So I broke down and got Pokemon White. And before you ask, no, it has nothing to do with race. I picked White, because I was under the impression that Black was the more popular one. I've always been playing the one that's less popular: Blue, Sapphire, and Pearl (didn't have a Game Boy colour, so I couldn't do Gold or Silver, and the updated copies of the original Blue and Red and Green didn't appeal to me, since they were for the most part the exact same).
In all my previous Pokemon titles, I've ALWAYS gone with grass. Not entirely sure why, I just liked that little Bulbasaur, and the theme kept with me. This time, however, I picked Fire. I recalled there being, more or less, a 'difficulty', that was dependent on the Pokemon you chose to begin with. I say 'difficulty', because in the original, the first two Gym leaders were Rock/Ground and Water, respectively. The Grass starter would have an advantage against both, the Water would have an advantage against the first, and the Fire type would have no advantage, actually being weak to both leaders. After Brock and Misty, however, the available variety of Pokemon ensures that you won't have too much trouble with the rest of the leaders. Heck, going into Mount Moon, I picked up a Geodude, and by the time I left the dungeon, to arrive in Vermilion City, I had a Graveler. The Geodude/Graveler/Golem line was one of my absolute favourites to use, the Geodude in question never leaving my party after I caught him.
The Pokemon in White/Black are a little different. They appear to resemble anime characters, actually. Oshawott, the Water starter, is reminiscent of Doraemon. Tepig, the Fire starter, looks like a palette-swapped Ryoga from Ranma 1/2, minus the bandanna - pig form, of course. Snivle, the Grass starter, looks vaguely like Excalibur, the immensely annoying weapon from Soul Eater. I went with Tepig, and immediately went on my way.
First thing I noticed about the monsters, was that the character design team is getting sloppy. For the most part, the monster models are bland and unappealing, with some interesting designs thrown in here and there. The naming sense of these monsters is worse, with gems like Throh (a throwing, Judo-type Pokemon), Ducklett (a blue duck), and Sandile (unsurprisingly, a sand crocodile). Mind you, the naming sense has always been on the cheesy side, at least for the English translations. The Japanese names sound better, or it might just be because I don't know what they mean (case in point: Totodile's Japanese name was Waninoko, or literally 'baby alligator').
It's been 15 hours since I started playing, and I have 55 Pokemon in my Pokedex, and 4 Gym badges. Slow, yes, but I've always been one to take my time and check everything out. I'm also obsessively leveling all six of my Pokemon (everyone is at 30, approximately, 10 levels ahead of any wild Pokemon in the area). My party has the starting Fire Pokemon, now a pro-wrestling pig, and several second-evolution monsters, including a bird, a rock crab, a dog, electric zebra, and a toad.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Revelation, Expectoration, Jubilation, Rumination, Rehabilitation, Moderation.
Hello again, my legion of imaginary followers. I've been on hiatus for a while now, and it's because of a very simple reason.
I had a revelation. RIFT is bunk.
Now, I know what you're all thinking: that I had previously praised the game, lauded its merits. But I was enamoured with the glittering seductiveness that is a new game. I was enraptured, enthralled, smitten, and besotted with her. But then I found out she was a filthy, dirty little whore, using the same tricks of the trade that other whores of her ilk use. Despite the impending Armageddon that the world of Telara faced, I was still tasked with the killing of boars not 10 feet away from the quest giver. Hunt your own goddamned bacon, you greasy bastard. The tedium of the gathering of pointless items, and slaughtering of harmless creatures was intermittently broken by the Rifts opening, which added some fun. However, they required nearly everyone to come together in one seething mass to repel some of the tougher monsters.
Above all, the game forced me to make FRIENDS. Now, I'm not against communicating with fellow human beings, but the majority of chat was mostly a nerdfest of RIFT ripping off WoW, WoW ripping off anything else in the world, WoW vs RIFT, and ERPers. Fuck, man. Being the beta, I didn't see much point in making friends, since there were hardly any guilds going, which would make use of the guild achievement system, something I was looking forward to trying.
