Something of Rise of the Godslayer, Age of Conan expansion
Dec 22, 2009 Age of Conan, Articles Recommend|357views
On August 18, 2009, FunCom announced the release of the first expansion for Age of Conan, Rise of the the Godslayer. With FunCom soon to release Age of Conan to servers in Korea, it is very appropriate that the next expansion include elements of the Far East, in the form of Khitai, Robert E. Howard’s vision of Hyboria that later evolved into what we now know as China and Korea. This ancient society lends itself well to the feudal, factioned-based warfare that many players have envisioned in Age of Conan, since before its initial release. Expansive regions, brutal faction-based conflict, and political intrigue draw the players into a world of epic storylines and sexy adventure.
New to Rise of the Godslayer is the feature of interconnected zones. When you look over your shoulder, you can see the playzones you just left and you can look into new zones before you cross their borders. If you see a tower in the mountains on the far side of the playzone, you can cross that zone, climb the mountain, and enter that tower. Each playfield will have a tremendous amount of explorable space to a much greater degree than the original Age of Conan experience.
The Story
Before recorded history, Yag-kosha and other beings of great celestial power arrived on our world. Before the dawn of man, before the apes evolved into our ancestors, these beings strode across our world as conquerors of the great beasts that controlled it. They were feared, and they were respected. They made their home in the dim jungles of the east before the time of the Lemurians and the Lost Kingdom of Mu. The ancient kingdoms of Hyboria rose, fell, and rose again. Atlanteans, Picts, and Acheronians rose to control the west until a great cataclysm destroyed and submerged their civilizations. From the ashes rose the shining kingdoms of the west, such as Aquilonia, Nemedia, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Koth, Ophir, Argos, Corinthia, and the Border Kingdom. Lemuria and Mu rose and fell in the east to be replaced with Khitai, Vendhya, and Hyrkania. Stygia, Shem, Zamora, and Zingara rose to claim the shattered remains of what once was Acheron and its sorcerous and demonic legacy.
Over the eons, the beings of Yag slowly died off, since they were not immortal despite their impossibly long lifespans. So it came to pass that Yag-kosha, also known as Yogah, lived alone in the jungles that became Khitai. His power was respected by an ancient, peaceful, yellow-skinned people whose music could inspire the indigenous grey apes to dance.
After centuries of peaceful co-existence and worship as a benevolent god, Yag-kosha was approached by a seer of ancient Zamora seeking to become a student. Yara sought Yag’s wisdom and power. When Yara learned all he could through civilized means, his lust for power and blind ambition led him to enspell Yag-kosha and drag him far away from his home in Khitai to the decadent land of Zamora.
Yag-kosha was imprisoned, tortured, and forced to perform all manner of perverse and evil acts. For three hundred years, Yag-kosha suffered and lamented under Yara’s control. At that time, a young Cimmerian thief of barely seventeen summers sought to steal a very valuable gem from Yara’s cursed ivory tower. In an act of mercy, young Conan slew the being known as Yag-kosha and unleashed the remaining power of Yag upon the sorcerer Yara. From there young Conan grew into the man who would free Aquilonia from the reign of a sadistic tyrant and become King by his own hand.
No good deed often goes unpunished, as the land of Khitai soon began to wither from within as the protection and blessings of Yag-kosha faded from their realm. Upon hearing of the death of their deity at the hands of the Cimmerian who became king, all blame for their misfortunes fell upon the broad shoulders of an infidel defiler. For twenty-five years, Khitai has been wilting as it slowly dies from the corruption growing within.
Exploration
As you travel across the surface, a majority of the buildings are explorable throughout. Keep your eyes open for caves and other hidden interior spaces; you may run into a group of brigands or uncover a long-lost hidden treasure or weapon. Be prepared to dig on occasion. Some hidden places may even be found underwater. I am having flashbacks here of the crypt that Arnold’s Conan stumbled into where he discovered the ancient Atlantean King and the Sword of the Kings that served him well throughout his lifetime.
