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#guild wars 2 orr
mystery-salad · 1 month
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The world is safe now.
You tell yourself that as Zhaitan clings to a tower of decay, crumbling beneath its claws as the canons aim true. The shots hit, cheers raise as the dragon topples down. Falling from view through the miasma it created below. No one can hear it hit the ground over the relieved shouts of victory ringing across the airships. But everyone feels it in a resounding rumble that shouldn't have carried through the air like that. The celebrating falters, confusion rising but not fast enough to prepare for what follows. The shockwave hits like nothing you've ever felt. Everything goes dark as the screams begin.
The world is safe now, Orr is not.
You wake up in the rubble as survivors try to make sense of what happened. The dragon is dead, but no one accounted for where all the consumed magic had to go. No one planned for this despite generations of preparation. Perhaps there's a reason for the dragons, you hear murmurs through the tents. But you didn't come this far to call it quits, and one land riddled with a decaying radiation can't stop the mission. The contamination in your blood won't stop you.
The world is safe now. Orr is gone.
Mordremoth stares you down from within his mind. You're like a weed that won't die, small and foreign but resilient and ready to take everything. The odds are against you with the team sent away, you can't face the gaze of the dead like last time. They're safe at a distance, you have to hope they got far enough as you defy the odds and strike another dragon down.
The world is safe, but there's a catch.
Trahearne shudders as your mind returns to your body, as you look around in wonder that there isn't a shockwave like last time. He's so calm as he explains the truth of it, defying how terrified he is of dying, of asking a friend to do this and stand at ground zero once again. But you stand just as calm, picking up the blade and telling him to close his eyes. You hope he'll rest well, wherever his life takes him next. As the blade cuts through, you know it's real as the shockwave begins just like last time. You brace for impact as much as you can.
The world is safe now. The desert is gone.
It's almost tempting to let Balthazar handle the rest, let the god walk a path of destruction to each dragon, sparing yourself further damage. But his path leaves so much unnecessary devastation...so here you are alone with another dragon. Well, not completely alone now. You have Aurene, though you're still not sure if that's truly a blessing any more. The two of you corner Kralkatorrik, the perfect trap laid deep underground in old sunspear ruins.
The world is safe now, until the dragon takes a last stand.
Waking up in wreckage is becoming normal to you. When did that happen, when did the panic vanish? No time to think on it as new plans have to be laid out. You chase him down, you and your dragon, to kill her grandfather and save the world again. Setbacks are numerous. It's harder to work alone on this one, so many soldiers are ready to see it to the end with you. You tell them they don't know what they're asking for and send them away again. Aurene, still a child, fights the dragon's minions nearly overwhelmed as you get to his heart and strike. You've never seen the explosion from inside before. It's so bright.
The world is safe now. The island is gone.
Is it worth it all? It has to be, you tell yourself, as people celebrate your victories in a shrinking world. Refugees who have fled the fallout zones don't seem to agree, but at least they're alive right? And you know you're almost done. Jormag and Primordus, opposites and twins, rise together and somehow feel like childsplay after the last one. Perhaps it's because aurene is an equal to them now. You don't dare to think of the devastation that would be left if she were to die now. Thankfully you don't have to as the siblings tear each other apart.
The world is safe now. The mountains are gone.
No one has seen the final dragon in ages, hidden away deep underwater until you stumble into the truth while chasing a lesser threat. Soo Won was so gentle once, but the void ravages all. It feasts on the magic you released so willingly into the world, your devastations have paved the way for this chaos.
The world is safe now, for the void to reform.
You've survived so much despite the odds, held together by the very magic degrading your bones and poisoning your blood. The void pulls at those strings as it taunts you through the voice of the dragon who started it all. It's the hardest fight you've ever faced. As Aurene pumps you full of power to survive, you wonder if your death would bring destruction too in this moment. But it's left a mystery as Soo Won falls and the void fades. There's a moment of peacefulness you've never felt before, the grandmother hanging on long enough to comfort her granddaughter. But she can't prevent the state of her death. The jade sea shatters beneath your feet as she dies.
The world is safe now. But how much of it is left?
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commander-henrietta · 4 months
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I am not sure if this is common knowledge and that I am saying already known stuff, but Orrian location names are very much Arabic and I can only assume that is because of Orr being next to the Crystal Desert, which has actual mixes of Arabic elements in many corners of the game. Why do I know this? Because I have an Arab father, and I was raised in the Middle East as a muslim in an Arabic school.
When I was doing map completion yesterday on Henri, I noticed how some points of interests in Orr had ‘Al’ in them, and I immediately assumed it would be gibberish since that is all I find in western made media when it comes to anything ‘exotic’. Bring some sound, put ‘al’ in front of it, and voilà, you have ‘Arabic’ in your media. But no, I reread the names and realized that they actually have a translation, since the team actually written in a way that you can guess how it’s read in Arabic if you’re a native or have experience in native Arabic environments.
