by David Piner on Oct 05, 2010
James Boer recently posted on the ArenaNet blog about cinematics in GW2, how they're going to be amazing, and how easy it is for the developers to create new cinematics. One of the defining features of Guild Wars was the cinematic sprinkled into every mission. The reason why? Well, it's because it's YOUR character being in the cinematic (or your group) instead of pre-rendered footage. This says it best.
Weve also incorporated some other interesting features, such as dynamically branching cinematics. For instance, a cinematic might start the same for all players, but based on certain criterialets say the choices a player made earlier in a missionthe scene might end in several different ways. This means that well be able to provide a cinematic experience tuned for a specific players character. The cinematic engine can do something as simple as swapping out a single line of dialogue, or as complex as branching the entire scene. And of course, because were rendering these cinematics in real-time, youll see your character inside the cinematic, as an integral part of the story. This is all part of the overarching goal of making the storyline more personal for you.
Being a part of the show is something that's really cool and it seems that Guild Wars 2 will not only continue the tradition, but allow the cinematic to actually include a personalized touch. Thinking off the top of my head, maybe there was a character involved in the mission that you were friends with but no one else did their quest. So maybe they want to come over and have a word with you during a congratulatory cutscene.
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