Last extra one for a while. Vignette – Powered Down · 12:15am Feb 24th, 2023
August 14 – 10 am.
Sunset put on her headset. She made sure they were situated properly and then she double checked that the mic was in the optimal spot. She hit the delay start on the recorder and sat down on her couch. The blinking light turned solid to indicate that it was recording.
“Welcome back to Shimmer Code,” Sunset said. “It’s time for day four of my speed run of a classic, Final Fantasy Seven. For those of your who are watching just the highlight reel, day one was ten hours, day two was nine hours, and day three was ten hours. That’s a total of twenty-nine hours. If you don’t know, the game has a main story play time of thirty-six and a half hours. I’m trying to beat it in under thirty-six. Although it’s my first time playing it, I’m not doing a completionist run. Today I should beat it.”
Sunset held up her controller. “For those of you brave enough to watch from the beginning, you may recall me saying I had an upcoming announcement. That is why am I doing this, but I am sure you are wondering, ‘why pick such an old game?’ Simply put, it’s considered one of the greatest video games of all times which did some ground breaking advancements in video game design and gameplay, like being the first to use Three-D computer graphics, and it continues to influence games to this day. More importantly, it was produced by Square, now known as Square Enix, one of the world’s foremost video game companies, based out of Japan. It was created and designed in Japan first and foremost.”
“Today’s stream is the last I’ll be doing for a while,” Sunset smiled coyly into the camera, pausing for dramatic effect. Rarity was becoming a big influence on certain aspects of Sunset’s life. “Because where I am going, I won’t have my system with me. In three days, I’ll be in Tokyo, Japan, doing a semester abroad. I couldn’t think of a more appropriate game to beat before heading on that journey.
“So, without any more stalling, let’s get to it!”
Sunset loaded from her last save point and continued playing. Speed running a game she had never played before came with its own challenges. She had to do some research ahead of time, especially to make sure she knew where the highlights of the playthrough would be for her compilation. She also had to keep a log of her timing, so that she knew where to grab the clips. After each day, she had spent time cutting out the good parts and splicing them together.
It wasn’t like Sunset was wasting time. She had put in notice of her absence for her job when she had gotten approved for the program, but due to the pay periods, she wasn’t working the week before her last available day. She technically still had a job; she just wasn’t going to be on the schedule while she was in Japan. When she got back, they would assess if they could add her onto the schedule, or if her position had been filled with someone just as permanent as she was. It was a better arrangement than knowing she had to start from scratch and her boss was more than happy to provide a good reference for her if it didn’t work out for her to return. Yes, she would be gone for four months, but they knew when she was going to be returning and it was a very good reason to be leaving. She had no reason to officially quit either. If they needed to hire someone about the time she got back, the job would absolutely be waiting for her to pick it back up without a problem. It might save them from having to train someone, so it was a winning arrangement all around.
Sunset moved into the final boss fight as she got to thirty-five hours and forty-five minutes. Because she had been skipping side quests for time, Sunset’s characters were on the lower side in regards to their level. The blitz left her with the bare minimum for experience, equipment, and supplies. She saved before going into the final fights. Her first attempt got her through the first phase, but lacking the healing potions to beat the second phase. Sunset groaned as her characters were KO’d. It wasn’t the first time she had died. She had several times. That was common enough in any game, but after the fight she had just put up, she knew she was in a tight spot. Beating the game at her level was going to be very difficult. If she couldn’t, that meant she would have to take a significant step backwards in her saves to a place where she could do some side objectives and increase stats and equipment.
The game’s fighting style was called Active Time Battle, where the player chose the actions for their characters – healing, attacking, or using an item – and both sides exchanged moves until one side was defeated. The characters had their base stats, but then there was equipment that enhanced the stats. There were the basic set of attacks, combination attacks, and each character had their own unique attacks too. Damage dealt, damage taken, and critical attacks were often an RNG decision based on the base stats and equipment in use.
