Innocent Sin Online: Forum Post #13

[madimpossibledreamer]

persona 4 .hack inspired au

 

            The last thing you do before you turn your character into the world is choose a keyword.  Don’t sweat this too much.  There are people who agonize about this, but again, if you’re new to the game or simply just want to have fun and play without a spreadsheet, just go for something that sounds fun.  This keyword, well, it’s kind of like a job description.  It acts kind of like flavor text, flushing out your idea of your character better, but it does actually have an in-game effect.  It gives your character bonuses (and sometimes penalties) to interactions with certain allegiances.  It also determines where in the first city you start.  Froma member of the audience:

You’ve mentioned this allegiance thing before, but what does it actually do?

            Glad you asked.  I said it was kind of like reputation in other games.  Let me actually go into detail here, and stop me if I’m being confusing here, ‘kay? ;)

            There are different, for lack of a better word, factions in the game.  More than just Nyarlathotep and Philemon’s followers.  There’s kami.  There’s corporations and the police, the criminals and a school ghost hunt club, Coolest Magazine, a detective agency, and the martial arts school.  You have a choice who to help out, picking up quests from the different places.  Some, llike the kami, might be a little wary of you at first if you’re certain Types, so you have to do a few intro quests to get their respect.  Some Allegiances are opposed.  For example, if you’ve been known to help out the criminals, the police might be a little wary of you.  And certain keyword can help you get a better response and get a higher Allegiance faster with certain groups.  If you start as a keyword Police Officer, you’ll have a better time working with the police.

            They all give you something silly that doesn’t really have in-game effect, too.  The Lawyer gets a choice of a Prosecutor’s or Defense Attorney’s Badge that they can flash everybody with, and the reporter gets a nifty in-game camera that takes better pictures than the print screen button.

Sample Keywords: Student, Police Officer, Shrine Maiden, Reporter, Photographer, Lawyer, Office Worker, Detective, Apprentice, Mechanic, others

            I’ve been doing a series on character creation.  But what is this fabulous world that you’re about to enter?  Glad you asked.

            The world of innocent sin is one a lot like ours.  The supernatural isn’t real.  None of it is.  Until you wake one day, and it seems like your entire world was a lie.  Maybe it’s all a horrible nightmare, and it’ll go away when you close your eyes.  Maybe it’s a beautiful dream, giving you the power you’ve always desired.  Whatever the case, you realize that this world isn’t going away.  You have to deal with things, your way.

How will you approach this world?

            Depending on where you start out, you tend to either get attacked by demons or discover your powers first.  And depending on your character’s personality, they can react in several different ways.  The power to protect, or to conquer.  A horrible curse.  There’s room for a lot of character construction when you enter.  You can decide the fates of a few key characters connected to your character.  Do you want your mentor to survive in order to give you advice along the way, or do you want to give your character motivation to fight on?  None of these early decisions affect your Order/Chaos values, so just figure out how you want to deal with it. 

            While this could create a discontinuity because this might mean you watching someone talk to the air, at least two different ‘layers’ of the same mission-giver location are created, one in which people are alive and one in which they aren’t.  (More might show up, depending on server load.)  You only can enter the one which matches your choice.  Unless you’re teamed with someone who made a different choice, in which case, the nickname mechanic comes into play.  Your character has to give each of these key characters a nickname (and honestly, you could keep wandering around the world nicknaming every PC and NPC if you so chose).  Rather than their name, if you’re teamed with someone and enter a different layer than your default, you’ll see the nickname, not the actual name of the mission NPC.

Where do I go from here?

            Up to you, but to do the main gameplay you have to pick up some of the starting missions.  As mentioned in the Allegiance section, sometimes you have to do introduction missions as well, just to get your Allegiance score high enough that they’ll actually trust you with more important things.  Most of the different Allegiance groups are all working for the same goal—to stop the demons, to discover the cause behind things, to fix a world that’s broken.  Some…might not, but you probably won’t even start encountering them until you get out of the starting city.

