One Shots: Darkness Falls

Going through the One Shots email account is a little like peeking into strangers' photo albums, complete with their private stories and embarrassing toilet shots. Seriously, folks, what is it with you people sending in toilet pictures? OK, it's a little funny, so keep 'em coming.

I was particularly drawn to Callie's photo from Dark Age of Camelot circa 2003 this past week: "My fiance and I loved going into the dungeon of Darkness Falls so much that we would frequently go down and fight the Prince, just the two of us, on our Warrior duo. I know newer games have come and gone, but nothing beats dungeon exploring and fighting a difficult boss with the one you love. Still one of my favorite MMO memories."

One can only assume that your characters discovered the lavatory behind the boss room and took many, many pictures as well. Speaking of tawdry screenshots, we've got a few more for you behind the break!

There are few things that please me more than when you guys and gals send in photos of your deaths. It makes me feel not so alone in my corpse tour of MMOs. Here's Siphaed finding himself on the wrong side of a few virtual arrows in Guild Wars 2.

"Bait. That's what it was: bait," he writes. "I'm just strolling through the Super Adventure Box's new worlds, see a bauble on the path and head to it. What do I find? My first arrow trap. In the screenie you can barely make out the arrows still firing, although my corpse is well on its way to rigor mortis. And here I thought that the Ninja Assassins were painful by themselves..."

So where is it written that all video game bosses must be larger than you on a scale of 25 to 50? One of these days I want to lay a smackdown on a minute powerhouse raid boss that completely underwhelms with teeny special effects and feather attacks.

Anyway, Kirk's bringing us this towering monstrosity today: "I was browsing through old screenshots from my TERA folder and found this pic of my Castanic Priest, Yage, confronting a particularly menacing BAM."

This next screenshot may be a chaotic mess, but it's a fun chaotic mess that celebrated an important milestone. Fistsinc explains: "Here's me hanging out in one of the events for the 12th anniversary of Anarchy Online. It's great to see so many people gathered in Borealis again!"

Personally, I hope that the new graphic engine helps the game experience a second renaissance! Can't wait to return, myself.

Our screenshot challenge of the week is to send in an incredible underwater vista. Star Wars: The Old Republic and Lord of the Rings Online players may be exempt from this assignment.

Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!