Chapter 1.1 - Game Master

  “You know the thing about life?”

  “It really sucks”

  I was looking at my screen for the hundredth time,

  while the words GAME OVER flashed…—as if to mock me.

  You might say I felt a little bit of anger at that moment.

  “No way,... are you serious, I lost again?”

  I feel like this game really just hates me!

  No, no—I mean it. This game really hates me,

  there is just no way around it!

  I am convinced that its design,

  was to specifically mess with me!?

  I slammed the controller,

  it's the third one I destroyed.

  since beginning this “tour of torture”.

  Why am I doing this — you ask?

  Well, let me tell you — it's because I am a gamer!

  But not just any gamer.

  I am someone who actually completes all the games!

  That means a full playthrough with everything unlocked,

  every secret found, every little Easter egg!

  I mean, clearing the entire game one hundred percent—

  also called the “Platinum” run.

  ———

  “Ahhh… but how is this possible?..

  This is seriously the biggest beatdown of my life!?

  I thought I went through hell,

  when I won the Mega Fatal Core Ultra Fist Championship Edition—

  fighting game championship!

  Yes, it was many years ago…—but hey!

  Somehow this feels even worse!?

  The game in question that is causing this misery,

  is according to its cover a turn based JRPG!

  The seven heroes venture out and!?

  Yes…— you guessed it!

  Save the world, destroy evil,

  save the kingdom and bla… bla..bla!

  You know the usual cliche!!

  Nothing revolutionary from a story perspective.

  When the game first came out, NOBODY was paying attention.

  They say it was released at the same time, as all the other “more” popular games.

  And ended up as “vaporware” because of that…—

  “small” oversight!

  But personally I think it's because they spent all their money,

  on making the actual game.

  They forgot to also spend that money on advertising.

  Anyway I found it on sale and liked the art.

  Yes, I am that shallow!

  The front cover have a female knight,

  holding a sick looking sword!

  Yeah I am a sucker for stuff like that.

  So of course I picked it up,

  and now I suffer for it.

  My pride as a gamer!

  No,... As a proud human being,

  who is totally not wasting his time…—

  trying to beat it!

  “No, I cannot allow this game to beat me!”

  The vein on my forehead was pulsating in anger!

  “Enough!?...—it's time to bring out the BIG GUNS!!”

  I frantically looked up a walkthrough while downing an energy drink.

  “I picked hard mode because of my pride!”

  AND I WILL STICK WITH HARD MODE, EVEN IF I DIE!?

  I leaned down on my couch and put in my last spare controller.

  I spawned from the last checkpoint and headed toward the dungeon boss.

  “This time I'm gonna kill you…—

  "YOU BASTARD!!”

  This guy is like a sponge with a crazy amount of health.

  The only way to beat him—or most enemies in this game—

  is to master the magic system.

  Which, by the way, they don't really explain how it works!?

  “What?”

  “The guide says I need to add a specific mana crystal to my weapon!?”

  “Ehh!!... That was not in the tutorial!?

  “Did they seriously go old school and just dump you straight into the game!?”

  Come on dev team—you can′t be this clueless?

  I mean, I know it's modern to make hard games like the old days!

  But DAMM!!

  Give me at least a few pointers before throwing me into the game!

  “What the?”

  The mana crystal isn't enough?

  Now I have to refine it and follow a specific build?

  “Are they serious?”

  Whatever…—fine. I’ll just follow the walkthrough

  until I beat this boss.

  Then I will stop using it!

  But no, it was not as easy as it seems.

  Apparently, the regular leveling system,

  only unlocks access to use higher-tier equipment.

  The actual power comes from the magic system.

  Crap… I′ve been playing all wrong.

  No wonder I'm struggling.

  Seriously—I am fuming with anger,

  This is so frustrating, there are so many hidden mechanics!?

  The tutorial certainly doesn't cover any of it!

  You cannot tell me I am meant to beat this game without a guide?

  How am I supposed to know all this!?

  What were the devs—thinking?

  To add so little information on such a big system??

  The vein in my head was popping like crazy!!

  I felt my frustration and anger building more—and more!

  I just wanna punch those bastards!!...Right in their ugly faces.

  “Screw this crap!? I was only going to use this guide to beat this boss…

  But no way I'm gonna beat this game without it!!”

  Normally I would feel bad for using a guide,

  since it feels like I'm cheating.

  But nope…—I have spent the last three days trying to beat this game!

  But I keep getting beat by the first boss!