            There’s a lot of mysteries.  Where did you get your powers from?  Why are the demons invading?  What’s this about rumors coming true?  Investigation is a big part of this game.  Unless you don’t care for that sort of thing, in which case you can support the investigators (mission givers) as you follow orders and beat up enemies.

What does the game world look like?  You mentioned dungeons, where are those found?  What about gameplay?

            Not too many questions at once! 

            Okay, first question first.  The game world is composed of a few cities, though they’ve added more since I was playing my main, so I haven’t seen much of them.  I’m requesting backup of confirming level ranges as well as further info on these ‘zones’.  Thanks!

-Mikage-cho, the starting city, though it’s got a better level range than the rest of the cities (I think it’s 1-40 now, but don’t quote me on it!)

-Sumaru City, the second city (~30-50 maybe?)

-Amami City, “the city of the future” that relies entirely on tech (50-60)

-Taisho-Era Capital, welcome to the past (60-70)

-London, generally closer to Mikage-cho in feel (62-70)

-Mirror Sumaru (65-85)

-Tatsumi Port Island, which unlike the previously listed places is not just a city thus the larger level range (80-130)

-Arcadia,, which is essentially an extended dungeon of Order so you’ll either be a Reversed character invading or a character helping hold back the invasion, one ‘ward’ is one of two places in the game PvP is allowed and is entirely optional (100+)

-Tartarus, which is essentially an extended dungeon of ‘Shadows’, which are a new enemy type since I was at a level where I could actually mess around in an area of this level (100-150)

-TV World, which is essentially an extended dungeon of ‘Shadows’, which are blah blah blah you can read the previous description (100-150)

-Hellscape London, which is essentially an extended dungeon of Nyarlathotep so you’ll either be a Reversed character defending or a character invading this domain, one ‘ward’ is one of two places in the game PvP is allowed and is entirely optional, HQ of demons and Lovecraftian creatures and darker things, dark possible future?  (150+)

-Dark Realm, only accessible from certain missions (generally by the Banisher Class or NPCs) and covers the entire level range, dark versions of all of the previous areas

            Second question.  Dungeons can be found in each of these areas.  Certain locations in each area (For example, the school) are prone to demon invasion, kami curse, and the like.  There are also times each area is unaffected, at which point you’ll find people to talk to, people selling things, clues…

            You get missions from different Allegiances.  Some are repeatable, like “beat up a certain number of demons”.

            If you want to return to a Dungeon or lift an invasion in order to trade for a specific necessary item or whatever at any point, there are NPCs who will transport you to the correct layer.

            Gameplay—investigate rumors, do missions for Allegiance groups, travel to associated dungeon, level up, travel to new areas, repeat.  There are usually event rumors happening, which means they won’t be available forever.  It’s hard to explain much more than that, especially without spoiling the entire experience for you, so instead I’ll just say, welcome to the world.  I’m glad you’re here.

anonymous:

so, I’m thinking about starting to play an online game, but I’m a little worried.

1)      How expensive is the game?

2)      Will I need to buy another laptop or any equipment to play the game?

3)      It looks a little confusing.  A lot confusing, actually, but I tend to be a little slow.  How easy is it to actually pick up and play?

4)      What is the community like?

5)      Uh…actualy I can’t think of a 5.  That’s all the questions I can think of for now.  I will probably think of some later.  Thank you everyone!  --Ry

 

         Koual:

Hey there, Ry!  It’s always good to see and welcome new players.  I’ll try my best to ease your worries, but in the end the decision’s always up to you.

1—The game is actually fairly cheap right now.  There’s the digital download which you can get from the main site, which is the cheapest and most secure option (once you’ve registered your account, there’s always a record that you have the game, but I had to tape back together the first CD I got because it’s kind of easy to break <)  That being said, there’s a pretty neat deal going on in Junes at the moment if you’re in Japan and want a physical copy, and I can tell you from experience stacking them after people keep knocking them down, those things are nearly indestructible.  They fixed them since the first go around.  The artwork’s less pretty though,a nd it’s not quite as collectible.

