The inspiration of games
Games inspire me as a writer, that’s how I get away with playing them. In my free time only of course, because I know from past experience that it’s possible to quite easily lose 8-12+ hours in a game. I get sore eyes nowadays, so I stop sooner.
It was in World of Warcraft that my fantasy characters first existed before they made it into novels. Ortense, Rollo, Hagar, and Inco were all originally World of Warcraft avatars. They have also appeared in some of the other games I’ve played: Lord of The Rings Online, Rift, and Archeage. The latter is the one I’m playing right now.
Things are quieter in Archeage than they were in 2014 when the game launched. It’s on its third publisher and down to two servers in the EU, and two in the US. I’m not sure how many there are in Asia. It’s a Korean game.
But I still love building, farming, and trading and that’s why I play it. I did the grinding for gear back in 2015 and took part in dungeons, raids, PVP (player vs player), even arenas, but I’m too old and slow for all that now. I’ll stick to growing potatoes.
Here are a few pictures of the houses and farms I have over the last 7 years; on and off as I haven’t played constantly.
Building and designing your farm is fun in an open world as it’s possible to see and visit neighbours’ properties too. You can even visit properties on the other continent too, but watch they don’t attack you. I was once robbed on my own farm by a hostile player from the other continent. After that, I learned not to leave my trade packs unprotected.
A few people have turned their homes into inns or cafes and made visitors welcome and there are some creative architects who added all sorts of design effects. The person below has created a whole village of their own unique style.
I enjoy the festivals and events where you can earn coins and use them to buy collectables like pets, furniture, lighting, accessories, decorations, clothing, and even Christmas trees. I’ve often wondered what it is that is so addictive about games. I’ve heard theories about how we get to be heroes and greater people than we are in real life.
That makes sense. But I also think that it’s a creative outlet, especially in the more sandbox games–a term that describes games that give more choices rather than pre-determined paths that must be followed. And in Archeage at least, I enjoy the colour and beauty of the game. The oriental houses and temples of Villanelle, the white beaches of Sandeep, the vertiginous roads of Rookbourne, and the dreamy but monster-ridden landscapes of Auroria.
Archeage can be a very different game depending on how you play. The players with the most time (probably full-time players), may have top-level gear and take part in conquering new territory and fighting sieges and wars with other nations. Below is a ship battle on one of my guild’s warships in the early days of the game. Our ship went down and we lost that fight.
When you begin the game you can be Nuian or Haranyan, which are similar to western and eastern peoples and each has their own continent. But later, you can go into exile and turn pirate if you wish. There are six different races: human, elf, and dwarf on Nuia. Human, Firran (cat people), or Warborn (demon people) on Haranya.
Would I recommend the game to new players now? Well, it’s eight years old so I guess it’s not as up to date graphics-wise. There is a fresh start server specifically for new players or old ones wanting to start anew, but I’m not on it so I can’t comment on whether it’s going well. Levelling is very easy up to level fifty now on the legacy servers, so you can fly through that. The end game can be a bit of a grind and one of the main criticisms of Archeage was by PVP players who disliked the pay to win aspect. Personally, I’m not much of a PVPer, but I found the RNG (random number generator) aspect of gearing up, annoying.
I enjoyed the game nevertheless and didn’t spend much money, but you do have to be a paying subscriber to have land and housing. It’s the open-world housing that makes Archeage special.
An Archeage 2 is on the cards in the near future. One source said later this year, but others say 2024. There’s no reliable information as far as I can see. We can expect upgraded graphics as the game will run on Unreal Engine 5. I’ve heard that Archeage 2 will also be a prequel to Archeage, so it will be based on the continent of Auroria. Another interesting idea is player townships and a more integrated trading, housing, and crafting system. I think I’d like to see more of an achievement path for those of us who want to be merchants, crafters, and farmers rather than just the combat heroes. To be fair, there is already much more of that in Archeage than many MMOs.
I’ll definitely give Archeage 2 a try, so perhaps I should think of upgrading my old gaming PC. What games do you enjoy?
Above: Galloping on the beaches of Mirage Isle.
Recent Comments