[SP-F1] The Start of Everything

[Guest]

Well, this was it.

Two months and several hundred dollars later, and he finally had it. He could have just waited for a North American release. He regretted having to buy it off the internet. There was almost no way he hadn't gotten a terrible deal on all that equipment. That guy was probably selling it way overpriced. But at this point, he didn't care. Brody had the day off from work today, and he was going to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

There were two boxes resting on his bed. One was a large cardboard box, and the other was a smaller rectangular box. Brody picked up the smaller of the two, and gave a close inspection of the box in his hands. It was mostly black and dark blue, with lighter blue detailing and lettering. Some Japanese characters were prominently displayed on the front cover, and underneath them in smaller English was written the game's title: Sword Art Online.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Q

[Guest]

Brody didn't really know much about Sword Art Online. Everything he knew about the game came from conversations he'd had with various customers at the games store he worked at when they had come in to pre-order a copy of the game, as well as some tidbits he'd found while forum browsing. From what he'd heard, it was one of those World of Warcraft style MMO-RPG type things that always seemed to be so popular with nowadays, especially with teenagers. The game required some special gear to play, including a VR helmet. Apparently, this game was being  marketed as "one of the most immersive gaming experiences ever created". Brody laughed at such promises. After all, what game didn't make such claims?

Brody had woken up early to start installing the game. He figured that a game as experimental and complex as a virtual reality MMO would take a good amount of time. Brody booted up his desktop computer and put the disk in the disk drive. At times like these, he was glad that he had insisted on getting a computer that had a physical disk drive. Sure, you could get it all digitally, but it was always a good idea to keep an actual disk for the game handy just in case.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Q

[Guest]

He knew that the game might take a while, but this was ridiculous. It had taken pretty much all day for his game to finally finish downloading. He'd spent the day in downtown, meeting up with some old friends and helping move some stuff into their new apartment. Afterwards, they had spent some time together at a little diner they liked to visit. When he got back home, the game was still going. 

After the game finally finished installing, he needed to give himself an in-game username. This was always the hardest part in any game. He thought about it, and then entered a name: Winter_Fox.

Username Taken. Please select another.

Of course it was. Brody tried again with a different username: Autumn_Prince. Same result.

Getting frustrated at this point, Brody decided to try for something completely different. He put in a singular letter Q, followed by 3 spaces.

Accepted. Well, he hadn't been expecting it to work, but it looked like he was stuck with it.

Everything was ready. He picked up the helmet and leaned back in his office chair. Then, after thinking for a second, he moved over to the bed. He didn't want to fall out of the chair and end up on the floor in the middle of a boss fight or something. Taking his glasses off, he put the nerve gear on and clicked the 'Play' button on the game launcher. He heard the whirring of his computer fans as the game started to load up. He laid down flat on the bed, and then he closed his eyes.

=Link Start=

Edited March 27, 2016 by Q

[Guest]

The first thing the game wanted him to do was customize his appearance. A full body image of his avatars stood on display, and a whole host of options flanked one side of it.

This was the part that Brody always spent the longest time on. He meticulously edited the various sliders and drop menus until the finished product stood before him. Brody selected the 'Finish Character' button and waited.

At first, there was nothing but darkness. There was no sound, no color, nothing. It was as if the entirety of the universe had disappeared, leaving nothing behind save the endless black silence of the void. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

The first sensation that came to him was sound. At first it was quiet, barely noticeable. Then, without warning, it grew into a deafening roar. A few moments later, a flash of colors lit up his entire field of vision, eventually condensing into a blinding white. He shut his eyes.

And then the roar in his ears stopped, and was replaced with the sounds of a busy city. People's voices, the sound of birds. He cracked open his eyes.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Q

[Guest]

He was standing in what he imagined a town square would look like in an old Italian city. Old looking tan and beige buildings with red tile roofs surrounded the circular plaza, in the center of which was a grand fountain. Jets of water sprayed upwards into the air from the top of the fountain, only to be blown into a cooling mist by a gentle wind which rustled the curtains of the open windows of the nearby buildings.. A central spire towered over the courtyard, rising high above his head.

This was the starting zone. This area was absolutely brimming with players, of all shapes, sizes, and levels. People talked to one another as they walked between NPCs, selling items and turning in quests. He saw a group of players walk towards one of the main streets which exited off of the plaza, all of them wearing color-coded armor to match each other. It didn't take long for groups of players to form in games like these.

Brody walked over towards the fountain and looked into the water. His created character model stared back at him in the reflection, with emerald eyes and short red hair.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Q

[Guest]

It was an awful lot to take in. A whole host of sights, sounds, and smells of a world similar to, but not entirely, his own. It was unlike anything that Brody had ever experienced. It would seem that the box wasn't exaggerating all those claims they made about the game being an 'immersive experience'.