Anyway.
So what ended up happening is I abandoned RIFT in favour of Minecraft, but that's another story altogether. The real thing I want to talk about is ice cream. There was no way to segue into that gracefully. I recently developed an interest in making ice cream after receiving a jar of freshly squeezed cow juice. Talking to my friend, she suggested eggnog ice cream. I was immediately intrigued, and set out to make it. It was a fantastic success, but so damn rich and creamy, if I ate any more than a spoon, it would make me so full I couldn't eat anything else.
A family party was coming up, so I jumped into high gear. An acai berry sherbet, grapefruit sorbet, and a banana ice cream were quickly created; in the case of the banana ice cream, shortly before the guests arrived. The banana and grapefruit were instant hits, the banana being wholly devoured before the cream even had a chance to properly harden into its normal solid state.
However, after the party, tragedy struck. My left foot, which had been aching slightly for a few days prior, suddenly bloomed into a full-blown pain, complete with throbbing and redness. A couple days later, I went to the doctor, and he pronounced it as gout.
Gout! At my tender age! Christ almighty.
It's rather ironic that I invoke Jesus' name, since I don't have anything to do with religion. I just find it nonsensical that a God would give me the talent to make beautiful, delicious food, and slowly take away my physical faculties - first a skin condition at birth, then poor joints during adolescence, and finally gout in early adulthood (this especially, as it seemed a direct punishment for utilizing my gifts). It seemed like a vengeful, bitch-God, and I will have no part in the worship of such a deity. But I digress.
One of the solutions to gout, aside from medication, is an alteration to a diet. So, what am I to do? Lower intake of sugar and fat, increase fibre and water. What did I do? Make more ice cream. It seems that I must suffer more to actually learn my lesson. Ignoring the veritable blight in my foot, I picked up The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments
by David Lebovitz.
My first experiment in torture was to create maple ice cream with 'wet' walnuts. This would serve as torment for three reasons. First, and foremost, it was ungodly delicious. Second, I am allergic to walnuts, so a bite of it would mean instant death. Well, okay, a bit of wheezing and coughing, but it would likely be unpleasant. Third, it would be given to my father as a gift, so that no one else but him would be able to touch it. Kind of a moot point after the second reason, but whatever.
However, the second, most recent experiment will test my resolve to the utter limits. My imaginary readers, with this ice cream, I have transgressed the bounds of sanity and will likely fall into a delirium of addiction.
I made tiramisu ice cream.
The flavours! One cannot even begin to imagine the delectability of this creamy substance. Even more devastating was the ease with which it was created; it requires no custard base, just a blended concoction of ingredients, and a mocha glaze interspersed between the glorious sweet folds of mascarpone. With an already frozen ice cream bucket at my disposal, from start to finish took no more than an hour, including the 25 minutes it took for the ice cream to firm up. If I am not careful, friends, this ice cream may consume me.
May (hopefully a more merciful) God have mercy on my soul.
I had a revelation. RIFT is bunk.
Now, I know what you're all thinking: that I had previously praised the game, lauded its merits. But I was enamoured with the glittering seductiveness that is a new game. I was enraptured, enthralled, smitten, and besotted with her. But then I found out she was a filthy, dirty little whore, using the same tricks of the trade that other whores of her ilk use. Despite the impending Armageddon that the world of Telara faced, I was still tasked with the killing of boars not 10 feet away from the quest giver. Hunt your own goddamned bacon, you greasy bastard. The tedium of the gathering of pointless items, and slaughtering of harmless creatures was intermittently broken by the Rifts opening, which added some fun. However, they required nearly everyone to come together in one seething mass to repel some of the tougher monsters.
Above all, the game forced me to make FRIENDS. Now, I'm not against communicating with fellow human beings, but the majority of chat was mostly a nerdfest of RIFT ripping off WoW, WoW ripping off anything else in the world, WoW vs RIFT, and ERPers. Fuck, man. Being the beta, I didn't see much point in making friends, since there were hardly any guilds going, which would make use of the guild achievement system, something I was looking forward to trying.
