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Prologue We start our game like any good game should, with the standard "we didn't base our characters off of you, even if you think so" disclaimer, with an added bonus "don't try this at home" disclaimer.  ♪ BGM: Extra-Sensory Perception ♫ The title screen is a relatively standard affair - the "Extra" menu just has the standard stuff you'd expect from a VN, that being the sound test, CG viewer and similar stuff. So let's jump right in.  Now, to start off, we get to pick the route we wish to play. We have Route "After" (get it? Root? Route?), which follows a "Watase Kasasagi" during events that take place from the 16th September 2030 at 9:16 AM on, and which seems to be about nine people trapped in some sort of facility. Hey, I told you this game gives off some Zero Escape vibes.  We also have Route "Before", which follows a "Natsuhiko Tenkawa" during events that take place from the 10th September 2030 at 6:19 AM on. Apparently this Natsuhiko is part of the group of people that get trapped in this facility, and this route will have to do with flashbacks to the days before that event or something like that. Well, I've played both routes, obviously, and I'm going to make the call that we're starting with Route After. I simply think that going from After to Before flows better than doing it the other way around, and the game probably intends for you to go that way, what with A coming before B and all. So on to Route After we go!  And we start our game with a bible quote! I guess you should maybe remember that quote and see where it becomes relevant. Though to be honest, we might be here quite some time (I needed about 30 hours to get through this game, and I read fairly quickly), so maybe just remember that you'll go back and check down the line at some point.  After that, we're immediately dropped into the action with a flash of white and the sound of explosions! -- The roar echoed through the laboratory at daybreak -- As if it were a bell heralding the end.  ♪ BGM: Psychological Warfare ♫ Researcher 2: I don't know! It came from Area 1-- Researcher 1: Find out what happened! Now! Researcher 2: Wait, we can't! The gate can't be opened during the amplification--! Another flash of white and more explosions. Researcher 1: -------!?  --The roars didn't stop there. Another flash of white and explosions.  The loud noises and violent shaking continued to echo through the facility. Again. There's a lot blowing up here, is what the game is getting at.  Followed immediately by shockwaves and the sound of screaming--  More screen shaking and explosion sounds. Automatic PA: Security has shifted to 'Evacuation Mode'. All gates, barring those leading to Area N, have been opened. --There wasn't a soul in that place who yet understood... what had happened here. A clear voice echoed amongst all the confusion and cacophony. Announcer: Th-this is an emergency broadcast! Explosions of unknown origin have just occurred within the facility! That voice that announced the destruction-- was but a fragment of the truth.      Another flash of white and more explosions.  ♪ BGM: Approaching Death ♫ The automatic PA screamed out warnings as if it had broken. It was an accident that should have been impossible. Security Guard 1: The sprinkler system's not working!? Security Guard 2: Why...? Damnit! Hurry up with the personnel evacuation!  Researcher 1: The emergency staircases have collapsed!? Researcher 2: All the elevators are offline too! There's no way out! Researcher 3: Impossible... How did this happen? Researcher 2: A-anyway, we need to get out of here... Hurry! But then a calm voice rose as if to quell the pandemonium.  Researcher 1: Professor!?  Have you forgotten that we have a system that immediately notifies the fire department in emergencies like this? Help should be here in just a few minutes.Researcher 2: Only a few minutes!? How's that possible!? These guys aren't your run-of-the-mill firefighters. They're the special elite rescue squad 'Sirius'-- We hear the sounds of a helicopter.  We then get a shot of the facility we're in right now. Or, well, those scientists are in right now. We have no idea where exactly "we" are right now. --6:26 AM. The rescue squad arrived at the scene-- F. Rescue Worker 1: Captain! All member of Team A present and accounted for! The "F" stands for "female", in case you were wondering. I'll be keeping track of how this rescue squad is set up, as this might be fairly relevant to what's going on here.  ♪ BGM: Looming Crisis ♫ A row of rescue workers wearing protection suits stood before a man garbed in the same outfit. So the rescue squad seems to number five. Captain: Excellent. Listen up, people! Countless people are trapped in this lab as we speak! And due to the nature of this facility, this will be no ordinary dispatch.  Oh? Hang on there, Captain, we have something to check out, first.  We take a quick trip into the menu (brought up at any time simply by pressing "M"), and there we find the menu "Tips".  I've seen this system used a bit before - basically, "tips" allow the game to give you a bit more information about certain terms that the reader may or may not know without having to crowbar it into the narrative.  So in this case, if we didn't know what a dispatch was, the game would explain it to us. I'll be inserting these tips whenever they pop up, as there's quite a lot of them, and as you might be able to notice by the "nonfiction" classification, some tips will be on in-universe things that you would have no way of knowing beforehand, which are quite important to know. Anyway, back to the action!  A young woman who appeared to be fairly new to the team gulped behind her faceplate. The captain looked at her and continued. Captain: Our mission is to save lives-- that's how it's always been, and today is no exception. But you are all humans before you are rescue workers. As long as you survive, that means one more life saved. Keep that in mind as you commence the rescue operation. With that said, good luck to you all! Team: YEAH! --With that shout, they rushed into the facility. All while having no idea of what awaited them there. And thus, the dispatch that would later come to be known as "Sirius' Longest Day had begun.  Captain: Make sure to keep in constant contact with Team B! Don't forget this! So the rescue squad is splitting up in two. One team consists of "Tachibana" and "Moribe", and the other consists of "Dojima" and "Hiyama". The Captain is unaccounted for so far. --They all had the same conviction. To accomplish the mission they'd been handed by whatever means necessary. However-- what they found lurking there far exceeded their imagination. Countless unexpected complications kept arising one after another.  F. Rescue Worker 2: Khh... l-let's go, Lieutenant! So the two female rescue workers are on the same team, and they're apparently "Tachibana" and "Moribe".  Rescue Worker 2: Hurry! There's no time! Captain: Roger that, just wait right there! Then, the other two rescue workers, who then have to be "Dojima" and "Hiyama", call the Captain, who is "Kasasagi" (the one we're supposed to be playing as, probably?), down to the basement, so he apparently stayed up at the lobby level before, probably to keep track of both teams. Kasasagi heads down into the basement of the facility.  F. Rescue Worker 2: Huh!? F. Rescue Worker 1: That's odd... did something happen to the Captain...!? Team Tachibana/Moribe loses contact with Captain Kasasagi at this point. Whether this is due to him heading down to the basement or some sort of other interference is unknown.  Rescue Worker 2: Those two are trapped just up ahead, right? Captain: Right... so let's go. Back then, we couldn't save anyone... the time to atone for that has finally come. We hear the sound of a door opening and a fade to white. --But even that determination can be crushed--  Rescue Worker 1: Were we tricked!? Rescue Worker 2: Why... by whom!?  Captain: Don't grieve. Now's not the time for regrets. Our mission... isn't over yet. Automatic PA: A 'Case N' has just been detected. In accordance with this emergency, security has shifted to Normal Mode. Locking down all bulkheads leading to the surface. This episode brought to you by the letter "N". Seems to be an important letter here. I suppose that has to do with this being a nuclear research facility.  Rescue Worker 1: Are you serious!? All by yourself!? Captain: There's no other choice! I'll leave the rest to you guys! If I'm not back in 20 minutes, go on without me! --He swallowed his regret and ran. All in order to stick to his convictions--  We hear knocking on a door, and a door opening. Captain: Finally found you... You're a person of interest to this lab, right?  Captain: I'm a rescue worker. I'm here to save you guys. --Thus, he found a lone girl, and then--  Captain: They should still be here... The Captain runs towards the door. Captain: I'm sure they're just up ahead...! --He endured the pain and kept on walking--  A white flash. Captain: Ghh!? Fade to white. --he came face to face with a "monster"--  ♪ BGM: The Truth is Revealed ♫ The monster took hold of his wrist. ???: ...Ha. The monster looked at him and laughed. The man spotted a broken wristwatch out of the corner of his eye. At that moment, just as an indescribable fear sent shivers down his spine-- Captain: !! A red flash. He was assaulted by an intense pain akin to his brain being crushed. Captain: Agh, GAAAAAAH!! The man screamed, faced with an agony unlike anything he had ever felt before. He struggled to understand the source of the pain amidst the confusion engulfing him. Captain: Th-that was...!? My head, it can't be... not you too! His well-toned body proved helpless in the face of that power. Captain: (You... you damned monster!) In spite of that, he struggled against it, attempting to complete his mission. Nevertheless-- Another red flash. Captain: !!! His will broke as the overwhelming pain surged through his head once more. Captain: Aah... aah... He staggered backwards, clutching his head. The monster's face warped sinisterly, its gaze piercing right through him. Captain: AAAAAAAAAAAAH!  If he'd stood his ground, he'd be killed. Annihilated. And so he held his throbbing head as he ran for his life.     A very nice effect of the background basically shattering into pieces here, leaving only red. Everything in front of him flashed as he felt an agony like that of his head exploding. Captain: Ga... agh...!  And then, as if someone had flipped a switch, his consciousness faded into darkness. ------ ---- --  --Eventually, far past that frozen time-- "Awake", a voice called to him. Or perhaps it was merely a memory of such a voice. He heard that voice as he lay beneath the whitewashed tomb... and then time began to move. We hear the sound of a clock ticking as the screen fades to black. ...and that's it for the first chapter, "Prologue"! Confused? Well, that feeling isn't going away soon, I'm afraid. For the sake of convenience, I'll be hard cutting my updates the same way the game does its chapters.
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Oct 3, 2016 17:19
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Format: 09/16/2030, 09:16 -- ----  A world where everything was closed off. Sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste... he'd been disconnected from all his senses. It didn't feel like there was a world around for him to experience at all. ???: (Where am I...?) He didn't know. His head was a total blank. ???: (What is this...?) All he could sense was a feeling of loss. ???: (What's... going on...?) It felt like he was lacking anything definitive. ???: (How did this happen?) He desperately tried to figure out why. Soon enough, fragmented images twinkled in the corners of his mind.  This image flashes for a second, then disappears again. ???: (...! I see... so that thing attacked me--)  A flash of blood splatters. Is this death?  Another flash of blood splatters, this time of less. No...!  This time, a short lens flare flash. The sound of a beating heart-- echoed inside him. He knew for sure he could perceive that. This guy is-- No, not "this guy"...! ???: (I'm...!)  Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch-- pain-- I have all of those senses...! My body and consciousness are right here... ???: (I'm right here...!!) ....... ------- Fade to black.  Woman 1: ...Captain, please hang in there! Captain! Woman 2: Get up, Captain! C'mon! With the sound of those voices suddenly filling his ears-- the man opened his eyes.  ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫  Ah...! You've finally come to, haven't you!? W-what a relief! I thought you bit it there for a sec! ...?I might as well stop beating around the bush a bit here. This scene establishes now that our main character right now is the Captain of the rescue squad - and therefore, we are Watase Kasasagi. We seem to have been found by the two female members of the rescue squad, those being Tachibana and Moribe. You'd have also been able to tell from the voices, if you had audio. However, given that the audio is Japanese only, I'm not going to bother giving you voice clips of a language you probably don't understand for the sake of recognizing a few voices from earlier. I'll just mention when that is the case instead. The man said nothing as the women before him started addressing him. But what the heck are you doing here, Captain!? Shouldn't you be at the command post!?Seems Team Tachibana/Moribe didn't know of Kasasagi going into the basement, which can probably be blamed on the faulty connection between them. More importantly, can you say your own name, or what day and month it is today? ...what... huh?The man already felt confused in the face of the sudden storm of questions he'd been sucked into. He first tried to grasp the situation around him. The women in front of him were wearing orange uniforms. (So they're firefighters... no, rescue workers?)Their uniforms were covered in soot. Disaster, accident, rescue-- vague images related to those words swirled around the man's head. Who a-- no, where am I...? Ah, you shouldn't sit up yet! He was in some building he'd never seen before. He'd apparently ben lying in the middle of a hall. He could see cold steel doors and fire hydrants lining the corridor. A glance up at the ceiling revealed air ducts, sprinklers, and so--  A sharp headache hit the man at that moment, causing him to fall to the floor yet again. Are you okay!? Are you in pain!? N-no... I'm fine... Just then, the man realized he was wearing the same uniform as the women. (...? Why am I wearing this thing...?)He felt a strange sense of discomfort. Like he had no connection with himself. Why was he in this uniform? What... am I...?The man stood up as he shook his groggy head. His body also felt off. Almost like his body and mind weren't properly linked. (It kinda feels like this isn't my body or something...)The screen starts shaking and the sound of more explosions goes off. No sooner had this thought crossed the man's mind-- than did the air suddenly shake. ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 3 ♫ Wh-what was that!?The women paid no heed to the man's confusion and instead exchanged glances.   Right! Captain, please rest here! We'll handle this one by ourselves!The woman who'd been called "Lieutenant" broke off into a run alongside the other woman (who was apparently her subordinate). ...Huh? H-hold on!Scared of being left alone and totally in the dark about what was going on, the man followed the two.  W-wait up, you guys! Captain!? I thought I asked you to rest! Nah, I think he looks okay! Give us a hand, all right!? N-no, that's not it! I just want to ask you something! What was that noise!? What's happening!? Huh!? Wh-what're you talking about, Captain!? You saying you don't get what's going on!? N-no, I don't...The women looked at each other for a brief second. --You'll understand if you come along! Please keep close to us!The lieutenant broke off into another run at those words, with the man hot on her trail. She then opened a door at the end of the hall--  (What is this heat...!?)A heat haze filled the area, distorting their vision of what was before them. Khh... we need to put out this fire on the double! Yeah, before there's another explosion!The women passed through the open doorway. The man followed suit and ran through the hallway--   The man froze in shock at the scene he was confronted with. But the women quickly got to work without even a moment's hesistation. Get a hose ready! Roger! The screen shakes a bit and we get the sound of somebody bumping into somebody else. Whoa!?The female rescue worker pushed the man aside and pulled out a hose from the fire hydrant built into the nearby wall. She then passed it to the lieutenant, who directed its nozzle toward the flames.  Commence water release! Roger! Here it comes! A jetstream of water collided with the flames, which erupted into large clouds of steam. (Incredible... the fire's getting smaller and smaller by the second...!)The man stared at the swiftly dying fire with stark amazement. Just then, he heard something else mixed in with the sound of the flames evaporating-- a faint sound.  (Was that a voice...?)He wondered if it was his mind playing tricks on him for a second. But as soon as he strained his ears-- Girl: He... help me...!   The man's body started running as soon as this thought hit him, weaving its way through the gaps between the flames. The room's door was crushed inwards due to the effects of the explosion. The man peeked into the room from the shadow of the broken door--  (Where is it!? Where's that voice coming from...?)His hair was singed by the sparks bathing him, creating an awful stench that hung in the air. What's more, his eyes were tearing up thanks to the smoke irritating them. But he endured it and focused on searching the room--  ♪ BGM: Psychological Warfare ♫ --Found her!  Through the fire and flames, he could see a girl crouching under a desk in the room. Are you okay!?The girl looked towards the man's voice with hope in her eyes. But the moment her gaze met the man's,   --!?her face froze. (Wha... what's with that look!?)Overcome with confusion, he came to a halt. But at that moment--  {Save her!} So whenever we get something like this, you'll be able to tell because of {it being in these curly brackets}. As for what "something like this" actually is... He suddenly heard a voice. !?He didn't know whose voice it was. It sounded like it'd echoed from inside him. But the moment he heard it, everything suddenly fell into place. He finally realized why he was here. (That's right-- I came here to save her!)The moment he came to that realization, his previously divided body and nerves seemed to finally become one. The flames were closing in on the girl. The voice resounded yet again in his head. {--Go save her!!} And with that command giving him the final push he needed-- the man lunged into the blazing flames.  We fade to white...  ...and here we are - at the beginning of the first chapter of Route After. But that will have to wait until next time - and it's probably not like you're lacking in questions to be asking about the situation. How many will be answered relatively soon? Only time will tell.
