//------------------------------// // Tutorial // Story: Twilight: The Gamer // by ilbgar //------------------------------// She began the tutorial as soon as she was alone. 'Tutorial Start: Welcome to Twilight Sparkle: Game of Life. This tutorial will give you only the basics, consult Hints for more information. First, you will need to know what carries over from previous playthroughs, and what does not. Items, your background, and reputation do not carry over, but almost every other conceivable thing does. This is due in part to how much Stats influence how you perform.' She nodded, that made sense. As she understood it, starting a new game was essentially resetting the world. Of course physical objects, others opinions of her, and her own background wouldn't carry over from other playthroughs. That last one seemed to be the point of the other avatars. 'Items are things necessary to move ahead in the story, such as the Element of Magic, monster drops, which are obtained from defeating enemies, and healing items, which can bought at a few stores and be used to heal others. No healing items exist for PC (Player Characters), NPCs (Non-player Characters) however, can be healed with potions made by herbalists, apothecaries, and doctors. Reputation is how the public sees you. At the lower limit is Outlaw, at the upper limit is Saint, we feel these are self-explanatory. Nations and cities have separate reputation bars, though increasing your reputation in a nation will tend to have a positive effect in cities that are part of it, and vice-versa. Individuals that are important to you and the storyline also have rep., your parents, for example. Having a high reputation provides all sorts of benefits, from raising other's respect for you, to allowing access to new quests. Defeating enemies, accomplishing impressive feats (ie: Sealing Discord), acts of kindness, and completing quests raise your reputation.' Okay, then she'd make a point of raising her reputation when she had the chance. 'Your money stays in a pouch you can access at any time by saying 'piggy bank.' Don't worry, it's nothing embarrassing.' Well, that was odd. Why did the game care if she was embarassed? Also, why did she have to say 'piggy bank?' 'Quests are tasks that you are given either by people, events, or by entering a specific area. They award experience points, money, an increase to your reputation, and a small number of skill points. They can range from tasks like pointing a tourist in the correct direction, to clearing out some enemies; many Bosses are quest specific. There are two main types of quest: Side Quests, and Main Quests. Side Quests are all optional, but it is recommended you do at least some of them in order to level up, gain more skill levels, and get more money and reputation. Some quests are part of Quest Chains. Quest Chains are quests that must be completed in order, however, the latter quests in the chain tend to have both higher rewards and difficulty than the previous ones. Main Quests must be completed to advance the story, and can be considered to be all part of a Quest Chain. If you fail a Main Quest, you get sent back to the main menu, as if you had died.' It seemed that quests would be a large portion of her time. 'Enemies are those who would harm you, whether they're carnivorous rodents, common thieves, or demons. Defeating them grants exp., money, and a tiny increase to rep. everywhere. Bosses are special enemies that you can defeat for a much greater reward than normal monsters, and a number of skill points. Most Bosses are optional. Enemies are the most likely to kill you, more likely than disease or falling from a great height combined.' Right, that was likely going to be prominent as well 'Saving can only be done with a travel journal, or bed. If you die you can restart from your last Save File. Save Files are of limited number, 100 to be specific. You cannot recover a Save File you overwrite with new data, so be careful when saving.' Well, 100 save files meant she should be fine even if she made more than one save file per avatar. 'Skill points can be obtained by leveling up, obtaining golden stars of magic, quests, and by defeating Bosses. By raising skill levels, you can increase your relative ability level, and obtain new skills.' Yes, she'd figured that part out already. 'Leveling Up grants more HP and MP, points to spend on Stats, and points to spend on skills. The maximum level is 9999.' That should be plenty of room to grow, she noted wryly. 