//TESTDRIVE2.0.EXE

[reparator]

//TESTDRIVE2.0.EXE Welcome to the Castle-town of Valoria The prototype of ViViD's newest level has been complete. However, right now, only a single castle-town is open and available to be accessed with a mini-mission for all registered players. This castle-town is currently undergoing a terrible plague that causes those who drink the water to become strongly infected by the venom laced within. The venom creates a form of volatile madness known as The Maenas, and it is said to originate by a single flower growing in the center of the castle-town's lake. In order to purify it, everyone will have to work together to rescue the Priestess who is being held hostage in one of the castle-town's main towers, which is currently being guarded by a large dragon. Who that dragon is working for is currently unknown, but right now, it's preventing the priestess from helping the villagers. At the log in screen, players will be greeted by Vidia, giving them a friendly announcement and providing them with the mission details: "You're here at last! There's no time to delay, Player. The priestess mourns the more you hesitate. Come on, get equipped, and follow me! Are you ready? You simply have to follow my instructions. ✩ Get to the tower and defeat the dragon. ✩ Do not kill the townsfolk. They don't know any better! Knock them out, but do not let them die, or the imps will eat their corpses! ✩ Kill the imps, they're aggravating the madness! Each imp will release a soul orb on death. Grab it! It'll protect you from the madness, too. Each soul orb is worth ten credits! ✩ You have six hours. Please rescue the Priestess in that time, and she will be able to let you out. ✩ If you encounter people already from Tellus, you'll get a bonus orb for each soul orb you collect for all players. ✩ If you don't fight, you'll end up affected by the flower's curse... please, band together with someone and travel with them to slow the effects. ✩ The dragon will continue to re-spawn if it's fought alone. Please fight as a pair or group to bring it down if you can! ✩ Remember, you only have six hours... hurry, please!"

//SCENARIOS.EXE PHASE I [ xxxx ] You're standing right in the center of the entertainment district inside the main ViViD hub. The machines sit before you, beckoning to being worn so you can test out the newest level in ViViD. There are others around you, in similar positions. Researchers are on stand-by to document your every move and make sure there are no glitches at all. As you settle into your chair, you slowly put on the helmet and find yourself being immersed in a world that's so real, you can hardly tell whether or not you're in the game or still in reality. (Please don't attack the researchers, they're only doing their job and they won't hurt anyone!) PHASE II [ xxxx ] You're fully immersed in the game now, wandering around with the list of objectives Vidia gave you. It's your choice where you want to start first. You can talk to the NPCs, engage in a grueling battle, level up, or head straight to fight the boss in a daring suicide run. However, as you walk through the castle-town, you catch glimpses of shifting faces. The NPCs look familiar for a moment, maybe reminiscent of someone back home. The effect lasts too short for it to be noteworthy until it continues to occur. Feel free to explore, but remember, you have six hours, a holographic timer to the side of your screen will appear when you wish for it. PHASE III [ xxxx ] Another glitch appears. This one is more debilitating than the rest, leaving you hanging mid-attack. The game seems to freeze completely for a solid two minutes. In that time-span, the world shifts to your own. You're standing right in the middle of the one you remember, staring up into a sky painted red with fire while a blood-curling scream erupts from the back of your mind. You glance down around, and one by one, the people start to fall to the ground, shattering like glass. In the distance, the dragon looms, staring straight at you and roaring, though its voice seems equally agonized. Then the game resumes normally as though nothing happened. Your complete your attack and continue as normal. Then something else appears within the darkness for a moment, lost in a single blink. That one second passes so swiftly it's barely noticeable. It might throw you off, it might leave you facing a pair of imps or crazed hordes. Whoever is with you had better started fighting... And you'd better run if you're alone! PHASE IV [ xxxx ] You've reached the end. Victory is yours. The townspeople are cheering, and the Priestess is rewarding you with a kind smile and several credits to your name. The dragon lies on the ground defeated, though its eyes are open still, hollow and black. In the reflection, you can still see the traces of a world left behind. In that moment, you can also swear you see it blinking when it should be dead, but there's no time to dwell. You're being logged out and the researchers are shoving surveys in your face or asking you questions about your experience. BONUS [ whyo'clock ] Welcome to the Dressing Room. This is where you can dress up your character in ViViD in all kinds of costumes. Completing missions will open up new outfits that will be delivered in the real world to character's flats. As a prize for completing the above mission, characters will be rewarded with some special outfits (both are unisex). Characters will immediately be launched into the Dressing Room upon completion so they can see themselves modeling their brand new outfits to one another. [ You can choose to set your threads in the game or before/after if you'd like. Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with trigger-y or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ]

//RUN.EXE Welcome to CEREALIA's second Test Drive Meme. Please forgive our appearance as we are still going through the final stages of game completion… mostly fighting with table codes. While most pages are under development and/or hidden from the public eye, please don't feel discouraged, since knowing everything doesn't always make the experience. Your characters will know as little as you. For your convenience, we have compiled a post detailing everyone's arrival experience and a FAQ that should explain everything in more detail. Please read them thoroughly before playing. Thank you!

