The Ebony Blade

The Elder Scrolls: Arena

Part Two

The Ebony Blade

(The first part of this series can be found here)

    I spent the next few days after my desperate escape from the Imperial dungeons getting some much needed rest in a small village in Skyrim called Oakwood. I had been doing odd jobs around town to earn some coin, from delivering items and letters to escorting villagers to and from the local shops. It seemed even in a quiet town like this, danger lurked around every darkened corner. But after a few days of errand running, I knew that in order to stop the foul Battlemage Jagar Tharn, I would need more than a few coins and the earned respect of the locals. I decided to head out into the wilds to hone my skills.

    After a bit of exploration I came across a small farm. I looked around for the owner of the farm to see if I could assist with any trouble with raiders or goblins or the like; anything I could do to help. But instead of giving me more chores, he ended up sharing the exact information I needed. He spoke of a man he met at the Lucky Dragon Inn in Oakwood who boasted that he knew how to find the fabled Ebony Blade. I thanked him for the tip and headed straight there. This was just the sort of weapon I would need against Tharn and his twisted followers.

The Lucky Dragon was a raucous and smoky tavern, but I found the man without difficulty. Above the din of the pub he loudly bragged, “Oh I don’t know where the Ebony Blade itself is, but I know where to find the map to it! But it’ll cost ya!” The man wanted 750 gold pieces for this information, but seeing how drunk he was I “convinced” him to tell me for 500. He reached for my map and scribbled down an X and a name: The Hole of Tragondon. The dungeon's name itself made me uneasy, but it was where he put it down on the map that worried me most. I was headed to Morrowind.

Join me next time in my travels to Morrowind and beyond where I will search ancient dungeons and crypts, and fight deadly foes. All part of my quest to complete all of the Elder Scrolls games. Follow me @SKYE2117 for more of my time in Arena. Or play it for yourself for free by downloading it at http://www.elderscrolls.com/arena.

Good luck adventurers,

- Skye

The Elder Scrolls: Arena Day One

    I awoke in a sparse and dimly-lit prison cell, left for dead by an imposter to the Imperial throne. In a dream the ghostly visage of a woman explained to me my situation; the Imperial Battlemage has betrayed the Emperor, imprisoned him in an unknown dimension, and usurped his throne. The woman goes on to tell me that she was murdered before she could reveal the Battlemage's evil plot. It is up to me to find a way to unmask his scheme and save Tamriel before it is too late. This is The Elder Scrolls: Arena.

Day One

    I explore my cell and stumble upon a key that opens the door. Outside my cell I find a pile of used equipment and grab a sword and shield, for through the darkness of this prison I can hear the footsteps and scratchings of unknown creatures. Soon enough I encounter a group of goblins, armed to the teeth, forcing me to fight for my life as I try desperately to find and escape from this hell. After hours of sneaking around darkened corridors and crawling through filthy sewer drains, I finally spot a glimmer of the magical phase gate created by my ethereal guide that will hopefully take me far away from these Imperial prisons and back to my home country.

    I emerge in a small city of Skyrim. I run up to the first person I see and ask about the nearest inn where I can get some much needed rest. While there maybe I can find some work and ask around for information that might help me in my seemingly impossible adventure. Soon I will be off exploring dungeons, wilds, cities and farms in a quest to find an ancient relic to defeat the Emperor's imposter and restore peace to Tamriel.

    This is my New Year’s Quest: to play through all of The Elder Scrolls games in order. Stay tuned for more adventures of my Nord Barbarian (pictured above) by following me on Twitter @SKYE2117 and here at Dear Backlog for more articles. Or better yet join me in my quest! You can get The Elder Scrolls: Arena as part of The Elder Scrolls Anthology or you can download it for free at http://www.elderscrolls.com/arena.

Good luck adventurers,

- Skye

The Unfinished Swan PS3 Demo Review 10/10

In The Unfinished Swan you play as Monroe, an orphaned boy whose mother left him with only her paintings, all of which were left incomplete. When Monroe goes to live in an orphanage he can only take one painting, the Unfinished Swan. One night he awakes to find the frame empty, the swan disappeared, leaving only a trail of orange, web-footed prints. Monroe grabs his mother’s paintbrush and follows the trail into a mysterious world of unfinished art.

    When the demo starts your screen is completely white with just a black circle in the center. It took me a second to realize that this was the game world and that circle was my center of view. You aren’t given any directions or tutorial explaining what to do so at first I was confused. Only after walking around a while, and hearing my footsteps, did I know that I was in a room. I tried some other buttons and then a ball of black paint was thrown forth and it beautifully splattered on what I then discovered to be a wall. This lack of direction would probably have annoyed me in any other game but it became clear that the designers wanted me to feel as lost, lonely, and confused as the boy was. This game’s fun is partly in the exploring and learning that you, the player, and the boy experience. This white screen was in fact an unpainted room which led to a whole world that I discovered as I painted my way into a magical storybook kingdom of unfinished paintings.

