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.
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phase ii! ugh tsuru the problem child
Which is to say, that someone he bumped into was definitely Kashuu... He's just trying to figure this stupid level out! He just wants to leave!! HE HATES VIVID WHY DOES HE ALWAYS END UP HERE. He's done nothing to deserve this tomfoolery, but it comes for his ass like a haunting every time anyway.]
Ugh—!! Don't say it like it was an accomplishment!
[Tsurumaru's dumb way of wording things is so familiar that he doesn't remember to be surprised that he's back... It'll catch up with him in a second, okay.]
UGH listen you're just as much of a problem child as i am
Kashuu?
[ it's just for a moment; that smug grin finds its way back soon enough. ] But it was an accomplishment! How often have you hit someone while swinging on one of these things? It's like a life goal — I can check it off of my bucket list now.
[ and then, a bit more hesitantly: ] Well, whatever these things are, and wherever I am.
no...
I don't care about your stupid bucket list! Don't drag me into it next time!! [He's not a stepping stone to victory, okay!! Good lord.
But the hesitance seems to catch his attention, and it reflects a little in his expression.] What, the vines? [?!?] And you're in ViViD, duh.
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namely, how casually kashuu states that word — 'ViViD' — in such a way that expects tsurumaru to be familiar with the word, as if he's heard it more times than just once — and that had been in the boring slideshow.
so, he'll ask now. ]
ViViD... What's that?
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Ugh, what a pain... [That's YOU TSURUMARU, YOU'RE THE PAIN.]
That's what this place is called. It's like, a virtual reality simulator thing sooo technically nothing here is actually real. It's like a video game, but you're uploaded into it, get it?
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[ he huffs sharply, indignant at his comment. why is kashuu calling him a pain, what has he done wrong!!! he's pure...... but it's when kashuu explains that he pauses, blinking blankly at the uchigatana. ]
You can't be serious. Uploading? Video game? [ what's that? ]
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Dumb jokes aren't my job. [Said with a POINTED STARE lord who put ants in his pants this morning.] So yeah, I'm serious. You'd know how serious I was if you actually remembered stuff for once, but I'm guessing you don't, right? [Which probably explains some of his irritation, at least... A SIGH.]
This is ViViD, and it's a super popular game that CERES made. A bunch of us have been here for months, y'know? Like— not in the game, but in the colony. [A beat - Tsurumaru mentioned not seeing him in ages, so:] What's the last thing you remember?
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but it's true — most things said to tsurumaru go in one ear and out the other just as quickly, unless there's some dire need for him to pay attention, or some treat waiting for him afterwards. but this time, this falls under the first category, considering that kashuu seems up to speed with... everything.
still, none of it really makes sense, and he looks at kashuu curiously. ]
What colony? What are we, ants?
[ as for the last thing he remembers: ] Well... You know. Things happened to our world, and then after that... it gets kind of fuzzy. I guess you could call it sword limbo. But seriously, if you and half of the other swords were over here all along, couldn't you tell the rest of us?
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But he's specifically mad about the fact that Tsurumaru was here! And then gone! And now back but without memories and lord, why does this keep happening, he hates it... But there's nothing he can do outside of being childishly spiteful, and even that only lasts so long.]
Not ants. We're alien settlers on a freaky alien planet. [A HELPFUL EXPLANATION complete with Kashuu wiggling his fingers in an OOH, SPOOKY gesture.]
—And if we could do something like that, don't you think we woulda done that waaay back at the start? Geez... Haruji's been worried sick, y'know? Some of you guys are really dragging your feet in sword limbo.
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Okay, well — you couldn't even send us a memo, how were we supposed to know? [ where was their memo sent to 12345 sword limbo lane? but he does pause for a moment, lifting his head to glance around. ] This is the first time I've seen this place, too. Couldn't you pick a better place to stay? I mean, if Haruji's fine, then we're all fine with it too, but...
[ like a place with less... glitches?
(which is conveniently established by logging out, but it's not as if he paid attention during that powerpoint.) ]
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If you wanna be an ant so bad, sure. [Sighs and waves his hand, as if that would be enough to wave Tsurumaru's Tsurumaruness away. He knows no one has any control over their comings and goings; he's just being cranky.]
A-ny-way! We were just dumped into this stupid level, same as you. It's all glitchy and weird, but it's not like this is where we actually stay. ViViD's not like this all the time either, y'know? It's just 'cause there's so much water damage outside. They got a lot of levels that you'd probably like, actually.