I will list all points of interests in Orr that I found that have Arabic and the most likely meant translation (as an Arabic speaker myself):
• Izz-al-Din Sarayi
With the context surrounding Orr’s lore and the Human lore + Charr/Human lore, this can very much be ‘عز الدين صراعي’. It’s a very blotchy sentence since it’s grammatically incorrect, but it basically means ‘I fight with pride for my religion’, ‘I battle with pride for my religion’. It makes sense because Humans are very religious in GW2, and Orr is even more so, while Charr denounce higher power and think Humans for shit. And they had a battle on Orr. BOOM.
• Din al-Jindi
This is a very clear one, words used in Arabic lessons a lot to form simple sentences. ‘دين الجندي’ which means ‘The soldier’s religion’.
• Bakkir Sarayi
Sounds like ‘بكّر صراعي’ or ‘بكير صراعي’, which sounds like ‘Early Battle’ in both. One’s just traditional and the other’s Lebanese dialect.
• Several PoIs in Malchor’s Leap having ‘Bayt’ in them
Which is just like the Grove having ‘House of Caithe’, ‘House of Niamh’ and so on. It’s again, grammatically incorrect, but Bayt means house or home. They even used Arabic names with them, but in wrong order. Still, to me this is like a very big thing.
• Zho'qafa Catacombs area
Sounds like ‘ذو كفه’ which is like ‘with his palms’, or could be with his stance, several different possibilities.
This may seem like a far reach for representation to some people, but these make sense, they mean something, so it can’t be a coincidence. I’m just happy Arabic was acknowledged in some way instead of the fake Arabic they use in media to make it seem ‘exotic’ or made as a parody.
Weeeeooooeeeeooooo
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vannahgw2 · 10 months
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I just think he's neat :)
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vampiricsheep · 22 days
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Malchor's Leap
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A friend started playing GW2 and now i get to relive the personal story through the eyes of someone so completely uncommitted to the story that we get to enjoy such stuff at:
Sylvari Personal Story:
Player character: This prophetic dream contained a terrible monster that I can only assume is a metaphor for the evil in the world.
Caith: Yeah, nah. That guy is real, he looks exactly like that. Thanks for the assist, he was very confused how psychic unborn children helped kick his ass.
Player character: OK, well...what about the mysterious unkillable green knight in my prophetic dream?
Caith: That guy is also just a guy, he's over there. Kick his ass, he's very much killable.
Player character: So you're telling me prophecies aren't real?
Caith: Nah, yeah. They're real, you just happened to dream about really specific things that are one to one how they appear outside of the dream.
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wyldhunt · 2 years
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kintsugi of golden sap
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sand-through-glass · 7 days
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I really do love Orr, this creepy city-above-water vibe it had was so good. I REALLY hope we come back to it at some point or get an expansion that lets us go to a largos city or something that has the same vibes.
Give me Tyrian Atlantis dammit.
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meeeeeeese · 7 months
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Guess who just got the possessed emote!
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This is fine. Everything's fine. th̴̡̡͚̠̳̹̼̦̥̩̤̄͗́̑̉̏̋̐͑̎̾̓̿͜ë̶̛̪͒̍̌̇͋̐̑͒͌̈́͒́ ̵̛̛̯̺̹̠̬́̊̆͑͠v̷̡̛͇̺͕͍̯͍̍ͅǭ̷̛̤̗̼̹̜͔̏̿̋̀̅͘̕i̷̡̙̜̱̟̤͇͍͚̿̓d̴̹͉̜̯̪̹͉͈̰͗͆͠ ̵̢̛̠̟̒̓̀̇̇h̵̛̫̮̫͇̤̞͕̫͚͓̯̒̋̉̀̈́͑͜ͅa̶̡̡̛̬̭̙̜̫̣̳̅̎̓̐̆̑̎̀͂̀̕͝͝͝s̷̢̙͚̘̫̥̉̏ͅ ̴̛̜̭̺̘̝̙̂̾͒̓͂̄̀̆̿͜͠ṅ̵̛͖̗̙͖̳̲̀̀̊̇̔͐͂̌͑o̸̧̞͑̄̈̔̎̓͋̈́̈̈́̈́̏ṯ̸̲̺̼͐̉̀̾̌͂͂̈́̆͊͆ ̴̻̟͕̝̳͓͙̟̣̜̜͙̤̔̎́̀̿̊͒̈̚ͅr̴̛̙̦̹̉̈́̀̔̚ę̷̡̫̝̤̳̟̰̞̙͔͙̤͐͘ͅt̴̢̜͇̗͙̯͎̭͎̋͜͝ͅu̷̞͈̜̪̻̘̝͐̋͗͊̕ṟ̶̢͖̥͖̟͉̆̿͐̇̎̀̽̃̍̃͜͝-̷̡̯͚͔̳̖̪͈̭͕̣̤̍̔̄̂
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achromant · 2 years
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Long Live Death
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aid-worker-sya · 11 months
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y'all ever think about that champion risen knight that exists solely to cockblock players from that one hero point in orr
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herald-of-aurene · 1 year
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I just found these two Sylvari in Siren's Landing! They're right next to each other and they have Caithe and Trahearne's faces
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gears2gnomes · 2 years
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The journey continues.