FunCom listened to players after the initial release and proactively attempted to remove all sense of linear gameplay from the expansion, consciously attempting to open up the world and allow more exploration. As a result, a player will not see any travel NPCs; there will be no wagons, caravans, boats, or guides to transport a player from one region to another. You will travel across the countrysides by foot or by mount.
This concept of separated regions was necessary in the original release, because each playfield was separated by miles and days of travel according to the maps of the Hyborian world. In Khitai though, everything is as it is represented on the map. Each border is adjacent to the next region’s border. As you cross through playzones, you will experience numerous environmental effects. These effects include smoke on the battlefields, mist and fog, and an encroaching darkness as you approach significantly corrupted areas. Using a technology adapted from Anarchy Online, the dungeons will be interconnected to a degree, allowing you to repeat boss encounters quickly without repeating the preliminary path through the dungeon, once they have been successfully completed by your group. This function can usually repeated in clusters of three or four, and you can move to others very quickly and easily.
The Look
FunCom has long had strong ties to China. In the Collector’s Edition of Age of Conan, we met the other half of the art design team of Age of Conan. We are well-aware of the dedicated staff of the design and development team in Oslo, Norway. Many hours of dedicated labor were also contributed by the talented individuals of the FunCom art team in Beijing, China. Coming full circle, we have drawn the Hyborian world together, and we return home to the talented artists of Beijing.
What’s New
The Empire of Khitai expands upon the Hyborian world as it was laid out by Howard, including five of the largest playfield regions ever made for the game. One playfield is aimed at level 20-40 content, and the other four playfields are aimed at level 80 content. Rise of the Godslayer will not introduce new levels above the level 80 cap, and there will be no new classes. FunCom wanted to give all existing classes more content, as opposed to building the expansion with content aimed at one new class. We start out with the new playable Khitan race that will sail from Tortage to the beginning zone in Khitai. Khitan characters will have a very different destiny quest from what we have seen in the other three playable races of Age of Conan.
New content starts around level 20 and extensive new content has been added all the way to level 80 for current players of all races. The new horizontal alternate advancement system allows even level 80 avatars to learn new spells, feats, combos, new ways to interact with the world, and different special abilities, further defining your unique character. This allows more replayability as players have achievements that take time and effort to bring to fruition. For example, there are two new mounts available as quest content, the Tamarind Tiger and the Nightrunner Wolf.
In other game systems, including the original release of Age of Conan, mounts are simply a speed increase and are just purchased from vendors or acquired as Veteran rewards. Age of Conan designers wanted to make all of their mounts more meaningful, so players would want to collect all of them. The Tamarind Tiger is a stealth mount, allowing you to cross battlefields in stealth mode, and you can use it to sneak around in PvE and PvP playfields. The Tiger is an explosive mount; it has a very quick speed for a very short amount of time. For the Tamarind Tiger, you must find and join the cult that worships the tiger and advance to its highest ranks where you gain the right to learn the ritual to tame a tiger. You must then disarm yourself of weapons and armor, find and defeat a mother tiger with your bare hands, and steal a cub from her den. At that point, you must feed and train your cub to hunt, to stalk, and to kill, preparing it to accept you as its rider and companion; this is no simple effort and it will take you time to complete. These are naturally wild animals, and if you attempt to rush the training, you may lose a hand. You must then make a choice; you can find materials and create a saddle for your new mount, or you can prepare it to fight at your side as a very powerful combat pet. This choice is non-reversible. Consider carefully.
Players will be able to set their new skills into an offline training mode or focus mode, allowing their character to advance in its abilities while they are offline using a form of meditation, further study, or katas. Other new skills include learning martial arts from various masters throughout Khitai. It appears that the new feat points gained for the alternate advancement system will be pooled in such a way so as to allow the player, whether level 20 or level 80, to spend his or her new feat points as they see fit to make the avatar more unique.
