In the dark

The milestones I look toward in my journey through the MMOs I play are rarely just about the numbers. Other than the level cap (a stretch goal in most) I'm not really thinking about reaching a particular level except as a means to the end of entering new zones, and some zones have greater significance than others.

Like Moria. In all my time in the Lord of the Rings Online I've never made it to Moria (nor am I likely to any time soon) even though it's always something I've looked forward to. I imagine I'm not alone in A Journey in the Dark and The Bridge of Khazad-dum being two of my favourite chapters of the Lord of the Rings, and beyond that there's the idea of exploring interior locations so vast they cover entire zones.

And yet... one of the criticisms of Moria I've seen over the years – and it does seem to be often a love it or hate it experience – is that it can become oppressive due to the sheer amount of time spent in the darkness of its subterranean realms. I've never quite understood that. Until now.

I've talked before about the way the resistance crusader arcs take place almost entirely in the Underground, but even beyond that something I'm only now noticing is that few if any of the missions – even up above in the city – take place in open spaces.* As much as that might be City of Heroes playing to its strengths (the game was never particularly good at rendering natural locations) it can, at times, start to feel claustrophobic.

This isn't something I experienced in Paragon City – especially with so much time spent in Perez Park and Boomtown – nor in the Rogue Isles. It's not even as prevalent, as best as I recall, in the other paths through Going Rogue. It's undoubtedly atmospheric – if it wasn't it wouldn't grate on me so much as it does – but, like those players of LOTRO whose opinions of Moria I've often puzzled over in the past, I'll be glad when I'm out of the darkness.

*The near total absence of windows in the interior locations in CoH, even in locations that might reasonably be expected to have them like the ubiquitous office blocks, is something that it took me forever to notice, because the game is so consistent in not featuring them.  It's like realising how few buildings in World of Warcraft actually have doors.