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Oct 3, 2016 17:19
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Senses Sympathy Tutorial Well, that's awfully fatalist of you, game. Regardless, we need your power to link this world to the future. So the Senses Sympathy System (SSS) has been prepared in order to allow you to willingly influence the world. This tutorial will explain the SSS to you-- but before that, let's explain what we mean by "Senses" here. Pay attention to this entire tutorial. I had to reread this thing a few times when I was playing this because I made some choices down the line and was baffled how my choices led to the result that happened. Senses refers to "impressions, emotions, sensations" in this context. Put it simply, it's your assessment of "how you feel" about someone else. In other words, if their Senses are high, you have a "good impression" of that person-- but on the other hand, if their Senses are low, that means you have a "bad impression" of that person. And the Senses Sympathy System exists to quantify your Sense and reflect them on this world. Now then, let's explain how to change the value of your Senses.  An enneagram is a kind of personality assessor that categorizes people into nine different personality types. Each of the nine main characters of the story have been categorized into these nine types.  Oh, hey there Natsuhiko! A graph similar to a radar chart is displayed on top of the Enneagram. This graph is a symbol that represents Senses.  Apparently we hate you now, Natsuhiko! You can input the Senses of nine characters, which includes the protagonist. Thus, in a sense, you may also set the Senses you have for "yourself". In such an instance, you determine whether or not you have confidence in your instincts and opinions... alternatively, you determine how much you value yourself. This is the hardest part to work out. While setting Senses for other people is a very simple thought process, you sometimes need to really think about just what having a high Sense of "yourself" means in a certain situation. Senses Sympathy System. Truly a system where you determine the protagonists's various sensations/Senses each time. Your Senses will be used to determine which scenario divergence you will travel down at fixed "divergence points". At divergence points, the story automatically diverges in accordance to the level of your Senses. You can't simply input your Senses whenever you want. You can only do that at sections known as "branches". When you arrive at a branch, the Enneagram will appear in the upper-right corner. Please check if the Enneagram is displaying or not to determine when you can and can't input your Senses. Allow us to explain in detail through example. Let's play a demo scenario branch while you actually control the system. First, please take a look at the next scene. The Senses input hasn't appeared yet, so please just play through the text as you normally would.  A TV and a game console were sitting in a neat and tidy living room. Just then, a girl came down from the hallway and spoke in an inquisitive voice. Girl: Hey, what're you doing? ...huh? You're playing a game tutorial? Is it really important? I see. You must be real busy, huh...? Um, actually, I wanted to talk to you about something... but this is a bad time, isn't it? The girl looked at you hopefully as she said that. Girl: Oh... I'm sorry. It looks like I'm just bothering you, so I'll ask you later. --No, don't worry about it. It wasn't all that important. Okay then, good luck with that game tutorial... The girl slumped her shoulders with disappointment-- --and she left the living room with a lonely step in her gait.  Now then, let's play that scene one more time, with the goal this time being to make the girl "happy". There'll be a branch this time, so you can input your Senses there. When you arrive at a bracnh, the Enneagram will appear in the upper-right hand corner. Please increase your Senses for the girl before the Enneagram disappears. When the Senses lights up, please click it to bring up the Senses input screen. You can also bring up the input screen by pressing the [V] button.  Use the cursor to choose whose Senses you'd like to change, bring it to the knob directly below them, then change their Senses. Click the "Decide" button to set your values and to finish the input process. You can only do a Senses input one time per branch. You can't input again if you change your mind after you've decided, so please be careful.   Alright, so this time around, we can change our Senses.  Today, Yuuri will be playing the role of "Girl". Oh, right, you don't even know Yuuri yet. Well, you've seen her, but you didn't know her name was Yuuri. Well, now you do!  So in accordance with the tutorial, we crank the Senses for Yuuri all the way up.  As discussed, we only get to make this decision once without reloading. Skipping forward a bit...  So you--  Note the +1 that appeared at the Enneagram. This is what the game refers to as "raising favor". Raising favor means that the character has a higher opinion of you, as you might imagine. Of course, you can also lose favor. Favor comes into play at certain decision points in the game, and it might gently caress you squarely in the earhole if you end up blowing it with a certain character. Girl: Yaay, thank you! Well, you see, you see, today's a holiday known as "Tanabata"! And as you know, if you write your wish on a strip of paper called a "tanzaku" today, it'll be granted! So I was thinking that we need to make preparations for it right now! The girl then started talking happily about the bamboo trees that are set up on Tanabata--  In this example, the girl had two different reactions, but there may be more than that depending on the situation. Also, there isn't always just one Senses target. Quite the opposite. You pretty much always have different Senses targets to pick from. If there is ever more than one target you need to take into consideration, you'll have to re-evaluate your Senses for them individually. In these situations, you can input for more than one character. But the only ones whose Senses you can input are those who are involved with the next branch. You cannot alter the Senses for an unrelated character. There will occasionally be times where Senses hold a greater importance than usual. As such, there are three different Senses colors, each one corresponding to the importance of the upcoming branch.  A "blue branch, as it's known, is generally not all that important. You don't even need to change your Senses every time it comes up. All you have to do is change it whenever your impression of the target alters. But if you neglect too many blue branches, it could have dire consequences for you farther down the line.  A "yellow branch", as it's known, is generally very important. Expect them to signify big changes, such as changing your destination or travel partner. They're not dangerous, but it's best you change your Senses to reflect your intentions at these points. And though it's rare, a yellow branch can signify that a branch of "grave danger" is approaching, so please be careful.  A "red branch", as it's known, is of the utmost importance. Decide incorrectly and you will find death lying in wait for you. Keep your eyes peeled to avoid danger and please check your Senses immediately to ensure there are no problems. Also, branches directly related to the story's "conclusion" will be red. We recommend you exercise cautious judgment there in the same way. Or to put it more simply, here's how I describe the three branches, based on what they do if you make a wrong decision. On a blue branch, it probably won't gently caress you over. On a yellow branch, it probably will gently caress you over. On a red branch, it definitely will gently caress you over. This concludes the Senses Sympathy System explanation. Your Senses will change the situation in various ways. Now then, let us return to the world. When time starts again, a Senses input will appear right away.  This indicates that a branch of great danger is coming up. Should you choose wrongly, death may soon claim the man. Please look over the situation calmly and select your Senses right away. We are expecting your feelings to have a good effect on the world.  ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 3 ♫ We're in the next chapter now, but it'll just be a few lines. The man screamed this and was about to rush into the flames- but was interrupted by someone grabbing him by the collar.  But if we don't do something quick, that girl will-- I'll take care of it!Once he heard her say this, the man--  Well, what did the man do? VOTING Now, this system is kind of a bunch of gently caress. It's fiddly, it's hard to tell what exactly your choices will cause, and I love it for it. So, I'll put the decisions in your hand, and hopefully we won't die a whole bunch. Note, I died a whole bunch in my playthrough. How are you going to vote? That's a bit of a different issue. I don't want to make it based on numbers, since that seems too complicated. Instead, I'll just set four levels: Bottom, Low, High, Top. The middle spot is kind of a misnomer - it doesn't really indicate a "neutral" response, it tends towards the negative. So I'll just ignore that in favor of actually negative ones to vote on. Furthermore, what you should consider here is the difference between the two Senses settings. The Senses that we set here are basically going to help Watase answer the question "Who is better suited for this, Jun or me?". This is actually a good way to think of Senses questions - just imagine what question our protagonist is asking himself, and set Senses accordingly. So, basically, vote for Bottom, Low, High or Top for both Jun Moribe and Watase Kasasagi. I will pick the combination that gets the most votes.
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Oct 4, 2016 20:04
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Junpei posted:I agree with the action but not the reasons. I say that if we always trust everyone to the max, we will never ever ever get a bad ending! There's a bit of a problem with this line of thinking, and that's because the system is often (like in this case) used to decide between two options. Setting both to max is essentially giving the game "  " as an answer, and while I cannot confirm this, I believe that it takes that to mean "let's pick the option that brings the player closer to death".John Lee posted:This game has some sweet-rear end music. Not all-over, but there's a couple really standout tracks. It's a drat loving shame that some of them seem so cut off. Seriously, Approaching Death cuts off right as the guitar seems to be kicking into a sweet-rear end solo. Give me two more minutes of that poo poo!
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Oct 5, 2016 17:40
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Logicblade posted:Will you be stopping for every single choice point, or just the Caution and Danger ones? Just Caution and Danger, and if a wrong choice in a Caution one leads directly into a Danger one, I will deliberately not give you a second chance to un-gently caress yourselves and head straight for the bad end.
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Oct 6, 2016 17:46
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IceBorg posted:I will assume then that it's same thing to putting everyone at minimun like I voted right? When I said that I was hoping for a "I don't trust you and trust myself to save her so heh let's leave her here" because that would be kinda funny in dark way. Yeah, I actually just went and checked, and putting both at minimum gives the same result as putting both at middle and both at maximum. But I went and changed the vote system anyway, because opting to use numbers anyway actually makes it a lot nicer (and because there was a four-way-tie when I decided to record the footage). Basically, I just substituted the words for the number that that position is on the slider, which I decided goes from 0 to 8 (I could have picked 1 and 9 too, but bleh), and then ran the average. And this is what came out: code:
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Oct 6, 2016 19:49
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First Impression: 09/16/2030, 09:18 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 3 ♫ The man screamed this and was about to rush into the flames- but was interrupted by someone grabbing him by the collar. But if we don't do something quick, that girl will-- I'll take care of it!Once he heard her say this, the man-- Well, what did the man do? The people have spoken, and they said this: code:code: ...Got it, I'm counting on you!Gave that answer instinctively. He felt more at ease leaving it up to her. Alrighty, leave this to me!The female rescue worker quickly brushed the man aside, dashing into the room. Lieutenant, back me up with the hose! You might notice that the text box is now fully opaque. That is because I'm now using OCR software to save my fingers some... a lot... A WHOLE loving LOT of typing. So far, in limited tests, it's done almost perfectly. I love it.  The lieutenant pointed the hose upwards. The jetstream shattered apart when it hit the ceiling, scattering into a spray.  In this little bit, Moribe moves from the left side of the screen to the right in pretty much under a second. It was kinda hard even getting a shot. The female rescue worker then ran into the room, as if clad in that water. (What an amazing technique--!)It was perfect teamwork. The female rescue worker then ran up to the girl through the mist and steam--  Aw yeah! Survivor secured!Tips posted:TIP: Survivor And shouted triumphantly. That dramatic rescue had happened in the blink of an eye.   ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ Don't worry miss, you're safe now. Are you hurt? The man stood a short distance away, observing them. ...In the end, he'd been completely useless-- both at putting out the fires and at saving her. So he figured the least he could do was talk to her. Umm... er, well, I'm glad you're okay. !?Another frightened look engulfed the girl's face at that moment. ...? Did you do something, Captain? Huh? No, nothing, honest... Try not to scare her, okay? Your face is already scary enough as it is. Oh, uh... sorry. Guess I gave you a little shock there.You know, call me suspicious, but I think that's not the issue at hand here. But you can take it easy now. We're on your side. We came here to save you. Probably.The girl's body shook with a start upon hearing that. Captain! Why would you ever say something like that? Yeah, you've been acting weird ever since you woke up. Not knowing what‘s going on is one thing, but you've been no help at all either. S-sorry...After giving a brief apology, the man fired off another question. By the way, can I ask you guys a question? You've been calling me 'Captain'... so does that mean I'm the captain of a rescue squad or something? Huh? The heck you talking about? What... do you mean by that?The man thought hard once he heard their surprised answers. But as he'd feared, he couldn't locate any information about himself in his head. Well, the thing is... I don't know anything. Not who I am, or even where I am... Huh!?The women's faces twitched at that proclamation. Y-you don't mean... You've got amnesia...? The man mulled over that word. (So that's what it is...?)But for some illogical reason, the answer no, that's not it suddenly popped into his head. (It's more like... my mind's denying me the right to think about who I am...)It was a strange feeling. But since it didn't look like he could explain what'd happened to him very well, he reluctantly decided to go with their suggestion. Y-yeah... I guess you -would- call this amnesia... C-c'mon Captain, quit pulling our legs! No, I really wish I -was- joking...! Wait... you mean you're totally serious!? P-please hold on a moment, Captain! Did you hurt your head by any chance!? My head...? Now that you mention it, I did have this really bad headache a few minutes ago... I knew it...! There's a possibility that you hit your head on something. That's probably why you're feeling so dazed and having trouble remembering things. Then that means your memories should return in time. I-is that how it works? Yes. It appears that retrograde amnesia caused by physical trauma goes away fairly quickly on its own without requiring any particular treatment in most cases.Tips posted:TIP: Retrograde Amnesia The lieutenant calmly explained that as she threw around a few technical terms here and there. ...Then you're saying this is only temporary? Yes. But if you suffered brain damage by any chance, it's possible that your amnesia could be permanent. And I believe there have been a few cases where death occurs if the brain damage is left untreated. ...!The man felt a shudder run through him at those words. What the hell? That's horrible...! Captain, how bad is your headache? Do you feel like throwing up? No... my head doesn't hurt at all right now, and my stomach feels fine. Th-then I guess he's in the clear? No, we can't be sure of that just yet. If you'll please bear with me for a moment, Captain.The woman grabbed the man by the arm, rolled up his sleeve, and looked at his wrist. He hadn't noticed it until that moment, but he had some kind of wristband-like object wrapped around it. What's this? Tips posted:TIP: Vital Checker A closer look revealed there were several numerical readings and five green lights on the device. --Status all green. No issues with your pulse, blood pressure, or anything else... you're completely healthy. Then it looks like we don't have to worry about him dropping dead or anything like that for now, right...? But we can't be optimistic about that without an expert's opinion. Please get yourself a proper examination and treatment later.The female rescue worker's eyes widened as soon as she heard the lieutenant's reply. ...Oh crap! Almost forgot! Lieutenant, we need to give this girl some 'AD' fast!The lieutenant's face froze at those words. Oh no! How could I have been so careless...!?The lieutenant wasted no time in taking something out of her pocket.   Please hold out your arm. N-no... I don't want that shot... You can't be like that! You'll be in grave danger without it!The girl turned around and tried to run, but the lieutenant grabbed her before she could. She then rolled up the girl's sleeve without giving her a chance to speak and pushed the tip of the ampule into the girl, injecting her with its contents. Aah...!The girl's eyes widened and her body trembled. Feeling rather unnerved by her reaction, the man spoke up. ... What's that drug?Hey there, just letting you know I'm still here. Right now, the game is doing a lot of speaking for itself, so I'm just hanging back for the moment. It's called AD. Put in simple terms-- It's an 'anti-radiation' drug.The man felt an ominous echo in those words. Did you say an anti-radiation drug...? Yes. It was given to us by members of this facility's staff for this mission. We can't survive in here unless we keep injecting ourselves with this. Because--The lieutenant surveyed her surroundings, then continued in a bitter voice. --Because this facility is currently contaminated from top to bottom in radiation. What!?The bad feeling he'd gotten earlier only intensified with that statement. H-hold on a sec... 'Radiation'? 'Contaminated'? What are you talking about!? What the hell kind of facility is this place!?The lieutenant took a good hard look at the bewildered man-- and followed up with a clear answer. A nuclear energy research facility equipped with a small-scale nuclear reactor used for research purposes. And nearly two hours ago, that very same reactor-- went through a 'meltdown'.Tips posted:TIP: Meltdown You know, it's good the game is explaining all this poo poo for me. Even though it was supposedly his first time hearing that word, it still managed to send shivers down the man's spine. A-a meltdown...!? Simply put, it refers to when something causes a nuclear reactor to melt, resulting in the nuclear fuel inside leaking out. It is an extremely serious accident that is frequently accompanied by explosions and fires-- and it also spreads 'radiation' that has harsh negative effects on the human body. The entire facility is currently contaminated with such radiation.Tips posted:TIP: Radiation Did somebody want science? I think I heard somebody wanting science. That can't be! You say this place is contaminated, but it doesn't look that way at all...! Radiation is odorless and invisible to the naked eye. But it's definitely there, eating away at our bodies.The lieutenant then took some sort of device out of her pocket.  Tips posted:TIP: Radiation measuring instrument Tips posted:TIP: mSv (millisievert) Holy poo poo, it's like physics classes all over again. But yeah, I'm really impressed that they actually go into detail explaining all this poo poo for everybody that doesn't quite know so much about radiation and that kind of poo poo. This is approximately over 20 million times more radiation than what exists in nature. 20 million...!? Even under normal circumstances, there are faint levels of radiation in space and on the earth's surface, but the dosage is so low that it has almost no effect on the human body. But when in a situation where you're exposed to such abnormally strong levels of radiation like the 1108 mSv surrounding us, it's known as 'radiation exposure'-- Which causes severely negative effects on the human body.Tips posted:TIP: Radiation exposure This includes skin inflammation, nausea, organ failure, brain cell damage, vision impairment, neurological disorders, genetic disorders, and cancer. ...!The lieutenant's matter-of-fact explanation caused all the hair on the man's body to stick up on their ends in fear. --These health problems can occur when you're exposed to 100 mSv and above. Meaning that the levels we are being exposed to right now are particularly strong. This environment is so deadly that we normally wouldn't be able to take even a single step in here. And though some areas in this facility have less radiation than others, it's completely impossible to avoid exposure, no matter where you are. W-we can't get away from it...!? Are you making GBS threads me!? How the hell can you be so calm at a time like this!? Please wait! Please remain quiet until I've finished explaining!The man instantly shut up at the lieutenant's firm voice. She gestured to the empty ampule in her hand and continued. But this AD drug offers almost 100% protection against the effects of radiation exposure-- granted that you're in an area with lower radiation levels, that is.Tips posted:TIP: Radiation inhibitor drug 100%!? This is no ordinary drug. It contains medical nanomachines that detoxify and expel the radiation received by the human body. That said, it's only effective for a mere 60 minutes, and we don't have a lot of it either.  Well, what did the man do? VOTING Alright, this time around, it's a bit simpler. I've now decided that the averages system will be what will be used for tallying votes - especially since we need a bit of a general opinion towards a character for the blue segments, which I won't do voting on. So, are you buying what Tachibana's selling? Yuuri didn't, and she seems to know something. Then again, we bought what Moribe was selling, and that worked out fine. Hm, decisions, decisions... Please vote for one of Bottom, Low, High, Top for Kazami Tachibana. How much do you trust her?
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Oct 6, 2016 21:42
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Sidenote: After recording footage and turning it into an AVI I could take lossless screenshots off of, the time from starting to write the update to posting took pretty much 1 hour and 40 minutes. All hail our OCR overlords.
