At last...
At last, the dark lord is defeated!
You've done it, Sunraku!
Thank you!
It's been such a long, hard journey, hasn't it?
Yes.
I've been waiting so long for this very moment...
Faeria.
Now, you can go with the dark lord
straight to hell!
You're the real dark lord here!
You're the real menace to the world!
~The Prayer of the Fairy Princess~
Heck yeah!
I finally beat Failia Chronicle!
And I got my revenge for everything she put me through!
Yeah!
In an age where display-based games are considered retro,
and fully immersive VR games have become the norm...
Simulated Environment
Beneath the small number of works of significance
lies a massive pile of releases
whose game designs don't live up to their improved graphics technology.
They are known as "trash games."
Not Trash Games
Semi-Redeemable Trash Games
Although most people rightfully despise trash games,
Never Play Again
there are those who gleefully seek them out.
We call these people "freaks."
The rumors were true. What a giant pile of garbage!
This man here, Rakuro Hizutome,
is one of these freaks.
Rakuro Hizutome
High School 2nd-Year
I feel so free!
Is this how a convict finishing up a prison sentence feels?
Now, what trash game will I try next?
He is known as the "Trash-Game Hunter."
What Do You Play Games For?
Morning!
Oh, no one's here.
Soft & Fluffy Melon Pan
Kuon Amane
The Celebrity Model on Fashion's Bleeding Edge
Mom, one of your butterflies got out.
Oh, drat! Thanks for telling me!
Heading out!
Have a good day!
Where're you going for summer break?
Heading to Hawaii in two days!
Awesome!
You?
Makihari.
Municipal Mahinoki High School
Going to the game expo?
Hey, great idea!
E-Excuse me... Hizutome-kun...
Wh-What have you been up to?
Th-That's not what I meant!
I meant to ask... what game are you playing?
Oh, really? The truth is, I also—
Okay!
Hizu—
'Sup, Rakuro?
Heya.
Up all night gaming again?
As a matter of fact...
Listen to this, man! Talk about a nightmare...
Trashiest trash game ever...
Summer vacation starts tomorrow, then?
Mana Iwamaki
Owner of "Rock Roll"
That should bring in some business, I'll bet.
Come on in!
Oh, Rei-chan!
Hello, there!
Rei Saiga
High School 2nd-Year
On the way back from practice?
Yes.
Sorry, but he's not here today, either.
O-Oh, I just came to look at the games—
C'mon, I know you too well for that little act.
BLUSH
Aw, you lucky girl!
Oh, to be young and in love!
M-Mana-san!
He's been trying to crack an extra-special trash game,
so he hasn't been by in a while.
"Extra-special"?
That one there's his latest.
Failia Chronicle.
It might take him a bit longer yet.
Oh, Faeria Chronicle Online...
My sister told me about that one.
She said it was really hard!
It's a legendary trash game.
Miserable ally AI,
utterly absurd enemy attack patterns,
and more bugs in the code than you can shake a stick at.
I hear you need serious skills to even beat the first boss.
It's caused tons of players to throw their headsets in frustration!
On top of that, I've heard
you gotta fight the final boss in board shorts and a mask!
Why in the world would you do that?
No idea.
I assume it's an efficiency thing or something.
So? Are you making progress, Rei-chan?
Yes. I am, but—
Got any decent trash games in?
Hey! Been a while, Hizutome-kun!
Oh?
And... she's gone.
Oh, nothing.
Wait, did you beat Failia already?
You bet!
I took that sucker down!
How was it?
It was a spectacular pile of garbage!
Glad to hear it.
The biggest pile of garbage was that female lead.
Her name's "Faeria," and she ticked me off to no end!
She's the cause of pretty much every problem you run into on the journey,
and then she makes the situation worse and gets villagers and party members killed!
Tee-hee
Oh, no! I hit him!
What the hell is your problem?!
What are you even doing in that carriage?!
And if you expect her to suffer consequences for any of it...
Curse you, dark lord!
He's the reason all of this is happening!
She always finds a way to blame it all on the last boss!
That guy didn't do squat!
You're the real problem here!
The same thing happens anywhere you go,
but if you give her even the tiniest little shove to vent your annoyance...
Now I'm mad!
I'm not going anywhere with you!
Huh?!
She refuses to move the story along!
