Nasuverse You're trapped in FRO!

daniel_gudman

KING (In Land of Blind)
Staff member
#1
Like previous "You're a something" thread-games I've posted, but three times more egotistical.

You were lucky enough to get your hands on a Launch copy of [SAO], but it's tainted luck, because Kayaba made it a (magical) Death Game as part of the official launch.

What do you do?

Mid-liner? Front-liner? Rear-liner?

Crafter?

A [Retired Player]... who got recruited into the "learn about Cities by Brute Force Gang" player?

Do none of these labels apply to you?

What kind of [magecraft] do you use... if the pain of [Circuit Activation] didn't scare you off?

Good ideas might get cameos as background characters....
 

Deathwings

Well-Known Member
#2
Mid-Liner/Crafter. They haven't been introduced in the story yet, but I would go wild with Mystic Code research once they became know. Actually, considering my research target I would fit as one of the DDA researcher I guess.

Said research target is...well, basically I want to recreate The Ninja's exoskeleton (from MGS), including the Stealth Camo, with MAGIC instead of TECH. And a halberd, because I love these things. Seriously love them.

Actually, the name "Deathwings" is all that's left of my old RP character from...shit, a decade already ? I'm getting old.
Basically, that character was an assassin type with that load-out :

-black feather stealth cloack (remembering how much of a fucking stupid webo I use to be is painful at time).
-leather armor that boost speed and dexterity.
-halberd loaded with defense bipassing effects (super clean cut) and telescoping shaft so it could also be used as a one-handed axe/knife when being sneaky in cramped quarter.
-animated chains attached to blades/hooks (kurasagi-gama I think it's called) for both fighting and use a improved grappling hook.

Everything in black of course, 'cause it so cool and edgy and emo and OH GOD WHY WAS I SO STUPID ?!

But yeah, stupidity aside, if I had the tools available ? I would totally try make those things. Less garish, certainly, but you know, the possibility is just too cool to not at least TRY.
 

Fellgrave

Well-Known Member
#3
Front-Liner. If I felt things were going too slowly, or I wasn't having enough fun or enough fights, I'd also go off on my own a lot. Hunting down monsters and bringing back their corpses to sell would probably be what I do.

Loadout? A crossbow and light armour, plus a swordbreaker.

[Magecraft] though... once I figured out that you could come up with your own stuff first thing would probably be trying to find ways to change and control my appearance (lol). But, after the initial search for that... next would probably be attempting to copy stuff from my RPG books. Two major things come to mind with that: [Mundus, Control of the Surroundings]; and [Umbra, Attack of Shadows].

[Mundus] turns everything around the user into a weapon. Quoting from the book:
Without even moving, he can raise sharpened columns from the ground, launch dozens of objects from a distance, command vines and roots to strangle and ensnare his foes, or even crush his opponents using simply the air that surrounds them.
Umbra: Attack of Shadows is an ability that allows a character to fight using the most unusual of weapons: his own shadow. Using his energy to mold his shadow and give it solidity, a character can create blades, phantom jaws, spectral arms, or almost anything imaginable. He does not even need to move to fight, because his shadow acts simultaneously as a means of attack and an almost perfect protection. Note however, that the effectiveness of this ability is reduced when fighting in an extremely bright environment, such as in the middle of a plain at noon.
I would devote almost all of my energy to getting those three things to work for me. And then enjoy fucking over every single monster I came across.
 

happerry

Well-Known Member
#4
Mid Liner with a spear on my part, at least in the early game, and probably shifting more towards crafter as the game gets more realistic. Blood is icky.

For magic.. Idduno, probably fire magic if I can use it. It's the most easy to use to damage enemies and should be useful in a forge as well. Mix it with Earth Magic and get lava hand grenades maybe? Or just the ability to superheat my spearhead without setting the spear haft on fire..
 

Mu-sensei

Well-Known Member
#5
Whenever I play something, I'm always (well, not always, just almost) a intelligence over strength type character.

I'd either be a ninja, with a invisibility spell as well as other confusion generating ones and a mantle that would somehow work as a bag of holding for innumerous throwing weapons and grenades.

If I wasn't a ninja, then I'd be crafter, especializing in modular mystic codes, like a sword whose sheath could fuse with the handle to make a spear, or a modular reinforced automatic riffle that would be a piece o magitek with a railgun-based acceleration system to turn bulets even more lethal.

In both cases I'd try and have as much trick up to my sleeves as I could, like, but not limited to: gauntlets with wristblades (fullmetal alchemist style), flamethrower (magic napalm!) on the underside. Also, some sort of rope-like addon with a weight on both ends, that would be sharp and poisoned and capable of moving like tentacles, and light, leather based armor. If I could I'd try and make some energy blade, but spear-like, as some enemies are not nice to short ranged attackers.
 

shout27

Well-Known Member
#6
Mid-liner focused on Magecraft regarding 'The preservation of corpses' from making sure they don't pixelate upon death to being able to use any leftover materials in the crafting of objects (I'm pretty sure I saw somewhere that enemies dissipate into pixels when defeated, let me know if this isn't the case).

I'd probably start with a ratio of 2:3 and later switch to 4:1. Weapons would be sword and shield. Most of the rest of my magecraft would likely focus on whatever element(s) I've got. Though I'd probably show a preference for paralysis, binding, personal time/gravity manipulation, as well as healing.
 

lhklan

Well-Known Member
#7
Looks like you're the opposite of me Mu. Whenever I play a game I usually stick for either someone with a 2 handed sword (yeah I really like those type of swords) or someone that can hit strong and hard.

I think I'd be a front Liner with a starting build of 4:1 but later switched to 3:2 for the 3rd floor. Equipment would be 2 handed sword and heavy armor at first but switch to spear and medium armor. I would also focus on the Physical Three of Magecraft, especially Reinforce. The reason is that I tend to get reckless at times, so having higher defense would probably help me survive.

