Unloading the Camera

I haven't posted screenshots in a while. Here are some good ones. :)

Akarist, sporting the latest in Circle of Thorns chic. Note the hint of both green and purple in the robes as well as the cunning detail work of thorny vines. The hat says "I need extra space above my brain" while the robes say "go on: try to hug me".

Fyre-Hex and her imps after our triumphant victory over Ghost Widow. The summoning circle is the second-coolest thing I've ever seen in Oranbega.

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen in Oranbega. A soul crystal containing the essence of the Red Widow. It's a lot larger than the mission text makes it sound, but I don't care. That's just neat-looking right there.

This is a painting/poster from the wall of Yin's grocery in Faultline. Ever since those paintings on the wall of the Longbow "club", I've paid a lot more attention to the things they slap on the walls. I'd love to know if these are things the decorators find and insert into the game... or if they "draw" them themselves. Beautiful!

Welcome to Grandville

Fyre-Hex and Cpt. William Piett have finally hit 40 and started up in Grandville. After the last couple levels of nothing but newspaper missions in St. Martial (interrupted at one point by working with Johnny Sonata), it's nice to have new missions, new contacts, and new scenery. And on top of that, Will is my highest-level villain with 'Ware Wolf still languishing at 36.

Now, I've been to Grandville twice before. Both times, I was taking advantage of Hide and Superspeed (it's good to be a stalker) just to be all touristy. Now I'm able to really get in there and explore, and Grandville is amazing, grand, and disturbing. A perfect evil HQ for Arachnos. Lots of people complain about extra lag, but I don't find there to be that much extra. I mean, I notice it, but it's well within tolerable limits. 'Course, I'm missioning in Grandville, not street-sweeping.

Will's already putting together a lengthy list of contacts. I developed a habit in St. Martial of clicking anyone who might be a contact, just to see what they'd say. And I've accidentally picked up a couple contacts that way, including the Rikti delegation standing in Recluse's lobby. Will won't be working with them, so they'll just take up space in the contact list. :)

Things are getting tense for these two. I hesitate to reveal details here yet, but Will's story is basically told and now, it's Fyre's story and Will is guest-starring. I'm loving the RP, and I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Oh, and I'm loving the fact that, after all this time playing "City of...", I'm playing missions I've literally never played before, fighting enemies I've never fought before even. I'm loving it!

Testing

I had some time to kill yesterday, so I copied Vagabond Blade and Captain Peterson over to Test to try and get an idea ahead of time of which custom weapons I'd want.

Vagz was easy. All along, he's supposed to have a longsword, not a broadsword, and the longsword model is perfect. I just have to decide what colors to make the sword. Might vary it a little between costumes. Haven't decided yet.

Will is a little tougher. I like the smaller model guns, but unlike a lot of people, I like the base model assault rifle because the thing actually looks like it can do all the different things an AR blaster can do. So the sniper rifle and military assault rifle look great... but they don't look like they can be switched between bullets and flamethrower. Then I took a look at a model Will has apparently earned: Council. It looks a lot like the multi-use guns from the movie "Aliens". We may have a winner... if Will has earned the same weapon redside. I really want both Wills carrying the same gun.

Once I was done playing with costume stuff, I went back to ScrapperVagz, and even though I'd told myself I was going to wait 'til the issue went live before looking at Ouroboros... I went. I started into the opening arc, played around with the new zone, etc. Found a couple bugs and reported them.

Then, in a mission, I found another hero. Weirdest bug ever, I thought, as I reported it. I was solo, and the guy's name was blue, so he wasn't on my team. Yet there he was. He didn't move at first, so I carried on a bit, fighting my way through, then came back to the mission entrance... and he was still there. I shrugged to myself and went back to fighting. Then I stepped AFK for a couple and came back.

And he was standing right next to Vagz. I broke down and asked him what was up. He told me he was taking mission captures for NCsoft and was taking some shots of me in action. Then with a smiley, he asked me to ignore him. Well, I was shocked and flattered, but I carried on. He appeared twice more... and then I never saw him again.

You'd better believe that if another I11 trailer comes out before I11's general release, I'm going to be downloading it in as large a resolution as they'll offer it. How awesome would it be to see your own character in an official video like that? :-D