The autosave locks you into that state of affairs,
and it takes three freaking hours to get back in her good graces!
Then there's this, that, and the other thing...
Just thinking about it ticks me off again!
I'm impressed you didn't throw in the towel.
Oh, but you see, that's how they get you!
In the three minutes between beating the final boss and before the credits start rolling,
I guess because it's technically a cutscene,
you can beat the crap out of Faeria without fear of reprisal!
It's so ironic. The more Faeria annoys you,
the more determined you become to brave that hell
to experience that three minutes of heaven.
But when that moment finally arrives...
It's as if all that's wiped away!
You feel like you understand why you were put on this Earth.
Glad to hear you had fun.
But since Failia turned out to be such a remarkable trash pile,
I can't think of what to follow it up with.
In that case,
why not play something that's not a trash game for once?
Not a trash game?
Summer Break Promotion!! Now Adding Servers!
Experiencing the lows in life can help you appreciate the highs.
The reverse is true, as well.
The fully immersive VR game with over 30 million players...
Shangri-La Frontier?
It can be fun to try things designed for mass appeal now and then.
Right?
The opposite of a trash game...
A real god-tier game, huh?
Shangri-La Frontier, AKA SLF.
It went on the market last spring
and set a Guinness World Record for simultaneous player log-ins.
The concept is...
A colony fleet that came from space died out,
but not before leaving a new society behind.
Thousands of years later,
the PCs are living their lives at roughly medieval tech levels.
A setup that allows for effortless inclusion of sci-fi elements...
Unlike Failia, which is so bad
the haters find themselves desperately searching for redeeming features,
this game is so beloved that its few haters
are completely drowned out by tens of thousands of fans.
Utopia Entertainment Software.
"UES" for short.
Founded by the genius programmer Tsukuyo Tsukuri,
who developed the fully immersive VR game system,
it's a leader in the fields of software development,
hardware, and Internet service provision.
If SLF was produced in-house at UES,
there's no way it can be bad.
How long's it been since I played something that wasn't a trash game?
I did log in, right?
Create New Character
Looks like I pick my job first.
Brawler (Axes) Brawler (Mauls) Brawler (Fists) Knight (Swords) Knight (Longswords) Knight (Polearms) Knight (Mauls) Monk (Fists)
Monk (Staffs) Monk (Mauls) Mercenary (Swords) Mercenary (Greatswords) Mercenary (Longswords) Mercenary (Polearms) Mercenary (Mauls) Mercenary (Bows) Mercenary (Twin Swords)
Wow, look at that!
Bandit (Daggers) Bandit (Bows) Bandit (Swords) Blacksmith (Mauls) Archaeologist (Swords) Archaeologist (Bows) Magician (Staffs) Magician (Books) Cleric (Staffs) Cleric (Mauls) Swordsman (Swords) Swordsman (Greatswords) Swordsman (Longswords)
How many kinds are there?
Swordsman (Twin Swords) Warrior (Swords) Warrior (Greatswords) Warrior (Longswords) Warrior (Axes) Warrior (Mauls) Warrior (Polearms) Warrior (Twin Swords)
Brawler (Sword) Brawler (Greatsword) Brawler (Longsword) Brawler (Axes) Brawler (Mauls) Brawler (Fists) Knight (Swords) Knight (Longswords) Knight (Polearms) Knight (Mauls) Monk (Fists)
A twinblade mercenary sounds pretty flexible.
Mercenary (Twin Swords)
Next, origin...
Swordmaster Wanderer Optimist Obvious Talent
"Wanderer" builds defense slowly, but gets bonuses to luck.
Luck affects your critical chance and item drop rate in this game, so I'll take that.
Next, to design my character!
Build Type 1-7 Musculature Face Skin Eye Shape Eye Color Nose Mouth Ears
Wow, I can even choose race and body type!
All Hair Ornament Necklace Bracelet Ring
I can even start the game with accessories?!
Chill out, man!
You've been so poisoned by those super-limited trash games,
you're getting blown away by silly minor stuff!
Okay!
Time to go hardcore on character design for the first time in forever!
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade Staring Bird Mask None None None None 9000 Mahni
Is this all right?
Try Again Confirm
To protect Rakuro's good name,
I'll explain this state of affairs.
He's not into freak fashion or anything like that.
