What's in your Favorites?

Or what would you put there?

This question stems from my last free Steam games post, where I made a passing mention of my favorites which is actually a sub section available to all Steam users that I've only started using recently. I thought I'd share the 15 games that made it in there, my main criteria being "games I would play again". Obviously this doesn't cover any games outside of my steam library so maybe I'll do a bigger list later down the track.

It's currently a pretty short list.

Going over them really quickly in no particular order: Black Desert is a beautiful and interesting MMORPG, but it stopped letting me play (startup error) so I'm not sure if that's staying in here for much longer. I love the stealth mechanics in Thief, both Dishonored games which also have multiple ways to play, Skyrim which has tons of mods to enjoy (it also stole my name, arrrrgh *shakes fist*), and GTFO - my current regular multiplayer stealth horror.

Sleeping Dogs is just fun in a chaotic way while To the Moon and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice are both excellent game wise and in hitting me in the feels. The remaining six are all free games: A Raven Monologue and When the Past was Around: Prologue are more feels hitters, Dead Horizon is an excellent lesson in short story telling, and High Entropy Challenges, Gravitas and Liquidators are all good first person puzzlers featuring in the same order: stealth, humor, and Chernobyl. :P

But what of these do I consider the best you ask? That's not so hard to answer. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice wins easily.

What games do you have flagged as your favorites?

October 2021 Review: The Next Freedom

Happy Halloween! Lockdown lifted this month which is pretty good morale wise as it means our board game nights can resume! I was hoping to also resume adventures in Black Desert but I keep getting "bin\blackdesert32.dat" is broken even from a fresh install. What the heck? As such I've instead been helping Elminster out in Neverwinter Online with the Echoes of Prophecy campaign and it's just as easy as Shintar said - even starting late I completed the first progression bar whose rewards include a catch-up artifact set.

I also thought to myself - hey, Epic games gives free games every week - surely Steam has some free ones too? The answer to that is... Yep. A LOT. You can expect me to be posting about those soon.

Most Viewed Posts in the last 30 days:
State of Decay 2: Leaderfall
September 2021 Review: Death Count
Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049 [tied 3rd]
The King (2019), Outlaw King & Kingdom (Korean TV Series) [tied 3rd]

BDO: Return to Port

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

A visit to the Temerian Night Market (hmm, I wonder if there were any Witchers there?) proved to be just the thing my corsair needed as from it she gained a 7-day Fish Suit, a gun-harpoon-sword (awakening) which she now can defeat Garmoth with, and a cute yellow bikini. She also learned about a mystical infinite HP potion but was unable to find even the very first component while using all the boons I had saved from the Heidel Ball.

That's ok though, since her specialty is water based she was far more successful doing the dive and fishing quests at Port Ratt - recovering all the sunken temple treasure easily since she can "sprint" under water with her mermaid skills. The fish suit boosts even that, meaning where I struggled to reach the objectives in the deepest trench with breath potions, she can zip down there AND back to the surface without running out of air!

Perfect for ocean exploration.

Indeed the most annoying part for her was catching the elusive Skate fish, but with perseverance and the knowledge to camp at the South West corner of the small tree isle on the edge of the Juur Sea (South of Nada Island) she finally passed that part of the quest line. This means that since the rest of the Kingdom or Haso is closed, I'm done with Port Ratt for now and have sent both characters back to Velia just as this season comes to an end.

I'll definitely keep my corsair around for her swimming utility but I'll retire her from active questing now. As a bonus, I've also used Fughar's magical Time Piece to auto boost a striker character to my corsair's level 61. Not sure when I'll get to play him though, as another season is starting up immediately with another available time piece. All I know for sure is I hate the equipment enhancing in this game. The odds suck and without any clear method to improve them, it's just really takes the wind out of my sails.

It doesn't help that there are hordes of add on items that do different things, but only for particular pieces of gear. Why do I need an Advice of Valks, or Valks Cry, or Cron stone or Caphras stone, etc? It's just stupid. I wish they just treated weapons like ships: Sure, buy or make this best weapon in the game but there's a lifespan but after one week/so much use it is destroyed. Buy or make another one. Obviously the game designers here haven't heard of the KISS method.

