Guild Wars 2: End Of Dragons Interview - The Process Of Reinventing Cantha
The Canthan maps in Guild Wars 2 irresistibly envelop the player. When you set foot in the first region, Seitung Province, every tree and bush and building is bursting with colour and clamouring for your attention. Birdsong is on the wind, pink petals are floating through the air, and, somewhere past the houses, fishemen can be overheard gossipping the waves slap against the docks. It’s clear that the natural splendor of this place has been lovingly ended to for generations.
And all of those generations are looking at you. You’re the fox in the henhouse, the traveller with a story to tell, the sign that something worse is on the way - depending on who you ask. Whatever you are, you’re new. All eyes are on you.
So, Commander, what do your eyes notice? The holographic woman reporting the news? The unfamiliar robots patrolling the streets? The size of Detective Rama’s hat?
It couldn’t be more obvious, Toto… We’re not in Kansas anymore.
RELATED: Guild Wars 2: End Of Dragons Review - An Expansion With A Lot To Live Up To
“That’s always been a key component of the Guild Wars franchise: really giving the players a sense that these are lived-in places. That these characters and creatures really inhabit this world. The player is able to enter into this environment and see it for what it is,” Justin Fawcett, a 3D environment artist on Guild Wars 2, tells me.
Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with some of the team behind the latest Guild Wars 2 expansion, End of Dragons, to talk about their approach to reintroducing a familiar region: Cantha. This southern nation was featured in the Factions campaign for the original Guild Wars game, but hasn’t been heard from since.
Several artists who worked on End of Dragons were
Read more on thegamer.com
