This week tended to surround the difficulties faced in the MMORPG world. From deaths to the struggle of leveling and making time spent in the games mean something. Everyone can expect to question themselves when they play these games at least once in their time with them. To this day, there really aren't any "easy" online RPGs, so it is best to suck it up and move on. The best part of these games is when you do level and you don't die, but it takes time and practice. Take our words seriously because death and the length of leveling are the top reasons why many people choose to leave their games. They often leave before they can see what these worlds have to offer, and believe us, they offer alot.
Week #2: TaruTaru Sounds Funny
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Wow, I really had to struggle balancing my time in between the release of Doom 3, and a combination of other games that I've been really itching to finish. But hey, this isn't about Doom 3 or other games, now is it? During my short climb to an amazing level 6 Red Mage Tarutaru, I've discovered several things. These several "things" perfectly framed my inexperience as an MMORPG gamer and a newbie to the world of Vana'Diel. I've also got some complaints for a certain company with a hyphenated name.
First off, I've finally realized that levelling without the aid of a higher-up friend (or party, for that matter) is an insanely slow and daunting task, particularly for those that have not yet achieved level ten. Don't let that get you down, though! The reason it IS so slow is because leveling requires practically no skill at all. Just pick the nearest "easy" enemy, fight, heal, rinse, repeat. Continue until brown around the edges or a toothpick comes out clean. Don't think I'm complaining, because I'm partially not. While this type of gameplay (early on, without a party) is monotonous and requires copious amounts of my very valuable gamer time, it also means I don't need to worry about any peticular strategy beyond a few simple spells and upgrading armor. Speaking of armor: Why can't we have some MORE options for the little guys? I suppose it's a benefit of the higher-level characters to have better, shinier armor, but when it takes so long (with me) to level, I'd like to get an upgrade every few levels instead of a jump from say, level 1 to level 10. Nonetheless, that's the punishment I get for chatting on my linkshell instead of fighting falsely identified monsters.
Yes, you heard me: falsely identified. What's that mean? You see, there is always the option, when targetting a monster, to "Check" said monster. This option displays a message in the chatbox, telling you whether you might be able to take the monster or not. It ranges from something like "It looks like easy prey." to "It looks very tough." Most players speak in terms of "that's an 'easy'" or "if we party, we can take some 'toughs'". Generally speaking, you can take a "decent challenge" monster as long as you have about 80% of your life. The thing is, this "help" is sometimes severely off. Case in point: I was having a jolly good time trying to level when I stumbled across a "dc" lizard. They look like mini-tyranosaurs without necks. My HP (health points, for the unintiated) was close to being full, so I was confident I could take this scaly menace. Paying half-attention, I engaged the monster, my blade flailing as I cast Dia, a white magic spell that reduces attack power and health gradually. "Stone!" and boulders bombard the creature.
"Nulliar: Hey, I have something important to say!"
"Countducco: You like pants?"
"Nulliar: Cripes, how'd you know?!"
I collapse. The beast has beaten me to my last breath and I lay in the sand, a beaten Taru. Several explicitives fly across the screen as I cry out my anguish over my defeat. How could Square-Enix do such a heinous thing? How could they have let this terrible inaccurate Check go through? I was left wondering, wondering if I'd ever make it to level 10.
Deep breath, calm. That about rounds out the week's main events, but I'd like to finish off with something near and dear to my heart. Something that S-E has left me in a fog of mystery over. You see, as I was bumbling across the the dusty rock of Gustaberg on my stubby Tarutaru legs, I began to roll the word "Tarutaru" around in my head. How do I pronouce it? How would I know? There's no real voice dialogue in FFXI, so we're left to wonder about this odd word. It could be just "Tah-roo tah-roo" or maybe, just maybe "Tah-rut-ah-roo." Then I thought of the possibilities. It's practically endless (to the point of about 6 variations, but my mind doesn't go far beyond that)! "Tay-ruh-tay-ruh!" "Tah-ruh-Tah-ruh!" (Just think, a variation on "huzzah! huzzah!" and many more! If you would like recordings of me pronouncing Tarutaru in the 46 different variations I've come up with, just send $25 paypal to chad@vgcity.com and your address. That's two CDs or fifty casette tapes for that low, low price! Please? Buy my stuff? I'll dance for gil.
