There's a Thrungus among us

Having completed my test-drive of the Finesse template, I move on to my last potential main, Ferrion the Two-Hander Gear Knight. He portals in to Sanamar, the capital city of the Viamont-ruled Halaetan Islands. This area was added for the Throne of Destiny expansion, some five years after AC opened. So of course, Turbine puts their best face forward with Sanamar, showing off what they can do with the superior graphics technology of 2005.

The results are impressive, if a bit ostentatious. Above you see the high-res tavern. Below, the mage's guild:

I take back what I said two posts ago: Lytelthorpe is not the home to Dereth's upperclass twits. Sanamar is. They've got these big, impressive buildings, a statue in the center of town, and this holier-than-thou attitude to non-Viamontians. The shopkeepers throw slurs at me even while cheerfully selling me goods. Nevertheless, I collect my supplies from around town. No Lugian merchant means no Lugian gems right now. The tradeoff is that the healer's potions are more potent than usual. (The healer is also an obvious homage to the White Mage from the first Final Fantasy.)

My first quest is from the guard at the gate, and it's the usual "collect eight items of sentimental value" deal. Rather than just one dungeon, however, Sanamar spreads these items out around four dungeons in the woods outside town. So there's a lot of running around involved, but at least the scenery is nice. Are those redwoods?

In the dungeons I get my first taste of Two-Handed Combat. Two-Handed plays a lot like Dual Heavy, doing comparable damage, but with two important advantages: the first is that you only need a single weapon, which simplifies logistics a lot. The second is Cleaving, which allows you to hit two enemies at once. It's very powerful, and helps me plow through these mutant mushrooms very quickly. The tradeoff is that you're hitting less often, which means fewer sneaks/dirties. Long-term, this template may be better taking recklessness and going for pure damage, but for right now it holds up just fine.

Being a Gear Knight gives me the advantage of a slight boost to damage resistance, as well. I'm not sure if it's because of this or not, but the Thrungi were quite easy. Despite low-level creature debuffs and life drains,  I never once needed a potion.

With that said, the quest is disappointing. An annoyingly large part of it is running around to get to the dungeons. The dungeons themselves are poorly designed: each is a series of twisty tunnels, with little visual appeal and no attempt to make it look like someplace something would live. There are books with thrungus-related lore in them, but they're boring. The items you're seeking are random junk: a frying pan, a bracelet, a brew kettle, etc., significant only from being stolen from one of Sanamar's ruling class. And this here is some of the laziest design I've seen in awhile:

Every quest item is found this way: in a chest full of identical items in the middle of the floor right by the exit portal. Could Turbine possibly give less of a crap?

Also, the loot profile for the Thrungi is weird. It is almost universally high-value, low-burden loot: gems, jewelry, crowns, etc. I understand why this was done: Anything that's not outclassed by Pathwarden gear at this level has an Arcane Lore requirement a raw newbie certainly can't meet, so give them money. But it's dull, and makes the quest feel mechanical. Also, I have no chance of finding a better weapon, something which I could use. In an interesting twist, one that I'd forgotten, completing the quest nets you a magic bracelet in addition to other rewards. But even that is disappointing. It has three enchantments, but they're all level one. I keep it anyway, since I don't have anything better to put in that slot.

Anyway, the second quest is from a historian hanging out around the statue just inside the gate. He claims to have been attacked by vicious wild beasts who stole his prized necklace. Sounds like a challenge, so I head over to the coordinates he gave me...

Umm... really?

Yes, really.

I wish I had more to say, but this quest is even more dull than the last. Same bland dungeon design, even less imposing enemies. Quest item at the end, then back to the quest giver. The reward is some gloves which are not even close to matching my Pathwarden Gauntlets.

The third quest is a bit of an improvement. I'm sent to fix a beacon in a "dungeon" full of Blue Pynthos Wasps. I put dungeon in quotes because... well, the portal drops me off here:

Yes, the beacon is in the sky. That's reasonably awesome. I take a few screens, unfortunately I hit here at night, so none of them come out good. It's mainly wasps up here, which gives me slightly more challenge than the wimps thus far, plus I find a new weapon:

Not bad! Near the end, I face some of these guys:

I hope for some Pyreal Motes to drop. No dice, but it's at least a decent fight. By the time I've killed them and repaired the beacon, morning has come and I'm able to get a slightly better screenshot:

So, Sanamar at least ends on a high note.

That note, however, does nothing to alleviate the sense of disappointment. Sky dungeon aside, newbie Sanamar is dull, with zero-challenge enemies and bland dungeons. Sure, the town looks nice and has good shops, but it's all about the gameplay, and in that respect Sanamar is the weakest of the four starter towns. Apparently, a lot of people disagree: I saw a significant number of level seven and eight characters running around, and during the beacon quest I was competing with one for kills. They're welcome to enjoy it, but I find the experience less than stellar.