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⬣//A SINGLE CRACK LETS THE LIGHT IN.
As they say, fortune favors the brave. Five lucky players took part in a Limited Quest: The Mysterious Sky Islands, in which they discovered a brand new Root Town. While the team was largely successful in their efforts to make the mysterious floating town in the sky habitable, not everyone embraced the spirit of teamwork on this journey.
When you gate in to this shiny new Root Town, you'll notice something curious: it has no name. Its name simply displays as "???" in every context menu and there is no signage around the Root Town itself that points to its true name— rather, the name it had before they came along.
Whispers on the wind tell of an evil wizard in flowing white robes who ruthlessly boiled the village elder alive. With him died all of this mysterious Root Town's lore and history, and in its place are tales of the monster who robbed this land of its identity. The elemental sprites that populate this village refuse to speak their name, simply wishing you "good luck, have fun!" as you turn to leave.
While on your journey to check out the island, you'll notice how unstable the bridges are. Unstable might be putting it lightly, because for some unlucky souls, crossing the wrong bridge means plummeting to your death. It seems that whoever was put in charge of constructing these bridges didn't give a damn about structural integrity.
The local sprites are pleading with adventurers to assist them in building better, more stable bridges, but bridging the gap between one island and the next is not a job for a single person. If you have enough of a heart to heed the pleas of the sprites, you'll want to work with your fellow players to get the job done. All the wood, nails, and rope you need to construct better bridges has been helpfully supplied to you by the sprites. You could always sabotage the project too, of course, but what kind of person would you be if you did that?
The professions system has been added to fragment. Rejoice, busybodies, for there is much furniture to be built and dubious potions brewed.
In celebration of the new crafting & gathering system, a crafts festival is being held in the Unnamed Root Town. Take care not to plummet to your death while traversing those rickety bridges.
Players are encouraged to set up a booth of their own and trade their unique handcrafted items with their fellow adventurers. In addition to being supplied with enough level 1 and level 2 crafting materials to give the crafting system a spin, the local NPCs are running a contest encouraging people to come up with their own for a chance to have their creations canonized as real crafting recipes.
To submit your own recipe ideas, you need only fill out this handy form:
Recipe name:
Recipe category: Alchemist, Carpenter, Chef, or Jeweler?
Which two items does your recipe call for? Choose two items to combine. Only gatherable items (refer to the professions page) can be used.
Effect: What does this item do, if anything?
Description: A brief description of your lovely new product.
Fragment's beta test has seen its fair share of unusual bugs and unintended features, and with the latest update bringing many new changes, it's inevitable that some things have broken behind the scenes.
If two players happen to log in at the same time, they might find their avatars swapped with one another's. Thankfully, this issue doesn't lead to the unpleasant exchange of deep-seated memories or anything of the sort, but getting used to a body that isn't yours takes time. Thankfully, this particular bug resolves itself when both players log out.
The windy town of Unnamed Root Town is generally quite scenic and pleasant, but there's just one issue. It's far, far windier than it should be. If the rickety bridges don't kill you, the gusts that intermittently blow across the sky islands might knock you off your feet if you don't watch your footing carefully. Thankfully, the crafts festival on the southernmost end of the island hasn't been impacted by the severe winds. Among them is one voice that you don't recognize: a voice that promises a death, gruesome and bloody, in the days to come.
To everyone's relief, the carnival and its notorious hall of mirrors has packed up and left Lumina Cloth, but your past hasn't finished haunting you. The foul winds carry whispers of the past along with them, uttering words and phrases uncomfortably familiar to you. They're the voices of your past, the voices of people you've known, loved, and lost. Covering your ears won't keep the voices out of your ears. Nothing will.
Finally, on the more mundane some of things, professions have a few kinks of their own that need to be worked out. Occasionally, a crafted item won't come out quite right, instead resulting in one of the following "items":
Alchemist: Truth Serum. Become unable to lie for 24 hours.
Blacksmith: Whatever you're enhancing transforms into a denim disaster. Introducing your new "body" armor, "leg" armor, "head" armor, and "arm" armor.
Carpenter: Mirror Mirror. Reflects the person you're most afraid of becoming.
Chef: Durian Delight. A succulent durian pudding that reeks so strongly that its stench can be smelled all across the Root Town or Area you're occupying.
Jeweler: Crystal Ball. Breaks after one use but allows you to read another player's thoughts for five minutes.
With crafting in full swing, a certain admin has been lured out of his hidey hole by the smell of delicious chef-prepared meals. Hien is hungry, and you will feed him.
Chefs are not limited by the recipes they know like some professions are, so players are encouraged to think outside of the box and combine unique ingredients to cook up something truly special.
