Category: Reviews

Update, September 2021: Elvion has relocated and expanded – see Elvion expanded in Second Life.

We first visited Elvion, designed by BoZanoNL in February 2019, back when it was a quarter Homestead region. As I noted in Elvion: an elven sanctuary in Second Life, back then it offered the look and feel of a elven sanctuary, steeped in mystic magic and with little places for visitors to sit and spend time. More recently, the setting has moved to occupy a complete Homestead region, and in doing so has obviously expanded.

The move and expansion has perhaps lost some of the more “elven” elements from the former. However, the move has allowed for the creation of a more extensive, open landscape, rich for exploration, still with numerous places in which people are welcome to spend time.

Set under a bright sky suggestive of a crisp spring or autumn day, the region is largely open, rolling grassland, cut on its south side by a mountain range running west to east, largely separated from the rest of the region by a narrow water channel with its head as set of waterfalls at its western end. When seen from the north side of the region, these mountains give it added depth, assisted by a line of low hills running through the lowlands that naturally break the line of the mountains and make them appear further away.

The landing point for the region sits to the north-east on the grasslands. It sits along a cart track that runs part-way through the region, curling around the hills to curve north and east across the grasslands, two bridges allowing it passage over a bubbling brook until it meets the region’s hills and they turn north. It is at the landing point that visitors can review the region’s rules and can see that this is a horse-riding friendly region (for those with a wearable Animesh horse, or can join the region’s group for a L$500 and rezzing rights).

A further mark of the former Elvion was the wildlife – deer, herons, even bird calls, etc., – and this is very much carried over with the new setting, with horses joining the mix. All of the visible animals and birds are scattered across the region in a manner that makes coming across them both a natural experience when exploring and also opens up opportunities for photography.

As noted above, some of the more “elven” elements present in the former quarter homestead region space are now absent; however, there are some ornate arches to the south of the region tucked among the mountains there, but otherwise, the pavilions found in the former design are absent.

This doesn’t mean the region is bereft of structures, however. Towards the head of the waterfall-fed channel, for example, is a large cabin. Elsewhere there is a gazebo sitting amidst cherry blossoms that add to the more springtime feel to the region, and there are numerous hints of ruins to be found – one close to the landing point – all of which offer cuddle spots.

When wandering the region, and despite the lack of clear elven influences, I was still put in mind of scenes from Middle Earth – the mountains, when seen from a distance to me offered a hint of Tolkien’s Misty Mountains as perhaps seen from Rhudaur, while  – and albeit it somewhere else in Middle Earth entirely – the cabin, put me in mind of Beorn’s house (if without the associated gardens of the latter).

Like the cabin, the various ruins offer places for people to sit and talk and cuddle. Other sitting / cuddle points await discovery, including a wheelbarrow, a shoreline hut, the aforementioned gazebo, and various wooden decks. These all encourage people to spend time in the region, as does the potential for photography – landscape and avatar studies.

Rounded-out by a corner woodland setting with ruins of its own, the expanded Elvion offers a lot to visitors, making it an ideal an pleasing visit that build on the former quarter-region setting. I will confess that I did have some performance issues with shadows enabled whilst riding my Animesh horse, but just disabling shadows for the ride solved that problem, and the issue didn’t otherwise spoil my explorations on foot.

With thanks for the update on Elivon from Miro Collas.

Currently open at Miskatonic County is Tales of Miskatonic County: The Perfect Storm. Described as “A Horror Survival Experience”, created by Rayden Evenstarr, Phoenix Sachin, Logan Porterfield and Tobiath Tendaze, it makes for an interesting if (for me at least) a slight confusing diversion.

Using the Second Life experience system The Perfect Storm pitches you against zombies, lurkers, cultist gunmen, ghosts, creature of the deep and more in a battle to survive and to complete assorted quests. The latter range from killing some of the aforementioned monsters and creatures through to rounding up kittens or finding puppies – which makes for an interesting mix!