'Finally, there's the mini-map in the top left corner. The mini-map shows enemies, allies, and quests. Enemies as red dots, allies as blue dots, quests as question marks, and the player in the center as a purple dot.' That would be certainly prove useful. Right, that cleared up a lot of things.. ***Perspective of Twilight's Family*** Twilight was acting strangely, she was reading books at a level she simply wasn't at a few days ago, and something about her was fundamentally different. She moved differently, she reacted to little family moments differently, laughing or blushing at things she shouldn't understand, she even wrote differently, more cleanly and with absolutely no spelling errors. It was as if someone similar had replaced the filly, someone older and more mature. She was starting to concern her parents and brother. She was acting completely differently to normal. She'd rarely disobeyed her parents before, but now she followed the letter and spirit of what they said. It wasn't natural for a filly to be that well behaved suddenly. ***Twilight's Perspective*** She woke up before dawn for the Summer Sun Celebration. To be more accurate, she woke the others up. As she got ready, a chime sounded and a pop-up appeared. 'Main Quest. Watch the Summer Sun Celebration. Watch Princess Celestia raise the sun, and become inspired to study magic. Main Quests must be accepted.' She nodded. That figured. This had been pretty influential on her life the first time. She went with her family to watch the celebration. They were walking along when Twilight noticed a glowing gold star in an alley. She ducked into it and collected the star when the others weren't looking, since she assumed they'd think she was grabbing at nothing, as they had yet to notice when she used a game mechanic even if it was right in front of them. 'Gold Star Collected. +10 HP/ MP, +1 to all Stats, +6 skill points.' She quickly rejoined the others and listened to the game's explanation as she walked. 'You have collected your first Gold Star of Magic. Gold Stars tend to be hidden in hard-to-find or inconvenient places. Your New Stats are: Str 23, Int 37, Agi 27, Con 27, Will 28, Regen 30, Wis 27, Chr 29, Lck 27. HP 480. MP 661.' She dumped the skill points into Positive Magic, raising it to 7/1000. She hadn't really had any contact with negative magic, so she wasn't going to put points in it. Plus she had kind of been forbidden by the princess to practice it as it tended to be highly corruptive. Luna used it, but... Nightmare Moon. She moved forward through the crowd, taking advantage of her smaller size to get a better view. It looked like being four again had advantages besides starting over. She watched the princess raise the sun with slightly less awe than the first time, but not much. She'd studied a bit before this point in the timeline, but now she had an excuse to study hard. 'Quest Complete! +10 exp. +10 Bits. Reached Lv. 1! +6 Stat points and +6 Skill points.' She saved her Stat points, and used the skill points to raise Positive Magic to 11/1000, and Combat and Resilience to 9/1000. There was a change in the description for Positive Magic when it went over 10/1000. 'At 10/1000 or more, you understand the basics of positive magic.' Hm, it looked like the description would change for every 10 points spent on a skill. 'You've obtained 2 new skills. Skills can be gained from increasing your previous skills to a certain level, or maxing them out. Though this will not always happen with every skill. You've obtained: Magical Force. 0/1.10% more damage dealt to enemies by magic. Magical Defense. 0/1. 10% less damage taken by magic.' Alright, that would have been excellent to know before she allocated her skill points. She was becoming convinced that not only did the game have a mind of it's own, but, while it may be helpful most of the time, it had a slightly twisted sense of humor. She ran back over to her parents, and told them she wanted to study magic, seriously. Since she had a fairly high reputation with them, and thanks to her Chr 29, they not only agreed, but bought her a set of books for it. She got through them very quickly since her Int was so much higher than before, and her Positive Magic skill was boosting her learning ability on the subject. After about a month, she finished with all the books, and went to get some new ones for herself. She'd already read nearly all the library books, especially the ones that would be in stock at this point in time, in her first lifetime. She, therefore, had only one option. Buy some books from the market that she hadn't read before. She found that she couldn't afford any books she hadn't already read for her 10 Bits. All the books she wanted cost at least 20 bits. So, she went to do some quests. There was a cluster by the train station, presumably tourists who needed directions. She went there, and found several tourists with blue question marks over their heads. She walked over to the first. "Hm, which way should I go?" he asked, looking at a map uncomprehendingly. "Where are you trying to go?" Twilight asked him. 