Idea/Request: Quagmire /Ætherial Abyss / Ætherial Quagmire / Ætherial Labirynth
This is a suggestion I've posted in the suggestion section of the forums; I figured it couldn't hurt to swell the forums by another thread to reach out to both the community and the develops through multiple channels so here goes:
Image you're walking through the Twelveswood in the direction of Mor Dhona, you're weary from the local fauna's frail attempts to eat you, and you swear you've seen that very same mushroom-covered log. You shrug it off as eitherDéjà vu, or a simple mistake - you'll simply be more cautious and aware of your surroundings.
After a time you begin to notice that you've traveled for hours and naught a creature has attacked you, nor has the sun moved from it's perch on high. Confusion and desperation begin to take hold when you realize that the rules of reality are warped in this place - possibly due to the high concentration of Ætherial energy from both Mor Dhona's Crystals and the Twelveswood's Elementals and abundance of life.
Rationing the last of your food, you venture forth carefully, looking for a pattern; you discover that there are many specific paths that must be taken in order to reach a certain area - while most paths you take lead you back to the beginning of the area, going a certain way seems to allow you to travel to different areas within and without this wondrous place.
Eventually you find several paths that lead out of this quagmire, and despite the fact that these passages seem to change by the hour, the itch to explore deeper takes over. While most of the areas you go to inevitably lead out of the forested area and either back in the Twelveswood (if you screw up badly) or in Mor Dhona on the other side. There are 1 or 2 other places that can be found and explored, one being a beautiful environment that is much like Urth's Gift, where plants and Crystal are intertwined and both are growing and floating in mid air. Massive fissures in the ground shine with the light of the World Crystal, while small islands with trees and small crystal seedlings - that shine with the pure energies of life itself - floating aloft serenely in the gentle breeze. This place could perhaps be the safest and most beautiful places in the game, and could even be expanded upon with popularity; high-quality graphics would bring life to this place and be a key example of the hard work SE has put into saving their asses and recreating a game that may very well be a huge turn around, and have created a goegeous, detailed, and unique world that captures....blah blah blah
An alternative area that can be accessed could perhaps be a 24-man dungeon that requires the use of patience and jumping (yes, I said it) to progress forward, whilst dealing with the many perils the map itself presents. Pit falls, spike traps, ledges to jump to - Cutter's Cry was simple in terms of environmental annoyances. One thing that games often neglect is the environment, they oftentimes fail to realize that the thing that ultimately can get you killed is your surroundings. This massive Temple of unknown origin is amassive stone and crystal fortress that one of Atomos' various incarnations inhabits and appears to be guarding something. Upon clearing the fight you walk to the top of the Temple into the great spire and Light the Pyre - summoning forth Seraph, who must be fought and defeated for their Divine Weaponry.
TL:TR
- Think Zelda, the Lost Woods and Hidden Temple from Ragnarok Online.
Area located between the Twelveswood/Black Shroud and Mor Dhona.
- Many ways to wind up where you started, at the end, in intermediate areas, or in one of two major maps - one being a beautiful safe zone, one being a 24-man raid for only the bravest and most cautious of heroes.
- The environment itself has traps in all forms; carefully watching where you step, speed, and jumping over dangerous obstacles and traps are essential to surviving - the monsters aren't the only dangers.
- The paths, landmarks, and other features shift and change with time; each hour some areas may move around, making memorizing the way around next to impossible.
Just a crazy thought I had, whether or not something like this already exists in some discussion or elsewhere, I wouldn't know - discuss, expand upon, or even doodle some lovely art.
Hmm... this is a double post...