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I just got zone completion on Frostgorge Sound, and I do think it's one of the prettiest core maps.
(89% central Tyria map completion! I'm so close to my Gifts of Exploration.)
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vannahgw2 · 10 months
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Darkness pays Orr a visit.
With billowing robes of blackened silk,
She beckons us, arms outstretched.
I see my brothers walk forward, greet her as a friend.
So many fold themselves into her embrace.
And even over their cries, and the roars of the beasts,
I hear Darkness call to me with a promise.
But I close myself. I will not join her yet.
Another call is more beautiful,
And I will chase it back to you.
-Orrian Soldier's Carved Poem
Im not crying you are, I miss Trahearne, I used Elevenlabs for his voice. I wanted to know how I should animate him, if at all, saying this. What do you think I should do? Any audio editing advice helps too for quality voice (so we can cry harder together)
All character rights go to Anet
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mystery-salad · 2 years
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I had the wonderful chance to take @vampiricsheep‘s awe-inspiring Orr Tour with Ollie! And it was a truly great way to spend my time in game. Relaxing, fun, lots of amazing tour guide lines and trivia! And all in a map I hadn’t taken the time to enjoy the beauty of in a long time.
If you find yourself wandering the Orrian coast and you hear the tour guide’s shout, go sign up for a tour! You won’t regret it!
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Storyline Study: Personal Story
Yesterday, I reblogged various threads of a post about what makes "war stories" so special, and now I'm going to derail into GW2.
Please note that this may be colored slightly by the fact that I main human + Vigil story. Feel free to read that into this analysis. (Also, playing as norn I think puts a slightly different spin on the PS, so this doesn't apply to them as much.)
The reason I, personally, am so attached to GW2 is because of the reasons we're fighting. Core/PS was introduced with "the dragons are horrific eldritch abominations, forces of nature we can't HOPE to stop, whose champions' defeats take the sacrifice of whole races." This is literally the synopsis on the back of Edge of Destiny. The price of fighting is huge, on a national level and a personal one, and everyone in the story consistently chooses to pay it anyway. What's interesting is why.
PS opens up with the player, young, untraveled, and naive, fighting in defense of the only home they's ever known - the city they's lived in all their life (or the Dream they haven't set foot outside of yet). They spends the next thirty levels traveling, fighting back the same threat they was faced with at level one, getting to know their racial mentor, and, eventually, learning about dragon minions.
I've talked before in a reblog (but apparently it got deleted, so here's the OP) about how the real reason the player is so famous is because they help people. In all the mundane ways, not just the big, war-related ones; they expresses care and concern for the civilians who suffer, in every map and throughout every map meta. They's done that from day one. They isn't famous because they fought the baddie in the tutorial; they was fighting alongside already well-established heroes, and at best the player is acknowledged only by association. No, the player is famous because they spread their care and kindness throughout the countryside afterward, becoming a hero in connection to their big heroic accomplishment at the tutorial only retroactively. (I mean, it's even in the name: renown hearts. Almost nowhere else in the game does it refer to our fame so blatantly.)
Throughout all eighty levels, the player continues to do this, showing their care and concern for the civilians, showing where their heart lies - with the people of the world who will suffer if someone doesn't step up to fight the dragons.
After the story establishes this solid motivation for the player, through focusing the story on aiding your country and becoming a valued advisor of your nation's top leadership, the player chooses an Order - chooses, in essence, that the way they can serve their country best is by fighting the dragons. That choice was generally understood to be a death sentence, because Elder Dragons were understood to be unstoppable forces of nature. But the player chose it anyway, because defending their country - their world - was important enough to try anyway, to go out fighting despite it being impossible.
I'm Vigil main, and I'm heavily Vigil-biased in all ways, but "some must fight so that all may be free" is a pretty good descriptor of the whole PS. Aside from being Almorra's personal motivation, and the motivation of the whole Vigil, it is also shown to be the motivator of the player, regardless of Order, by their behavior throughout the game.
