Holy kitten, thank you Anet team for a great story this episode! (Spoilers!)

[Okami Amaterasu.9237]

Holy Kitten Kitten, thank you ArenaNet for another amazing episode! I’ve been waiting a long, long time to see in the story when

our plans eventually backfire and we fail so incredibly, enormously disastrously just right after promising that everything will be alright. Having Kralkatorrik withstand our assault and then break through Aurene’s defense of us and end up impaling and killing her with Brand was so marvelous and absolutely fantastic! Not only was the shot of Kralk slithering away creepy and ominous, but the whole “slow, uh oh what just happened walk” in the branded destruction with Taimi's? eerie cries echoing in the background really built up the suspense towards that moment and I absolutely loved it. I suppose my only nitpick this time would be the first instance and how it was a little slow, especially with just crystalline sound effects and no actual music, but oh well. If what we get in return are more cutscenes and story development like what we had here, then I really, really don’t care about the little things like that. This was well worth the wait, and I can't wait to see what happens next! Please don't resurrect her, please, thank you.

 

 

Once again, I absolutely loved the story. The map is very, very pretty and I loved the verticality to parts of it, reminding me of Verdant Brink in parts and Frostgorge Sound in others. It felt Dwarven, which is something we've needed ever since Lornar's Pass and Dredgehaunt Cliffs. And with the episode's ending, I have no idea where we'll go next, but at least we got out of the desert this time!

[kiranslee.4829]

I literally said some curses toward whoever made end scene (im sorry) , and closed game. I really dont feel like playing anymore , and while all was made well , hearing Taimi scream , i was just, done. It felt like game over screen to me, and still does.

[Okami Amaterasu.9237]

. . . .

[Fallesafe.5932]

> @"Okami Amaterasu.9237" said:

> Holy Kitten Kitten, thank you ArenaNet for another amazing episode! I’ve been waiting a long, long time to see in the story when

our plans eventually backfire and we fail so incredibly, enormously disastrously just right after promising that everything will be alright. Having Kralkatorrik withstand our assault and then break through Aurene’s defense of us and end up impaling and killing her with Brand was so marvelous and absolutely fantastic! Not only was the shot of Kralk slithering away creepy and ominous, but the whole “slow, uh oh what just happened walk” in the branded destruction with Taimi's? eerie cries echoing in the background really built up the suspense towards that moment and I absolutely loved it. I suppose my only nitpick this time would be the first instance and how it was a little slow, especially with just crystalline sound effects and no actual music, but oh well. If what we get in return are more cutscenes and story development like what we had here, then I really, really don’t care about the little things like that. This was well worth the wait, and I can't wait to see what happens next! Please don't resurrect her, please, thank you.

 

>

> Once again, I absolutely loved the story. The map is very, very pretty and I loved the verticality to parts of it, reminding me of Verdant Brink in parts and Frostgorge Sound in others. It felt Dwarven, which is something we've needed ever since Lornar's Pass and Dredgehaunt Cliffs. And with the episode's ending, I have no idea where we'll go next, but at least we got out of the desert this time!

 

Oh God!! Please tell me that:

 

 

Taimi and Aurene are finally dead!!

 

 

If so, YES!! I can't wait to play through it.??

 

 

[Timo.1065]

I'm full of hope that powers absorbed Aurene from Joko bring her back to story.

[Niobium.7392]

All is vain.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

Just a note to give a high five to the OP, who actually used "kitten" properly... at least in these spaces. :lol:

[TheOrlyFactor.8341]

Agreed, OP. Anet really nailed it with the story this episode.

 

> @"kiranslee.4829" said:

> I literally said some curses toward whoever made end scene (im sorry) , and closed game. I really dont feel like playing anymore , and while all was made well , hearing Taimi scream , i was just, done. It felt like game over screen to me, and still does.

 

Can I have your stuff?

[sniperman.1738]

Honestly the ending kittened me off. I'm sorry but there is no reason at all for the ending of how they killed her off, thats a serious waste of character development when it came to Aurene's character the writers should honestly in a way feel ashamed and i'm not gonna lie i'm mixed about if i want to keep playing at this point or quit entirely, there were better ways to end an episode but the way they chose was such an easy game of thrones style cop out with 0 originality which made it feel like garbage in the end. I was so excited for this and now I wish I didn't play it, never have I seen a story written where a writer would go against what would make a fan like. Seriously like what were the writers thinking on this, its digusting wasting an entire several months and moneys worth of character development like what was the point if they were just gonna kill her off.

[sniperman.1738]

you know i just got it when glint said "I must talk to Aurene in private about the key to ascension" Remember how PoF and even joko himself talked about ascension, she's gonna come back but she had to die first to be reborn basically like joko did to become all powerful, so in order for her to become more powerful than kralk and defeat him she must first die and then go through the trials of ascension while in death and come back far more powerful than kralkatorike will ever expect.

