Interesting New Screenshot from Tiy

it wouldn't be hard to add them in. I mean, as a space-faring species anything's possible.
but that explanation would be interesting, especially if part of their race's story was how they dealt with it or whatever.

 

Wait a second! I think I figured something out! In the new dev post on the 29th, it said something about a "floran artifact" so I searched artifact on starbounder, an found some images only in the nightly build. The description was, It looks like it was made to hold something important. I have a feeling that these are the keys that each race has, that can open the monolith gate!

 

Finally, new information that actually hasn't been posted before!

 

i hope said keys are heavily defended or require stuff to do, and are not just hanging around on some merchant's table.

 

This information has been available for a while now in the nightlies, but I guess it never made its way here. Each of the story missions revolves around Esther Bright, the archeologist in the Ark and ex-Grand Protectorate, sending you off to a dangerous locale to retrieve one of the six keys. So far we visit: ancient, sacred Floran hunting grounds, one of the oldest and grandest Avian temples of Kluex, a massive abandoned Hylotl library, one of Big Ape's personal Miniknog outposts in the midst of a rebel attack, and an old Glitch keep lorded over by an eccentric, retired Glitch adventurer. However, the cultists (those guys in purple hoods that worship the tentacle beast), led by their leader Nox (who has some connection to Esther, my bet is that she's her daughter), are also trying to collect the keys, and will fight you at every turn, alongside whatever other hazards you encounter. That's about what we know about the missions so far.

 

I noticed that you can use commands to get the artifact altars in the nightly build, but you can't do anything with them.
Also, it doesn't mention anything about a human artifact..

 

perhaps the human artifact was destroyed along with Earth? and part of the quest would be to recreate one or something, idklol

 

That actually sounds pretty good!

 

Oh, tentacles...
What else are they going to develop? Penis monsters? 'Cause we're gettin' there.
STILL. (Notice the reference)
*Click* Better be ready. *takes a big rifle* These guys aren't going to stick around for long.

I don't know if someone already answered, but I'm in a hurry and I can't check.
STILL. (Double reference)
You can go on the wiki. It has a translation. The symbols mean "Collect the 6 keys and bring them here to open the Ark" or something like that

 

I know.....look at the date I made the post you're quoting. February 24.......2015.

 

Well, I have a feeling earth was destroyed by the monster, so it was put behind the gate with earth, so once you get the keys, you can go back and fight the monster.

 

According to an avian description of the bunny altar, the bunny symbolizes "beasts of the soil."

 

the keys could be on those planets, IF the middle one is a planet instead of a star.

 

I bet the Ark is a giant cache of weapons and loot. Whoever controls it will become powerful and rich.

 

This would basically be the plot for Borderlands.

-Open big alien ruin promised to hold weapons and riches
-You finally open it after many hours of searching
-Instead it is filled with tentacles and disappointment

 

That's the joke. I love Borderlands. I mean, you could perhaps batter and fry the tentacles, but calamari is way too rubbery.

 

Yeah, I just played through that and it is pretty cool!

 

What do you mean the artifacts cinematic assets?

 

YES! i played through and got 2 of the keys! and i found out some stuff!

 

Nightly stuff makes me happy. First, they added new tentacle monsters that can be captured as pets, then we finally get the story mode stuff started (albeit kind of simple), and it's just getting better and better. Best thing is that the story isn't even the main focus of the game, but a side thing. You kind of need to start it to unlock the FTL, but other than that, the sandbox aspect that drew us all in is predominant. The game is getting so much better, although it DID kind of take a few (too many, to be brutally honest) years.

Spoilers ahead.

My favorite part of the story stuff is all the monsters you can catch from each mission;

- Moontant (They reference how they might have been Human once)
- Ixoling (though they have VERY faulty animation problems)
- Snuffish (basically a Gleap that spits like a Snaunt)
- Kluex Sentry (An avian robot with a strong laser. Totally not overpowered.)
- Minidrone (Small flying robots that swoop like birds)


Even better is that there are other monsters you can catch that are present in some missions (as well as random dungeons);

- Swarpion (those annoying robot scorpions from Avian tombs)
- Apex Brain Mutant (The wheelchair-bound ones with ray guns)
- Apex Mutant (Green Apex. They hit really hard now!)


And my favorite pet-related thing is that there's tentacles you can force into animal servitude;

- Tentacle Crawler (it's like Oculob in terms of movement)
- Tentacle Bomb (A flying tentacle that suicide bombs)
- Tentacle Gnat (like the Bomb, but without the suicide explosions)
- Tentacle Spawner (a REALLY fat Gnat that spawns gnats. It never moves in to melee range.)
- Tentacle Ghost (A flying tentacle with a shell that fires lasers)
- Tentacle Clam (A clam with a tentacle for a tail. Hides in its shell when hurt)

I love the hell out of that clam. I love the bouncy enemies, but the clam just has the right amounts of ugly and cute. Unfortunately, the tentacles have to be spawned in with admin commands as they aren't used yet.

All of the NPCs from the story (so far) are kind of lame, unfortunately. Hopefully they get a bit more fleshing out soon;

- Esther Bright
The previous Grand Protector, Esther is a wheelchair-bound elderly woman with a knack for exploring. With a goofy grin, she guides you through the story of the game upon reaching the Outpost for the first time. After explaining the purpose of the Ark, she sends you off to find clues (inspect items that are yellow rather than blue/red), and gives you the coordinates to each mission. Her character seems quirky at first, being a bit silly like a senile elderly woman would be, but her character just kind of halts there.