Written By: Chad Phillips
Week #2: The Consequences Of Being Reckless
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One of the many hard lessons you will learn in games like City of Heroes is that death is inevitable. Every single person you meet on those servers will have experienced the annoyance of death one time or another, and while some may learn their lesson, others like me, surely won’t. Something I didn’t read up on before playing the game (which I should have) was that Blasters aren’t really supposed to jump into the thick of a battle. They are most often used for long range attacks and close range in emergencies. So for the last four levels I had been storming through missions getting obliterated without once taking a hint that maybe a team would be the best way to approach the situation. So, I began a task that I originally thought would be difficult, finding a team. All I honestly had to do was broadcast a message in the city chat screen asking if anyone wanted a lowlife like me and voila, a team came calling. I had started a mission that was simply impossible for me to complete alone. It involved eliminating a group of painting thieves and while I had cleared out the first few rooms, if I had gone any further I would have been sent back to the city hospital in small meat packages with “Loser” stamps posted all over them.
When I joined the team, I basically decided to go with the flow and refrain from suggesting any specific missions because I wanted to sit and listen how everyone else played the game. Most of the time I wondered if it was just me who kept dying as if it was the new American 5-minute trend. Luckily, in our first mission I was proved very wrong. The team was led by Honniscrave, a character who made suggestions more than orders, which worked quite well for the diverse group I was part of. The first mission we tried out involved finding a specific box inside a warehouse, and let me tell you, up until this point, I had never seen so many enemies in one room. We began to fight them sector by sector as I continued my naïve trend of running right into the heat of battle with ice beams blasting. Surely enough, I died about three minutes into my first venture with my group, and of course, I looked like a complete idiot, especially when one of my fellow team members shouted out that Blasters are best at long distances and should stay away from the front lines. At that point, playing ToonTown looked right about perfect for my level. I spawned back at the hospital and as I traveled back to the warehouse, I made sure I read the descriptions of the Blaster class before I jumped back into the mission. When I returned, they were all waiting outside the warehouse as if I was ten minutes late for motor skills class. I proceeded to make a completely unfunny joke and we went back in. This time I fared much better, as the tankers worked their magic on the thugs, I was in the back lines along with the healer as I laid down heavy cover fire with my ice blasts and breath. The Ice Breath attack was an excellent move to learn because even though you can only target one enemy at a time, the blast will do damage to an entire group of enemies behind it. It proved to be very helpful when the numbers became overwhelming. I reached level 5 at the end of my first mission with a full team and let me say, it felt very rewarding.
Our next mission that we tackled was my own. This time there were even more enemies and it was located in an even tighter space. I continued my behind the scenes work and a job that I originally expected to be boring, turned out to be immensely satisfying. I would meet a grisly fate one more time with my team and when I did, it was finally for the right reasons. We had become swamped and aside from running, there really wasn’t anything we could have done right or wrong. Towards the end of the mission some of the team expressed interest in leaving to go do other things like eat and work (how could they leave me to go and make money?). I finally spoke up and told them I really wanted to make it to Level 6, which at that time I was anything but close to. The members for the most part didn’t really notice my message but a Level 6 Mutation/Defender named Psi Omega told me he would be able to try and stay. It was a great feeling because one of the unadvertised rewards of a game like this is the unexpected kindness of its players, and Psi really put that into perspective for me.
The team moved on (albeit with a few less members) and we proceeded to another mission. The same strategies were employed and it wasn’t all that memorable except for getting much closer to Level 6. I finally reached that goal level in the final mission when everyone but the team leader Honniscrave had left. The details of the generic mission are very fuzzy to me, but it was something about a broach (not that it had any real relevance to the story). We fared quite well considering it was just the two of us. We were both long range fighters so I would use my special powers first and melee as they advanced towards us. When we found the item we were sent to retrieve, not only did I receive a mission complete, but a level 6 congratulations from Honnis as well. We parted ways and I was once again left on the streets alone, so that I could look back on my reckless past and ponder the future, where more adventures and lame deaths would meet me.
Written By: Joseph Bennett
Week #1: Where Am I And What Am I Doing?
Once again, I dared to enter the world of an MMO without first reading the manual. I swear that it’s going to be my downfall. While I don’t have much to say regarding Dark Age of Camelot yet, I thought I would give you a sneak peak at the very beginnings of my oddball journey. The warrior was my chosen path for this game and I chose it with a shred of confidence that it might be easy. Let me tell you, its not. Maybe it would be if I had an idea of what I was supposed to be doing, but rest assured, I will be putting in for some manual reading time right after the posting of this (I swear).
My first pre-assigned mission was to talk to three important people about the different ways of life in the world. They had descriptions of the straight up tough guy, the balancers and of course those fuzzy magic users. I walked around the small town I was placed in and received a mission from someone who wanted a locket back. My mission was to storm the beach and slaughter a bunch of beach rats until I found the locket. To this day, still no locket, but fear not, I did reach level 2. Next week, I will detail the way this game plays and how I myself have fared amidst the confusion.
Written By: Joseph Bennett
