Argus, flashed his eyes open in a mixed emotion of sadness and anger. The illuminated tomb that he’s currently in is blinking with blue light, signifying that the user has woken up.
He pushed a button to his left, causing the electronic sarcophagus to open up with a silent swish, and then sat up, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room as he looks around it.
It was in the dead of the night, yet the city outside the window is still as lively as ever. He hopped off the sarcophagus and started walking towards the window, fully naked. He was thin and frail, but not so much as to be mistaken as anorexic or malnourished.
The streets are lit up with various colors of dancing lights from different sources. Cars, buildings, billboards, disco bars, all contribute to the light pollution that blots out the beautiful starry night sky.
Suddenly, he heard a familiar sound he hasn’t heard in over half a year. It was the ringing of his phone.
He looked towards it, and saw that it’s attached to the sarcophagus, and then remembered that he left it charging all this time. That’s not a problem though, as most phones are built for that now, unlike previous generations decades ago.
Even without checking, he already knew who’s the one calling him. It was painfully obvious, after all. He took one last glance at the outside, the cacophony of hundreds of people who doesn’t seem to know to rest, and the epileptic blaring of the intrusive light drowning his senses. “Yeah…” He smirked. “I don’t belong here.”
He quickly turned around, walked towards his phone and pressed the answer button. “Yeah, I’m on it. I just took a quick break.” And then dropped the call just as fast as he answered. His eyes briefly glanced at his electronic ID, where his picture 2 years ago and his real name was displayed, but he paid it no mind.
Afterwards, he checked the fridge chamber underneath the sarcophagus and determined that it would be enough for another half a year. He hopped on in once again, closed the door, and let himself fall back into the trance-like state induced by the machine.
“Launch Aefell Online.”
The faint blue glow of the inside was quickly replaced with darkness, and then once again by a white light.
Argus has died and has consumed [Phoenix Feather] x1 to be reborn.
One thing to note in Aefell Online was the permadeath. Once your character dies, there’s no respawning. Players could still make another character; however, that character are tied to the players’ biometrics, and each player can only create one character in the span of 365 days. Once your account dies, one has to wait an entire year before being able to play Aefell once again. There are, however, ways to bypass this. One option, which Argus employed, was to obtain [Phoenix Feather] in-game. Once the character that owns the feather dies, they will be reborn instantly. They will keep their appearance and have the option to change their name, but everything else will be reset. Essentially, it’s a new character without having to wait for an entire year.
[Phoenix Feather]s are extremely rare though, and in fact, there are only 20 feathers in the game at any given time. Only when one is used will another spawn randomly in the world. For that reason, [Phoenix Feather]s are invaluable, specially to those who practically lives in Aefell and has given up with the outside world.
Do you want to change your character name?
“No.”
Confirmed. Please distribute your stat points (10).
STR: 0
DEX: 0
AGI: 0
VIT: 0
ARC: 0
RES: 0
Another reason why Aefell is such a popular game is its adherence to realism in many aspects of the game, but more so on its combat. When it first released, so many new players fell to the traditional and stereotypical stat system present in other games. Almost every melee player used their stat points on strength, and almost every bow player used theirs on dexterity or agility, thinking that the mechanics will be the same as others. What they didn’t realized is that unlike most games, Aefell’s realism reversed this logic so that it would make sense.
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Why would a sword user require Strength to wield their sword when swords by nature are designed to be light? What a sword user requires is Dexterity to properly utilize sword techniques and moves, as well as Agility to weft and weave across enemy attacks and to get into striking position. Likewise, bow users should heavily invest into Strength as stronger bows with longer range have higher draw weight, requiring significant strength to draw, and Dexterity to actually aim correctly. This, however, is just the “base guide” in Aefell. Due to its sandbox nature, there really are no “rules” on how to build your character and distribute the stat points. Players are encouraged to play however they want, be it a Strength-based magic caster, or whatever may the player’s imagination concoct.
Vitality is pretty much the same with other games, it determines the player’s overall max health and stamina as well as their ability to resist poisons and diseases. Arcana is the measure of a player’s understanding with magical principles and laws, and how they work, thereby determining the speed and strength of a caster’s spell, while Reservoir determines the player’s overall max mana.
