Vera Observer

Vera - a barren desert region, with scattered oases and the crumbling remains of highways and apartment blocks, all traces of the failed attempts to terraform Vera into a habitable planet.

It's also rather pretty. 

You can climb the tower at the Ecological Research Station and get a fantastic view of the Sandstorm Grounds and Rock Goby areas.

Sumeru might have the better soundtrack but so far, I'm enjoying the sights of Vera much more. That might change once I get deeper into the Sumeru deserts one day but for now, I'm all about the ruins of a sci-fi civilisation and the ruins of ancient kings can wait 😋

That dazzling diamond in the middle is the city into which Vera's inhabitants fled once the Greyspace Entities attacked and the terraforming failed for good. Mirroria, compeltely isolated at ground level from the desert, it's only accessible via air or transmittal.

Once you get inside though, it's very cyperpunk and although there's currently only a small part of it open for exploration, it's a great place to go wandering around for hours. Or hunt down all the little minigames, some of those are rather fun.

The title image is taken in Mirroria, you can win or buy little tokens to turn you briefly into certain NPCs and I tried out the Tata one for a stroll around Mirafleur hall between races. Tata is adorable! Not as cute as the little cat that is also wandering around Mirafleur. If I could catnap that kitty, I would!

I have been making friends in Vera though, there's little critters dotted around who will dig up a black nucleus for you in exchange for a greeting or snack. They're not stereotypically cute like Tata, but I love them anyway. Wait, is this a Pavlovian response?! Is it the critters or the nuclei I like so much? Hmmmm....

I'll let you decide, personally I can never refuse these guys' requests for a wave or some applause. They ask so politely! How could anyone refuse!

In other news Desert-Sobek is more of an asshole than normal Sobek. No pics because I loathe that sand-swimming overgrown lizard bastard. He doesn't deserve photos. Stop going underground and stand where I can hit you, damn it!

The races in Mirroria end soon, my best place was 4th, but I had a lot of fun getting better at the course and competing in the mad dash across the city! Maybe now they're coming to a close though, I can go back and take some cool snaps of the city to share. 2077 eat your heart out, right? 😉