"Welcome to Aisling Hotel!" the perky receptionist behind the sleek white counter smiled. "How may I help you this evening?"
It had taken Marcie a week to pluck up the courage to walk into the elegant looking building, especially after finding out that the coupon she received was valid for gameplay only, it didn't include cost of staying in the hotel itself. She had asked her friends and her shut-in roommate if they had ever tried playing. Some of them had tried it, most had given up because it 'wasn't their thing.' Once she was assured it wasn't a horrifying experience, she had decided she would go on Friday night.
And so she found herself there.
"Um, I have a sixty-five hour coupon I'd like to redeem."
"Certainly! Which game are you lookin to play?"
"Otherworld."
"Okie dokie!" the receptionist tapped into her computer and clicked around. "We have a standard room, premium room and a suite available. Which one would you prefer?"
"What's the difference?"
"A standard room is twelve dollars and has eight capsules, a premium room is fifty dollars and has four capsules and a suite is four hundred dollars but it's entirely private."
"Oh, um... a premium room, please."
"And how long will you be staying with us?"
"Just one night."
"Right-o! That's a total of fifty dollars, then. Breakfast is included in the price and is served from seven o'clock to nine o'clock, we currently have a new seasonal menu curated by Kaori herself! There are fresh towels in the en-suite for you to use and check-out is at twelve o'clock sharp." the lady scanned Marcie's QR code, tapping into the computer, activating a key card and handing it over before mumbling into her radio - a staff member appearing less than three seconds after. "You're in room thirteen-ten, Jin here will take you up!"
"Thank you." she nodded, following the young man who politely, silently guided her to her room.
The thirteenth floor was decked out floor-to-ceiling in a trippy combination of cracked mirrors, LED screens and pink and blue neon lights. Marcie could barely see where the walls were, never mind where the hell her room actually was and if she didn't have a staff member escorting her she probably would've gotten lost, given up hope, had a break down and died of dysentery.
"Welcome!" A girl with bright blue hair greeted her as the staff member left her off at room 1310. "Can you scan your room card for me just there... great, thank you! You're in capsule A, so here are your headphones and headset. Would you like to book a wake-up call?"
"Um... no?"
"Okay! The login screen is right here on this panel, just enter your player ID and it'll confirm your face ID and you'll be all set!"
"I don't... have an ID yet." Marcie admitted sheepishly, jumping slightly at the girl's dramatic gasp.
"Oh my God! You're a baby! Okay, come on in then and I'll explain it."
Surprisingly, the actual hotel room was very ordinary compared to the insane decoration outside. It was dimly lit with four pristine white capsules, three of them with purple LED lights and one that was off.
"Okay, basics first... the locker for your clothes is actually on the back part of the capsule, you can scan your key card to open it. This bathroom behind you is a private one for your use only."
"Right. Got it."
"Okay, so since you've never played before, when you get into the capsule you'll need to enter your coupon number and then try your best to relax. Don't worry if you don't log any hours this time, you won't be down any hours on the coupon if the game never starts. Do you have any questions?"
"Just one." Marcie pulled the Official Strategy Guide out of her tote bag and showed the girl. "I keep hearing that Otherworld is an RPG, but others say it's a MOBA game, so... which is it?"
"It's both! The guide you have there is for the MOBA game. You have to play the RPG first, then once you finish it, you'll be able to have access to the MOBA edition."
"Why can't I just play the MOBA first?"
"Oooooh, you wouldn't want to dive in there." the girl laughed. "You can't, actually. See, how strong your character is in the MOBA game depends entirely on how well you increase your stats and skills during the RPG stage. The RPG is a linear ga- do you know what that means?"
"No."
"So in the RPG there's a storyline and you have to play through it, all the while increasing your skills. If you don't increase your skills, then you won't be able to finish the RPG! So to get really good at MOBA, it's worth it to spend time grinding - uh - doing some repetitive tasks - in order to level up your character. But you have to be careful - don't just speedrun the RPG - once you complete the RPG part of the game, your base stats are fixed at those values for MOBA."
"Oh, right. Sweet." Marcie smiled unconvincingly.
"Look, if you wanna get good at this game, you need to put the time in. But lucky for you joining now when there's a new scholar class! Lots of people would kill to be AoE." the girl assured her. "Plus their clothing choices are the prettiest so far in my opinion! Although you're free to buy all kinds of outfits later on."
This was one verifiable fact Marcie knew to be true, as she had discovered when she studied the guide. Scholars did have the prettiest clothing choices, but Mages came pretty close. Of course the one thing that had stuck in her mind were the pretty drawings of the characters, but with that stuck the information about tailor stores being the only place where you could buy new outfits.
"So, the important stuff - the exterior open handle is here," she began, pressing on a small panel with 'open' embossed on it. "The interior open handle is that green one right there. The capsules don't seal shut or anything, so there's airflow all around the edges. If you want to end the game at any time, there's an option in-game that's accessible by tapping on your left hand. I'll come and wake you up if you want to quit. Otherwise, you can set the amount of hours you want to play after you enter the coupon code. Just don't forget to save your game before you exit."
"Left hand for exiting the game, save before exiting. Okay, got it."
The capsule was much more comfy than she had anticipated, that was for sure. Maybe it was the ambient music playing through the headphones, or how weightless she felt leaning back at a forty-five degree angle. Whatever it was, it made her relax so much that she could be melting into the capsule and would have no idea whatsoever. She could absolutely understand why some people invested in one if they...
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if they...
https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Ff9rjdH7.png [https://i.imgur.com/f9rjdH7.png]
[Welcome to Otherworld]
[Please enter your desired player ID]
["MrsOuyangDara" this ID is unavailable.]