As you emerge from the theatre in Downtown Miskatonic, you find a town in chaos. Torrents of blinding rain obscure amorphous shapes lurking in the shadows. Telephone poles have been sent crashing to the ground in showers of sparks while trees fall upon cars and houses alike. Danger lurks in every alleyway, and you feel as though a thousand eyes are upon you.

Miskatonic is no ordinary town, and this is no ordinary Halloween. The day is October 31st, 1991. The day a ferocious storm system suddenly formed off the New England coastline. A storm system so large that meteorologists deemed it “The Perfect Storm.” The storm turned westward, moving against the jet stream, striking the coastline with a deadly storm surge and hurricane-force winds. Many old-timers of the region dubbed the storm “unnatural.”

– Introduction to ales of Miskatonic County: The Perfect Storm

The adventure begins at the Miskatonic Theatre, where players pick-up the game HUD (and must accept the region’s experience in order to play – a one-time only requirement unless the experience is subsequently blocked), together with a magic ring and a pistol.

The HUD will auto-attach to the player’s screen under scripted control, and will auto-detach on departing the game. It acts as a relay to record your health, shield and armour, and as an information giver – prompts are displayed in the lower section of the HUD, and there are two buttons: Stories and Quests, of which more anon. The gun and ring are inventory objects and must be worn. The former is required to kill the nasties (you must be in Mouselook), and the latter helps “buff” your game stats.

Outside of the theatre, the storm is in full force. The northern end of the town is subject to flooding from the storm’s surge, and rain is falling in heavy sheets across the rest of the landscape, with copious amounts of storm damage to be found in the streets.

You’ll need to be in Mouselook whenever you are outdoors, as this is where the nasties roam. You can switch back to third-person view when inside buildings to ease exploring them and interacting with things in them. Shooting the the nasties is a case of aiming the screen cursor at them and blasting away with left-clicks. Hits earn points and will eventually kill the nasty, earning you bonus experience points. However, be warned that they can strike back with claws, teeth, knives, hatchets and guns of their own, eroding your health, shield and armour.

Health can be restored by finding crafting stations and then rummaging for ingredients, then using the crafting station to make consumables and eat / drink them. These items are added to inventory for rezzing and can also be traded with other players, allowing those playing together to help one another. Consumables, once made, can be worn to consume or carried. Some will restore lost health / shields, some may only “buff” for a period of time.

Quests are undertaken by finding non-player characters (NPCs) scattered within various locations. Clicking on them will open the Quest panel on your screen and display details of a quest for you to complete. click the “off” button on the panel to close it, and you can set out to complete the required task.

You can have up to four quests running simultaneously, and some will be auto-complete (achieve the goal and the quest ends), others will require you return to the Quest giver. A tally is kept of your progress, and I found this a little irritating, as each time I achieved a target in a quest, the panel would open, blocking part of my view and requiring I hop out of Mouselook to close it (ALT-click didn’t seem to work).

As well as quests, there are story fragments to be found scattered around – these take the form of books with hovertext floating above them. Clicking on a book will add the story fragment to your HUD – click the Stories button to open a panel listing the available stories, and click on the one you want to read by clicking on its title.

Should you find your health drops below 0, you will be incapacitated and transported to the Miskatonic Medical Centre. This restores your health and reveals one of the secrets of the experience: it exists on multiple levels stacked up one above the other through the vertical extent of the region. They are connected by teleports in the form road tunnels. Moving to each of them can earn experience points.

If I’m totally honest, I don’t entirely “get” the overall goal – other than survival (which may be the sole point) – but then, I’ve not progressed full through the entire experience. In this, the instructions and introduction are somewhat vague – and “emissary” is reportedly coming, but what / who that might be slipped by me. There is also reference to artefacts being stolen – but whether recovering them forms a part of any of the quests, I could say.

Perhaps the way to find out is to play for yourself?

SLurl Details

• Tales of Miskatonic County: The Perfect Storm (Miskatonic County, rated Moderate)

Created with love in the spirit of West Texas honouring those that came before, those with us, and our future.

