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My first time with MO (Long read; bring snacks)
n00bit
Member UncommonPosts: 345
TLDR; Never have I had such a great time exploring in any game (and I generally hate exploring).
I have to say was actually pretty amazing. Through some miracle, I had no patcher issues and was able to get the game going with no errors. After a bit of research, I rolled my first character (some sort of elf, lots of dex XD), and strolled into the game as a newbie thief.
Upon loading into the game, I was greeted with almost total darkness; the only things visible were small patches of a stone path, illuminated by the soft glow of nearby torches. Not able to think of anything else to do, I followed the stone path for a quite a ways; after what had to have been five minutes or so, I stumbled upon a large quarry filled with a bunch of naked miners (no, not minors, you pedos). The conversations in the area were pretty simple; people asking for free items, negotiating trades, and general inquiries about how to do things.
I had figured that I'd stumbled upon the noobie area, and felt confident that I could begin my adventure here. I figured it'd be safe to level up some of my skills here; the first one I tried was using snoop (to peek into a person's bag) on a random miner. After about three failed attempts, I finally got a peek in his bag...and then he shouted "thief!" and I got pushed back. Worried that I might start a commotion, I tried to leave the area; unfortunately, a few more miners walked up and started pushing me. After getting shoved in circles for a bit like a high school nerd, a bald man dressed in regal clothing walks up and tells me that they'll kill me if I try stealing again. Worried I might end up a corpse, I explained to him that I was only trying to raise my snooping skill and had no intention of stealing. To this he replied that it is polite to ask a person if you can raise your skills on them before doing so. With my new advice, I found a nice miner willing to let me snoop him while he mined.
After a while I ended up capping my snooping skill (well, capped in the sense that my parent skill wouldn't allow it to go any higher yet), and decided to find a person to let me level my pilfering skill. It didn't take long to find a willing participant (you can pilfer items into a person's backpack as well, so I'd just steal the item and then steal it back into his bag) and I was on my way to leveling pilfering. After a few levels of pilfering, some random guy comes up and slashes me with his sword; then the guy I'm pilfering from turns and attacks me! Before long, I'm being assaulted by four or five miners, and quickly crumple under the rape. Upon dying, the world turned grey and watery, and I could see everything like it was day; not sure where to go or what to do, I headed towards one of the many silver shafts of light that appeared in the distance.
After walking for about ten minutes down mountainsides and through forests, I finally reached one of the lights; there was a priest there, and with a simple tab + click + r I was back in the land of the living. It was day time now and I had no idea where I was; the path I had come from was too steep to climb, so I had no choice but to move on ahead. Since the game has no map, I decided to work my way towards some distant mountains in the hopes that I could get a high vantage point and locate some sort of civilization. The mountains were definitely farther away than they looked; ten minutes after beginning my new journey I finally reached them. It took me a few minutes to find a suitable path to the top. Upon reaching the summit, I scanned the surrounding areas for any signs of life; the only thing I spotted was a very small tower in the distance. Given that there was no better option, I began my trek down the mountain and towards the mysterious tower.
The trip towards the tower was pretty interesting; the scenery was beautiful and I came across a few landmarks that I mentally noted in case I wanted to find my way here again. One of the landmarks was an oddly shaped boulder sticking out in the middle of no where; it sprouted up like a fountain and towered well over 15 feet. The scenery was so nice on the way that I lost track of time; by the time I had checked the clock, well over and hour had passed and I still wasn't at my destination. Worried that I might have gotten lost, I cleared the forest as quickly as I could; upon exiting, I could see my destination nearby. After a few more minutes of walking, I stumbled upon a large cave guarded by a dragon statue (the cave looked like it went down his throat when you entered). The inside of the cave had lit torches, so I assumed that there were people around somewhere; whether or not they were friendly was a different story. Nutting up, I ventured deep into the cave; I was actually pretty disappointed that the cave was completely linear (aside from a few ups and downs) and went on for a good ten minutes before I saw light at the end of the tunnel.
Upon exiting the cave, I was greeted with one of the greatest sights I've ever seen in a game. The thing that I had thought was tower was actually a large dome built into the side of a huge mountain. There were more buildings built into the mountain as well; most were clad in silver and gold, and looked like moaning faces. The scale of the thing was beyond huge; if I could have figured out what key it was I would have taken some screenies. Beside the mountain was a massive valley; it was like a hidden retreat, and I really felt like I'd stumbled upon something few people had ever seen. Looking up even farther, I noticed that there was actually a massive tower on the top of the mountain (this was actually built on the mountain as opposed to in it). I was determined to get up to the tower, and so I began walking to the other side of the valley. To give you an idea of how big the valley was, it took me a good 5-7 minutes to reach the other side. I also noticed that the valley was mostly void of natural resources; few trees, few rocks, and no water. I imagined that this valley used to be home to an ancient people, and that they were ruled over by the lords that lived up on the mountain fortress; over time, they had used up all of the natural resources and were forced to either migrate or die. With that thought in mind, I also imagined that there might be a few old lords still left in the fortress, surviving on what few resources remained; I couldn't wait to get up to the top of that mountain.
