One Shots: Nowhere to hide

Generally, I don't like to be pessimistic, but I have to say that things don't look good for reader Brad here. Sooner or later his childish game will fall apart, and when that happens, it will be all teeth and claws and slavering fangs. But at least it's for a good cause, right Brad? Oh, it's just to level up his skills.

"To get your skills up in Ultima Online, you had to use them over and over," Brad explains. "As they got higher, you had to do more difficult things with some skills. This was me trying to up my hiding skill. Lets just say, trying to hide in front of this many Ophidians, was not easy... but I was gaining skill! They could not get to me up here."

Who here feels bad for the Ophidians? Raise your hands please. I thought as much.

Sometimes we get absolutely beautiful and eye-catching pictures sent in that have sinister undertones that are only revealed through a story. Such is the case for the following by reader Roger, who says that this corridor of Final Fantasy XIV is not a place that a sane person would want to be.

"The intrepid Elezen Bard named Edouard with a pathological aversion to pants and a merry band of misfits is tackling the daunting challenges of the Sunken Temple of Qarn. We're close to the inner sanctum where the Scales of Judgment await and beyond which lies the massive, intimidating, living statue known as the Adjudicator... but first, we have to get through this hallway that is filled with ghosts and alligators for some reason."

And... ghost alligators? MY GREATEST FEAR.

I've been getting so many examples of awesome sets of non-skimpy female armor that I'm going to have to reserve an entire One Shots week to it. In the meantime, here's but one submission from RIFT sent in by eLdritch. If you're curious, the "L" in that name had an early growth spurt compared to his siblings.

"In Exhibit A, you can see my Harbinger Bethayne Everblight keeping watch over the fields of Stillmoor, making sure that it doesn't get taken over by Regulos' lackeys... again," said eLdritch.

"Although Age of Conan is more famous for its impaled and decapitated corpses basking in glorious godrays, I found this super cute scene," reader Rade said. "It's in Zelata's cave in the Wild Lands, and being a powerful witch (she helped Conan escape once), she summoned a pet sun for her plants to grow in this dark place."

I swear that I saw "Zelata" and what appeared to be a treasure chest and thought that this was some sort of Legend of Zelda easter egg. But it's just an organic garden. I will try to contain my disappointment and hunger.

I've asked this before, but it's been a while so I'm going to do it again. For this week's screenshot challenge, I'd love to see pictures of your in-game house (or, ahem, garrison) and a captivating tale of how you designed it.

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!