Endless Resurrections
Gaming and Story Creation
Endless Resurrections 2
Introduction
Endless Resurrection 2 was supposed to be the pinnacle of gaming. He’d never even heard of Endless Resurrection
before the second one. It was some sort
of mythical game that everyone assumed never made it out of Beta or Alpha
testing. Abruptly the second game had come out and his friends from Final
Dragon XVIII had lured him in. It used
“Neural-connectivity” technology to give you a true VR experience. Your thoughts were directly input into the
controls of your character, as well as feedback through the link via electrical
impulses to your nervous system. It was
all highly technical and extremely advanced from gaming he’d experienced in the
past. It was the first time he’d played
a fully immersive game. When you logged
in, you felt like you were in an extremely vivid dream, crystal clear like the
real world, and with all the sensitivity you’d expect were it actually real. It was essentially like the old anime about
virtual MMORPGs that had become reality.
He walked into the Baker’s shop, physically feeling his feet hit the ground, feeling
the transition from the dirt street to the wood floor of the shop, and hearing
his steps changing with the different materials. The air on his face, the cotton clothes
against his skin, and the smell of baked bread and pastries assaulted his
senses. The sounds of people working and
bustling in the small village around him reached his echoed reality of this
Medieval town.
The beginner town of Amboise was one of four where you could start your
character in Endless Ressurections 2 (ER2).
It was probably the smallest in 1429, compared to the other starting
cities of Poitier to the South, Rouen to the Northeast, and Paris to the
East. With the war between England and
France taking precedence in the story arc of the game, you could travel all
throughout France and Britain. The game
map was not limited, the entire world was technically possible long-term. The creators wanted to focus the gameplay on
this region with the opportunity to include that time in history around the
world to create a global environment for players.
Bertrand picked up the loaf of bread from the Baker, placed
it in his storage satchel, it disappeared as it was still just data. His
satchel was way too small for the loaf, a confirmation of receipt popped up in
front of his right eye. He thought to
close it and the menu disappeared. If he
thought to open his inventory list a menu would pop up in the same place and he
could look at the bread and select it with another thought, to manifest it into
his hands.
He thanked the baker, who in turn told him, rather
generically, to have a good day, smiled, bowed slightly, and turned to ask how
to help the next person in line.
Bertrand strolled out into the bustling little street again. The non-playable characters or NPCs for short
were still just NPCs after all.
The sunlight was warm on his face as he stepped outside, and a few wispy clouds
eased by up in the blue sky overhead. He
shaded his eyes against the sunlight and sneezed, just like he would have in
the real world. Did his real body sneeze
too? Was this a reflex based on his own
real world nervous system input. It was
another feature that made this game almost creepily realistic. The world was so incredibly detailed and
attached to you, it was almost impossible to tell the difference. He’d probably be spending way more time here
than he thought he might before his friends convinced him to login. He tended to get really involved in these
games if he liked them. He opened his
eyes, wiped his nose on his cotton tunic sleeve, and started back down the road
toward the quest-giver Henrietta’s little house.
He smiled to himself, psyching himself up even more thinking
about what battles would be like. He had
chosen the class “Followers of Mordred” because he loved the character in an
old anime show based on historical characters fighting for the holy grail. Mordred had been a knight of King Arthur’s
court and Arthur’s illegitimate brother who had eventually betrayed him. But in the show, it had been a female, great sword wielding, armored knight. He knew
it would take a lot of work to get to that point and the central location for
the Followers was in England. He’d have
to get far in the story to truly understand his class choice, but he looked
forward to getting new abilities and trying them out along the way. For now, he just had a wooden shield and an
iron sword to use should he venture out of the city.
As he walked down the street past the NPC’s he waved at
another player character who was turning in three rabbit hides for 50
florins. He must have leveled up a few
times already. Bertrand looked at the
little plus in the right corner of the vision above the persons player
bar.
He had to stifle a laugh; their name was “Stubby Bits”. Characters height was based on real-life
input from your nervous system scans.
They were probably only 5’4” or so and Bertrand was about 5’10”. At least their name was true to their height,
but he still wondered why someone would choose that name for a game like
this. What he did notice was that they
were level 4 already! A Fources’ Ranger
who specialized in bows, daggers, knives, and the Robin Hood-esque style of
fighting and gameplay.
The rabbit hide quest was also repeatable too, it looked like he was turning in
a second batch as the day moved past the noon hour, which constituted a new
in-game day for turning in quests. He
knew this would be a tedious grind at first, but he was getting more and more
excited for playing with his friends and fighting for France and England in
exciting battles while seeing amazing Medieval cities in all their glory.
Stubby Bits waved back at him, “Bread quest?” he asked.
Bertrand nodded back, “Yep! Need to get some better armor.
Congrats on level 4”.
