PHASE I [ 6 00 ] You wake up, and you're in a camp ground. The graphics aren't bad here, not really, but they're definitely last gen -- not the type of quality expected out of ViViD. On top of that, every once in awhile, the scenery sort of... glitches before going right back to normal as if nothing ever happened. If you're particularly unlucky, your own body parts might glitch out for a moment too, appearing as nothing more than broken code and then back to normal. Pretty weird, right? Oh well, don't worry about it. Totally harmless.
Glitches or not, you're still in a camp ground along with everyone else. There's a fire, there's some tents, some trees. Maybe some s'mores? You got it all. You're also not wearing what you were before. No, now you're wearing some sexy shorts, or maybe you've got a whip at your side, or maybe you've got a really classy fedora. And if you're one of those lucky few who have all three at once? Good for you! Try not to blind everyone with all that sexy.
Or, you know, the game will glitch out again and you'll be stuck wearing something else. That's definitely not as sexy.
PHASE II [ 730 ] If you decide to finally go exploring that crazy jungle, you'll find that you have a wide range of exploring options. Seems ViViD's taking a crack at their very own open world game -- this one modeled after your run of the mill adventure game. There are rivers to swim through (complete with alligators)! There are cliffs to scale (complete with angry birds ready to peck at your face)! There are even ravines to swing across on vines (just like Tarzan)!
Actually, the game is made to allow you to do just that -- those vines are all conveniently lined up for everyone to use them to swing across. Go on, it'll be fun. If you miss, you'll just lose a life, right?
Of course, if you overshoot your goal, you might run into one of the other glitches; the white space that you'll stumble into implies that you flew right off the world map and are now in unprogrammed space. Don't worry, you'll dissolve eventually, slowly but surely, and will reappear on the cliff so you can try again. There's no other way around that ravine either. Still, it's only a little frightening watching your body disappear piece by piece, right?
PHASE III [ 900 ] If you manage to scale one of those cliffs or swing across that ravine or cross that river, you may find yourself a chest. It's a treasure chest, and you don't even need a key to open it! Open it right up, a cute little jingle will play, and… nothing will be there.
Or the item will be there, hovering in the air, something amazing, fantastic, incredible that you've always dreamed of having and wanting, and -- you can't touch it. No matter what you try, it hovers right out of reach, and you can't interact with it at all.
Oh, and the cute little jingle is going to follow you around now, on constant loop.
PHASE IV [ xxxx ] So you died.
No big deal. Perhaps you got eaten by a crocodile. Perhaps you fell off a cliff. Perhaps another player stabbed you (that's rude). Either way, you've only lost one life and you have two more so it's nothing. After all, this is just a video game, right? It's fine.
Except it's really not fine.
You'll find yourself in a graveyard, tombstones all around you (maybe one of them has your name on it -- hope the epitaph doesn't suck). It's nighttime, it's foggy, and you're with the other players who have also lost a life. For a while, nothing will happen. The cold and quiet of the night will start to seep into your bones -- and then a figure appears. It can't be killed, it is silent and grim, and it does not speak.
Instead, it approaches each person there, reaches out and touches them on the forehead. Even you. All you can see for a long moment is corpses around you, the dead faces of everyone who had been with you in the ViViD level, flesh rotting away and faces caught in expressions of horror --
And then you're all dropped back into the camp ground together again. It's sunny and cheery and everything is fine, and you're down to two lives. Just, you know... don't lose the rest, okay?
BONUS [ xxxx ] You have a butler now, congratulations! He's following you around everywhere. He's an NPC, and not a very well-made one; sometimes his face glitches out, and he doesn't so much walk behind you as just… appears right next to you. He's handy though because if you ask him to, he'll pull up the start menu. You can sort out your inventory there and exit the game if you wish (except no matter how many times you press the "quit" button, you... can't).
Sometimes, though, that doesn't work out so well. Not the start menu but the butler himself. He might appear next to you on a narrow cliff face, knocking you right off the edge, or appear right on top of a hornet's nest, making them angry enough to go after, well, you. Maybe he accidentally summons a bear when all you were trying to do was ask him where the next dungeon is. That's unfortunate.