  I blame the developers!

  They probably think it's hilarious watching me suffer!?

  “No more will I play your evil tunes…—my dear dev-team!!”

  “As a gamer AND a completionist!!

  I will beat this by ANY MEANS!?”

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  “SO BRING IT ON!!!!”

  — — —

  Ahh come on… I’m almost there!

  I don′t know how much time has passed

  since I started using this guide…

  But I was finally able to adjust and fix my errors,

  in the beginning of the game.

  Now I was facing the secret boss…—who turned out to be the

  TRUE BOSS of the game.

  It looked like a dark figure with no real form… or so it seemed.

  “I get the feeling this boss might be a metaphor for something?”

  Maybe the dev team had run out of ideas

  and just decided to put in an evil-looking blob thing at the very end.

  It honestly looked like a low-effort design.

  Still… I was getting this eerie feeling of discomfort—

  as if I was facing something truly horrifying?

  “Ahh,... this thing—it feels so off.

  It's giving me goosebumps!”

  That sloppy thing began to look suspicious,

  as if it was staring straight at me.

  Sure it made it worse—that my room was covered in complete darkness.

  Also, it really did not help that i played until late at night.

  My eyes were drying up, and my head began to feel heavy.

  It started to hurt… as if someone was beating on it like a drum.

  “That thing is seriously sending shivers down my spine…—gahhhh!!”

  This is it!!

  I′ve already beaten the game a couple of times and gotten most of the endings.

  But to get the TRUE ENDING—

  I had to endure so many hardships, and finally…

  Here I am. Once I beat this crap-looking thing—

  I can finally be done and go to sleep!

  “Come on, Beatrix—use your ultimate move!”

  The sword radiated with a bright light, enveloping it.

  the animation of her lifting her sword over her head,

  piercing the sky with a beam of light—It looks so cool!!

  “You have to give the dev team props, the animations are stellar"

  With her sword in hand she brought it down on the enemy while shouting, “ETERNAL CELESTIAL BLADE”

  The beam hit the target head-on; it was a critical hit.

  The monster let out a terrifying scream—only to dissipate into thin air.

  "Yahhhhhhhssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

  “Finally, I'm done. I'm sooo done with this!?”

  “Yeah!!... Platinum run achieved!!”

  An overwhelming joy filled me, and I jumped up from my sofa.

  It seemed like a bad dream—I could not believe I had managed to finally beat this…

  Punch the devs in the face game!!

  “YES… Finally yes—in your face, you stupid developers”

  The ending scene was playing out, and the heroes were being celebrated.

  The kingdom rejoiced, and everyone received their rewards.

  How nice. If only I could get similar rewards for going through this hot mess.

  No wonder it wasn’t that popular.

  The game was way too hard—you needed a guide for the entire playthrough.

  It had so many hidden secrets and unique mechanics—

  the game doesn't tell you about.

  Not to mention all the secret dialog options, to unlock everything.

  No, it's not enough to speak with someone.

  You also need to be at a specific place—

  at a specific time—with a specific character in your party!

  To unlock the important dialog options,

  before you can unlock all the endings!?

  “Ohh well, at least I am done now!”

  However, the game for some reason has a lot of bad endings!

  Especially Beatrix's.

  Despite technically being the main character, most of her endings are quite tragic!

  Even her best endings—could only be described as bitter sweet.

  I am not sure why that is, but at least now I don't have to think about it.

  I sighed in relief, my eyes drifting around my room, scanning for a light snack. Beating that final boss took its toll on me, and it got craving for something salty.

  Time to celebrate my victory!!

  Who would have thought this is my life now?

  I never thought I’d end up working at a convenience store—

  spending all my days working and gaming!

  “ Shit…—this wasn’t how it was supposed to be!”

  I trained so hard to win that tournament;

  it should have been the start of my career!?

  “What a waste of time”

  — — —

  Despite being twenty-three years old,

  I live by my aunt's place in Tokyo.

  Originally, my family was from Europe.

  My dad's company offered him his dream job—

  but he had to move to Tokyo.

  Hehe it's not a bad deal,

  since my mom is originally from japan.

  She met my dad when her company transferred her

  to the European office.

  You can probably guess what happened then.

  Even though I am half-Japanese

  I look more European.

  People often mistake me for a foreigner—

  even though I’ve lived half my life in Japan.

  but I can’t really blame them.

  Most people who look like me don’t speak Japanese.