Stubby Bits shook his head and said “I never did that, I
just went straight out and fought some rabbits. I died once, but you should do it too. It's way faster. Good luck!”
He trotted off back toward the central part of town. Bertrand pondered
his advice. Maybe he’d go out into the
woods at the edge of town and try to see if he could figure out combat after he
finished this quest.
One of the great qualities of ER2 was no tutorial, other than using thoughts to
work the menu and your skills, your own movements basically dictated the
gameplay and interactions. It was great
to figure it out as you went. Players
could help each other, but you also had some freedom to make your own choices
with skills, development, and weapons.
As he was contemplating learning about the world, he stumbled and tripped on a
tree root. If the realism wasn’t already amazing enough, if you were clumsy in
real-life you would be here. He had just
made it to the edge of town and turned around a bend toward Henrietta’s
house. Trees lined the roadway leading
to the forest where low level monsters could be found and provided some shade
from the midday sun. At least when he
stubbed his toe on the root there wasn’t any pain, that was great feature of
the game, despite it being tied into your nervous system. There weren’t physical repercussions to taking damage or getting hurt.
The small forest loomed larger as he continued down the path, a few small houses and farms between the town and the woods spotted the sides of the road. This included his tiny little “house” where he started the game. Squirrels and Rabbits ranging from level 3 to 5 hopped and scampered around at the forests edge, while small birds flew amidst the oak, walnut, and maple trees. He knew this game had gathering, fishing, and crafting elements too, so you could probably get nuts and wood from the trees. As it was the beginning of summer, the air was warm and dry, but he’d been told the weather would mimic the real-world seasons. Since it was June in the real world, it was essentially June in ER2.
He stopped at his little one room home with a bed to logout
in, a small wash basin, fireplace, and table and chair. The bare basics of any medieval home. There were a few cabinets and storage bins,
but everything was empty since he just started.
He could also set a home point here if he "died" in game and teleport back here for free once a day, but transport
around the world would be time-consuming if he always came back here. As you progressed you could rent or buy
bigger rooms and places in other towns too.
He didn’t imagine he’d be here too long.
The thatch roof would probably have needed repair if this was real-life
too as he could see the sunlight through it in spots.
He stepped back out and walked across the street to
Henrietta’s house, they were the last two settlements before the forest. He knocked gently on the door and stepped
back so as not to surprise her, even though you probably couldn’t surprise an
NPC who expected you to return their quest item.
A faint and muffled, “Just a minute,” escaped through the
door from inside. For a split second he
saw a loading circle flash in the upper left of his vision, the servers were
overloaded with so many new players, but it was still pretty
seamless. The door opened and a timely
old woman smiled at him. For a split
second when the door opened, there was another loading circle and brief server
hesitation like what you would experience before a cutscene and event screen
change in a normal game. Bertrand forced
a smile but was still a bit confused as he produced the bread from his
inventory to hand to Henrietta. Just as
he was about to pass it to her and complete the quest, he felt the breeze of
something whooshing past his left ear, followed by a fletched arrow slamming
into the wood of the partially open door, causing it to open all the way and
pull out of Henrietta’s hand. His eyes
went wide as the arrow shuddered after embedding itself in the wood.
It took Bertrand a second to react to what happened. His eyes grew wide, and his mouth opened to
say, “WTF?!”. Panic and fear rose within
him, as well as adrenaline. This game
was so real!
Just as he started to turn back toward where the arrow had
come from, Henrietta grabbed his cotton shirt and yanked him inside. He stumbled into her small home as she
slammed the door shut behind him. She
certainly was spry for an older woman.
Was this a cutscene, was this live in-game action, was he still going to
get paid for the bread? She had it in
her left arm, he didn’t even notice when she’d grabbed it. She slotted a board into the back of the door
to barricade it as another arrow slammed into it, the metal tip poking through
the wood.
Bertrand asked her a question, not really expecting an answer, “I thought this
was just a turn-in quest for bread?”. He
stared at her, her calm demeanor belying someone who at her age in this place
should be greatly confused and concerned that someone had shot arrows into her
door. She chomped a huge bite of the
bread and sighed in satisfaction. The 15
gold pieces dropped into his inventory with a coin clinking noise. Isn’t that usually what happens when someone
trades you money? Who was this lady?
“So good,” she mumbled through another bite of the bread
with a decidedly youthful tone and mannerism.
Her stomach rumbled lightly. She
snapped back out of her bread reverie as a pounding sound reverberated on the
door. Someone was trying to open
it.
“We have to get out of here!” She grabbed
his hand and pulled him up from where he had stumbled into a sitting position
on the floor. At level one his dexterity
and agility were not that high, he had some trouble moving exceptionally quick
at this point. He struggled to not slow
her down as the moved toward the back of the small home. Who in the world was this lady?!