Anyway.
So what ended up happening is I abandoned RIFT in favour of Minecraft, but that's another story altogether. The real thing I want to talk about is ice cream. There was no way to segue into that gracefully. I recently developed an interest in making ice cream after receiving a jar of freshly squeezed cow juice. Talking to my friend, she suggested eggnog ice cream. I was immediately intrigued, and set out to make it. It was a fantastic success, but so damn rich and creamy, if I ate any more than a spoon, it would make me so full I couldn't eat anything else.
A family party was coming up, so I jumped into high gear. An acai berry sherbet, grapefruit sorbet, and a banana ice cream were quickly created; in the case of the banana ice cream, shortly before the guests arrived. The banana and grapefruit were instant hits, the banana being wholly devoured before the cream even had a chance to properly harden into its normal solid state.
However, after the party, tragedy struck. My left foot, which had been aching slightly for a few days prior, suddenly bloomed into a full-blown pain, complete with throbbing and redness. A couple days later, I went to the doctor, and he pronounced it as gout.
Gout! At my tender age! Christ almighty.
It's rather ironic that I invoke Jesus' name, since I don't have anything to do with religion. I just find it nonsensical that a God would give me the talent to make beautiful, delicious food, and slowly take away my physical faculties - first a skin condition at birth, then poor joints during adolescence, and finally gout in early adulthood (this especially, as it seemed a direct punishment for utilizing my gifts). It seemed like a vengeful, bitch-God, and I will have no part in the worship of such a deity. But I digress.
One of the solutions to gout, aside from medication, is an alteration to a diet. So, what am I to do? Lower intake of sugar and fat, increase fibre and water. What did I do? Make more ice cream. It seems that I must suffer more to actually learn my lesson. Ignoring the veritable blight in my foot, I picked up The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments
by David Lebovitz. My first experiment in torture was to create maple ice cream with 'wet' walnuts. This would serve as torment for three reasons. First, and foremost, it was ungodly delicious. Second, I am allergic to walnuts, so a bite of it would mean instant death. Well, okay, a bit of wheezing and coughing, but it would likely be unpleasant. Third, it would be given to my father as a gift, so that no one else but him would be able to touch it. Kind of a moot point after the second reason, but whatever.
However, the second, most recent experiment will test my resolve to the utter limits. My imaginary readers, with this ice cream, I have transgressed the bounds of sanity and will likely fall into a delirium of addiction.
I made tiramisu ice cream.
The flavours! One cannot even begin to imagine the delectability of this creamy substance. Even more devastating was the ease with which it was created; it requires no custard base, just a blended concoction of ingredients, and a mocha glaze interspersed between the glorious sweet folds of mascarpone. With an already frozen ice cream bucket at my disposal, from start to finish took no more than an hour, including the 25 minutes it took for the ice cream to firm up. If I am not careful, friends, this ice cream may consume me.
May (hopefully a more merciful) God have mercy on my soul.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
RIFT videos!
I got around to getting my lazy ass recording videos for your pleasure. You know, the millions of people who follow my blog and hang on my every word? Yeah, you. Anyway, I recorded some videos and posted them on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/kujikiri87?feature=mhum
http://www.youtube.com/user/kujikiri87?feature=mhum
RIFT Beta post #6
Dated February 6th (resumed my rogue-y experience)
Finishing up the starting area (I was on the boss when I accidentally clicked out), I soon found that a defensive soul - and using an offensive soul defensively - masquerading as a DPS was at best fallacious. Sure, I could kill the enemies without any problem, but the speed that I was killing them was no longer on par with what I had found in the starting zone. Enemies, even being attacked simultaneously by my boar and I, simply didn't go down very fast. In areas with rapidly spawning enemies, this proved to be quite difficult to pull off, causing my death on several occasions. I haven't found my auto range attack, but even if I do, it would be a temporary measure, as there would be few positions with which to pull using ranged, and then closing in with melee, far enough away from the rest of the mob that I don't aggro them. Changing the soul to an offensive one might help, though it's likely I am unused to this kind of playstyle. I'm used to either being flimsy and killing before they get to me, or nigh indestructible, and wading into the thick of battle.
