Strict Machine

My adventures in DarkFall continue and this past weekend I had a few goals to accomplish that led me to explore a lot of Agon. If you click on the map to the right you’ll see pink dots tracing my path through the wilds. The journey began with just three objectives:

Easy right? Yes, but this took most of the weekend and as you can see from the dots, I traveled extensively. This was a great trip. My graphics settings are turned down low with no shadows, vegetation at minimum, and post processing off, but I hope you enjoy the screens from the travel. Visit the Gallery if you’d like to view all 45 images.

Yssam
I’ve read that Yssam is a jungle, rich in resources and beautiful to see.
There’s also a clan or two in that area that I hear good things about so I wanted to scout the island. My character is Human so I began not far from Sanguine by heading North for a while before I turned East with an eye towards Yssam. Traveling through the Southeastern edges of the Orklands was very quiet. I expected more trouble there, but it was one of the most uneventful portions of the trip.
After a long swim to avoid a nest of sharks, I reached the tip of Yssam. I felt like I was entering Jurassic Park as all the flora is oversized and I felt no bigger than an ant by comparison. Traveling across Yssam I noticed a theme of golden statues and structures giving an Ican feel to the landscape. Oh, and beware the raptors. If I only had a jeep perhaps I’d feel more secure.
However, my horse served just as well and I found myself thinking of returning to the mainland after visiting for most of the evening. The atmosphere of the jungle, ancient ruins, and towering waterfalls were worth the swim.

Agon’s Northern Heights
I needed to reach Maghnir to regroup with friends so I took a Northern route on my return to the mainland. The snowy peaks were a nice touch, but I was most impressed with the active volcano! Trees too close to the lava burned and where the lava rushed into the water you could see the magma steaming. As I approached my destination, I discovered a tunnel under the mountain that stretched below the city. Taking a wrong turn or two I quickly found myself knee deep in Crypt Lords and their friends. Perfect! I need Deadeyes for one of my title quests. Unfortunately the Crypt Lords were too strong and I was beaten badly. That’s the second time I tried fighting the Crypt Lords and the second time they pounded me into my tombstone. To finish that quest I needed Deadeyes that lived alone. I found a promising location on the map deep in Mahirim territory. It would be a risky trip surrounded by reds, but I needed that quest so I restocked my supplies at the bank, healed up a mount, and headed West into the unknown.

Tribelands and The Undead
The Mahirim were more active than the Orks and I encountered several, but managed to escape as I moved towards the coastline. I actually had more trouble from the Mahirim wilderness bank’s zap tower that I wandered into than the filthy dogmen themselves. I hear they all have fleas, so beware. Once I reached the coast, I swam to the Island at Vellenyth to find my lonely Deadeyes. They put up a strong fight and while I didn’t die I soon learned to hide among the ruins to avoid being outnumbered and open to their volley of arrows. One by one, sometimes two, I took them down. They hammered me relentlessly and my armor shattered. Soon I was down to scraps of scale mail hanging from my chest. What’s that? A breeze? Of course, they, like every other creature in the game knocked off my pants. At this point I only had four more Deadeyes to go. I could take them with just a shirt and helmet if I had to. Then, the worst happened. My greatsword, whittled down to a toothpick, finally broke as I crushed a Deadeye’s skull. I only recently mastered the greatsword and my other combat skills are all so very weak. Thus began a game of cat and mouse as I tried a one handed sword, my bow, and fire magic to take them down. I finished off one more Deadeye and my supply of sulfur was gone. It was looking grim. I needed three more Deadeyes and I couldn’t put out enough damage to do the job. Searching the map, I decided my best option was to head south into friendly Mirdain territory to resupply. It wasn’t long before I returned and put the undead back into their graves.

Mirendil
Worn out from the struggle with the Deadeyes, it was nice to see friendly territory again. Mirendil, and the Mirdain cities in general, are really a sight to see. The floating city with waterfalls pouring off the edges really took my breath away. Of all the city architecture I have seen so far in the game, I think Mirdain easily places first as the most beautiful. I suppose this is fitting since I like Alfar cities the least. Although pretty, Mirdain cities aren’t always very functional. I had to go up and down elevators and generally run around far too much to get to the vendors and bank in these towns. I suppose that’s the trade off between beauty and functionality. With the Deadeyes vanquished it was time to head back to the Human lands to turn in my quest and prepare to finish another. Zombies were next on my list. My reputation as the terror of the undead was growing.

