New to the forum? Check out our Introduction Page and New Members Guide!
| Zombie Zone; Lavinaria's number one MMORPG (or so the say) | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 20 2013, 06:45 PM (776 Views) | |
| Intermaris | Dec 20 2013, 06:45 PM Post #1 |
![]()
|
Loading… Loading… Loaded. Welcome to Zombie Zone. Jan took a sip from his tea as he clicked on his character and waited for the loading to finish. He only had the one character, which was all you got in the free edition, if you wanted more you had to pay for it with a monthly fee. The loading screen finished and he was treated to a brief animation of his character getting out of bed after which “Zyw” was free to roam the world of ZZ. Jan frowned at his avatar, he had had so much interesting stuff until his death but now Zyw was stuck almost exclusively in “standard kit”, or its winter version as the game did try to keep up with the seasons. Jan nodded to himself; he would have to remember to carry fuel for fires as only noobs let their characters freeze to death. Good thing he had remembered to put some stuff in the bars locker, though it wasn’t much but the backpack was slightly better than the free one while the balaclava would help with the cold and reduce his visibility. The steel helmet, though far from good, would help keep his character alive and the 9mm pistol was still a better weapon than the .22 pistol. Some players complained that the helmets and masks made it difficult to see their characters face but Jan didn’t mind as A) His character looked badass in a balaclava and B) The free version only had a small number of customisation options for avatars. Looking at the clock Jan saw it was almost the time his “comrades” were usually online, if they showed they could go out together, safety in numbers and whatnot. Thus Zyw was directed towards the bar, with its so bad it was good music (in truth the designers were constantly adding new tunes, some of it apparently written by fans) and plenty of other characters doing their things, asking for permission he was invited to a game of Hearts (one of the things that many players enjoyed about ZZ were the mini games). Cursing as he had received the queen of spades Jan began plotting on how to dump the unfortunate card on someone… |
![]() |
|
| Replies: | |
|---|---|
| Cetatsenia | Jan 4 2014, 12:56 PM Post #41 |
|
"I thought we already decided we were going to the military base in the mountain, but I'm cool with wherever," Psiho typed, both he and his character shrugging, "And I'm good long into the night. Nothing to do tomorrow." |
![]() |
|
| Demoness | Jan 4 2014, 01:21 PM Post #42 |
|
"yeah tomorrow is sat so Im good to go," Selene replied, which was true assuming no one came in to disturb her. Her parents often ignored her, allowing her to do what she wished, but occasionally they took an interest in her and forced her to act her age and station. However, it was starting to get late, so she doubted either of them would bother her. "I vote for the base too" |
![]() |
|
| Intermaris | Jan 4 2014, 05:29 PM Post #43 |
![]()
|
- 'Right than please make sure you've got all you need before we go PvE, keep your eyes open to make sure we don't run into wildlife, zombies, bandits and/or PCs from other towns and lets go!' Jan activated his characters "Hurrah!" emote before pausing for a moment. - 'Ok I marked where its supposed to be on our groups map. Now we go.' Zombie Zone was modeled to look like the mountains on the border between Haiza and Vesturia and with the season being set to winter it meant that they were moving through a mixed forest which dominating colours was a drab brown-grey broken by the white of snow and black of stone. It was an awkward time for players, especially in a game where stealth played such an important role as the khaki outfit Zyw now wore and similar would work well in forests and snow free environments but stood out like a neon sign in snow heavy areas. In a similar vein white camo would give an excellent bonus to snow heavy terrain but would be visible in forested areas. Add to that the sound penalty from moving over snow and you could see why stealth became a difficult thing to master. Spoiler: click to toggle Than there was the fun involved with the added fatigue bonus from the weather conditions and extra weight from winter clothing, the need to avoid freezing and dehydration and you realized why some people claimed that ZZ could be enjoyed only by masochists. Of course there were also those that simply claimed that the added difficulty made them "real" gamers, making the triumph from besting a mission all the more enjoyable. Jan enjoyed the attempts at realism introduced into the game which made him stick with it despite some problems. As it was now he did his best to ensure that Zyw marched along in a manner that his current outfit blended in best it could into the surrounding area. With nothing happening except for the soft (almost muted in the options), somewhat eerie soundtrack and the sound of his characters footsteps and increasingly labored breathing Jan caught himself glancing towards the television. - 'Am I'm the only one that likes to check whats on tv during travel?' |