Comments

delita heiral • final fantasy tactics

[subvert]

=phase iv=

[this isn't too different from home, really. dragon slaying tended to be the sort of thing that you saw in fairy tales rather than real life, but ivalice had dragons enough for those foolish enough to fight them. generally, delita was not one so foolish, but sometimes circumstances changed.

this counted very much as a changed circumstance.

but it's no matter; the logging out process doesn't bother him. when the gaggle of researches comes, though, the normally calm facade of delita has a bit of a blunter edge to it.]

One at a time, or you get no answers.

[he doesn't yell - he just raises his voice enough that they can hear him. delita does not demand respect, but he does demand not to be treated like a lab rat. knights have dignity, after all. notably, when delita gives answers, there's no elaboration on it - he just sticks straight to what factually happened.

afterwards, though, the man who had been so competent in ViViD doesn't seem much interested in talking about it. however, if you (yes, you!) were the one playing with him...]

Can I help you?



=bonus=

Cute.

[he figured he'd try it on at least once, but delita looks completely unimpressed at the bonus clothing that he's been given.]

Is this supposed to be motivation, or a joke? If they so desperately need our help, why mock us?

[he's not mad, but he does find it extremely distasteful.]

iv.

[corvis]

...Yeah, actually.

[ he'd been listening mostly to what the other had been commenting in reply to the questions answered and while they are simple and to the point without giving much detail at all, Gil had started to wonder if any of what he was saying was as empty as his descriptions of his experience. ]

I just was thinking, were you honest with them in answering everything? [ he's not accusing, but he's well aware not all of them are comfortable with sharing everything they experience in these things (gilbert himself sure isn't...) and now that he's heard someone else's general view of what he also played, he's curious.. ]

[subvert]

Was anything I said untrue?

[gilbert's assessment is totally right in that he didn't give much detail and his answers weren't very helpful - but none of them were actually wrong. there is a difference between 'basic' and 'wrong', after all.

nothing he said was untrue. it was just generally nonhelpful. around peers, though, delita is... a little more open. not much more, though, especially since he's not familiar with gilbert enough to open up. and even if he were familiar, he's not a very open person; secrets within lies within half-truths is the order of the day for delita heiral.]

They wish for me to explain what I saw, so I did.

[it's fairly clear that delita does not trust the researchers and programmers, in no small part because he feels as if they're condescending. just because they brought him and whoever else here to fix things, he feels - they shouldn't be swarmed with questions and surveys and whatnot the moment they do succeed at something.

if they're even telling the truth about these things, but he's playing their game for now anyway - both figuratively and literally.]

bonus

[particularity]

[Hinata looks... as equally unimpressed. He's not mad because it's just a silly outfit, but he is definitely exasperated. Once he unglues his hand from his face (from which he is sighing heavily), he'll address Delita...]

...I don't suppose they honestly thought we'd be glad to get something like this?

[If they did they need a serious education in what kind of gifts to give people to get them to like you.]

[subvert]

[this is not the sort of thing that delita gets mad over either. delita gets mad over larger scale things, like "the crushing poverty of the common people, who are treated like filth by those above them". or, you know, personal injustices like "my sister got shot because she was common and therefore expendable".

this is ... irritating, perhaps. but certainly not mad-inducing.]

Interesting, how we are supposed to believe that the fate of all our worlds is in our hands, and then our allies treat us like children.

[... aren't both of them like, under twenty. in fairness, it is very easy to mistake delita for someone older than 19.]

[particularity]

[Well actually he's a little older than twenty but thanks to memory shenanigans even he isn't sure of his exact age...]

Yeah, they're already making it difficult to believe in the first place... Doing something like this doesn't help at all.

[As it is, this place seems so... carefree, considering the circumstances.]

[subvert]

[hinata can look younger than he is, and delita can look older; it's nbd. what's really important is that they are agreed on the "importance" of this stupid, stupid dragon outfit.]

One would think that if the fate of all the worlds were hanging in the balance...

[he doesn't finish the sentence, but just looks down, and the implication is clear. surely they would have better things to do than these stupid dragon outfits.]