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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What was the deal with those fake bodies, anyway? They were fake, right?
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[The entire thing is kind of depressing, in more ways than one.]
Yeah, probably. I couldn't tell you what the heck that was supposed to mean, but I don't think they were real.
... Though it'd be a lie to say that this place can't be deadly at times.
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How so?
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[...]
All of the technology in this place went out of control at one point, and in a city dominated by technology, including transportation, you can imagine how this proved to be dangerous.
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Was a lot of people hurt?
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Yes. It... really wasn't a pretty sight during the most chaotic moments. [...] A train, if you know that that is, derailed off the tracks and crashed into buildings at one point.
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I know. [What a train is, he means.] I didn't think about that . . . It must have been a rough time for everyone.
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[It's really weird. Karl's not used to so much mundane.]
Ah, you'll have to get a job... and sorry, but are you under eighteen? You'll probably have to go to school too...
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They offered me a job as an "explosive chess tester" when I cleared ViViD for the first time. I'm not sure what it means, but it sounds fun.
I wouldn't mind going to school, either, but does CERES consider that really necessary for us?
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[???]
Who knows? Maybe it was their attempt to make things seem normal around here.
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I wonder if they teach the same things here as back home. I'll go to check it out.
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[School was so long ago for Karl...]
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Karl-san, what do you do for a living here?
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I work as a friendship counselor!
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... I'm not the best judge on what that means, but that's a word I've heard someone use. But it's pretty advanced in some ways, too—I'm familiar with technology here that I know some others weren't, or at least that seemed out of place based on first impressions of my world?
[How to explain that JRPG blend of medieval + sci-fi...]
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[But it sounds very interesting. He'd see it if he had the chance.]
Where I'm from, the technology isn't as refined, but we've got some stuff of our own.
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[Come when it's not under threat from demons and monsters... which is never, so eh, come whenever.]
Yeah? Like what?
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Oh, yours, too? The stuff I did during our first meeting in ViViD was thanks to technology from another world. It's called a Trigger.
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Really? You're one of the first people I've met who also comes from a place that's familiar with the idea of other worlds!
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I thought it was the case for everyone, but I guess not . . .
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There's a ship. It can't carry many of us, so the selection process is pretty strict.
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