This system enabled each player to play their own specific playstyle. There are no classes in this game, and everyone can be whatever class they want depending on how they use their stats.
“I wonder what build I should go this time…” Argus stared at the stats screen vehemently. “I guess I’ll go with magic again. I’m not really that great with weapons.”
Stat points distributed. Confirm?
STR: 0
DEX: 3
AGI: 0
VIT: 0
ARC: 5
RES: 2
“Confirm”.
When he was just starting out, Argus, too made the mistake of not paying attention to the stat descriptions. He ended up just focusing on Arcana and Reservoir, completely neglecting Dexterity. As a result, he had extreme difficulty in hitting his ranged, single target skill shots which dominated a caster’s spells list before they get their first homing spell, the
Confirmed. Transporting you to Facilis…
A quick flash of faint blue light passed through Argus’ eyes before the scenery snapped to an ornate stone fountain overflowing with water.
“Haven’t seen this in years…” Argus gave a tiny smirk of nostalgia. He looked around him and saw that, despite the age of the game, the number of new people in the starter city is still as much as when it first release. In fact, he’d reckon at a quick glance that there are more new players than before.
Over the years, the popularity of Aefell has only increased exponentially. This is primarily due to the already existing players’ reaction to the game and how it pretty much dominated the online gaming forums and video channels despite multiple attempts from other developers to “copy” its success.
There were a lot of aspects into the game other than just the traditional MMORPG experience such as the base building mechanic where players could construct their own structures anywhere in the world so long as they can defend it from would-be attackers. In fact, aside from the starting cities, every city in the game can be captured by players, where a percentage of its total gold revenue goes towards them. These diversity in mechanics helped Aefell attract a lot more people outside of the MMORPG players, as they could see their particular niche being fulfilled here in a hyper realistic environment.
Massive wars between massive guilds are also a hotbed for strategy-centered players. The fact that friendly fire is always active anywhere in the game means that players cannot just launch attacks haphazardly. There is a need for strategy and tactics, and most importantly, synergy and discipline.
“Hey, what took you so long?” A familiar voice resounded behind Argus. “Let’s go.”
“Yeah,” He replied, suppressing the nostalgia in his heart. “Let’s go, Fo—.”
Argus stared at the person’s name in disbelief. Instead of the name ‘Fort’, what lay before his eyes was the name ‘Gilver’. “You’re Fort, right?”
“Yours truly.” Gilver replied. “You surprised? Hahaha! I decided to change it to avoid those gankers recognizing me just in case.”
“They were at the frontiers. Why would they be in the starter cities?” Argus replied, trying to reason with Gilver. “Besides, I doubt they even remembered our names.”
“That may be true, yes, but it still wouldn’t hurt to be careful.” Gilver said as he sent Argus a party invitation. “Anyway, let’s go get ready. We have a long grind ahead of us.”
After spending about an hour going around the city, buying equipment using the starter gold they’ve been given, the two of them exited through the Eastern gate, leading to the Verdant Plains.
There were a lot of players scattered about. Each minding their own business as they hunt their monsters, grinding for EXP and gold.
“So, what’s in the agenda?” Argus asked as he looked at the newbies wasting their time with such an inefficient method. “Don’t tell me we’re going to join them?”
“Why the hell are you asking me?” Gilver’s eyebrows curled at Argus. “You’re the one who knows where to go.”
“Ugh…” Argus pinched his nose bridge with his thumb and index finger, racking his memories of a possible place where they can grind. “Verdant Plains… Verdant Plains…”
After about 6 seconds of silence, Argus’ head jolted up with a smile on his face. “I remember.” He pointed to his 2 o’clock. “There’s a hidden entrance to a dungeon about a kilometer over there. The boss is level 5 though.”
Before Argus could even look towards his companion, Gilver is already walking towards the direction that Argus pointed at, his wooden heater shield latched onto his back while his steel sword sheathed to his left. Argus just let out a harmless sigh and followed behind him, using his wooden staff with a blue crystal at the top as a cane while walking.
He doesn’t know what Gilver feels about what happened to them since Gilver is a generally stoic person who makes do with what he has, but Argus is very much aware of the anger and the itch for vengeance brewing inside of him.