As all playable races roam across the eastern frontier, following the Path of the Godslayer, your character will discover a myriad of new mid- and high-level content. The condition of the nearby roads can give you an indication of the level of strife in a region. If a road is in good condition, you travel through a more peaceful area. If the road is damaged, you can expect danger around every corner. Keep an eye open for shrines in your journeys. Khitai is a land of 999 gods. You can pray or meditate at each shrine; the right emote could get your player a temporary blessing. The wrong emote can curse you during your exploration. Travel across the landscape of Khitai is not as simple as it may appear. Natural and unnatural menaces roam the landscape across Khitai, like the barbaric Mountain Men, the swift and deadly Crow People, and the giant Kapa.
Each beast or monster that you encounter has an AI that you must learn the strategy of how to appropriately handle. The Firebirds of Chosain will run from you on most occasions. If you find the bird with its head in the ground, you may be able to draw more to you by attacking it. The Kapa is the turtle-like quadraped that is prominently displayed on one of the promotional photos fighting a full size party for many Rise of the Godslayer articles. The larger the beast, the more likely that it is even more dangerous. Consider a beast’s size before you commit to an engagement with many of the new denizens of Khitai. You have a 25% chance of some beasts, like the Kapa, being in an ambush-state waiting for travelers to come nearby. The Wisp may seem weak at first and will flee your party; once safe, it will summon the souls of the dead that it has killed to defeat your group. Water buffalos are typically benign animals in any Asian setting; attack a Water buffalo calf and a bull or the entire herd may turn on you in its defense. A simple rule to follow would be to never attack a calf. The Crow Men, or Children of Jill, may be a threat in some areas or a Quest NPC in others; they serve as messengers for the Scarlet Circle of sorcerors. Wolves in Khitai are called Nightrunners. If you attack the Alpha Male of the pack, he will howl and his entire pack will come in to defend him. Learning the special abilities of each beast will be an adventure in itself.
Khitai is also a land in civil war, with Hyrkanians encroaching from the west (your first available faction), and other factions vying for control of regions and the country as a whole. The Tamerind Tiger Riders are a faction of Vendyhan Mercenaries drawn into the battles of Chosain Province. The Scarlet Circle are a band of sorcerers working for the emperor of Khitai; they are not very well liked. There are a total of ten open and two hidden or stealth factions to be discovered throughout the expansion. Even the once-idyllic Chosain Province has be ravaged by war, strife, and looting. Will you help the peaceful monks and their healing arts even though they hate Conan for bringing their nation to ruin? Will you assist the rightful heir of Khitai regain his throne, despite the fact that he supports a demonic cult, the Yellow Priests of Yun, that celebrates in the inhuman sacrifice of innocent women and children? There is no clear black and white in Khitai, only a variety of shades of gray. You must make moral choices in who you assist and why. If you change your mind on your path, you must regain honor from the factions that you wronged by slaying the opposing faction’s enemies and performing betrayal quests. Every faction has available faction weapons. Every faction has their own unique faction armor in four tiers. To complete the full set of armor for each faction, you must advance to the highest levels of each faction gaining access to additional pieces as you are promoted from various faction vendors. Likewise, the faction that you become an ally with determines which places that you can visit and what story content will become available to you, and could have serious consequences.
Players seek transport to Khitai from the major cities of Tarantia, Connarch’s Village, and Khemi. All players begin their journey in Khitai on the western side of the Great Wall. This zone of rolling steppes that climb up to the foothills of the Mountains of Night is called the Gateway to Khitai. The Great Wall meanders through the Mountains of Night providing a barrier of protection from the barbarians of the west and a point of reference as you navigate the countryside. You discover that portions of the wall have been breached by the Hyrkanian hordes. After you pass through the Great Wall, you will trek eastward across the far-stretching Northern Grasslands. Places of interest include the Kang Pagoda, the Village of Chow, and the frontier city of Pin Pin. The River of Yellow Curses runs along the northern border of this region.
