...Static blue and gray, 1 0 1. The world of the System.
Not too long after I log in...
I was greeted by a girl, she never introduced herself but many people would just call her the Intro Girl, which is probably true but not really, her voice is quite generic but there is something eerie about it... oddly a bit too human-like.
The reason why I said this girl is not the intro girl, its because she"s not just been part of the start.
Nuh-uh
She is always with you… wherever you go, she will be there beside you.
Out of nowhere after long years of the game has been released… Someone dig deeper into it and discovered, that she is also the one behind the [Notifications]
So, he named her… the System
She is staring at me right now with widened eyes, although it"s probably because this is how the Devs programmed her.
Still creepy nonetheless.
The creepiness is gone and it turns into a good feeling.
"Ahh, the nostalgia" I thought to myself.
"Yes, please!" I said.
The girl lifted one of her arms, and we flew through the slope of blue zeroes and ones. It feels as if we are moving at Mach speed and then we stopped abruptly.
All the interface appeared, the Forums, Status, Social Media, Auction House and more. Although all of them are locked, except one thing, the Character Creation.
The Realism mode, I haven"t tried it before, mainly because of how hard it is.
The girl explanation is quite lengthy, but basically, everything that happens in this world and to you as well will feel — well of course — Realistic.
The air, the scenery and it all upgraded as well.
There is no pain reduction, no aim a.s.sist, and there are a lot more survival mechanics added to the Realism mode.
But those are the reason that turns off people from using this Mode. They start the game with it and an hour later, all of them went to request a refund.
Why did you say?
Well, it"s…
Mainly because of the Pain Reduction, people are so used to having either no Pain at all or just 30% at maximum, less than that… everyone would call you a madman.
Obviously, since there are numerous changes to the gameplay, it would take a while for people to adjust and they just don"t have the time for it, it"s not because they"re busy leveling to earn a living, no… well that too, but…
Even when someone having so much money, there is always something else to do, building a guild, clan, collecting rare items, and more. So, people just don"t have the time to actually "Enjoy" the game.
It"s as if a race, the discovery of rare items are precious, the first time they hit Auction House, people would swarm to get their hands on it and the owner would get instant fame right away.
But, by the time the items become more common, the price drop fast, and the fame starts to slowly fade away. That is why people want to be the first discovering that rare item to make money and then make more money using the newly found fame.
Well, that was how it is for me... at first at least.
Anyway, the pain from being cut in half is just terrible, unless one is a heavy m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t n.o.body would pick this mode, I"m sure of it... maybe.
Another limitation is okay, it"s alright.
But even though the System mentioned many changes in Survival Mechanics, she never explained anything, no one knows what has changed. Yes, no one knows the difference to the Normal Mode other than the Realistic Pain experience. There are some mad lad that was trying to do it and compile a list of the changes, they are called Researcher. But even they have given up on it as well.
No matter what you said, it doesn"t change the fact that it brought mental trauma for many people that uses it. However, the idea itself is… Intriguing for me, it is essentially a full-scale Immersion and I love that.
She then guides me through the Character Creation, her explanation is simple and easy to understand, I love it.
So, I went to customize my character, nothing has changed appearance-wise, I just change the hairstyle a bit, to be shorter and wavy. I like the way I look, a nerdy-bookworm is never a bad thing, I just need gla.s.ses and it will be complete.
Unfortunately, this game won"t give that to me.
My chest is quite flat and I kind of want to change that but decided not to.
The race is of course Human. There are many other races, such as Elves, Dwarfs, Lizardman, Beast Race and more. Typical Fantasy race along with their advanced Racial Evolution.
I just like Origin, old school, or whatever you call it.
There are also Heteromorphy Race here as well, such as Undead, Slimes, or even a Giant. However, it comes with a severe drawback, and that is... Progression.
Heteromorphy Race has a unique Progression, it"s quite interesting if one were to pick Undead, they first start as a Skeleton and then evolved to a higher form to Lich, Death Knight and more.