![]() |
|
| Cetatsenia | Jan 4 2014, 06:04 PM Post #44 |
|
Psiho grinned as the group finally set out, he was glad to finally be getting somewhere. He looked around at the snowy, wintery terrain scanning for any kind of threat. Thankfully, his winter trenchcoat was white, so he blended in as long as he stayed low to the ground. Which he did, having his character crouch as he moved. Yeah, it slowed him down a bit, but it was safer that way and Psiho didn't mind the reduction in speed. And he liked the mountains, they reminded him of home. He'd grown up in a small town in the middle of Sudvest's mountains, and he didn't get out much now that he was attending a University in Sudest's capital, Dreaptoras. It was still situated in the middle of the highlands, but it he had to travel farther to get out there and he didn't really bother since he had plenty else to do. "No, I prefer to keep my eyes on the game. You know, since I don't miss an enemy and end up dead," Psiho typed, "And I like listening to the sounds." The game's sounds were always something that Psiho liked, because they were realistic. In fact, he turned off the game's soundtrack most of the time so he could actually listen to it. You could hear the wind, plants rustling, and footsteps. And on occasion you could hear a far-off yell and sometimes the groans of zombies drifted across the mountain. Psiho wasn't entirely sure whether the screams were just something prerecorded to play randomly if it is was actually the sound of an NPC or player getting attacked. Either way, he liked the creepiness it added to the ambience. In a zombie game you should never feel safe, even if you were. Edited by Cetatsenia, Jan 4 2014, 10:46 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| Demoness | Jan 5 2014, 07:15 PM Post #45 |
|
Selene preferred to wear camouflage that would blend into the majority of the terrain and in winter, this was made easy: white for snow. She tried to avoid the forests, even as ambush points, but if she was forced to retreat into an area, she typically created a sniper's nest from available (if sparse) bushes and branches and tried to break up her outline with fallen leaves or pine branches. The game, however, was not forgiving of having the incorrect camouflage and often purposely made it difficult to improvise it in order to punish players for being unprepared. The first few weeks she played in winter, she'd packed an extra coat to use in forest terrain, but she'd quickly learned the extra weight was not worth it and her skill in stealth eventually increased to compensate. It had also been a tough learning curve for her: her country had no natural snow, save for occasionally in the Spine Mountains where she'd never gone, and she hadn't realized just how loud snow could be, nor how harsh the weather was. But the game designers had made sure she'd known and she was confident that the hours she'd logged in ZZ gave her a good understanding of real winter. Moonchild moved slowly through the terrain, crouching as close to the snow as she could. She'd purposely chosen a character of small stature, so staying low to the ground and blending in was easier than it was for more aggressive, "warrior-type" classes, and for the moment she kept her assault rifle slung. That was one of the few annoyances she had with the game: she enjoyed that it was hyper-realistic, but most games at least allowed their characters to hold their weapons with no penalty. In ZZ, however, a character moved quicker and had its stamina drained more slowly if the weapon was slung; the advantage to keeping it "ready" rather than slung was really only a matter of three to five seconds (depending on the weapon), but that could mean a character's life depending on lag times. With the environmental drains on stamina, Selene thought it best to keep the rifle slung for the moment. 'Me too. if you turn off the soundtrack, you can hear people coming a lot easier. sometimes you can hear them from miles away if they're being particularly loud. it really comes in handy," Moonchild added. It was, in fact, what she depended on. She'd developed stealth techniques to completely eliminate her sound signature, but she knew it would slow her down far too much for this party and they were already making a lot of noise that the subtraction of her sound would make no difference. The footsteps and distant battle sounds allowed her to set up ambush points or track corpses for harvesting. She, too, had heard the far-off groans and while she believed it was part of the eerie ambiance of the game rather than actual creatures, she'd never dared to venture and investigate in case they were real. |