The other problem actually reveals itself during rift attacks. Because they rate participation, and reward accordingly, the low DPS (since most people will kill things before you get there, being melee) and near non-existent tanking (Blades don't get very many 'tanking' skills early on, there is only one that increases dodge and parry by 50%, but the cooldown is at least a minute, probably closer to 5) means you won't get much in the way of loot. In three rift invasions, all of which I was present for the majority, I received three Planarite, one per rift. Planarite is the emblem-like currency I was telling you about.
On the contrary, Boboji, who can deal decent damage, and has several tanking abilities, can achieve approximately 12 or so Planarite in the same number of rifts (more if I get there first, or if it's a big one. I got 20 Planarite from one once). That being said, the Bladedancer/Bard/Ranger isn't BAD (though I'd probably use something other than Bard, I'm using literally nothing from that soul), but the damage is low, so killing things won't be really fast. It would be more suitable for solo questing, rather than group questing, dungeons, or rifts.
Finishing up the starting area (I was on the boss when I accidentally clicked out), I soon found that a defensive soul - and using an offensive soul defensively - masquerading as a DPS was at best fallacious. Sure, I could kill the enemies without any problem, but the speed that I was killing them was no longer on par with what I had found in the starting zone. Enemies, even being attacked simultaneously by my boar and I, simply didn't go down very fast. In areas with rapidly spawning enemies, this proved to be quite difficult to pull off, causing my death on several occasions. I haven't found my auto range attack, but even if I do, it would be a temporary measure, as there would be few positions with which to pull using ranged, and then closing in with melee, far enough away from the rest of the mob that I don't aggro them. Changing the soul to an offensive one might help, though it's likely I am unused to this kind of playstyle. I'm used to either being flimsy and killing before they get to me, or nigh indestructible, and wading into the thick of battle.
The other problem actually reveals itself during rift attacks. Because they rate participation, and reward accordingly, the low DPS (since most people will kill things before you get there, being melee) and near non-existent tanking (Blades don't get very many 'tanking' skills early on, there is only one that increases dodge and parry by 50%, but the cooldown is at least a minute, probably closer to 5) means you won't get much in the way of loot. In three rift invasions, all of which I was present for the majority, I received three Planarite, one per rift. Planarite is the emblem-like currency I was telling you about.
On the contrary, Boboji, who can deal decent damage, and has several tanking abilities, can achieve approximately 12 or so Planarite in the same number of rifts (more if I get there first, or if it's a big one. I got 20 Planarite from one once). That being said, the Bladedancer/Bard/Ranger isn't BAD (though I'd probably use something other than Bard, I'm using literally nothing from that soul), but the damage is low, so killing things won't be really fast. It would be more suitable for solo questing, rather than group questing, dungeons, or rifts.
RIFT Beta post #5
Dated February 5 (my friend, who couldn't play the beta, asked me to play a rogue, and do rogue-y things for her)
Well, starting out as a Bladedancer, you're given two skills at the beginning - your basic stabby move, and then a super stabby move that you can use when you get enough combo points. It appears that rogues in RIFT are similar to rogues in WoW, in that they use energy, and rack up combo points. This is probably something that was used in a previous MMO, but as my experience is limited, I'll mostly just make WoW parallels. In any case, the global cooldown on these techniques is rather quick, so you can stab the living shit out of things quite easily. In the beginning levels, I was killing mobs very, very fast, and moving on to the next before the body even hit the ground.
Next, I picked up the Bard soul. The Bard class gave me a Cadence, which was a 2 second channeling damage spell, and a Motif, which was a buff. It only boosted my stats for 15 seconds, though, and since my fingers were full using the Bladedancer moves, I just set that one aside. Trying to use the Bard's Cadence to kill enemies was not too bad, as it would generate a total of three combo points (out of a maximum five: one point on casting, one in the middle, and one at the end of the cast); but ultimately, I found myself getting killed a few times, as I was trying to balance out the music with the stabbing.