Anywho if Black Desert interests you at all this season gives you a chance to permanently play for free. All you have to do is level a character up to level 50 before this event ends. Reaching level 50 is pretty fast and quite achievable in four to five days of casual game play, so give it a try!

Insight: If you log off or disconnect while on the ferry, expect to be in the drink when you return as it will happily drop you into the sea. Carry adventurers maps (teleport to nearest town) just in case you want to avoid a long swim.

July 2021 Review: 20 is the new 80

I'm still in lockdown but it feels like I've been busy, with my Black Desert season corsair getting interrupted by lots of other games such as the full Banner Saga which I'll be posting about shortly. Neverwinter wise, Shintar has a nice recap of what was removed (Cryptic's theme) in Mod 21: Jewel of the North. Part of this includes being level 80, since level 20 is the new max. In exchange we get the return of soloable mini-dungeon Throne of Idris, some tidy up quests, and a lot of bribes reward chests. I quite enjoyed the surprise Valindra duel but otherwise its just business as usual I guess, so no review of that coming from me.

After almost a year at the helm of the alliance we finally shuffled again back down into a sword position while preparing for the final push to 20. Will there still be Strongholds by the time we get there? Who knows! Meanwhile our Friday night co-op has returned to being GTFO and Ghost Recon Wildlands since the fix for both problems was simply Jim getting a new computer. :P

For those interested Blaugust is starting up again next month, and for those seeking to escape Blizzard here's a handy list of alternatives by Belghast. And for a fun game: whenever you watch a TV series or movie and characters are "going to eat" something, take note if anyone actually eats anything. It's surprising how many times food doesn't even make it to their mouths.

Most Viewed Posts in the last 30 days:

BDO: Unfinished Gem
BDO: Row Row Row, you're Sunk
BDO: Across the Sea

It's nice that the Black Desert posts have been getting attention! Funny that these are also the ones I fail in the most. =)

BDO: The Second Questing

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Repeating the quests on my corsair has been a lot faster than the first time around because it turns out "knowledge", which is often required to be gained to complete a quest objective, is shared across your family (characters on the same account). Furthermore, this extends to the knowledge you gain by fight enemy types which make them progressively easier to combat. It's also interesting that there seem to either be new quests or quests I missed previously this time around, like this reliable source that Illezra isn't quite dead yet. Apparently she's fled into the new dungeon: Atoraxxion.

Anyway, my goal of getting her to level 61 (on par with my main) is now achieved. This is good, because she's currently stuck in both the O'Dyllita I (shadow wolves are annoying) and Dreighan main quest lines (which in turn blocks Star's End). All her big movements and super-armor moves don't help too much against Garmoth it seems. I'm also getting the inkling that the main game here isn't actually fighting monsters, but upgrading armor and weapons.

Apparently GM's here are winged plague doctors!

Insight: After your first time through, Valencia II and and the Chenga Tome quests are a breeze. Also, if you combo Mareca: Whale Song into Prime: Wipe Out there's a clothing glitch where the corsair decides to get naked, especially in areas of high particle effects. Even more noticeable if you are over burdened which makes everything you do move in slow motion.

Critical hit indeed!

BDO: First Mate

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

 

The newest class!

With all this ocean exploration, I thought I should introduce you to my first mate: a corsair, named and customized by wifey for the new "season server"! Each season runs for a few months and achieving goals on them nets rewards for the entire account so I thought, why not? Instead of doing the story all over again, she takes the Crow merchant "simplified" path instead which just gives massive boosts to level gain during grinding and it's so effective that she's now almost the same level as my main character in a sliver of the time. The path I took to achieve this is as follows:

Main quests with the dig team up to Velia (then stop questing, grind instead!)
Cron Castle to level 19
Al Rundi rebels (barricades are good xp), swamp fogans, bloody monastery to 35
Mask Owls to 40
Troll Fort to 43, then upgrade Naru gear to Tuvala
Saunil Siege to 47
Catfishmen to 51
Helms to 54
Sausans to 55, and finally spend those combat skill points
Desert Nagas to 57
Back to regular questing to 58
Collect Chenga Tome
On to Valencia I

My goal is to get her to 61 to collect all the season prizes, and I have to admit that she is very fun to play once you get used to all her big movements. Her ability to slide over water is also super handy, and for those who like Tower of God, she makes a crossover appearance at the end of this chapter. If you don't know what Tower of God is, why don't you start out by watching it: It's a very cool anime. :)

Insight: In hindsight there are obvious flaws to what I did, with one of the biggest being that I should have tried get her the Chenga Tome from my main ASAP. It turns out that is one of the best leveling aids in the game and I was late to get one for her!

BDO: Across the Sea

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Having some naval experience now, I befriend the Lamute gang who are exploiting a war between the otters and papus (cute cat things) out on the islands. It's puzzling why there's a war at first, as otters primarily trade in fish while papus trade in fruits but I soon discover it comes down to their opposing religions. Opting to leave them to it, I rob the Lamute gang of their cog ship instead and make my escape to the Crow merchant guild's island base and get roped into their arena combat.

While the first fight against a large wolf is easy (just Dark Souls it and stay beside their hind leg), the second one against Liono a lightning lion man proves tricky but beatable. The third fight is against the female black dragon bandit again, who I've previously fought at Gahaz's canyon and Altinova arena, which I didn't even write about it because it was easy. Here though, she has learned a new kagebunshin clone ability which absolutely thrashes me and thus I lose spectacularly.

Side note: I seem to always get my ships thrashed too.

At least the fight was entertaining enough for them to tell me about a distant land across the great ocean which I try sail to - to no avail. The wind and current is simply too much, possibly because I attempted the crossing in a storm, and so I turn back and instead catch a ferry (automated) across the vast sea to Port Ratt in China the Kingdom of Haso. While the rest of the Kingdom is currently closed to outsiders, I do manage to help the town retrieve their holy kite while doing dive quests in the area... but some are just way too deep - even with the dive mask they gave me!

Insight: The great ocean is much like the black desert in terms of navigation. Unless you have a working compass you won't be able to use the map. Also if your ship gets stuck, jump off and swim a little bit away then right click the ship anchor icon to move it.

BDO: Row Row Row, you're Sunk

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Not long after taking care of Illezra, I am asked to investigate a growing pirate threat in the nearby islands. Turns out there are A LOT of islands out there, and while some do have a few pirate scouts it takes awhile before I find the large land mass that holds their main base. They aren't pleased with me nosing around and promptly give chase and sink my rowboat with cannon fire, which I narrowly avoid by jumping into the water!

That's the end of that boat...

Luckily I have one of Ellie's magical maps to teleport me out of there as it would have been a long swim to anywhere. The Calpheon council is most interested in my reports and I am granted a two-cannon sailboat (which needs crew and supplies) to continue my efforts against the pirate scum.

The first thing I use the cannons on is a baby sea monster though, and it is really tough to man both the guns and steer the ship while in combat. I still win, and take my damaged vessel back to the pirate base where I kill a few of them while freeing some of their prisoners before taking refuge on a different island. Since there's a town here I put the boat in for repairs while I checkout a deep cave nearby full of mutated fish people "Prottys" whom I slaughter hundreds of, only to realize they are peaceful? Oops. They do make for a good grind spot though.

Apparently these folk were displaced by ancient weapons (golems) that crashed into the sea with that meteor. I swim down to their underwater city (which looks amazing and has air) to beat up a few of them before heading back to report. This earns me a shiny new cog ship which has no cannons but needs no crew and absolutely flies across the ocean - a big improvement from the slow sailboat! Alas, while doing dive quests I manage to get this speed boat sunk in a storm.

Insight: To reach the depth of the "air gates" of Sycraia you might need to get the 5 minute swim buff from the NPC just to the island on the beach just South of it. Fortunately, you can't actually drown - but running out of air forcibly makes you swim up.

