Part 1: Update I - Featuring: An unrepentant mooch (and also no dragons)

Update I - Featuring: An unrepentant mooch (and also no dragons)

Music: A Tale of Men and Dragons (code:VFD Ver.)


Welcome to VFD! Leave your common sense at the door, you won't be needing it where we're going.



Having data from the demo gives you some small goodies.



It isn't much, but every little bit helps.



Don't be fooled, both of these difficulties are Easy Mode.

You'll learn why, in time.

Music: None


We start with a blurry image of some ruins, which is absolutely covered in flowers.

This stuff is Bloom, which dragons love to spread around wherever they go and does unpleasant things to an unprepared person.



Survey Member: Traces of the 1st True Dragon Iod have been discovered at Survey Point Delta 5.23.18. All survey members will henceforth transfer to Operation IOD to collect specimens. I repeat-

Before starting this, I was unaware that VFD uses a 3DS system font. Not having it causes Citra to use a worse fallback font. This has since been fixed on my end, but things will look a bit off for now.

Anyways, True Dragons. They're... a thing I'll have to get into later. Just keep in mind that True Dragons are the biggest, baddest type of Dragon around.



We then cut to whoever is watching this transmission.



Which consists of a man, a woman, and a... doll?



Yep, the doll is alive. It hasn't even been five minutes since we started the game and we have a shadowy group that has a sapient doll in its ranks.

Welcome to VFD.

I hope so. This investigation has cost us three subsidiaries, you know? However, we did get our hands on the first key. Well then, boss... what's our next move?



But hard to tell thanks to the fallback font, but the woman is finishing her sentance with a star.

Eeheehee... Don't worry. The bait is already set. That's why we've come to this island country.

Yes, thanks for that★

Be sure not to let ISDF find out about our activity here. We'll have to negotiate with them eventually, but I'd like to wait until we have our pawns ready.

Pawns, hm? I don't think finding them'll be as easy as you think it will.

We'll be fine★ I can sense the presence of adequate subjects in this country.

That sense is all we have to go on... I guess we don't have much choice but to follow it, though.



The woman steps forward.





And on that incredibly ominous note...



System Message: One who fights in the transcendent battle between human and dragon... Their name is...

Music: The Final Chronicle Begins


Character creation! Just one person, mind, you have to wait a bit to make your full party.



Hitting X changes between two models for each person. Character portaits are also completely unchained from the class they're designed for. Anyone can be used for any class.

There are also a bunch of blacked out characters to the left, but we'll be unlocking those as we go through the game.



This dapper fellow will be our protagonist for this update!



Each portrait also comes with three colors to pick from.



Up next is our character's class. Unlike 7th Dragon 1 or the 2020 games, VFD starts you off with just four classes, and unlocks more as the game goes on.

Our starting set consists of Samurai...



Agent...



God Hand...



And Duelist. One of these classes is not like the others.



After that is voice selection. VFD has a lot of choices on who you can pick.



And I do mean a lot.



You can even display their names to help you decide!



A quick naming later, and we're done!



Music: The Daily Grind


...it has been nearly 80 years since the last game. How the hell are there still ruining buildings!

And don't give me any of that 'oh the world almost got destroyed, cut them some slack,' BS, because you know what is all nice and pretty?



This fucking place! You know what they make?

Video games. They're sci-fi Nintendo and they have the fanciest building in the country.





The camera pans over to this '7th Encount' thing.





There's Temp now! You know, for the one update he gets to exist before the actual party gets made.



Jealous Man: Dammittt! I wanna play!

Excited Man: A ticket to this place is the most prized thing in Tokyo! No way you'd be lucky enough to get one!

Jealous Man: What did you just say, you bastard!?



And now we can finally run around!



The touch screen is used as our minimap while we're in the field.



The strangest fucking thing about VFD (techwise, mind you, oh my lord we haven't even started on anything else yet) is that there's this... hang(?) for the barest fraction of a second whenever you talk to an NPC. It isn't even as you talk to them either, if you talk to them from behind they have to turn to face you before the text box can come up.

As I'll be talking to NPCs hundreds of times over the course of the game, this will become... aggravating.





It ain't a JRPG without a bunch of people standing around for you to talk to.





Homeless Old Man: Although... the quality is impressive. It makes me sad to think about the past...

...It does feel a bit tasteless to make a video game about the time where humanity was almost driven to extinction, yes.



Pale Young Man: But as long as I'm here, I can forget about all that depressing stuff.

And it looks like the dragons have left their mark, even after all this time.



7th Encount is very clearly where we need to go, so let's not just yet.



Talkative Young Man: *sigh* The 2000s were such a prime era for anime... I'm so jealous of them...

The 2000s??? Is this dude just straight up watching century old stuff? This would be like if I called Steamboat Willie the peak of western animation.

Chelsea is also the canon name for 2020's F-Hacker, by the way, but no clue if there's any relation here.



We're also allowed into Nodens proper.







Just not, you know, much of it.





Job Seeker: D-Don't worry! I'm not trying to be sketchy or anything! I just want to be involved with 7th Encount... That's all.



Aaron: Don't worry, I'll do everything later. I can work very quickly when I need to.



Iori: What am I doing here? Why, I'm on my break, of course.







We're also not allowed to leave.



Alright, there's no one else to talk to. Time to go hit up the arcade.

Music: A Place to Come Home


...Is that the doll from before?











