Training to face Oblivion

Part of the journals from Wizardry Online! You can view the rest here!

With Dwark looking into further leads to chase down the "mysterious four", we received a quest from the elf priestess Caladre to recover a soul gem from a nearby underground shrine called "the Temple of Oblivion". The crumbling, claustrophobic tunnels are littered with traps and are home to powerful spirits, zombies, demonic imps and conjurers who are (despite our newly upgraded gear) too dangerous to deal with. Even more annoying is that like the Golden Dragon Ruins, this place has barriers blocked by riddles that can only be solved by exploring each passage for historic slates.

Despite that I managed to get Caanon and Quark past the first barrier and they made it all the way to the second floor by luring each guardian spirit (in each barrier) one by one. The zombies are comparatively the safest to deal with as thier slow gait still makes them easy spear fodder and the majority of the paths are linear.

Still, they've come across a chamber with "light spirits" which are too strong to push past so they returned to town to train up a bit first. Fortunately Caladre isn't in a hurry for that gem, so Quark and Caanon have been hunting the cursed coins back at Aria, as well as more Bullspawn (with the porkul thief Arsenic and elf mage Helga) to gain the strength needed to face the horrors still awaiting them in the temple. Selenka has also finished helping Mighty Dog at Deltis Keep and is now assisting the remainder of the cavalry unit at the Aria entryway, while I've continued culling the numbers of Zule back at the Golden Dragon Ruins. It is worth noting that our masked "friend" Arahawi was also in the Temple sometime before us as he took the soul lantern of a spirit there. Tried questioning him on the matter but he seems content on just giving out free tarot card readings in town while avoiding questions.

If only we could train like Stephen Amell!

-Thanam

As an OOC note: The multiclassing system sounds really interesting here. Quark switched from priest to mage and back (having gained skills/levels between each switch) and it looks like you can bring a number of skills from your previous profession over to your new one. Even better you can "grandfather" skills by bringing skills further down the skill tree back to the original class saving you points from any skills you didn't use higher up but previously needed to unlock. Powerplaying sounds like a key mechanic here, the only draw back is each time you change you require 7 class stones of the relevant class which only drop from monsters in... the Temple of Oblivion. :P

Deers in a Forest

One of the stranger "experimental" MMO's (if you can call it that) I've checked recently (thanks to Bhagpuss) is The Eternal Forest and man... there is some trippy stuff going on over there. For starters there is only one "wrapped" map of the forest itself (hence it is endless), and everyone is some sort of deer with a humanish face, Hayao Miyazaki style. There is no chat option, only action abilities like bowing, jumping, nodding, laughing etc. none of which are labelled and are just depicted by painted pictogram options. Some actions only appear at certain parts of the forest, like drink at a lake or pray at some statues. You can also experience the forest solo but it's far more interesting with other deer online.

Nice yet creepy at the same time?
 

My first foray had me appear as a fawn and while experimenting with my bleat noise drew the attention of some big shadowy and masked awesome stag thing. No one is named, instead everyone is identified by unique sigils. I am "Half-moon Tear" or something like that. Sounds cool in portugese though: "Meia Lua Rasgar". Maybe just "Rasgar" for short. Don't quite remember the dark one's sigil, but his coat and mask seemed pretty unique. Very strange communicating through actions only too but it works. I met a few other deer, cast funky spells at each other (most with ridiculous results) and then wandered the forest with my shadow as he showed me the ropes.

Apart from no chatting there is no combat in the forest, no crafting, just interaction and exploration which is... unique? My favourite skill is to "listen" as you can detect the number and direction of other players in the forest (i saw around maybe 10 other sigils), as well as other locations nearby. Anywho after a bit of socializing, exploration, and spell casting (non violent obviously) I decided to log out after my shadow did. It was an interesting first foray into the forest, and strangely - I don't think it will be my last.

Chainmail Bikini Battle!