Southeastern Agon – Where the Griefers Like to Party
The journey back to the human starting areas was easy and I spent some time around Copperdale annihilating zombies. Copperdale, and the human starting cities, tend to be a hotbed of death and destruction as Reds harvest newbies like those naked ganks are more valuable than rare ore. You’ll find normal PvP as well as griefing in this area. There are even small clans of just a few people who wardec all other minor clans (or especially NEW) to attack in the NPC cities. It’s a legitimate style of play, but excessive griefing drives away newer players when all they want is to complete that goblin quest. As they say, “Welcome to DarkFall”.
I grew tired of the slow number of zombie shamblers spawning around Copperdale and searched the map for a better location. The crescent shaped island in the Silver Sea was annotated with a reference to zombies. It sounded promising so off I went with a friend to slay more of the undead. It wasn’t that great of a location for zombies as there weren’t that many. However, we did enjoy the quiet isolation far from the starter towns. We even had a chance to sneak around in a chaos city on the island. It looks like a great harbor town for pirates. Yar!
Later, after having ground so many zombies into dust that I couldn’t stand to see another, I traveled towards the Southeastern shore of Agon in search of Bone Knights. In my duo, we had already decimated a dozen Giant Skeletons. All I needed were just a handful of Bone Knights and I could mark another title quest off the list. I encountered a region down south that looked as though the earth was raked by giant claws and one of them stretched into a deep canyon. Peering over the edge I could see ruined structures below and my map references suggested a dungeon could be found down there as well. I’ll have to come back and visit the caverns in the canyon later as I couldn’t wait to finish off those knights. The knights weren’t difficult and there was a chaos stone nearby with some reds fighting one another. I circled around them, quickly sneaking in to bind myself to the chaos stone. Eventually the Bone Knights fell and I made my way North to turn in my quests. I had crossed much of the world. I had seen Yssam and completed my quests. All that was left was to make my way to Rubaiyat. This would turn out to be the most harrowing part of the journey….

The Red Dragon
You hear stories of slaying Dragons, adventure, and lairs filled with gold and jewels. Well, let me just say that’s all very exciting, but when it’s just you and your horse riding across the map, a Red Dragon will send you running for a place to hide. As I traveled West through the edge of Alfar lands, I heard this incredible roar as the earth trembled around me. I looked back over my shoulder and saw one of the most feared creatures in Agon, a Red Dragon. He circled me and decided I would be a tasty appetizer. I, naturally, wanted no part of this so I searched for cover. Luckily, there was giant tree nearby with a raised bundle of roots. It looked like I might be able to get in there and escape the dragon. Seconds dragged on as I weaved and dodged my horse to the tree and scuttled underneath. Just as I slipped inside, the tree shook with the earth shattering sound of the dragon attacking the tree. He knew where I was, but I was safe. He couldn’t reach me. I risked peeking out from under my tree and saw him relentlessly circling, waiting, and attacking my location. On one occasion he managed to clip me with a burst of dragon’s fire. Half my health vanished in an instant. The dragon was persistent. Apparently he hadn’t eaten in a while. He tried so hard to burn that tree, but it held and I took a break for a few hours hoping he would be gone when I returned. Again luck was with me as he was indeed gone when I logged back in later in the evening. The trip through the Northern edge of the Alfar lands was quiet after eluding the dragon.

Southwestern Agon – Rubaiyat Awaits
I reached Mirdain lands again on my way to the Southwestern island. As before, they did not disappoint and I captured several screenshots of stunning tree cities. It wasn’t too long before I needed another swim and surprise, the sharks were waiting for me. Ruby is my least favorite area of Agon. It’s an uninhabitable desert. The developers did a great job of putting together a location that looks a bit like visiting the surface of the moon – if it were brown. It’s desolate and empty. All it lacks are tumbleweeds.
My journey was complete. I’ve now had a small taste of almost all the major regions of Agon. Only Niflheim in the frozen Northwest and Carin (Rubaiyat in a different shade of brown?) in the Southeast remain to be visited. While I didn’t take many screenshots there, I did snap one more picture as I rode out of the region last night and through the Alfar lands. Flaming trees and giant mushrooms, oh my! The more I explore Agon, the more I appreciate the little touches and variations put in place by the developers. None of the MMOs I’ve played before have the dramatic variety of environments that I see in this world. Not only that, but while there’s always some re-use of art assets, there are so many locations where I find new and interesting things to see. As a small bonus you’ll often find chaos chests or other random loot. In some special areas that I’ve went out of my way to explore I might find a magician’s treasure chest or another reward that seems like it was placed there just to tempt me into exploring. Just a little further for the night… just cast a few spells to launch up to the top of that mountain and there’s yet another view to tempt you onward to the horizon.