So reads the About Land dedication for Last Dove, a Homestead region designed by Erythro and Shannon Cardalines. And while there are many western-themed role-play regions, Last Dove is something special, as Shannon noted to me as we discussed it after Caitlyn and I had made our initial visit.

It was designed for a set for Erythro to make machinima he wants to show at film festivals in real life. We based the sim on the novel and screenplay of Lonesome Dove. The characters you see here are all bots that Ery scripted to work as his actors.

– Shannon Cardalines describing Last Dove.

For those unfamiliar with Lonesome Dove, it was the title book (although technically the third instalment of the story) of a series bearing the same name, written by Larry McMurtry. It started as a film script collaboration between McMurtry and Peter Bogdanovich, but after languishing in development hell for over a decade, McMurtry purchased the rights to the script and turned it into a novel, first published in 1985 and winning the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The story did eventually reach the screen – albeit the television screen – in 1989 in a CBS 4-part mini-series starring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane and Anjelica Houston among a long list of notable actors. It is a particularly memorable story not so much because of its western setting, but because it is a tale that intertwines themes of old age, death, unrequited love, and friendship – something reflected in the dedication for the region.

As well as being the title of the novel and series, Lonesome Dove is also the name of the Texas town where the story begins. It is this town – the set of which still stands – that serves as the inspiration for Last Dove; and it is no exaggeration to say that the region marvellously captures the spirit of the location, with several of the notable buildings being reproduced along the dusty main street. The echo of The Stockman’s Hotel, for example can clearly be seen in Last Dove’s Dry Bean Saloon.

In addition to recreating the town, Ery has also scripted a number of characters from the book / series. These may vary between visits – there is a control board for the bots hidden away in one of the building. However, when visiting, you’re more than likely to come across the two principle characters, Captain Woodrow F. Call (played by Tommy Lee Jones in the CBS mini-series) and Captain Augustus “Gus” McCrae (played by Robert Duvall) – with the latter looking particularly reminiscent of has actor alter-ego!

Given Lonesome Dove is set against the backdrop of a cattle drive to Montana, other touches reflecting on the film include the bunkhouse and a small herd of Texas longhorn cattle, complete with a cowboy bivouac, suggesting the drive out on the trail. In addition, the great plains of Texas are represented by the region surround, which directly abuts the region on three sides, offers scrub grassland  that rolls gently off to the horizon and the hazy slopes of distant hills. This gives Last Dove a tremendous sense of depth, with the west side of the region separated from the surround by a span of water that perfectly echoes the Rio Grande, which features in both the story and the town (the set for Lonesome Dove is located near Del Rio, West Texas).

While inspired by Lonesome Dove, I have to admit that initially, the setting put me in mind of Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter. There was something about the plains rolling away to those haze-softened hills and the town on a shoreline that put me in mind of Eastwood’s ghostly Stranger (Death) on his pale horse, riding out of the shimmering haze to  mete out vengeance. So much so that, in looking across the plains of Last Dove, I wouldn’t have been surprised had a horseman slowly materialised riding towards the town! In this respect, I did feel a bit of a twit when Shannon explained the actual inspiration – I’d been looking at the Captain Call character with the name ringing bell, but unable to place where I’d come across it.

It’s important to state (again) that Last Dove isn’t intended as a role-play region per se. However, it is ideal for photography and for getting into the spirit of the old west, as I hope a couple of my pictures here suggest! Rezzing is also permitted for props – but please ensure you clean things up afterwards.

This is genuinely a superb setting, richly evocative of the story on which it is based. Its offer plenty of opportunity for horse-riding, easy exploration and – as noted – for photography. Absolutely not a setting to be missed. Those wishing to see more of the Lonesome Dove set as it looks in more recent times can do so via the Lonesome Dove Remember link, below.

SLurl and Links

• Last Dove (Droomeiland, rated Moderate)
• Lonesome Dove Remembered – Richard Morris
• Exploring Second life 2019

With thanks to Shawn Shakespeare and Alsatian Kidd for the region SLurl, and to Shanon for her time while visiting