Finally... You've finally defeated the evil god!
It's all thanks to you, Sunraku.
Thank you!
Looking back, it's been such a long, hard journey.
Yeah.
I've been waiting for this moment.
Faeria.
You're going down along with that evil god!
You're more of a evil god to me!
Most of the craps were your fault!
Woohoo!
I finally beat Failia Chronicle!
I got my revenge, yeah!
In the present where anything using a TV screen seen as retro,
and Full-Dive VR games are the standard.
Underneath a few great games, many titles were released
with abysmal gameplay unable to keep up with visual advances.
They are what's called "trash game."
Normally, these are games people despise and never want to play,
but there are actually those who seeks out to play them.
In other words, the freaks.
It was a trashy game that lived up to the rumors.
And Rakuro Hizutome is one among such freaks.
What a sweet feeling of release!
Now I know how prisoners must've felt getting out of prison.
Well then, what trash game should I play next?
It is him, the "Trash Game Hunter."
I throw away my defense and put on my bird mask headgear
I'm a hustler My point only goes to my luck stats
Parry parry now this is my style
playing broken games all night... who's that knight?
Broken game is sickness
toxic scattered, now you're a patient
My heart is beating almost twice as fast
The chaos wither get it bite that bug
Terrible gimmick
new game a.k.a suicide??
I don't give a damn
(Do it, Do it) No, not yet NO it's not enough
(Do it, Do it) NO it's not enough
I still can go
Everyone looks dirty to me
Everything looks broken to me
we can go, we can go
to that mountain top, not afraid to drop
this world is going to be mine... duh
Morning.
Nobody's here, of course.
Mom, one of your butterflies just escaped.
Oh, dear! Thank you!
I'm off.
Take care!
U-Um, Hizutome-kun.
Wh-What are you doing right now?
Wait, no. What game are you playing right now?
Whoa, really? I actually play that one, too!
Okay!
- Hizu... - Sup, Rakuro!
- Hey. - Staying up all night playing game again?
Oh, you should hear this. It was really awful!
You won't believe how trashy it was!
Tomorrow's summer break, huh.
That ought to drive up sales.
Welcome! Oh, Rei-chan!
Hello.
Back from practice?
Yes.
Sorry, but he's not here today.
N-No! I'm only here to check out some games...
C'mon, there's no need to hide it at this point.
Aww, a girl in love. So nice!
C-Come on, Mana-san!
He's taking on a big trash game right now, so he hasn't come here in a while.
Big?
The one he's playing right now is that Failia Chronicle, after all.
It might take him a bit longer.
Oh, you mean Faeria Chronicle Online?
My sister told me about it.
I heard it's a tough one.
It's a legendary trash game now.
It got an awful friendly AI,
the enemies charges at you with unfair attacks,
and it's packed with bugs and other stuff.
Without a high enough play skill, you can't even beat the first boss,
so a lot of players throw their VR devices in frustration.
And I heard he's taking on the last boss in swim trunks and a wrestling mask!
Why is that?
Dunno. I heard that it's more effective that way or something.
So, how's it going with your game?
Well, that's what I wanted to talk about...
Do you have any nice trash game lately?
Oh, it's been a while, Hizutome-kun.
Huh?
She's gone.
What?
Oh, never mind.
Did you beat Failia Chronicle already?
Of course! I pulled it off!
How was it?
It was awesomely trashy!
Glad to hear that.
The worst part about it was the heroine!
Her name's Faeria, but she's constantly pissing you off!
She's the reason for nearly all the trouble you run into,
but she always makes things worse and get villagers and party members killed!
Oh no! I hit someone!
What the heck are you doing?!
And when you wonder how she would pay off for it...
Curse you, evil god! This wouldn't happen if he wasn't here!
...she kept blaming everything on the final boss!
I was like, he wasn't even involved! It was all your doing!
The same thing happens whenever you go,
so when I decided to hit her out of frustration...
I'm angry now! I won't walk another step!
What?!
She refuses to advance the story!
It auto-saved so I can't even go back, and it takes three hours to fix her mood!
