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Wednesday 10 February 2016

Six times black


It's time for another 6 on 6, or errr.... 10. Oops, I better not make a habit of this! The past weeks have been crazy, resulting in a long blogging silence of a month. Having already missed out on the white edition of 6 on 6 last month, I decided to post this anyway. I will write more about my analogue adventures later this week.

 Six times black


1) Black Swans

LOTRO: After having played through SWTOR's Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion, I have been less active in the game; I'm now mostly logging in for guild raids. Instead, Conrad and I have started spending time in Lord of the Rings Online again. I ran into these black swans in a beautiful and uncharacteristic part of Rohan a few weeks ago when leveling captain Ravenwyn, my second character to reach the level cap of 100.


2) Dead planet

SWTOR: Trying to think of a black landscape, I quickly turned to Ziost, the planet that was completely deprived of all life by the Emperor in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The event was an important part of the background story for the current Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion, but even though there are dailies at Ziost and I generally liked the story arc, I never found myself returning to the desolate planet since.



3) Black rune-keeper

LOTRO: Another obvious choice for a black landscape would be the Tower of Orthanc in Lord of the Rings Online. Because my sparse pictures of that tower are fittingly depressing and not very visually appealing, I decided to show something related instead. On this portrait of rune-keeper Ravalinde, she wears the black Orthanc robe from the Tower of Orthanc raid. I was so proud back in the day when I won it (we're speaking 2012)! I recently perfected the outfit by adding a black mantle, cloak, runestone satchel and fingerless gloves.



4) Lost in the dark

Skyrim: What, you don't see anything? Well, that is kind of the point. Skyrim is an amazing game to experience the colour black, for a whopping 50% of your game time! The game has a day and night cycle with actual dark nights (whereas nighttime in most MMOs is often a bit lighter than would be realistic, in order to still see your character well). If it's dark in Skyrim, well, it's actually dark. Running around without being able to see anything (but somehow those wolves always do see me - eek!) is scary as hell, so I usually find a bedroll and sleep there. Although I loathe the night from a gameplay perspective, I still love this aspect of Skyrim because of its realism and immersion.



5) Guardian of Gondor

LOTRO: I'm using the opportunity to introduce you to one of my newest characters, the black-haired guardian Ravalyn (RIP predecessor Ravlin, the guardian dorf that I never played and deleted). I play Ravalyn on an almost-weekly basis for our "Moria nostalgia nights". Being eternally capped at level 60 with a Store token it is unlikely she'll ever see the light outside of Moria again, but she nevertheless carries her Gondorian shield with pride.



6) Alien, but not black!

SWTOR: It is tradition by now to end the set with an alien with a skin colour in the colour of the month. This time I will have to disappoint, though. Although I have multiple dark-skinned characters in Star Wars: the Old Republic, both human and alien, none of them are factually black. There simply doesn't exist a race like it. Instead, you'll have to do with my evil marauder Waseme, who is dressed in black. She is mostly known on this blog for my mental struggle to play a dark side character.


"6 on 6" is a series of 6 screenshots on the 6th of each month, themed on colour: August: blue - September: purple - October: orange - November: gold - December: red - January: white - February: black - March: pink - April: silver - May: green - June: brown - July: yellow. The event is hosted by Emma of the Scruffy-Little Nerd Herder.

7 comments :

  1. Love it! The Skyrim shot is pretty cool. I've never really played, just watched a little bit of gameplay, and I had no idea that the nights were so dark. I like that! Those black swans are gorgeous, too<3

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    1. Yay! There's even a mod to make nights in Skyrim even more dark (which Conrad installs and I then try to secretly deinstall!), but I'm already shivering enough without it. And then, if you use an unfamiliar bedroll, there's the chance of getting bitten by vampires... *shudders*. Nights in Skyrim just really aren't my cup of tea! Funny thing is, I'm not afraid in the dark in my analogue life. Even got lost alone in a forest after 12 am and I felt fine. Thing is, there's a lot less vampires and wolves wandering in Dutch forests (as far as we know...). ;)

      PS If you ever feel bored with the games you play: try Skyrim for yourself! It might just be something you enjoy. Really great game.

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  2. Love the rune keeper! As much of a pain in the ass as it is to get in outfits like that (the corsets!) I would still love to wear them haha. Though definitely not everyday. :D

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    1. It's cool to see how everyone has their own, different favourite shots. :)

      I would love to wear Ravalinde's outfit as well, although I'd have no idea for what occasion! I have some pretty dresses in my analogue life that rarely get used. Need more fancy parties!

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  3. Glad to see you writing again. I was starting to get worried! :)

    For some reason Ravalinde looks like a villain for me in that outfit. A mastermind, kind of villain. Dunno why, might just be what I've been reading lately or the games I've been playing or something!

    And are your sure you are not using an ENB or mod that makes the nights darker in Skyrim? Because I never felt vanilla Skyrim had nights that dark. I mean, if I can see my enemy from a distance then it is not that dark. Maybe I should just take a screenshot for comparison because now I am not sure how it compares to your screenshot. *scratches head*

    As for your other screenshots they are all beautiful. :)

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    1. "For some reason Ravalinde looks like a villain for me in that outfit. A mastermind, kind of villain. Dunno why, might just be what I've been reading lately or the games I've been playing or something!"

      ...or you're just a psychic / mind reader. Check this character page of Ravalinde on the Lotro-wiki (Titles section). O_O

      I probably had that horrid mod active I spoke about with Ashlee (see above) on this particular screenshot. It was a very long time ago, so I don't really remember. Regardless, the nights in Skyrim always freaked me out. If it was just because of some ENB Conrad installed, then I'm sorry for the confusion!

      And thank you. *bows*

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    2. If I am a psychic I certainly would like to use this power to win on the lotto so I could move to the Caribbean and live a live of luxury! Mind Reader is less useful, probably even scary, considering people's minds. But could still be interesting. Anyway...

      *checks the character page*

      Oh, gods. Now I am scared of Ravalinde. Remind me to never accept food and/or drinks from her.

      As for Skyrim, I took a screenshot for comparison:

      http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/akosaka/skyrim_night_zpscjlnitgx.jpg

      It was taken in front of the door of the inn in Riverwood at about 3 AM. So if your night is any darker than that you either are using a mod or an ENB that makes it darker.

      Personally, in Skyrim I am scared of bears when I am playing a mage. Those beasts are really sneaky. They would somehow sneak behind my mage and easily maul him to death!

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