By Rio Rivera-Young
For those who are trying to get into a text-based game such as Achaea, oftentimes the indecision when it comes to picking a race, picking a class, and picking a name can be overwhelming. So many fun combinations to try out, so many ideas in your head of characters to be – so many pathways to a new character that will open up hours of text-based fun for you. A majorly tough decision, however, is picking which city to start in. When you choose a city, you don’t only get access to the city channel and other similar benefits... you have certain restrictions placed upon your actions, and certain expectations.
If you're interested in the oldest and most esteemed text-based game by Iron Realms, Achaea, this is where I come in. Most players only know information about one city, generally the city they started off playing in when they first started playing text-based games. The most they hear about the other cities are stereotypes, jokes, and drama. I’m here to give you a run-down of the Achaean cities – the good, the bad, and the ugly, so that when you are seeking to start off a new character, you get solid information and can find the playing environment that is the best fit for you in the entire text-based game. We’ll being with Cyrene: Heart of the Vashnars.
Cyrene is a haven for those who are new to Achaea in general. Due to its pacifistic nature, the city seldom finds itself in unavoidable conflict – so the novice can learn the ins and outs of the text-based game without having to be thrown into constant conflict. Cyrene also has the highest amount of characters who are devoted to helping novices in a text-based game, with almost every House in the city being relaxed and understanding about the time it takes for advancement, as well as any help needed to advance. The city has arguably the best shops (catered to novices trying to get into the text-based game), with several established characters ensuring that the shops are stocked with items that wouldn’t cater to the combat crowd, but will help out with novice interviews – such as stacks of five herbs, single-filled vials, and amazingly cheap armor and weaponry.
Another area Cyrene excels in is providing a strong roleplay environment. For those new to legitimate online text-based games such as Achaea, learning to roleplay can feel awkward, or can even lead to several avenues of roleplay that should be avoided. Cyrene has a tendency to produce high-quality roleplayers, and being surrounded by those who are doing well themselves can inspire and provide example to those attempting to learn how to excel at a text-based game.
Cyrene falls short in several areas, however. If you are looking to lead an established character, you have to either be content with either being a tool of change yourself, or the status quo. The most common complaint among older characters in the city is falling into a period of stagnancy, as the city doesn’t have great avenues of conflict. So players who do not enjoy catering to novices or providing a welcoming atmosphere are not likely to enjoy Cyrene much longer than it takes to bring your character out of novicehood properly. Another annoyance in Cyrene can be the overly affectionate nature of some of the citizenry – it’s not something that the entire citizenry engages in, but if your character doesn’t have thick skin or high tolerance for hugs, it can become troublesome fairly quickly.
All in all, Cyrene is an excellent starter environment with a copious amount of resources for that target audience. So if that sounds like what you’re looking for in a text-based game, come on home to Cyrene: Heart of the Vashnars!
Find your perfect text-based home in an online text game like Achaea today!
Rio Rivera-Young is a text game enthusiast and currently plays games from Iron Realms Entertainment.