Those who wish to enter must show their tickets to proceed.

This doll is... weird.

By which I mean that it has shown up in a prior game already, namely:



The doll being held by 2020's F-Hacker. Why this doll, 80 years after 2020? Who decided to make it capable of speech?

...Shit, maybe Magical Chelsea really is F-Hacker.



Ah... I can't let you in without a ticket. Please come back once you get one~!

Temp doesn't have a ticket, so why did he come here to begin with? This clearly isn't the kind of place that allows walk-ins.







...Did Temp come here entirely to try and get someone else to let him tag along?

Like, I want to take a moment to highlight the differences in how the 7D1, 2020, and VFD protagonists got involved with things:

The 7D1 team went out to create their own adventurer team. Standard fantasy fare, sure, but at least it means everyone has proper combat training.

The 2020 team got their start going to an S-Class exam held by Murakumo, so they're already pretty badass.

In VFD? You're a loser who bums around the arcade all day hoping someone takes pity on you.



I was wondering... Do you think maybe you'd like to... join me? Would that be OK with you?



Both choices here give the same result.

Of course! *sigh* I'm so relieved...

Music: The Daily Grind


Oh damn this place is stylish.





And no wonder 7th Encount is so hard to get into, only 9 people can play at a time!



Oh! I forgot to introduce myself!





Temp is one of those 'never speaks out loud, but everyone acts like they do' silent protagonists.





Oh no, our new friend has the Anime Disease.

I'm sorry! I'm alright, I promise. This happens to me all the time!



Should we play the game together?

Really!? I'm glad you asked... Thanks, Temp!

~

Do you have a cold?

No... It's nothing. Thank you, though, Temp.







Bartender: I pray my encounters here at 7th Encount will be the former.

Wait a minute...


The bartender was a different person before! What possible reason made the devs do this!?



Envious Woman: I've heard rumors that the best players are chosen to gain access to the main office... *sigh* I wish they'd choose me...



Skilled Man: Go over to the receptionist and learn the basics of dragon hunting, then we can talk.



A cutscene starts when we walk up the stairs.

So this is 7th Encount... Oh, there's even a navigation mode... I think I can handle that.





Do you want to play?

M-Mhm! Am I that easy to read...? How embarrassing...

~

Are you hungry?

Oh yeah, I haven't eaten anything since— W-Wait, no! I was thinking about playing the game!

~~

How about you take care of the offense while I navigate?



Sounds like fun!

Really? Yay! I'll be the best navigator you've ever had!

~

Will you be OK?

Mhm, it doesn't look like I'll have to move! Ehehe, I'll be the best navigator you've ever had!

~~





Receptionist: 7th Encount can be played with a team of up to four: three party members, and one navigator.





Our prospective party members must have had tickets in order to get in, therefore they are actually cooler than our mooch of a protagonist.



Hyper Man: I wonder if there's a secret dungeon at the end! I'm totally gonna solve this mystery!

We can make a party in a minute, there are a few more people to talk to.



Lonely Girl: He's always trying to tell me what to do. I can think for myself, y'know!



And finally...



The receptionist gives a more in-depth explanation about our starting classes.

Receptionist: Samurais are agile standard units. They're not overly strong. but they have few weaknesses. What makes them distinct is their two fighting styles based on weapon: Sword, and Dual Blade. For the sword, Sheathed skills grant strength vs. single enemies, while Unsheathed damage all foes. On the other hand, the Dual Blade method has a greater number and wider range of available skills.

Picking up where Rogue/Fighter in 7D1 and Trickster in 7D2020 left off, Samurai is this game's weapon choice class. Both weapons do different things, but you can only use one of them at a time in a fight, so you have to choose between picking one and sticking to it or swapping between fights and having to split your resources. Past that, they're fairly unchanged compared to their 2020 counterparts.



Receptionist: Agents are the covert battlefield operatives who use double pistols as their weapon of choice. While Hiding, they can toy with enemies using long-range attacks, status ailments, or traps. Furthermore, they can Hack enemies and even force them to attack each other.

Agents can be best described as, 'what if you combined 2020's Hacker and Trickster's Gun skill tree.' They can hack enemies to shut them down, or put on the hurt by just shooting them a bunch. It isn't all guns and roses, however, as they lost Hacker's numerous buffs in the process.



Receptionist: God Hands truly live up to their names, using fists of steel to attack enemies and heal allies. They also inflict God Depth on enemies, letting them use even stronger attacks on those enemies. Furthermore, they can use chiropracty to restore LIFE, cure ailments, or raise stats.

As attackers, God Hands are just... Destroyers. They punch things, they counter things. But they've also picked up some hefty support options! Heals, cures, buffs, revives, a God Hand can do it all and follow up with a nice pot of tea.



Receptionist: Duelists fight by entrusting their fate to the card decks they carry. They employ great intelligence to determine the best strategy for any given hand of cards. Duelist attacks can range from laying traps to summoning powerful monsters. With proper strategy, their attacks can even overlap and obliterate enemies in one hit.

Duelists are... arguably one of the most interesting class designs in RPGs in general. Every turn they draw a Fire, Ice, or Lightning card, and can then expend a combination of those for various skills. The Duelist has summons, traps, field spells, Pot of Greed, even Exodia. The Duelist can do a lot, but the very nature of card games means they live or die based on what cards they pull and when.

Next time: Party creation!