Shades of Twilight

In a short span of time, like only 2 days or so, our tiny, brand-spanking-new Elite mode characters have now hit level 20 last night, just after the run to Temple Station.

This is pretty darn fast considering that we’ve only just finished killing Sydonai (end-game boss) on X’mas day, and we even spent 2 whole days running through nightmare mode until we’re sick of being creamed by level 45 mobs. So, we decided to try Elite mode out.

The funnier thing is, we’re trying classes we’ve no experience in. I’m trying out an engineer, a slight departure from the Summoner class that completed the game. My drinking buddy’s trying out a melee type char, a Blademaster. So far we’ve done slightly worse than our usual Summoner counterparts. I find that Engineers seem to be a gimped version of the summoner, but I guess being able to use powerful weapons like the Marksman balances it out.

Being able to reach level 20 relatively unscathed in Elite Mode actually surprises me. I had half expected us both to give up halfway and return to the Summoner char. However, looking at the way it’s going now I’m thinking we might possibly continue with these 2 chars till level 50, assuming we don’t get stopped by high level mobs again in Elite Nightmare mode.

This is probably the last entry for the year 2007 – HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!’

December 25th, 2007 – London Is Saved! Sydonai Is Dead!

Or so we thought.

Now, we (my gaming buddy and I) are faced with the “Nightmare” version of the game. What it is, is a harder, tougher, more gruelling version of the same story. So why are we still playing it, since we’ve finished the story?

Well, like I mentioned in a previous entry, Hellgate is very much like an MMORPG. We’re only level 32s and 33s. Max level in the game is 50. My friend decided we should hit level 50 before we start on the “Elite Mode” of the game, which is supposed to be an even tougher and more gruelling version than Nightmare Mode. Veterans of the game will tell you that there’s an even more gruelling version waiting for us – “Elite Nightmare” mode.

So, like little troopers, me and my friend started on Nightmare mode. Everything was hunky-dory till we hit Green Park. There, the demons were level 42, 10 levels above us! Our weapons were almost useless, our minions died as soon as they are summoned. We may as well be throwing stones at an armoured tank.

We tried to grind xps a little bit, but I got sick of it. I mean, that’s why I quit MMOs like EQ2 and City Of Heroes – once you hit a part of the game you can’t go on, you need to level yourself up so that you won’t get killed in 1 hit by the monsters in the game. It’s so mind-numbingly boring that you really need an iron will to push yourself to grind by killing the same monsters over and over again till you level up.

After just 3 or 4 runs through Charing Cross, I was already gonna call it a day. We should technically start on ELITE mode and grind those. So yes, we decided tomorrow, we’re gonna start brand new level 1s, and try to get the AP (achievement points) for getting to level 10 in 4 hours. It’s crazy but hey, at least we tried even if we fail!

Look out Sydonai! We’re coming for you! We just have another err….. 30 levels to go before we meet again!