Secrets of the Obscure Story Discussion and Analysis

Welcome to my official story discussion and analysis for the initial release of Guild Wars 2's fourth expansion, Secrets of the Obscure. Overall, I loved this story. I think this is the best story as far as character development and general themes go, but I do think I prefer a couple other stories over this one in the grand scheme of all of Guild Wars 2. But with everything that was revealed in this expansion, there is a lot to talk about!
I don't talk about every little piece of story that was shown in the expansion. Where for one, I haven't experienced every event and explored every corner of the world yet. And for two, I wanted to keep this video focused on the bigger and more important ideas of the expansion with little to no fluff and repeating of ideas. But feel free to bring up some story ideas in the comments and we can talk about them!
Table of Contents |
0:00 Introduction
0:34 My Review
1:40 The Start of the Story
4:34 The Characters
12:57 The World
15:55 The Villains
18:39 Future Story
20:51 Were my story predictions correct?
24:18 Conclusion
Socials |
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[@LisaSummers1988]

this is a great video. thanks for sharing. i also got really excited being introduced to some races we havent actually worked with yet in the storyline like Isgarren, Mabon and Lyhr. i like the dwarf race so much in the open world too, they are so sassy it makes me chuckle everytime. i also think its a very neat concept how all the garrenhoffers are always talking and walking so proudly like they were the cosen one or atleast some of them, to be invited to the tower and how you read all of that and then you just wana go there yourself but you cant, and you really wonder who Isgarren is and now, you get to see it all for yourself. makes me feel special as a player and everytime i see isgarren now i just look back fondly on how we get to meet the character in person. so cool

[@typhir5911]

Great video! My own thoughts and opinions are below: (Spoilers) Mabon was a very interesting character that I feel they killed off way too quickly to impact Zojja's character growth, although there is nothing wrong with that when done in small doses. Problem is they already did this multiple times before for dramatic tension and each time they try to do it again the impact to the player lessens considerably. Personally, I feel that we barely got to know him that well, despite him having roughly the same amount of screentime as Blish from Living World Season 4 and I felt Blish's sacrifice so much more. Zojja had some great character focus this expansion, which has been direly needed since she has been completely absent since Heart of Thorns. I do really appreciate the side objectives post-story where various characters talk about Mabon and you go around Tyria to explore his memories. Those side quests really flesh out this unusual Mursaat character who trusted us so much that he recruited us as the newest Wayfinder, albeit part of that was because we blundered into the Astral Wards' failed operation in Gendarran Fields. If they are going to pursue any more storylines with the Mursaat, I would prefer if they write more about their legacy, the artifacts they left behind like the Eye of Janthir, which we still know so very little about rather than yet another surviving Mursaat character. It was a bit of an eyeroll when I first saw Mabon and I honestly blurted out: "really another survivor?" I was also a bit disturbed that nearly everyone in the Astral Ward knew us from our exploits and their fractal experimentations. They have been watching us since we defeated Zhaitan and possibly even before that. I'm still a bit confused by the fractals that erupted into reality in the Skywatch Archipelago as the inhabitants of these fractals are said to be as real as us since they materialized in the real world. What is to stop the Astral Ward from recreating some of their numbers and re-recruiting them from fractals or hell making duplicates of themselves? Heck Lyhr can split himself into two halves. What will stop them from recreating Mabon in a fractal and "rescuing" him before his sacrifice? There are two deldrimor dwarves planning expeditions to the other fractal islands to recruit allies, which is a bit funny and probably will end in horror given that the two closest fractal islands to Droknar's Forge are incredibly hostile. If they do make it to the Rata Novus fractal, then they might have a chance. It is briefly mentioned at the end of the current story that Isgarren is considering revealing the Wizard's Court to the rest of the world if the Astral Ward is unable to maintain the barrier and defeat the kryptis. Given his isolationist policies and sole focus on maintaining the barrier between realms that have lasted for several millennia, that is probably a decision that he won't make lightly.

[@joshuahng1]

Yes pls. Daily 12 options cover all gameplay. Thn let us chose the 3

[@arturolgarenko3349]

I think the next expansions are gonna have something to do with a confused brown cow and a rat king In that one mission where you walk with gladium in the dark hallway, these two concepts can be explored Or is it an Easter egg of some previous stories i missed? I wonder what you think of that

[@Athis]

The confused brown cow is something we see previously in the game in connection to rifts. The most popular one I know of is the brown cow in the Labyrinthian Cliffs that shows up at a rift there. I'm not sure about a Rat King, it might be a reference to another game. But I believe the dark hallway you are referencing is the one we go through in the Bastion of the Obscure. Which I think that place was supposed to be confusing, make you see random things, and kind of just mess with you. So I think both the rat king and the cow just appear in that mission to mess with your brain.

[@LisaSummers1988]

i'd look forward to that story. i was really curious about the Rat king. kinda sad i didnt get to interact twith them at all.

[@IchiExorz]

I'm actually loving the story. I love that we kinda got a completely new enemy where we can wonder who, why, when, what. We still have 3 releases left so there's still a lot of story to come but ngl if the story continues inthe direciton it is right now and we're gnna be done with the Kryptis in this expac i'm gnna be kinda sad. I honestly quite like them

[@Airbag888]

Is there somewhere where we can see how to obtain the skyscale in SOTO? I'm looking for a guide to understand how much time it would take

[@Athis]

You unlock the Skyscale for use in expansion maps as you do the story and then you unlock an achievement where you have to do a bunch of stuff to unlock the Skyscale everywhere else in the world. The achievement is called "A New Friend" and is located in the Skies of Tyria category in the Secrets of the Obscure tab in the achievements page. You talk to Skyscale Trainer Dyanne, who is located west of the Beacon of Ages Waypoint to unlock the achievement which starts a bunch of other achievements. The waypoint code (that you can copy-paste in-game) is: [&BCsOAAA=] GuildJen has a full guide for this achievement, including potential time-gated requirements and other materials you need for the achievement (as well as a full guide for all of the achievements). Link: guildjen.com/new-skyscale-guide-a-new-friend/ There is also the wiki version that is similar if you prefer that format. Link: wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/A_New_Friend

[@Airbag888]

@@AthisOh Brilliant! Thank you for sharing this. I did not know about guildjen either. I'll go have a read. I kept hearing 'as you do the story' but that's a bit vague in terms of hours of investment :D Thanks again

[@Athis]

@Airbag888 I believe you unlock it for the expansion after the second mission, which is about 30-60 minutes or so depending on how fast you play.

[@azizul1975]

is the graphic still lagging when there is large crowd of players ?

[@adrianendresen3102]

I think the story completely failed to show why we should care about anything that happens unless you already know all the lore beforehand. This is a problem with the story from the start, its like they say that things is important but we dont know why. Also the narrative is kind of teen book level of depth and sophistication. Because of this the story felt pointless and lacked reasons to be cared about. Ive played the whole story(all content) twice and most of it doesnt feel impactive enough that I remember it. Just played through soto and its the same, doesnt matter if the lore behind it is good or not. Also doesnt help that the gameplay is none existent