Gaining a few levels gave me access to a few points to spend in my soul tree. Putting several points in the Bladedancer tree - into a skill that increases my evade chance - unlocked a few new skills for me to try. Allow me to clarify this. Skill trees contain two separate portions - the 'branches' and the 'roots'. Skill point allocation is performed in the branches of the skill tree. When a certain number of points in the branches is allocated, part of the roots will activate (eg. putting two points in unlocked one root, another two unlocked another one, etc). The root skills have a number overlayed on them, to show you how many skill points total must be allocated to said tree for it to be unlocked.
In any case, I had gained two new shiny skills, both for stabbing. One skill, Deadly Strike, built onto my original stabby skill, Keen Strike - after using the first one, the opportunity to use the second one opened up. After using Deadly Strike, I can not use it again until I have attacked with Keen Strike once more. This makes sense, because the effect and damage of Deadly Strike is near identical to Keen Strike, with one significant change - a full 25% of your attack power is tacked onto Deadly Strike's base damage, making it quite strong. The other skill I received was very slightly weaker than Keen Strike, but had the added bonus of striking one additional enemy with an off-hand dagger. So for a slight hit in damage, you get to hit two enemies. The downside of it is that it will not unlock Deadly Strike.
The enemies being a bit stronger, I was still able to dispatch them fairly easily once I shelved my Bard skills, though my downtime had increased a touch; they did quite a bit of damage, so I had to wait for either natural HP regen, or drink to regain health. However, that all changed when I finally got the third soul, Ranger. As this was a dagger kind of character, the majority of the skills - relating to bows - were useless, but this was offset by the simple fact that you got a pet. You get a badass looking razorback (I named him Orobas) who is essentially a tank-type pet. He has a skill to increase threat. So I could pull or engage an enemy, they could start attacking, and Orobas would come, taunt the mob, and they would continue to attack him while I hacked and stabbed. Even with me attacking constantly, he was still able to hold the aggro.
Granted, the same tactic might not work later in the game, but I can only assume that as a pet class, there should be something to reduce the Ranger's aggro, or to increase the pet's threat. I accidentally pressed 'Exit' when in the middle of checking the skill tree (I keep the game in fullscreen windowed mode so that I can easily switch back and forth, so I mix up the close button with the actual ingame close buttons), so I'm going to call it a night.
It was truly interesting to play a Rogue.
Well, starting out as a Bladedancer, you're given two skills at the beginning - your basic stabby move, and then a super stabby move that you can use when you get enough combo points. It appears that rogues in RIFT are similar to rogues in WoW, in that they use energy, and rack up combo points. This is probably something that was used in a previous MMO, but as my experience is limited, I'll mostly just make WoW parallels. In any case, the global cooldown on these techniques is rather quick, so you can stab the living shit out of things quite easily. In the beginning levels, I was killing mobs very, very fast, and moving on to the next before the body even hit the ground.
Next, I picked up the Bard soul. The Bard class gave me a Cadence, which was a 2 second channeling damage spell, and a Motif, which was a buff. It only boosted my stats for 15 seconds, though, and since my fingers were full using the Bladedancer moves, I just set that one aside. Trying to use the Bard's Cadence to kill enemies was not too bad, as it would generate a total of three combo points (out of a maximum five: one point on casting, one in the middle, and one at the end of the cast); but ultimately, I found myself getting killed a few times, as I was trying to balance out the music with the stabbing.
Gaining a few levels gave me access to a few points to spend in my soul tree. Putting several points in the Bladedancer tree - into a skill that increases my evade chance - unlocked a few new skills for me to try. Allow me to clarify this. Skill trees contain two separate portions - the 'branches' and the 'roots'. Skill point allocation is performed in the branches of the skill tree. When a certain number of points in the branches is allocated, part of the roots will activate (eg. putting two points in unlocked one root, another two unlocked another one, etc). The root skills have a number overlayed on them, to show you how many skill points total must be allocated to said tree for it to be unlocked.
