Following the success of the “Flame and Frost” episode last month, ArenaNet is continuing its release of Season 1 content with “Sky Pirates,” which is available for free starting today. I had the opportunity to play through the new episode this past weekend, so let’s briefly preview it. Do note that there could be some spoilers if you didn’t play through this storyline the first time around. Certainly, many events in this story updated are mentioned in later cha[ters and expansions, but if you’d like to go in as blind as possible, you should stop reading now.
This new chapter pulls in events from the original Dragon Bash and Sky Pirates of Tyria releases to tell the whole story of those episodes. I was a little bit disappointed that the original Dragon Bash wasn’t recreated in this update, as it was one of my favorite festivals that year. However, I recognize that it would have been a tremendous task. Nonetheless, opening the story in old Lion’s Arch was a great way to kick things off. Even though I couldn’t wander the entire city again, it was smashing to be able to visit again.
This episode is particularly fun because there is a mystery to solve, and we also get to meet Marjory Delaqua, who has one of the best in-game intros in the entire game. Additionally, if you haven’t ever read the short story The Last Straw by Angel McCoy, you should stop right now and read it. Marjory’s into in-game is perfect, but this gives some background on why she left the Ministry Guard and struck out as a PI. It pretty much goes hand in hand with this update.
One of the biggest surprises in replaying this story is how much my memory had mixed up various details over the years. For example, I always thought Captain Theo Ashford was charr, but he was very clearly human. I also thought he was blatantly killed on screen, but as it turned out, I was confusing two different characters. I also thought the Commander had introduced Kas and Jory, and that REALLY wasn’t true. Maybe that was because we met Kas first during the Southsun events, but I was convinced we had introduced them somehow.
The other central character we met in this episode is Mai Trin, who also had an essential role in the recent End of Dragons expansion. This storyline was the first time we met her and her Aetherblades. As much as I love Jory, getting to see Mai early on is probably my favorite part of this story chapter. She was pretty sneaky back then, but seeing her before all the terrible things happened was interesting. I do still feel bad about killing Horrick, though.
Playing through this storyline was great, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s reactions to it when they play it for the first time. The timing of finishing End of Dragons and then going back to Season 1 has been a real treat, and I can’t wait to see how they handle the Tower of Nightmares and the Battle for Lion’s Arch again. As impressive as the Marionette was, those two things were the absolute highlight of Season 1 for me.