BDO: Case Closed

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Thankful for my previous aid at the Northern wheat plantation, Elina Leight - who happens to be its owner and knows of my interest in Illezra, sends word via Nella that the Shen merchant guild is in possession of another of Illezra's "rings" and so I quickly buy it from Neruda Shen in exchange for a magical Dreighan blade (magical in name only I think). This one is the earth ring which I hand in again to the Tarif sorcerers who put me back on the case.

As they already found one in my absence I am sent to locate and retrieve the water ring from its ocean resting place (right beside Altinova) and then am sent to get the ring of wind from a very sneaky, and very strong, monstrous bandit who I can't seem to hurt! It turns out he is invulnerable to everything... except water balloons blessed by the Church of Elion. Yep, I literally use holy water balloons to win this boss fight, which is annoying since you can't dodge while holding them.

Handing these rings in reveals that the lead sorceress on this case is none other than Illezra herself, having used someone else's body to avoid detection. With all the rings in her possession, she turns into Captain Planet a huge skeleton/mud golem thing who is weak to one thing: easily craftable magic bullets. With rifle in hand it only takes three of these to end the miserable witch, and as a bonus the person she was hiding in is freed, unharmed and back to her younger self - with no memories of anything she had done. Probably the best result.

Kinda sad I don't get to fight her white witch form...

Insight: The holy water balloons and magic bullets are only useful in their respective quests. I tried them on random wild life afterwards and they did zero damage.

BDO: Settling Down

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

With the refugees cured (or getting there, because vaccines like to be delayed) I spend a lot of time helping them get settled across multiple farmlands from Calpheon's Northern wheat plantation all the way across to Gilsh and up to the farms of Heidel and in the process I learn how to make a simple camp and grow some crops (omg, I finally found something worse than fishing).

I also venture back down to O'dyllita to test my increased strength against the rebel turos there and only manage to kill a handful as they are just way too tough. Even dueling them one on one lasts up to ten minutes, and given I have to defeat fifty of them to advance the Ahib quest line that will have to be something I slowly chip away at.

Instead of smashing my head against that brick wall, I busy myself hunting down the tome of an ancient bard in Dreighan, who supposedly could command dragons with his song. Getting this Chenga Tome involves zero fighting but a lot of searching and riddle answering, with some riddles asked by a telepathic llama. It's ultra trippy.

Lastly, I finally decide to buy a house! While Dreighan is my favorite zone, it simply is too far out of the way. By this metric I opt to buy a residence in a back street of Heidel, which seems to be the crossroads of the main land. Had I known it would only cost contribution points to purchase instead of actual silver, I might have done this much earlier!

I still wonder where these random airships come from...

Insight: I like how player housing works here. There are fixed, static houses/apartments for sale that anyone can buy and decorate (multiple people can "own" the same house), but the trick is the house "doors" themselves which let you pick what instance / which player's house you want to enter. This loads the selected interior without actually leaving the open world. It's awesome.

Extra points for functional appliances too such as advanced alchemy benches and beds that can only go into lodgings. Beds are especially handy as they let you recover energy at an increased rate!

BDO: Blackstar Bomb

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

With all my new gear and consumable goodies, the aliens at Star's End still kick my ass - but only if the aliens are in a group. This means using caution to lure only one at a time (and carefully fighting outside the hours of 10PM - 7AM when the monsters are strongest) I can actually start beating them now which lets me advance through this quest line.

It's an ominous place.

As I thought, these aliens are actually infected people in the final or near final stage of transformation who refuse to leave the crater as its what gives them their power (and keeps them alive). With some sleuthing I eventually find out that the nearby Calpheon outpost which is run by the Church of Elion (specifically the cult branch that worships Kzarka) have been taking samples from this meteor for awhile to make anti-elf bombs. Looks like they took my invasion suggestion seriously as they'd already unleashed a few in the now empty (apart from elf ghosts) Northern part of Kamasylve forest.

