyond everyone who is actually asking for better. 

But he had specifically an issue with how female and male character are portrayed in his opinion. 

[Jaunty.6018]

6 minutes ago, Kikokuma.9405 said:

It's fine if you wanna throw bigotry in yer game... just have a REASON for it in the game world. And don't have some thinly veiled excuse mimicing real lifes issues to piggy back off of. And in the case of redemption arcs and whatnot... again have a REASON with STORY and PLOT to back up the redemption arc or else... why? Look at Caithe... She got a redemption arc. Why?.... soooo she can.... umm... err... babysit Aurene? And umm... errr... well... yeah that's about it. 
Look at Braham... he's gotten like 2 redemption arcs... why?... soooo he can... ummm... be more umm... stupid? Like seriously... i think Braham would ride the short dolyak if ya know what i am saying. If anyone was truly this dumb in tyria while still being in the front lines of battle he wouldn't last 2 minutes. Let alone being in world fate deciding battles... 
Story team needs to have some balls, tell some meaning full stories... remember when Aurene died? And everyone was left with that cliffhanger... dude tragic... Very next release, "just kidding! She is fine! Totally nothing to worry about!" Like why not let it sit for awhile? Let us panic... let us worry... let us feel like everything is lost and we are doomed while we get our butts handed to us for once and maybe even have other people killed off while Aurene is gone? Then when she comes back finally some people actually hate her for not coming back sooner... for not saving everyone.... why is this so hard for the story team to think of?

No people have a problem with poorly written characters and stories... and they are everywhere now a days. Why everyone seems to hire these fanfiction writers is beyond me. And why you seem to be ok with subpar quality if beyond everyone who is actually asking for better. 

Exactly.  The bigotry was absolutely jarring.  They did not even need to use that word to describe the guy, they just threw that in there to express their political views.  It worked in The Last of Us Part II because that was a modern world, with modern language and politics, and the bigot was a guy who actually acted like a bigot.  The lesbian relationship was central to the story.  It was believable.  In End of Dragons the devs just tossed in the word for no reason other than to say "This dev team is SO woke!"

 

And yeah, bringing back Aurene was awful.  That was the only moment in the whole story that moved me, when I thought we'd lost her.  How brave, I thought, for the writers to let that happen.  Imagine how much better that would have made the game.  People would still be talking about it to this day.  They'd replay old missions just to see her again.  But nope, instead they drained that moment of all its impact.

[KeoLegend.5132]

Yes. i want more.

Sadly we still don't have blood or harsh consequences. I hate playing a "Save The World Every Day - Discovery Kids version". 

The "edgy" conversations make it feel more real because if it was IRL we would be swearing all over the place

[Imba.9451]

I honestly don't mind cursing. It makes the world less sterile, the expressed emotions more believable. Clean dialogue always is an obstacle towards believability. Also, the characters didn't even curse that much. It was all withing a certain frame of what I think can be accepted as "realistic".

 

But I already feared for the story to have many "woke" elements ever since I saw the pronouns in the livestreams leading up to EoD. The storytelling integrity has reached a new low after Icebrood Saga.

 

My personal low point was the character refering to Yao as "they/them", as if this kind of rethoric is usual in the GW2 universe. And even if it was, how did they now Yao wants to be referred as such? Noone ever told anyone about this. It broke the immersion so hard, because it was plain obvious that this was inplemented because of someones political views.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Imba.9451

[Nightgunner.2896]

32 minutes ago, Jaunty.6018 said:

Exactly.  The bigotry was absolutely jarring.  They did not even need to use that word to describe the guy, they just threw that in there to express their political views.

Is this your first time interacting with the Guild Wars franchise? The bigotry of the Ministry of Purity isn't exactly a new concept.

[Minjin.8259]

And yet despite all the woke writing they turned the turtle/meta into Trump that divided the players of the game into two sides that hate each other.  Ironic huh.

[Jaunty.6018]

14 minutes ago, Nightgunner.2896 said:

Is this your first time interacting with the Guild Wars franchise? The bigotry of the Ministry of Purity isn't exactly a new concept.

Been playing since the beta of GW1.  Show me in any previous content where the writers used the word "bigot" or other loaded words used in modern discourse to instantly express political leanings.  I'll wait.

[Imba.9451]

1 minute ago, Jaunty.6018 said:

Been playing since the beta of GW1.  Show me in any previous content where the writers used the word "bigot" or other loaded words used in modern discourse to instantly express political leanings.  I'll wait.

To me, it started with Jormag being called "they/them".

I never had a problem before that. I actually liked how normal homosexuality was in the GW2 universe. Unrealistic, sure, but Tyria is not reality. It felt "natural" in that regard.

[Liewec.2896]

5 hours ago, Rauderi.8706 said:

I end up hearing an Asura drop "godkitten" . . when they don't.. y'know.. have gods

its just a saying, i say it too and i don't have a god either! 😉 i don't remember who said it because i missed it,

but if it was Taimi she's been around the others for long enough that she might start using their fraking slang! 😜 

(thankyou Battlestar Galactica!)

 

the only slight of out of place instance of language which i noticed as Rama calling his boss an A hole,

but it wasn't a big deal.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Liewec.2896

[Nightgunner.2896]

13 minutes ago, Jaunty.6018 said:

Been playing since the beta of GW1.  Show me in any previous content where the writers used the word "bigot" or other loaded words used in modern discourse to instantly express political leanings.  I'll wait.

That isn't what you said the your issue was before. The word "bigot" has existed since the late 1500s. It's not a "new word" or some kind of "modern political concept". They're simply using a word for its well-known definition. That's how language works.

[dusanyu.4057]

54 minutes ago, KeoLegend.5132 said:

The "edgy" conversations make it feel more real because if it was IRL we would be swearing all over the place

True but the characters would be using curses that make sense for there race not to mention hearing how a Char, Silvari Asura, or Norn use a colorful metaphor would have been a fun bit of insite into Our Characters cultures