When you cross the river, you march forward into the black desert of Kara Korum. Kara Korum stretches from the western mountains to the east limits of Khitai on the Eastern Ocean. As you travel across the burning black sands, the unnatural silence carries with it a sense of dread, and unknown beasts of horrible proportions try to press their way to the civilized plains of the south.
In the center of Kara Korum, you will discover an immense crater with gargantuan walls; what will the player find if he or she investigates? An atmosphere of the unworldly surrounds and pervades this landscape and appears to corrupt the desert from here. Along the southern border of this zone, the Northern Marshes of the Grasslands run along the south side of the River of Yellow Curses; monstrous denizens cross the River of Yellow Curses from Kara Korum to threaten and harry travelers. Will you uncover why the village simply known as Ghost Hill was abandoned and a stench of rancid decay is carried on the winds from the forest to its south? Physics may not work as expected in Kara Korum. Rivers flow uphill in some places, gravity misbehaves occasionally, and beasts may fall with meteorites from the sky. Meteorites are also launched from the Black Desert delivering Darkspawn beasts across the landscape of Khitai.
When you pass to the eastern limits of the Northern Grasslands, you can see out into the manicured countrysides of the Chosain Province; be sure to not let your guard down… When you enter Chosain Province, you discover all-out war between the city-states of Gun Xui in the southern lands and Gun Hai in the northern lands. Perched precariously between these cities, Shaulun serves the needs of both military forces, providing mercenary soldiers to the highest bidder.
Shaulun is a staging ground. Training can also be found here in ancient open handed fighting styles. Designers describe this expansive city a “wretched hive of scum and villainy”. Opportunities for quests and betrayals abound here. It is also the former home of the Skulls of Jeng Ho, who now serve the regional warlord in controlling the province. The magnificent Pillars of Heaven are a honeycombed pair of stone monuments connected by bridges towering overhead. A waterfall cascades between them. They sit near by the Palace of the regional Warlord whose faction is in direct conflict with the Tamerind mercenaries. When you climb to the top of the Pillars of Heaven, you can see a spectacular view across the entire province.
The Pillars of Heaven were built by the ancient Lemurians thousands of years ago; they were originally a set of old abandoned temples. When your players seek them out, they are not so abandoned anymore; a bandit chieftain, by the name of Bhangi Khan, controls them with his bandit army. Outside the cities you will encounter active battlefields where warriors of each faction engage each other in open warfare. You can contribute to the siege on the side of your faction at any time you choose. Be prepared for smoke and other battlefield surprises and effects. In addition to fighting soldiers of the opposing faction, you must be on the watch for rag-pickers and looters of the corpses on the battlefield. They are unpredictable and could be a threat to either side. As you approach corrupted areas, stay on the lookout for large Darkspawn mobs. They can be very dangerous and very aggressive, and they will always protect their hidden mission.
The southern border of the Northern Grasslands merges into the thick, seemingly impenetrable jungles of Paikang . Is this jungle the same one from which the Chronicles of Nemedia tell of it as the former home of the Elephant Deity that Conan slew in Zamora in the tale “The Tower of the Elephant”? Rumors abound of a cult, the Children of Yag-kosha, with ambitions to dethrone the King of Aquilonia in revenge for their fallen god. Will you investigate or rely upon agents of the Aquilonian throne to uncover this threat? The jungles break through into Souleater Pass and the mysterious valley of Heaven’s Lake. The coastline of the Eastern Ocean is littered with the skeletons of a hundred ships. Where did they come from and how did they end up here? The Imperial City of Paikang lies to the south of the aptly named Shatterspar Coastline. Travelers tell of how the gleaming purple minarets of Paikang sparkle in the morning sunlight. Paikang is also a city under massive siege, and its leaders call out to the strongest of heroes to resolve her problems. Paikang will also introduce this expansion’s Tier 4 Raid instances for end-game level 80 characters to master. From material released to date, there should be at least eight end-game dungeons for veterans to explore and farm.
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