[Knuckle Joe.7408]

> @"sniperman.1738" said:

> Honestly the ending kittened me off. I'm sorry but there is no reason at all for the ending of how they killed her off, thats a serious waste of character development when it came to Aurene's character the writers should honestly in a way feel ashamed and i'm not gonna lie i'm mixed about if i want to keep playing at this point or quit entirely, there were better ways to end an episode but the way they chose was such an easy game of thrones style cop out with 0 originality which made it feel like garbage in the end. I was so excited for this and now I wish I didn't play it, never have I seen a story written where a writer would go against what would make a fan like. Seriously like what were the writers thinking on this, its digusting wasting an entire several months and moneys worth of character development like what was the point if they were just gonna kill her off.

 

remember that now she has joko's power wink wink*

oh, what did joko said somewhere in the story? "my body might be destroyed, but i come again some days after"

[Okami Amaterasu.9237]

> @"sniperman.1738" said:

> Honestly the ending kittened me off. I'm sorry but there is no reason at all for the ending of how they killed her off . . .

 

The reason they killed her that way was to show that we were too eager to fight Kralk, that Aurene wasn't ready, and that her vision of her death was, yes, inevitable. The point is that it's a blow to us and our friends that we have to take and push through. Yes, Aurene died . . . but Kralkatorrik is still alive and he will slowly but surely destroy Tyria. We still have to stop him, no matter the cost, even Aurene herself. That's why it hits you hard in the gut (if you liked her).

 

If you'd rather have a story where we always win and even when we "lose" we still win with little meaningful cost associated with it, then I don't know what to tell you other than that'd be a bad story. Real life has consequences, has mistakes. The fact Anet recognizes that now shows they're more trustworthy than ever with the story they want to tell, and I'll be here ready to see where they're going to go with it!

 

[Tabasco.1743]

> @"Okami Amaterasu.9237" said:

> Once again, I absolutely loved the story. The map is very, very pretty and I loved the verticality to parts of it, reminding me of Verdant Brink in parts and Frostgorge Sound in others. It felt Dwarven, which is something we've needed ever since Lornar's Pass and Dredgehaunt Cliffs. And with the episode's ending, I have no idea where we'll go next, but at least we got out of the desert this time!

 

This is why I still buy gems from time to time. There's a sense of maturity in the design philosophy here, lessons learned. That fugacious trial-and-error I sensed in the older maps is indiscernible now; this is just some great level design.

:+1:

[Chasind.3128]

I find it pretty mediocre- nothing has topped when Scarlet destroyed Lions Arch.

Since then; It's all been cheap shock factors and your commander babysitting a giant norn who cant decide if he likes his mom or not and wanted any reason to get angry.

[Tyson.5160]

Once I finished the last mission, I logged out due to emotional exhaustion. Great episode!

[Sevifor.1925]

That literally felt like a punch to the gut; I feel physically ill. For the sake of clarity and brevity, I'm going to default to bullet points.

 

The Good:

-Dialogue was mostly well-written. I really liked the attention to detail given to all the minor and nameless characters. It makes the world feel real and alive.

-The fight. Once again, the LS team has managed to take what is (upon reflection) an easy fight and make it feel urgent and grandiose. The visuals of the scale really help drive home the sheer size of the enemy and how hopeless of a fight this would be on our own.

-Kralk and his animations. He was huge, imposing, powerful. The way he turns to look at you when you activate the crystal towards the end sends shivers down the spine and conveys his cunning and malice. Toward the end of the final cutscene, as his head withdraws, he looks perfectly sinister. He never says a word, but the body language tells you all you need to know. Fantastically done!

-The narrative. From the moments leading up to the fight to the rallying cry of the battle itself, you can feel the energy, the expectation of something grand about to unfold. And then, at the end, the feeling of hopeless is so severe, I can feel it two hours later in the pit of my stomach. It seems clear that the idea was to build everyone up and then utterly crush them at the moment they feel the most empowered. The staggering walk at the end, although somewhat annoying in its cliche, allows time for the finality of the situation to set in. In this, the story was undoubtedly a rousing success. However...

 

The Bad:

-I felt all of that the moment Kralkatorrik blasted us and slinked menacingly away. It hit me like a ton of bricks that hope was lost: the forge is destroyed, our Dragonblood weapons are spent, used up our secret amplified crystal weapons, gave up our element of surprise, and we even dropped AN ENTIRE MOUNTAIN on him, and none of those things are going to happen again. Every. Single. Advantage that we had was gone. For all that work, all that planning, we put out ONE EYE. If we can't beat Kralatorrik under these conditions, we **never** will. If killing Aurene was supposed to make us feel hopeless, then it failed in its goal as spectacularly as the rest of the narrative surpassed it: hope was already gone by that point.