'Quest Accepted. Tour Guide. Point him in the right direction.' She blinked. Well alright then. "Well, I was hoping to see some of the historical sites," he said. "Oh, well go up a block," she pointed behind her, "then turn right and go up two more blocks. You'll see several museums. The one on the right will give you a map to the historical sites if you ask at the front desk," she told him. He thanked her and went on his way, rendering the quest completed. The next was a mare just off the train. "Do you know any good restaurants?" the mare asked, having watched her give that stallion directions. She accepted the quest. "Sure, go three blocks to your left, then another block after taking another left," she directed the mare. She was thanked again, and the mare left. She'd completed the quest. That was easy. "Do you know how to get to the library?" another mare asked. "Of course, I used to spend a lot of time there, I could walk there in my sleep, which I did once. Anyway, just go straight for five blocks, it's right up a staircase after that," Twilight told her, completing the quest, and earning the mare's gratitude. The last one was a stallion who needed directions to a bakery. Luckily, she knew this city like her own limbs. She had no trouble remembering the way to the bakery he wanted to visit. Each of these quests awarded 25 exp, 25 Bits, 2 skill points, and a small increase to her reputation. She did four, increasing her level to 2, and raising her rep. from Accepted By Society to Citizens are Fond Of. She raised her Combat and Resilience to 10/1000, obtaining the Skills: Regenerator. 0/1. +10% to rate of regeneration. Shield. 0/5. Shield that stops damage, any damage that exceeds the shield subtracts from the HP. Regeneration fixed at 1 point every 10 seconds. Investing points raises the shield's maximum value. Note, it appears as a small bar beneath HP. Combat and Resilience's description changed. For Combat, 'At 10/1000 or more, you're still a beginner, even by amateur standards, but you're not as bad as before,' and for Resilience, 'At 10/1000 or more, you can take a hit reasonably well, for a piece of glass.' She raised Magical Force, Magical Defense, Regenerator and Shield to their respective maximums, and then raised Combat, and Resilience, to 11/1000, and Positive Magic to 13/1000. This gave her a small bar under HP labeled Shd, 50/50. She used the money to buy a few new books, and greedily devoured their contents in a week, leaving her right back where she started. Perhaps she ought to get more money at once and buy more books at once. It wasn't as though there was a lack of quests, though once she completed one it was gone for good. She had yet to discover another main quest, but she assumed the entrance exam would be one. Besides, it wasn't as if she needed to do one right away. There were plenty more quests to do in the mean time. She wandered around, looking for a quest that seemed promising, when she found a mare with one, looking worriedly at her house. "Is everything okay?" Twilight asked, concerned. "No, my house is infested with Spiders," the mare said, leaving Twilight wondering how she had managed to convey a capital letter in her speech. She shrugged it off, probably part of the game. She studiously avoided trying to figure it out, that way lay madness and Pinkie Pie. Not that she didn't like Pinkie, but she did value her sanity. 'Spiders. Normal spiders that had been exposed to large amounts of magic and grown dozens of times larger, and far more vicious. They are generally the brood of a Queen Spider. Queen Spiders. The mothers of the Spiders, they are far more powerful than their brood. They are of the Boss rank among enemies.' "I really hate Spiders, or I'd clear them out myself. Do you know anyone who could help?" the mare asked. "I'll do it," she responded, forcing herself not to turn and look as something inside the house made a skittering sound. That was really creepy. "Are you sure?" the mare asked, looking her up and down. Probably because of her age. She wouldn't be especially confident in the abilities of a four-year-old either. "Yes, I'll be fine," she reassured. 'Quest Accepted! Exterminate the Spiders. Eliminate all the Spiders and the Queen Spider from the quest-giver's house.' "Well, if you say so... but you'll need this." The mare gave her a scroll that detailed a spell known as Fireball, which produced what the name implied. She was always willing to learn a new spell, especially when it benefited her, like right now. 'Positive Magic skill check: 13/10. Learned Fireball spell! Fireball creates a ball of fire that seeks out the target. This auto-target attribute can be boosted by the Combat skill. Costs 20 MP.' "Spiders, and most bugs, hate fire, Be careful, they're pretty big." the mare explained. 20 MP -25% was 15 MP, with how many times she'd likely be using it shortly, that would add up. Twilight nodded, said "Thanks, I'll be back soon," and went inside, and immediately used her new spell three times as spiders as big as she was (at her current age of four) rushed her. Since her Int was so high, the spell was effective, and her Combat skill was also benefiting her. The Fireball spells dealt 40 damage to the Spiders, who only had 30 HP, killing them instantly. She took deep breaths to calm herself down, and was thankful her Will and Con were high enough to keep herself from throwing up at the smell of crispy Spider. Each Spider awarded 5 exp and 5 bits, and she got Spider's Legs from one. 