A Return to Atmosphere: Moonlit Grove
By Branskins, posted Feb 16, 10:21 PM
While it is hard to say that Guild Wars lacks atmosphere, it sure has some pretty limiting factors holding it back. The most obvious is the static instanced environments. The game also lacks a dynamic weather and a day and night cycle. These alone prevent the game from feeling really “alive”.
With Guild Wars 2 comes many improvements that allow for a really atmospheric game. The most obvious is the change from a mostly instanced game to an open world. This allows for a much more seamless world that naturally appears more lively as you are able to see other players running around and doing quests. It will also get rid of a potentially awkward situation when you and someone you know exist in the same instance but never see each other. The disconnecting nature of this really detracts from the feel of the game as it does not promote that one-big-world feeling… Click article title to read more
A Return to Atmosphere: Moonlit Grove
While it is hard to say that Guild Wars lacks atmosphere, it sure has some pretty limiting factors holding it back. The most obvious is the static instanced environments. The game also lacks a dynamic weather and a day and night cycle. These alone prevent the game from feeling really “alive”.
With Guild Wars 2 comes many improvements that allow for a really atmospheric game. The most obvious is the change from a mostly instanced game to an open world. This allows for a much more seamless world that naturally appears more lively as you are able to see other players running around and doing quests. It will also get rid of a potentially awkward situation when you and someone you know exist in the same instance but never see each other. The disconnecting nature of this really detracts from the feel of the game as it does not promote that one-big-world feeling. The game will still have instances for missions and dungeons, but the point of this is not to talk about the limits of Guild Wars 2 but about what ArenaNet is able to do with their improved tools.
Now, Guild Wars 2 will for sure introduce a day and night cycle. It is hard to express how important this is for the atmosphere of the game, but let me just say that being able to travel the same areas in day and in night allows for some really creative uses of the environment to shape the look and feel of them. Basically the same environment could feel completely different depending on the time of day.
There are a few things I would like to suggest in order to achieve this “atmospheric” feeling. First, there needs to be varying degrees of sun intensity. This touches upon a dynamic weather system, which has not been confirmed to be in the game and will be talked about in the next article. But for now, let’s assume that there are clouds that vary the brightness of the sun. For instance, on overcast days the sky would look gloomy, but on very clear days the sun would be able to shine down with all its strength upon the lands. The game will naturally have this varying brightness as the day progresses from morning to night, but being able to have a gloomy sun in the morning really allows for the creation of a nice atmosphere. I will touch more upon this idea in the next article, but for now let’s assume that this is random when the sun is at its full brightness or when it is gloomy.
At the same time, the moon also needs to be able to go through its cycles: New (Dark Moon), Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full, Waning Gibbous, Third Quarter, Waning Crescent, New.
However, I firmly believe that the exact lunar cycle should not follow the real world cycle that closely. If it did, we would rarely have full moons. Either a sped up system or a completely random system could work. One that ties in closely with the Tyrian Calendar could work too.
Having these different cycles of the moon would further allow areas at night to vary depending on the cycle of the moon.
So now we have added a ton of atmosphere to the game without really introducing a whole lot. The day and night cycle already allows for similar environments to vary completely with the time of day, but environments during the day can also vary depending on the sun’s brightness and areas at night can vary depending on the cycle of the moon. Being able to look up and notice that the sky seems different compared to the last time you saw it at the same time of day is already a huge step. But I would like to take this a little further and introduce a special area:
Moonlit Grove
The name of this area suggests something about the moon, but I will get to that later as it will become very important. Also, I never claimed to be a writer, so try to ignore any awkward phrasing!
Deep in a forest, there is a grove with tall trees all around it, save for the entrance which is overgrown with emerald ferns. A bright sun is able to shine down and reveal just enough: the light passes through the branches, casting shadows on the forest floor. Despite the sound of the wind, the shadows do not move on the floor as the trees lie still, seemingly calm. This alone suggests that there is more to this place as its calmness is just too eery. When you enter, a statue of an unknown god lies across the lake. The base is covered in moss that has crept up it for years, and green vines encircle the statue wrapping it in its folds, as if Melandru has staked it as hers. Next, you look at the lake. Its waves move calmly up and down the shore, creating very little noise. There is no music playing. All you hear is the soft rushing sound of the wind as it goes through the trees, too weak to make them shake, but just strong enough to lightly push the waves upon the shore of the lake as it swoops down.
During a clear day you are able to look down into the lake and actually see below its surface. You see shadows that look like bubbles that go down for miles. You don’t see an end.
The grove suggests that there is more, but all of its mysteries cannot be revealed during the day.
At night, the whole grove transforms. Tonight the moon is not full.
As the sun goes down and the moon becomes more and more visible, its light passes through the branches of the trees and casts shadowy claws on the floor. This time, they tremble and move as the wind dances over the tops, tickling each branch, and over the water of the lake, causing the waves to move with more power and hit the shores with a louder sound. Again there is no music. A single beam from the moon casts down upon the lone statue across the lake, causing the moss to recede in fear around the base of the statue on the forest floor. The vines too unravel and creep away from the statue. Here the statue of Grenth lies in the Moonlit Grove, only revealed by the moon itself. You are able to look down into the lake and see the same white bubbles as before, but this time it looks like they are dancing and moving around. They dance to the crashing sound of the waves just as the claws dance to the sound of the wind through the trees, both in unison caused by the same source.
But once again, the area suggests there is more to be revealed. And all of it is when the moon is full.
When the moon is full, the environment looks the same as it did during a normal night, but this time the hands of ghosts reach up through the surface of the lake, weak and grasping for the statue of Grenth. At midnight, Grenth releases them from their deathly exile to enjoy the serenity of the real world while the moon is still full. For one night they are able to feel the wind rush over their pale skin and to hear the waves of the lake rush up against the shore and the rustling of the claws of the trees. And to this wondrous music, and with each other in their hands, the ghostly forms dance, and dance, and dance upon the surface of the lake.
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