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}
lightning // final fantasy xiii
[ here she is, looking like a very perturbed Lara Croft palette swap. truthfuly, she was in her element in a situation like this, but Lightning could manage to find something to be grumpy about in any situation. even, like, her birthday or something. you might notice her snap a few times and grunt when nothing seems to happen. she was trying to get her grav-con unit to work, but it seemed like it wouldn't be of any help here.
she doesn't really need it, though. she effortlessly catapults herself forward, latching onto one vine and swinging herself in a calculated way to the next. thanks, guardian corps, at least you did something for her.
she'll land crouched on her feet at her destination, turning to look back to see.. wait, what, she just fell right off a cliff, and down below is a dark abyss of nothing. she manages to grab on to the cliff before falling, trying her hardest to pull herself up one handed. she was positive a cliff wasn't there before..
in between struggling grunts: ] I think the difficulty level just spiked.
bonus
[ so this guy sucks. she'd lock him in the freezer if she could.
it's through gritted teeth when Lightning asks him to direct her to the dungeon. she just wanted to get this over with, honestly, and if that's the only way to move things along, so be it. she could talk to this guy. she wouldn't like it, though.
when a rather rotund bear plummets from the sky and she has to unload a whole round on it, though, she decided that she had had enough. she charges at the butler and intends to deck him right on his ass, but right as her fist should logically connect to his face, it disappears.. save his eyes and teeth.. which was weird. ] Wha— [ that's all Lightning gets out before she loses her footing and phases through him, rolling away and right into the strangely blue pool.
when her head pops up, her face is one of silent anguish. ]
I'm sick of this game.
bonus
This is really strange.
He's hesitant to get near the water, but he can't very well leave her there, though she looks like she can swim fine. It's the butler in him. So he approaches the edge, crouching down to hold out a hand to her. ]
We all are, I believe. [ a wry smile. ] May I help you?
[ there's a bunny man wearing those lara croft booty shorts helping you. don't worry about it. ]
no subject
Lightning swims to the edge and silently reaches out a hand, indicating his offer had been accepted. she's feeling like mouthwash after it's been gargled and spit in the sink and that's a really crappy feeling. how skintight the heinously green croptop she had on wasn't helping, either. ]
no subject
There we are. [ the heinously tight green croptop does not go unnoticed, either, although he does avert his eyes in a gentlemanly fashion. ] ... Would you like my coat? You'll get cold like that.
no subject
Lightning crosses her arms. ]
I'll be fine. [ beat. ] Thanks. You're a better butler than the other guy.
no subject
I'll take that as a compliment, though I don't think that's much of an accomplishment. My name is Zara, by the way.
no subject
How long have you been here?
no subject
It's a pleasure to meet you, miss Lightning. [ what a name. ] As for how long I've been here... far too long, unfortunately. It's been about eleven months now.
no subject
And no one's found a way back? [ well, obviously, or he wouldn't be here probably. ] I'm sick of this.
no subject
Believe me, so am I. According to them, there is no way back, and our worlds have been destroyed... However, I refuse to believe that without any evidence. [ a pause. Then, somewhat apologetically: ] My apologies. I don't mean to alarm you. But I thought it would be prudent to be honest about the situation.
no subject
[ He's not in this game to play. He's here just to escape the relentless dampness and the stench of rotting alien currently pervading the city, which is why he's floating high above the ravine, watching people swing through the vines. It's funny: the people who are most graceful and proficient at vine-swinging are, almost without exception, also the people who overshoot into unprogrammed space, and reappear on the cliff.
But he's run out of graham crackers (swiped from the campground s'mores supplies) and has amused himself throwing bits of the cracker wrapper into unprogrammed space and watching them pixelate and disappear, but now that's gone too, and now he's bored, so he might as well go and be sociable.
Which is why he appears on the ledge Lightning's clinging to. He crouches down, peers over at her, and says: ]
Would you like a marshmallow?
[ He still has a few of those left. ]
no subject
[ she says this as coldly as she can when it's between struggled grunts. for as dire as her situation was, Lightning couldn't help but be indignant when faced with facetiousness. really, this guy kind of made her want to just push off and fall into the abyss.
at this point, though, she's starting to feel parts of her legs dissipate from her body. it wasn't the most uncomfortable thing she ever felt, but she certainly didn't want to experience how uncomfortable it could get, so she's still trying her best to climb up, now managing to get her other hand on the ledge. ]
no subject
Don't blame you. They're too sweet.
[ He extends his arm out over the ledge, with the marshmallow between his thumb and forefinger, and lets go. It bounces down past her, erratically over tiny irregularities and outcroppings on the cliff face, falling farther until it's just a tiny white speck before it finally disappears into the void.
His hand is empty now. He wiggles his fingers. ]
Want one of these, instead?
no subject
instead, she offers another snide remark. ]
It'd certainly be nice of you.
no subject
Not really. You get more points if you climb up on your own.
[ He made that up. ]
Probably. So — if you'd rather not, I understand.
[ Even as he says this, he's reaching for her wrist, to help pull her up. ]
no subject
I think I'm fine with taking a low score.
[ is that her way of saying thanks? maybe. who knows. maybe not even Lightning. ]
Is this your first level, or are all of them like this?
no subject
[ The truth is, he's terrible at games. He's too impulsive and his temper gets the best of him. ]
I don't think I've seen you before. You're new here, right?
bonus;
[who did nothing to help and has just been peering curiously at Lighting's struggles.... but that water is pretty blue. It's a little suspect.]
It's probably not a good idea to stay in video game water, you know! before you know it... .a countdown's going to start, and...
[okay maybe now she'll offer both of her hands. She's pretty small, so all it might accomplish is Maya getting dragged in with her]
no subject
the skintight green crop top was beginning to feel more and more uncomfortable. ]
There doesn't seem to be many 'good ideas' here.
no subject
[But at least she didn't lose any more rings or drown like Sonic]
It's true! This whole set up is a bad idea waiting to happen.... I think they get a kick out of watching squirm like this.
[Luckily, Maya is here... to provide good ideas...? (no)]
no subject
[ she actually just got done dealing with one.. but succumbing was something she refused to do.
crossing her arms, Lightning looks the girl over. Older than Hope, but still very young — she felt bad that she was involved in this, and also began to feel distress over the state of her friends. ]
Have.. you found anyone from your world here?
no subject
[New, Maya guesses, but this woman seems tough as nails! She's taking everything in stride for this kind of situation, at least.]
Uh huh, a bunch. The timelines can be pretty weird, though.... [but uh, more relevantly, since Maya can guess she's asking that because she's worried about her own friends.] Are you looking for someone you know? There are loads of people here!