A Tall Ship's Tale : Black Desert

Much of the conversation over Black Desert Online has focused on systems and processes. From the arcane and convoluted crafting to the controversial cash shop, to the conflicts between the needs and desires of PvP and PvE players, to the "always online" demands of the afk progression mechanics, BDO has generated controversy and confusion in equal measure.

With all that going on it's easy to forget that this is still an explorer's game par excellence. If you come to Black Desert with an explorer's heart there's no need to know or care about any of these things. From the moment you step out into the world there is quite literally nothing to stop you putting foot to road and heading for the horizon.

Yesterday I had the finest, simplest, open-world adventure I've had for a very long time. It took me all the way back to the earliest days of EverQuest, when I stood at the harbor in Butcherblock, staring at the sea, waiting for my first ever imaginary boat trip.

It all goes back a few days to when I first arrived in the great port city of Altinova. I'd climbed the hills at the back of the town, getting my bearings and my breath after a dizzying jaunt through the red clay mayhem of the souks and alleyways below. Looking out across the rooftops to the docks I saw a square-rigged galleon at the wharf, by far the biggest ship I'd seen.

As I watched, it pulled away from the pier, turned awkwardly and headed out to sea. I scrambled down the hillside and raced through the teeming streets to the waterfront to where the great ship had been.

For half an hour or more I waited there for another seagoing vessel to arrive. I passed the time fishing. My bags filled and I sold the catch to the Trade Manager up the hill. My rod broke. No ship appeared. Eventually I gave up waiting and left.

Yesterday I was in Altinova again when history repeated itself. I was looking down from the heights when I saw the ship, only this time it was just coming in to port. I forgot my plans and sprinted for the dock. This time I made it.

I was the only one waiting to board when the ship pulled alongside the harbor wall. When it set sail again just a few minutes later I was still alone. There were no passengers but me. There was no crew. There didn't even seem to be a captain. And yet the ship sailed.

There I was, the lone passenger on a ghost ship. The sun was going down. Of course it was. It's always coming on night when I do anything in Black Desert or so it seems. I tried to take some shots of the ship but the light was poor and the vessel too large for the frame so after a few minutes I settled down to watch the waves roll by.

And they rolled. And they rolled. And they rolled. I had no idea where the ship was heading. It seemed to be making for the deep ocean. Opening the map after a few minutes it looked as though we might be bound for Iliya Island.

That would be some journey from Eastern Mediah but it would have been handy for me. I could check up on my shipyard there, see my workers were settled, have a rummage around my storage. But Iliya slipped past to starboard and we sailed on into the night.

By this time we'd been afloat for ten minutes or so. I wondered if we might be heading to Velia, which would make for a trip of at least twenty minutes. We were not.

Velia slid by to port. I looked at the map again. Where else was there? There were islands, of course. A lot of islands. Some of them even had names. For a time we appeared to be heading directly for a middling sized isle but at the last moment we rounded its southernmost tip and on we sailed.

It was light again by this time. We were cutting along within sight of land but but the mists had come down to hide the shore. Tantalizing glimpses of towers and walls drifted in and out of view.

I paced the deck from prow to stern, trying to get a clear line of sight. Gingerly I hoisted myself onto the spars and edged along the rails. I was terrified of slipping, falling into the dark ocean. I knew that if I had to swim I'd drown before ever I reached land.

Opening the map once again it was hard to believe just how far the ship had traveled. We had been, quite literally, in uncharted waters almost from the start but for a good while now we were running past unmapped land. Whatever country this was to the lee it was one I'd never seen before.

By now I'd been on the ship for well over half an hour. About the only place I could think of that might be our destination port would be Calpheon. The great city of the West is inland but it stands on a major river. I hadn't noticed a harbor when I was there but then I hadn't looked for one.

After the best part of forty-five minutes, with the sun up and full daylight clearing the fog, finally the ship turned for the shore. A great lighthouse tower on a promontory heralded a major port. A port I had no idea existed.

The ship nudged alongside the planks of the dock of a busy fishing port, with granite fisherman's cottages rising up the hillside towards impressive public buildings and churches above. Wide, sandy beaches swept away to the north. A beached whale lay on the sands, surrounded by curious Shai.

Walking the wet, early morning streets I learned the name: Epheria Port. Standing high on the cliffs that backed the weather-worn, tiled roofs I watched the sails of the ghost-ship shrink to the horizon, heading back to warmer waters once again.

For almost an hour all I'd done was board a ship and wait for the voyage to end. In the terms of the game my character did not progress by any measurable means. No skills increased, no loot dropped, no quests completed, no achievements accrued. There were no rewards, material, statistical or nominal.

It was the best adventure I'd had for a long time. Something I'll remember the way I remember those first trips across the Ocean of Tears.

It was a mighty long hike back to Altinova, where I left my horse, though. I'll tell you that for nothing!

