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. ] |
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
I was going to let them go after I caught them!! [his eyes are rather innocent for someone that just attempted crocodile-wrestling, like a child caught climbing a tree that was to big for him. It was kind of the same idea... right?]
I wouldn't have brought them back here or anything!
no subject
But... why? [A poor question to ask Iwatooshi, probably, and yet he does it anyway.]
I mean, you do know that we only have like, three lives in this game or something, yeah? If you get bit, it's gonna be bad news.
no subject
Is it only that many?? [he puts one hand on his chin, one tiny snake still curling around his wrist]
I guess that's more than we would have normally, huh?!
no subject
Well— yeah. [HE'S NOT WRONG ABOUT THAT.] But you don't wanna waste 'em! The game over spots in these levels are always stupid and sometimes you can get stuck there for ages.
[Not that he'd know, of course!!]
—What about those guys? [Nodding toward the snake.] You gonna keep those?
no subject
These ones? [he brings up one arm to examine the snake closely.] Well, I'll probably let them go soon. I mean, this is where they live, so I wouldn't want to kidnap them or anything!
no subject
Yeah, you wouldn't. [Saving one sword at a time from glitch purgatory...]
Buuut... You do know they're not real, right? [Has anyone explained virtual reality to Iwatooshi yet?? If not, Kashuu is here to SAVE THE DAY.] Those snakes. Even if you left 'em here, they'd just come and go with the program.
no subject
Ahh! You're right! Well, even better that I wasn't trying to take them, then. Now I won't get disappointed when I have out that they have to stay here!
no subject
Yeah, yeah, that'd be a bummer. [BUT--] ...You could probably get a CyBuddy shaped like a snake or something if you really wanted. They even have some that're like little crocodiles and stuff.
[Because that's exactly what Iwatooshi needs.]
no subject
did u say lil onesIwatooshi looks absolutely delighted- small crocodiles? Wow!]Really?! You need to show me where to get one once we're out of here! [he throws his arms out, as if to explain where "here" is.
It was probably a bad idea to tell him about the CyBuddies, honestly.]
no subject
Sure, sure! The CyBuddy shop's super easy to find, but it's good to get familiar with the shopping district anyway. [Because that's the most important district.]
I dunno how much longer we're gonna be stuck here, though.