'Spider's Legs, a potion maker's ingredient, is useful, but common, so it sells for cheap. 1/5 drop.' She noticed a counter below the mini-map it read '28.' It must be how many were left, so 27 Spiders and the Queen Spider. She navigated the rooms of the first and second floor, taking care of any Spiders she found, causing the counter to steadily drop. She finished the last regular Spider, leaving only the Queen Spider, which, of course, seemed to be in the dark basement where it would be able to see her better than she could see it. She steeled herself - just because she was only level 2 didn't mean she couldn't do this. It shouldn't even be too hard since the game expected her to be able to do it, if the quest was available at this point. She waited until her bars were all at full, since she wanted to be at her best for the Boss, and scratches and bites, along with a somewhat drained MP bar, were not going to be helpful. Then she cautiously made her way down. Even the light from the open door did little to brighten the gloom. She was careful to avoid anything that even looked like spider's web, and looked for the Queen Spider, or a sign of movement. This wariness let her dodge the first strike by a hair, she was not so lucky the second time, and gasped as her Shd was 3/5 wiped out, 30 damage with her Resilience over 10?! That was insane! What would it be with her Stats before? She cast Fireball repeatedly, dodging as many attacks as she could, even with her shield absorbing a few points of damage, she could only take about 15 of those. She was very glad her Regen was so high, otherwise the Queen Spider's 1000 HP would have defeated her by attrition. It took her approximately 1.8 seconds to regenerate a point in HP and MP, so if she was paying attention and lucky, she could still win this. When it dropped to below 250 HP, the Queen Spider's eyes suddenly turned red. That couldn't mean anything good for her. Red eyes were never good. Ever. 'Target has become Enraged, while Enraged, damage-dealing is doubled.' Now she was told this?! She ducked under a hit, firing three Fireballs, on the bright side, being Enraged removed any sense of fear, so it didn't even try to dodge the attacks. On the downside, it actually barreled through them directly at her. She cast Fireball as many times as she could to knock it back, leaving the Queen Spider with only 10 HP. One more shot, and it was toast! She took one hit, leaving herself with 99 HP, and fired one last Fireball just as it swiped at her one last time. It died, and she had 1 HP left. Her shield had regenerated a point at the same time as her HP regenerated to 100, just a moment before she got hit. 'Congratulations! You have defeated your first boss, which we weren't really expecting you to accomplish on your first try. Earned 75 exp, 75 Bits, 10 Skill points. You've reached level 3. +6 Stat points, +6 Skill points.' An eye twitch, she'd had a slightly higher opinion of the game's expectations of her. She had just almost died, so she raised her Agi, Con, and Regen with her 18 Stat points. Str 23, Int 37, Agi 34, Con 34, Will 28, 34 Regen, Wis 27, Chr 29, Lck 27. HP 580, Shd 50, MP 691. She also raised Combat and Resilience to 19/1000 with her 16 Skill points. She waited for her wounds to heal enough that she didn't look (or feel, for that matter,) like she was going to drop dead. Then she exited the house. "I took care of them, but there's crispy Spider everywhere," she told the mare. "Thanks, I'm only really bothered by them when they're moving around. Besides, biologists will pay money for fairly intact corpses, since they have so much trouble studying them alive. Here's a token of my appreciation." 'Quest Complete! +100 exp, +100 Bits, +2 Skill points.' Twilight placed the Skill points into Positive Magic 15/1000. "Watch out for the Queen Spider's corpse, it's really unnerving," Twilight commented, shuddering slightly, she was going to have nightmares about this, she was sure. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I'd never have let you go in there if I knew there was a Queen Spider in there! You usually have to call in the Royal Guard to deal with them," the mare apologized. After she assuaged the mare's worries and left to buy more books with her roughly 300 bits (augmented by the pocket change she got from selling her stock of Spider's Legs), Twilight noticed her reputation bar had increased a fair amount compared to prior the quest. She decided she needed to think about how to perform better in combat. The Skill Levels had only affected her so much, and she was virtually defenseless if her MP ran out. Still, she was fairly happy with how things were going right now, she was improving, and she'd already learned some new tricks for using her magic in combat from the books, experience and, of course, by raising her skill levels. 'Chapter Progress: Level 3, 275 exp to next level. 6 quests completed. 1 star found.' Huh, she got the distinct impression the game wasn't talking to her that time.