    The Unfinished Swan is an adventure game where you must explore the kingdom by painting your way through the three dimensional environment. The demo gives you the first three parts of the game. At first your world is completely white but by end of the demo the world is already shaded in a little so you don’t have to feel your way around blindly the whole time. This wondrous exploration is accompanied by a simple and beautiful score of music and ambient sounds that adds to the magic and mystery of the world you are in. As you explore, you find bright golden letters on some of the stark white walls that, once painted, reveal a page of the story written like a children's storybook. These excerpts are read to you by the excellent narrator of the tale. The demo concludes just when you catch your first glimpse of the painted kingdom from a high terrace. Then they show you a video montage of the chapters to come where you see that you will later get to paint in color and that the world is far more beautiful and colorful further down the road. After the video you can purchase the full game to continue your adventure from that point.

I rank this demo as a perfect 10/10. As a demo, this could not have been better. It offered a small portion of the game that is just enough to make you want more. I would, and probably will, gladly buy this game for $15. This game is also playable with Playstation Move which I imagine would pull you into the world even more. If you’re looking for a game that proves videogames are art, check out The Unfinished Swan.

- Skye

Guardians of Middle Earth PS3 Demo Review 9/10

Guardians of Middle Earth is the new MOBA (that is Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game just released for PS3 and Xbox 360. For those of us who are unfamiliar with this genre of game, it works basically like this: you control one character, in this case referred to as a Guardian, and you run down a lane from your base towards your enemy’s base whilst destroying defense towers that will hinder your ultimate goal of blowing up your enemy’s base. You are followed by a bunch of AI soldiers who will help you fight off opposing Guardians and, for the most part, simply be cannon fodder for the towers while you pick away at the tower’s health bar. Other players online then control different Guardians so the whole thing is a team effort. I had played a little League of Legends (a popular MOBA game) before and never really got into it, but if you throw a little Lord of the Rings into the mix I gladly give the genre another go.

This game starts off with a cinematic featuring Gandalf and his heroes of good against the Witch-King of Angmar and his dastardly group of evildoers. Plus Gollum who promptly tries to eat Gandalf’s face. An action-packed brawl commences with weapons and spells flying, and at one point I had to wonder how this scene made it past the copyright department at Marvel. Then just as the Heroes seem to have won the day Sauron himself steps into the fray. This has got to be good, right?

Middle Earth's Mightiest Heroes

This demo came in the form of a 60 minute trial so as a demo it's really just the full game with a timer. In this trial you are given various famous characters such as Gandalf, Eowyn, Gollum, and Legolas to use as your player characters. However there were some pretty cool side stage names a fan would recognise from the books like Beregond of Gondor, and Thrain the Dwarf that are also playable characters. There are some named orcs from the books for the evil side of the battle as well.

As the trial begins you are prompted to undertake the tutorial before jumping into the action, which I begrudgingly did even though tutorials usually are pretty tedious and unnecessary if you have half a brain to learn the mechanics. Seeing as how I’m pretty much a complete novice to this type of game I figured I could use all the help I could get. However I discovered that this tutorial was pretty straightforward and was over in no time at all.

After the tutorial finished and I exited back to the main menu, the game (like all trials) asked me if I wanted to unlock the full game. It did this also every time I finished a match. All in all, one of the least annoying trials I’ve played as far as nagging you to buy the game. 

Then it was time for the real action. At first the game only allows you to play an offline AI match, with no human teammates or opponents. Maybe if I were a MOBA veteran this would have annoyed me, but for the sake of a demo review, I preferred to rule out the possibility of some internet jackass ruining my experience so I only played offline. They give you the option of a single-lane match, with one road from yours to your enemy’s stronghold, and a three-lane match. First I played the three-lane choice and chose my Guardians and started play. The game starts and you are off towards your foe with your allied Guardians in step barrelling down the road. Soon your little minion soldiers spawn and bring up the rear and the action commences immediately with the quick death of one side’s Guardian. In this first instance it was, of course, me. But that didn’t hinder me and I had soon bagged my own kills and leveled up multiple times. The game has a simple level up system where you choose which special ability to improve then back to killing. Later you can choose to upgrade your troops and defense towers, which are just as easy to execute. After a long and drawn out battle, the forces of Mordor overcame the Free Peoples and I was sent back to the main menu in shame. However, I had increased my rank and could now unlock a few more features of the game. Of course I would have to buy the game to explore these features as my time was running short.

What I, sadly, could not do...

So I quickly launched a single-lane matchup, which promised quick brutality and set off again. The promise was promptly fulfilled and I was brutally defeated again. Perhaps I should have enlisted the aid of some more experienced allies online...

All in all this was a pretty great trial that I’d rank a 9/10. Not intrusive at all in its attempts to take your money and the time limit is long enough that you can get a good feel for the title. After playing this trial I would think about buying the game at some point, but it doesn’t immediately grab a spot on my priorities list. At $15 it seems like a pretty good deal, but you do have to pay another $15 for the season pass to access all of the playable characters. But if you’re into MOBA games and the Lord of the Rings, give this game a try. It may just be pitched battles between high-ranking names from the LOTR canon, but it’s very well made and pretty fun. Even if I was sorely defeated.

-Skye, Resident Lord of the Rings Expert