For the past week since learning of the existence of World Fragment Online, abbreviated as WFO, I spent a lot of time looking it up on the internet in an effort to obtain an informative head start. No one was too interested in the game when I brought it up with peers at work saying that it wasn't all too different from all the other VR games currently on the market and my immediate family wasn't in contact much after I moved out and as such, the only person truly interested in WFO was me, Jason.
'Twenty one years old and still playing video games like I was five. No wonder the folks looked down upon me so much." I mused to myself while holding the helmet in my hands before me that had arrived this morning.
According to the manual the helmet came with, the only thing that was required was a constant power source, a stable internet connection and a normal working brain. I felt pity for those who may not be able to play WFO due to brain issues but I'm not the developer so it wasn't like I could do anything about it.
Connecting the helmet to the power source beside my bed and laying down after putting it on my head, I was greeted with a computerized voice instructing me to say 'Shard Link' to start the calibration process. With me doing nothing but observing various scenary, this process took a little over an hour to complete as was stated by the timer to the bottom right of my vision. After this, the helmet created a 3-D version of myself as a skin head then listed three different character customization options: [Basic], [Advanced] and [Detailed].
Basic option allowed for selections of developer presets which I thought was to cater to the lazy so I immediately considered it non-viable. Advanced allowed for customization of multiple areas of the character model by making use of sliders and hair options. I played around with some of these by giving my 3-D model a bobble head, arms that extend all the way to my toes and a tiny torso before cancelling it and checking out the detailed option.
The detailed option allowed for free design, similar to how 3-D model programs worked, but with a limitation being set. There was a boundary outline which surrounded the character preventing insane modifications like changing your character into a walking penis.
Since detailed wasn't all that useful for me, I went with the advanced option and adjusted some of the sliders to give my character a toned build. As for the hair, I went with a wavy high fade style and changed my eye color to a bright yellow.
After customization, my 3-D model character disappeared and a slight vertigo which lasted for a few seconds over took me. Following this a monotone voice said, "Synchronization complete. No changes in height detected. Beginning second calibration, please try to walk."
I noticed that the 3-D model body, now equipped with a tight fitting armor, was me and the scenery had changed from a black space to a grass plains with a spot highlighted. After some difficultly and the continuous re-calibrations by the system, I managed to arrive at the designated spot. Next were a series of other actions like running, jumping, swimming in various forms, throwing an object, lifting a box and so on. Finally, there were strange tests like focusing on an object to keep it from disappearing, levitating an object within a certain range and making an object disappear. The last one was particularly difficult and took me a while before I could figure it out. The tests finally ended and the monotone voice then spoke.
"Character data saved. Would you like to log on now?"
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Eh, sure. Why not?"
"Please note that since official service has not started yet, you would not be able to access the main shard, Zera."
After that, the scenery broke and I fell through tunnel which had blue illuminated words written along the walls. Though I say words, they appeared to be gibberish to me and the letters themselves appeared to be constantly changing.
Eventually, I could see the end of the tunnel but what appeared was an ocean which looked like it was illuminated by a blue light. In this ocean, it looked there were several spots which had some unidentifiable thing in it that had it's color gradation deepen then sharply cut off at the thing's edges.
I then touched down onto the ocean or rather a translucent blue platform that expanded outwards in all directions and a short distance ahead of me, I could see an arch which had the words [World Gate - Inactive] in a 2-D name plate above it.
"Welcome to your shard." sounded the monotone voice, "You may modify this area as you wish. A character ID has been assigned, please verify details by checking your status screen. Access to Zera is allowed after twelve hours."
"Well with that out of the way, I should log out and prepare myself in the real world." I said to no one in particular before drawing a light circle with my finger by focusing on it and placing my palm in the center of it. This brought up a circular menu which had a slider area and a selection area.
* Status
* Skills
* Items
* Equipment
* Browser
* [Log Out]
According to the manual, with the finger I used to draw the circle, I can select an option and with any other finger I can cancel the selection or return from a sub menu. While this might convenient, it would take some time to get used to it but, the gameplay benefits would be enormous once it was done.
Logging out, I pulled the helmet off of my head and immediately went to the game website and forums to do some information digging.
By now more information had been released about the game such as the absence of defined classes and instead, skills can be learned from trainers, performing certain actions or obtaining a skill book. To level up a skill, simply using it is enough. Following that strangely enough, the only thing that can level up in this game were skills. Players didn't level up in this game and instead the only factors influencing their abilities were skills, equipment, items and their personal dexterity.
Magic in the game takes after the code system the game has in place in which if you want to create fire, you must code the details for it in either voice command or append it to a gesture. The developers game out the code to make a match flame as an example and to be honest, it wasn't all that complex:
>
Source: Right index finger, hover
Effect: Ignite, Domain
<
What this code would do would do is create a match flame effect that would hover above your right index finger. The flame could still cause self damage as there is no part in the code which tells it not to harm the user and since no source is defined, it would be automatically defaulted to the player's own mana pool. The good thing about the code system is, once you have successfully compiled a code three times on your own with no assistance from the game's systems, the game considers the code to be memorized and from there, you are able to name your own code and call it into existence by either uttering the name or using a gesture.
The gesture feature lets you do a defined movement with each of your fingers to activate certain memorized codes. Up to ten gestures can be saved and their length can be adjusted based on the number of individual codes a player wishes to append to a gesture. Of course, appending more complex codes to gestures means a higher efficiency.
Afterwards, I looked over the various features like PvE which would include stuff like raiding, world bossing, mini bosses and dungeons which are referred to as ruined shards. PvP didn't have much as all it had to it was PK and dueling. I think the developers probably didn't care much for it. Oh well.
After looking up all there was to know on the website and browsing future player commentary on the forums for five hours, I decided to take a six hour nap, which felt like days, to wake up before the main service started.