Welcome To Mediah : Black Desert

In a move almost as unexpected as the return of Super Adventure Box, this week Daum, the licensee and operator of Black Desert in the West, dropped an entire expansion on us out of the clear blue sky. There seems to be some rumor going around that MMORPGs are stagnating or even dying off. It's things like this, or the upcoming massive free update to EQ2 , or the one Blade and Soul just got, or Otherland, just to name-check a handful of games in which I have a personal interest, that get these kind of rumors started.

Got to be, because nothing says "ded gaem" like continual development and a pipe full of impressive new content, does it?  Truly the Last Days are upon us.

Nevertheless, although all may be sunlight and rose petals this side of the screen, things seemed very different for my Tamer when she blew into Tarif at two in the morning. The sky was dark, the prospects sulfurous... but, here, let her tell the story.

In the usual way of things it was the middle of the night when I woke up. At least I was in my own bed, for once, safe at home in  5, Lynch Ranch, not bivouacking under a bush. The moon was full so, since everyone else was awake and working already (no-one ever seems to sleep but me - it's worrisome), I decided to set off straight away rather than wait for morning.

By luck I'd already been to the closed border with Mediah to the East a week or so back and for once I knew exactly where I was going. I left the horse at the stables because, honestly, I can travel faster without him and running is good for my stamina. Although, on the other hand, riding is good for my...riding...so it's a judgment call.

My cottage isn't that far from the new lands so it didn't take too long to get to the border. There wasn't much to see along the road, it being nighttime and all, but there was some evidence of the warming political relations between the territories (or whatever caused the border to open this time) in the steady flow of foot traffic and wagons heading back West to Heidel.

It was too dark to tell all that much about the landscape but I got the feeling that it was slowly changing, becoming drier, dustier. The thick undergrowth turned to scrub and the road to grit and sand. There was no sudden, jolting transition from West to East, just a subtle elision.

I stopped for a brief rest at a small village. Didn't get the name. Already the architecture looked odd and foreign. It felt like I wasn't at home any more. Not that I know where home is, since I woke up not knowing who I am, with that Black Spirit whispering in my ear. 

Ah yes, the Spirit. He's a wonder, that's for sure. I thought he was something only I could see, although every so often, when I arrive in a new town, some local dignitary with a third eye or psychic powers will sense him and have a fit of the vapors. That's going to get me into trouble some day, I just bet.

And then I came to Tarif. I hadn't meant to go there. I didn't know it existed. I was just following the road, hoping it went somewhere. Roads usually do, although in my experience they're as likely to end in a ruin full of orcs as a welcoming inn. The sky was beginning to lighten as I came to the town gates so I could see a little. What I saw almost made me wish for the darkness back.

Oh, I'm not saying anything bad about Tarif. Well, nothing worse than I'd say about Florin. I have a strong feeling it wouldn't be clever to say anything bad about either of them. I mean, I'm sure the local Shai have a sound reason for pulling a Black Spirit around on a handcart in the dead of night. There must be one, right? That's not something you do for fun. Is it?

I was so stunned that at first I just stood there and gawped. Then my adventurer's instincts clicked in and I slipped into the shadows. It was two in the morning so it wasn't all that hard. Tarif was mostly shadows. Maybe it always is. 

I followed the long-eared little deviant as he wheeled his cart through the alleys and back streets, the Spirit gibbering and mumbling in a skin-crawlingly familiar way. At one point we passed an open door and in the light that blazed out I could see candles laid out for a ritual. Objects were hanging motionless in the air. The ritual had probably already happened. Maybe that's how this Shai got his Spirit-in-a-Pot. 

As dawn came on we arrived in the main square. No-one seems to sleep here, either. The streets were packed with people, trading and chatting and floating. Floating in the air. Doing back flips. I was starting to freak but I hadn't seen the worst of it yet.

As the sun set the hills alight and the streets began to glow I noticed an Inn. It seemed quite upmarket, with tables on a terrace and food already laid out, so I sat on a bench to take stock and breakfast, not necessarily in that order.

I looked around for the Inn Keeper. Then I saw her. In a manner of speaking. I saw her portrait on the wall. Some townsfolk were chatting. Chatting to the picture. The picture that wasn't a picture of the Inn Keeper. The picture that was the inn Keeper.

About this time I decided I'd catch my own breakfast after all. I made my excuses and bolted for the riverside. On the way I passed a smuggler, a man of a race I didn't immediately recognize, although if all his kin have a nose like his then I shan't be having any difficulty recognizing them in future.

He was operating in broad daylight (well, almost) with no regard to the law, even though guards were everywhere in the town, clinking in heavy chain mail, armed with vicious-looking pikestaffs. I get the general idea of what goes on here, I think.

So, this is Mediah as seen from Tarif, gateway to the East. The locals tell me it's a quiet place, not like the chaos and confusion I can expect further on down the road.

I can't wait.