The Bel Effect

So Aggrochat Episode 60 was called "Second Chances," and Belghast, along with his cohorts from Stalwart Gaming, were talking about games they had recently returned to after having discarded them for various reasons. Featured in this discussion was ArcheAge, a Korean import brought to the States by Trion Worlds, of Rift fame. (Forgive me if you know all this already.)

Scooter and I had enjoyed dabbling in ArcheAge last fall; however, technical issues with her computer kept us from getting very far before we gave up. But I was intrigued by the Skill/Class system and character progression at the time. My recent trip to Seoul helps me appreciate some of the elements of the game as well, like the townsfolk speaking Korean, the design of the Harani, etc.

In any event, the Aggrochat episode made me think it would be cool to try it again. You know, to keep from burning out on SWTOR stories (which, as you know, we have also been giving a second chance). I had uninstalled it somehow, and I think I used a different login than my Rift account (all now linked through Trion's Glyph). On top of this, something glitched right near the end of the installation process, and I had to start over. Then stuff and things happened. All that meant that, even though I decided to check it out on Tuesday evening, it was last night before I was able to log in and create a character.

Following Bel and the Aggrochat crew, I decided to role a Firran on Tahyang server (doubly appropriate since Tahyang was the legendary prophet/leader of the Firran). I wasn't too sure about the females, who seem very kawaii (if that term can be used for a Korean aesthetic). As opposed to the male Firran, who are much more catlike. But Scott Rankin likes them, and thinks they look more alien than human, and they don't need to be that catlike anyway. After messing around with the character creator for at least an hour wherein I discovered that they can be given more feline features, I came up with a face I liked. So, meet the ArcheAge version of Achillea (I almost gave her green hair). I only got up to level 5 or 6 before logging off, starting with Archery, and picking up Occultism along the way. I plan to make Vitality my third skillset, forming the class referred to as Blood Arrow. I may still role a male Firran, and save the cute for a Harani. Maybe I can even convince Scooter to give the Cat Folk a try.

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