One of the players from the color-coded group saw Brody standing there in the middle of the square staring up at the sky, dazed and slightly taken aback by the sudden sensations. With a chuckle, he walked over and gently tapped Brody on the shoulder to get his attention. Brody jumped slightly at the unexpected contact, but eventually calmed down and turned his head to look at the other player, who gave him a smile.

"First time logging in? Don't worry, you'll get used to it." He patted him on the shoulder, and then jogged back over towards his friends, who were starting to walk down one of the many streets that branched off from the central plaza.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Q

[Guest]

It took him a little bit, but Brody was able to open up his menu. After spending a good five minutes making random hand motions and making himself look like a total dunce, he finally got the player menu open. All he had to do was put his hand out in front of him and swipe down. He was kind of disappointed at the lack of a tutorial, but there were several NPC's around the starting area that gave basic information about the game.

In the menu, there were several circular tabs that he could select. There was an 'Info' tab that showed all of his current stats. The tab marked 'Social' allowed him to set social settings, everything from chat to who was allowed to view his stats. Of course, there was a 'Help' tab so that he could look up things like controls and report problems to the developers. Now that he at least knew how to open up his menu, getting to the 'Help' tab if he needed to review any controls shouldn't be that much of a hassle. And finally, at the very bottom there was the Settings tab, where he could customize resolution, audio volume, and other stuff like that. 

After messing around for a bit with the volume settings, he decided to check the 'Inventory' tab to see what he had to work with. After all, games like this usually gave the player some kind of base equipment.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Q

[Guest]

The game started everyone off with a basic set of armor, a decent amount of in-game currency, some bread, and a bit of water. Pretty standard, as far as online games went. However, there seemed to be something very important missing from his equipment.

"No weapons. Probably going to need one of those." Brody mumbled to himself under his breath. The fact that he didn't start with a weapon disappointed him at first, but after thinking about it for a little bit, he shrugged it off. Every player was going to want to fight differently, so it didn't make sense to start everyone off with the same weapon. 

He looked around the starting area and found a market stall selling weapons, around which a large group of new players crowded around. Brody walked to the side of the crowd and interacted with the NPC running the shop. It looked like an older gentleman, dressed in plain but respectable attire, with a mustache that would make a Victorian hat salesman envious.

Upon selecting the shopkeeper, a selection menu popped up, and a line of dialogue was given off by the old man.

"Welcome, young adventurer. I don't have much, but feel free to browse my wares, and let me know if anything catches your eye."

Edited March 26, 2016 by Q

[Guest]

The item selection menu that popped up provided Brody with a range of options when it came to weapons, from a large two-handed battleaxe to spears, broadswords to curved blades. Every weapon cost the same amount at this stall, which conveniently happened to be the exact amount every player started with. The old merchant also sold armor, as well as other odds and ends. But what Brody really needed right now was something to defend himself, so he focused mainly on picking a weapon for himself.

Brody browsed for a bit. He didn't have the physical capabilities to pull off using one of the larger weapons. The curved swords looked promising at first, with stuff like cutlasses and scimitars. However, it wasn't long before his eyes were drawn towards the rapiers and dueling swords. It had been a long time since that high school fencing class, but something seemed right about it. He clicked and dragged the rapier picture over into his inventory and selected the 'Complete Transaction' button. A sound effect played, the money was subtracted, and the sword was added to his inventory.

In addition, another sound effect played. A text box with the words 'Quest Complete!' appeared in Brody's vision. It stayed present for a little while, then faded out. Brody decided that he'd check up on that later, after he'd left the merchant stall. Nodding his thanks to the NPC shopkeeper, Brody exited the shop menu.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Q

[Guest]

Brody stepped back away from the stall and equipped his sword. The weapon appeared at his side, scabbard and all. He considered giving it a few test swings to test the quality. However, before he could do anything else, he began to hear a commotion behind him. He looked around to see many players appearing around the central fountain. At first, he wrote it off as new players logging in for the first time, same as he did. But eventually, the plaza was packed with players, and Brody began to wonder if some kind of in-game event was going on.

A small red shape appeared up in the space above the fountain. It blinked a few a times at first, and then another identical red shape appeared next to the first. It wasn't long before the whole sky above the starting area was bathed in a red glow. From in between the hexagons in the sky, something began to descend and coalesce. Brody watched with a mixture of fear and excitement at the spectacle before him. They sure did spare no expense in the animation department.

Eventually, whatever was in the sky took on the form of a gigantic man in a red robe. A large hood obscured his features. The figure raised his hands and began to speak...

Edited March 26, 2016 by Q