The player chooses their Order but does not stop lending aid to anyone around who so much as looks like they need it; a passing traveler or merchant without a guard draws the player like a moth to a flame, and they pitches in to any regional or local battle they finds. This shows where their heart is, in the love and care and concern for the common people.
The player could've served their country or the world some other way, but they chose to fight dragons, because they saw dragons as most important. They saw dragons as more important than even their racial mentor did; this is the key that eventually brings Destiny's Edge together; "you have led, by word and by deed."
The player continues this even after being appointed Commander, and the story supports this by introducing the other primary character, Trahearne. Trahearne can be seen as symbolically representing the important qualities of the Commander, almost as a backup in case/when these qualities get edited out by players.
Trahearne also plays the role of a major supporting character, having similar goals and motivations; he has dedicated his life to cleansing Orr, because it used to be full of such life and what has happened to it is a tragedy - something to fix, and something to prevent from happening again. The devastation of Orr can be understood to symbolize the devastation to the people of Tyria if the dragons are allowed to win, and Trahearne's response to it as something that has already happened perfectly encapsulates the way the Commander reacts to it as something that cannot be allowed to happen in the future.
And the great and amazing thing is that everyone else in the story agrees. All the vast armies of unnamed soldiers - they have those same motivations and values. We know that because the Orders wouldn't exist otherwise. Nobody wants to fight such a losing battle unless they're bitter and/or seeking (futile) revenge. And those few are not the ones who are passionately leading the charge.
The leaders are the people like Almorra and Trahearne, who are fighting because the devastation and loss of life is so abhorrent to them, personally. The Pact is such a beautiful thing because everyone is united in a common goal, by a common motivation, because the dragons are honestly just that evil.
But most powerful of all is that we never expected to win. Cleansing Orr was supposed to be impossible. Killing Elder Dragons was assuredly impossible. Even trying to fight the dragons was just a defiant cry into the void, a declaration that we would not go down without a fight. Nobody expected to win, just to die, sure they'd done all they could.
And that refusal to do otherwise, the refusal to do other than hope, even amidst the destruction and lifelessness and horror of Orr, was motivated by our love for our homelands, for our people. And the player showed that by a lifestyle of helping wherever they could - by every renown heart and every event, multiple times per level, for eighty levels.
That's why I love the PS so much, I think. It's about hope in the face of the impossible, fighting on in the face of despair, because the world and life is worth fighting for, not because we ever expected to win.
And that's why actually cleansing Orr and defeating Zhaitan were such huge milestones, why everyone spent so much time marveling that we actually did it - because nobody was doing it in order to actually do it, but rather because they couldn't, in good conscience, do anything else, and it was worth it to give their lives to the cause.
The rest of the game post-Zhaitan does keep this theme of caring about the civilians, of course; but fighting the dragons now is just really difficult, not impossible and hopeless. Now there is a chance of survival, and you're fighting for a better future, and fighting isn't that hard anymore. You're not walking to certain death, you're fighting for a hope, emboldened because you know it really is possible.
After Zhaitan's defeat, there always remain hearts and events alongside the main story, because at heart the Commander is a kind and caring person who fights for the civilians, but the story itself is no longer about that concern, it's no longer about showing why the Commander cares or how dedicated the Commander is to the cause, but rather about the logistics of getting that done. It's about the Commander using their own force of inspiration, and the cause of fighting for home and country, to gather allies, proving it again and again, but in a sort of background way. The main focus of the story has moved on.
The story has moved on to questions such as is it even a good idea to be fighting dragons? The story has been, slowly, ever since S3 at the latest, having us question our decisions, making dragons out to be less and less "eldritch abominations" and more and more "corrupted/tormented by their own magic," with the ability to be spoken to and reasoned with, and even pitied. This idea runs counter to everything I've just talked about.
The ending of S4, where we speak to Kralkatorrik and we find out he's been controlled by his Torment this whole time and he's actually thoroughly miserable - it COMPLETELY destroys the whole point of Almorra's story and the way it related so beautifully to the rest of the game that made it compelling. And this is true of all of Core PS - to find out we were just wrong the whole time, completely ignorant, just misunderstanding the whole nature of the universe? That, by rights, we shouldn't have been trying to kill Zhaitan, but speak to him? It destroys all the moral and emotional credibility of the whole story. (I try to think about that as little as possible.)
Really, Core PS (and maybe up through HoT, perhaps) is a completely different story with a completely different message than S3 and onwards, and maybe that's why I've never really cared about the later parts of GW2 so much.
I've always preferred the PS because it is the most compelling part of the GW2 storyline. It was our first time. We had never won before. We were fighting clearly outlined Evil, personified as unstoppable forces of nature, and we could only win against them by such extreme acts of selfless Good as sacrificing our lives for strangers.
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