In any case, I had gained two new shiny skills, both for stabbing. One skill, Deadly Strike, built onto my original stabby skill, Keen Strike - after using the first one, the opportunity to use the second one opened up. After using Deadly Strike, I can not use it again until I have attacked with Keen Strike once more. This makes sense, because the effect and damage of Deadly Strike is near identical to Keen Strike, with one significant change - a full 25% of your attack power is tacked onto Deadly Strike's base damage, making it quite strong. The other skill I received was very slightly weaker than Keen Strike, but had the added bonus of striking one additional enemy with an off-hand dagger. So for a slight hit in damage, you get to hit two enemies. The downside of it is that it will not unlock Deadly Strike.
The enemies being a bit stronger, I was still able to dispatch them fairly easily once I shelved my Bard skills, though my downtime had increased a touch; they did quite a bit of damage, so I had to wait for either natural HP regen, or drink to regain health. However, that all changed when I finally got the third soul, Ranger. As this was a dagger kind of character, the majority of the skills - relating to bows - were useless, but this was offset by the simple fact that you got a pet. You get a badass looking razorback (I named him Orobas) who is essentially a tank-type pet. He has a skill to increase threat. So I could pull or engage an enemy, they could start attacking, and Orobas would come, taunt the mob, and they would continue to attack him while I hacked and stabbed. Even with me attacking constantly, he was still able to hold the aggro.
Granted, the same tactic might not work later in the game, but I can only assume that as a pet class, there should be something to reduce the Ranger's aggro, or to increase the pet's threat. I accidentally pressed 'Exit' when in the middle of checking the skill tree (I keep the game in fullscreen windowed mode so that I can easily switch back and forth, so I mix up the close button with the actual ingame close buttons), so I'm going to call it a night.
It was truly interesting to play a Rogue.
RIFT Beta post #4
January 29 (I decided to roll Defiant)
After the starter areas, there's a bit of time travel. The Guardians go ahead 20 years into the future, and the Defiants go back in time - not too sure how many years at the moment. The story goes, after the Guardians were resurrected, they helped clean out the abominations from the rifts, and then defeated Aedraxis as Regulos' avatar. Then they disappeared, for 20 years. I'm not sure what event is going on, other than the rifts opening up, but evidently this point in time is critical.
The Defiants' point of view is different, and somewhat interesting. According to the Defiants, after the Guardians destroyed the machines, the Blood Swarm invaded Telara, destroying everything in their path. They defeated the Guardians, and the Defiant that survived were driven underground to form the resistance. Basically, the studies that they have researched are entrusted to you - they have built a machine that will send you back through time, to before the dragons came. The information you are given is to help the Defiant of that time fight back against Regulos. You are sent back to the same time that the Guardians were sent forward to. Actually, almost in the same area. The area is divided by a large river, and a huge broken bridge spans it. The Guardians end up on the north side of the mainland, the Defiant to the south.
So you have both sides trying desperately to save their world, just from different points of view. Too bad they don't want anything to do with each other, and won't work together.
After the starter areas, there's a bit of time travel. The Guardians go ahead 20 years into the future, and the Defiants go back in time - not too sure how many years at the moment. The story goes, after the Guardians were resurrected, they helped clean out the abominations from the rifts, and then defeated Aedraxis as Regulos' avatar. Then they disappeared, for 20 years. I'm not sure what event is going on, other than the rifts opening up, but evidently this point in time is critical.
The Defiants' point of view is different, and somewhat interesting. According to the Defiants, after the Guardians destroyed the machines, the Blood Swarm invaded Telara, destroying everything in their path. They defeated the Guardians, and the Defiant that survived were driven underground to form the resistance. Basically, the studies that they have researched are entrusted to you - they have built a machine that will send you back through time, to before the dragons came. The information you are given is to help the Defiant of that time fight back against Regulos. You are sent back to the same time that the Guardians were sent forward to. Actually, almost in the same area. The area is divided by a large river, and a huge broken bridge spans it. The Guardians end up on the north side of the mainland, the Defiant to the south.