(One of the idea I had for Reinforce - I don't know if it's possible,okay? - is instead of Reinforcing your entire body from the start, why not use it right before an attack, receiving a boost in power AND catch the enemy off guard since the blow is stronger/faster than they expected)
 
#8
I'd probably be front Liner with a Balanced Build since I've like versality with a short sword as my main weapon and a shield or throwing knives when needed. My Magecraft same as my build being an Average one would be nice specializing on high-speed elemental attacks maybe couting my knives with elemental attributes. Also having lots of elements would probably have experementing on combining as well as trying out Elemental Reinforcement.
 

burningclaw2

Well-Known Member
#9
Mid-laner/Crafter for me

Weapon:...A spear or a rapier, I have a tendency to prefer piercing/precision weapons over most other weapons.

Magecraft:...I'd be attempting for a Marble Phantasm or a Mystic Code Crafter myself.
 

Dark Schneider

Well-Known Member
#10
Front Liner for me, heavy tank build. Shield and mace for weapons. For Magecraft, I'd work on a variant of Mystic eyes(probably not full-fledged Mystic Eyes level though) that focus on seeing the lines of probability for any strike's path to be able to intercept and block them. I have always liked playing the heavy Tank to protect others and manage the enemy's threat. I'd make heavy use of Reinforcement as well.
 

Mu-sensei

Well-Known Member
#11
lhklan said:
Looks like you're the opposite of me Mu.
Which means we make a good team. Now we only need an archetypical mage and we're set.
 
#12
"no such entity"
speed demon build,
ninja suit
face concealing mask
short sword
would switch to light crossbow with ranged weapon patch,
paralysis poison
reinforce expert (and probably would have figured out endurance reinforce of ninja guide on his own)
somewhat cautious, tends to go out with groups of people he can outrun
escourts gathering players as a tag along to earn xp and col

don't think I have nerves to be front liner but would assume retiring from game would cause difficulty's later on, either forced to play game or strong players picking on weak
 
#13
What would I do? Well...as much as I would like to talk about being a frontliner and saving the day? I know myself better than that.

I'd be a crafter. I was an Armorsmith in SWG, so I'd probably start with something along those lines. Problem is, I was never that *good* at it. I didn't put in the time, and I was always getting distracted by doing side projects and mining resources and building speeders for friends. I was better at doing small little custom jobs (I had the best fireworks displays on the server) and things like that. In SAO, I would do the absolute minimum amount of level grinding that was necessary to keep my skill points relevant. (Wait, is crafting skill cap even tied to level? If not, then I would be level 1. I wouldn't even farm my own mats. Vertical integration of supply and manufacturing is typically inefficient in MMO systems - I'd just buy mats off of other players and NPCs). Unfortunately there are a *lot* of Blacksmiths, so I'd start looking into other marketable skills. All of the crafting stuff appears to have a market already, which means that's out.

So I'd have to turn to magical research. I imagine this process would occur fairly quickly - I dearly love magic, and the idea of being a wizard really plays to the part of my ego that views myself as a very intelligent person. Once we found out about the EXP bonus for spell research? Fuck those non Safe Zone areas; they're overrated. People can ask me what type of weapon user I am all they want; my weapon is my mind, and a powerful weapon it is. If I get a protagonist element, [Mind] would probably be it.

I would basically sit on my ass and research tiny things that make stuff more convenient - think macros, only spells. I might be able to do this using Alteration (or Reinforcement? Like reinforcing a thought pattern?) given my Protagonist Element. I'd be focusing on automation of personal actions...basically self hypnosis for a purpose beyond the initial, "I really believe that I am capable of doing this supernatural activity." So I would try and get spells to recognize patterns and then execute an action. The two things that immediately come to mind are inventory organization and spotting items (ie resources) while in the field. It doesn't have much use for mind control, because the individual has to set the parameters for the spell themselves.

From there I would mostly tinker with applications of the spell and ways to make it more effective. If I could get a working "image" database going, then maybe I could get it to do something like facial recognition software, only instead it's recognizing certain "tells" for mobs - the fur coloration that is just *slightly* different from the surrounding area, the cracks that indicate a burrowing worm, etc. Simple pattern recognition, which triggers something as simple as a red arrow above the "pattern" to highlighting in yellow the entire suspected area of the enemy (ie VATS in Fallout when you target an enemy that's partially concealed but you can still see an outline).

Updating that mental database is going to require going into the field to acquire this information (haha, no) or figuring out a way to conduct mental transference, where I can get a frontliner to share the exact criteria of certain scenarios. I mostly see my version of VATS as being useful to midliners - it requires the frontliners to get info to even be "programmed," and their personal instincts are going to be better than anything I can replicate easily. But as a survival tool for midliners, who have no experience? Getting a red arrow over a pattern-recognized ambush point could save their life.

This is, of course, assuming I don't just descend into hedonism and immediately start magically simulating dopamine release and develop magical heroin to cope with the stress.
 

Lufio

Well-Known Member
#14
--'{@

Mid-Liner / Crafter.
Basically a Ranger
With nature magic.


I don't think I could handle the pressures of being a Front-Liner. I'd be a throwing weapon user as soon as that was available. Before that, I'd be a long spear / quarterstaff user. I want distance between me and my opponents and means of disabling their mobility. I'd use potions for area of effect, darts for precision debuffs, and spear for offense/defense. My tactics would be sneaking, ambush, and traps. My fighting style would be shutting down the opposing offense through the use of stun locks, one hit kills, being out of attack range, ambush and retreats, etc.