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Oct 6, 2016 21:43
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IceBorg posted:Also a question because I might have understood it wrong when you explained it, but is there a diference between like having a character in the botton to having it on low in the sense thing? Or are they basically the same thing when you are deciding if you trust a character? The post Artix made pretty much sums it up. There's more complicated situations that come later, but for now, it doesn't really matter if we have bottom or low in this decision. It will maybe matter for a blue decision later, though - since I'll just carry over whatever Senses we had from the yellow decisions into the blue ones. Junpei posted:Hey, are the choices going to branch off into different routes like a tree, or are they just "One correct choice and the rest just kill you"? If it's the former I could possibly cook up some kind of flowchart to show our decisions (no guarantees). Well, some choices branch, and some don't. So, for instance, the first choice we made goes two ways: A: We trust Jun. She and Kazami get Yuuri out of the fire just fine. B: We don't trust Jun. We get a red decision to make sure we're not stupid, and I confirm that we're stupid. Then Watase goes in, gets his hair set on fire, runs around like an idiot, runs into the jetstream coming from the hose Kazami was using, gets knocked back, crashes into something and dies. I'm not sure how many actual branches exist in this route, or even if one exists that doesn't eventually loop back into a Bad End. I only played through the route once because this game is long enough as it is. EDIT: Also, I want to clarify that this talk doesn't fall under the spoiler rule, as it doesn't spoil the story. The existence of different endings or different subroutes is something I think you should know about, but I don't know a lot about it myself. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 11:36 on Oct 8, 2016 |
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Oct 8, 2016 11:30
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IceBorg posted:I hope you will show all the bad endings we miss later because that sound funny as hell. For now, I'll be going through the game the way you vote, but I found a guide for all the endings, so I should be able to show those we missed afterwards.
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Oct 8, 2016 14:09
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LucyWanabe posted:High. She just took a lot of time to explain the situation to us, so she seems trustworthy. We still don't remember crap, though, so we shouldn't trust everyone completely yet. The bad thing is that you're too late, I just recorded the next batch of footage. The good thing is that all you would have done was push the average from a straight 4 to 4.18, which still rounds down to 4, so you can feel like your vote counted too.
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Oct 8, 2016 19:35
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Misunderstanding ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ Well, what did the man do this time? code: And we're immediately dropped into a red branch, but I'm standing firm. We are not trusting her. A drug that gives 100% protection against radiation...? Are you for real!? I can understand why you're shocked. But please trust me. This is a serious matter that concerns your life. (No, that's impossible...!)There was no way a drug that offered 100% resistance to radiation actually existed. He had no memories to base that assumption off of. but he was sure he was right--  ♪ BGM: Approaching Death ♫ Uh oh, that's not the music that we want to be playing right now... or is it? I don't know, but... Crap! You'd better inject yourself just to be safe! You should have some AD on you! Using it's a piece of cake! It comes with its own cartridge, so just put it in that-- But though he'd heard her explanation quite clearly, the man didn't feel like injecting himself with it. Captain, what's wrong? Hurry up and inject it already. The image of her turning around and trying to escape the AD injection played back in his head. He turned to the lieutenant again as the warning bells in his heart grew louder and louder. Hey... is this AD really an anti-radiation drug? I just can't bring myself to believe that's true...Irritation welled up in the lieutenant's eyes at that moment. Captain, please stop fooling around! There might be radiation eating away at your body at this very second! If you can't do it, then take out your arm! I'll give you the shot!The lieutenant then took the ampule and cartridge right out of the man's hands with those words. She then quickly loaded the ampule into the cartridge and pointed it at the man's arm. --Hurry! Please give me your arm!That same woman had injected the young girl with AD against her own will just a few minutes ago in the exact same manner. That fact put the man on his guard. --Stop it! I don't need that thing! Ahh!As he shook the AD away, his hand struck the lieutenant in the face, causing her to shriek. Whoa, what the hell are you doing, Captain!? Shut up! No more lies! Tell me what you're planning to do to me after you inject me with whatever crap's in this thing! Huh? 'The hell are you on about? Are you saying you can't trust what your squadmates say?It was true that the two of them were wearing the same rescue uniform that he was. But with no memories, they could just be pretending to be rescue workers for all the man knew. Just then, the lieutenant turned to her subordinate and spoke. Moribe, pin the Captain down! Brute force is our only option at this point! Roger! (Wha-- I knew it, these guys are-!!)No rescue worker would ever do something like that in his mind. S-stay back! Whoa!The man shook off the female rescue worker and ran away from the group as fast as he could. He then blindly ran without any clue where he was headed for a few minutes.  (A dead end!? Dammit-- this place won't work! They'll find me in no time flat!)He looked up, only to find what appeared to be the landing of a staircase. He then heard the voices of the two rescue workers on the other side of the door.   Then the only other place we haven't looked is... (S-poo poo!) The odds of him actually making it there seemed nigh-impossible, but-- (This body... is super strong.)By the time the two rescue workers opened the door, the man was only a short distance away from reaching the landing.   (drat, they found me. But I'm almost--)Though his attention was caught by the voices below him, the man still reached for the landing-- but at that moment-- the protruding wall he'd been using as a foothold suddenly gave way. Huh?By the time he came to his senses, his body was dancing in mid-air. And the landing that was almost in his grasp was suddenly much farther away. --I'm falling!? A second later, his back crashed into the debris below him.   There was an unnatural pain in his chest. (Wha... what the hell... is this...?)When he looked down, he saw a reinforcing bar smeared with dark red blood sticking out of the center of his chest. Captain! Th-this can't be happening! A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! No! No!!Their screams filled his ears. --Screams!? Amidst the agony he was feeling, a thought still managed to pop into the man's head. ''I thought they were trying to hurt me... Then why are they screaming like that?'' (Then... does that mean those two were... actually... worried... about me...?)But he no longer had any time to find out if that was true or not-- for before long, he passed away as blood foamed from his mouth.   For the record, I lay partial blame on Tachibana for this one. As a super-duper rescue squad, you should be able to deal with people that don't have a loving clue what's going on and are easily panicked, and she should have realized that while Watase doesn't have his memory, he still has his physical ability, which is supreme, given that he's the captain of this elite squad. Taking him down physically would have only worsened the situation and basically 100% confirmed his misplaced paranoia, which is a recipe for disaster. Let's try to do better next time around.
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Oct 8, 2016 21:41
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Junpei posted:Whelp, that was some Zero Escape-level poo poo that just happened. I told you having a connection with Uchikoshi means that your games suddenly become more like his because of his brain parasites.
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Oct 9, 2016 11:33
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Junpei posted:I meant in terms of "Gory bad endings". Well, so did I, basically. That's mainly what I mean when I say that Uchi basically oozed into this game - you'll keep running into scenes, archetypes, situations and whatnot that all make you think "huh, I remember that from Zero Escape". Of course, I have knowledge of the entire game to base that statement on, so it'll be a bit until we run into some more of those. But the gory bad endings strewn all over the place are one of those crossover factors.
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Oct 9, 2016 16:09
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First Impression: 09/16/2030, 09:18 - Part 2 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ So, we're trying to do better this time around. I've found out that setting the bar to 5 actually isn't enough for trusting somebody, so 6 it is for Tachibana's Senses. I'll set it back to 4 at the first opportunity at a blue branch, though.  And this time... Chose to trust her. I-I see...Everything he'd just heard felt so utterly unrealistic... but given how the lieutenant had said it all with a straight face, it was probably true. But he suddenly felt a chill run through him. Hey, uh, you sure we'll be okay without getting shots too? What do you mean? We only just injected ourselves right before we found you-- ...!?The lieutenant and her subordinate gasped. Oh yeah...! Captain, when was the last time you gave yourself some ADl? I-I don't know... Crap! You'd better inject yourself just to be safe! You should have some AD on you!The man frantically searched his pockets and quickly found an ampule in one of them.  Using it's a piece of cake! It comes with its own cartridge, so just put it in that-- L-like this!?Urged on by the woman, the man loaded the ampule into the cartridge. Once he injected it, the fluid in the container entered his body, accompanied by the slight prickling pain that came with a shot. And at that moment, he felt like something had faded from his head. (What's this feeling... is it a side-effect of the drug?) What's wrong, Captain? This means you're safe for now, so there shouldn't be a problem. Safe...!?The idea of feeling safe in this situation was totally insane to the man. (There's no way in hell I could accept a messed-up situation like this so easily...)He decided to try asking a question in an attempt to keep himself from worrying. H-hey, can I ask something? Just who am I, and what's happening right now? And, uh, right-- the exit... where's the exit to this facility!?The lieutenant and her subordinate exchanged glances upon hearing his chain of questions. The 'exit', huh... ...Then we'll take you to it now. I'll explain the situation to you on the way there.Their words seemed to carry a heavy weight to them. ...? Oh, thanks, I'd appreciate that. Roger that. Then Captain, ma'am, this way please. O-okay...The lieutenant started walking. The rest of the group soon followed after her. Just want to remind everybody that there will be very many hard cuts like this, and probably quite a few short updates, given the way chapters work here. So don't be confused if updates just abruptly end or are very short, or both. I'm just keeping them from being mile long by using the cutting method the game provides me with. Also, don't expect this to mean that I'm keeping a schedule. Schedules are the devil's plaything.
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Oct 9, 2016 16:09
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Closed Circle: 09/16/2030, 09:23 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫  It was blocked by a metal door, but that opened once the lieutenant had operated a nearby terminal.  (This place is huge...)Just then, the lieutenant turned to the man and spoke. Captain, which would you rather know first-- your personal information or the situation? Oh, uh... my personal information, please. Understood. Then let's start with your name-- It's 'Watase Kasasagi'. We have our first confirmed character name!  Not that it really counts for much since the Senses Sympathy System screen already tells us this and more, but it's still something.The man-- no, ''Watase'', listened to the lieutenant list off facts about him with a strange feeling in his heart. You're 32 years old and single. You're a member of the Rokumei City Fire Department's special elite rescue squad, 'Sirius'. Your rank is Fire Lieutenant.Tips posted:TIP: Firefighter These tips are WAY more detailed than what I've usually seen. Not that that's a bad thing. I always appreciate side information like this. Tips posted:TIP: Sirius ''BC law''... I wonder what that is. Tips posted:TIP: Rescue squad They do like to hit that point that Sirius is the absolute cream of the crop when it comes to rescue squads. And you‘re our squad's captain. In other words, that makes you our direct superior. Is any of this bringing back any memories? No... not ringing any bells. Oh, hey, a blue branch!  So this one's about how we feel about Tachibana and Moribe.  And of course, in accordance with our voting results, I lower our Senses for Tachibana back to the middle.  Oh, forgive me for not telling you sooner. I'm 'Kazami Tachibana', Fire Sergeant. I serve in this squad as your lieutenant.Watase carved this information into his memory.  Note the +1 to Jun we just got. The woman named Kazami appeared to be strict-- both towards herself and others. Um, can I call you Lieutenant...? No, please call me Tachibana instead. There's no need to be formal with me.Watase nodded. Just then, the other rescue worker spoke up. And I'm 'Jun Moribe', Firefighter, 20 years old! I only just joined Sirius this year, so I'm whatcha'd call the team's 'new blood'! My nickname's 'Sirius' Lady Suicide Squad Chief'! My catchphrase is 'Jun's my name, rescue's my game!' Let's get along, okay!?...that's quite a nickname you picked for yourself there, Jun. And yes, I'm indeed pretty sure you were the one that picked that nickname for yourself. She felt like the complete opposite of Kazami.  She seemed to have a fierce will, and yet a cheerful and friendly personality. She didn't appear to be very conscious of the hierarchy in the group, perhaps because she was a lot younger than her superiors. Please excuse her attitude... I keep telling to her to do something about it, but it just doesn't sink in. I usually -am- careful about it. It's just that when I get to work, I get caught up in the heat of things and can't hold myself back, y'know? Yeah, I don't mind at all. Actually, it makes things a lot more comfortable for me. Woohoo! You're so understanding today, Captain! (Well, it looks like she's got the skills to make up for it.)She'd have to have nerves of steel to stay so cheerful in a situation like this. Watase then turned to the last member of the party as that thought crossed his mind.  !? Oh boy, doesn't look like she's warming up to you all that much, Captain. Well then, would you tell me your name, missy? ... ...ri. Huh? 'Yuuri'.The girl only gave her first name. Yuuri, huh? Aw, that's a cute name. Nice to meet you! (It feels like I've heard that name somewhere before...)But no matter how much he studied her face or searched his memories, he couldn't remember anything solid. So he decided to give up and turned his attention back to Kazami. Okay then, now that we're done introducing ourselves... could you please explain what's going now? Roger that. Then let me explain this facility first--Kazami then quietly began to speak.  This upcoming stuff is all quite important, as this segment gives the baseline for what's going on here. This version of how events occurred will be necessary to remember at points - and remember that we already have a version of how events occurred from the very first part of the story. Try to see if there are some things that don't quite match up. I mean, we already know from the first bit that Watase already had a run-in with Yuuri, but of course, that too went missing with his amnesia. Could you be a bit more specific on that first part...? I don't know the details, but it more or less seems to be a facility for conducting research related to nuclear power. The facility's name is the '6th Laboratory of Atomic and Biological Organization'-- known as 'LABO' for short.  Explosions of unknown origins occurred in the basement levels.  So they sent a rescue request to Sirius, since we're trained to handle these kinds of disasters. ...We then arrived on the scene at 6:26 AM and commenced our search for those still trapped. Its digital display read 9:27 AM.  When we got here, we split into two teams of five-- Teams A and B. We're Team A. Tips posted:TIP: Command post   This was around 6:35 AM. The three of you might have gone down to the basement floors at that time. Reception's really bad down here, so our radios are nearly useless in that sort of situation. This matches up with what we've seen in the intro. Watase did indeed go down to the basement with Dojima and Hiyama. However, nobody in this group actually knows that yet, they can only assume. It's possible that you went to rescue survivors. According to members of LABO staff, the basement floors had already been evacuated and the only survivors still there were trapped in the above-ground floors, but-- While we were saving them, we found out there were survivors in the basement too. So the lieutenant and I headed there. It was then that we set up a makeshift base on floor 82 and resumed our rescue activities once again. Then right after that, around 7:15 AM-- A most ominous announcement about a 'Case N' was broadcast throughout the entire facility. Given the nature of this facility, it's probably short for 'Nuclear'. We've got something in the rescue world we call an 'N disaster'. In that case, 'N' refers to a nuclear-induced disaster. Another blue branch.  This time, it's about our opinions on Tachibana and Yuuri. We haven't gotten an opportunity to set our Senses for Yuuri yet, so it's still at maximum from the tutorial, but I think it's in a good spot there for now. Yuuri seems to be a lot more trustworthy than the other two right now - she's scared, confused and frightened, just like Watase is! Clearly, we can bond over this shared despair. And we'll surely get an opportunity to have a vote on this at some yellow branch fairly soon (note: I do not actually know what yellow branches are coming up and whether we'll have an opportunity to vote on Yuuri's Senses soon).  We checked our Procyons right after the announcement and discovered that the radiation levels had grown abnormally high. So we're pretty confident in our theory. By the time they'd finished explaining, the group had arrived in Area 2.  Note the +1 to Yuuri.  She looked even more scared than she did earlier. Yes, we agree, it's just... The staircase leading to the surface is here in 'Area 2', but...Kazami and Jun paused, then looked down the hall. Standing there was a door with a plate that read Emergency Staircase. What do you mean, 'but'? The exit's right there, isn't it? Then let's go, Yuuri! Ah, Captain, please wait!Watase ran towards the door, Kazami's voice growing fainter and fainter with each step.   ♪ BGM: Evil and Nightmares ♫ Wh... what the hell... is this!?An iron wall was lying just a short distance away from the top of the stairs.  By the time he came to his senses, Kazami and the others were standing right behind him. Wh-what do you mean, 'there you have it'...!? The truth of the matter is that all exits to the surface are currently blocked off by this 'bulkhead'-- Meaning we're trapped down here in LABO's basement floors. Trapped!? Why!? ...I don't know. That said, the PA did say that they were looking down all bulkheads leading to the surface at the same time it announced the Case N. So there's probably no way out... You can't be serious...!No, she is in fact quite Sirius. Oh god I'm sorry I'll show myself out now Can't you just contact someone on the outside and ask them to open it up!? We can't get in touch with 'em. All the landline phones here are dead, and the radio was working good enough at first... But then reception kept getting worse and worse for some reason, and now our chances of reaching them are pretty much zilch. Wha...!? Then can't we just break it or force it open!?Watase tried pounding his fists on the bulkhead. But it didn't budge an inch. Goddammit! Open up, you piece of poo poo!But no matter how hard he punched, kicked, or pushed it, nothing changed. It didn't look like something that could be dealt with human hands alone. Khh... looks like we can't do anything to it without any explosives or something...! Hate to break it to you, but we don't have any. We can't destroy it with the equipment we have on hand. Though it's annoying to admit... this bulkhead has completely split the basement and surface apart.Watase finally understood the situation when he heard Kazami and Jun's comments. But it was a hard pill to swallow. Isn't there any other possible way out of here...? ...Negative. We've tried all sorts of things ourselves in the two hours we've been trapped here, but nothing worked. We can't go through the air ducts. All the elevators are out of order. And we can't break the ceiling. What's worse, this facility is supposed to have this flawless sprinkler system-- But it's not working for some reason. So we don't just have fires breaking out all over the place, but we've got no way to find out where they're coming from. Wh... what the hell!? Then we're in real deep poo poo now, aren't we!? We're all full of radiation, there's fire everywhere, and we can't even get outside!? Why the hell is this--I like amnesiac Watase. He has all the right ways of reacting to situations. Please calm down! Having a rescue captain lose his cool will only make matters worse! She's right, Captain! Can't you see that all you're doing is scaring poor Yuuri to death?! With realization hitting him in full force, Watase looked at Yuuri. She was hiding behind Jun and looking at him with trembling eyes. Ah... I—I'm sorry. ...Kazami and Jun were right: he couldn't show such disgraceful behavior in front of a frail girl like Yuuri. Regardless of his amnesia, Watase had most likely come down to the basement floors in order to ''rescue people''. But at that moment, he was hit by a sudden question. Oh, come to think of it... what were you doing here in LABO, Yuuri? Just then, a tearful look appeared on Yuuri's face for some reason. Wh-what's wrong? I—I'm... Um... I'm family to one of the people who work here. And so... I happened to get caught up in all this by bad luck... I see... that's a disaster for you.Watase turned to his thoughts as he kept looking at Yuuri. (It really has been a disaster... for all of us. I really wish we could all get out of here...!)But he knew it wasn't that simple. In the first place, there was still way too much that he didn't know about his current situation. Why wouldn't the bulkhead open up? Why wasn't the sprinkler system working? Why had he lost his memories? And-- Say, Tachibana... what's our next move? ...I'd like to explain that to you in detail. We've got a simple makeshift base set up nearby, so let's head there first.They had no choice but to go along with what she said. And so the group's shoulders slumped as they proceeded down the staircase.