So you have both sides trying desperately to save their world, just from different points of view. Too bad they don't want anything to do with each other, and won't work together.
RIFT Beta Post #3
Dated January 29th (decided to give my friends a few details with the lore behind RIFT)
First, it's been said that the Gods made Telara, and placed it at the center of the six planes of the Elements - Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Life, and Death. The Blood Swarm, led by Regulos the Destroyer, was a group of dragons that went through the planes, devouring worlds and absorbing their power. However, Telara being the nexus point that it was, it was too tempting to simply destroy. Regulos wanted to rule over that world. So, that's what happened in the beginning.
King Aedraxis was a powerful king, but, like all rulers, he eventually wanted moar power. However, he was pretty high in the polls, so he couldn't do too much to hurt his reputation. Then came his brother. His brother was really supposed to be the king, but Aedraxis had usurped the throne. The brother, Zareph, launched a campaign to overthrow Aedraxis, but the common people didn't like that, Aedraxis being the popular, fun loving guy that he was. Except that he wasn't; Aedraxis was actually a dragon cultist. The dragons and gods had always been known, but the dragons were kind of like Satan, so people kept hush hush about it if they worshiped them. Anyway, Zareph was soon caught against public opinion, and found himself besieged at his castle. A lot of crap happened, but eventually Zareph forced Aedraxis to use necromantic powers, and the public saw who he really was. Aedraxis, butthurt over his defeat, escaped and turned to the technomagical machines of the Defiant.
Being the soddy dragon cultist he was, Aedraxis used the machines, without the Defiants' permission. He used it to open the rifts to the other planes, to go bawwwing to his dragon overlord Regulos. That's when the shit hit the fan. The rifts opened, mad planar creatures walked the earth, and some seriously fucked up things were going on. The whole Mathosian (human) army fought against this threat, but since they were fighting against a supernatural army, they were royally fucked. Things got bad really fast. First, everyone died. That's it. But then something crazy happened. The Gods, also known as the Vigil, swooped down and resurrected a bunch of the Mathosians, High Elves, and Dwarves that died, and brought them to safety. They didn't resurrect them because they had been good and kind in their life, but because they had kicked a lot of ass. These resurrected people were called the Guardians, a race of Ascended called on by the Gods to combat the rifts and Regulos' threat.
On the other side of things, we have the Defiant. After the Guardians came to be, they told everyone not to worry, that they would take care of everything, and that everyone should put their trust in the Vigil. But you know what? The Guardians remembered the fact that the Defiant had built the machines that allowed the rifts to open in the first place, and so branded the Defiant as heretics and broke all their toys. By toys I mean their machines. Now, the Defiant are kind of like the Horde, in the way that they're more or less a tribal people. However, the Defiant are a more peaceful, technomagical group - they're only called the Defiant because they don't believe that the Gods will save them, and want to do things on their own terms. In any case, the Defiant, being a peaceful group, were unable to stop the Guardians from breaking everything.
When the rifts opened again, the Defiant were unable to defend themselves, and many lives were crushed. The leader of the Defiant, Asha Catari, had fought with Zareph, and was killed when the rifts opened. Her soul was taken by Regulos, and he infused her with power as a bribe to becoming his avatar. She refused, and before Regulos could destroy her soul, she was brought back by the machine that would eventually go to create many Defiant Ascended. A small group of survivors, led by Asha, worked on and succeeded in creating a machine that could artificially create the powers that the Vigil had bestowed upon the Guardians, and instill them in a body. These Ascended were then recruited to join the survivors, and defend Telara from the dangers without.
Of course, this is kind of a 'brief' history - there's a lot more depth to the story, but this is what I've gleaned from the quests and opening sequences. The Defiant are actually the name of the Ascended that were revived by the machines, but because there are three races to each faction, it's hard to name them all separately. I played Guardian first, and I thought that they were pretty cool, and Defiant were awful people, but then I heard the rest of the story, and it just looks like the Guardians are being self-righteous assholes. I eventually decided to go Defiant, because while they seem to be the 'Horde' kind of faction, I can't bring myself to not like them and their history.