I'd craft potions and drugs, both medicines and poisons. My materials of choice for harvesting would be plants. Rarity and difficulty in access would be challenges I'd look forward to. Those would be my specialty, though I would also dabble with minerals and animals if there are no vegetative alternatives. I'd still learn about them if they are important to the game world ecosystem of the plants I'm harvesting. Might even go into business with people who want to raise rare plants in greenhouses.

I love the outdoors, and I would relish the chance to be able to turn wilderness areas into a modable playground. I'd use magic to fuel the enhancement and customization of plant functions to suit my whims. Walls of brambles with enlarged thorns for barriers. Vines and branches for traps. Roots spiking out of the ground to limit mobility. Floral scents and fungal spores for euphoria, confusion, or drowsiness. I might even pick up some earth magic for optimizing the habitat of a plant or creating pit traps. Same with animal control magic for bypassing conflict when harvesting, acquiring NPCs for combat, or enhancing traps and ambushes. Eventually, I'd find some way to replicate the earth and animal magic using plants as mechanisms.

Signatures would be a domino mask (for eye enhancement and protection), roses as throwing weapons and delivery system (clouds of petals, thorns, and armor-piercing stem), and haiku for verbal spells.
 

Prince Charon

Well-Known Member
#15
I've actually thought about this.

Probably a [Midliner]/[Crafter], like a lot of others, here, or maybe a [Frontlier] if I had some reason to need to do that.

Weapon-wise, I'll choose a [Rapier] to start with, or possibly a [Sabre], as I do have some [Fencing in the Round] training, whereas I'm not really trained in other weapons. A [Quarterstaff] or [Spear] might also be carried, because a longer reach is sometimes needed. Likewise, a [Knife] and some [Throwing Picks], because they're useful tools.

I'd be likely to experiment with styles until I found one that works for me, though [Rune Magic] is something I'm interested in, as is [The Force] (if that's even available in FRO - more likely, it'll be available in some future Star Wars VRMMO based on the Seed). A lot of the rest depends on what my [Element] or [Elements] are, and the quality and quantity of my [Magic Circuits], and also my [Origin], once we get to that point (e.g. if I'm more suited to combat than to crafting, I'm more likely to be a Frontliner, particularly if I have more or higher-quality circuits than I'm expecting to). I'd probably go for speed over strength, with enough armour that I can still run, but once we get into Mystic Code crafting, I'm likely to see how close I can get to [Iron Man's Armour], and possibly a [Lightsabre], especially if I go for [The Force] as my [Thaumaturgical Theory]. I suspect I'm far from the only person who'd try either of those. Likewise, probably not the only person to try to create a sonic screwdriver, though the [TARDIS] herself is clearly on the level of [True Magic].

Given my general style of play and character creation, I'm probably the kind of person that Kayaba really wants: someone who will aggressively pursue the study of [Magecraft], and try to find out everything I can do with it, and how I can do more with whatever the [Game Engine] gives me.

BTW, do you have a chart where we can roll up our [Elements], circuits, et cetra, or should we just assume that we're the [Main Characters] of our own stories, and declare whatever [Traits] seem fitting (for example, I was thinking of giving myself an eccentric arrangement of [Elements]: Ether and Demons, and if I can have four, also Wood and Metal; wasn't planning on having impressive quality or quantity of [Magic Circuits], probably just somewhere around average - still a bit of a [Protagonist], though; a [Frontliner] version might have only one [Element] (possibly a [Rare Element], possibly not), but a higher [Prana Capacity]).
 

lethum

Well-Known Member
#16
What would I do? Assuming no knowledge of SAO or FSN canon? In the first floor I would gather a party an non-optimally build a safety margin against first level monsters by ganging up on a party with other noobs like me. After that, I would grind mobs in numbers, not in strength, probably not finding out about the first boss meeting until it was already past, and doing the magecraft start up quests. With a build of 3:7 favoring AGI and probably a light shield and a fast sword. Let's say that the circuit trigger metaphor is "an eye opening". Or maybe "a camera turning on".

On magecraft, let's assume two possibilities.

1) Normal Element. Probably a double element like Earth and Air, or Earth and Water, or Metal and Air, or Ether and Wood. Maybe one of each elemental set (Eastern Western), one for a static element (Earth, Metal, Wood) and one for a dynamic one. If a single element, Wind probably. I'm thinking an elemental representation of "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_wind", or maybe of a river/glacial/waterfall. Something inherently fluid but settled into a mostly static "role". A dynamic equilibrium, if you will.

As far as spells go, I'd probably stick to the Argo Guide's hints for reinforcement until the [Psychogenesis] and [Projection] skill books come out. I'd also buy the Cure [SB] just to be safe. Afterwards, after designing a (middle) ranged attack appropriate for my element I would go for Electromagnetism HAX. [Structural Grasp] and basic electricity experiments will up my awareness of [Electrons], or at least the [Cardinal equivalent] replacement. The goal would be applying macroscopic force to microscopic systems (using magic! magecraft) to destabilize them and to create an exothermic reaction that would leave me with energy I could use to fire at the enemy. think screwing up with the electromagnetic forces inside the nucleus to destabilize the system, leading to the strong and weak forces disintegrating the atom in an explosion of freed bound energy. Or an unstoppable meltdown.

Also, a railgun by using [Projection] to fake/[Projection] the EM field necessary to accelerate the [Throwing Pick] to a decent speed. Expect the experiments to come slowly, hoping that if I fail early, then improving my own skills and waiting for the SAO physics engine to evolve to the point where it can handle my (intended) spells. Or, you know, finding a canon shaped immortal (like a tankard maybe?), putting the projectile and then adding so much energy to the air trapped inside while enforcing the confinement that something gets released at high speeds in a roughly forwards vector.

Also, maybe exploit the telekinesis as much as I can for SCIENCE! Like reinforcing the strength of a container to its limit, then using TK to pump air inside until it starts to heat up on its own and perhaps using some delayed mystery to break the container on a timer for an essentially cheap grenade of increasingly good damage. The damage would increase with my skill at [Explosive Crafting], of course.

