Skyforge in Almost Open Beta

Hello again!  Today I want to talk to you about Skyforge, the up-and-coming MMORPG that features both sci fi and fantasy elements, in which your goal is to transition from immortal to god.
I purchased a founder's pack on Friday and have been playing it since.
(Unfortunately, I was only able to afford the cheapest version but I want the best one, so feel free to donate to help me get there.)
Skyforge is beautiful and captivating.  The combat system is new and keeps me on my toes.  I think I'm more mobile in this game than I've been in any other, including TERA.
Skyforge has some items in it that remind me of Star Wars, including at least two of the mounts.

Starting out in Skyforge, with the basic edition: You only have three classes to choose from, but you can switch between these freely.  They are the Lightbinder (my choice), Cryomancer, and Paladin.  The Lightbinder is a support class, that can both heal and damage.  The Cryomancer, which seems pretty cool but I haven't really played yet, is pretty awesome, too.  They wield this weird cryo-tech crystal and specialize in frost magic.  The Paladin is pretty standard, a righteous tank.  In your character menu you can swap between these classes.  You have more options if you purchase the higher tier founder packs, including the berserker and the gunner.

Character customization is pretty nice.  There aren't that many standard choices but you have quite a few customization options to change facial and body shapes.
I made my character look like Angelina Jolie!

Of course, the hair isn't exactly her, nor is the eye color or awesome facial tattoos, but she's got the cheekbones, lips, and nose down for sure!

One thing that I'm not a huge fan of is boobs.  The basic, 50% that you start out with is pretty massive and those things jiggle like crazy.  I mean turn your character a tiny bit and they turn into jello.  I had to go down to like 30% and even the 1% is still like a C cup.  Some armor and costume options (costumes, woot!) make the boobs less jiggly, but pretty, wispy cloth options are very 'free'.

Overall though, I really like what I was able to do with character creation.  You can even change the way your character runs, from "girly girl" to aggressive, which is badass, and the way she stands.

One thing I'm torn on is the character system.  You only get one character.  You can change the way she looks, but you can't make "alts".  I'm an alt-oholic, this is hard for me!  I usually make one of each class and become the master of none!  The reason for this is understandable: you can be anything you want on one character, and you can go back and do lower level zones to gain enough skill points to level each class you want to play.

Regardless, I'm still very much enjoying the game.  The combat is fun, graphics are good, and the story is intriguing.

My character name is Elysia Starstorm.  Look me up if you decide to play.  It goes free to play on Friday, in open beta mode.

Food is calling!  I must be off.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in game!

My Opinion on Elins... and Pedophiles

Elins are the adorable race of strange proportions in TERA.

Taken from the TERA website: 

The elins have one driving goal: if it’s not good for nature, stop it. Older and wiser than they appear, they join with forces of nature and mortal races to sweep their enemies from the battlefield. Their speech is often dark, forthright, and otherworldly, and their sense of humor can border on vicious. Other races find the elins' manner and behavior off-putting.

Their appearance is both adorable and slightly creepy.  They look like giant adorable children with optional animal ears and tails, and can be designed to have everything from purple skin to green hair, and so much in-between.

One aspect of their appearance that has been the source of some contention are their thighs.  Yes, sadly, an important part of their costume design is that their thighs are almost always visible, and they're disproportionately large.

(However, for an individual to point to someone's thigh size as indicative of their age and sexual disposition is the same thing as someone pointing to the chest size of a girl and saying “twelve-year-olds don't have breasts that size, she must be legal and willing!”. This is “rape-speech”, and is deplorable.)

Regardless of thigh size, the impression of an Elin a viewer is left with is certainly a childlike one. Even the lore points to them being modeled after children.

Building corporeal forms around tiny fragments of her own divine being, the goddess Elinu created the elins. Their physical appearance reflected the youngest daughter of Arun's naïve desire for beauty and peace.

So that wording is a bit off, but what I had read previously, both in-game and online, was that they were modeled after Arun's young daughter. I believe the paragraph taken from their website contains some language errors.

Elins were the last race to be announced and released to the public.

TERA originated in South Korea, and there have been a ton of modifications to make them more palatable to our society.

Taken from an interview in 2012, regarding the modifications. This quote is specifically regarding the costume and outfit differences, and how Elins don't run around in panties with their midriffs exposed in our NA version of the game:

There seems to be a big cultural difference between how we view this and how Koreans view this.

Lucile Le Merle: In Asia their mindset is completely different. To them it is not a problem. It is not related to paedophilia. It's just part of the culture to have small, little girls that run around smiling. People just find it normal. If you read manga or watch anime, this is the exact same thing. People consider this normal. But we do not have the same mindset in Europe, which is why this change had to be made.

( http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-14-from-panties-to-shorties-why-the-young-anime-girls-of-tera-were-censored )

I believe that explanation is very short-winded for the topic. Having “small, little girls that run around smiling” is way different from having small, little girls run around practically nude.

One common argument among hardcore Elin “lovers” (ie. pervs), is that Elins are thousands of years old, and so it's perfectly harmless to find them sexually attractive. Whoa, back up, you find them sexually attractive?... !?!?!

This person (people, really – there are a lot of them!) is admitting to finding child-like females attractive. They were modeled after children, both in the lore and in real life.

This is definitely not okay. If you find the faces and bodies of children to be sexually attractive, you might be a budding pedophile. If you masturbate to images of Elins, who are modeled after young girls, you might be a pedophile. And, if you fantasize about Elins in a sexual manner, you might be a pedophile.

There are many people who have pedophilic tendencies but have never acted on them. Last year Upworthy published a story about a young man who wanted to have himself locked up for his pedophilic thoughts, despite never acting on them. It has been theorized that, like mental illness, pedophilic thoughts are not something that can be controlled, only one's actions while under the effects of this disorder can be.

If you have these thoughts, please seek therapy. This isn't something you should be ashamed of, you just need help. As long as you don't physically act on those tendencies, you don't need to beat yourself up about it – but you do need to seek help.

Let me reiterate here: I'm not poking fingers, calling names, or being a bully, I'm simply trying to get people to realize that these people need help.

You are always in control of your own actions. Remember that.

(This has been a public service announcement brought to you by V the GRRL Gamer.)

ZOMG - Costumes in TERA

Whatever criticism one may have for TERA, their costume selection is amazing.
It's sad that, not for the first time, I may be sucked in to spending money on a game in which I still haven't leveled to max.

I made a new character, Jessamyn, a High Elf Gunner and she's gorgeous.  Like seriously, why can't I look like her?

At the completion of the starter quests, I got this badass giant gun.

Then, I started browsing the brokerage to view costumes.  I've wanted to deck her out in a least somewhat steampunk-themed gear, and there's a costume to cover that.  Unfortunately, the weapon skin doesn't work for Gunners or Reapers.


In the midst of that disappointment, however, I found these, Pink Brow Glasses:

Cute or CUTEST?

So, they're not steampunk - at all - but they're adorable and they suit her.
Unfortunately they cost at least 4k gold, which I do not have (hey, having never passed level 43 and with the in-game economy as strange as it is, I'm happy to have broken 2k).  Alternatively, I can purchase costume boxes which *might* contain them, at a cost of approximately $3 each.  Yikes.

I'm on Tempest Reach, so if anyone wants to throw me some EMPs or gold, I'd be more than grateful!

Thanks for reading!
Signing off,
V the GRRL Gamer