["MrsOuyangDara1" this ID is unavailable.]
["MrsOuyangDara99" this ID is unavailable.]
["IncrediblePantaloons" this ID is unavailable]
["LíBan" this ID is available!]
[Confirm ID Selection?]
[Confirm / Let Me Think]
[Welcome to Otherworld, LíBan!]
[Please choose your class. Note! This cannot be changed during the game]
Light gradually lit up the scene and Marcie found herself standing in the middle of a circular tower room with six stained glass windows and a different class of hero in front of each. It took her point-three seconds to figure out that facing a character would make them perform a cool swishy-swashy move and so she span around as fast as she could to see if they would all perform their move at the same time, stopping once she succeeded.
The first stained glass window had 'Warrior' inscribed at the top and a fairly average looking hero in front, sword and shield in hand. Nah.
The second window was green and was for the 'Medic' class.
The third window was purple for the 'Mage' class.
The fourth was red for 'Tank' class.
The fifth was blue for 'Ranger' class.
The sixth was yellow for 'Scholar' class.
Marcie looked between the Mage, Ranger and Scholar heroes. Casting spells was pretty fucking cool, but so was using a bow and arrow or other long-range weapons, and after thinking about it she supposed that they were probably quite similar in some ways. The Scholar class was what everyone was losing their shit over. She looked back over to Mage, a pretty female hero with long flowing hair and a flowing dress with pretty pink orbs floating around her and a staff in her hand. The Scholar hero was holding a harp in her hand, her green robes flowing too in some imaginary wind. Her mind kept traveling back to the VCR where one shot took out a whole group of enemies. That was pretty damn cool, too.
Would it be better to go with the Scholar class?
If anything, it would make her feel less like a complete dipshit if she didn't get the hang of this gaming stuff right away since it was new for everyone.
Hmm...
"How the fuck do people make this choice?" she whined. "Fuck it."
[Choose Scholar?]
[Confirm / Let Me Think]
A bright white flash blinded her for a split second, bright enough for her to cover her eyes with her arm until it died down. When it seemed safe, Marcie opened her eyes slowly and stood up straight. A town?
[Welcome to Hamletville]
"Hamletville? Creative geniuses, these lot." Marcie snorted, swinging her arms as she set off down the main street.
The cobbled road was filled with villagers in ye olde clothes, selling fruit and vegetables and clothing. A few buildings had open doors with highlighted signage, the other shops and houses had their doors painted on, it seemed.
"Liban! Liban! Mom is looking for you! She says you're in big trouble!" a little boy, presumably her brother, sneered at her. "You're really gonna get it now!"
"Is that right?"
"Are you scared? Are you gonna cry?" he teased, mocking her with dramatic sobs, and that was all it took for her to start towards him, breaking into a run as the little shit legged it through the streets.
Being out of breath was still something that could happen to you in a game, it seemed, as Marcie nearly found herself on the ground gasping for air by the time the boy led her back to their family home.
"Liban! How many times have I told you to close the upstairs windows? The cat escaped! Go find him before I box your ears in!"
[Mission: Find Chester the Cat. It looks like he might have left a trail of destruction in his wake...]
Before Marcie had a chance to even look around the modest wooden house, she was shoved unceremoniously out the back door where a wreckage of flower pots formed a path leading towards a shady forest.
Great.
Marcie started towards the forest but stopped at the end of the garden where the gate was wide open. What if there were enemies in the forest? She didn't even know how strong she was. Tapping her left hand, a menu popped up:
[PAUSE]
[SAVE GAME]
[STATUS]
[BAG]
[CRYSTAL GRID]
[EXIT]
[STATUS: NORMAL]
"Normal? As opposed to what?" Marcie tapped the X and tried again.
[CRYSTAL GRID: LIBAN]
[HP: 30]
[STRENGTH: 10]
[SPEED: 15]
[ATTACK: 10]
[MANA: 15]
[DEFENSE: 10]
[EVASION: 5]
[ACCURACY: 10]
"My speed is fifteen but my evasion is five? What the fuck does that even- aren't they the same thing? Surely if I'm faster I can evade more attacks? Fuckin- whatever, let's just do this." Marcie flipped her hair over her shoulder and marched towards the forest, wondering if it was even possible for her clothes to get dirty in game world.
[You have entered Leafy Forest]
"Leafy forest? Wow, it gets better." she commented, now following the conveniently perfectly shaped paw prints in the forest floor and decided to try calling the cat's name, just in case it happened to answer: "Chester? ...Cheeeessssstee-JESUS CHRIST!"
[Enemy: Forest Sprite]
A small green, planty looking thing jumped towards her and in a panic, she swatted it away, sending it flying back to the forest floor where it hopped back to the centre of the path.
[Tutorial: Use a Normal attack against this enemy. To execute a Normal attack, use your hands or feet to subdue your enemy.]
"It's just a plant..." Marcie mumbled, though raised her fists when she remembered the damn thing jumped at her. It was too low to punch, so maybe a kick would do the trick.
Worried that she would startle it, she slowly shuffled towards the Forest Sprite, hands still raised in case it jumped again. It only reached half-way up her shin and so without hesitation, she swung her right leg and booted the plant as hard as she could, her foot flying high in the air as the plant remained rooted to the ground, bending back as it took the hit.
A vine shot out from the Sprite, slapping her in the arm hard enough to make her yelp and in her surprise she stomped on the damn thing with her boot, jumping back as it squealed and fell, in her opinion, a tad over-dramatically to the forest floor before fading away.
[Tutorial Complete: Victory! You have gained 4 EXP]
"Sweet." she nodded, disappointed that her Crystal Grid didn't show any change in her stats, but it did show that she only needed 6 EXP to level up. "I'll be a pro in no time."