Obviously they needed to test their weapon on someone first: the farmers who are now refugees outside Calpheon city. I manage to swipe the bomb formula and get it to a reputable alchemist who can go about making the cure which sorts out the sick refugee problem... now it's just down to a standard refugee problem.

Insight: When fighting against one monster, well timed blocks do wonders and I almost prefer going toe to toe instead of dancing around as I've previously been doing. It does mean you need more repairs though!

BDO: Life Skills

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Since I skipped almost all the non-combat quests to do the main story line, I find myself back at Velia to learn more about these "life" (crafting) skills which is both super involved and very boring... especially fishing. God I hate fishing. Luckily the beginner fish quests can be cleared by fish stolen from fishing nets already lying around.

 

Doesn't matter what game it is: I always hate fishing.

I am also introduced to the beginner worker management and trade route marketing which involves hiring workers, getting them lodging, buying space for whatever factory you want (farm, smithy, etc), feeding your workers, making sure you have the "starting materials" in your storage and on and on it goes. It is SUPER technical and I don't really get my head around it, nor do I want to as it isn't my jam. I do earn a donkey, a small cart and a mini elephant from it though - and ride it back East, to train against Desert Nagas and Desert Fogans.

At Valencia, I finish upgrading my secondary weapon (which I could have done anywhere) but more importantly I rent a crescent blade (spear thing) from King Nesser which is stronger than the one I have. I also find Ellie's event food is more awesome than I initially thought (+AP which I need in the harder zones) so I buy a whole bunch of that too. With this new gear I am feeling pretty hopeful as I make my way back to face the aliens at Star's End.

Insight: I goofed up by ditching my weak Canon Awakening weapon which I would have been able to trade into Narchillan gear. Nesser's rented weapon is an easy next best option as it doesn't degrade and only eats up contribution points which I don't use for anything anyway since I'm not in the crafting game.

BDO: Unfinished Gem

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

On the way to the Ahib capital, Ataraxia and I travel through the Thornwood which is home to corrupted Ahib who prefer sacrificing their kidnap victims rather than enslaving them. Somehow Ataraxia is corrupted too and goes crazy when we emerge on the other side, forcing me to kill her. Parry/Counter attack when she "vanishes" works well.

Khalk man-bats serve as the city guards.

Finally I meet Queen Viorencia at her city of O'draxxia (which has the best city music) who asks for my help in assembling a magic gem which may or may not cure this disease affecting her people: they are slowly and painfully turning into trees. I agree to assist and collect a golem's heart and steal a sacred cup deep in the Thornwood. However the rest of the assembly has to take a back seat as their enslaved turos start a rebellion and since these are very strong (and quite frankly the Ahibs deserve it) I leave to let them sort it out themselves.
 
I report all this back to Queen Brolina who is happy at the turn of events, and then report to the Calpheon Council that it would be a good time to attack Queen Brolina now that half her forces are committed to the civil war on the opposite border of her land. The elves might have nature, but man has fricking cannons.

Insight: I've finally hit the gear wall on the main quests with both Star's End and O'dyllita II requiring kills outside my current power level. Now we'll see what else there is to do in this game!

June 2021 Review: Lockdown #2

Just a short one today: Thanks to a resurgence of COVID-19, a new lockdown has been imposed where I live. This probably means I'm going to eat too much again! Anyway, my adventures in Black Desert Online continue (and happen to be the most viewed post last month) while my Friday night co-op has completed Remnants: From the Ashes. We were/are trying to get into Ghost Recon Wildlands next, which is a fun game - except it simply refuses to work 50% of the time. As that's time better spent gaming, we're currently branching out to see what games don't have this connectivity issue.

Other than that, our guild hall in Neverwinter Online is now level 18! Way to go guildies and allies. Due to my Black Desert-ing I'm definitely low on the contribution board for that achievement.