Just for kicks I've been trying out a few other MMO's lately and have come across two that encapsulate the old motto of "Sex Sells". I'm talking ofcourse of Kabod Online and Scarlet Blade (currently in beta for the english version, also known as Queen's Blade everywhere else) and despite the years of difference between the two they are actually -very- similar. Unfortunately this doesn't make either of them any good. Let's see how they go head to head:

Story:
Kabod takes place in a world full of bored monsters who stand around surrounding sparsely populated villages for seemingly no reason. Scarlet Blade takes place on a planet full of bored monsters who stand around more populated bases with better reason: they actually live there and the player(s) are technically the invaders. Where Kabod suffers from horrible translation problems and lazy text editing at least Scarlet Blade has readable and understandable english and gives a bit more incentive to go out there and generally mass murder everything.

Time to put an end to their boredom. (MMO Site has more pics of Kabod)

Quests:
"Talk to x", "Kill x number of monsters" or "Gather x material from killing monsters" is pretty much the standard fare for both games which is a shame since it boils down to endless grind, the only difference is that in Kabod you have to finish tasks in person while in the future of Scarlet Blade you just use your cellphone (lol). They do both lead to open PvP zones though which I guess appeals to some. This is where having a solid story (Guildwars 2 / Mabinogi / Wizardry Online) really helps give the players the drive to continue playing.

Combat:
WoW standard fare for both unfortunately (ie. boring). Use highest damage skill followed by next and so on till highest damage cooldown has finished then repeat. Scarlet Blade features a ton more skill sets per class than Kabod though, but Kabod has a better in-built mechanic for the grind called "hunting stones" which drop from slain mobs which gives you a stack of 10 minutes each of legalized botting. You just set the radius to hunt in, put your potions in order and set when to automatically drink them. Then you can go play another MMORPG while you autolevel in this one. :P

Non-Combat:
While Scarlet Blade has hints of (naughty) picture puzzles and card games (both of which are ironically played through combat anyway), Kabod is purely all about the grind, I mean combat. Sure there are magic cards you can collect but that is just to enchant your gear. This is wierd considering that silly things like fishing, cooking and crafting have been in MMORPGs since Ultima Online.

Pets:
Kabod's pet system is a bit like pokemon with far less things to catch. Basically you beat up something and make it your slave. Pretty sure at some point you can buy horses too. Not too sure about Scarlet Blade's pet system, only that there is one. There are also motorbikes for your character to mount (suggestively ofcourse) and from my understanding temporary giant robots, because ... why not.

Everything is better with giant robots.

Sound:
Kabod has all of 3 (repetetive) songs from what I've heard and NPCs greet you with insane giggling or laughter. Your character is the strong silent type though and will go through combat, damage and even death without making so much as a squeek. By comparison Scarlet Blade has ok music and voiced NPCs halfheartedly speaking one generic line (followed by a wall of text) when conversed. Furthermore other than the medic (so far) almost every other class make irritating moans during battle and gets quite annoying. Who yells at a high pitch when firing a sniper rifle anyway? Oh, right. GW2 people. *sigh*

Graphics:
Given that Kabod looks marginally better than the old Knight Online and Scarlet Blade looks almost as good as Guildwars 2 it's not surprising that the newer game is shinier. Character customization in Scarlet Blade is also very much more flexible. Strangely though, as skimpy as the "c-string armor" is in Scarlet Blade your character can never go full monty (pretty close though) where as in Kabod the armor-breaking system pretty much guarantees nudity for your character and most of the monsters (mostly female) too. Not that you would care since you are afk using hunting stones by that stage.

There you have it, I'll let you decide if you want to waste your time on either of these or find something better (though really, what MMO isn't ultimately just a waste of time?). For me, they don't really rank higher than Rappelz, Knight Online or Runescape (for the sheer lol) which are themselves already pretty low on my list but who knows? Maybe for someone else these are the next best thing since sliced bread.

Aria Reservoir: the Core of Evil

Part of the journals from Wizardry Online! You can view the rest here!