2) ProtagonistRare Element. Let's take two options for this, just to explore the magecraft and its possible consequences on my build.

2.1) [Light], [Darkness], [Tiny Stuff], [] or in general an element that fits the EM hax outlined above. Expect the first steps after the basic ones to go much slower, but the results of early middle term to start bearing good fruit. Hopefully a HAX enough fruit to earn me a [Player Title], maybe something like [The Railgun] or the [Meltdowner] since they kinda fit and I'm recalling To Aru.

2.2) A rare element that doesn't fit the outlined HAX. To pick fairly, I will outline my reaction to two rare elements based on two random articles from Wikipedia.

2.1.1) Indian cricket team in South Africa in 2013–14->[Force]

Cricket is kinda like British baseball, from what a short glance at the Wikipedia page on cricket tells me. A team sport. Also, both mentioned countries are former British Colonies. So I choose to say that the element is cooperation (or at least interaction) oriented, inherently competitive and link two concepts that historically belonged to a single concept. So I call the rare element [Force], as in the Newtonian source of motion, that is inherently about interactions and that as far as our common environment is concerned, is the result of a lot of similar things acting (atoms, for example) the same way with action and reaction (two teams!). Historically, Aristotle considered that force was the source of motion and that with its absence motion vanished. But as understood today, that single "force" was including what we now classify as action and reaction. It's tenuous but it's there.

Now, onto magecraft. Of course, it means that psychogenesis is super odd, and that telekinesis could get odd. But that much is good. Assuming that as a rare element it will take time for Cardinal to identify it, and that as a rare element it will be the basis of..."rare" magecraft, so a lot of concepts may not apply, and I may get forced to rely on grinding.

The HAX mentioned before is possible, but force would mean that I'd be more inspired by Accelerator, Rasengan, the Turtle Devastation wave, Biotics and Fus Roh Da than by railguns. My natural path of spell development would mean that I would be taken away from that idealized path in favor of more practical purposes. The rarity of my magic would prevent a lot of the "results" from the rest of the player base from reflecting on me.

2.1.1) Yukana Naogami->[Dominance]

A voice actress. The characters she has played that I recognize relatively well are and whose powerset I am relatively familiar with are: Teletha Testarossa, Isane Kotetsu, C.C. (Code Geass), Reinforce Zwei and Kazehana. A whispered (telepath with a skill for science and engineering), a healer ghost, an immortal power lottery, an immortal magic aid with ice powers and a wind user. An orphan with a more skilled older brother, a high ranked elder sister, a suicidal vagrant, an innocent nonhuman and a whimsical romantic. Well, they are all girls, but that's mostly because the VA is a girl, so that gets ignored. They all interact with high tiers of political power. Their power was arguably the reason why those same powers were interested in them. Without them, they would have lacked the ambition to reach that high. Accepting a rare element that is more "human" or "social" than "physical" or "abstract", I then choose the rare element to be [Dominance], that which when it is had, it confers political power to the holder.

First of all, I expect that for magecraft, it would become hard to advance, but what is already there will be stronger and comparatively easy to refine. What is already dominated is easy to use while what isn't must be dominated first. It would be helpful in [Mental Magic], curses, incapacitation and in spells meant for battle, but it would be the kind of thing that would twist the mind as it is used. I like to think that I would resist the changes, but for the most part I don't expect that I will be left unchanged by it. The name alone would be a big honking warning sign, though, so there's that.





Finally, I would be the kind of player who stands near the top as determined by the results of my normal effort but that won't bother to put the effort necessary to get any closer unless I get motivation. A rare element, a companion pushing me forward or a [Title] would certainly be the kind of thing that I would be motivated by. Once bounded fields come out I would certainly be one of the people who would want in on the things, though without an actual look at how they look like I wouldn't know if I'd bother to go any deeper than the average frontliner.

In summary, I'd grind in numbers, choose an AGI build, aim for a basic ranged spell before experimenting with what my element would suggest I'll excel at and be a frontliner after a comparatively slow start.

Note: Post written in several sessions. Do tell me if you find inconsistencies ro blatant errors, whoever reads this.
 

Abendroth

Well-Known Member
#17
I would be one of the people who simply didn't believe Kayaba when he said clearing the game would free us, because being trapped in here already proves Kayaba is a lying liar who lies. I wouldn't be evangelical about it, but if it comes up I'll make my position clear. While I think clearing the game is a waste of time, I would want to prevent as many of the clearers from dying as possible. Since I would mostly refuse to leave the safe zones, I would look for ways to enhance other players. The bonuses gained from Reinforcement seem much higher than the ones from gear, (plus, I like magic) so magic is obviously the more profitable skill tree. I would definitely become a magic researcher. I would try to make Reinforcement last as long as possible, or work out a way to give people items that cast Reinforcement (or healing) on themselves. Once I trained my Reinforcement, you might find me at the gates of the city giving out buffs, probably speed and durability focused. Since people can simply replace my buff with their own buff later if they want there's really no downside.

As the magic system advances, I would focus on other ways for me to put power/work into things that I can send out with people, and exploit what synergies I can from the spell engine. For example, there isn't technically a limit on how far you can reinforce yourself, you just take damage if you go over a certain amount. But if you cast a healing spell at the same time, the healing will counter the damage from the reinforcement, allowing you to ignore the limits, to an extent.

Figuring out how to put spells into items would definitely be a goal. One idea I just thought of is that a reinforced item could be used as an inefficient Prana battery. Reinforcement is just putting prana into an item, therefore, logically, you can also take it back out. Obviously, experimentation would be needed, but combine a reinforcement-based prana battery and an item with runes on it and you might have your first magic item. Take the prana from the item, push it through the runes, instant magic. I would mostly not use runes, but the prototype might use them because it's simple. The battery can either power spell items when they are developed, or just let people carry extra power around, useful for those who can't gather much mana, or for boss fights where lots of people are depleting the mana supply. Maybe use it to run a Heal over Time effect?