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Oct 9, 2016 16:22
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Base: 09/16/2030, 09:30 You know, I'm only now really remembering how little time actually passes in these chapters. You really do get to experience everything that happens.  ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ This is our makeshift base. Whenever you want to enter a room, all you have to do is press this button here and the door will open right up.Kazami pressed a button next to the door, causing it to open up just as she'd said it would.  Various pieces of machinery-- apparently the equipment that Kazami and Jun had brought with them-- were lying in a corner. I'll explain the structure of LABO to you first, Captain. Please come over here. Yeah, much appreciated.Kazami took a pen from the desk and drew a simple map on the back of a piece of paper.  This is another segment you should be paying attention to. This entire thing about how LABO's layout functions will throw up a fairly interesting question about the prologue if you've been paying attention to that and the rest of this update. I'll tell you what it is in the next update, so see if you can get on the same wavelength as I am on. It's not even something you need to have knowledge of the rest of the game to notice - when you think about it, it's actually a quite natural question. Area N is surrounded by six other areas. Each area has an inner ring and an outer ring, with the former being slightly smaller than the latter. Furthermore, each area has four floors in total-- two surface floors and two basement floors-- However, as I informed you earlier, all the entrances and exits that lead to the surface are blocked by bulkheads. I see... meaning we can only access floors B1 and 82. So where are we now? Right here-- We found you lying right around here, in the inner ring of Area 1. But we were unable to find any other survivors apart from you and Ms. Yuuri. And naturally, the same goes for any escape routes. And with the exception of one located in Area 2's inner ring, all of the staircases have collapsed due to the explosions. ...So what you‘re saying is that we'll have to go to Area 3 next if we hope to possibly find any more survivors or other ways out of here. No, we can't do that either. Why not? All passageways connecting to other areas have 'security gates' set up in them. Remember how there was a gate blocking the connecting passageway to this area on our way here? Those gates are locked, and to open them, you'll need a 'security card' like this one.Kazami took a card out of her pocket at those words. I found this card lying in a passageway by chance shortly after we began searching.It was a small plastic card that had a lanyard attached to it so it could be worn around the neck. On the front was the mug shot and name of a man who appeared to work at the facility, and the words ''Lv. 2''. Level 2...? It appears that this lab has different security levels that correspond to each area's confidentiality level.  But you'll need a card whose security level corresponds to the appropriate area to get into them; a Level 3 card for Area 3, a Level 4 card for Area 4, and so on. But all we have right now is a Level 2 card. Then we can't go any farther? Well, if we find the right card, it'll be possible for us to get into other areas, of course, but... We've searched the place from head to toe and that's the only card we found, y'see. Guess the only place we haven't looked is your pockets. Worth a check...''Yeah right, like I'm going to find a Level 3 card just conveniently sitting around in my pockets...'' In spite of that thought, Watase decided to search through his pockets, and-- ...!? I... I found one. Huh!? Impossible! No, I'm totally serious. Take a look. They read ''Keiji Ukita'' and ''Zenshu Kakei''. And they both said ''Lv. 4''. Level 4!? Holy crap, now we can get all the way into Area 4 with this baby! But why do you have a Level 4- no, make that -two— Level 4 cards, Captain? Beats me...Thinking there might be more clues in them, Watase checked his other pockets-- and found another strange item in his other breast pocket.  An official Sirius PDA. I have one as well. What's a PDA?Tips posted:TIP: PDA A portable terminal. Nowadays, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who -doesn't- have one of these, rescue workers and civilians alike. Tips posted:TIP: Transmitter How do you use it? It's a touchpad, so all you have to do is press this part of the screen here...Watase tried tapping the screen as he listened to Kazami's instructions.  Resisting the urge to make a hothead joke so hard right now. So that means anything that's red is carrying heat? It may be simple, but it can be very handy in the right situation. I see... Let me check...Watase tried just pressing anything that looked potentially helpful. But it didn't look like he'd be able to access any of the data folders. They were all looked with a password. It needs a password... Any idea what it might be? That's a negative, obviously. Oh, by the way, the phone doesn't work down here, and the radio's pretty much useless right now. Yeah, I remember you telling me that before...Despite that, Watase decided to try and use the phone function. He first attempted to call ''Dojima'', the co-worker that Kazami had mentioned earlier-- --But all he heard was the sound of a dead dial tone. He next tried to use the radio function to contact ''Hiyama'', his other co-worker. But all he heard this time was static. It was the same with every other number and frequency he tried to contact. ...Dammit, this piece of junk’s worth crap right now. If I could only figure out the password, then I might be able to find some clues... Why don't you try typing in whatever comes to mind? Um... I don't think that's a good idea... Huh? Why not? U-um... That PDA'S important to you, so... you'd be in a lot of trouble if you broke it by accident... Y-yeah, good point...Watase put the PDA away. By the way, guys, what's all that gear you brought here do? Ah, you forgot that too, huh? Well, time's short, so I'll have to give you an abridged explanation. Thanks, sorry to make you do this.Jun nodded and pointed to the equipment lying in the corner.  Just to recap, it's a drug that protects your body from radiation for an hour. So this is all that's keeping us alive now, huh... Yep. With the ones they gave us and what we found lying around, we've got a total of seven doses. Hmm? What exactly do you mean by 'the ones we found lying around'? Seems that there's a bunch of boxes full of AD in this place that were stashed away in case of an emergency. Unfortunately, looks like most of the stockpile in Areas 1 and 2 went up in flames. So there's seven ampules for the four of us... which means that we'll only last for two more hours at this rate? It'd sure make things easier if we found more, wouldn't it? So we'll keep our eyes peeled for more as we go. It's basically the latest model of Geiger counters. This little sucker can measure and quantify radiation levels up to 15,000 msV. The Procyon and AD were given to use by LABO's staff. They've both been a real big help, to say the least. (Yeah, they really are handy... it's almost like the staff gave them to us knowing what was to come.) Hey, quit staring off into space. I'm moving on to the next item. Tips posted:TIP: Air tank But all our faceplates are damaged, so it's not much good to us now. I see... That's too bad, it looked really important too. Tips posted:TIP: Air jack It's a powerful jack that you combine with an air tank to create compressed air that you can use to move heavy objects. So you use it with the air tank? I mean, I'm guessing you can only use it a limited amount of times, but still. With the faceplates damaged, that's the -only- use it has. ...I don't like the look on your face, Jun. Tips posted:TIP: Engine cutter Its electric engine is powered by a strong internal battery! This baby and her artificial diamond blade can slice through iron and pretty anything else like it was butter! ...Could you not get so... excited about it? That look in your eyes is scaring me. Eheh, I get that a lot. Yeah, no prob. Incidentally, we also had two 'radiation protection suits'..Tips posted:TIP: Radiation protection suit But they got damaged while we were putting out fires, so we can't use them anymore.Kazami pointed to two ragged objects. Both protection suits had cracked faceplates. They were fine pieces of equipment with excellent fire and water resistance, airtight, and even allowed you to connect an air tank directly to their facepieces-- But since they're damaged now, the air tank‘s no longer useful. That's too bad...! But wait a sec... Captain, weren't you wearing a protective suit too? What happened to it? Huh? Hmm... maybe I took it off because it was hard to move in or something? Impossible! We were all required to wear the protective suits to carry out our rescue activities in this facility from the start. I-I see... But sorry, I don't know why. That's another thing you can chalk up to my amnesia.Not only had he had two security cards on him, but he also hadn't been wearing his protective suit-- there were just too many mysteries about Watase's actions before he lost his memories. (Seriously... what in the world was I -doing- in the basement floors?)There was probably no one out there who could answer that question. Watase then spoke with a sigh. By the way... what're you guys planning to do now? Well, now that we have Level 4 cards, I believe that we should be able to greatly expand our search area. However... What about you, Captain? Maybe it'd be better for you to rest? Seeing as how you haven't remembered anything yet, I'm inclined to agree. Yeah, maybe you're right...Just as Watase was about to take them up on their offer--  ! ...?She still had fear in her eyes. He remembered the voice that he'd heard back when they'd rescued her.  --He suddenly began wondering if it was really okay for him to just sit around in this room. (ls saving Yuuri and simply leaving it at that all right? No...!)With his mind made up, Watase called out to Kazami and Jun. ♪ BGM: Looming Crisis ♫ W-wait...! Let me help out with rescuing any other survivors! Huh? But-- You sure you'll be okay, Captain? It's true that I don't remember all that much and that I might just be a burden in your eyes... But that doesn't change that I'm still a rescue worker, right? So I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just sat on the sidelines while you're all still hard at work.Watase was stirred on by an almost impulsive sense of duty. Kazami's eyes widened. She then gave a wry smile. ...Sheesh, some things just never change... ...?Her face then suddenly grew serious again. Captain. Normally, I would not recommend that you come with us, what with the cause of your amnesia still unknown. But taking into consideration the fact that there are still fires out there and that we need to keep injecting you with AD... Perhaps letting you come with us would be the safest course of action. All right! Then-- Oh hey, another blue branch.  So this one's the first one that involves three people. I guess we'll see what this one does - or maybe not. I recall some of the blue branches being kind of opaque apart from the favor changes.  ...! You will be treated as a new recruit until you regain your memory. I ask that you follow my orders just as Moribe does. I know this is a severe violation of my station, but trust me when I say your life could be in grave danger if you don't do as I say... Please try to understand. ...!At this point, we get a +1 with Jun. He felt overwhelmed by the words your life could be in grave danger. He instinctively turned away from Kazami and looked at Jun. ...You know Captain, you can still back out if you're scared. This mission is the craziest I‘ve seen. There's no guarantee you‘ll survive even with a body as well—trained as yours. So you don't have to feel embarrassed or anything about resting here.However, Jun's considerate words only served to give Watase the encouragement he needed. No, I can do this! ...Yep, that's the spirit. You sound like you'll be okay. Then I guess that makes us equals for now, even if it's just temporary, so let's get along, okay? Y-yeah. I hope I can keep up with you both. C'mon, don't be so hard on yourself! Trust me, once you get your memories back, you'll be back to the Captain we all know and admire! She's right. That's something we're both looking forward to. Mmm, I see...His old self must have been someone amazing if Kazami and Jun were counting on him so much. (So I have to live up to their expectations as soon as possible...!)With that thought in mind, Watase turned to Yuuri. What about you, Yuuri? Do you want to rest here?A look of hesitation briefly flashed by Yuuri's face after she heard that question... but she answered quickly. N-no... I'll... go with you...She'd probably realized just how grim the situation was after listening to the group's conversation. (I'd feel better if she were with us too...)Kazami spoke up as that thought crossed Watase's mind. Then it's settled: the four of us will head for Area 3 next. Then let's decide what equipment to take with us! You help out too, Captain! Y-yeah, on it!--And so the group quickly decided on their gear. First, they took all seven AD, splitting them up amongst Watase, Kazami, and Jun. Watase and Jun each took one Procyon. Meanwhile, Watase and Kazami split the Level 4 cards amongst themselves. Watase also took the 10 m rope, wrapping it around his upper body in an ''X'' shape. --Is everyone ready? Whenever you are. ...Yes. Then let's go! Don‘t slow us down, Captain! Roger that! I'll give it all I've got!''I don't know what I can do in my condition, but I'll still do my best--'' Watase swore to that, then left the makeshift base alongside Kazami and the others. So, next time, we'll be treading new ground! That sounds exciting! Then again, everything around here is pretty much new ground for both us and Watase - we're just kinda taking Kazami's and Jun's word for it that there's nothing in levels 1 and 2. Hm.
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Oct 10, 2016 20:30
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IceBorg posted:One thing that I noticed from the prologue is that the place where you find Yuuri is in Area 5 outer ring according to the map in the corner there: Ayup, that's basically what I'm getting at. Assuming that there were no malfunctions in the security system (kind of a big assumption, but if it still works on the lower levels, it should still work on the higher ones), and assuming that Area N has higher security than the rest of LABO (a reasonable assumption, I'd say) the gist of my question is: 1) The Watase/Dojima/Hiyama group apparently had "level N" security clearance at some point, otherwise they couldn't have gotten into Area N. 2) Watase himself had level 5 security clearance at some point after that to get to level 5 to find Yuuri. 3) And somehow, Watase not only lost that card, but somehow picked up not just one, but two level 4 cards in the meantime? What happened here? I find it interesting because this one thing - learning that Watase has two level 4 cards in his pocket - throws up several questions, questions where the answers seem to be pretty multi-faceted. This process of Watase going from having "level N" security clearance to level 4 security clearance needs multiple steps to happen, and we don't really know jack poo poo about any of them. Not to mention that whole thing about Yuuri being on level 5 to begin with, which just kind of hopes to slip in under the radar, and her somehow moving from level 5 to level 1 between whatever happened between her and Watase and him being found by Jun and Kazami.
