PSO2: Legend of Aki: REBIRTH

[stukasa]

@Zorafim:

Spoiler!

Hard to know what to believe when the only witness to a massacre is an amnesiac girl and the previous eyewitness account describes someone who's already dead.

I was being half-sarcastic when I said "enjoy a short break." I knew it would give people who are behind (like you) a chance to catch up, so... enjoy!

In total I've created six characters across all the Phantasy Star games. (The online ones, I mean.) Of those six, I've used three in my stories--Aki, Akasha, and Athena. The other three... well, they wouldn't be as suitable, mainly because they're named after me in one way or another, and I don't really want to put myself as a character in my own story. That'd just be weird, man. Note: I made an exception for the "In Review" chapters, since that's me talking as the author.

My only regret is that Athena's name is very similar to Akasha's. Six letters, three syllables, both starting and ending with 'A.' Hopefully that doesn't confuse the readers. I'm still thinking about possibly giving Athena a nickname so you can tell them apart more easily. We'll see.

[Zorafim]

Spoiler!

Author self-inserts aren't too uncommon. But, I guess they aren't always easy to do.

I didn't really notice the similarity between the characters. Maybe I did in the back of my mind, but Akasha's such an off-the-wall name that Athena seems normal by comparison.

[stukasa]

@Zorafim:

Spoiler!

It's not about how easy it would be. I just find it weird. Imagine putting yourself into your own story, like, "Hey Levia, it's me, Zorafim. Your creator!" Granted, I could simply insert a character with my name that's supposed to represent me, but... I dunno. Given the survival track record of characters in my stories, I might not last too long. xD

You haven't seen too much interaction between Akasha and Athena yet. In 1.5 I simply called her "the pink-haired girl," so 1.6 was really the first time they referred to each other by name. If I find it too confusing in future chapters, I'll probably give Athena a nickname to differentiate them.

[Zorafim]

Spoiler!

Well Zorael isn't too far from a self-insert. That's not the exact term for it, I think there's one that fits better.
But, self-inserts are more, what would it be like if you existed in the world you created.

Actually, that makes sense. I think there was a scene where they knew each other's name, but not much more. I'll see if I can give feedback later on.

[stukasa]

@Zorafim:

Spoiler!

With a little bit of wish fulfillment thrown in, right?

None of my characters are intended to be self-inserts. Since I made them, I'm sure they share some aspects of my personality, but I don't think of any of them as "me." I'm not an android with identical twin sisters, even if I sometimes feel like a robot. And I'm certainly not a 7-foot-tall space elf. A bit tall, maybe, but not *that* tall. xD

[Zorafim]

Well I wouldn't know. I've never seen you.

2.1 (5 (Damn it PSOW not again)

Spoiler!

Oh~ I'm only a month behind now~

You know, I grew up in this kind of atmosphere. Not that I lived day to day in it, but it was a quick skip to have a vacation like this. Just a few hours.
So it's funny seeing people get excited about it. I guess vacations are fun after all.

This is also quite a change from Rho from her original appearance. I had a difficult time forgiving her at first, but here she is excited about a day on the beach with...the gang? I honestly don't know who all is coming.
Or why they're here. I'm starting to wonder if I missed a chapter.

Why am I incredibly suspicious of this raffle?

Ha, Rho is overestimating what ten million meseta can buy...or maybe I'm underestimating...
maybe I shouldn't spend so much on clothes...

I'm with Aki on this, normally. But if it's free, there's literally nothing to lose. Your expected payout goes from being less than one, to infinite. You'll likely only get a little mug, but hey. Fun.

Funny story! The first programming bug happened back when computers were giant piles of pressurized air tubes. One day it stopped working correctly, so they went into it to find out what was wrong...and found bugs.
The name stuck.

Oh~ it's just a relaxation thing. It was awfully detailed for something meant as a break.

Oh hey it's me! Have I been at this for a month?
It looks like I've been getting better at commenting. My first few comments were just a sentence long.

And since I had to sift through a few pages to find the next chapter:
next: 2.2 on page 60

[stukasa]

@Zorafim:

Spoiler!

Keep in mind, most of them are soldiers. Not only that, they all live on a city-ship floating through space. I figured the idea of a tropical beach getaway would be pretty appealing to them (even if that getaway happens to be on the aforementioned city-ship).

Originally I started off the chapter with several paragraphs of exposition explaining what was going on... then I changed my mind and threw it all out. It was boring to write and boring to read. I decided to use a different technique instead, dumping the reader into the middle of the story and explaining the details as the chapter progressed. Hopefully it wasn't too confusing for you. You weren't supposed to know what was going on at the very beginning. The whole idea was that you learned about it through the interactions of the characters, sort of like uncovering a little mystery.

Why did you have a difficult time forgiving Rho? Because she looks like Aki now? It was the same way in Chronicle 01, though.

Don't judge the PSO2 economy based on the prices of outfits in player shops. xD To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what the conversion rate would be, meseta to U.S. dollars. You can buy an outfit in the Shopping Area for 1,500 meseta. You can buy a Monomate for 50. So maybe the rate is around 10 meseta = US$1? In that case, the 10 million raffle prize would be worth about $1 million? That's my guess, anyway.

I think I knew that story about the first programming bug. Pretty funny, though!

[Zorafim]

Spoiler!

Yeah, that was probably the better method. If you have to force stuff - even information - it's not as enjoyable. Your story just has a smooth flow to it that was changed for this chapter.

I mean back when she was originally introduced. Her taking things with little regard for the people who need them.

I want to say it's closer to 1000 meseta = $1. Because there's no 1 to 1 comparison it's difficult to say, but I can get hundreds of thousands of meseta in a day's work (one day being an hour). But then, I am - lorewise - the best of the best, doing something most people can't. So...

I wouldn't be surprised if I told you that story before. I love that story.

[Zorafim]

2.2 on page 60

Spoiler!

Oh, we're still here? I was expecting easy come, easy go. This is more...easy come, hard go?

Nobody’s perfect—except me, of course. But you’re not me, so I won’t hold it against you.”
I loved this line. And a few more in there too.

There's that damn raffle again. Why does that creep me out so much?

Alright that horror section was awesome. You looked like you had a lot of fun writing that.

Ha, it's fun re-reading our conversation a month later. Welp, next chapter is 2.3 on page 62. I'm only a month behind~

[stukasa]

@Zorafim:

Spoiler!

Sassy Luna is sassy. Glad you enjoyed the quips, lol.

I dunno, why *does* the raffle creep you out? Too many expectations based on previous experience?

I did enjoy writing that horror story quite a bit, yeah. I thought it would be fun to write a "ghost story" in the PSO2 universe. What kinds of supernatural things might they be scared of when they've got monsters like Darkers roaming around?

P.S. Isn't it nice having a chapter where you don't have to worry about characters getting killed off?