Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Tabula Rasa - Post 20 blues

And so it came to pass....

Level 20 is here. And I am forlorn.

I am not compelled to login right now. I have a mission that I am working through (Tocastra Prison...something like that), and basically, it is brutal.
But, also, I hit that wall that always comes at level 20. The compelling need to go on starts to waver.

I start to think "Why should I even play?". The game will end in February. There is still not that many people on to form any friendships with or start any groups. I never have enough time to do these big dungeon runs like Tocastra.

And of course...the grind. It felt harsh for level 19, what will the next 10 levels be like? And if I do not finish the particular mission, I am pretty much stuck in progressing the story.

And why progress. There is not an outcome?

This makes me think of how Star Wars will be with it's Bioware'd story focus, Will the game end with chapters? Will it be like Guild Wars where there is a story with a beginning and end (which I love).

I have enjoyed Tabula Rasa though, but it is not the game to end all games for me. It never pulls you in fully. But, mechanically it is sound with some awesome crafting that I got excited to do all the time as I leveled. And the capability to progress solo even though the spawns were ridiculous..well, that was important.

I wonder how TR would have been with Henchmen?

Anyways. I am sure it is the lull before the holidays. I have quite a bit of work (when it rains it pours. Year end is my big money maker...even when the economy is down...how awesome is that?)...and I am not keeping regular hours, so morning game time will be small for a bit. Evenings are filled with Silent Hill, where I have progressed enough that I think I am almost at the end. And then I have Dead Space waiting for me (the wife is really excited over that one...), plus some movies will be making their way to me for Christmas..

Yea...gonna be crazy. Anyways, I will be off for a day or two for the Holidays..
Wish you and yours the best...

Cheers

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The first part of Torcastra is nasty and you really need to be 20+ if you are going to attempt it solo. If you are a soldier and can use machine guns it can be slightly easier, especially wity EMP weaponry.

Do not break the border when you get to the times area, jump past it instead.

Do not try to take out the hunter boss on the left path up to the prison in the timed area, different mission (hybrid race access) so not necessary and his reflect damage can easily kill you.

The Juggernaut when you get to the actual prison entrance do not have to be taken out, you can run past it both ways. At least if you make the choice to _not_ lead out the prisoner, who is very slow.

It is not strictly necessary to complete Torcastra before you move on to next area. You will need to get inside at some point to complete a mission for the next area which is part of the main story, but you can do that later.

I think it is a quite nice instance, but the first part is nasty and perhaps the most difficult part of the instance.

Make sure you follow the mission instructions - if you fiddle with some items in the wrong order you can get to a state where the instance cannot be completed (unless they have fixed that). That is mainly a problem when you have done it more than once though, since you know what to do then - it is easy to get a bit too fast with things...

The next area you will go to has a few nice instances and one (Eloh Vale) that many voted as their favourite instance in the game.

Even if you decide not to continue entirely I would also recommend to head off to the other planet, Arieki, just to see the different setting if nothing else. It is quite different from what you have seen on Foreas.