- Nuru
The youngest champion in the history of the Floran's hunting event, Nuru is a young Floran with rainbow leaves who is referred to as a young girl by Esther. Unlike her species, Nuru can pronounce words with S without the hissing. Likewise, she speaks in full sentences and in first person. These traits alone kind of detract from her, as she doesn't have much else to her character. Oddly polite and friendly, Nuru guides you through the hunting grounds on the way to the Ixodoom, where she helps you defeat it. After you escape the hunting grounds, Nuru becomes an ally at the Ark. During the Glitch Mission, she arrives to help out for a short bit, and her personality shifts to that of a normal Floran. She still talks polite and without the hissing though. She really needs a makeover with her speech, she's not so fun anymore like when she first showed up.

- Tonauac
A big, huggable pigeon, Tonauac is essentially what Kronk would be if he were a Starbound character. Big, lovably naive, and as pure as can be, this big guy takes you on a very, VERY short tour through the museum, and falls asleep just after three exhibits. He later finds you lost in the catacombs of the temple, and is equally lost. He then just disappears until after you beat the boss of the mission. He claims he understood your motive, and misjudges it as you being more of an avid follower of Kluex than he is. He stops being mentioned at all when he joins your party at the Ark. He looks nothing like the playable Avian race.

- Lana Blake
A prominent member of the Apex Resistance, this woman is the leading soldier on the assault of the Miniknog base. Mistaking you as a soldier at first, she requests your help in shutting down the defenses of the mansion and base so her troops can assault from above. When you finally see Lana again, she claims to be injured (despite never actually being hit by any attacks), and tells you to go on and finish the fight. She joins you once more alongside Nuru when you are in the Glitch mission.

- Koichi
A nerdy Hylotl with a serious case of Gigantism, this fishy fellow guides you through a library below an ocean in an attempt to have you rescue him. Not very good at being urgent, he stops to admire some of the library's books along the way. Despite all of the cultists trying to kill him and take the artifact, he somehow remains calm. This lanky fish finally meets you after you defeat the Library boss, and requests to join you to understand what the artifact was used for.

-The Baron
An eccentric and ancient Glitch,The Baron is the owner of the castle in the last mission currently available. His castle is fairly lacking, only having one room and a courtyard. Despite this, he remains incredibly optimistic and happy, even when his castle is facing danger from an army of cultists. He offers you a quest at first to clean the sewers beneath his keep, but then offers the artifact as a reward for fending off the cultist invasion. He feels it's safest to come with you after seeing the attack, and brings his most essential things with him to the Ark; his wealth and a chair. As of this post, the story quests end here.

The boss fights though, those sure feel good.

- Erchius Horror

This the first boss, just like before, and just like before, it's insanely easy. It's a three-stage fight, with the beams having different patterns each time. It's a good tutorial fight to teach you how not to stand still.

- Ixodoom

This is the second boss still. Its patterns are a bit easier, and it feels more complete. It spawns Ixolings at random intervals, and you can't hurt it for a while. Nuru breaks its shell for you to hurt it. You do this three times, with the boss' moves getting more intense each time. Third time is its death.

- Kluex Statue

This is the third boss. It starts off stuck to the ground as a statue, and it fires guided lasers at you. After a short barrage, it changes colors and tries to raise ice spikes under you. Again, it changes color and tries to burn you with lava. Once you defeat it, it breaks free from the statue and uses far more wild versions of its moves. Between the Ice and Lava, it now tries to pull you in to its body while firing lasers at your feet. This fight is a MASSIVE difference from the prior few bosses, and man is it fun.

- Big Ape

This is the fourth boss. Finally seeing the true face of the Miniknog, you get to face off against Big Ape, only to find out that the villain is actually just a hologram! Four rotating projectors allow the hologram to function, and you have to destroy all four. Its moves are fairly simple at first, being easy to dodge. One projector dies, and the boss becomes more erratic with its moves. It also begins using a bullet hell move that's easy to avoid. Two projectors down, and the moves become faster and more intense. Three projectors down, and you're fighting the true boss. After the fourth projector dies, you win. This fight takes a while if you're not cheating with strong weapons, but it's pretty fun. The music really adds to the mood.

- Nox
This is the fifth boss. This female cultist meets you in the Grand Library, and tells you that Esther is just using you. After telling you off, Nox unleashes a lightsaber katana, and teleports out. Her moves are fairly simple at this point; a fan of laser knives, a dash across the book shelves, a dash across the floor. Now it gets tricky; she becomes a Distortion Sphere, and tries to slam into you. Her aim is aggravatingly accurate, too. After she slams you with her ball form, she tires out and is vulnerable to damage for a short time before repeating the pattern. Despite being a boss, she goes down rather fast.

- Cultist Invasion
The entirety of the Glitch mission is a boss fight. Waves of cultists spawn and try to destroy the Baron's keep, eventually calling in ballistae to fire large arrows at the wall. There's even cultists who come in on silly Da Vinci helicopters made of paper and wood that drop molotovs. Nuru and Lana drop in for a while to help kill the cultists, and surprisingly they're helpful. After a wild gauntlet, The Baron asks for you in the keep once more, only to be interrupted by Nox riding the Bone Dragon. Yes, THE Bone Dragon. Unfortunately, the dragon isn't very well tuned, and doesn't attack very often. Its fireballs destroy the keep's walls, and Cultists continue to spawn. After defeating the Bone Dragon, which is actually a robot, Nox flees with any remaining cultists, ending with the Dragon's corpse exploding.

The game is finally making headway. To quote the guy from the Starcraft 2 trailer, "Hell, it's about time." I'm pleasantly surprised at how much is going into the nightly now, and how it's almost reaching the originally promised "Thick and fast" update speed from years ago.