Ultimately, I want to be able to create items with sustained spell effects, either cast on the user or cast on the item (e.g. super strong armor or, more munchkin, armor that redistributes the force of incoming attacks across its entire surface area). It's a bit Final Fantasy-esque, but I can imagine people wearing belts or armbands with slots in them, and they plug in stones or something with their preferred combination of buffs, heals and energy storage. Creating a spell capable of handling IF-THEN statements or similar would be a goal for later.
 
#18
Like every one else I'd probably be a mid liner/ crafter myself.
When I play any kind of rpg I like to use precision weapons of some kind, passive buffs, and traps. Not so sure if I would break any molds magic wise, as I'm not that creative, but I'd make up for my lack of protagonist potential by ripping off every video game spell idea I can and ludicrous amounts of explosions, poison traps, curses, and pure distilled "fuck you".
To make any sort of living I'd have to find a way to make these things sell able, whether by making portable traps or selling the spells, this is assuming that I don't just blow myself up within the first couple of weeks in the game.
 

daniel_gudman

KING (In Land of Blind)
Staff member
#19
1) Summary of Responses to Date


Deathwings
Mid-liner/crafter
Mystic code research
Invisible armor

Fellgrave
Front liner
Local area telekenesis + shadow control

haperry
Mid-liner
fire => heat magecraft

Mu
Mid-liner/crafter
ninja (invisible) OR crafter (modular mystic codes)
trick weapons

shout27
mid-liner (agility type)
necromancy / healing / nerve interference?

Ihklan
Front-liner (strength type)
heavy equipment
Impulse-type reinforcement?
(well-suited to join DDA?)

Wing101
Front-liner (balanced)
Average One; high-speed elemental Alteration

burningclaw
Mid-liner/crafter
Mystic codes

Dark Schneider
Front-liner (heavy tank)
Eyemancy (perception of motion vectors) + reinforcement

No Such Entity
ninja (speed demon)
poison, reinforce expert
not enough nerves for the Front Line. (otherwise good match for fuumanin?)

Hardcore Heathen
Crafter (armor to start)
Researcher (Wonderous Items) after Mystic Code Patch. REALLY ambitious. Mass production of Crest-like functions?
Connection of Senses; to others, and to database

Lufio
Mid-line spear/range player
Potion/drug mixing
Wood element + growth magic
(Tuxedo Mask, only more feminine)

Prince Charon
Mid-liner/crafter… maybe front-liner
fencing-type fighter
Hunt for Jedi-like magecraft style

lethum
rear-liner / mid-liner
agility-type
ranged elemental magecraft, end-goal of a rail-gun
(Doesn't know anything about the second most popular sport in the world)

Abendroth
City Player (doesn't think game would end on Clear)
Support player for those who DO think game end on clear
Focus on enhancement magecraft for others => Mystic Codes
Inclined to Gemcraft (storage and transference of prana)

cjonbloodletter
Mid-liner/crafter
Precision weapons
crafting focus: bombs / landmines (Emiya-style heroism???)




2) Interesting Statistics + Remarks

Front-Liner (4)
Fellgrave
Ihklan
Wing101
Dark Schneider

Mid-Liner (5)
haperry
shout27
No Such Entity
Lufio
lethum

Mid-liner/crafter (5)
Deathwings
Mu
burningclaw
Prince Charon
cjonbloodletter

Pure Crafter (2)
Hardcore Heathen
Abendroth


So a total of 4 Front-Liners; 5 Mid-Liners, and 5 people split between the Mid-Line and the Front Line; and 2 who would stay in Safe Zones as much as possible... but who would also spend their time making tools for people who did leave.

4/16 on the Front Line... that's 25%, higher than in canon. Of course, that's discounting, like, the 2 guys who said "sit in Safe Zones and Craft"; guys who made clearers' gear were actually considered "Front Liners" the way Kirito tallied people, too.

(5+5)/16 guys who split pure Mid-Line with also some crafting... 63% of the population.

Nobody's really voted to [Retire] and just sit around drinking [Fake Coffee] all day long. ...That might be sampling bias because everyone that thought they would do that, just decided not to post.

There was a lot of enthusiasm for Mystic Codes, or to be more precise, more like, "Enchanted Items." Also a lot of people that are aiming at invisibility as a magecraft goal.

Nobody mentioned much about Bounded Fields or the [Minecraft] patch to build stuff, but that might be because they haven't really featured in the story much, so people just didn't think about it.

Likewise, nobody really said much about Familiars, except shout27, who wants to be a necromancer.

...Well, for all the people who want to automate stuff, creating a familiar that's smart enough to take an order "go do that stuff", might be the answer to go with.



3) Direct Responses
Hardcore Heathen said:
Wait, is crafting skill cap even tied to level? If not, then I would be level 1.
This is something I mentioned only in passing during Griselda's narration of what Grimlock was getting up to: basically, no. Skills rank up based on how often you use them only, without regard to level. But... you get an equipment bonus for most kinds of crafting, and better gear will usually have Ability Score requirements above five, so there's an implicit level requirement for skills.

...By the time that would be an issue for your build, the XP reward for spell and item development would probably be able to carry you.

Hardcore Heathen said:
I would basically sit on my ass and research tiny things that make stuff more convenient - think macros, only spells.
This is like the definition of a Mystic Code.

Or a Crest, if it's something you add to someone's body, rather than a tool. Well... putting it in someone's body would be way harder. Wait...maybe a Mystic Code that's inscribed with a tattoo? It could operate like a Mystic Code (insert prana, pull trigger), but it wouldn't be as traumatic to add (or have the other passive benefits) that a Crest has.