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Oct 10, 2016 21:51
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OddHaberdasher posted:many things This is a good post. Not because it's right (obviously), but because it works in a lot of small things that add up to the bigger picture. Things like the "atonement" factor, which consists entirely of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it comment, but can be a critical point in Team A's motives. The fact that Watase had a gun in that one CG with the "monster", which also casts a lot of doubt on what exactly he was here to do. This game will definitely pull some of those minor factors out at a way later point in time, when they suddenly become plot-critical. And then some of them are complete and utter red herrings. Y'know, just to gently caress with you. EDIT: But what about we turn this conclusion on its head? You figure that Watase is a bad guy, but consider this: You've already compared LABO/Rokumei City to Umbrella, so why not accept that as a reasonable comparison. With that, we also accept that human experimentation is probably happening there. And of course, any attempts by test subjects to flee would be dealt with by use of lethal force. So what if Watase was trying to save the test subjects from LABO? That would explain why he had a gun - he'd be expecting some sort of a firefight breaking out with security once his cover is blown. Maybe the "monster" was such because of experimentation by LABO, and he was only acting in self defense? There's quite a few ways to interpret everything. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Oct 12, 2016 |
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Oct 12, 2016 17:26
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Teacher: 09/16/2030, 09:33 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 3 ♫  Kazami pointed to a terminal next to the gate.  You'll need a card every time you pass through a gate, even if you've already opened it once before. Okay, I'll give it a shot.He looked at Jun as he said this. She then pulled cut her Procyon and stared hard at it. ...What're you doing? I need to check the radiation levels before we go into an area we haven't searched yet. Remember, everything past this point is uncharted territory for us... I don't know why this screenshot is so funny to me, but it is. Dead loving serious. Watase took the card out as nervousness took hold of him-- And swiped it through the slot.  Watase and Jun both studied their Procyons carefully. The number was... ''1285 mSv''. Slightly higher than the reading they'd gotten at Area 1 earlier. Okay, it's within safety standards! What's that mean? It means it's contaminated, but still relatively safe. The safety standard is 'within 4000 mSv'. In other words, there's no danger of radiation contamination there so long as we've injected ourselves with AD. The first danger standard is '4000-8000 mSv'. This refers to an area we don't want to stay in for long even with AD. The second danger standard is 'over 8000 mSv', meaning that our lives are at great risk there even with AD. ...So basically, if we have AD, we'll be okay if the reading's within 4000 mSv. If it's over 4000 mSv, then it's a bit dangerous even if we have AD... And if it's over 8000 mSv, it's likely we'll die even with AD... did I get all that right? Yes. The Procyon will beep if we're in a 'contaminated zone' that exceeds the danger standard. If you hear it beeping by any chance, then please get out of there ASAP. Y—yeah... got it.The group passed through the gate as they talked.  The walls had been burned to hell and back, and the ceiling was damaged too. Holy crap... It would appear that there were explosions here too.And then, just when they'd finished rounding a corner-- The whole group gasped.  !?♪ BGM: Foolishness ♫ This loving music oh my god. Whenever this plays, something goofy is going to happen. Like our intrepid group of heroes rounding a corner and not running into rubble, fire or anything like that, no, instead they run into... There was a woman dangling upside-down from the ceiling.  Mmph, mmph...!It looked like she was sticking her lower torso into the air duct. Wh-what in the world...!? Well, uh, that's not something you see every day...As Kazami and Jun stared in utter disbelief, the woman's eyes widened with shock.  Wh-who's there!? Uh, we're rescue workers, ma'am... Rescue workers!? Perfect timing! I'm stuck! Mind pulling me out?! O-okay! Moribe, stand right below the air duct! Make sure she doesn't land head first! Roger! Okay then, ready, set...!The rescue squad then frantically pulled the woman's body-- and safely rescued her.  ♪ BGM: Achiever / Theme of Ena ♫ The woman, now standing upright on the floor, said this with a bit of embarrassment in her voice. It seemed that she was also a survivor. But... what were you doing? Me? Well, you see...The woman pointed to the air duct on the ceiling. The gates suddenly shut for some reason and I got stuck in this passageway... so I tried to use the air ducts to get out of here. I somehow managed to climb all the way up there by using a cable dangling from the ceiling, but... I moved around the air duct only to nearly slide out, and, well, you know the rest. You went through a lot, that's for sure... but you can't get out through those air ducts. Really? Yes. I checked it myself, but there's some sort of machine set up in the ducts. There's no way to pass through the section that leads to the surface. Oh my, that's a shame. Well, I wasn't trying to get to the surface anyway-- just out of this passageway. (Don't tell me... she doesn't know what's going on right now?)With that thought weighing on his mind, Watase faced the woman and called out. Do you work for this place? No, I'm a high school teacher at 'Rokumei Academy'. Rokumei Academy? Huh, you've never heard of it? It's this specialty school in the city limits.Now that he thought about it, her smartly dressed attire was befitting of a teacher. But it was covered in soot, just like the rest of the group. She'd probably been through the wringer. So anyway, you guys are rescue workers, right? Then could you get me out of this place?She looked at Watase with eyes full of expectation. But all he could do was answer her with a bit of guilt in his heart. About that--The woman's face grew more and more pale the further he explained about their current predicament. It only got worse when he told her that the phones and radios were down and the elevators weren't working. But it wasn't until she heard the part about how there was no way to the surface that she finally started shouting desperately. No way... What do you mean, 'the bulkheads are shut'!? We can't figure out why it happened either...! Then why don't you just destroy the drat thing with some sort of special equipment or something!? We've tried everything we can! But not even our engine cutter could make a dent in that thing! We can't destroy the bulkhead with any of the equipment we have on hand. Hmph! I never thought a rescue squad could be this useless! Uh oh, Jun isn't happy. Better watch out what you say, she's the one with the engine cutter! It's true that -we- can't destroy it with our equipment-- but the workers on the surface should have explosives with them. So it's only a matter of time before that bulkhead is destroyed and reinforcements come. So please try to understand for now. I see, then I guess there's nothing you can do about it.The woman let out an exasperated sigh. Now wait just a minute, lady...!Kazami held back Jun as the latter snarled angrily. More importantly, we need to give her some AD. Oh, you're right! She’ll be in big trouble without it! AD? What's that? Well you see, it's--Kazami explained AD to the woman. She also told her about the radiation filling the facility, the danger standards, and the Procyon. The woman's attitude took a complete 180 after she'd heard all that. R-radiation...!? That's correct. Furthermore, subjective symptoms of radiation damage easily appear in the internal organs, skin, and eyes. Are you experiencing any nausea, skin pain, or blurry vision? No, I think I'm feeling okay... Good. Then you'll be fine as long as we give you some AD now. But you'd better do it quick, you hear? If you don't, then you won't be around to keep telling us off like that. 'O... okay. Then all I have to do is inject myself with this? Righto, now that's better. Jun held the AD out to the woman. She proceeded to quickly inject herself with it. So I'll be okay now... right?She was now a lot calmer and quieter, showing no signs of the hysterical woman that'd been yelling at them just a few minutes ago. It seemed she finally understood the situation she was in. Phew... by the way, what's your name? ...'Ena Tsubakiyama'. And you guys?The group promptly answered Ena's question. I'm Lieutenant Tachibana. This is Ensign Moribe. And this girl is Yuuri, a civilian we found trapped down here. Y-yes...Yuuri gave this timid answer, then followed up with a question of her own. Why are you here, Professor Tsubakiyama...?Yuuri politely referred to Ena as Professor. Ena appeared to be used to being called that, as she answered Yuuri's question without the slightest hint of awkwardness. Me? l was summoned here by one of the staff who work here. But then this explosion came out of nowhere, and next thing I know, everyone's panicking... It was so crazy that before I knew it, I was stuck here. ...Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Hey, why're you acting like it's not your problem? You're a rescue worker, so aren't you supposed to be nicer to the people you save? Another blue decision point, this time asking our opinion of Ena. I have a bit of an idea what I'll do with all these characters showing up without yellow decision points - two updates after this one, we'll have at least seen all of the nine characters on the Enneagram in some way. Then we'll have one big round of voting for our Senses for Yuuri, Ena and hte other four, and then I'll just ask for new votes at yellow or red decision points. For now, I stick with the middle. Ena glared at Watase. ...While we're at it, you're the only one whose name I haven't heard yet. Who are you? Oh, I'm Watase Kasasagi. I'm this squad's captain... sorta. So you're the captain? You're not exactly instilling much confidence with that whole 'sorta' business. Please don't be so harsh. I get that you're not happy about being stuck in this situation, but still... See, there you go again, acting like this isn't your problem.Watase winced and shut his mouth as Ena nagged him again. (But still... isn't it a bit odd for a high school teacher to be in a place like this?)Watase quietly stared at Ena's face. What is it, Captain Kasasagi? Have I got something on my face? Oh, no, nothing like that, really...Kazami spoke up as Watase awkwardly tried to cover up for himself. Now then, let's press onwards. There might be other survivors.The group started walking again at that suggestion. There was a security gate at the end of the passageway, but a swipe of the security card quickly took care of it.  And with that, the group of five entered Area 3.
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Oct 12, 2016 20:04
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Glazius posted:For some reason this is all feeling very... uh, "Poseidon Adventure"-y? Well, it's a survival story about a group of people trapped in an enclosed environment with death slowly creeping in. It's a fun base concept. OddHaberdasher posted:TL;DR I'm at least 65% wrong, aren't I? Also, I write too much. It doesn't matter if you're wrong. What matters is that you spent time thinking, because at some point, you're going to actually work something out about as early as you would be capable of doing so. At this point, you're missing core information that makes any judgement that turns out to be right pretty much just a lucky guess, but it's easier to modifiy existing ideas with new information coming in than starting to think later down the line.
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Oct 13, 2016 18:59
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Researcher: 09/16/2030, 09:36 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ I'm looking forward to seeing how you react to the character introduced in this chapter. This area was considerably different from all the other floors. The walls were made of unfaced concrete, and the ceiling's steel frame and cables were completely exposed. Watase checked his Procyon to find that the display read ''1381 mSv''. Good, looks like this place is safe too. 'Safe', huh... Normally we'd be dead at this level of radiation. Like we said, we'll be fine as long as we have AD. And fortunately, it doesn't look like there were any fires in this area--But the moment Jun said that, ???: --Impossible...!? Why were they... the group heard a voice coming from somewhere. It looks like someone's here! Yeah!Watase thought he heard the voice coming from the room right in front of him. The door was labeled Surveillance Room. Heeey! Is someone in there!?A voice filled with surprise echoed in reply to Watase's unconscious shouts. ???: Wha—!? That voice-- is that you, 'Captain Kasasagi'!? What!? Y-you know who I am!????: H-how could I -not- know you... Someone was talking to him from the other side of the door. However, Watase didn't recognize the speaker's voice. (Who is it...!?)Watase timidly opened the door.   Oh hey, we've seen this guy before! And we've also heard him before - astute listeners will notice that he was the one that was giving the emergency broadcast in the prologue. Of course, you can't notice that, so that's why I'm telling you. Makes sense, right? Kazami and Jun's eyes simultaneously widened as soon as they heard the man's voice. Huh... Mr. Ukita!? What're you doing here, old man!? Y-you're all here too...?The man named Ukita said this with bewilderment. W-wait a sec... you guys all know each other? Yes. We saved this man when he got into a car accident just last week. Don't tell me you got into -another- accident this week, Mr. Ukita? Y-yes... Never in my wildest dreams would I have predicted such misfortune befalling me. (I don't really know the circumstances, but-- anyone would be bitter over having luck this bad two weeks in a row.)And if Kazami and Jun had saved him once before, then it made sense that he knew them all. I see... By the way, were you not able to evacuate in time or something? Wha... what preposterous game are you trying to pull here!? -You- were the one who looked me in this area! H-huh...?Watase froze in confusion at the angry look that'd suddenly appeared on the man's face. H-hold on a second. Could you explain the details? Shouldn't you know that better than anyone else here!? Well, uh, you see... The truth is, it looks like I hit my head really hard a little while back... and thanks to that, I can barely remember anything... Barely remember anything... Are you serious!? Ukita wasn't the only one to react to Watase's explanation. Whoa, hold on, I didn't hear any of this. Are you saying you have amnesia? Is that thing even possible outside the movies? Well... I understand why you two can't believe it, but it's true... The kind of long-term amnesia that you see in movies is extremely rare, but short-term amnesia where memories become hazy, while not exactly common, is still possible.Kazami came to Watase's defense at the perfect time. Ukita spent a long moment looking doubtfully at Watase-- but eventually came to a decision and spoke. ...Very well. Then I'll believe you for now. Thank you. Um... and you are? Oh, I'm 'Keiji Ukita'. As you can see, I'm a researcher at this lab. (Keiji Ukita...!?)That name sounded familiar to Watase. He thought his memories were coming back for a moment-- but that wasn't the case. For he'd seen the words ''Keiji Ukita'' after he'd woken up. It was the name that'd been written on one of the cards he'd found earlier. Then this is your card? Ah! So you really did have it!Ukita swiped the card out of Watase's hands. U-Um, hey... Mr. Ukita? Why did I steal your card from you? A bit of an odd question, but I suppose it can't be helped. Now then, how to explain this...Ukita thought for a bit before he began to talk. ...While all my colleagues were evacuating, I tried to take charge of the situation. Felt it was my duty as one of the people who worked here, you see. But it didn't go so well, as a 'Case N' was declared during all the chaos... It was at that moment while I was paralyzed in shock that I met you, Captain Kasasagi. This was about 2 hours ago. Did the captain say anything back then? He said 'I'll go look for an exit. But the fires are getting worse and it's too dangerous, so wait for me in this room'. But I refused to listen to him. I panicked and flew into a frenzy. That's why Captain Kasasagi took my card from me-- so that I couldn't move on my own. Well, I'm sure he only did it to keep me safe... but I detest how I was given no choice in the matter. That's why I was angry. Oh boy, sounds like you came face to face with the captain's uncompromising side. So that's what happened... I'm sorry for what I did to you. I was probably planning on coming right back, but... No, it's all right. By the way, who're those two?Ukita glanced at Ena and Yuuri as he asked this. I'm Ena Tsubakiyama. I'm a high school teacher who was called to this facility. I'm Yuuri... I'm family to one of LABO's researchers. Hmm... so a teacher and a family member, huh? But that sure is bizarre. This facility's security is top notch, so no one should have been able to even get into the basement floors. Really? Then how do you the two of you explain yourselves?Ena grew exasperated at the rest of the group's confusion. Believe me, that's what I'd like to ask these guys. Even I don't know why they called for me so early in the morning. I was brought down here by a real jerk of an employee... then there was the explosion, and I ended up trapped here in all the confusion. Which employee? I think he said his name was Mr. Nojima or something like that. He told me to wait right where I was and then went running off somewhere as fast as he could. I swear, it's like a bad joke. We get a blue branch here, but like I said earlier, we're staying with the middle for now. Back to the questioning. Y-yes, it was like that for me too... I came to visit this place late last night... and they told me to spend the night down here in the basement floors... And when I woke up, all this happened... My mom wasn't there either and I got scared...! Hey, then that makes us both victims who got caught up in this mess, doesn't it? You have no right to pry into our affairs. Mmm... I see, my apologies.Ukita seemed to be pondering something as he said that. Intrigue! Kazami cut into the conversation as she gave him a curious glance. ...By the way, have you already injected yourself with any AD, Mr. Ukita? Oh, the AD! I took the ones that Captain Kasasagi gave me, but I've used them all up at this point. The last time I took any was nearly an hour ago.As expected, a researcher like Ukita knew all about AD. Then use this.Watase handed Ukita an AD. The latter practically snatched it out of his hands and injected himself with it. (... We're getting short on those things.) Yup. The menu keeps track of your current AD stack - not exactly what I'd call crucial information (for the player, that is), but it's good to know. So right now, we have six people and five AD, and everybody needs to inject one every hour. Not good. Ukita threw aside the empty AD ampule as anxiety began worming its way into Watase's mind. More importantly... would all you rescue workers here please take a look at these monitors for a minute? Huh? I was perusing through the surveillance camera records to get a grasp of the situation when I happened upon an image that concerned me. Now that you mention it, I do recall that you were talking to yourself just before we found you. So what's this image that's got you all hot and bothered? This image was taken in Area 2 at '6:21 AM'--Ukita operated the control panel. A second later, the monitor displayed an image taken by the surveillance cameras. ...but not until the next chapter!