![]() |
|
| Intermaris | Jan 5 2014, 07:59 PM Post #46 |
![]()
|
- 'Guess that means I'm the weirdo.' Jan typed out after muting the tv for the commercials. While his fellow party members could pretty much blend in anywhere outdoors they would have to bend to his needs of sticking to grey-brown backgrounds, at least until he found the ingredients for a winter camo poncho or something. - 'Wait.' He typed before ordering his avatar to lie down. Up ahead the forest gave way to open ground and only noobs rushed into open ground without having a look around. Informing the other two of the situation he waited for them to reach him before crawling closer to the woods edge to observe. The clearing was only about a hundred meters wide and was caused by a small river running in a slight dip in the terrain. About two hundred meters to one side was a small bridge while to the other the river continued before disappearing past his characters observation range. A minutes observing later and it seemed there was nothing moving bar the black water. The river appeared shallow but wide weaving through rocks in several separate streams in a bed some 80 meters across. - 'Opinions guys? Do we risk the bridge, risk the open ground and freezing our feet in the water or do we go somewhere else in the hopes that we can find a better spot?' |
![]() |
|
| Demoness | Jan 5 2014, 09:11 PM Post #47 |
|
Selene shook her head; clearings were excellent ambush point and she'd set up points next to bridges as well. However, the risk of hypothermia was why she loved to watch bridges; the risk of being shot was often better than the risk of exposure. Neither was a good choice. "I can set up here and cover you across the bridge. you just need to cover me. I think wed give our position away more if we accidentally caught hypothermia and had to start a fire" |
![]() |
|
| Cetatsenia | Jan 6 2014, 12:11 PM Post #48 |
|
"Yeah, I was going to suggest the same thing," Psiho said, "But do you got anything to cover her with Zyw? You all know I just carry my knife." |
![]() |
|
| Intermaris | Jan 6 2014, 09:28 PM Post #49 |
![]()
|
- 'course I do. Unlike you Psiho, my combat strategy is not limited to running at the enemy whiel shouting "Yollo" ;)' Jan typed out before hitting the "draw weapon" key and the 9mm appeared in his avatars hands. It wasn't the best but in a game where even a stray bullet could cause serious injury "spray and pray" was a valid, if desperate, tactic. - 'Right. Moon, get yourself to a spot where you can cover us as we get to the bridge while we get as close to the bridge as we can. Psiho, feel free to sneak across the open ground first. I'll stand out like an ink stain so I might as well just pray and run across. Once we clear the bridge moon can join us and than we repeat to get to the woods on the otehr side. Sound like a plan? |
![]() |
|
| Cetatsenia | Jan 7 2014, 06:42 PM Post #50 |
|
"I take offense to that. I haven't run at someone yelling since I started playing," Pisho said, wondering if he'd ever informed his friends that 'Psiho' was actually Cetatsen for 'Psycho' and if Zyw had made that joke knowing that was actually how Psiho had played when he was new, minus the 'yollo', "I'll go once Moony gets ready." In all honesty he wasn't too fond of this plan, but there was no other option. In winter you either wore clothes that would get horribly waterlogged and give your character hypothermia or frostbite or you just got hypothermia or frostbite. They had to cross the river, and he'd rather risk taking a bullet since it wasn't a sure thing there was an ambush at the bridge. Trying to go over the water, however, almost guaranteed they'd get soaking wet. It was hardly a choice. Edited by Cetatsenia, Jan 7 2014, 06:43 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Archive · Next Topic » |
| Theme: Zeta Original | Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
3:03 PM Jul 11
|
Theme Designed by McKee91
Hosted for free by ZetaBoards · Privacy Policy









3:03 PM Jul 11