Well, [Tattooing] can be one of those Skills that was a purely aesthetic skill to sink money into Avatar customization... but combine that with some Formalcraft and you've actually got something, huh?

Prince Charon said:
BTW, do you have a chart where we can roll up our [Elements], circuits, et cetra, or should we just assume that we're the [Main Characters] of our own stories...
I could, if that's what people want.

Everyone is the Protagonist of their own life. That's like a tautology... so if you want to take a normal element in a crazy direction, go nuts. Or, if you want a rare element, then also go nuts.

Abendroth said:
Figuring out how to put spells into items would definitely be a goal. One idea I just thought of is that a reinforced item could be used as an inefficient Prana battery. ... It's a bit Final Fantasy-esque, but I can imagine people wearing belts or armbands with slots in them, and they plug in stones or something with their preferred combination of buffs, heals and energy storage. Creating a spell capable of handling IF-THEN statements or similar would be a goal for later.
"Efficient Prana batteries" is like the basis of Gemcraft, which sure, is available by the fifth floor, even if that's only because Liz mentioned it as an aside... regarding an Item Shop on the 2nd Floor, so we can go ahead and say Gemcraft was introduced on the second floor.

...I guess if you carved a Mystic Code onto one, you could fill it with prana and automatically fire off the spell using the prana stored inside? That is starting to really sound quite a bit like Materia.

Be careful how you use healing magic, though. Creating spare flesh inside your body with a spell that's beyond your ability to control sounds like a pretty good way to give yourself cancer. (The poorly created flesh metastasizes...?)



4) Closing the Post
It's been interesting, so please keep posting!
 

violinmana

(Hardcore) Gamer
#20
I would probably be the rare front-liner who doesn't have any circuits. I would try to keep my build to a 1:4 build, although dump just enough STR points in so that I can wield a massive 2-handed broadsword, if only because I think it's cool. If I ever learned the [False Circuits], I would be surprised to find out that my element is Water, and then realize that I can use that to make awesome explosions, but will never use it in battle because I'd drown in bloodlust.

Probably a character that makes a guild for front-liners without circuits, only to find out that I'm one of two or three. Teams up with other guilds simply because there's no choice if I want to survive. I'd want to the best, and then after seeing Shirou in action, try to imitate that with the broadsword, resulting in a crazy guy swinging randomly.
 

gwonbush

Well-Known Member
#21
If I want to be perfectly honest, I'd probably stay as far away from combat as I can until I get too bored staying safe in the Starting City. I'd try the circuit activation quest, to relieve boredom if nothing else.

If I actually start experimenting with magecraft because the pain is not enough of a deterrent from it, I'd probably find myself with the water element, with some natural talent in healing and directing the flow of energy (having actual experience with Reiki, though I mostly closed myself off years ago). Once I started to do some combat, there's a decent chance of me gravitating to a healer role. Though I might never get into combat, just listen to various NPC magi talk about the craft and teach me. I'd be interested in the topic and learning has always been my strong suit.

This is who I feel I am, not who I would wish to be if I found myself in this situation. A lot of this thread seems to be the second, rather than the first. Or maybe it feels like how they would play FRO the game, rather than live FRO the reality.

However, I do not fully know myself, never having been put into a high stress environment of this type. I am not fully sure how I would act, so I use lots of vague qualifiers to show such.
 
#22
I personaly would not try for invisibility at all
would hax abuse the hell out of reinforce
would probably be escorting crafting players around 2-4 floors while shiro and kirito are handling 5 floor boss
would not solo (one whould want someone to watch my back / break paralysis effect, two want someone I could outrun, would probably stand at gate and look to join a good looking outgoing party)
if stats weren't an issue I would wear gauntlet/bracers so I could block attacks with my arms


elements if doing a personality type = element thing. definitely wind and water maybe aether
if can assume main character than would have aether and would also have higher than average circuits

would not join fuumanin (I would prefer to be one of the fastest guys in the party not one of the slightly lower leveled one)
I just think I know just enough about lungs, muscle types, and how fatigue works to figure out an endurance reinforce spell and would see the need to do so as my lack of endurance (in real life I can walk 5 miles easily [great legs] but get winded easily while running not the best cardio) and this is something that bothers me in real life (just not enough to go to the gym) if solving a mental problem [invent endurance reinforce] could give me good endurence I would do it in a heartbeat

I really like johny blacks paralysis poison reinforce but don't know if I would have thought of it in game, unlike endurance reinforce. poison would be something I would have in my inventory but not something I became famous for


if I fell far behind the front lines and bands of orange player bandits (of a higher level than me) became a problem [titans hand recruiting heavily] I might retire and sit around drinking [electronic lemonade] all day, (I hate coffee)
 

Lufio

Well-Known Member
#23
daniel_gudman said:
1) Summary of Responses to Date

Lufio
Mid-line spear/range player
Potion/drug mixing
Wood element + growth magic
(Tuxedo Mask, only more feminine)
--'{@

Not wearing a Tux
When out in the wilderness
Is more feminine?


Tuxedo, top hat, and cane didn't seem appropriate equipment when gathering plants, so I decided to discard those parts of the Tuxedo Kamen costume. Did keep the haiku, rose, and mask portions of the persona. They're easy to hide (along with the rest of my body) with a cloak that provides camouflage (i.e. elf cloaks from Lord of the Rings). When out "working", I'm going for function rather than form. Less restriction on equipment choices would help in achieving the effects I'm looking for.