-Braham, buddy, I know you're about as good at social queues as the average tenured asuran professor, but now is not a good time to ask "what now?" We're busy grieving here, Braham. Or, at least, we **should** be. Out of anyone in the main cast, you ought to know what that's like: give us a minute.

-I have never felt so disconnected from "The Commander" as I have been in these last few episodes when it comes to Aurene. With few exceptions, it was easy to identify myself in the roll of Commander. I was my character, and my character was the Commander. I experienced the world through my character's eyes, "first person" so to speak. But that perspective shattered, violently, at the end of the mission. "Where is she?" the Commander asks, as though we haven't already figured it out by the time we limp our way over, as if Brahm's face doesn't say it all (another positive point, there). I remember, in that moment, thinking "Oh, so **now** you care? **Now** you're concerned?" Where were you before? The Exalted practically raised her. Caith watched over her. When she disappeared into the mists, did you even look for her? When she came back, exhausted, weren't your first words 'Get off the floor, Aurene?' What kind of reception is that? Taimi was there for her then, and when Aurene ran away because she was scared, it was Taimi who thought to build her a security nest. Taimi's over there next to Aurene's body bawling her eyes out right now and all you can manage is "where is she?"

-We raised her from "birth." She was our baby. She still was one. Yes, I know, she's a dragon, and we're told she's an "adolescent", but she's been alive for less than three years. That's young for humans, and we know that dragons live to be even older. We heard it from Caith, which is as close to hearing from the dragon's mouth as we're going to get: She trusted us. She was scared, but she came back because of us. She loved us. And we failed her. And staring at her corpse, stalagmite through her heart, all we can think to say is "I don't know [what to do]?"

 

It's so sudden and pointless. We don't even get to see it happen, or have a chance to say goodbye. In a detached sort of way, I can almost admire how it was done. Unexpected, sudden, pointless...it's too real. We got so caught up on the hopelessness theme here, and it shows. The scene is crafted to make me feel hopeless.

 

But what I want to feel is loss.

 

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

(F)

 

I'll eat my hat if that is actually the end of Aurene (If that's the case, that's p a i n f u l.), but the staging of the last scene was excellent. All the fanfare, All the effort, only for the HP bar to get pulled before it hit 0-

 

Good slam on the brakes. Definitely interested in the next story segment now.

[Typh.8027]

for the first time in many years, I had to log out to avoid a break down...This was a masterpiece, yet sad it was. Now I am looking forward to the Closure, or reveal next Episode (or chapter?)

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

She's prob not even dead, magical creatures explode when they die. At least wait for confirmation.

[Ameepa.6793]

It indeed was amazing and surprising episode! :)

[Delweyn.1309]

Yes pve content is always really great. A shame that they didn't want to put at least 10% of this quality in pvp content too. GW2 would be the best mmorpg for many players for many years.

[Catchyfx.5768]

Story ? 12/10 (speachless)

Map? 12/10 (my favorit part of the map in PoF was that dwarws in snowy area, this is dream!)

Dragnosblood skins? Pure love

Everything is nice!

 

Ty Anet for new living story, You guys are awesome. <3

EDIT:

 

AND THE MUSIC! GUYS! AWESOME last instance music and chores are my favs

[Laila Lightness.8742]

We got rid of aurene

[Kalendraf.9521]

This was a strong episode. The pacing seemed good, and the activities along the way made sense.

 

The ending was amazing. I haven't felt quite that way since reading Tolkien's Two Towers where it ends with Frodo apparently dead in Shelob's lair. I'm assuming that similar to Frodo in TT, Aurene will turn out to not be dead either. Maybe we'll even see some 'Aurene Lives!' graffiti whenever LS4EP6 finally comes out.

 

 

[Gehenna.3625]

Well, last episode we learned that we shouldn't kill anymore dragons because it's bad for the world. Soooo....we go out and try to kill another dragon. Now the fact that Kralkie got away doesn't change that it was definitely our plan to kill Kralk. Now it didn't work but where is the episode where we decided that we were wrong and that we did indeed have to try to kill another Dragon? Or are we really that stupid that we learn something important and ignore it the next opportunity we get?

 

Nice touch with the Mass Effect 3 feel in the last part but it still felt anti-climactic the way it ended. It didn't feel like a cliff hanger to me but more a wtf / whatever moment.

 

I fully expect that Kralk left probably with the essence of Aurene in him who becomes the new Kralk and then decides to leave to fulfill the prophecy / dream Kralk originally had.

 

But really, why was it our plan to even kill Kralk when we knew we shouldn't do that sort of thing anymore? That just made zero sense to me.