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Oct 14, 2016 20:06
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6+3: 09/16/2030, 09:40 Alright, I know I just can't leave you on that kind of a cliffhanger this early, so let's see our last three main characters. Furthermore, this chapter will give us two quite major revelations.  ♪ BGM: Looming Crisis ♫ The frozen image depicted three children. There was a boy with glasses and a blonde girl. They couldn't make out the face of the last one, but it appeared to be a girl as well. They were all wearing what appeared to be school uniforms. It was then that Ena and Jun both spoke at the same time. It can't be! Why are Mr. Tenkawa and the others here!? Huh!? Then those two are Mashiro and Louise!? Huh? The two of you know them? Of course I do! I'm the long-term sub for their homeroom teacher. I just happened to get to know those kids last week... What!? Truth is, I'm familiar with those kids myself. How so? Well, not only do I live next door to that boy, but his mother happens to be one of my coworkers here. That's how. Then did they come to see his mother? Sorry... but I don't know the answer to that either... Anyway, there are several other images just like this one. And the last one-- Was taken in Area 5 at 7:12 AM.When he heard that, Watase instantly understood what Ukita was getting at. Wait... if they were down here at 7:12 AM, and the bulkheads were lowered at 7 AM... Right. That means that there are at least three others aside from us who are trapped here in LABO. What...!? (What were they doing here?)Did they really come here to visit the boy's mother? Or was there some other reason-- Hey, Teach... what're their names? The boy is 'Natsuhiko Tenkawa'. The two girls are 'Mashiro Toba' and 'Louise Yui Sannomiya'. ...All those names sounded vaguely familiar to him. He felt a kinship from them, like he'd known them all for a long time. (Could it be... that I went down to the basement to save these kids?) Are you sure that those kids are still trapped here? Well, I certainly can't confirm that, but I'm pretty sure of it.Ukita pointed to a phone in the corner of the room. The emergency phone is dead, and my PDA isn't getting any reception. We tried those both ourselves, but it didn't work out either.Ena suddenly perked her head up once she heard that.  Huh... 'Bee See'? Right, like telepathy. If we can use that to get in contact with the outside, then I think we can learn more about what's going on. T-Telepathy...!?Watase's eyes widened at that totally out-of—place word. Teach, how can you joke at a time like this? Oh my, I didn't realize your amnesia was -that- bad... So you forgot about that stuff too? People capable of using telepathy are not that uncommon these days. Wha... Are you serious!?Watase looked at the others in total shock. But he was the only surprised one there. H-hey, Tachibana, is what she's saying true? Yes, it is. The 'telepathy' she's talking about is the ability to send your voice to people in a distant place. It's true that we'd probably be able to get in touch with people on the outside if we could use it-- But though she said it's not rare, the rate of people who can use it is still only 1 in 500. And though a lot of BC users are kids for some reason, adult BC users are as rare as a hen's teeth. Naturally, that goes for you and the rest of our squad. You've probably guessed, but I can't use it either. What about you, Yuuri? I-I... can't do it. I'm bad at BC...Everyone had answered with a serious look on their faces. It was still hard for him to believe, but after seeing their reactions, it seemed Watase had no choice but to accept it as the truth. You're all serious...? Then are there people who can use other superpowers? Like, uh, you know, teleportation, telekinesis... stuff like that? Of course not. That stuff's purely in the realm of the occult. And telepathy isn't? BC is a 'power' that's been scientifically proven. There's nothing 'super' about it. BC stands for 'Beyond Communication-- a form of communication that doesn't use language as an intermediary. It is essentially the ability to mutually communicate your ideas to people far away. Nothing more, and nothing less.So there you go. That is ''Beyond Communication''. Now, don't the descriptions Kazami and Ena gave of BC sound familiar? It appeared that this ''BC'' had very limited uses. But even if what she said was true-- Well, yeah, it probably would be better if we could use telepathy or whatever... But I doubt we'd be so lucky to have anyone here who won the lottery on that whole '1 out of 500' deal. But those kids -can- use telepathy. Huh!? Then we could contact the surface if they were here!? -If— they were here, that is... Ah geez, this is pathetic. Things would be so much easier if I could use it myself.So that was the first revelation. ''Beyond Communication'' is the power of telepathy. This is a scientifically proven concept and is accepted in the world as reality. I would say that this is the one big lie that this science-fiction story puts out - and there will be a lot more explanations on exactly how BC works down the line, don't you worry. They didn't just come up with this and throw it in there without having an explanation. But we're not going to be getting that yet. We need some mysteries for later, after all! But now, it's time for the second revelation. Just then, Ena's words... were cut off by the sudden sound of a voice and white noise echoing through the room. ♪ BGM: Close to the Truth ♫ ???: --his is Sirius Commander Murakami. Tachibana, do you read me? Over. What!? Kazami took out her PDA and spoke directly into it. Loud and clear. This is Lieutenant Tachibana of Sirius Team A.Commander: Tachibana! Looks like we finally got the radio up and running again! But the reception's still extremely unstable. It could cut off at any moment for all we know.Commander: Then make your report as short as possible. Give me an update on your status. Roger. At the present, we are--Kazami then told Commander Murakami everything that'd transpired up until that point. About how they'd reunited with Watase and then saved Yuuri, Ena, and Ukita. It appeared she was keeping Watase's amnesia a secret for now. Once Kazami had finished her report, Commander Murakami paused, then spoke again in a defeated voice. Commander: I see... so everyone in Team A really did go down to the basement. Then you're saying that neither Dojima nor Hiyama made it to the surface?Commander: No. It appears that the surface and basement have become completely separated. Kazami listened calmly to Commander Murakami's solemn voice before speaking again. Incidentally, would you happen to know why the bulkheads have been lowered, sir?Commander: Truth is, there are still a lot of things we're unclear about ourselves up here... but I have to tell you something first. The nuclear reactor in the basement has undergone a meltdown. We know this for a fact. I knew it...!Commander: Right after the explosions occurred at 6:19 AM, LABO's engineers began working on initiating an emergency shutdown of the reactor from the remote control room located in the surface floors. Tips posted:TIP: Nuclear reactor scram Commander: But after that, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, did. The short-term coolant suffered a circulation malfunction, the water pressure regulators broke down, the ventilation control system went offline, and so on. The engineers did all they could to prevent a meltdown-- But unfortunately, their desperate efforts were in vain... ...Commander: That's also what caused the bulkheads to lock. The radiation leakage prevention system activated when the meltdown occurred. Tips posted:TIP: Radioactivity The radiation leakage prevention system...!Commander: Yeah, it's used to prevent the spread of radioactive material. Then can't you simply open the bulkheads for just a few seconds?Expectation filled the group's faces when they heard Kazami's suggestion. However-- Commander: It pains me to say this... But at the present, that's impossible...! Impossible!? Why is that!?Commander: It seems that due to the meltdown, there's still a huge fire going on in Area N, which is where the reactor is located-- The security's system's gone haywire thanks to that, which means that we can no longer access it externally in theory. It seems the system will stop going haywire if the fire quells down, but since Area N's automatic sprinkler system is already broken, we can't expect that the fire will be extinguished. So LABO's staffers are currently doing everything in their power to restore the system, but... How long do they think that will take!?Commander: ...About...   And thus, we have the second big revelation, both for you as readers and me as an LPer - this isn't going to be a quick operation. Remember how slowly time has been going from update to update? We got nine more hours. And that's just one route. Also, nine hours. Nine people. Hang on... Everyone gasped at the words ''nine hours''. D... don't joke like that! Please destroy the bulkhead or open an escape route for us!Commander: I'm really sorry, Tachibana, but I can't do that! Why not!? C4 should be enough to get the job done, right!?Commander: The floors and bulkheads dividing the surface and basement are made of 8-layered thick anti-heat and shock composite steel plates! C4 won't be enough for something like that! Those plates are designed to withstand steam and hydrogen explosions. We don't have anything nearly powerful enough... N-no way...The normally composed Kazami was in total shock. We've got multiple survivors down with us... Are you sure there's nothing you can do...!?Commander: We're doing all we can too, but it-- take some ti--... o wait. Suddenly, his voice started only coming through in bursts. Commander!? I didn't catch all of that!Commander: ...ception's unstable! --o time, I have message from LABO's staff to you! The commander apparently realized that the transmission was reaching its limits, as he started talking much faster without pausing. Commander: --re's AD lying all around the facility for cases like this! Keep administering it to yourselves! And stay away from contaminated zones! --st keep doing that and you'll make it for sure! His voice was full of grief and pain. Kazami quietly listened to him with a bitter look on her face. Commander: ...--...ounting on you, Tachibana. Support Kasasagi and Moribe as m-- Commander!? You're breaking up again!Commander: ...hear me!? The reception's going-- Commander! Commander!Kazami desperately called out to him-- But the only reply she got was the cruel hiss of static from the radio. The true Root Double starts here. VOTING Alright, so we've gotten at least a glimpse of every character to be listed on the Enneagram. With that in mind, we're going to have a bit of a vote to see what you think of those we hadn't seen at the time of the last voting. As before, vote for Top, High, Low or Bottom, and do so for Yuuri Kotono, Ena Tsubakiyama, Keiji Ukita, and the group of three (Natsuhiko, Mashiro and Louise). As of right now, the three are separated from our group, so our Senses won't be as important. They will largely just show how much we desire to rescue them, to see them safe. Because of that, I'll just put the three together and we can have separate voting once we've seen more of them. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Oct 14, 2016 |
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Oct 14, 2016 21:02
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Tamba posted:So she CAN do BC, she's just bad at it? We only learn this later, but it's kind of important and doesn't facilitate any twist or anything like that, so I'll just tell you now: BC depends on both natural aptitude and acquired aptitude. Natural aptitude is just something that happens, and it's absolute. You either have the necessary aptitude to use BC or you don't. However, just having that aptitude doesn't mean you can use BC either, because you need to practice it a lot to get actually good with it. I presume that this statement means that Yuuri has some natural aptitude, but never practiced and therefore can't use BC. OddHaberdasher posted:I don't really have anything, that last update hulled everything I had Get used to that feeling, by the way.
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Oct 15, 2016 11:54
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Junpei posted:Two things I'd like to ask: Not entirely sure what you mean by that. Isn't it this? We already set our Senses for Watase in Chapter 4. Junpei posted:Two: The Before route is not these events from Natsuhiko's perspective, right? I guess I might as well just tell you outright: Route Before uses the three kids being trapped in LABO as a framing device for flashbacks to the days prior to the event, starting with 9/10/2030. So the route does involve these events from Natsuhiko's perspective, but the focus is on the timespan between 9/10/2030, 6:19 and 9/16/2030, 9:16.
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Oct 16, 2016 11:45
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Glazius posted:Oh, so we're the celebrity guest stars while those meddling kids solve another mystery? There's more than enough mystery to go around. Also, I decided to call the vote for the Senses for the remaining characters. The results are as follows: code:6: Yuuri, Mashiro, Natsuhiko, Louise, Jun 4: Kazami 3: Watase, Ukita 2: Ena
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Oct 17, 2016 18:31
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Radiation: 09/16/2030, 09:44 Alright, the people have spoken, and their opinions on the new characters are as follows: code: ♪ BGM: Psychological Warfare ♫ Kazami grimly put her PDA away. The rest of the group, full of panic, all began speaking at the same time. Did he just say... nine hours...!? That's way too long! Why will it take that much time!? And the reactor causing all of this is only a hand's reach away...!Staying in an environment like that for nine hours... It was an insane idea to all of them. And it didn't look like they could expect the reinforcements that Kazami had been counting on. Not any time soon, that is. Watase then spoke with a cracked voice.  ...Yes? What the hell's this 'radiation leakage prevention system'...!? That didn't seem like a question that would cause a reaction like that. In fact, that's a question that he probably really should have been expecting. It's because of that thing that we're stuck here... Why did something like that activate where there's still people down here? And what the hell's a meltdown anyway!? Tell me! I'm the only one here who doesn't know just how bad it is!Ukita hesitantly looked around at everyone else, then sighed.  ... I'll warn you that this will be quite a simplified explanation, though. Is that all right? Yeah... please tell us.With those words as a signal, Ukita began to quietly explain. I remember somebody saying they were enjoying this more as a firefighter procedure drama than a survival story. Well, we won't be having that here, but now it's time for the game to go all physics lesson on us again. In short-- a meltdown is a phenomenon where a nuclear reactor's core rises to exceptionally high temperatures, then proceeds to melt. Normally, the nuclear fuel burning in the reactor is constantly cooled to prevent something like this from happening... But when it's not cooled adequately, the heat becomes far too much for the reactor's heat-resistant properties to handle, and thus damages the reactor itself. And then the scorching hot fuel is released into the outside. Is that what's causing that 'large fire' in Area N right now? Yes. It's most likely that the immensely hot fuel set fire to nearby flammable objects. The melted fuel is around 3000 degrees Celsius, so it'll burn anything it touches. And the fact that it's still burning means that it'll cause catastrophic damage, won't it? I believe that your assumption is correct. And with the automatic sprinkler system destroyed, it's possible that it's also causing explosions. What's more, it'll cause a steam explosion if it comes in contact with any water. Area N is now turning into a literal hell on Earth.A stiff smile rose to Ukita's face as he said all this. ...And though it goes without saying, nuclear fuel is radioactive. Which means that it scatters radiation all around it after escaping from the reactor. To give an example-- I know, are you familiar with the 'Chernobyl nuclear disaster'? No...The name didn't ring any bells to him. Ukita sighed and continued. It was one of the greatest nuclear crises in human history. It happened about half a century ago in Ukraine. A nuclear power plant's reactor melted down, causing a steam explosion. Up to 10 tons of radioactive material leaked out of the reactor chamber. It was the equivalent of 500 of the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima, causing enormous casualties. 3000 power plant workers and firefighters who tried to contain the accident died, and the casualties only kept on piling up afterwards. Even to this day we don't know exactly how many died-- but the number is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousands!? How did so many people die....!? Because of the radioactive material. From the explosions and fires came what we call 'atomic dust', which proceeded to float up into the sky, then fall back down to the earth with rain. Do you understand where I'm going with this? Because this is the truly terrifying part. Think of what will happen when the radiation bottled up in this place spreads to the surrounding regions...! ...So what you're saying is that atomic dust stuff will leak out of here and contaminate the area outside the facility? Precisely. The area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has become uninhabitable to humans and will remain that way for the next 900 years. Therefore, modern emergency procedures for dealing with a meltdown are the result of people applying the lessons they learned from past nuclear disasters all around the world-- Thus strengthening the trend to make preventing the spread of radioactive material their first priority. That's why all the bulkheads automatically locked down when a meltdown happened in this facility. In other words, 'Case N' is a code to notify people that they're performing a forced lockdown with the bulkheads. ...So that's it...!It was true that if the nuclear reactor was shielded by the unparalleled strength of composite steel plates, then it'd be able to easily handle a meltdown in the rare case of one. If the facility had been made of, say, normal reinforced concrete instead, then it would've most likely collapsed completely in the event of a steam explosion. So perhaps they'd made the facility into what was essentially one giant heavy metal box so that all they'd have to do in times of emergency was simply close the lid, sealing everything inside into an airtight container. Though he could understand the logic behind that-- ...But what're the people trapped inside supposed to do?I really want the response to this to just be ''They're supposed to die, Watase.'' He's right! Is there no way out!? Like through the air ducts... The fact that we can still breathe means that air is passing through them somewhere, doesn't it? No, the air ducts have radioactive material filters set up all over in them. They block all potential routes to the surface and other areas. So naturally, people can't get past them. Therefore, it's impossible to escape through the air ducts. They were that thorough!? Indeed. All nuclear-related facilities are extremely careful when it comes to safety. Right now, LABO's basement floors have been completely cut off from the outside world. All to ensure that not a single speck of ash sneaks out. So just like your boss said earlier, our only option is to keep administering AD as we wait for the lockdown to lif--But before Ukita could finish his sentence, Jun cut in. Hold on, Mr. Ukita... It doesn't look like we'll be able to just sit around and take it easy. Wh-why's that?Jun responded by taking her Procyon out of her breast pocket. Take a look at the reading on this Procyon.. it's now up to '1605 mSv'. But it was only around '100 mSv' right after the lockdown started. And though the reading's been varying from place to place... it's still slowly but surely increasing. What!?Now that he thought about it, she was right. The reading he'd seen when he'd first looked at a Procyon was about 1100 mSv. The reading really had increased in the short amount of time that'd passed since then. Wh-what's going on, Mr. Ukita!? Why's the reading getting bigger!? Even if the place is set up so that radioactive material doesn't spread out of the facility, isn't there something -in- the place that can counter it!? ...N-no, you see... ...I don't know either...! Are you serious!? The security gates between each area are supposed to be effective at preventing the spread of radioactive material like the bulkheads are... But maybe the gates and inner walls have been damaged in certain spots due to those explosions and fires... Or perhaps the filters in the air ducts are broken... Wh-what the hell!? Then what was all that crap about being 'careful with safety'!?Ena's eyebrows raised sharply as she accosted Ukita. What kind of place locks down their bulkheads when there's still people inside and can't even open them up!?A place that doesn't want radioactive material getting out, you loving nitwit.  Another blue path...  ...which means we get to put down our Senses for Ena and Ukita. And while you didn't trust Ukita, you trusted Ena even less. Of course you did. Face it, this so-called 'radiation leakage prevention system' is full of holes!I mean, she's kind of right, but still, the primary objective is to not have anything get out. And so far, it's been doing that just fine - it's just the inside that's hosed. M-mmm... I-I admit that our safety had a lot of shortcomings... But the system going haywire and the explosions were all factors beyond our expectations-- Isn't that whole 'being careful about safety' stuff supposed to keep those unexpected factors from happening!?Also, I feel really bad for Ukita here. I mean, the entire god drat place just blew up. Some poo poo got absolutely royally hosed at LABO, and there's no way you can account for something like that. Besides, he's just a researcher. Level 4, sure, but that means there's still a fair share of people above him. And he's just expected to know everything about the facility and is taking the heat for all of LABO's shortcomings. Let off the guy, for crying out loud - he stayed behind to help people evacuate, and this is the thanks he gets. H-hold on, calm down, Teach! Calm down!? How the hell am I supposed to calm down!? I wish it'd been just me instead of me -and- my students who got trapped down here! Once again, a blue decision point...  ...and this time, we get to set our Senses for the three students still unaccounted for beyond some security camera footage. And they indeed scored quite high - they tied for the top of the list! Ena, of course, stays at the bottom. Taken aback, Watase glanced at the monitors again.  With no one having come to their aid and pursued by the fires and fear of the radiation around them, they were no doubt still running around, trying to find a way out. At the very least, we need to give them some AD as soon as possible...!Ena sounded on the verge of tears. She may have looked harsh on the surface-- but when it came down to it, she really was a teacher. She couldn't help but be worried about her students. (But that's...!) My apologies, Ms. Tsubakiyama... but there's still a problem regarding that. Huh...? Even if we find them and take them with us, we'll need nine AD per hour to keep us all alive. But right now-- we only have five left. Forget just getting it to them, not even all six of us will be able to survive the next hour if the situation doesn't improve...!Everyone gasped. F-five... that's all you have!? My sincerest apologies... this is all because we didn't expect to get caught in a situation like this. How can you be so unprepared!? Aren't you guys supposed to be a rescue squad!? ...I truly... am sorry. (Could this situation possibly get any worse...!?)Well, the security station could blow up and kill like half of you. Never ask if the situation could get worse, because it always could. They needed 6 AD per hour to keep the entire group safe from radiation exposure. And they would need one more for each survivor that they rescued. It hadn't felt like they'd been so low on AD right after they'd saved Yuuri-- (But with Teach and Mr. Ukita with us now... we've finally come up short!)He didn't know how the situation had gotten so bad nor did he have time to think about it. But their next course of action was clear. So basically, we'll have to find enough AD for everyone-- As we're looking for the other three survivors, won't we...!? Correct, and as soon as possible too.Kazami looked back at the monitors. Before their 'cumulative exposure' exceeds fatal levels...! Cumulative exposure? You thought we were done with radiation talk? Kazami quickly answered Watase's question. The radiation you're exposed to builds up in your body. That total amount is known as the 'cumulative exposure'. What the Procyon actually shows is 'how much radiation you'll be exposed to per hour in your current location'. In other words, that means we'll be exposed to '1605 mSv per hour' in our present environment. The fatality rate for having a cumulative exposure of 2000 mSv is approximately 5%. At 4000 mSv, it's approximately 50%. And if it goes up to 8000 mSv, that's a 99% chance of death right there. In other words, the more your cumulative exposure increases, the higher and quicker the risk of dying gets. And it takes a long time for any radiation you've accumulated to go away.Which meant that if they didn't give themselves any AD in this environment-- Their cumulative exposure would reach 4000 mSv in two and a half hours, and 8000 mSv in five hours. (If we don't find more AD, we'll all be dead before the lockdown can be lifted...!)Ukita then spoke up as this thought crossed Watase's mind.  And it's still very useful in keeping you alive longer than you normally would even in environments of up to 8000 mSv. Our cumulative exposure won't rise so long as we keep administering AD. Are you positive about that? I'd really appreciate it if you could back that up with proof-- It may be hard to believe, but please trust me completely on this matter. AD is our lab's greatest masterpiece. It protects the entire body from radiation exposure through stable iodine agents, chelating agents, nine types of Prussian Blue anti-radiation medicine, and medical nanomachines-- All of these circulate throughout the body through the vein it's injected into, protecting your cells, blood, nerves, and genes. It spreads through your gastric and respiratory mucosa in just three minutes, completely cutting off all intake of radioactive material. Furthermore, it detoxifies all radioactive materials and chemical compounds, which are excreted from the body through sweat and urine. The reason I'm so calm is because I'm aware of just how incredibly effective AD is. Trust me, I'd be panicking if it wasn't.You had me at 'nanomachines'. I... I see!That is the sound of a man not seeing at all. Ukita's voice and expression both seemed totally honest. So basically, they could survive so long as they kept administering AD. But their bodies would get closer and closer to death with each passing moment once its effects wore off. Then we can't just keep standing around here and complain all day, right!? We have to get all the AD we can find lying around this place and get them to Natsuhiko and the others! Hey, Mr. Ukita! Can't we use the surveillance cameras to look for survivors!? He's right! Or even use the PA to call for them! Unfortunately... the PA's not working anymore, and almost all of the cameras are broken. How'd that happen? Probably due to the effects of the fires and explosions... even most of the surveillance footage is vanishing. Though from what I can surmise from the minuscule amounts of footage I could recover, they were apparently heading towards 'Area 6'... Area 6!Meaning they'd been heading to an area much further ahead than this one. But just knowing that was enough. Actually, that's perfect... I mean, it's possible that there's more survivors than just those three. So we'll need to comb through all the areas from top to bottom anyway in order to rescue them all. Yes. And we've already finished searching Areas 1 and 2. Which means that we'll have searched all the areas if we press on while searching everywhere from Areas 3 to 6. Dojima and Hiyama should also be there. Not only do they both have their own AD too, but they're the best in the squad next to the captain. Meaning we'll have nothing to fear if we regroup with them! All right! Tachibana, Moribe, let's get a move on right away!Ena then turned to them with a firm voice. I... I'm coming too! M-Me too. It'd be more effective to keep progressing onwards while we're all searching. Another branch.  This time around, we only set Yuuri's Senses from 8 to 6, but that shouldn't really do anything different. Is this really the time to be saying that!? Indeed. And besides, I'm very familiar with LABO and its structure. I can probably be of at least a little use. I'll go too... I might not be able to do anything, but I'll try my best.Even Ukita and Yuuri were siding with Ena. Tachibana, can't you see...? Even Yuuri of all people is up for this!When Watase took LABO's size into consideration, he realized that it'd be better to have all the help they could get with the searching. And he didn't want Yuuri's feelings to go to waste. Not after she'd mustered up her courage like that. He's right, Lieutenant. Let's put reality before the rules right now. ...You're right, we don't have much choice...!Kazami nodded after a moment's hesitation. --And thus six wills became one to accomplish the same goal: ''To survive''. And also ''To rescue the survivors''. They had to act as soon as possible in order to fulfill these tasks. Then let's hurry. How exactly do we plan on searching? We only have two Procyons and security cards, so let's split into two groups and search. Who'll be on what team? Roger! O... okay. All right. I have no objections myself. Then our team will sweep the inner ring, so I'd like for Moribe's team to handle the outer ring. There are four things we need to look for-~ 'The survivors' and 'AD'. And if possible, see if you can locate an 'escape route' or a 'Level 5 security card' so we can get into Area 5. The AD are being stored in iron 'medical boxes'. Some might be lying around in a passageway or somewhere like that, so check them carefully. We're pressed for time, so hurry...! But do -not- rush this, and please put your own safety above all else! All right then, let's get started! YEAH!And so, with Kazami's words having sparked a fire in them all, the group ran out of the surveillance room.