Though I might ham it up with the full costume when in a shop or business setting. Who knows; I might run across a fellow fan. That might mean I might have to also work on the one-handed sword skill if I want to authentically cosplay. But a guy's got to do, what a guy's got to do if he's committed.


daniel_gudman said:
2) Interesting Statistics + Remarks

Mid-Liner (5)
haperry
shout27
No Such Entity
Lufio
lethum

Mid-liner/crafter (5)
Deathwings
Mu
burningclaw
Prince Charon
cjonbloodletter
--'{@

I would craft as well.
An herbalist of some sort.
Sell food, drugs, and drink.


I want to be self-sufficient for everyday supplies. The one-time use items that is. That means the consumables for nutrition and health. That means the drugs I use for debuffs and buffs. So I would make my own. I'd gather the materials with a party early in the game; probably with someone who wanted materials from animals so less competition. I'd only harvest solo if I was over-leveled for an area.

But I can't do everything myself. That entails selling some of my wares to afford the things I want. Herbal concoctions, not found in shops or that doesn't taste or smell vile, would be a good product to peddle. Might target certain demographics by pushing them as health food or beauty products. Might as well make use of the full Tuxedo Kamen persona; though I'm concerned that Lizbeth might think I'm stealing her schtick. Because I totally am. :p
 

Mu-sensei

Well-Known Member
#24
daniel_gudman said:
Mu
Mid-liner/crafter
ninja (invisible) OR crafter (modular mystic codes)
trick weapons

There was a lot of enthusiasm for Mystic Codes, or to be more precise, more like, "Enchanted Items." Also a lot of people that are aiming at invisibility as a magecraft goal.

Nobody mentioned much about Bounded Fields or the [Minecraft] patch to build stuff, but that might be because they haven't really featured in the story much, so people just didn't think about it.
Ok, lets be a little more descriptive, since you have a shown interest:

Player name: Mu (wrote as in the greek letter µ if possible)

Appearance: Tall (186cm), with long and slightly wavy black hair in a ponytail with unkempt fuzzy beard. Black eyes. Baggy clothes with lots of pockets, slightly out of shape, but not fat. Almost always smiling and singing or whistling. Wears a pair of glasses. Looks a little clumsy.

Elements: Wind, Fire

Circuits: 12 or so. I hate pain, so they'd be mostly sub-utilized, and I'd favor formalcraft, and buy a few prepared gems for prana storage (my usual equipment would have a battery gem each)

Magical specialties: Formalcraft, Alchemy (mystic chemical agents, shaping of materials). Dabbles in protection and storage oriented Bounded fields.

Spells:
Reinforcement
Analysis
Repair (restore item's durability)
Wind Burst (think prana burst, but weaker and more focused)
Shock and Awe (Generate's high output electricity on his palms, prana intensive)
Meltdown (Redirects termal energy from ambient, to superheat stuff, especially metals, for little prana cost. Takes time, so think about a three to five Round delay DoT spell)

Sometimes uses magic through singing instead of normal chanting.

Equipment:

Mantle - Its a mobile bounded field that lowers the weight of the user and the items inside and provides basic invisibility (like a chameleon, change its patterns, texture and colors to blend in the environment to the point of near transparency).

Sword x2 - 87cm blade, 32 hilt, straight serrated blade, that works as a self-sharpening jigsaw. The blades also possess an alchemical effect that inflames in contact with blood, and even more with magically charged blood. Can assemble into a long spear, and the blades can slide through both hilt and sheath, like a box cutter (there has to be a portion of the blade inside the hilt though)

Pistols - a pair, one 12.5mm (Executor) one 5mm (Assassin), for stopping power and armor piercing respectively.

Rifle - Loads with shotgun-like shells of 20mm, but longer. Launches via a combination of blast rune array (air, not fire), and railgun-like bounded field. Ranges around 1km, but its not very precise. Uses a replaceable cadtridge that fits parallel with the barrel, It has a foldable stock and looks like a sheathed sword when closed, so it looks like the character carries three swords of the same size (125cm). Can also assemble with the sword in a spear, with the muzzle at the butt of the weapon. It can also shoot that way.

Armor - Standard knight light armor, dull dark gray, with silver or cooper colored engravings. Its actually a part of the clothing though, and the rope-like belt its tied at the back with long tips shaped like small kunai blades. The gauntlets have a pair of hidden blades each, one above and one under the palm, so when positioning the hands in a knife strike and activating them, they enclose the hand forming a single thick stake like blade from elbow to tip. Other than that, it only has basic defensive enchantments, and a minor one that prevents stuff from falling out of pockets by accident.

Trowing knives - Shaped from explosives, with a variable timed detonation array.

Grenades - Various types and effects. Smokescreen, Poison gas, tear gas, pure explosives, incendiary.

All of those were impressive looking, but actually very simple devices in execution, if you dis-consider ballistic calculations (that I'll sure buy form a third party actually skilled in math)

My masterpiece however, would be a Formalcraft-based engine that works as a computer based on ambient prana. My glasses (I happen to have above average vision FYI) would make use of it to predict trajectories of both enemy attacks and my own, especially shooting trajectories, emulating the laser-sight without my opponent's knowledge, zoom and fire from the waist skills. and I'll have a portable one, tablet like that'd use to make alchemical calculations to save time, as I'm a lazy bastard. It's stored at my back, under the back plate, when not in use.

Notable Tricks:

Three stage Iai - Draws the sword, then sheath on a lower trajectory, then smacks the sheath in the blade, making it slide to the other side of the hilt. The swings the now spear sliding his grip to the tip of the hilt to take advantage of the increased reach.

Spear cannon - After a failed swing of the spear (assembled with the rifle), when the butt of the spear is pointing at the enemy, shoots the guy without warning.

Suicide burst - Not a suicide move despite the name. Discards the cloak, and all the grenades in it, using a wind burst to get away at break neck speeds. Then detonate the bombs at the poor sob that warranted such a measure. Don't do it often though, as the cloak is a bitch to enchant.

Instant crafting arrays - Expend prana, but makes bullets or knives near instantly. Its a projection like magic, for non-magical, expendable stuff.

