Reminiscing and combining
I find it really funny. For as much as I currently hate DAoC and would never go back, I have such fond memories of so many things. It was my first real experience with an MMORPG (the 2-3 days or so of unplayable UO don't count) so it set a lot of precedents for me.
One of the things that makes many people interested in a game is the immersion. Does it feel like you're really in the game world? Or are you just controlling this avatar, and it doesn't really feel like it involves you personally? Are you your character?
In DAoC, I never really felt like I was any of my characters. I played these characters, sure; I controlled their every move. But they != me. In CoH on the other hand, I so much more closely identify with my main character. That character is me, or at least a significant facet of me. Joy and pain, victory and sorrow. Power and weakness.
Yet I muse about my DAoC time quite a bit. The fun times were fun. They could be totally fantastic. Hanging out with friends and doing stuff. Didn't have to be anything too complex or grand; you could have fun just hanging out in town and crafting. (Well, I didn't really, but lots of other people did -- you know who you are.)
So since I so closely identify with my main character from CoH, I imagine him in situations of DAoC. What would it be like if Myster Y were in the DAoC world? Specifically I find myself drawn to picturing Y in the DAoC realm of Albion.
In my mind's eye he runs with super speed, passing even the fastest horses (and getting the best bee-line routes, of course). He super-leaps effortlessly and needs climb no stairs to get to the vault keeper in Camelot. In a blur of light and heat he dashes to Lyonesse. He pulls the entire pygmy goblin house and burns the buggers to the ground. Poor beasts, they never knew what hit them.
In the frontier, he's a terror. With a touch his foes are frozen helpless in a block of ice, while the ground ignites and robs them of their health.
When I got access to my fourth costume slot, I wasn't sure what to do with it. I thought I would probably make some sort of suit of armor. Sure, Y is magic origin, and he doesn't really need/use technology for anything. But there weren't many costume options left that would actually look good on him. But something popped into my mind and I'm very pleased with the result. Instead of trying to fix up Y with a modern tech suit, he's instead now sporting medieval plate mail. Looks fantastic on him, especially with the details I was able to add.
It really works, too, in a roleplay sense. (Not that I really roleplay in game, but in my mind the roleplay aspects are always there.) It's the armor that Y received when he inadvertently travelled back in time and dwelt for some time ni the land of Albion.
Screenshots soon, if there is any interest.
Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2005, at 08:48 PM