Though the Progression can be a painful one, hard is one thing but it"s more because of the Requirement, the Rank Up is different, and the Evolution requires one to do almost an Impossible thing.
One example would be for a Lich to Evolve to Grand Lich, which requires you to kill 100 NPC and 10 Friendly NPC, and the evolution of Arch-Lich is even more punishing. n.o.body would want to kill a Friendly NPC unless one is truly an idiot or just insane.
That is NPC (Non-Player Character) not Enemies, and NPC is mostly neutral.
So, not many people pick this one and I won"t.
Each race has its own "Evolution" Tree, for example, an Elf having completed the requirements for Evolution, then they will unlock many evolutions such as Dark-Elves, High-Elves, Wood-Elves, and Holy-Elves.
Another example would be when they choose for a High-Elf, then they will become a Superior High-Elf until they undergo the last challenge of the final Evolution and become Apostle of the Forest, Gaia.
Although a Human does not have an Evolution Tree, they are still a decent race and most common.
There"s quite a backlash because of it has no Evolution Tree, but that quickly died down because they compensated it for a better progression.
Last time, I chose a priest as my Occupation and got a unique cla.s.s Chronomancer, even as far as obtaining its Benediction, a unique Innate Ability available after completing a certain hidden quest, and it is hard.
Some Cla.s.s comes with their Benediction after one undergoes a Rank UP. However, they are quite common and easy to be countered when playing PVP.
There are 3 types of Cla.s.s and people can pick up to 5 Cla.s.s in one Occupation, of course, the more one chooses the more complicated the Builds are. Because you need to configure its stats manually, so that one not to intertwined with the other.
However, one can choose an already created Occupation by Default in the System, or pick one custom made by other Players, which has already been Pre-Configured so you don"t have to.
The highest-ranking Occupation right now is Magic Swordsman, which emphasized the use of Warrior and Mage. Both of them are in Base Cla.s.s.
Well, just because it"s not an advanced cla.s.s, doesn"t mean that it"s bad.
What I did before was to pick one cla.s.s and modified the stats myself, and render Priest Cla.s.s as my Occupation.
The said Priest is also in the Base Cla.s.s.
So, 3 types of cla.s.s— there are Base Cla.s.s, Advanced Cla.s.s, and lastly Pinnacle Cla.s.s. Players can choose any of the Cla.s.ses right away, with each of them has their pros and cons.
My playstyle is always been a long-range Attacker or Support, I never like to move around much nor doing any kind of sick move, so this time I will be playing as... a Mage.
I"m sure you already know what a Mage is, but just to be clear… it is not JUST a Spell Caster.
There are other types of Spell Caster, Wizard in Advanced Cla.s.s or Magician in Pinnacle Cla.s.s, and as for Mage, it is in the Base Cla.s.s.
Why I pick a Base Cla.s.s? Just like a Priest, I want to play it safe and have a steady progression.
Base Cla.s.s has the easiest and most comfortable Progression than any of the other Cla.s.ses.
And as for the stats…
This again, she"s quite persistent about it.
I thought about it for a while, this game is truly a Revolutionary piece of art…
Wait a minute, what am I even talking about…
I don"t even know what I"m saying anymore, but the point I"m making is that even after 6 years since the game released in my past life, the game content consumption has only achieved 40% of the total Content, that means there are still 60% left to explore and not to mention the expansion that came out over the years.
I may be a genius and know many things about the game, but compared to what actually in the game itself… I feel irrelevant... Insignificant to the endless content of this game.
"All right, I"ve decided"
I steeled my resolve, clenching my b.u.t.t tight and said, "Yes"
[Realism Mode, Activated]
"Not even asking if I"m sure of it or not, huh…"
The interface generally looks blue but I customized it to an ashen like color, which pleasing to my eyes, I love the way it looks.
! {Thank you for purchasing Ekolia, and enjoy your new life... in the Second Earth"
Soon after, the image went blank
The moment I opened my eyes, I got transported to another location
A Prison in the Underworld
...
Cla.s.sic.