Monday 22 April 2002

Pic of the day: Starting village in Hibernia. My newbie character in the forground. Uh, yes, it's an elf girl. I am easily inspired, I guess.

Hibernia

Dark Age of Camelot has 3 realms, forever locked in a war of attrition. They are Midgard, Albion and Hibernia. Midgard is, of course, based on Norse mythology and Nordic culture, adjusted for gameplay. It is the foremost realm in terms of non-magical swordplay. Albion is based on the Arthurian legends and associated British mythology. It is also the most balanced realm in terms of might vs. magic. And Hibernia is Celtic. It is a more magical kingdom than the other two, and generally more surreal.

I started in Midgard, since I am Norwegian myself. But when I later tried Albion, I much preferred that. I found the gameplay easier and the people more sociable. (Your mileage may vary, and your choice of server is important too.) I expected Hibernia to be even more to my liking, with more magic and less macho. But when I created a character there on the Pellinor server, I got an unpleasant surprise: The game lagged out immediately. I'm talking about seconds at best. I could not even start to explore the starting village! I considered trying another server, in case it was a specific server problem. But I never got around to do that, as I became so involved in Albion.

Around the time when I bought an actual 3D card, the lag in Albion was suddenly much reduced. It seems unlikely that this should be the cause, but it was the same weekend. I have enjoyed this for a time, and then this weekend the thought struck me of visiting Hibernia again. (Actually it is not quite that simple. I had created a wizard character in Albion, to check out that class from the inside. When reading up on the class on various fan sites, I accidentally stumbled upon an article about a Hibernian class and got caught up.)

It is still lagging more than the others. I eventually lagged out (went linkdead) once. But almost all the time the speed was quite fine, and I finally got to see Hibernia with my own eyes. I love it. Love it. Love it.

The landscape is much like Albion, but the vegetation is prettier, or at least as far as I have seen. But the great difference is the architecture. Both Midgard and Albion have some monumental buildings, but mostly the houses are practical, utilitarian. In Hibernia, architecture is a longer name for art. Even the modest villages have tall spires encircled by staircases that are not stairs at all, but lattice-like spiraling pathways to the top of the spires. They seem to have no function except luring clumsy newbies to their doom. There are huge glowing crystals, and the colors are like nowhere else. Well, that's the elf areas actually. You really should consider being an elf. The Celt areas are distinctive, but nothing like that.

***

I played an elf magess, who graduated to enchanter. This is a class that summons "underhill" creatures to aid them. It is kind of like the Albion Cabalists with their golems, yet the experience is very different. The underhill allies are elves or lurikeen (small fast elves), not humanoid blobs like in Albion, or spirits like in Midgard. Unless you have the name tag option on, they cannot be distinguished from a fellow player. The naming convention emphasizes the nature of the relationship. The first class of underhills you get to summon (at level 5) are called "underhill friend". They are fighters, and quite competent for their level too. (They are just below you in level.) The next class, at level 7, are called "underhill companion". They are spellcasters themselves, and still able to hold themselves in pitched battle for a while. (By then you should have a spell for healing them. Pity they don't seem to do the same for you.) Seeing an enchantress and her companion throwing spells at a monster side by side, you really get the feeling that this is something more than a "pet", as they used to call them in EverQuest. Very atmospheric.

One thing surprised me, though. I had expected Hibernia to be even more social and playful than Albion, and with a higher proportion of females. I can't say I saw any signs of that during my stay. Then again, I haven't played for long, just tried out a couple classes. Still, it was fun. I am tempted to switch. Again.