And that's not even all of it!
Ugh, just thinking about it pisses me off!
I'm impressed you put up with it until the end.
That's the thing!
There's about three minutes between beating the last boss
and the credit roll that's treated as a cutscene.
That's where you can beat the crap out of Faeria with no risk!
Ironically enough, the more annoyed you are at Faeria,
the more you wanna keep playing for those three minutes of reward! It's hell!
But... in that moment...
...it feels like it cleanses my entire being.
It makes me really appreciate being born.
I'm glad you're having fun.
But man, Failia Chronicle's just one hell of a trash game.
I can't think of anything else to play now.
Then how about you try out a good game for a change?
A good game?
You know something is good because you know what's bad,
and vice versa.
A Full-Dive VR game with over thirty million players.
Shangri-La Frontier...
It might be nice to try out the mainstream for once.
Right?
The opposite of trash game...
An undisputed god-tier game, huh.
Shangri-La Frontier, SLF for short.
It released last spring, and it's made it to Guinness World Record
for highest simultaneous player count.
As for the world setting...
An immigrant space fleet dies out,
leaving a new breed of mankind in their wake.
Several millennia later, the new mankind had built
a medieval-level society, and the players play as its resident.
So it's a classic fantasy world with some sci-fi elements.
Unlike Failia Chronicle where haters ended up having to look for good parts,
the haters here are outnumbered dozens of times over by the fans.
Utopia Entertainment Software, UES for short.
Funded by the creator of the Full-Dive VR game system:
the genius programmer, Tsukuyo Tsukuri,
it's the leading company in software, hardware development,
as well as internet service.
There's no way SLF that's made by UES themselves would be badly made.
I wonder when was the last time I played anything that's not trash.
I'm logged in, right?
Gotta first start by picking my job.
Whoa, this is impressive. Just how many jobs they have?
I'll go with Twinblade Mercenary since it looks good to get into.
Next is my origin.
The Wanderer. It has low defense growth, but it give a luck bonus.
They say luck affects critical chance and drop rate in this game, so I'll go with this.
Next is character creation!
Whoa, I can choose my race and body type!
I get to pick my accessories from the start, too?!
Whoa... whoa... whooaaaah!
Damn it!
I'm so used to playing restrictive trash game,
even these small things floor me.
All right!
Time to get serious about this for a change!
In defense of Rakuro's honor, allow me to explain.
It isn't that he has maniac fashion sense.
This is the result of his play style.
He's the type who goes for better weapons first over armor.
For that, he of course need money, and in SLF...
...you can sell your starting equipment during character creation!
And it adds up quite a lot.
And to hide my whole face...
Only this mask, huh?
Playing half-naked with my face exposed in a major game like this is a tall order.
Thus, this result was inevitable.
My in-game name is Sunraku.
By the way, Rakuro prefer to use the same name in all of his games.
Launching LINK. Please lie down in a stable place.
All right! I'm set to go!
Huh? Oh, the prologue. Skip!
Now show me...
...what a god-tier game is made of!
(Prologue: Adventurer, Blown By The Night Breeze)
Forest...
Wow.
I can move as smoothly as in real world!
I can run!
I can grab!
I can climb!
Moving in game felt awkward in Failia Chronicle...
Though I guess it's rude to compare them.
So wide!
So this is the world of SLF...
So where is this?
Don't you usually start in a sort of a tutorial town in a game like this?
Sunraku wasn't aware of this, but if you set your origin to Wanderer,
you start a random spot in the beginners' area.
The starting map sure is pretty basic.
Let's see...
This is the Rampant Forest,
and the first town on the east is Firstia.
That must be it.
All right. I'll explore around while heading that way.
I landed perfectly!
Well, I know it's only natural,
but it sure felt great to actually play the game.
My vitality is 3...
I'm half-naked, so having low defense is a given...
but everything's gotta depend on how much edge my luck gives me.
A battle right off the bat?!
A goblin, huh.
Well then...
Let's check how the combat is like!
Oh, it's down in just one hit.
Well, it is a mob from the early game.