Seems there's something happening behind the scenes in this kingdom as Quark's team and I encountered a strange party of "evil doers" in the lower core level of the Aria Reservoir. This floor features larger hallways mainly patrolled by more cursed coins, while the main spacious "dance hall" is patrolled by petryfing shadows who are easily enough avoided if you put your mind to it. It is best divided into three sections:

A Tale of Knights Reception:
The first barrier was not far into the second floor at all, held by a riddle of four knights and a foolish king. While I could defeat each knight individually I needed Quark's help to beat them all together. Once out of the way we were allowed entry to the main area.

The Petrifying Dance Floor:
Taking up the largest area on this level, it is pretty easy to navigate if you stick to the walls to avoid the lurkers. Stairs down on either side lead to either spider or frog infested sewers, both of which we ended up harvesting for reagents with Jaina's help (Quark's thief friend). The frogs were more dangerous - definitely evade their poison tounge attack! Also within their lairs were items that needed to be "mirrored" then given to statues in the dance hall itself to access the next area - defended by Shadow Dancer zombies. Despite their name they still very much lacked dexterity and were easy prey for my spear.

Back Area:
Ran into the masked aristocrat Arahawi here and he's very much as untrustworthy as Sel first said. Still he had a potion of magic negation which we required to access the last barrier, but not only was it protected by dark magic but also by four minotaurs! Fortunately Porkul and I could spear them through the door that they were too fat to fit through. Once within the barrier we encountered the strange party I spoke of earlier composed of a patchwork giant, an elven vampire, a masked fencer and the same sorceress from Deltis Keep, who seemed to be their leader.

Apparently they were giving out Beta-keys!

They didn't deem us worth the trouble of fighting though and instead the vampire let loose his "pets" on us - more bullspawn. After the battle the four had fled to parts unknown and we were left to return to town and report in our findings. On a lighter note Quark has made me an honorary member of his currently 7 strong union called the "Porkul-pickers". From those that I've met I think you'll like them, they seem to be Dragonarm material.

-Caanon

Entrance to the Aria Reservoir

Part of the journals from Wizardry Online! You can view the rest here!

Prime Minister Zermu Terlu gave us another task this week, to eliminate the bullspawn demons that dwell in the deeper parts of the Aria Reservoir. Apparently the place had long ago been sealed up, and only recently been reopened by an entire cavalry unit to help the ministry's survey team do their job. I am upset to report that Mr. Caanon and Thanam both said it was too dangerous for me to go so I remained in Illfalo Port while they went ahead. I wonder if it's because the souls lost sign board now says 75 for last month, whereas the month before it was zero?

Anyway, I decided to help out Mighty Dog back at Dimento Keep - fighting off rival gangs and the wizards that reside in the deeper parts.I was somewhat surprised when Thanam snuck up on me there later (I almost shot him with magic, thinking he was a rogue! Technically I was right). Apparently Mr. Caanon had made it through the first floor of the reservoir with his friend Quark and two other fighters. According to his description it was broken up into three major areas.

Market Entrance
Plagued by giant flies that the remaining cavalry forces keep at bay, the first barrier required a simple ticket bought from a machine at the end of the right hand hall, something Thanam said was easy for him to get. Past the barrier guarded only by a rotting nobleman and some flies, was the empty market which is guarded by cursed coins and by clouds of deadly poison elementals, and is where Quark and his team of fighters: Nyenya (human) and Porkul "Porky" were met.

Dark Horse Circuit
The next barrier was right beside a broken horse statue which the team had to first repair, requiring only a horn (it was a unicorn statue apparently) but also lot of running through dark places and from many creatures. The barrier itself was defended by a large group of knights, probably soldiers from the cavalry unit that had been corrupted be the cursed coins. Fortunately their team was strong enough to defeat them all.

Drain Section
According to Thanam the final part was another long sewer filled mainly with slimes with a final barrier that needed another ticket from a nearby machine. Only this time it cost Kraken Coins (1 for porkuls, 2 for everyone else)! Good thing Mr. Caanon brought spares as some of his allies were short. The guardian itself was a giant slime, nearly as big as the chamber it was in. Mr. Caanon nearly died fighting it, but the team managed to push past it to the second floor.

As dangerous as it is hideous.

