Top 5 "Whoa Nelly" Moments from Terraria - Number One

This is part of a series of five articles about the great surprises from my first foray into Terraria. Check out the other recent posts for the rest of the list.

#1 - The Blood Moon

So here we are, the #1 most insane moment from my early forays into Terraria in a multiplayer setting. I remember the first time it happened, I was deep into the third cave level, not knowing when the sun was rising or setting, and I got a message: "The Blood Moon is rising." That was followed by a confused "wait what?" from one of my companions on Skype. Curious, I returned to the surface, where I could see the moon.

What I found was carnage and chaos.

The Blood Moon basically means that nowhere is safe. Zombies and Demon Eyes can force their way through your doors and into your house to pummel your characters and murder your townsfolk. The enemies also spawn in greater number and with greater frequency. But the last, most devious change is that those sweet little five HP bunnies turn into murderous Corrupt Bunnies, who have greater health and damage than the zombies themselves. Watching a purple rabbit maul your friends while you try to fend off the zombies that have invaded your home is a mortifying experience...and part of what makes Terraria just so F-ing great.

Top 5 "Whoa Nelly" Moments from Terraria - Number Two

This is part of a series of five articles about the great surprises from my first foray into Terraria. Check out the other recent posts for the rest of the list.

#2 - Eater of Worlds

Ahh, the Eater of Worlds. The best thing about the Eater of Worlds is that when he shows up, it's your fault. The Eater is spawned when you smash enough of the dark crystal balls in the Corruption, which is only possible after you've crafted a fairly high level hammer. When you smash a crystal, you get a cryptic message, something like, "A horrible chill runs down your spine..." The first time one of our group did so, there were four or five of us in the server, and upon that text appearing at the bottom of the screen, one of our players immediately disconnected. It turned out he wasn't up for whatever was coming.

After two more orbs were smashed, the rest of us realized that we were also not ready for what was coming.

Seeing that massive worm barreling through the cavern, was an eye-opening experience for me during the game, and pretty much the exact moment when I realized it was time to upgrade my armor and find some more life crystals. Eventually, after upgrading your gear and getting the hang of the Eater's mechanics, the fight becomes fairly easy, and a good way to generate a bunch of money. But I won't forget that first time, when I got chewed up and spit out...or not spit out, rather, but definitely chewed up.

Top 5 "Whoa Nelly" Moments from Terraria - Number Three

This is part of a series of five articles about the great surprises from my first foray into Terraria. Check out the other recent posts for the rest of the list.

#3 - Sky Islands

I'm sure that a lot of people found out about sky islands from the internet, but I'm delighted to say that my group of friends came across our first sky island by chance. We had been having a pain of a time traversing the countryside getting from one side of the map to the other, so we decided to build what we called a sky bridge, an elevated line of stone blocks across the map. With some jumping around, a friend came across the vines hanging from one of the islands. I honestly thought he was joking about the island when he started talking about it, but it turned out he was telling the truth...and he reaped the rewards. When he showed the rest of us a few dozen pieces of nice ore, a cloud in a bottle, and some other assorted loot, we were all on the hunt for other islands.

Though the harpies that patrol the sky islands were a bit of a nuisance, the "Whoa Nelly" wasn't so much from being panicked or threatened. It was more of a, "Whoa Nelly, what a cool thing they did in this game with these sky islands."

That's not so much the case with #2. Tune in tomorrow to read all about it.

Top 5 "Whoa Nelly" Moments from Terraria - Number Four

This is part of a series of five articles about the great surprises from my first foray into Terraria. Check out the other recent posts for the rest of the list.

#4 - The Dungeon (and those asshole skull ghost things)

I knew the dungeon existed fairly early in my Terraria-playing days, well before I actually delved into it. The trailer for the game showed part of the boss battle against Skeletron, the "gatekeeper" of the dungeon, so I had some sense of the situation when my friends and I finally found the dungeon entrance in our travels. But I didn't have any idea exactly what sort of dangers lurked in the dungeon.

We started to go into it, and then these flying skull things started zipping around. So we do a little dodging and weaving, pop a couple shots at the skulls, and then one of us takes a hit and just gets obliterated. We try to regroup, but there's no way around it; these flying skulls were just massacring us. After about a dozen deaths, we finally realized there was something up with the situation, and did our research to find that we needed to defeat Skeletron to eliminate those bastards, but for a few minutes we had a hilariously panicked time.

Top 5 "Whoa Nelly" Moments from Terraria - Number Five

I'm a huge fan of Terraria. If you check out my Steam profile, you can see that I've spent over three hundred hours mining, constructing, exploring, and slaying. It's often described as a 2D Minecraft (by myself as well), which is accurate enough, but the implication is that Terraria is a dumbed down version of Minecraft, and that's not fair. Terraria has a much stronger combat system, a more robust suite of enemies, better graphics, and a killer soundtrack.

Terraria has also offered some multiplayer moments that rival even the most heated battles in Left 4 Dead or Payday in terms of intensity. The game really captures the idea of the wilderness being this treacherous, unknown area, where danger lurks at every turn. Here are the top five "Whoa Nelly" moments from my first time playing through Terraria.

(For those of you unaware, the phrase "Whoa Nelly" has a special place in my heart since Earthworm Jim.)

#5 - Jungle Shrine

The first time I came across one of these, I was mystified. What on earth are gold bricks doing down here? And...ooh, treasure. When it comes to Terraria, there are two things I really go crazy for: high-end blocks and treasure. Finding both of them was a delightful surprise in the dangerous depths of the jungle.

Of my five "Whoa Nelly" moments, the jungle shrine was the least scary, which also makes it the least fun to talk about. It was a nice surprise, but didn't hold a candle to the other four. Which is my way of saying, stay tuned.

Big MFin' Trees

Nothing fancy today, no witty comments or bizarre pictures. Just some tall ass trees from Terraria.

A Giant Tree

When some people see a giant tree standing alone, they marvel at its magnificence, they consider their own insignificance, and perhaps they even feel a connection to God. Me? I chop that sucker down.

The Search for Sky Islands

Sky islands are one of the most exciting finds in Terraria, both because of their potential for exceptional loot and because they're so difficult to find. They're so difficult...difficult to...to find...

Really?

Lavish Accommodations

Welcome to my humble abode. Help yourself to a gold chest.

Feed Me, Seymour!

That is one mean green mother...from outer space?

No matter what...

...life finds a way. Even in between two meteorites.

Secret Message in the Sky

What does it mean??

Terraria Art - Air Man

If you beat him, you get a jetboard.