You can't seem to get rid of him either, no matter what you do. How annoying. Hopefully he doesn't cause you too much trouble because that bear... well, that bear's pretty angry.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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He looks shifty for a moment, totally blushing, and then very patiently and deliberately clears his throat. If he's going to do this, it must be exactly right. All clear, hand cupped by his mouth...]
Caw, caw...
[it's exactly as terrible as you'd imagine]
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[dies laughing and in fact can barely stand on his knobbly log]
That's amazing! You're so bad! hahahaha
[best first mate. This is exactly the reason why he wanted you to begin with]
Do it again!
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Enjoy the fierce blush. Zoro hates this dream right now.]
If we get swarmed with seagulls, it's your fault, you know! You told me to do it.
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[he can't feel bad. He feels too happy!
He bounds to his feet and roars:]
SEAGULLS! COME TALK TO ZORO! HURRY UP!
[though it was terrible he really does believe that they'll come and his words shatter the otherwise stillness.]
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Though that would be fun.]
C'mon, I don't wanna talk to any seagulls. There's gotta be something else interesting around here.
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[Yeah... Maybe they're too far inland for seagulls He picks up the alligator by the tail and chucks it in Zoro's direction.]
Catch!
[it'll be good for a light snack. That done he grabs one of the vines and swings to shore making a call of courage that would do Zoro proud]
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...how are they supposed to eat this?]
Oh dammit. Not this shit again.
1/2
[Luffy swings down, heading straight for a tree, but catches himself with a light foot tap, stopping his momentum before hopping down]
What just happened?
[he approaches the boxes that used to be tasty alligator and opens one, peering inside. And then another. And another]
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[because all he can see are feathers and packing peanuts]
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It's the game. It's all fake, there's no food anywhere.
[unless they can find that butler and make him open the menu and "use" the boxes but...how the hell does that even work anyway]
Sorry, Luffy.
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That's stupid. I wanted some bananagator meat.
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There were no bananas on those gators anyway. C'mon, wanna go find bigger monsters to punch? You can't eat 'em but they still feel good when you punch them.
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[huff huff huff. He stands up and puts his hands behind his head and starts walking in any old direction]
By the way, where are we?
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[falls into step behind him, because as long as Luffy doesn't know where he's going, Zoro's in excellent company]
Hell if I know, I haven't seen a jungle in here before. But it's a game, so...I guess there's probably a path we're supposed to follow.
["probably"]
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How do you win?
[who do they gotta punch?]
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[how did it go last time? It's hard to remember.]
I think you gotta find the biggest, baddest monster on the map and kill it. Though last time I was kinda not even on the map, but I still killed a lot of monsters.
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[he picks his nose]
Do you think the others are here somewhere, too? I don't remember it being nighttime... [he supposed everyone could be taking a nap at once but...]
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Cook might be. Dunno about anyone else. It'd be nice to see the others, though.
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Eh? But they're right there, aren't they? Except the guys that left with Sunny... Oh but Sanji's here...
[you're being confusing about his nakama, Zoro. Stop that]
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Although it's not so bad right now. Sunny jungles without actual mosquitoes biting, and convenient vines for swinging over ravines...]
This would be a lot easier with a map. It would suck if we kept walking only to find out we walked back to the start, and not to the end with the boss-monsters.
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[he didn't get maps. He doesn't get what's going on either but he trusts Zoro enough not to worry about it]
Do you know a boss monster call?
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Mostly they just growl. Like your stomach.
[aha, another cliff with conveniently-strung vines. He can't help himself, he has to take a nice deep breath and take off running to leap and grab the first one - and bellow out that Tarzan call because that's just what you do.]
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[It's good to see Zoro having fun! Luffy runs after him and jumps on, too, hanging onto his legs even though there's plenty of other vines-- tarzan calling with him as they sail over the water filled ravine.
Too bad the vine snaps before they make it]
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[of course it isn't that easy. Zoro barely has a second to grab hold of the back of Luffy's shirt and fling him back upward as they fall, presumably to keep him out of the water]
Get us out of here you rubber idiot!
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[you know? To inflate big enough to wedge them between the ravine walls.
They're kind of wider than they look though...
Not his finest hour.]
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