They dashed through the backdoor and out into the woods
beyond the house. The shawl she had been
wearing flew off behind them as they ran, and she pulled off a mask and wig and
threw it to the side. Bertrand’s eyes
grew wide in surprise as a white tail popped out from behind her and smacked
him in the face while she deftly held his hand and dragged him along. Fuzzy white ears poked out when she removed
her wig, and he finally realized her hands were paws with short, soft fur and
claw-like nails. His surprise turned to
awe and fascination.
She glanced back “Sorrrryyyyy, didn’t mean to get you caught up in this, but
you’re an accomplice now!”. Muffled
shouting from behind them at the house reached his ears as the attackers
realized they had run out the back. He
was surprised someone hadn’t come around to the backdoor before they had
attempted their escape. Maybe they were low level NPC's and not that smart?
At this point he had no idea what was going on, so he
decided to just respond with, “It’s OK!”
What kind of dumb response was that?! If he wasn’t being dragged through
the woods, he would have facepalmed himself.
They had crossed back around and over the road into the other side of
the woods and started heading down toward the river. They crashed into the
undergrowth, small animals scurrying away from them as branches whipped at
their faces and their feet threatened to get caught on roots and undergrowth. Bertrand could feel himself running out of
stamina quick. He wasn’t high enough
level for this kind of sustained activity yet.
He squeezed her paw a little harder as they ran, trying to
let her know he needed to slow down. Instead,
she just grabbed his hand harder and pulled even more, basically lugging him
behind her with ease. They whipped past
an Oak tree and onto the embankment along the river. He hadn’t even noticed that they’d been
working their way slowly downhill. He
could feel her claws starting to dig into his hand as they kept running, his
legs slowly becoming dead weight as he desperately tried to lift them up and down. A little dingy was tied up ahead to a fallen
tree. He stumbled on a slippery stone
along the waters edge. She hauled him
back up with one swift tug and lurched him into the boat, then untied the rope
and chucked it in after him. With a
hearty shove she sent the dingy into the water and deftly leap in with a soft
landing on the seat near the back.
As she started to row them with the current downriver, Bertrand was still too
out of breath to do anything but wheeze loudly and huff. Sweat dripped down his face and back and
chest, soaking into his cloth armor. He
had no idea you could perspire in this game, let alone feel it against you and
soaking into the armor. He was pretty sure you shouldn't get winded or tired either... but apparently that was wrong. He'd have to do some real-life cardio later.
She looked behind them but no one was coming out of the forest yet. She let out an exasperated sigh of relief.
“Well… I think we’re in the clear now.
Sorry about that. My name is Reenia and I’m a level 24 Sword
D’Mercuriale. What’s your name?” Her voice was kind and somewhat purred off her
tongue, adding a feline grace to her mannerism when she spoke.
“Bertrand. I’m a
level 1 Follower of Mordred.” He smiled at her despite everything he’d just
been through in the last ten minutes, he laughed, “Well at least I finished the bread quest”
“Um…I hate to break it to you, but that isn’t a real
quest anyway. That was just me asking for bread
so I could stay hidden. No experience
points or fame involved I’m afraid. I did trade you the florins though. How
about I help you level up for being my innocent bystander” She smiled at him,
her fang catching like a snaggle tooth on the left side of her lip.
“Fair trade,” Bertrand replied and sat up, finally catching his breath. He grabbed a distilled water out of his
inventory and took a drink, then offered it to Reenia. They were gliding down the river at a good
pace away from Amboise. A slight bend
had hidden it from view behind the forest even as they pushed off. At this rate he didn’t know if he could even
survive making his way back to his little starting room without her help
anyway.
He decided to ask the question he’d been thinking about since that arrow smacked
the door next to his face, “So who were those guys anyway and where are we
going now?”
She closed her eyes and her ears drooped forward for a
second as she let out another exasperated sigh, “Where to begin….?” Her ears
popped back forward, and she opened her eyes, “Those were a group of Fources’
Rangers who had started the beta around the same time I did. They basically
started a bandit gang called the Barons d’Bleu and terrorized new players so
they could get rich quick. Me and a few
friends worked together to take them out and they haven’t ever gotten over it.”
She rolled her eyes and started rowing again.
"I'm surprised new players like yourself are still logging in to the game. Haven't you noticed yet?" She asked quizzically, tilting her head a little bit and staring at him.
"Noticed what? Did I miss something? Is there an update or bug fixes coming up?" Bertrand replied, not knowing what she meant.
Her ears twitched with a little pang of guilt, as her expression turned a little dour, "You noticed how real everything feels right? The air, the smells, your energy level. Well.... I'll just come right out and say it," she thumped her tail down on the deck of the little boat in irritation.
"What is it?" Bertrand was so confused.
"We're stuck in the game" she said, as her ears drooped.
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