  Moving to Japan was perfect for me.

  It gave me the opportunity to follow my lifelong dream—

  of becoming the best fighting game player in the world.

  I went hard at it… I even went on a hardcore diet

  and trained my body—to perform at peak levels.

  I came far in the esports scene, and even won many tournaments.

  However it all came crashing down…—

  when I lost my mother!

  She′s been sick for a very long time.

  One day…her body gave up, and yeah—

  that did a number on me and my dad.

  He had it more rough than me,

  he could not handle it, he sort of abandoned.

  Ever since I′ve been with my aunt.

  Our relationship completely fell apart for a few years,

  and he was gone for a while.

  But crazy enough… he had spent that time picking himself up!

  He then showed up, making a real effort.

  Of course, I was really angry at first,

  but that changed, and i was supposed to move in with him.

  But fate is cruel—

  and that shithead went and died on me!

  Well who would not be affected,

  by something like this!?

  My world was completely crushed, and I wallowed in self pity for years.

  Well…I still do!

  My aunt has tried to help me… to find my calling in life or so to speak.

  But I just can't.

  Something inside me broke bad when I lost mom…

  losing my dad too…— that was the final nail in the coffin!

  After that I couldn't do anything!

  So my life went on autopilot.

  Eventually, I just stopped—

  Caring—trying—living!

  Well—nothing could motivate me anymore.

  That′s until I one day accidentally pulled my dad's old console out.

  It had some old games.

  For some reason I got curious and booted it up,

  I popped a game in—and, well… It turned out to be a real challenge!

  And suddenly, I found myself accepting that challenge.

  For some odd reason…I found myself beginning to enjoy it.

  And before I knew it, I had completed it.

  Before I knew it,

  I loaded the next up… and the next—so on.

  Fully completing every hard game

  I could get between my hands.

  Since then, I just kept going… I can't explain why,

  but it makes me feel alive—

  I just can't get enough of it.

  The end credits is playing in the background,

  Beatrix's theme… has been playing for quite a while.

  “Hmm... her theme song is still going on?”

  I can hear, they did some remixes to make it longer.

  They even added some new sections,

  not in the original theme.

  “Well… whatever!” I mean it's a great theme,

  and she is by far the most interesting character.

  Despite her very depressing endings.

  I was thinking about my recent playthrough.

  I always get the feeling of nostalgia, whenever completing a game.

  Yeah sure… it might have been hell going through it.

  But as I think back—

  — — —

  “Well nope!! No way around it”

  “It was still bad—not gonna lie,

  i'm not gonna miss it—

  not even for a second”

  I felt a single tear trying to escape.

  Don't you dare! No, I'm not—sad!

  I wiped it away, “Good riddance”, I said proudly.

  Looking around the room, I was thinking,

  that I should probably clean it up.

  My aunt has been taking good care of me,

  so i should make sure she does not get mad.

  When she eventually gets home from her night shift.

  My mom's sister has been taking really good care of me.

  I'm not sure I can ever repay her kindness.

  “You know… I should take her out for dinner sometimes

  as a thanks for taking me in”

  — — —

  "Huh!"

  I began to feel a bit of discomfort.

  “What's?”

  Something felt off…Very off!

  “What's with this?...This sound?”

  A buzzing sound suddenly filled the room,

  it gave me an uneasy feeling,

  I felt nausea!

  "Ehh?" the screen began flickering crazy!

  “What's… what's going on—with the screen?”

  Weird noises began to come out of the tv,

  The picture was tearing up violently.

  The atmosphere in the room began to shift,

  but something weird was happening…—

  Inside the screen!

  It looked like the space around the TV was warping.

  The room—began to tremble.

  “what in the??”

  “Seriously, what is going on??

  Did I go crazy from all the late night gaming?

  Did the energy drinks—finally get to me?

  From within I began to feel fear.

  my instinct telling me to get out!

  Get out now!!

  “I… can't move…—Why??”

  Suddenly, everything stopped.

  The air felt strangely light…

  The trembling—stopped.

  It was as if time itself stood still.

  “This is really weird.”

  Letters began to appear on the screen.

  It looked weird but for some reason!

  It looked old—really old—ancient even—

  maybe some kind of a runic language?

  Light began to glow around me—

  Growing stronger…

  It was so strong it felt like it was taking on a physical shape.

  Then— a jolt ran through my body,

  like something was grabbing onto me.

  My whole body was pulled towards the TV—

  Next thing I knew everything went white.