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What makes a "good" area, by Baal
I've been on NS for several months now, as various classes and positions. I've explored large portions of the world, seen things that few have seen, and generally done my damndest to be a bit of a scholar. In my travel's I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly with regards to areas; from the wonderfully vivid and complex, to the astoundingly simple and narrow-sighted.
From these expirances, I've gathered up some thoughts, and decided on what makes an area "good" or even "great" - to me at least. I'll try to itemize these below.
1. Some History to the area.
I like the feeling that an area that I'm in has a rich and
interesting history - and that maybe I can learn a bit about it,
and that it'll have an impact on the present actions and such.
For example, in Kalthar, the Castle's been invaded by an evil
force several years ago; so now, in the present, it's infested
and must be cleansed. You get a distinct feeling that there's
something going on here, instead of just sitting there - and that
if you could but delve deeper into the history, you might be able
to solve the riddle of what happened.
2. A mission, a goal, a purpose
In my mind, nothing is as satisfying as accomplishing some great
and important mission. To have a purpose and to fulfill it is
very gratifying, and in truth holds my intrest better then just
about anything. Also, the gathering of the items or defeating of
a monster often helps one to explore the area, and brings a new
vitality to the descriptions and activities of those around us.
Also, it's an excellent way to really earn some good or valuable
equipment, instead of just dropping one creature.
3. Vivid and rich descriptions
Call me retentive, but if I walk into a room, I want to know at
least a little about it; I want to be able to see that this is a
bedroom, that the bed's neatly pressed, that the covers are
turned back, and that there's a beat up old antique dresser
beside it, and that there's 2 oil lamps, one on the dresser, one
on the wall, and that there's a nice crochetted rug on the floor.
And, i want to be able to acutally SEE the dresser, the rug, the
bed - and touch them, try to open the dresser, rest on the bed.
Hell, throw some clothing in the dresser. For me, knowing and
doing such things helps me visualize the area, and think "i
wonder if..." and look around more - maybe examining the
dresser to see if it opens, ectera. All told it's stuff like
that, being able to look at acutal items in a room, not just
words saying them, that makes the diffrence in an area.
4. A dearth of EQ (even if most of
it sucks)
Nothing catches my eye more then a fully eq'd mob; i'll usually
take it on just to see if i can use whatever it is it's wearing.
I've yet to see a fully-eq'd peasent, for example - one wearing a
cock-eyed hat, a dirty jerkin, some old leggings, and some
battered wooden shoes, as well as a beaten-silver wedding ring,
and maybe a necklace or two. Even if the gear's useless, it looks
good, and it makes you think "wow, someone really busted ass
doin this place...". An example of a "good" mob is
Reinhold, down in his castle - he's fully Eq'd (more or less),
and is totally fitting of his standing - a lord, fully
battle-dressed, in his castle.
5. Speaking of mobs....
One thing that ires me is when a room description says "A
crowd of people..." when no one's there. It shouldn't be to
hard to throw down a mob of 20 or so half-dead peasents wandering
about, clustered near a food stand or a shanty town. I've yet to
see a "fully populated" area; in other words, one which
gives an impression of a real crowd or of real density of people.
Also in this heading goes the problem of guards. If I was a
guard, and heard a death cry, I'd investigate, and either attack
who ever's responsible, or attack the stranger (who's probably
responsible anyway). Ordinary peasents and such, should be able
to yell for a guard to help, and get some help - unless of course
there are other, more worthy people the guards should be keeping
an eye on (a noble, lets say). Of course, a wily player could
attack a peasent, summoning up a few guards - flee, and then kill
the noble (who's now foolishly left unguarded). It'd be things
like this that'd force some real strategy into the situation, as
the guards could be (suitably) tough, and the noble (fittingly)
weak - in other words, without guards, it'd be easy to kill him,
with guards, very difficult; so it'd be in "your best
intrests" to lure the guards away, rather then brute-forcing
them.
6. About prog's
Nothing really makes an area BREATHE like progs. Wether it's a
talking mob (ala the minstrel in New Felani), or an active event
(the Painful mist in Nexus), it makes the area seem more
interesting, more realistic, and more intriuging. Something
that's sadly missing is pleading and begging; particuarly in mobs
that should *KNOW* you've come to kill them - such as quest mobs
or nobles. It'd be a fascinating thing to see a noble offer you
500 silver for his life, before you killed him to get the Magic
Sword of DunKirk or something. Also, mobs being attacked should
scream for help a few times, even if there's no hope of it
getting there (General WoundWart in the Erafra Warrens is a good
example of this).
I acutally have an idea for a god-cool prog; it goes like this:
you have a mission/quest (see #2), to kill a King. You distract
his guards by attacking a peasent outside his gates, then rush
in, kill the King, and rush out - only to find that the once
placidly standing guards are now aggro, and attack you on sight.
It'd be realistic, and require real strategy - maybe running
through back alleys, especially if the guards ran when someone
screamed for help (like when you perfed the guard whom attacked
you).
These are just a few of my ideas on what makes a "good" or "great" or hell, even "intersting" area; feel free to email me at webmaster@deth.faithweb.com with your ideas on this.