Most Viewed Posts in the last 30 days

Adventures in Black Desert Online
Castlevania (TV Series)
BDO: Sword on a Stick

BDO: Ahib Tamers

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Somehow Calpheon is still having an issue with infected refugees who claim that this infection began far to the North West, but there are no more reports of infected people there. Suspecting the cure is being kept from them they plead that I go check it out so I do - and find the ruins of a coastal town decimated by a meteor. The people there have turned into alien things that luckily don't wander far from the crater, but they easily kick my ass in combat as apparently they are far stronger than Garmoth!?

Dark knights have strange attire.

While recovering in town I am approached by the dark knight Ataraxia who gives me an invitation from the Queen of the Ahibs, Viorencia (sister of Brolina) who requests an audience. I accept and we travel there as a pair, though as expected Queen Brolina is unhappy that I am now visiting her enemy. She only lets us pass after I convince her it would be a good opportunity to spy on her sisters defenses, and what good defenses they are.

Turns out the shadowy Ahibs are tamers with armored war bears, turos (minotaurs), khalks and the like as their pets. Oh did I say tamers? I meant to say slavers. They enslave all types of people and creatures here. Even with the invitation the Ahib border guards are reluctant to let me pass, and get me to first defeat a nightmare minotaur. It hits hard, but is a faster fight than the Sherekhan so I win pretty convincingly and the border guards let us pass.

Insight: The O'dyllita I (first Ahib main quest line) is pretty forgiving, as it provides weaker versions of really strong mobs to kill - except for one place where you need to kill and butcher shadow wolves. Super irritating. Only kill the ones at the edge of the spawn so you can harvest them in peace otherwise the respawn will interrupt you.

BDO: Garmoth

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Having proved my strength to the Sherekhan they pledge to assist my fight against the dragon, and suggest I visit a swampy ruin next where they last beat it. Garmoth's ears must have been burning because the flying beast attacks me twice on the way there with fly by fire breath, but is unable to stop me.  

At the swamp, a dragon researcher sent there previously by the chief of Duvencrune is already hard at work trying to find why the dragon is back and stronger than before. The answer soon becomes clear: someone is feeding it energy from the black stones. Using holy water at Garmoth's nest brings the massive beast into battle. I learn quickly not to stand under the dragon when it flies and also to NOT STAND IN THE RED CIRCLE. :P

That's a big dragon.

Garmoth is a damned HP sponge. Thankfully two platoons of Duvencrune soldiers and the Sherekhan arrive to assist me in what is a very prolonged fight where I am the lone survivor. The chief of Duvencrune rewards me with some nice looking armor (visuals only) for my efforts and I spend a few more days there relaxing before finally heading back to the low lands and training up to reach level 61.

Insight: This battle used up even more health potions than the previous Sherekhan one. Carrying 100 is a good safety net but the trade off is the weight. Pots get heavy!

BDO: The Sherekhan

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

At the elf outpost bordering into Dreighan (the people with the dragon problem) I again assist the elven beauties who have just pushed back their Ahib cousins but are now faced with left over man-bats who the Ahibs were using as cannon fodder. Luckily slaying the lead man-bat (in an interesting way) makes the rest disperse and leaves the way open for me to ride into the picturesque and mostly peaceful canyons of this small region.

In no time at all I am at the capital of Duvencrune and learn from the mercenary office there that there is conflict on the Eastern border against blood wolves: wolfweres who claim to be in service of the "revived" dragon, Garmoth. While clashing against them I even see the dragon fly overhead but can only disengage once I defeat their leader Geralt the white wolf.

Afterwards the chief of Duvencrune (a little girl) sends me to the Sherekhan necropolis to try learn how Garmoth was defeated long ago by a band of five warriors and I am very much surprised to find all five risen from their graves - but of course they won't talk unless I manage to beat all of them first. What follows is the most hectic boss fight so far. While they are nice enough to fight one at a time, beating them in a chain is a long fight that eats up many potions. It is epic.

The ancient power rangers!

Insight: Duvencrune has a really easy set of daily city quests and is rather scenic, making it my favorite city now. Especially since it gives off that Skyrim vibe.

