PHASE I [ ?? ?? ] This time, ViViD is a deathtrap.
There is random magma everywhere, monsters will spawn at random, and at some points, the game is entirely unplayable. It’s like the dev team totally disappeared mid-constructing the level.
Oh wait, that’s exactly what happened.
Monsters may spawn on top of you, you may suddenly be standing in a poisonous bog, you may suddenly lose your powers, or your senses, or so many different things --
It’s time to get out of here, ASAP.
Thankfully, the exit is obvious. Like. Blindingly obvious. It’s got a big sign over it that says EXIT
And just like that, you’ll be out of ViViD and --
PHASE II [ 0830 ] When you wake up (and it’s strange, because you were sure that you were logging out just a second ago), it’s in a pile of bodies.
They’re cold, but not in the same sense that a dead body would be cold. While they are lifeless and look incredibly real, they don’t feel real. They feel like dolls, mannequins, empty models and nothing more. Their code doesn’t seem to be functioning right.
And what some characters may realize upon looking at this pile of bodies is that they are all of the characters who were sacrifices before. Any character that was dropped who had a high magical or spiritual affinity is there in that pile of bodies, lifeless and eyes blank and vacant. Even you might be there, staring at your own dead body -- but it isn’t real It can be touched, but it’s really nothing more than a lifeless body.
You’ll have to crawl out of that pile of bodies to get anywhere, and then you’ll realize -- you’re in the Sanctuary, a building built by the characters as a safe place from CERES. And it’s looking pretty run-down at this point. The technology in it no longer functions, there is no security on it whatsoever…
Oh, and now there’s a pile of bodies. Great.
PHASE III [ 1000 ] There’s also a robot.
It’s wandering from place to place, though it’s impossible to follow. One second it’s there, the next it’s just gone.
Also, it’s wearing this. Weird.
But even with that on its face, the robot seems focused on one thing in particular. In fact, it has a sign, and it says:
Down with CERES. Up with Robots.
That’s a happy, cheerful message. If you try to go up to it to talk to it, it will look at you before...bonking you on the head with the sign and running off. That’s incredibly rude.
Alternatively, you may be safe and sound in your home, but then the doorbell rings, and there’s the robot again. The duck mask is gone, but now instead it has a pin on his fake lapel, and then he’s shoving a pamphlet at you.
He tips his hat, and then he’s gone. Weird.
(Also, if you hold onto the pamphlet, it will lead you directly to the person whose picture is on it, and you’ll feel like you’ve known them and have loved them for years.)
PHASE IV [ 1245 ] But not all is fun and games and shenanigans. There is something...well, strange happening, and the first real realization of that will be when it starts to rain. More than just the localized rain that a few unfortunates have dealt with -- no, it’s raining completely and totally, and that’s when it might hit you.
For the first time in Cerealia, there’s weather.
It’ll rain for a few hours, and then it’ll stop and become hot and sunny. It may get humid, considering it’s a jungle planet. At night, it’ll get rather cold.
Seems like whatever was keeping Cerealia’s atmosphere stable is now gone -- which also means that characters may start to occasionally experience headaches, nausea and dizziness if they go too close to the walls. It seems safer in the center of the city, and the Residential District is still okay, but… there’s no doubt that the planet’s atmosphere is starting to encroach on the city.
BONUS [ why o'clock ] But who cares about all of that? More importantly, you are here in this… totally not shoddy city to have fun, and it’s still being advertised as a pleasure colony. Or, well, it would be if, you know, CERES was still around.
But close enough.
And as a pleasure colony, it would figure that the first robots to really get fixed are...well, the Pleasure District robots. Unfortunately, the Pleasure District is still a nice big mess, so now they’re wandering the entire colony, looking for people they can hug, massage or...try to drag into more explicit activities.
Welcome to Cerealia!
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Her face screws up in anger and misery, but she can't kick out again without potentially striking him, so she stamps her foot instead]
Is stupid! Why here? Why-- them?!
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...Hard to tell this time, huh? 'Cause CERES isn't really around to blame.
[And then a sloping shrug. He glances back over his shoulder toward Oona.]
Good to see you back, though.
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Ah-- Yeah... It is... good to be back? [uncertainly she crosses her arms over her chest and tilts her head one direction and then the other] It is strange, but this is only home I know now.
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[He sounds pretty irritated, if only for the fact that he'd have also liked to deck CERES himself and he still has a very ingrained Shinsengumi-colored view of retreating.]
Mm... Well, your home's a little trashed. Sorry 'bout that. [A vague gesture behind him, beyond the pile of bodies and out toward the ruined sanctuary.] Things are a mess right now.
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[She laughs a little, resting her hands on her hips as she surveys the damaged sanctuary.] Ahh, we worked so hard on this... Well, I did not. But I was there. I ate the food.
[She smiles and wonders why her heart hurts so much] No matter, can rebuild. Anything destroyed can be fixed and built again. That is what I have learned here. [She looks meaningfully towards the totally-not-corpse of Sousei and then abruptly turns away]
What is everyone doing? Or is it just, ehh... Chickens, without heads?
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[Which he says a little too cavalierly, even though he's pretty annoyed about that too. Rude, CERES. He doesn't like the notion of so many people just being thrown away.
Her description of all the help she gave during the sanctuary build makes him laugh a little, though. He pointedly avoids looking over at that fake deadass Sousei.]
You're right about that, though. Most of it's headless chicken stuff but a group checked out the tower to see if anything was left behind. The eye chips are broken now too, so we don't have to worry too much about rebuilding this place super fast.
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[She's listens carefully and makes a face, again. Eye chips. Ew. At least they're not working so, small miracles.] And the tower? Find anything useful?
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[Or because being abandoned sucks?? But that's a given and he's more inclined to leave it unsaid, anyway.]
They didn't find a single trace of Mosley, for one... But there were some messages from the Flamines that basically proved they were running away from 'em, I think.
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Messages? Saying what? CERES said before, way back before, that they were protecting us from them, or something, weren't they? But turn tail and run now? Tch. More lies! Cowards!
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[That sure did backfire if it really was their plan, though?!]