First, it's been said that the Gods made Telara, and placed it at the center of the six planes of the Elements - Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Life, and Death. The Blood Swarm, led by Regulos the Destroyer, was a group of dragons that went through the planes, devouring worlds and absorbing their power. However, Telara being the nexus point that it was, it was too tempting to simply destroy. Regulos wanted to rule over that world. So, that's what happened in the beginning.
King Aedraxis was a powerful king, but, like all rulers, he eventually wanted moar power. However, he was pretty high in the polls, so he couldn't do too much to hurt his reputation. Then came his brother. His brother was really supposed to be the king, but Aedraxis had usurped the throne. The brother, Zareph, launched a campaign to overthrow Aedraxis, but the common people didn't like that, Aedraxis being the popular, fun loving guy that he was. Except that he wasn't; Aedraxis was actually a dragon cultist. The dragons and gods had always been known, but the dragons were kind of like Satan, so people kept hush hush about it if they worshiped them. Anyway, Zareph was soon caught against public opinion, and found himself besieged at his castle. A lot of crap happened, but eventually Zareph forced Aedraxis to use necromantic powers, and the public saw who he really was. Aedraxis, butthurt over his defeat, escaped and turned to the technomagical machines of the Defiant.
Being the soddy dragon cultist he was, Aedraxis used the machines, without the Defiants' permission. He used it to open the rifts to the other planes, to go bawwwing to his dragon overlord Regulos. That's when the shit hit the fan. The rifts opened, mad planar creatures walked the earth, and some seriously fucked up things were going on. The whole Mathosian (human) army fought against this threat, but since they were fighting against a supernatural army, they were royally fucked. Things got bad really fast. First, everyone died. That's it. But then something crazy happened. The Gods, also known as the Vigil, swooped down and resurrected a bunch of the Mathosians, High Elves, and Dwarves that died, and brought them to safety. They didn't resurrect them because they had been good and kind in their life, but because they had kicked a lot of ass. These resurrected people were called the Guardians, a race of Ascended called on by the Gods to combat the rifts and Regulos' threat.
On the other side of things, we have the Defiant. After the Guardians came to be, they told everyone not to worry, that they would take care of everything, and that everyone should put their trust in the Vigil. But you know what? The Guardians remembered the fact that the Defiant had built the machines that allowed the rifts to open in the first place, and so branded the Defiant as heretics and broke all their toys. By toys I mean their machines. Now, the Defiant are kind of like the Horde, in the way that they're more or less a tribal people. However, the Defiant are a more peaceful, technomagical group - they're only called the Defiant because they don't believe that the Gods will save them, and want to do things on their own terms. In any case, the Defiant, being a peaceful group, were unable to stop the Guardians from breaking everything.
When the rifts opened again, the Defiant were unable to defend themselves, and many lives were crushed. The leader of the Defiant, Asha Catari, had fought with Zareph, and was killed when the rifts opened. Her soul was taken by Regulos, and he infused her with power as a bribe to becoming his avatar. She refused, and before Regulos could destroy her soul, she was brought back by the machine that would eventually go to create many Defiant Ascended. A small group of survivors, led by Asha, worked on and succeeded in creating a machine that could artificially create the powers that the Vigil had bestowed upon the Guardians, and instill them in a body. These Ascended were then recruited to join the survivors, and defend Telara from the dangers without.
Of course, this is kind of a 'brief' history - there's a lot more depth to the story, but this is what I've gleaned from the quests and opening sequences. The Defiant are actually the name of the Ascended that were revived by the machines, but because there are three races to each faction, it's hard to name them all separately. I played Guardian first, and I thought that they were pretty cool, and Defiant were awful people, but then I heard the rest of the story, and it just looks like the Guardians are being self-righteous assholes. I eventually decided to go Defiant, because while they seem to be the 'Horde' kind of faction, I can't bring myself to not like them and their history.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)