His playstyle consists of
ignoring armor in favor of getting the best weapons possible.
These weapons are costly, of course,
but in SLF, amazingly,
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade Leather Cap Leather Garb Leather Belt Leather Shoes None 3000 Mahni
you're given the option to sell your starter equipment during character creation!
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None Leather Garb Leather Belt Leather Shoes None 3000 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None Leather Garb Leather Belt Leather Shoes None 3300 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None Leather Garb Leather Belt Leather Shoes None 3600 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None Leather Garb Leather Belt Leather Shoes None 4000 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None Leather Belt Leather Shoes None 4400 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None Leather Belt Leather Shoes None 4800 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None Leather Belt Leather Shoes None 5000 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None Leather Belt Leather Shoes None 5400 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None Leather Shoes None 5800 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None Leather Shoes None 6000 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None Leather Shoes None 6400 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None Leather Shoes None 6800 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None None None 7200 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None None None 7500 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None None None 7700 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None None None 8000 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None None None 8400 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None None None 8900 Mahni
Mercenary Twinblade Mercenary Twinblade None None None None None 9000 Mahni
And you can make quite a profit!
Tripled!!
Traveler's Hat
Mercenary's Helm
Clergy's Hat
If I wanna hide my face...
Knight's Helm
Staring Bird Mask
This mask's my only option, huh?
Still, in a big-time game like this,
it'd be pretty awkward to play half-naked if everyone could see my face.
This was, therefore, the inevitable result.
Player name... Sunraku.
Please input name
Sunraku
Hizutome Rakuro
Incidentally, Rakuro is the type of player who uses the same name in every game he plays.
Hi (Sun)
Raku
Sunraku
Link established. Please lie down in a safe place.
Okay! All ready to go.
Long ago, there was a time known as the Divinity. The great and powerful members of the Divine moved on to the next world and disappeared. Since then, time has passed. We, the heirs to the Divine will
Hey, a prologue.
Let's skip that...
Okay, show me the power
of a god-tier game!
Introduction Pioneers, Feel the Night Wind
A forest?
Awesome!
Moving around feels pretty much like real life!
I can run!
I can grab!
I can climb!
Failia was so awkward to move around in...
Actually, it feels like an insult to compare them.
Whoa! It's huge!
So this is the world of SLF...
So... where am I, exactly?
Don't games like these usually start you off in a tutorial town for beginners?
What Sunraku didn't realize
is that those who choose "Wanderer" as their origin
will start out at a random point in the beginners' area.
The Rampant Forest
Sunraku
Firstia
This starter map looks pretty basic.
Let's see...
This is "The Rampant Forest,"
and to the west is the starting town, "Firstia."
Guess that's it.
Okay, I'll head roughly in that direction while I check things out!
I can even land properly!
I know this stuff should go without saying,
but actually getting to play it feels so good!
Sunraku
Mercenary (Twin Blade User) Skill Points Remaining: 0
Cash on Hand 9000 Mahni
HP: 30 Stamina: 20 Strength: 10 Dexterity:15 Vitality: 3
Magic: 10 Agility: 10 Tech: 15 Luck: 30
Vitality: 3.
Figures I'd have low defense with the half-naked thing going on...
We'll have to see how far that high luck stat gets me.
Right as I start playing?!
A Goblin, huh?
In that case...
Let's see what this combat engine's made of!
Mercenary Twinblade
Wow, a one-hit kill?
But it's just a scrub enemy in the intro, I guess.
Hey, I leveled up!
Dropped Item Goblin Hand Axe
Says it can be dual-wielded, so it's an option...
But its durability is already down to half.
Probably won't last much longer, then.
Monster weaknesses, patterns, and item drops...
There's a lot to learn here.
Trash game or god-tier game, you get this feeling everywhere...
The elation of diving head-first into a new world...
You just can't get that in real life!
Okay, let's not forget to enjoy this!
Well, would you look at that?
One hit from that could put me down.
Vorpal Bunny
One critical won't do it for this one, huh?!
Is this all you've got, god-tier game?
If you go for the neck with every single pass,
I'm gonna figure out what you're doing.
Look at all that EXP!
He was a tough little guy, huh?
No weapon drops, though, huh?
I wanted that knife! I bet it's powerful as heck!
Condition Achieved
You Learned Flash Counter
"Condition Achieved"?
