Aesthetics are important

Screenshot Spectacular, the second

Recently a few of my friends have been bugging me to try out Dungeons and Dragons Online with them. Now I'm pretty deeply entrenched in FFXI at this point, but I'm not opposed to branching out and expanding my horizons a little. Besides, slicing up goblins with friends is usually pretty hard to mess up.

Dungeons and Dragons isn't really new to me either. I'm one of those guys who ran through the Baldur's Gate series and then proceeded to spend a whole Summer raiding his local library for all the 3rd edition rule books and supplements he could find. So what the hell, I thought, I'll give it a try.

While I was waiting for the client to download and install itself I decided to take a look at the game trailer on the website. Boy was that ever a mistake.

The world I saw in the trailers was the standard fantasy setting, yes, but it was also brightly colored and gaudy. It was not the kind of world I associate with a good D&D campaign. In the back of my head there was a little voice screaming: "World of Warcraft clone". Usually I try to ignore this voice but the similarities in the color schemes were a bit too similar. The whole palette was over the top. Garish cartoon colors and architecture littered the video.

This is not what I want from a game. When I want a D&D game I'm there for immersion. I'm there to get sucked into the world, not be constantly reminded that I'm playing a game. When you litter your environment with sharply contrasting colors, it's very jarring and prevents me from losing myself in the game.

FFXI has done a phenomenal job of avoiding this and also providing the correct balance of realistic color scheme with a dash of fantasy. Combined with the insane attention to detail it makes for a world that feels very much alive. The crazy fantasy zones aren't so pervasive in the world that they intrude upon the perception of the game as a fully realized world.

Thankfully the game wasn't able to install itself on my PC on account of a missing .dll file for DirectX, so I was able to scamper away without having to bother with D&D:O anymore. I'll stick with FFXI's world sprinkled with a bit of fantasy rather than a fantasy sprinkled with a bit of world, thanks.



It may be a slow week in terms of gaming progress in Vana'diel but that hasn't stopped me from finding some good photo opportunities.



I think this was somewhere in Ghelsba Outpost. I spent some time there hunting down some Blue Magic as well as a nifty spear to put in storage for that rainy day when I decide to level Dragoon.


Valkurm Dunes: for all the horrors of leveling there, I just don't mind hanging out there on my own time.


I want to raise Notorious Monsters instead of a chocobo next time.


My friend doesn't believe me when I tell him there are small children in Gusgen Mines. Even when they're right in front of him.


I really like the lighting effects of the lamps at night. Could it be better? Yes, but it still looks cool.


This is something of a running joke. My friend gave me lots of grief when we were starting out because his monk had better Mind(MND) than my Red Mage. Then he got an MP pool and got even more uppity. Now I Refresh him for giggles.


Arguing over who gets to steer the ship on our way to Mhaura. I have no sense of direction but he has no maps.


Don't let that passive face fool you.



Bunny Punching. Seriously, this is one of the highlights of the game for me: punching bunnies full of electricity. There may or may not be a song about this later.


Drogaroga's Spine has always been an impressive land mark.


Tahrongi Canyon has beautiful skies at dusk.


Man those are some stylish pants.

Does anyone know of a way to get better resolution screenshots that doesn't involve breaking the EULA? I'm rather discouraged with the built-in screen capture and how it degrades the quality of the pictures.