BDO: The Sly Queen

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Among the elves there are those classified as "saints" and it is one such saint who uses her rank to overrule my arrest when I manage to read the song on the ancient tablet I found from the koalas (I guess the Robber Team did do something useful after all). Said saint basically blackmails me into saving the massive Kamasylve Tree that Grana is based around, which has long been withering away and why the power of the elves (the saints in particular) is weakening.

Since that's better than being locked up I agree and look into the death of Queen Brolina's other sister, Catherine, who was working on this very problem when she became a casualty to the civil war. First I have to prove myself to a race of brass golems whom Catherine befriended by fighting two boss versions of them - a slow but deadly hammer one and a quick and invincible twin sword one who you just need to run circles around until it gets tired and becomes vulnerable.

They give me part of a song she was composing which goes well with the ancient tablet I found and locate the last part of the song at the site of her death (with the help of forest spirits who I've been helping throughout). With these powers combined, I am Captain Planet I basically sing to the tree and revive it fully.

The song isn't specified, so I assume its "Bloody Stream" from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure season two.

It's a magical place.

Queen Brolina is impressed and declares I am forever to be a friend of her lands then in the same breath also withdraws her request for aid from the Calpheon military, ends trade agreements with the humans and sends me East to help her other neighbors who have a dragon problem. That is a pretty sly queen.

Insight: Actually, running in circles is a very valid combat strategy in any fight. Very few boss enemies I've met have good aim tracking and generally depend on swarming, cheap shotting or simply being overlevelled to win. The random ranged mob is usually the most dangerous in any group - especially if they don't stand out.

BDO: Trespasser

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Surprisingly some of the Calpheon council is waiting for me at Trent, and promptly send me back via another land route on the premise of delivering an official letter to the elf queen. In reality, they reveal that they are thinking about invading both in trade and by force, basically making me their spy. This new road is plagued by annoying gargoyles, but eventually I make it back to the elven border where I manage to bluff my way in.

From there, I befriend a sneaky human poacher by helping him kill other competing poachers (lol) plus a bunch of fauna, including a tribe of angry koalas from whom I nab an ancient tablet, and get directions to an elven military base known as the Old Wisdom Tree. The elves barracks inside the hollow of the fallen wood, and are amiable enough as I help them do random chores around camp.

Then when they are not looking, I snoop through their correspondence and go to the nearby praire to murder the feather wolves they use as pets, the colorful giant birds they use as mounts and smash griffon eggs while dancing around the dangerous griffons themselves. Upon my return to Old Wisdom Tree to sell loot and restock, I am promptly arrested! Looks like those scouts on top of the tree weren't just for show after all.

The more reindeer like they look, the higher the rank?

Insight: Pay the one million mount transfer fee (or buy a new mount) when you first arrive at Grana. I was a fool and did all of this on foot!

BDO: Named Delegate

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

The elven Queen Brolina has requested military aid from Calpheon to help in their civil war against her sister Viorencia's "Ahibs" and my job is to assess the situation so the council can better make a decision to accept or not. In addition to the civil war, the black spirit seems to be riling up other fauna and flora to be more hostile - the most immediate threat being one of the elves primary food sources.

Now, if you had a city full of sheerly dressed supermodel type women and required an appropriate threat for them what would you design? If your answer was gigantic mobile mushrooms brimming with long tentacles then maybe you should work for Pearl Abyss, because that's exactly what is in the neighboring forests and I end up helping slay hundreds of these, mainly because the elves love getting tentacle shrooms inside them. As food. I think.

Obviously they aren't the only threat as more scary centaurs and blue cat people lurk in the woods. I slaughter a lot of those blue cats as they manage to destroy my awesome fish suit.  Also, while solving riddles from a centaur shaman requires I actually say the answer in the chat box which finally means I need a family name! Being super creative, I use the exact name I gave my character. :P

Damn selfish blue cat people that don't want to share their unobtanium!

The elves clearly find that stupid, and promptly show me the pass over the mountains back to the lumber village of Trent. My delegate touring days are over.

Insight: As stupid as it looked, I really like the fish suit as the swim bonus it gives is incredible. Apparently it also helps fishing!