Heya all,
I thought it would be interesting if I documented my experience playing MSC and visiting its locales after returning from a 12 year absence.
The game started with some brief tragedy, which was quickly overcome.
After connecting to a server and naming my character I noticed that I could be a dwarf. I researched it a bit and was saddened to learn that it was impossible due to bugs. Could the dwarf option be disabled until the issues are resolved? It seems like it might cause some potential new players to turn away.
It was finally time to explore Edana again but bloom trouble reared its divine ivory head as I was blinded by a pure white screen, which was quickly resolved after reading a bit more into the issue. Soon I would be blinded by the glory of Edana, how I have missed it.
The music opened a memory gateway and I was captured in visions of pounding rat skulls to a bloody mush with bare fists. I would be the ultimate rat exterminator again.
Soon my hand bones hardened and knuckles calloused from unleashing an epidemic of vermin brain damage and I decided to instead turn my ire towards all of boar-kind. A potion seller was kind enough to breed boars solely for adventurers to abuse.
Sometime after the 10th boar or so I decided to wander over to town and out the mayor as a traitor, which is where the true adventure started.
Some notes so far:
- I forgot to buy a backpack (don't know if I even had enough gold) before I ventured away from Edana. This felt like a huge mistake as the backpack is almost 100% needed. This was my fault but I feel like a backpack or weapon sheath as a starting quest reward would go a long way.
- Regarding weapon sheaths, I found a dagger sheath later on. I thought the weapon sheath was universal for all weapons. Do different sheaths provide different bonuses?
- I noticed that time of day was controlled clientside. It would be neat if it was forced on everyone for all maps. It could lead to some interesting revisiting of areas depending on the time of day and would make the world feel more alive. (this is only a tiny nit pick though. I don't mind it much)
Places new to me that I have fully (I think) traversed through:
Sept. 24th, 2017:
The Thornlands and Edana are still great! I got to bite an apple before giving it to the mayor's guard as a bribe again, that felt nice.
Edana Sewers - I think this map is really good. A decent amount to explore and not super hard once you've leveled up a few times. The sewer grate you need to break through to get the electric slime is sort of odd, first time I went through the sewer with a 3 man party it took 30 seconds or so to break with all of us hitting it using projectiles (stock arrows). Second time I went through with a 2 man party I punched it open in a few swings. Kind of wish it broke in one hit no matter what, had a crack in it to indicate its frailty, or had a switch to open it as I could see it being confusing to newer players (or I could simply be stupid).
I also like the fact that there is a semi-sunken ship down here. Was it magically transported or did someone flush pieces of a ship separately down here? It adds some nice mystery.
Discovered a torn piece of paper with 'of TIME' written on it. Still need to figure out where to apply this knowledge.
Chapel - I also really liked this one. More linear than Thornlands but felt like you could explore a fair bit. The music on this one is really, really good. Had another MSC veteran break the shelf in the shack to show me the dangerous monsters beyond.
It's possible that I missed something but I also feel this sort of secret could use more of an indicator (maybe the shelf was cracked and I didn't see). Like a note on the bed saying the owner had to block passage to his infested stockpile or the like. The stockpile area didn't really have anything besides the termite spiders: a skeleton with a note or journal (cliche, I know. But it can work if clever and short enough) would be awesome. I punched everything and looked everywhere in that room but maybe I missed more secrets back there.
later on, a giant bat wrecked me. Used a bunch of jagged arrows I had found earlier, dealing a massive 20-30 (I was pleased by the damage difference between stock and consumable arrows as you're rewarded for keeping a supply that weighs you down) something damage each time before I was forced back to the old 1-4 damage hits. Finally took it out.
The Chapel itself was neat. I liked the basement. Using the wall sconce down there and opening up some shallow closet spaces was odd; though, it did make me punch all the walls and find another secret with a pally skeleton behind it that murdered me. I actually really like a lowish level zone that has an optional side area you can revisit when a higher level.
At this point another MSC veteran (every other player I have seen is one) connected and kindly tanked the burial skeletons and we were soon on our way to another isle.
I enjoyed the music on the lost island and was surprised to hear it was a stock fruity loops tune. It fits the area, so no problems there. After looking into a flowing sand pit I then realized that I had to get up at 5:30 am and so ends my first session after 12 years.
I really had a blast and if you are interested, I will document what I experience as I continue to play.
Thanks to the devs and community for keeping this game alive!