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Oct 18, 2016 19:18
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Leakage: 09/16/2030, 09:50 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 3 ♫ --They first ran into the nearest room.  Deeper inside was a space that seemed to be for a rest area, a guardsroom, or possibly a conference room. All right, commence the search! We have one minute! Yeah! Y-yes!The group split up and searched the room. Though they didn't find the survivors or a medical box there, something still caught their eyes. (Hmm?)A notepad was lying on the floor. Something had been hastily scribbled on it.  ... The sprinkler system? Could this inspection be the reason why it's not online?Kazami ran up to him and took a look at the note. No, the date's wrong. Today's September 16th-- But perhaps we'll find out why the sprinkler system's offline if we go to this 'engine room'. Do you know where it is? Negative. I can only hope we find it in our future search.But though they hadn't gained much information, it was still progress. All right, next room!The group finished up their search of the room in precisely one minute, then headed for the next one. They entered the hallway and went next door.  The survivors were nowhere to be found, and all the elevator lights were off. So it appears that all the elevators In this facility are disabled, not just Area 1 and 2's. Um, couldn't we climb up the elevator shaft to get to the surface...? Unfortunately, there's a bulkhead in the shafts at the section that leads to the surface. That's also gotta be part of the radiation leakage prevention system...!With the elevators out, the group had no choice but to move on. Their next destination was the connecting passageway that led to Area 4.  This rubble... was it created by the explosions that occurred before the meltdown? Most likely. ...I don't think we can get past it.Though they'd finally gotten their hands on a Level 4 card, it meant nothing in the face of this. It appeared they'd need to find another way into Area 4. There's no point in standing around here! Let's move on!The group went back to Area 3 and headed towards Area N this time.  they were greeted by a door, with a security terminal stationed next to it. The words Lv. N were engraved on the terminal. Level N...? It would seem that you need a special card to get into Area N.Perhaps Area N had the highest security level in LABO. But it was the fires blazing just beyond that gate that kept them from freedom. ...Would it be possible to enter Area N and put out the fires? Are you out of your mind!? That's way too dangerous! Even if you could put out the fires, you wouldn't be able to protect yourself from getting exposed to the lethal radiation levels in there. You're right! Dammit...!Watase tried putting his Procyon close to the gate-- ...Wha!?only for the reading to start shooting up astronomically. '2406 mSv'!? It almost went up by a thousand all at once-—! It's too dangerous! Fall back!! Y-yeah!The group frantically ran away from the door. Just then, the Procyon's reading went back to normal. Even if we could get past the gate, we'd have to face all of that...! ...If the gate's made of lead, then it should be able to completely block off radiation... So perhaps the inner walls and ceiling are damaged.No matter how strong the gate was, there was always the possibility that there were cracks in other spots. Though they were invisible to the naked eye, there was atomic dust and radiation leaking through them-- ...I see, so that's why the reading keeps on going up. At any rate, this confirms that there's a melted down reactor on the other side of this gate.An area of death, swirling with hellfire and radiation. If the area around the gate was that bad even when shut, then they could only imagine just how much radiation would engulf them if they opened it up. (It really would be suicide to go into that place...)Kazami continued as Watase held his breath in horror. Be that as it may, we've now concluded our search of the inner ring, Captain. Let's assist with the search of the outer ring. ... Yeah.The group nodded and ran off towards the outer ring.
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Oct 20, 2016 18:16
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Backdraft: 09/16/2030, 09:54 Eh, gently caress it, that last one was short, might as well go for a double.  You're not qualified to handle this, so just do what I tell you! Oh come on, it's just smoke! I didn't take rescue workers for cowards! ♪ BGM: Achiever / Theme of Ena ♫  I don't know exactly why, but Ukita just standing there off to the side with that expression on his face just cracks me the gently caress up. Poor bastard.Ukita watched the two of them with a bewildered look on his face. Wh-what happened!? Moribe, what's all this commotion about!? Ah, Lieutenant! Another blue path. Who are we deciding between this time?  Oh, yeah, that's not even a contest. But we don't know where the fire's coming from since there's a ton of rooms, so I was telling Ms. Tsubakiyama and Mr. Ukita to wait somewhere safe, but-- Don't be an idiot! If there's traces of a fire, then that's all the more reason why we should -all- be searching! ...So as you can see, neither of them is willing to compromise.Watase thought for a second about who he should side with, and then-- Calm down, Teach! Think about it: it's too dangerous for an untrained civilian to go somewhere where there could be a fire raging, right!? What was that!? See? Our captain has amnesia and thus is no better than an amateur at the moment, and even -he's- agreeing with me! Just think with common sense already. We just simply can't let a civilian go with us to an area that could be on fire! The hell are you two on about!? It's just a little smo--But before Ena could say any more, Kazami sharply cut in. Do you want to die, Ms. Tsubakiyama? Huh...? If you don't want to die, then please stop complaining and listen to us. ...Ena instinctively gasped at Kazami's harsh words. ..I-I just wanted to help... And I truly am grateful for that. I apologize for being harsh on you. But you can't take even the smallest of fires lightly. Please trust our judgment when it comes to disaster sites. Our mission is to ensure that everyone gets out of here in one piece. So please--Kazami bowed her head with those words. Ena looked away from her uncomfortably. All right... then I'll leave it up to the professionals. Thank you very much.Watase straightened his back with a crunch at those words. So that means... it's our turn to shine, isn't it? That's right, it's round one in your fight to get back into fighting shape. Perfect chance to see if you can reclaim your instincts. Ms. Tsubakiyama, Mr. Ukita, please wait with Yuuri in the inner ring for us. We did not see any signs of a fire there, but please be cautious and remain aware of your surroundings, just as a precaution. Very well, leave it to us. ... Roger that. See you later.After the rest of the group had finished wishing them luck, the rescue workers headed for the outer ring.  ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ This block had multiple doors lining the hallway on both sides. You were right, it is a bit smoky--He didn't see any traces of a fire at first glance, but the entire hallway was filled with thin smoke. Hold on a second, is this facility's air conditioning not working? It is for the most part, but there's some places where it's broken. Like here. Most likely due to the effects of the fire. Kazami looked around the block after saying this, then continued. At any rate, there's something you need to be cautious of while searching this block, Captain. What's that? Please check each of the doors with your IRT scanner to make sure they're not hot before we go opening them. If a door ever shows up on the scanner as red or yellow, then make sure you do -not- open it for any reason. Huh? Why's that? It'll cause a 'backdraft' if you do. When a fire burns in a sealed-off room, it eventually consumes all the oxygen in that room and starts to smolder. So when the door to the place is opened, fresh air rapidly pours into the room and then-- Kaboom!!  We can't see any fire in this block, but we can see smoke. Which means it's possible that there's a fire smoldering in one of these rooms. So if you don't carefully check the temperature... all us of could get blown away. It's a real big responsibility. You sure you're up for it?I don't know. Are we? VOTING Alright, we're at a decision point once again, and I'll just tell you outright that we're going to die if you gently caress this up. With that in mind, pick between Top, High, Middle, Low or Bottom for Watase, Jun and Kazami. Furthermore, remember what I said back in the Senses Sympathy Tutorial? I said "[w]hile setting Senses for other people is a very simple thought process, you sometimes need to really think about just what having a high Sense of yourself means in a certain situation", and this is a prime example. So when you vote, I want you to explain your vote for Watase. Answer the following question: "What do you think setting Watase's Sense of himself at that level will make him do?". The thing is that there are multiple ways to answer that question. Alas, only one is right. Anyway, explaining your vote isn't required, I'll count it just the same if you don't, but it'll be very interesting to compare what you think will happen with what actually happens. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Oct 20, 2016 |
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Oct 20, 2016 18:17
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Haifisch posted:It's me, I'm the one person who found this LP from your link in the Political Machine thread.  Yay! This means a lot more to me than it really should.In other news, the vote currently stands at 4.25 for Watase (rounding down to 4), and 7.5 for Kazami and Jun (rounding up to 8). EDIT: Actually, gently caress it, I'm calling the vote. Not like there's going to be a major shift anyway, what with a vote from now on only having 1/9th of an effect or less. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Oct 21, 2016 |
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Oct 21, 2016 20:18
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Mraagvpeine posted:I started reading this LP and I'm sort of glad to get a Zero Escape fix after what happened to the VLR LP. It's always a shame when LPs die. I don't blame people when it happens, but it's still a shame. I can no longer count the amount of LPs I was interested in that died before more than about five updates were made on my hands - and that's just those that died with less than about five updates! It's why I've developed this dogged determination to finish my LPs. There are people out there that are enjoying it, and god damnit, I feel like I owe it to them to give them a conclusion, especially since the games I've LPed recently are story-focused. Of course, I then decided to put this idea to the test by deciding to LP a really loving big visual novel that will probably take me years to get through once my schedule slows to a more reasonable pace (I don't know how long I can keep this pace of basically an update per two days up, but so far, it's been going very smoothly). Update coming tomorrow, by the way. Also, insert a joke about this game being about half Zero Escape fitting well with me being about half the LPer Fedule is here. Half-assed self-deprecating non-jokes wooooooo.
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Oct 22, 2016 01:38
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Junpei posted:Try making it a competition! It really helps. Let's say... For what it's worth, I'm very probably going to be gunning for that, since I certainly don't want to have to take my attention away from DRV3 once it comes out - though not knowing when the western release will be makes that a bit difficult. I'll have to reevaluate that idea once the date is announced.
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Oct 22, 2016 15:16
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Disregard ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ Well, are we? I don't know, but here's what we're putting into the Senses input, anyway: code:  ...the red branch indicator of doom tells us that we hosed up, and you're not getting the second chance to un-gently caress yourself. 'I see'... Captain, you sure you get it? Firefighting is all about teamwork. Not only must our minds be as one, but we need to work closely together as one unit, understand? Anyway, let's hurry up with the search. We have a lot of rooms to check.--And with that, the group began searching each and every room. They stood in front of a room on the edge of the outer ring-- Kazami headed toward the door, hose at the ready.  The door's... blue. No heat here. Roger. I'll open the door, then!Jun announced that as she opened the door.  ...It doesn't look like there's any signs of a fire here, does it? Yeah, but the same goes for any survivors. Then search the place for AD. You have 30 seconds.It wasn't long before they found a box.  But-- it was empty. Somebody must have taken the contents already. Tch, no luck, huh... And no card either. Then let's move on to the next room. Be more efficient this time.And so the group searched one room after another. But as the search went on without them finding any AD or survivors, to say nothing of the origin of the smoke-- Watase forgot about the threat of fire without even noticing it.  No, Captain, stop! You have to check for heat fir--Watase heard Kazami's warning. But by then, he'd already pressed the open button--  ♪ BGM: Silence ♫ --A second later...  He also felt something like the air getting sucked up at the same time. (What's that!?)Watase's gaze turned to what lay in the room. And what he saw--  ♪ BGM: Abyss ♫ !?At that moment, a memory flashed back in his mind.  So when the door to the place is opened, fresh air rapidly pours into the room and then-- Kaboom!! ...it starts burning again like an explosion. By the time he completed that thought, Watase had been engulfed by red hot flames.   Congratulations, tiistai! tiistai posted:I'd put Watase at high, I get the feeling that having his self-esteem too low here is just going to get in the way of doing his job while putting it at the top might make him too rash. Agreed with putting the girls at the top. You were right on the money with having Watase's Sense for himself being too low screwing things up. Logicblade and SatansOnion also voted for a combination that would have led to not dying. Everybody else, alas, your fate lies in meeting face-to-face with a massive wall of fire. We'll do better next time.
