User blog comment:Lord Loss/Discussion of the Week: One-off Areas/@comment-5020152-20140202013051

1) First, the Tainted Sea. That's a bit of an odd name for sure, but I realize that Dire Miralis is supposed to have polluted the water so that nothing else could survive there. I do love the Tanzian lighthouse in the background - in Port Tanzia it looks cheery and welcoming, but from the Tainted Sea, it just ends up looking downright menacing. The shipwrecks are awesome and the high cliff wall is something special in my opinion as well, as it really helps the area look like the isolated, walled-off cove it is.

And of course, there's the walking volcanic mountain range himself, Dire Miralis! Yes, this area is one of my favorites.

2) Lava Island is another weird name. Its also just another volcanic area that Capcom created as a place to stick Akantor and Crimson Fatalis - talk about unoriginality. However, I personally think it looks pretty cool, especially with that moon in the background there.

3) Thousand Blade Mountain would have to be my absolute favorite out of these areas. First of all, there's Dara Amadyura, who's freakin' epic in her own right. And then there's the massive, majestic central spire that the giant anaconda coils around for the majority of the hunt. I can easily imagine the natives of the Heavenly Mountain having some kind of myth or folklore centered around that huge spire.

And when Dara Amadyura dies, an amazing cutscene plays in which she tumbles to her death in a messy coil around the spire, while the camera zooms out and shows a beam of light illuminating the mountain. Truly, this area is gorgeous.

4) The Exploration Ship always looked a bit bland to me. When you fight Shantiyen, I think the REAL treat is when you reach the volcano and the great, godly music starts playing. But that's off topic - this area just isn't the best. While I agree that the concept of fighting a huge, aerial Elder Dragon on an airship is something really cool, I just think they could have made it a little more... good in general, really.

5) Ah yes, World's End. Personally, when it comes to Dhisufiroa, the real treat is the area itself, and how extraterrestrial it looks. It's probably one of the best areas Frontier has come up with in a while (but the Highland is still #1), and it even goes well together with the ugly flying freak show that Dhisufiroa is.

6) As for the last question, this is an idea I've had for a very long time. The idea is centered around a gigantic, flying, pterosaur-like Elder Dragon of my own creation, bigger even than Jhen Mohran, that I call Taltaira. The "Base Camp" would be a huge airship, kind of like with Absolute Island and Raviente, but instead of descending to an area below, you would fight Taltaira in the upper atmosphere as it flies leisurely along.

The hunting method of choice? Hunting vehicles that resemble biplanes, which shoot something similar to Ballista ammo and cause damage to Taltaira. You could land the plane on Taltaira's back in order to deal damage with your weapon, or be content with flying alongside it and strafing it with Ballista ammo. However, you'd have to be wary of the Elder Dragon and the thunderstorms that it can cause.

It might be a little far-fetched, but I really like the idea.