2—You have options.  It’s nice having options, unless they tend to paralyze you with indecision ;)  The lowest graphics setting (which IMHO looks terrible but I guess older players/people with nostalgia/people who don’t tend to watch as high graphics/CGI/special effects as I do wouldn’t be as bothered with it) can run on your standard laptop.  You’ll need a high end laptop with a great graphics card (possibly, but doubtful it can run it) or, more likely, a gaming-end desktop with great graphics card to run the highest graphics setting.  A decent graphics card and laptop, like what I’m using right now, can run somewhere in the middle to high end.  Also if you seriously can’t play a game without using a video game system, the non-portable ones can also run the game, though you’re going to have to mess with your controller for a while to get it to work correctly.  (I don’t actually use it because I can pretty much only afford the portable VGS I currently have, but I think this is actually a pretty big selling point worldwide.)

3—It is kind of confusing if you don’t go into all the detail.  A lot of people do because they’ve got heads for that sort of thing.  There’s a little bit of a learning curve if you’ve never played an online game before, but don’t take it too badly!  There’s a lot of friendly people around, including a couple Clans specifically to help people, including new players, who are having trouble with the game.  In addition like most games there’s a tutorial level that goes into some pretty big detail on how you’re supposed to do all the things in the game, and then of course you can go into your menu and turn on Tips which will pop up and give you clues how to do things in the game.  You can go back and view any of them, and it’s default on for new players (assuming Im’ not misremembering things, it was a while ago).  There’s guides popping up with a skill list, so you can follow that skill list (given either in game or on the…main website?  Wiki?  IDK) with your character to get a pretty simple to play yet fun character.  Also if you’re ever having issues, just post here or in global chat, and assuming there hasn’t been a sudden influx of jerks, you should have helpful replies pretty quickly.

4—the community is awesome!  Seriously some of the most friendly groups I’ve met.  I feel more comfortable here than I do in RL (and that’s not a commentary on RL although it’s been long enough you’d think they would’ve updated with better graphics ;) lol also they haven’t changed the gameplay up in agesss) so yeah.  There are a few trolls, but what can you do?  A lot of it, I feel, is due to how awesome our GMs/devs/admins are.

5—Well, when you come up with new questions, just post them!  I’d be happy to help, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

 

anonymous:

So…the only thing I should really worry about as a starting character (and player) are the Classes Spellbinder, Mender, Herald, Cavalier, Champion, Hidden One, Hope Design, and Extreme Fighter?  Thank you.  –S

 

anonymous:

worry?  Id be worrying abt Nyarlie if I were u

 

Koual:

Welcome abord, S!  I’m Koual, your friendly neighborhood Kitsune, but you probably already knew that.  Yeah, unless you’re planning out your character way in advance, with your first character that’s all you have to worry about Class-wise.  You saw the one where I posted about various Types, right?  You also have to worry about that when you choose your character.  Well, if you want.  If you want it, I can direct you to the posts where people compare stats and number-crunch the data to min-max their characters, but personally I don’t go for that much math in something that’s supposed to be fun ;) haha.  Let me know where I’m not clear or if you have questions.

 

anonymous:

There’s a lot to keep track of.  Are all games like this so complicated?  –S

 

Koual:

I wouldn’t know; I’ve only plaed two other games ages ago.  And yeah, it can be complicated.  Personally I just go for what’s fun and don’t try to work out everything beforehand.  Then again, there are people who would argue I’m always like that…uhhh, buuuut you shouldn’t listen to them.  There’s a lot more data you can get (and a lot of it is posted on the wiki, hang on… iso(dot)wiki(dot)jp should give you what you’re looking for.  If you’re looking for details and numbers.  The official one is run by the pr people which means it’s next to useless.  I’m just trying to bare-bones it, give people a feel about what the decisions they’re making mean.