Apparently Mr. Caanon then sent Thanam back to check on me! Seriously, I have half a mind to go in there and bop him on the head myself!!! >.<

-Selenka

Haunting Chikor Castle

Part of the journals from Wizardry Online! You can view the rest here!

With Selenka taking magic classes as the Ministry of Arcanum (she certainly seems to spend lots of time there lately), Caanon got us a job from a scholarly appraiser at the bustling market to track down his friend, a mage who was last seen headed towards Chikor Castle, so named because of a heroic dog that once lived there apparently. Now the castle is home only to the undead, and has three main areas of interest. For a change the traps in this place are easily detected.

Western Dungeon:
Turning left from the entry leads to stairs down into a large zombie infested hall. Fortunately Caanon met up with Quark and Vladut again along with Lydovey, a fair elven mage, to tackle the massive horde while I shadowed from a distance. A safer path to traverse the hall is to take the ladders up to the higher walkways which lead to relative safety. Alas I was too far to warn them about the pit trap at the first dark angel statue (activated by donating items to the ghost of Lord Midnight at the entry).

Caanon reported that they had fallen into a small dungeon surrounded by fast zombies. Having been injured I stayed with him while the rest of the party moved on. Past the gate, and a knight statue was another ghost who Caanon aided and she provided the key to the higher level of the castle.

Forge Level:
Accessible by turning right from the entry hall, this area contained more zombies and a large pack of kobolds. Since it was easier to sneak past, I was the one traversing this area most - mainly to contact the dwarf spirit here who held the key to the final statue which held a chamber with more zombies and a doom sentinel.

Looked a lot like those creeps in the Shalebridge Cradle.

Top Floors:
Past the forge level are stairs up to the quarters themselves which Caanon reported was guarded by an ambush of kobolds in a tight hallway. Many more zombies, butchers and statues lurked in the maze up there and it was here that we found the mage we were looking for. He had been turned into a scavenger zombie... Once we retrieved his remains Caanon focused on going up past the many poison traps until the very top of the castle which is ultimately where we found what the dwarf spirit back at the forge wanted.

After collecting the reward we met up with our absentee mage and went shopping with our now substatial funds (much to Caanon's displeasure)! It was time to get new equipment though, and he wasn't complaining so much once he had his full bronze plate armor on.

-Thanam

Trials at the Golden Dragon Ruins

Part of the journals from Wizardry Online! You can view the rest here!

Sel was contacted by a masked aristocrat calling himself Arahawi today and we were tasked with retrieving the Fir Elin jewel for him from the Golden Dragon Ruins, an outdoor trap-filled labyrinth of teleporters inhabited by goblin-like gargoyles, troll-like zules, foul smelling ogre things and worst of all large earth elementals that have remarkable range with their fists. Furthermore, both floors are stacked with riddles pertaining to the rather gruesome fate of Lin Lian. The answers are littered within stone tablets in the ruins themselves but most were a pain to remember, let alone get to (good thing we have a sneaky elf). Also Sel remembered a song sung by the bard back in town which helped in some parts.

Most of the barricades were held by denizens of the ruins, and some by groups of stone knight statues. Using the many broken pillars I could fight them a few at a time but one barricade, held by five earth elementals was almost unpassable. Fortunately with enough training they too broke before me and deeper within the mapless zone I met a porkul priest named Quark, Jaina a thief, and Vladut an elven warrior. We decided to team up to reach the end of the place, defeating a powerful purple hued zombie on the way.

Giant Frogs like eating Porkuls.

Due to the arrival of another murderous mage (pk) called Smackman our group was broken not long after and I had to proceed to the final section with Vladut. Fortunately the giant frog that was guarding the jewel itself was not so dangerous, despite being very tough. After it fell to our blades we returned to Illfalo Port and Sel gave Arahawi what he wanted, completing the contract. On a side note I am getting concerned for her. Something is wrong with the mana in this region, despite the supposed mana drain, as evidenced by the blood thirsty mages we've seen. Will keep an eye on her and will get Thanam to do the same.

-Caanon