...

I hope it helps.
 

Mokofooja

Well-Known Member
#25
I'm active enough as a person to like to contribute effort to causes I think are important, so I probably would end up at least as a mid-liner. With enough grinding, I might move up to front-lining.

I'm not certain how high my pain tolerance is in absolute terms. I do know that when I got my front tooth knocked out two years ago while bicycling, I was able to get myself up and logically check myself out for further injuries. Whatever pain I was experiencing at the time was numbed out almost entirely, though my sister thinks I might have suffered from light shock at the time.

I tend to be relatively curious of things I've never heard of or seen before, but because I do have a practicing faith, I would find the whole thaumatergical aspect to be eccentric - perhaps I'd end up treating it like I treat occult information/knowledge. I'd also probably miss having any of my faith's scriptures with me for the entire duress of my stay.

As for playstyle, I have a self-admitted obsession with knights in general, and in particular, all the varied types and subtypes of knights of the palace - i.e. "clibinarii palantine;" or Paladins in modern media. When I played 3.5 edition D&D, my build was Asamir multiclassed in Paladin/Favoured Soul, mixing high strength and charisma to use Divine Might and increase the number of buff and heal spells available to me to abuse magic being OP in 3.5 ed. When I played 4 ed, I switched to charger-type paladins, fighters, cavaliers and slayers for continuous DPS, with supplemental skills and abilities focused to allow me to solo equal-leveled monsters in order to contribute to the party.

I really, really wanted to ride horses when I was younger, but I couldn't because my allergies to them were terrible. So with FRO, one of my first priorities would be getting a mount, and then indulging myself in a childhood thrill as I ride it everywhere.

I might make one or two friends during my stay in Aincrad, but not very many, so my play would mostly be freestyle partying, and maybe joining a guild that is either small enough for me to be comfortable in, or large enough for me to disappear into. In other words, I would be one of the players most likely to die or be at risk early in the game, and more likely to fall prey to opportunistic criminal activity once the safe zones disappear.

So put that all together for FRO?

Assuming worst case scenario where I get little to no magic capacity, or I can not endure the pain of magic and so don't do any:

My gameplay battle philosophy is that killing enemies quickly is good for everybody involved; an enemy that dies earlier is an enemy that has less time to inflict damage, and is therefore less likely to kill an ally or force my allies to expend time and effort defending themselves and undoing the damage dealt to them. Therefore, increasing my ability to cause mayhem is synonomous with increasing the survivability of myself and my allies.

I go for a strength focused build, with just enough agility to keep my accuracy and speed of attack decent. I can ignore my base movement for now, but I want every attack I make to hurt.

I outfit myself as a knight type, so heavy armor, as many defensive- or might-based accessories as possible, shield, one-handed sword or equivalent one-handed solo weapon, and a spear or lance. Once ranged weapons become available, I would look for javelins or other throwing weapons that would synergize well with high strength and any skills I might have acquired for my spear or lance. A boomerang shield is also perfectly acceptable.

I buy a mount, and in addition to sword skills and/or lance skills, I practice fighting from my mount and jousting/charging on it with a couched lance/spear. Also, a little bit of javelin throwing from horseback wouldn't hurt.

I play the wandering, questing knight errant. My primary combat contribution and solo combat style would be charging monsters as a striker to deal charge damage/lance damage, and then disengaging to charge again as a one-man cavalry cycle. When a battle opens up, I will try to expend my Nova skills early on, spamming spear thrusting skills like a giggolo spams pelvic thrusts in order to kill off an equal level monster, allowing my teammates to gang up on other monsters and fight secure in the fact that the fight is not as tough as it could be.

If I aggro a monster (very likely in group combat), I kite it away from the party and proceed to cavalry cycle it until it dies. In field boss or level boss fights, I either harrass the boss or it's adds with javelins and mount kiting, or dismount and fight on foot with sword and shield as another stereotypical tanker.

I would grind mostly on the mid levels, pop up to the front lines while free partying, and maybe make money outside of combat by operating a postal/package delivery service thanks to my horse rentals (I'd need someone to provide the contacts for me, though).

If I get lucky and my magic is somehow decent or obscenely good, or if I can withstand the pain of using magic, I'd probably upgrade my playstyle to add in any spammable magic-hybrid close combat attacks with my spear/lance/sword, enough defensive magic to protect my mount as well as myself, and enough mobility magic to keep myself faster than whatever I want to disengage from while solo grinding.

I could care less about elemental abilities beyond what is needed to make my physical weapons effective against tough enemies, but I would snatch up anything related to healing, buffing, fire, light (radiance from my POV), or magic resistance/spell nullification, as part of my palantine obsession. I doubt I'll ever learn any true magic damage inflicting spells like fireball or gandr in my career, but if I do become effective with them, I will probably end up ditching my javelins and practice using a lance, shield, or sword as part of my self-hypnotic aria to cast those spells instead.

My priority is my "burst" or "nova" damage (how tough a monster I can OHKO/combo to death in a short period of time), then my continous damage over time, then my mobility/my mount's mobility, and finally my defences/mount's defences. I wouldn't be bad as a second in command, but I doubt I would have the skills or opportunities to lead as commander in chief, so I can afford to focus more on running around or riding around doing stuff instead of surviving to the end in order to provide my support.

If I end up researching magic, I would focus on bounded fields to cover for my solo playstyle, mount-related magic to keep my mount relevant to stage difficulties, and to see if I can't create ad-hoc bounded fields in the middle of battle that would act like aura buffs. My pinnacle would be creating a FRO equivalent to Mass Regeneration, Death Ward, Haste, Mass Bless Weapon, Superior Spell Mantle, etc., but I would be equally satisfied with recreating a mere Sanctuary, Summon Mount, and/or Keen Edge.
 
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