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Oct 22, 2016 15:17
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Backdraft: 09/16/2030, 09:54 - Part 2 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ Alright, let's not gently caress up this time.  Setting Watase's Sense of himself to 6 will do for now.  Note the +1s to Jun and Kazami. Watase gulped and checked his surroundings. About ten doors lined the hallway. They all felt like traps to him. Explosive booby traps just waiting to be tripped. ...So I need to take this seriously or we'll all be screwed. Every single one of these doors has the potential risk of shooting flames out if I open it, right? Yes. But there might also be AD or survivors behind them. And we can't just leave the source of the fire alone. So in the end, you'll have to man up and open every last one of them. Don't rush things, but keep in mind that we have limited time to search. Y-yeah, got it...!--And with that, the group began searching each and every room. They stood in front of a door at the end of the outer ring-- with Kazami pointing a fire hose right at it.  The door's... blue. No heat here. Roger! Opening the door!Jun announced that as she opened the door. ...!Watase braced himself the moment the door opened--  ...somehow, the office went from disorganized to trim and tidy by having a higher Sense for Watase. ...Phew, no signs of a fire here, huh? Yeah, but the same goes for any survivors. Then search the place for AD. You have 30 seconds!The group quickly searched the room in accordance with those orders. It wasn't long before they found a box.  Watase ran up to it and looked inside. But-- it was empty. It appeared that someone had already taken its contents. Tch, no luck, huh... And no card either. Then let's move on to the next room. Be more efficient this time.The room opposite of that one was a stairwell. Unlike the automatic sliding doors that the other rooms used, this one had a fire door with heavy hinges. But when they opened it--  Hold on, why did this staircase collapse? I don't see any traces of a fire in here... Indeed, it doesn't look like it was caused by a fire. I believe that it was one of those 'explosions of unknown origin' that did this. C'mon, let's just forget it and move on to the next room already. Chop Chop.The group continued the search at Jun's urging. --However, no matter how many rooms they checked after that, the only things they found were empty medical boxes. To make matters worse, there was no sign of any of the survivors, to say the least of the source of the fire.  (Goddammit, we need to find some AD...!)Watase was starting to get more and more impatient. The last time the group had taken any AD was around 9:20 AM. But his watch showed that it was almost 10:00 AM now. (We don't even have half an hour...)The survivors and security cards were important too, of course, but they wouldn't be able to live past the next hour without some AD. (poo poo, this is all me and my amnesia's fault... I kept wasting everyone's time by demanding all those explanations from them...!)They needed to get their hands on some AD quickly in order to make up for that mistake. The group approached the final door in the outer ring as Watase thought this.  There's... no heat. That's strange. Perhaps the smoke came in here from another area, then? Anyway, roger that. I'm opening the door now.Jun then moved to press the button for the door. They'd been through this routine ten times already-- and as a result, Watase was probably nowhere near as focused as he'd been at first because he'd gotten used to it. That's why he didn't notice it sooner.  ♪ BGM: Silence ♫ That unlike all the other doors, the IRT scanner was showing that this otherwise blue one had a slight yellow tinge to it. ...! Oh crap! Moribe, don't open it!But it was too late.   !?Jun immediately jumped away from the door. Fire spewed forth from the room only a mere second later.   Watase tried to dodge it, but his body wouldn't move. Captain!!No sooner had Watase heard that shout than were he and the rest of the group blown away by the blast.  ♪ BGM: Psychological Warfare ♫ He wondered that for a second-- but no. He was still alive. However, it also felt like something was crushing his body. Ugh...Watase then opened his eyes,  only to see Kazami shouting at him and helping him up. It seemed she'd knocked him out of the way just in the nick of time. I—I'm okay! But this is-- The fire that'd spewed from the room was spreading all the way out into the hall. The fire hose had fallen out of Kazami's grasp and was now lying past the roaring flames.  Watase looked in the direction of that shout to find Jun standing on the other side of the fire. Affirmative! Pass the fire hose over here first! On it!Jun picked up the hose lying in the fire and tossed it with an underhand throw. The metal nozzle slid across the floor and stopped right in front of Kazami. But the flames swayed at that moment, briefly licking at Watase's left hand.  There's another game over lying in wait here, but it's been too little time since the last voting, so I'll just move on with what we've voted for the last time...  ...since the correct decision here is to have Watase's Senses lower than Kazami's. The heat shot through his gloves and burned the back of his hand. Hot wind then blew in his face as if to add insult to injury, causing Watase to breathe it in and singe his nostril hairs. *cough*! *cough*! What are you doing, Captain! Please fall back! G-got it--As he said this, Watase noticed that there was something caught on his right hand.  It was a locket with a broken chain. Kazami had apparently dropped it when she'd tackled him earlier. Watase quickly put it in his pocket and looked at the sight that lay in front of him.  Kazami was staring at the fire, twisting the hose's nozzle. Commencing hose down! A fierce spray of water shot from the hose at the same time. It mowed down the flames, pushing them back all at once. Amazing...! Those were your words—- Now watch carefully as I demonstrate them.Kazami quickly handled the hose. The water swelled like an animal and fell onto the fire in front of them. The flames that had been heartily burning with such fury earlier were now growing smaller and smaller with each passing moment. And soon enough, they were gone completely.  ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ Tips posted:TIP: Fire extinguishing Kazami turned off the water with that declaration. Jun quickly came running back over and called out to her teammates. Man, that was too close for comfort, guys. Yeah... it's all thanks to the two of you that we got out of there alive... More importantly than that, Captain--Kazami suddenly glared at Watase. Why did you give the OK without checking the IRT scanner properly!? One wrong step back there and we'd all be dead! I-I'm sorry... I was just thinking about how badly we needed to find some AD, so I got impatient... Impatient!? You screwed up because you were -impatient-!? You think you're fit for this line of work with such naive thoughts like that!?Yeah, he really hosed up back there! It's almost like he lost his memory or someth- oh, right. You won't be able to save the survivors like that, to say the least of keeping yourself safe! ...!Watase found himself instinctively shutting up at the angry look on Kazami's face. It was at that moment that Jun couldn't hold herself back any longer and out in. Hold on Lieutenant! It's not his fault! Any other day and we wouldn't have this problem! Yes, you're correct. Normally, he wouldn't be the kind of person to take such rash actions. It was the same back when he tried to save Ms. Yuuri. He tried to run right into that fire without even thinking about it... Wait, but at that moment, I just felt that I had to save her no matter what. Wanting to save someone in of itself isn't a bad thing, right? Of course it's not. However-- 'Someone who would throw their own life away to save survivors is no hero. Just a fool.'Kazami's blunt statement shocked Watase. D...don't you think that's a rather harsh thing to say? So you really don't remember anything, do you? I'm quoting none other than -you- yourself. What?Those words were oozing with cold intensity. He couldn't believe that he of all people had once said that. Hey, Tachibana... exactly what kind of rescue worker was the normal me like? Let's see. You were a calm, intellectual, and extremely cautious person. ...Sounds more like a coward if you ask me. D-don't be ridiculous! You were an intellectual rescue worker who always made rational decisions no matter what the crisis. She's right. Well, okay, you were a bit of a hardass, but your logic made sense. So that's who I was...If someone as competent as Kazami was praising him this much, then he probably really had been a truly superb rescue worker. That thought alone made him curse his current self's incompetence. Okay... then I'll make sure to put safety first from now on-- my own included. Yes, please keep doing that until your memories... until your old self comes back. Then that's enough lecturing out of me. Let's regroup with the others.Kazami gave that order and started walking again. Watase and Jun followed behind her. His burnt left hand still ached under its glove.  Another yellow decision path.  Not bothering with voting here either - a high Sense of Jun gets us an extra chapter, a low one just skips the chapter. More content = good, so we're doing that. Watase thought over the situation. The normal ''Watase Kasasagi'' would never have screwed up as badly as he had just now. Then what kind of relationship had he had with Kazami, his lieutenant?
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Oct 22, 2016 17:26
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Senior & Junior And so this is the extra chapter we got from the decision in the last chapter.   ♪ BGM: Challenger / Theme of Jun ♫ Jun said that to Watase with a wry smile. ... That bad, huh? Oh yeah. You look real bummed out. Never thought I'd ever see a face like that from you. I was just looking back on how pathetic I am. Wow, you really aren't acting like your normal self today. You sound more like me. Like you? To be honest, I often find myself wondering 'should someone as pathetic as me really be working in Sirius?'. Stuff like that. Y'know, 'cause there's all these awesome people on our team, especially you and the Lieutenant. Awesome people, huh... sorry to break it to you, but I don't think I have the right to be one of those today. Oh c'mon, don't get all mopey on me. It's only natural, what with your memory going all kaput and whatnot. If you start working harder than me, then I'll lose in flash, no doubt 'bout that. But hey. without your memory, I guess that means I've been doing this whole rescue thing longer than you now. So that makes me your senior! Maybe you're right... Okay, then let's work together and do our best as fellow newbies!And with that, Jun gave Watase a nice hard slap on the back. (... Is she being considerate of me? She may not choose her words wisely, but she's not a bad person at heart.)Jun continued as those thoughts crossed Watase's mind. Well, you can't keep beating yourself up forever. I've got your back if you screw up, so just do your best and keep at it. Keep trying and your old instincts will find their way back one by one. Thank you... I'll do my best to catch up to your level, so I'm counting on you until then, 'ma'am'. Yep, just leave it to me, 'rookie'.Watase and Jun broke out into a smile at that exchange. A strong feeling of reassurance broke through the clouds of self-pity covering Watase's heart.
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Oct 22, 2016 17:26
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Pollyanna posted:Speak for yourself. Does amnesia not change your personality? I mean, Watase seems to have lost all memory of ever having been a rescue worker, and given that he's an elite rescue worker, that has to make up a massive chunk of his memory. If becoming a rescue worker made him into the hardass Jun and Kazami describe him as being, wouldn't it make sense that losing all rescue worker memories would make him the "old" Watase again, whoever that was? Of course, then you mention that he also forgot his name, the city he's been living in and all that stuff, so yeah, this isn't a garden variety amnesia no matter which way you slice it. I can't devil's advocate my way out of that one. Though there's like a billion different ways this amnesia could end up being explained.
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Oct 22, 2016 23:55
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Escape: 09/16/2030, 10:04 ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 3 ♫ D—did something happen? I thought I heard an explosion or something. Well, you see, there was this backdraft, and...--Watase informed Ena, Ukita, and Yuuri of what'd transpired back in the outer ring. There was that much fire in the outer ring...!? What's wrong, Mr. Ukita? You seem rather surprised. No, it's not that... just thinking about how the fire's spread further than I'd imagined. drat straight. If I'd known it'd spread that far, I probably wouldn't have gone myself and left you guys behind. I'm also to blame for what happened... sorry, Mr. Ukita. Let's not dwell on it. It's more important that we make haste with the search, is it not? Then let's get moving on to floor B1 on the dou... wait, what the heck?A puzzled look formed on Jun's face before she could finish her sentence. Hey, Ms. Tsubakiyama, Mr. Ukita... where's Yuuri? --Huh!?Taken aback with shock, everyone looked around them. But Yuuri was nowhere to be found.  A blue branch, asking us about our opinion of Ena - and of course, it's not exactly great. That might change in the future, but for now, it sits at 2. I don't know! She was right here with us a minute ago! I swear, I had my eyes on her until just a little while back! Then she ran away!? But why!? I don't know, but this is bad... it's too dangerous to wander around alone in this place! Let's get to searching, guys! Yeah!And with that, the five of them split up to search for Yuuri.   Dammit, she didn't go this way!?He then turned around and chose to head back to Area 3.  Did you find her!? No, no luck! Where could she have gone...!?Just as Watase started to think about where Yuuri could have run off to, he heard Jun's voice. Found 'er! Guys, I found her!Her voice was coming from the direction of the emergency staircase. The B1 staircase!Watase said that and raced for the emergency staircase. Kazami and Ena followed suit.  There she is!to find Yuuri there.  She stared at Watase in what appeared to be fright as she stood in the darkness. Jun and Ukita were right there with her. At that moment, Kazami started yelling sternly.  !! Didn't I tell you it was dangerous!? I'll get mad if you do something like that ever again, you hear me!? U-Um... I'm sor...Yuuri's voice trembled in the face of Kazami's harsh scolding. H-hold on, calm down, Tachibana! No, she's right. Yuuri, why'd you leave Ms. Tsubakiyama and Mr. Ukita? U-um...Yuuri appeared to be at a loss for an answer for a while, but then finally answered as if she'd prepared herself. I heard that explosion... and then I got scared... I don't blame you... but you'll be in more danger if you go off on your own. Don't you think that it'd be safer to stay with all of us? I-I'm sorry...Yuuri was practically shrinking after having every adult in the room scold her at once. C'mon guys... we were already gonna go to floor B1 anyway, so why don't we just thank Yuuri for saving us some time? You're being too soft, Captain! If something like this happens again, then we may find a body instead next time! I get that, but Yuuri's learned her lesson by now, right Yuuri? ...Yes.Watase gave the crestfallen Yuuri a wry smile as he and the others left the stairwell-- and reached floor B1.
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Oct 23, 2016 13:45
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Knocking on Heaven's Door: 09/16/2030, 10:08 You know what's fun? Having to wait like three hours to post an update that is already basically done because your upload speed is atrocious and you want the video you're uploading to still look good. It's even more fun because this update is one of those I really want you folks to see.  ♪ BGM: LABO Security Lv. 2 ♫ There were no signs of a fire there. The Procyon reading was only ''1792 mSv'', so it posed no threat on that front either. It looks like this floor is safe... for now, anyway. Then shall we split into two teams and search like we did last time? It takes up too much precious time to decide on teams each time. Let's just get to searching right away. Yeah, especially seeing as we haven't found even a hint of any AD. ... Then we'll take the outer ring, while Moribe's team will cover the inner ring.No one offered any objections. Like last time, they split into teams of ''Watase/Kazami/Yuuri'' and ''Jun/Ukita/Ena'', and began their search of Area 3, B1.  But when they tried to open the security gate in the connecting passageway that led to the outer ring-- Huh?--it refused to accept the card. It was a Level 3 gate, so a Level 4 card should have been more than enough to open it. But even after they put the card in the slot again, the door still wouldn't open. Dammit, the thing must be busted! Are there any other ways in? I'll go check!Kazami said this and took out the map she'd drawn earlier.   Now that I think about it, this staircase collapsed too, so we can't get in there from another staircase, can we. Which means that our only choice is to enter from the Area 4 side, though it'll mean taking a detour. Things just keep getting worse and worse... and we're no closer to finding any AD.They only had 10 minutes left until the effects of their last AD shot wore off. If only we had one more...A shy voice spoke up after Watase had muttered this.  Hmm? What's wrong? If it comes down to it... then why don't I just pass on taking any... so that everyone else will be fine...? What are you saying, Ms. Yuuri!? We could never let you do something like that! !Yuuri trembled with a start. She's right! If something like that happens, then -I- will-- No, let's not worry about that until we're out of time for sure. Y-yeah, you're right... Anyway, let's get back to the inner ring stat. We're short on time. O-okay...Kazami quickly started walking off, followed closely by Watase and Yuuri. But Watase felt something was off about Yuuri. (What is it about her that's so strange...?)She was by no means being uncooperative with the search. True, she was very scared, but there was also a kind part of her that tried to put others before herself, like he'd seen just now. (So then... Why'd she try to run off by herself?) He remembered the look Yuuri had given him when they'd first seen each other. She had definitely been afraid when she saw him. (Could it be that she's still scared of me? But if that's the case, then why...?)But just as Watase thought this--  ♪ BGM: Psychological Warfare ♫ He heard an ear-piercing scream. What was that!? W-wasn't that Ms. Jun and the others!?Yuuri was speaking in a loud voice for the first time in what seemed like ages. --Let's go!Kazami broke off into a fierce dash without a moment's hesitation. Watase took Yuuri by the hand and followed suit.  C... Captain! W-w hat's wrong!? Did something happen!? Aah!? Y-yes...Ukita in particular seemed quite shaken up, as he started muttering nigh-incomprehensibly upon seeing Watase and the others. Everyone, please calm down! Exactly what is it that happened!?It was then that Ena mumbled in dazed shook, her face pale. ...Bodies... Huh? So many... bodies...!--All the air in the hallway froze at that moment. D-did you say... bodies...? They're in that room... Were they... victims of the fire? !!The image of Natsuhiko and the others, their bodies horribly charred, passed through Watase's mind for a moment. But Jun shook her head. No... it'd make a lot more sense if they -were-, though...! Wh-what do you mean...? ...You'll understand if you go in there and see for yourself...Jun looked to the nearby door with a confounded look on her face.  --but they could still smell what appeared to be rust coming from it. (What's that stench...?)No sooner had the thought crossed Watase's mind than he was gripped by an inexplicable feeling of terror. He took a big gulp and prepared himself. ...I think it'd be best if you stayed back here, Yuuri. O-okay...!Yuuri nodded with a frozen look on her face. Captain, Lieutenant, you ready...? Y-yes. Yeah...Jun walked up to the room-- And opened the door.  ♪ BGM: Ominous Ambience ♫ Just to note, this is something that isn't available in the sound test. When I check the menu to see what is playing, the game just calls it '''---------''. I don't know how else to describe it, it's just ominous ambience. Anyway...    The first thing that flooded into his eyes was red. The room was dyed with the color of blood. Lying close by Watase's feet in that pool of blood were two crumpled bodies. And-- there was one more body deeper in the room. A body wearing the same kind of radiation protection suit that Kazami and Jun had shown him earlier. The second she saw it-- Kazami shouted. I-it can't be...!? That's... that body is...!!Jun nodded with a look of grief on her face and answered. Yeah... that's Dojima.Watase gasped at those words. Though he didn't remember the name, the fact that -Jun- did meant-- Don't tell me... was that man... one of our...!? Yes... he was a member of Team A, just like us...! Why... why did this have to happen...?Kazami and Jun fell to their knees right then and there. (Wh-what the hell is this...!?)Watase had expected that any ''bodies'' he would find in this facility would be those who had burned to death. But that clearly wasn't the case here. These corpses had lost their lives at the hands of others-- Yes. They had clearly been murdered. Wh-what the hell... ...happened here...!?No one answered that question. Watase just stood frozen in a daze in that room filled with the stench of blood.  He'd thought that was the worst things could get. They were already in a hell where a moment's distraction could lead to death... But perhaps fire and radiation were not the only threats to the group's lives out there. There were 8 more hours until the lockdown was lifted. The life-and-death drama they were all a part of had only just begun...  Remember when I said ''[t]he true Root Double starts here'' back during ''6+3''? I lied. The true Root Double starts here, and the game agrees with that, giving us the intro video now when we're more than two hours into the game (real-time, that is, not in-game-time). Now, this intro video is to be watched with caution, because it shows you a LOT of things. This video is practically made for people that pore over every word for information, because it just slams poo poo in your face. However, this game also loves toying with you by giving you incomplete and contextless information. Things that you might see as potentially revealing facts might just be red herrings. Or they might actually be revealing facts. Nobody knows yet. Well, I do, but that's beside the point. What I'm getting at is that there are some particularly suspicious things in that video, but you might want to be careful in making snap judgements based on them.  Next time, we will begin the second chapter. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 18:00 on May 28, 2017 |
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Oct 23, 2016 16:15
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