I can learn skills by taking certain actions, huh?
New Skill
Flash Counter
Bonus added to counters from parry.
Parry: Deflecting an attack with your weapon
Hey, yeah, I haven't used any skills yet...
This game's pretty well designed.
Since a player's own skill supplements your dodges and parries,
I can fight pretty well against even higher-level enemies.
That makes me wanna try a bunch of different fighting styles!
Hang on!
Have I been played this whole time without encountering a single bug?!
Invisibility Bug
What's going on? I can't see anything!
Clipping Bug
Hey, I found a hidden world!
Swish
Hitbox Bug
Darn it! Why can't I hit you?!
Swish
Awesome! That's a god-tier game for you!
I honestly wasn't sure if I could enjoy a bug-free game after all this time,
but I can really have a good time with this!
I guess they don't call it "god-tier" for nothing!
Okay!
I'm gonna get me a tough bunny's kitchen knife!
Where are you, bunny?!
Spin Slash A spinning slash area attack
That skill's kinda crummy.
The big flashy swing leaves me open for too long.
Hey, finally leveled again.
I should probably allocate my stat points already...
I wish that Vorpal Bunny thing had a higher spawn rate, though...
Vorpal Bunny
Guess it was a rare enemy, huh?
It took me forever to get a matching set of those knives!
Play Time
Since I beat about fifty of 'em...
I guess that's a drop rate of about 5 percent or so?
Vorpal Chopper Bonus to critical damage.
This thing's pretty darn rare, huh?
They've got better stats than the Mercenary Twinblade,
so I'd better take good care of 'em.
Spin Slash Flash Counter Tap Step Screw Pierce
And I learned a few new skills...
But Screw Pierce seems like the only useful one.
New Skill
Screw Pierce
Deals a quick strike with a compact weapon This attack is powerful but cannot be chained
The others seem more "better than nothing" tier.
Still, I'm not gonna gain any more levels with the scrub-tier monsters around here.
I'd better move on.
The Rampant Forest
Firstia
I've strayed pretty far away from the starting town, huh?
The Rampant Forest
Firstia
At this point, I'm a lot closer to the next one, Secondale.
Secondale
Sunraku
To get to Secondale...
I've gotta cross this bridge over the ravine, huh?
Aha, I see.
I gotta beat you if I wanna cross. Is that it?
Sounds good to me.
Looks like I've got me a real challenge at last.
Ravenous Python
Area Boss
Rec. Level:
Rec. Party Size:
Soloing a boss meant for a party, huh?
With the great ratings SLF gets,
it probably won't be dishing out any silly bug attacks.
A snake monster's attacks usually consist of...
Coil, bite, tail swipe, swallow, venom...
That should be all.
With an avatar that actually moves the way I want it to,
I don't need defenses to beat you!
Give me something to enjoy here,
SLF!
The Rampant Forest
SLF Theater!
SLF Mini
Mini!
H-Hello, there!
I'm Psyger-0!
I'd like to show you the prologue text that rolls at the start of Shangri-La Frontier,
which Hizutome-kun skipped!
Take it away!
The land is vast, and through it is woven the grand tapestry of life... We, who live in the here and now, use the artifacts of the past still breathing in history and ruins to trace the footsteps of the Divine.
You are a pioneer, appearing with the wind from the east, and though brought to your knees time and again, you brave ever onward... And, like the wind, some of you will simply fade away. What is the purpose of your life?
Will you trust your life to the swing of your sword? Will you peer into the depths of the magical arts and seek to master your craft? Or will you choose not to fight at all?
All options can be found here. All options exist within you. Now, take your first step. Explore the unknown, your future, and your potential.
This is the mission given unto you, the children of the Divinity born—fallen—upon this land.
Divine? Divinity?
There's so much intriguing jargon, isn't there?
Well, see you again soon!
Bye-bye!
SLF Theater!
SLF Mini
Mini!
Oh, no! I hit him!
What the hell is your problem?!
What are you even doing in that carriage?!
I told you to wait on the dang bench!
Tee-hee
Curse you, dark lord!
He's the reason all of this is happening!
But this is all your fault!
Tee-hee
Now I'm mad!
I'm not going anywhere with you!
Huh?!
You're the one who causes all the problems,
and I'm the one fighting, not you!
Tee-hee