World The Great Fruman No-Fly Zone

I, for one, am a huge fan of the Aelumia Citadel Lighthouse. I like that it forces players into Les Miserables levels of city street battles and navigating the labyrinthine capitol like a guerrilla fighter. I even like that there is a sufficiently challenging boss that, upon defeat, essentially unrestricts the airspace.

One thing I don't like is flying on my wyvern (his name is Binglebongle) and breaking his poor snout on a surprise invisible wall. Granted, this only happens in certain areas near the playable world border, as well as some places I think that don't quite make sense (at least not the way they are now). I mean, specifically, the mountainous border of Fruma to the north and east of the provincial boundary.

I will say, it makes ABSOLUTE sense that a level 80 player who just got their first wyvern should not be allowed to dare encroach upon Her Majesty's domain without repercussion, so I propose an update! The Fruman mountains are tall and beautiful, and we have seen that Her Majesty's soldiers have trained to endure harsh, cold conditions and remain steadfast. It stands to reason that there would be watchtowers all along the mountain border (insert Jimi Hendrix reference) to enforce the security of Fruma against all enemies, both those seeking entry... and those seeking escape.

Lore-wise, it would make sense to secure the peaks after those traitors flew away to their little technocratic bird island all those years ago. It would also stand to reason that, similarly to Hyhet, EX-Gendarme Commander, most (if not all) guards manning their dangerous posts high in the mountains would desert their positions after the events of Apotheosis.

This makes it so that, until the Fruma storyline is completed, attempting to cross the mountains that mark the Fruman border would result in your player being frozen in place and blasted to bits with advanced Fruman weaponry (such as seen used by military personnel like Ferreo and assorted members of Her Majesty's Wings). Perhaps some stragglers could remain to populate the mountaintops and serve as world-building fodder should the player choose to engage.

Tl;dr- Replace the invisible wall around Fruma with a deterrent like the Aelumia Lighthouse that allows traversal after Apotheosis.

 

Hoh

 

Sun Judge is a valued member of Air Traffic Control

 

I never got the Aelumia Lighthouse Experience because the moment I was spat out into the city, I immediately wandered into the Lighthouse, got thoroughly killed several times, hired someone via PFinder to kill the Judge, and then continued playing the storyline.

The main flaw I see with this idea is that it demystifies Fruma to some degree. If approaching it causes you to get shot out of the sky, you've gained substantial information on how Fruma works. This would also make it rather difficult to manage the Ragni Stela on account of you could climb up Ragni's mountains level 1 to look at it, get spotted by a soldier, sniped out of existence, and immediately struck by knowledge of Fruma you aren't supposed to have.

Remember, for most of the game your only source of information is Recover the Past.

 

On the contrary, I think it MYSTIFIES Fruma further! Putting ourselves into the mind of a new player here... you have just entered Ragni for the first time, never played the game before, but you are being pulled by narrative and your magical quest book further away from your starting point. Hypothetically, you just finished Recover the Past and remember some earlier dialogue about where Fruma is and you return to Ragni in search of answers. You can't go back through the door, but you are a Minecraft player, so you know how to climb! You explore as best you can around the area and see a stone tablet up on a hill, so naturally, you begin to ascend towards it when all of a sudden... BANG.

*You have died.* "[Player] got too curious."

You may try again and again, but every time you near the precipice, the same result.

*You have died.* "[Player] got too curious."

Now, you're driven to become stronger and level up to eventually find a way in... maybe you end up forgetting your original goal of returning to Fruma and dive into the storyline. Maybe you make it all the way to the Eldritch Outlook, you beat the Eye and avenge Aledar, and you level up to 103. After all of that... Tasim wants to catch up in Detlas.

 

I love this idea, +2