Seeing a suitable path on the other side of the valley, I started my trek towards the top; I was startled to turn the corner and run into a little house. I went up to it and read that it was owned by a player; he was not home. Finding the random house slightly took away from the magic of the place, but I decided to ignore it and continue on my journey. After a ten minutes or so, I had finally navigated my way up the massive mountain; the path to the tower was right in front of me. As the tower got closer and closer, I was shaking with anticipation at what I might find inside. Finally reaching my destination, I ran up to the huge doors, hit tab, hit r, and....nothing happened. Apparently I was not allowed to go inside. Saddened that there was no exploring to do inside, I walked to the edge of the mountain and took one last look at the beautiful valley; I jumped.
Honestly, this was the most fun I've ever had exploring in a game. Normally, I'm the kind of guy who prefers action over visuals, but this game just knocked me off my feet. I can't imagine how many other hidden gems are scattered throughout the gigantic world. I'm thinking I'll wait til release to explore some more, but I would definitely suggest this game to anyone that enjoys a beautiful world, and exploring. I'm not saying the game isn't without faults (damn you tower of unopenableness), but it's definitely worth a look.
P.S. I apologize for the overzealous use of semi-colons...I 
them.
Comments
Was a really nice to read your trek around Nave.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
This was definitely a really nice read.
I'm really really hoping mortal online will turn out alright, because if starvault eventually makes it.. I'll be there playing.
Nice read, thanks for posting this. I'm mainly an explorer myself, but I have a strong Achiever bent, so although most of the focus is on PvP, I'm really hoping for some good PvE in this game too. That adds the excitement that makes exploration into an adventure for me.
Really an interesting adventure!
Its nice to see that there are still gamers wo like to explore and get "into" the game.
See you in Nave.
hi there!! i have been playing for few weeks now and i think im going to buy the game today. it's really fun with thieving!!
Im glad the true players come out. Great post.
So everyone else that is complaining about bugs and a broken game are not "true players" ?
Seriously?
So everyone else that is complaining about bugs and a broken game are not "true players" ?
Seriously?
Think he meant true fans.
I win!!! LOL@U
So everyone else that is complaining about bugs and a broken game are not "true players" ?
Seriously?
Well I think its more a case of perspective, some people play and enjoy what is there and notice the bugs and carry on, while making a descion wether its worth investing more time and effort into the game.
Some people find the bugs to be such an affront to their sensibilites and then go on a crusade to rant and villianise everything and everyone in connection with said game.
And then there is various degrees in between..History is doomed to repeat itself....And such is the rants and cries of all players of MMO,s, also in various degrees.
Try it, like it stay, dont like it move on, its a game, it aint rocket science...I wonder how many constructive things you could of done in the time you have spent appearing in nearly all MO related posts, because I hate to break this to you, bugger all is going to change, not one jot.
SV have got a very tight niche plan in their head, I also suspect they will get their tick over numbers in the die hard sandbox RPers, and your comments and mine for that matter mean less than bugger all.
Myself, my hulk is about full of ore, and time to go do something with the militia, I constructively post some thoughts while mining in EvE, because its freakin boring. But thats my perspective of mining, some people enjoy it, however I have never spent 3 months camping a website adding my views and contempt to every thread remotely linked to the subject.
So everyone else that is complaining about bugs and a broken game are not "true players" ?
Seriously?
Think he meant true fans.
Honestly, I'm just a person who decided to try the game and liked it. If I'd trusted everything I'd read on the forums, I probably never would have tried it out. Best bet for everyone reading the negative/positive posts is to just go out and try it for yourself. I like it; others may not. In any case, keep the arguing elsewhere; my only intent with this thread was to share something interesting that I found within the game.
Mortal Online is great for explorers and roleplayers, I've never doubted that. The world is nice and big and has some interesting features, and roleplayers can use their imaginations to fill the blanks. In a way, the emptiness of the world actually works in its favour in that respect. If that's all you want to do then this game is excellent.
The issue is that as a *game* it fails. I don't know about you, but as soon as I try interacting with this big, beautiful world that's when it all breaks down for me and I become bogged down with bugs and game mechanics that don't work properly, imbalances in the gameplay and the lack of meaningful content in the world.
It was fun travelling and seeing what's out there, but now I've done some exploration I just find myself wishing there was something to do in it other than mine and chop down trees.