Alabastra

"So welcome to Alabastra!  It shall be the death of you once more."

This is what Gadflow said to me after I freed the House of Pride.  How charming!  Of course, that name makes me immediately think of Alabasta from One Piece.  (Do not bother looking up One Piece.  Do you really think you'd enjoy a Japanese Anime where the main character is named Monkey D. Luffy?  I thought not.)

But back on topic, and the topic is KoA.

First of all, you'll notice a lack of videos in this post.  Mostly that is because I'm better at writing about games than I am making videos about games.  And mostly because I'm not particularly that -good- at playing video games.  And let's be honest here -- you weren't watching them anyway.  I'll leave the videos to the experts.  Not to say I'm an expert at writing, either -- but I would like to think that I am able to keep you relatively beguiled with the magic of words.  Otherwise, why are you here, anyway?

So where did we leave off?  Well, I'd just defeated the Balor at Mel Senshir, which was a pretty big deal.  The Tuatha have been attacking the city for a whole ten years, and I sent them fleeing.  Not bad for a day's work.  It's here that I'm going to actually point out something that KoA does -better- than Skyrim, albeit for a price.

After the Battle of Mel Senshir, I went into a new area called Klurikon.  It's that swampy area I mentioned before, filled with quite an impressive display of immersion -- the sounds of insects, soothing music, and enemies that are quite a bit tougher when compared to the nasties I had just fought on the other side of the wall.  More noticeable, however, is how the denizens of Amalur treat me now.  Their eyes are filled with awe as I approach, and they greet me as the "Hero of Mel Senshir".  This is something that Skyrim hardly achieved -- the sense that you actually made a difference in the world.  It's like only -you- know that you saved Skyrim, and everyone else inhabiting the cold north is rather oblivious.  Sort of like Canada!

But it's not done without a price, as I said.  Klurikon is inaccessible to you until you defeat the Balor.  Do you see?  It's quite simple for KoA to do this because if you're in Klurikon then of course you're the hero of Mel Senshir.  Skryim doesn't prevent you from going anywhere -- you can walk anywhere you choose.  It would take a considerable amount of coding to change the reactions and greetings of the NPCs.  It's a trade-off.  Fully open-world?  Or a changing world?

I challenge someone to do both.

Moving on, let's talk about what happened after Mel Senshir in regards to the main storyline.  To do this, I first have to explain Gadflow's ultimate goal.  It's quite simple really.  He wants to wipe mortals off the face of the planet.  He's a Fae -- a twisted Fae worshiping some kind of new god.  All the Tuatha are Fae turned evil.  (If you missed it in my previous posts, the Fae are basically the elves of this story.  Immortal beings of magic.)

Since comparisons are abound, Gadflow is not unlike Sauron.  Alabastra is not unlike Mordor.  The only difference here is that currently, I don't know of any "One Ring" weakness to exploit.  Gadflow controls an army that only gets stronger as each soldier in it dies.  I can only assume that my ability to manipulate fate will have some bearing on the outcome.

In any case, after getting to Klurikon the order of business is finding a way into Alabastra.  Do you remember the Black Gate that barred the entrance into Mordor?  Think of Alabastra as being just as inaccessible.  But, instead of finding a secret, winding alternate path inside, I'm going right through that front gate.  It's guarded by another group of Fae.  They have not turned into Tuatha, but they are sided with Gadflow because they do not want mortals corrupting their realm.  They are the Fae of the House of Pride.  I defeated their leader, and their people were convinced that mortals were not all that bad.  So, they joined the mortal army, even lending their mages in the effort to stop Gadflow.  I'm slowly building an army.

So now, with my army behind me, it's time to infiltrate Gadflow's bastion.  That's pretty much where I left off last night.  I stepped into Alabastra and was impressed by it.  The terrain isn't fiery with lava like Mordor, but it gives you a sense of foreboding.  It's a bit dark, and the structures are jagged.  Also, the music is very good there.

I did a few side quests then to finish off my evening, and one of these was actually pretty cool and worth mentioning.  On the Caeled Coast, there were two royal families that ruled before the Tuatha came and conquered them.  I found the castle for one of these families, and inside was one of the servants.  He desired to bring the castle back to its old glory, and asked me if I'd be it's new inhabitant.  To make a long story short -- I know have my own castle!  It started out as a dark hunk of ruin filled with rubble and junk.  Each time I'd do one of this guy's quests, he'd improve it.  At the end, I had red carpeting, furniture, seven bedrooms, a garden, a merchant, forges, alchemy tables, sagecrafting tables, and just about everything else I could possible need in the game.  It was brilliant.

What I've learned about this game is that if you're in the mood to just immerse yourself in a fantasy world for a bit with no real desire for a story constantly driving you forward, this game is the perfect choice.  However, if you're looking for an engaging story that keeps you wanting to play more and more, you'll find yourself feeling restless at how slow the game moves along. Last night, I was in the perfect mood to play KoA, and it worked out quite well for me.