I thought it would be interesting if I documented my experience playing MSC and visiting its locales after returning from a 12 year absence.
The game started with some brief tragedy, which was quickly overcome.
After connecting to a server and naming my character I noticed that I could be a dwarf. I researched it a bit and was saddened to learn that it was impossible due to bugs. Could the dwarf option be disabled until the issues are resolved? It seems like it might cause some potential new players to turn away.
It was finally time to explore Edana again but bloom trouble reared its divine ivory head as I was blinded by a pure white screen, which was quickly resolved after reading a bit more into the issue. Soon I would be blinded by the glory of Edana, how I have missed it.
The music opened a memory gateway and I was captured in visions of pounding rat skulls to a bloody mush with bare fists. I would be the ultimate rat exterminator again.
Soon my hand bones hardened and knuckles calloused from unleashing an epidemic of vermin brain damage and I decided to instead turn my ire towards all of boar-kind. A potion seller was kind enough to breed boars solely for adventurers to abuse.
Sometime after the 10th boar or so I decided to wander over to town and out the mayor as a traitor, which is where the true adventure started.
Some notes so far:
- I forgot to buy a backpack (don't know if I even had enough gold) before I ventured away from Edana. This felt like a huge mistake as the backpack is almost 100% needed. This was my fault but I feel like a backpack or weapon sheath as a starting quest reward would go a long way.
- Regarding weapon sheaths, I found a dagger sheath later on. I thought the weapon sheath was universal for all weapons. Do different sheaths provide different bonuses?
- I noticed that time of day was controlled clientside. It would be neat if it was forced on everyone for all maps. It could lead to some interesting revisiting of areas depending on the time of day and would make the world feel more alive. (this is only a tiny nit pick though. I don't mind it much)
Places new to me that I have fully (I think) traversed through:
Sept. 24th, 2017:
The Thornlands and Edana are still great! I got to bite an apple before giving it to the mayor's guard as a bribe again, that felt nice.
Edana Sewers - I think this map is really good. A decent amount to explore and not super hard once you've leveled up a few times. The sewer grate you need to break through to get the electric slime is sort of odd, first time I went through the sewer with a 3 man party it took 30 seconds or so to break with all of us hitting it using projectiles (stock arrows). Second time I went through with a 2 man party I punched it open in a few swings. Kind of wish it broke in one hit no matter what, had a crack in it to indicate its frailty, or had a switch to open it as I could see it being confusing to newer players (or I could simply be stupid).
I also like the fact that there is a semi-sunken ship down here. Was it magically transported or did someone flush pieces of a ship separately down here? It adds some nice mystery.
Discovered a torn piece of paper with 'of TIME' written on it. Still need to figure out where to apply this knowledge.
Chapel - I also really liked this one. More linear than Thornlands but felt like you could explore a fair bit. The music on this one is really, really good. Had another MSC veteran break the shelf in the shack to show me the dangerous monsters beyond.
It's possible that I missed something but I also feel this sort of secret could use more of an indicator (maybe the shelf was cracked and I didn't see). Like a note on the bed saying the owner had to block passage to his infested stockpile or the like. The stockpile area didn't really have anything besides the termite spiders: a skeleton with a note or journal (cliche, I know. But it can work if clever and short enough) would be awesome. I punched everything and looked everywhere in that room but maybe I missed more secrets back there.
later on, a giant bat wrecked me. Used a bunch of jagged arrows I had found earlier, dealing a massive 20-30 (I was pleased by the damage difference between stock and consumable arrows as you're rewarded for keeping a supply that weighs you down) something damage each time before I was forced back to the old 1-4 damage hits. Finally took it out.
The Chapel itself was neat. I liked the basement. Using the wall sconce down there and opening up some shallow closet spaces was odd; though, it did make me punch all the walls and find another secret with a pally skeleton behind it that murdered me. I actually really like a lowish level zone that has an optional side area you can revisit when a higher level.
At this point another MSC veteran (every other player I have seen is one) connected and kindly tanked the burial skeletons and we were soon on our way to another isle.
I enjoyed the music on the lost island and was surprised to hear it was a stock fruity loops tune. It fits the area, so no problems there. After looking into a flowing sand pit I then realized that I had to get up at 5:30 am and so ends my first session after 12 years.
I really had a blast and if you are interested, I will document what I experience as I continue to play.
Thanks to the devs and community for keeping this game alive!