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This brings back good memories.
 
- Pokemon: Red/Blue
- Wario Land 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
 
I still remember when I was seven years old, it was around Christmas time, and I went with my mum to buy a Gameboy Colour. She went up to the counter at the shop and said: "My son is looking to buy his first playboy."
 
The lady at the counter had a - wtf - kind of look on her face. "Don't you think he's a little young for that?"
 
Good times.

Scalping, anyone?

I would like to begin by observing that by Xfire, I have played Neverwinter Nights for 547 hours. This, of course, is dead wrong. I have played it much more than that over the years. That is merely the count since I started using the program. But going by that figure, that is roughly 22.8 days playing Escape From the Underdark, or Escaped From the Underdark as it is now known. It's almost sickening to think about in some ways, but in others it is wonderfully nostalgic, and I don't regret a moment of it.
 
Topically, this should be in the goodbyes thread, but I think that I should be accredited - due especially to some of my insanely long emotes and dialogues in the course of play, at least in the past - to have my own exceedingly long stand alone thread in which to say much more than a mere 'Goodbye' to a community that has given me far, far more than a mere 'Welcome' every day I've logged on.
 
At the beginning of this year, I decided to stop playing EfU to focus on my school work. I succeeded, and though there wasn't a great increase in the quality of my work- or my grades -I had more time to do other things: read, write, go riding, play guitar, meet new people. It was all good. I started school this year with new vigour and though I missed EfU in some ways, I was content without it. Until August, I think that continued for the most part. But in August, I had a really bad day and then a really bad month. I have also struggled with continuing psychological issues. But I digress.
 
I needed to be distracted from the issues in my life, and when I came back here, I was accepted and welcomed back with in game tells from players and DMs I had known from playing in the past. Escape From the Underdark was a form of escapism for me, and whether it is healthy or not to distract myself from 'all' troubling times in life, I believe that it helped my particular situation.
 
I could spend days writing praise for Escape from the Underdark, and I've tried to contribute to threads that say something good about it, but have never thought I really did it justice with my words. Escape From the Underdark is the most amazing gaming experience I have ever had in seventeen years on this earth. Playing it is like severing your brain's connection to your body's senses and entering a parallel world of magnificent story telling, unfathomable depth and intrigue, endless secrets, compelling characters and a believable and unforgiving environment. It observed the reactions of downtrodden mortals to a world that was slowly crumbling around them, or as may be the case now- to a world that is slowly being built. It is the ultimate honor that the DMs and Players of this community and gameworld have bestowed on the game: Neverwinter Nights and the words: Escape From the Underdark. No other server compares, no other module, no other 'official campaign', this is the best there is.
 
I remember coming from a server in which DM attention was almost exclusively given to a select few, the reapings and roleplay of which was expected to sort of trickle down to those that weren't involved or involving themselves or others. I remember coming to EfU and on the second day logging in, having a DM quest tailored to a completely uninvolved character of mine. I remember the world of EfU fondly, the interesting PCs and NPCs that would come around- that would have a story of torment and woe -and a resolve of bitter hope for the future. You could talk to them, and feel as though there was a person and not a set of numbers behind them. I remember the Rock Bottom, I remember the Council elections coming and going with the amazing roleplay that surrounded them. I remember being drafted by PCs into their great plots and ideas. Some failed from the start, some went a way before they failed. But the time spent plotting, the interaction, the adrenaline of a fight, the spies and the traitors, the allies that came to your rescue just in time, the conflict and tension, and those rare and heartwarming successes- knowing that everything you had done had been worthwhile either for your character's benefit or your enjoyment in having tried something - it makes it all worth the time spent.
 
I remember being drawn into something whenever I made a character. Whoever or whatever that character was. I wasn't always so great at drawing others in myself, but I tried. I remember the Preludes that I went on, it was always wonderful to get into the game with something to talk about, some background that you had a direct experience in that you could use as a base to jump from- and the DMs could expertly weave the story such that you could be directly involved in a current metaplot.
 
The new setting, I am ambivilent about. There are good and bad things about it. I don't feel like the PCs were/are as involved as they should be in building the setting, like the end of EfU, I think certain things have been 'railroaded' so to speak. Active NPCs had to come, but the immense amount of scripted questing at the beginning of this setting disappointed me. I saw the best opportunity for players to get in on the creation of a new city and society- and no one was taking it. Eventually, people got their act together to a small extent, but whether it be that I simply wasn't involved in it enough myself or that I wasn't online at the right times- I saw little of the attempted governments anyway. And less of the attempted player factions/player establishments, etc. I do like the setting itself, it is very versatile and very cool. I like the new secrets, and the vaguely familiar ones (The Ziggurat / The Machine). I like the elements of the story that have carried on from the last setting, and kind of wish there were more PCs and more references to it - even with the NPCs. I like the sound of the new Faction Reputation System, and am sad that I won't be around to experience it- at least for a long while.
 
The reasons I'm leaving are these:
 
I simply don't have the time to dedicate to the game anymore, work is piling on at school and I need my 547 hours back. If I continue to play, I won't satisfy my obligations to whatever people I involve myself with- and increasingly, I think I won't satisfy my obligations to my school, social and family life.
 
I am feeling increasingly bogged down by the system in the game in which time in game corresponds to loot and levels.
 
I have spent so long playing this game, and I think that I should move on from it and begin doing what I used to do in most of my free time: read, work out, my homework, hang out with friends, and write- which is what I would like to spent my hours of free time doing, so I can tell stories as interactive and incredible as those I've experienced here, if I ever do become an author as I'd like to.
 
Finally, I leave you with four sentiments.
 
I thank Howland and the DMs for creating a world that parallels that in which we all live, and which compares to it with all the depth and love that has been poured into it. You don't have to do this for us, but you do, and I appreciate it beyond fathomable words. I thank all the players for the same efforts they make on the small, but by no means insignificant parts they play in the game world. I thank everyone that has interacted with me- ever -and hope it was awesome for the both of us. I thank you both because of the gaming experience and the help you've given me in getting through difficult parts of my life.
 
I am incredibly sorry to the people I've left without notice of my absence, and apologise to them for any inconvenience it might have caused. I'm sorry I can't participate in the world as much as I'd like to any longer, and I'm sorry I didn't do more in the past to interact with all of you, and contribute more to EfU and EfU: A.
 
Congratulations if you made it through this entire post. I hope my ramblings didn't come out too sappy, too much like I'm trying to suck up, too whiney, too critical, or too stupid.
 
To conclude, goodbye, I bid you all adieu!
 
- Grant