Um... wow. Got a lot on your mind maybe? Anyway, I agree with your views for the most part. But it's hard to make an expansion such as Myth II was without expanding most areas of the game.
As for the World Knots and such, they were the main means of travel back when Muirthemne was the capitol and Llancarfan was the seat of the Empire. So it was more like an uncovered relic than a magical secret device. So once they were uncovered and repaired it was only natural that you would use them more often.
As far as the remaining magic powers go, I agree with you about Shiver and the Deceiver and those type of characters, but it was still fun. The rest I am inpartial on, as I like the Warlocks and can understand how expansion of the known world occurs during a period of peace.
I'm sure if there was a Myth III, then there would be even more races from the Untamed Lands and regions across the Western Ocean. Chimera introduces the Wasps as a creature of the Untamed Lands and I personally like it.
Oh man, what to discuss next... As far as technology goes, the cannons were properly placed in that time period. as our history is concerned alchemists from the dark ages first uncovered a crude form of gun powder, but it was the japanese who mastered it. So it isn't a far stretch for a race that uses explosives to create a projectile that fires using a primer and explodes on impact as well.
The Heron Guard issue was fine by me. The reason you saw so few in TFL was because they were scattered. They roamed the land serving the lesser men in an act of self pennance. http://chimera.bungie.com/story.html">Chimera's story goes into this breifly at the beginning. So it would make sense that as soon as the Emporer of Cath Bruig was restored, they would come to his defence and seek their redemption. As far as their appearance, they were a different race, so it would be logical that they would dress differently.
The Summoner/Myrkridia thing was pretty weak. The Total Codex made it seem like a huge plot-filled event and it covered a whole level or two. I think bungie intended to get more out of the mystery of the man than out of the man himself, but it truely fell short (just like Chimera).
All in all it was still a fun game, but it's hard to make a new game without adding lots of new things. So I defend bugnie on adding lots like they did. It was just bad because it ranged from new races only found in one level to new alliances that appeared out of nowhere. It seemed like to make Myth II flow they would need at least twice as many levels, so it was rather crammed.
But I still enjoyed it and can only hope that the makers out there will fill in those gaps for us, just as Creation is attempting to do.
Sincerely,
Pimpy™
