What is my level?
When did I start the game properly?
The last thing I remember is pausing the cutscene to deal with the weird glitch messages. I don't remember resuming the scene, but I remember the scene as if I had watched it. The axe looming, reeking of iron and blood. The whoosh of the axe as it swung. How it stuck in the chopping block beside my head. Warm, radiant light filling the room and a gentle set of hands cupping my cheeks. An ethereal voice half-singing "You will not die here. Not today…"
And then I was here, unnerved but eager to keep going with the game, staring down a piddling four missions:
- Bring five wolf pelts to Armand Redjack.
- Bring ten goblin teeth to The Sleeping Bee Tavern.
- Defeat Golobo and bring his head to Max Wallace.
- Bring a healing potion to Cecelia Whitehorse.
All easy stuff, but it's a ramp-up to the bigger things later in the game, I'm sure. I pick at random, taking the sheet of paper requesting the goblin teeth. No quest marker comes up to guide me, but I kind of prefer games that way. No hand-holding, jus pure exploration to get an organic feel for the town.
I walk around, really soaking in the setting. A small town, with one main road and a bunch of sideroads, alleyways, and shortcuts through yards. People are doing things, acting busy and going through their programmed schedules. I can't help myself and I pick a NPC to follow. He seems to be a courier, and I follow along behind him as he delivers messages with benign, gentle courtesy. After the fifth-or-so delivery, the courier turns around and says, "Ma'am, why are you following me?"
"This is so cool," I laugh as I walk away.
Finally ready to take on some goblins, I struggle a bit before finding my menu. All the usual things are listed but a few things are missing. I check in on my status to get a look at my starting stats first.
- Name: Evie
- Class: Healer
- Level: 1
- HP: 50/50
- MP: 30/30
- Atk: 10
- Def: 11
- Spd: 11
- Mag: 12
Nothing out of place there…
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The Party option is missing, probably because I don't have a party yet. The Inventory and Equipment options are missing too, despite the big empty backpack I'm carrying around. Then it hits me: The inventory system must be immersive too! Sure enough, taking off the backpack and looking through it shows three potions haphazardly thrown in together, thick red liquid sloshing against clear glass.
"So cool," I mumble, closing the bag and putting it back on.
I head for the woods, marveling at the lack of lag and loading screens. Something rustle in the brush and I walk closer. Excitement shakes my hands as I get closer to the source of the sound. A short, squat green figure in scant leather armor squeals and belches deeper into the woods.
Goblin number one out of ten.
I struggle to find the attack motion, which ends up being just taking the staff from my back. I will my intention into it and the tip begins to glow a bright white color. The tip swells, going from the size of a pencil eraser to the size of a golf ball. When it gets to the size of a softball, I swing my staff like a lacrosse stick at the goblin. At first it seems to veer to the left, but the magic ball curves back around and strikes the goblin soundly in the face. The goblin rears back and whirls on me with a snarl. I start charging another attack.
"Let's go," I call out to it, getting into it now.
I get two more attacks off before the goblin gets close enough to retaliate. His first attack misses and I whack it with my staff as hard as I can. The impact ripples up my arm. The goblin and I both stagger backwards. The goblin falls to the ground with a final whine and thump. I tilt my head and look back at my arm.
I shouldn't have felt that force.
I shouldn't be able to smell the grass in the forest either. Or the blood from the first cutscene. The warm caress of the goddess who saved me, I shouldn't know how that felt. Panic rises in my throat as I walk over to a tree and run my hand along its surface. In any other game, I wouldn't feel anything. I would be palpating the empty air of my apartment or a wall that I had blundered into. Instead I feel hard, scratchy bark under my palms.
My fingers reach for my headset, hoping to curl around plastic and finding only empty air. A desperate animal's whine slips through my throat as I press the heels of my palms against my burning eyes.
Somehow… For some reason… I'm not just playing the game. I'm in it.