 

anonymous:

You misspelled a word.  But thank you.  I assume I’m supposed to replace the (dot)s with . right?  –S

 

Koual:

Haha, just be glad I’m not typing on y phone.  I’ve gotten good at typing thanks to this game, but when I’m texting I’m all lazy and use all the shortcuts ;)  Also I occasionally take shortcuts anyway, but right now I’m trying to be all professional and step into Saki-senpai’s shoes, so I have to actually try.  And yes, you replace the (dot)s with .  You’re not allowed to post links in the forum unless they’re internal links.

 

anonymous:

I am grateful, then.  I don’t care that it takes longer.  I type everything out, and edit for grammar and punctuation.  You’re doing a fairly good job seeming professional, as most books, even published ones, contain mistakes.  Why aren’t you allowed to post links?  –S

 

Koual:

You’re…welcome, I guess?  Haha, seriously?  (It’d be lol srsly? in my phone.)  You’re interesting.  Looking forward to getting to know you.  The not-posting links is to avoid spam or viruses.  Even if you’re not the one jerkish guy who posted the link that infected the computers of, say, 2% of the people playing this game, people still get mad at the people who made the game.

 

anonymous:

Yes, it’s true.  It’ll be interesting to meet you, as well.  The thing about viruses makes sense, now that I think about it.  Thank you, not only for your courteous and prompt answers, but the most useful guide to character creation I’ve seen thus far.  I have another question, though…

 

Koual:

Yes?

 

Koual:

…Are you okay?

 

Koual:

Hey, you there?  If you don’t speak soon I’m going to assume you were eaten by a slime…

 

Koual:

RIP, S, I…hardly knew thee?

 

anonymous:

Shakespeare quotations?  Are you a dramatist at heart?  I had to eat dinner.  –S

 

Koual:

Shit, now I feel like an ass.  Sorry about that S.  And yeah.  …it might be a little embarrassing to admit, but I only know that because of the one BBC movie version.  Still, I got exposed to culture anyway so it still counts right?

 

anonymous:

…What’s with the blacked out words?  I can’t read them.  It’s all right.  And…yes, I suppose one could see it like that, as long as you weren’t trying to skip out on school work in some fashion.  My question was about an actual beginner’s player guide.  Movement, gameplay, and the like.  How does it work?  Thank you again.  –S

 

Koual:

Uh.  Now I’ll appear less professional.  I could go back and edit my post, but, ugh, the work involved.  It’s blacking out swear words.  Blackouts can also be put in place by Admins to block out spoilers.  You can enable both or either, but since you don’t have an account yet, you can’t.  Yeah, sorry I panicked a little.  The CP thing couldn’t have applied, since you havent’ even created your account yet. 

As for the other…you really are a true beginner, aren’t you?  It’s absolutely great to have you aboard.  You will be assimilated.  Or something.  ;) 

However, on that note, never fear!  There’s a tutorial in the beginning that’ll teach you the basics.  Um…basically it’ll go through your beginning story, like an intro in a pilot episode or something, and it’ll also teach you the rules (such as how to move and how to fight) along the way.  It’s been a little while, but not quite as long since my second character. 

They’ve changed a few things around, and I hear they changed more after the merge.  I hear they’re even starting you out with practice grouping with others, as well as teaching you a little about how Clans and Allegiances work.  It’s in pretty simple terms, but it’s not kiddy-like either.  Still, you’re babied a bit in the tutorial, since they’ve made it really hard to die and most of your choices don’t matter a whole ton, aside from the fact that some of them can change which NPCs—sory, non-player characters—are alive for you.  A lot of the more complicated stuff is optional.

 

anonymous:

So with the tutorial I should be able to figure out things on my own?  Thank you, Koual.  –S

 

Koual:

You’re very welcome.  I’ll hopefully see you when you create a character!  I’m playing on Takamagahara Field, but of course you might want a different server.