tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post4772443479429151625..comments2024-03-28T10:18:05.213+00:00Comments on Inventory Full: Void When OpenedBhagpusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-68847722620047283502021-11-22T18:45:00.554+00:002021-11-22T18:45:00.554+00:00Oh, thanks for clearing that up! Although I obviou...Oh, thanks for clearing that up! Although I obviously *know* the part of Aeternum we can access is only a bit of the island, because I can literally see the other parts stretching away, inaccessible, on the map, I automatically *think* of the bit we're in as the whole thing. It had literally never occured to me that "south eastern Aeternum" meant "the playable area". I can be something of a literalist at times. <br /><br />It also makes far more sense of the invaders seemingly being turn-of-the-millennium Norsemen. Of course they can have their own thousand-year old settlement somewhere along the coast. I was very confused about how they'd arrived not only through the barrier but also a few centuries too late!Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-75734903411763334152021-11-21T22:27:59.028+00:002021-11-21T22:27:59.028+00:00Heh. Interesting. As you can tell, I hand't re...Heh. Interesting. As you can tell, I hand't really followed New World prior to launch. (I'm grateful to have friends like you who do <i>all</i> the MMOs and blog about them in detail. Thanks for what you do.) Hadn't occurred to me that the "New World" stuff was leftover theming from a previous iteration.<br /><br />The Varangian letters you showed certainly read like stock Fantasy Conquistador tropes to me, which is what started me down that road. The whole "fort building next to a native city whose inhabitants don't yet see why they should mind" thing too. I'll be fairly surprised if things take a different turn, honestly.<br /><br />I really like the idea of turning the trope on its head in this way, even if it doesn't make me want to <i>play</i> it (if you can see the distinction). I mean, playing the underdog side of an invasion by a force with superior technology and terrible ethics (with an optional religious fanaticism as a driver) is hardly a new concept, but tying it this explicitly to a real-world instance is pretty novel in the MMO world. Making the indigenous people have their own sophisticated "civilized" culture is quite accurate, to the point that I'm not surprised the pre-alpha folks were uncomfortable with the historical version. What happened in the actual New World is so horrific that most folks don't want to deal with it.<br /><br />Nor do I, really. I'll wait a bit and see how the game goes — I'm super-busy anyway and probably wouldn't have enough playtime to do it justice right now.Bart Masseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10490373418825679148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-24333929108560482182021-11-21T10:49:09.719+00:002021-11-21T10:49:09.719+00:00The "south eastern Aeturnum" referred t...The "south eastern Aeturnum" referred to is the entire area of the island we currently have access to. It's clear from the map that while we have coast to the south and east, both north and west are zones we're currently locked out of. How far does the island extend? As far as Amazon want to keep adding content, I guess. The Varangians have presumably sailed along the coast from one of those currently inaccessible zones.<br /><br />I'm also happily using the void gauntlet - it's a debuffing and lifestealing weapon with an option to pop a void blade and make melee attacks. It's pretty decent solo, and a real boon to groups. It also fits my character thematically - the original version of that character was a Reaver in Dark Age of Camelot (a life stealing, debuffing shadow knight type class).Tremaynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04410660872706894525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-48722324408165583682021-11-20T19:51:32.408+00:002021-11-20T19:51:32.408+00:00I have tried so few of the original weapons that a...I have tried so few of the original weapons that a new one was way down my list of things to look at. I didn't even thibnk of it to be honest. NOw you've given it such a glowing review, though, I think I'd better get hold of one pretty sharpish!Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-7176314615439471592021-11-20T19:48:23.228+00:002021-11-20T19:48:23.228+00:00I'm confused. Five years or so ago, New World ...I'm confused. Five years or so ago, New World infamously began exactly as a colonial invasion themed mmorpg using the look of the Conquistadors and the setting of South America, with a thin veneer of magic/fantasy layered over the top. <br /><br />There was, unsurprisingly, a good deal of negative reaction to the basic concept, which Amazon very thoroughly took on board. They threw out almost all of the recognizeable colonial/historical elements, keeping only the armor and ship designs, and converted the narrative, lore and setting into a full-blown high-magic fantasy complete with demons and fireballs. They also pushed whatever the previous (not necessarily indigenous - it's unclear) inhabitants tenure far, far into the deep past, to the point where no-one currently living on Aeternum has any personal knowledge of who lived there before them, even though they themselves have been there for many centuries.<br /><br />The game now begins with a large disclaimer telling anyone who cares that Amazon spent a lot of effort consulting experts to get a multi-ethnic setting established and the NPCs come from all over the world (which itself is not even established to be "Earth" as far as I know). If there's one thing they wanted to make crystal clear it's that the version of New World they went with has absolutely no connection to the real-world historical version beyond the name. <br /><br />I'm a bit puzzled as to how you interpret the Varangian knights as a reversion to the Conquistador trope, although I can see the way they are set up does have similarities. If that is where this is going then it's an interesting bit of reverse engineering, placing both the players and the NPC population in the role of the invaded rather than the invaders. As yet, though, I don't think we know enough to say. <br /><br />Curiously, I looked up "Varangian" and it's a real-world reference that would place the invaders somewhere in the Viking realm. They were pirates, mercenaries and traders. The religious affiliation is interesting because they began as worshippers of the NOrse gods but like most of Scandinavia, by the time they faded out in the late middle ages most of them had converted to Christianity. What religion the ones I killed followed wasn't evident.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-46359919652542497312021-11-20T05:22:11.729+00:002021-11-20T05:22:11.729+00:00Good to know the Varangian stuff is accessible for...Good to know the Varangian stuff is accessible for us plebs. I had also assumed it was high-level only.<br /><br />My focus in this patch has been testing out the void gauntlet so far, and I have to say I'm very happy with it. It's like they combined all my favourite RPG archetypes into one weapon. Shadow magic, DoTs, ranged, melee, healing, and damage, all in one!Tyler Edwardshttps://superior-realities.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-70845870803084155252021-11-19T22:18:37.551+00:002021-11-19T22:18:37.551+00:00Dammit, I'm dumb, dumb dumb.
This is what Ama...Dammit, I'm dumb, dumb dumb.<br /><br />This is what Amazon intended all along, isn't it. They named the game <i>New World</i>. The front page on Steam has a Conquistador-looking evil warrior front-and-center. Even the details match up: Cortés doesn't have to burn his boats behind him if they've already been wrecked coming in.<br /><br />Sigh. Knowing that I'd be spending the next couple of years playing the indigenous peoples' side of an Evil Catholic invasion story puts me off the game pretty thoroughly. I'll wait a while to confirm that this is how the game plays out, but yeah… this is how the game plays out.<br /><br />Dumb.Bart Masseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10490373418825679148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-80487275544078282532021-11-19T21:59:59.099+00:002021-11-19T21:59:59.099+00:00How lazy is it for New World to jump directly into...How lazy is it for New World to jump directly into the tired "Fanatic Catholic Conquistador Surrogate" <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CreepyCatholicism" rel="nofollow">trope</a> this early in the game's timeline? Really disappointing, honestly. As someone considering whether to pay for the game, kind of puts me off.<br /><br />By the way, considering paying for the game because I've found it looks like I can run it through GeForce Now / Chromium on my Linux box. Thanks much for the pointer to GeForce Now! If I decide to start <i>New World</i> now, GeForce Now should work for me as a temp solution until Amazon enables Linux EAC so I can play "natively" through Wine/Proton. Enabling Linux will presumably happen sometime before the Steam Deck comes out, so I shouldn't have to wait too long.Bart Masseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10490373418825679148noreply@blogger.com