Oh, my level went up.
It's usable as a dual-wield weapon...
but it's durability is already less than half, so it won't last for long.
Monster weak points, motions, item drops...
There are a lot to learn.
So this feeling always comes along, no matter how good or bad the game.
This excitement when you're thrown into a new world...
You don't get it too often in real life!
Now! Better not forget to enjoy this!
Whoa, look at that.
I'll be dead if I get hit by that.
I suppose it won't go down with just one critical hit!
Is this all you got, god-tier game?
This guy wouldn't stop aiming at my head...
Anyone can see through that.
Wow, I got a lot of EXP. Was that a strong monster?
But it drop no weapon.
Damn, I wish I can get that knife. It's clearly a strong one.
Hm? Conditions met?
I get skills from my action in this game?
Oh, yeah. I haven't used any skills yet.
It is a very well-made game.
You can dodge and parry with your own gaming skill,
so you can still fight even if you're under-leveled.
Now I wanna try lots of fighting styles.
Wait, isn't it crazy that I've played this far without encountering any bugs?!
Wh-What's going on?!
I don't see anything!
Oh, I can go out of bound.
Why I'm not hitting it?!
Awesome! Now that's what I call a god-tier!
I honestly wondered if I could even enjoy a bug-free game,
but this is quite enjoyable, I must say.
It's not called god-tier game for nothing, eh.
All right!
I'll first try to get that knife from that strong-looking rabbit!
Where are you, rabbits?!
Hmm, this skill's kinda iffy.
The swinging leave me too wide open.
Oh, it finally went up.
It's about time to assign these points...
But man, that Vorpal Bunny guy shows up way too little.
So it was a rare enemy, huh.
Because of that, I took me a hell of a time just to get two of those knives.
These took me like fifty of them, so the drop rate feels like it's around 5%.
These must be very valuable.
They beat my mercenary twinblades, so I better take care of them.
I've learned several new skills, too,
but this Screw Pierce is the only useful one.
Everything else only a little bit better than none.
Anyway, now that the monsters here are too weak for me
and my levels aren't getting up,
I'd better head off to the next area.
I went pretty far from the starting town.
In fact, I'm now much closer to Secondil, the second town.
And to get there, I need to cross the bridge over the canyon, huh.
Oh, I see
So I can't pass unless I defeat you, eh?
Great.
Finally something with more meat.
Fighting a co-op boss on solo?
That said, this is a game well-received by the masses.
I doubt it'll do any absurd bugged attack.
Snake monsters attack in several ways...
They coil, bite, tail whip, swallow whole, poison... that's about it.
With such a responsive avatar...
...being a glass-cannon is no problem!
Entertain me...
...SLF!
SLF Theater!
Mini!
H-Hello! I'm Rei Saiga!
I'll introduce the rest of SLF's prologue text that Hizutome-kun skipped!
Here you go!
(Explore these lands they have bestowed upon us...)
(In this present time,)
(we explore the miracles of the divines through relics)
(left behind in ruins and upon the pages of history.)
(You are an adventurer)
(who blew in with the east wind,)
(pressing onward despite suffering countless defeat...)
(...and may one day vanish like a passing breeze.)
(What is your life's purpose?)
(Will you stake your fortunes on the sword?)
(Will you plumb the depths of arcane knowledge in your pursuit of magical prowess?)
(You may even forsake the path of combat entirely.)
(Everything lies before you.)
(Everything rests within you.)
(Now, step forth and blaze a trail into the unknown, the future,)
(and a world of endless possibility.)
(Such is the charge of all the divine's children born into this land.)
Divines, Divinity... There are lots of curious keywords!
Well then, see you again! Good bye!
SLF Theater!
Mini!
Oh no! I hit someone!
What the heck are you doing?!
Why did you get on the carriage without permission?!
I told you to sit on the bench and wait for my instruction!
Curse you, evil god! This wouldn't happen if he wasn't here!
It was all your fault!
I'm angry now! I won't walk another step!
You're the cause of all the troubles, and I'm the one who fights, not you!