Taste, however, isn't the only important part of a perfect meal. Chefs looking to impress the big man himself are expected to present their culinary delights to him with pomp and finesse. You need to impress Hien if you want to gain more from this venture than the participation prize of a chef skin.
Those who successfully woo Hien with their delectable dishes will be given an additional prize: a little black pomchi pet to accompany their avatar around Root Towns and Special Areas. Hien will be giving these out at his discretion, so you better suck up to the dogboss in charge if you want a pomchi of your very own. If you catch Hien in a good mood, he may even agree to give you a different breed of dog if you ask nicely.
Hello, everyone! Can you believe it's been an entire month since our beta test began? Even though we've already been through a lot together, we've still got three months left! I'm rooting for you all!
As of today, the level cap has increased from 25 to 50. That means new armor and weapons will be available to you! Get out there to different Areas and start leveling up! But don't forget to stop every once in a while and enjoy your surroundings, too. Which reminds me—don't forget to check out the new Recreational Areas! We have a beach and hotsprings for you to enjoy now. I hope everyone continues to have fun exploring!
We've also opened up the GP shop, where you can create your own special armor set for a certain price, along with a few other things. Please check it out!
Oh, and don't forget to use these three new greeting cards I've made! Here they are! Make sure you use them so you can connect with your fellow players! We're all friends here, after all.
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At the question, he sort of shrugs. I'm not like that, he seems to conclude after a moment of mental hemming and hawing. He isn't sure what he wants, even as things happen - so he just lets it happen. And maybe after, he'll know if he prefers it one way or another. But not always. )
... I don't know. But... it's true I'm playing Fragment to see if it can teach me anything. I'm getting better at avoiding pain, for one. I used to not really avoid it.
( Not that I really mind, but it is inconvenient to get hurt... )
... But there are signs that I can pick up on that tell me when I should pull back, after a certain intensity of injury. I can't really practice that in real life.
( Since, of course, injuries don't heal this fast irl, )
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...Real life really is different from a game.
[ So of course there is that sense of convenience. Though, with the things that are happening lately, even that is in jeopardy. ]
But, why didn't you try avoiding it before you came here? Is it because of your condition?
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( Like cars...
Not that he's gotten hit yet, but there've been some close calls. )
There's buzz in the medical world that VR could be used as a means of recuperation for people like me. I can't say it's fixed me, but I think it's had some use. It makes the beta worthwhile, despite the risks... like the way deaths are handled.
( The way it knocks you unconscious in reality, he means. A force shutdown isn't safe for either a computer or brain... though he kind of forgot (in that he lacked the desire to recall) it's dangerous, at first, until he was recently reminded by a few people. )
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...And you're saying that playing can help you. Has helped you, just a little bit.
[ Everyone has their own reasons. But he supposes this is a case where the benefits may explicit outweight the cons.
As long as the situation does not deteriorate. ]
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It's teaching me something, I think. It can't fix what's not there. But it's better than nothing, despite the red flags at every corner.
( He knows they're there, he just doesn't have the desire to concern himself with the inevitable outcome. Just like the whole thing he said about the implications of mind-altering, mind-surveying technology - that he quickly lost the thread to.
Still, he recognizes there's a danger to himself, and here he's decided the potential gain outweighs the potential risk. It's this or sit around at home, and all. )
... But I assume most are just here because they were curious about the beta for the game's sake alone.
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[ Ganymede states, as he's here himself, and he knows how Mithrun is so questioning the other's actions isn't exactly worth it. There was a whole lot of interesting commentary in there including mentioning of someone or something else, he thinks. Though, speaking of their decisions and choices... ]
Probably. They certainly haven't weighed those kinds of pros and cons because their situation isn't like yours. We're all unique people here, after all.
Still, I think the motivation to 'stay' might have changed for some of us...
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Yeah. It has.
I never played games like this before. Or any video games at all. Starting to play this was out of a sense of curiosity...and now I'm sticking around for more than that.
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( With the 24 hour coma, and all. )
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[ And he doesn't want anyone else to experience what he did. Not to mention, the other shadier aspects which might not be drawn out if he just leaves things as-is.
The more that can be thrown at the company, the better. Also, the teensy itsy bitty selfish aspect to this, but shh. ]
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( No desires, and all. )
But this game is strange. I think there's more here than the developers want us to understand... Unless their intent really is to harm us.
( It's never impossible with big companies. )
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...I don't know. I wouldn't put it past them.
But, at the same time, I'd be wondering if the intention of harm would just be to see how well they can use the technology to their advantage to increase profits or something.
[ That's where his head goes. Though he wonders if even they understand the repercussions if that's true. ]