It took Sunset two more runs to finally fight her way to the end. She was on the edge of the couch as she used her last health potion to heal Cloud before he took critical damage, putting his health in the single digits as she launched the final attack. Sunset collapse back into the couch as the final cutscenes played out. There was nothing left for her to do but watch the show unfold. There was a reason the game was critically acclaimed and Sunset had not even explored half of what it had to offer. She would leave a complete playthrough for when she got back and not for a stream. At least not the eighty plus hours it would take to fully enjoy such a masterpiece.
The last scene ended and Sunset looked at the clock. “And a total completion time of thirty-six hours and fifty-two minutes. With nine deaths. Not bad considering I’ve never played it and I wasn’t rocking the best gear and didn’t spend time level grinding. That’s it for the live stream. I’ll have a highlights reel posted in the next day or two. For now, I have some packing to do!” Sunset waved to the camera. “Ki wo tsukete! Take care!”
Sunset stood up and almost fell down. Her legs were not ready to support her after sitting for so long. She managed to stay up and steady enough to turn the camera off before something embarrassing happened.
Seven hours, nonstop gaming, was not the healthiest lifestyle. At least she rarely did it, but after the four days, she was very stiff. Sunset made her first priority to fuel up and rehydrate. In order to be ready to fly out, she had some laundry to do and then packing. She knew what she was going to bring, she was just trying to slide through the next few days, biding her time, until it was laundry day so she could pack fresh clothes. Some other items couldn’t be packed until the last minute. She also had to make sure she left herself ready to come back after the semester was over, not immediately needing to do things like laundry.
It was with a heavy heart that she powered down her game console and then unplugged it. Likewise, she unplugged her controller charging stand and headphone charger. When she got back, she would have to plug them back in and charge them, but she didn’t need them draining power over the months she wouldn’t be around. Eventually, almost every electronic would be unplugged to save electricity. If it had a ghost light or standby mode, it would get unplugged. Unplugging everything was healthier for the electronics and it was pointless to keep them active, even for four months.
Tomorrow Sunset would prep her guitars for the months she would be away. Loosening the strings a tad would keep both them and the neck in better conditional while not being used and it would need to be turned anyway when she got back. Her room wasn’t going to fluctuate in humidity or temperature that much, so she didn’t have too much to worry about.
It was a bit eerie standing in the room, knowing she would be vacating it, yet have it waiting for her to return. She was moving, yet not. Nothing around her felt comfortable because of her impending departure. Her flight on the 16th could not come soon enough.
Well, I was able to get a vignette done! Yeah, thesis, lots to do and not going as well as planned, but I haven't forgotten the story!
fun read
Thanks for the vignette.
Ominous foreshadowing...
I can't even imagine choosing a speedrun for a first playthrough. That effectively means that you need to spoil large sections of the game by reading guides.
Not sure I'd be cut out for streaming though. In my current game, I'm nearly double the level requirement for the MSQ because I get so caught up in exploring and side objectives. My viewers would be telling me to get on with it.
5715191
I always thoroughly explore any game, so speed runs are not my thing. Yes, she would have had to do prep work, but after twenty years, certain aspects of the story for such a popular game are just common knowledge.
And yes, the foreshadowing was both intention, yet realistic. I sit, a lot, at my desk for school. If I'm not careful, I almost go down because I know I am not getting the exercise I need. lol. That is not an endorsement for my lifestyle. lol
Gosh, every time I read these vignettes and the girls talk about their plans for when they get back... my heart breaks a little.
5719050
It's fun to write those, but that's how you think about trips like this. I know. I spent a month in Belize doing a field archaeology school. As fun as it is, you have plans for when you get home. Still, it does sting knowing, as the reader, what is coming. Lol.
So when do you think Ruby Palace will be coming out
5719243
Trying to gauge that. Currently writing a Vignette. I have 4 more Vignettes to write. I want to start pushing chapters out soon.
So after the 4 Vignettes you start releasing chapters cool
5719429
That's the plan. Not sure on the timing.