Part 4: Episode 4: Hangin' around in the DOASys.
The votes are in! It looks like our Immercenary safari bus will be making an extended stay at the DOASys. We'll chat with the locals and see what we can learn from them. So, roll out your sleeping bags and make camp while I explain our new home in further detail.
As a reminder, here is our current location on the game map, the DOASys. We will be staying here for this update.
Here's the world map, again, just in case you're curious.
The DOASys has a large spire at the center. We asked David about "Perfect 1" earlier. David seems to think that the head honcho hangs out here at "The Spire". This might be true, but you'll find that "Perfect 1" never shows up in here like all of the other players do, so you do not have the ability to chat with him/her. We'll have to glean additional info out of the others.
Also, this spire is visible to your character no matter where you are on the map. When you first start the game, is quite simple to spot it and run straight for it.
It's quite simple to walk into the DOASys for safety. It's not actually a building, it's a zone. It's boundary is marked by a circle of these white gates. These are the same gates that were surrounding the world map and providing us with a quick transport to the DOASys. However, these gate structures seem to have some figures within them. Let's go check them out.
The gates all house immobile models of the three forms of Perfect 1 (I think this is explained in the manual?). Beefy guy, metallic robot dude, and the nekked babe.
Now, I know what you're thinking... if Perfect 1 is so perfect, why would the female form have such unwieldy, large, back-breaking breasts? Plotholes like these render Immercenary's lore paper-thin, unfortunately; it is perfectly natural to stare at those meaty yams and feel gnawing disappointment. I respect your philosophical acuity, so please stare as long as you feel is necessary for the coping process.
Anyway, whoever this Perfect 1 fella is, he sure likes to make his existence known without actually showing his face.
That is the entirety of the discernable features of the DOASys. There's no furniture, no rooms, no shop, and no cheese wheels to steal like in Skyrim. The only thing left to do is talk to the locals.
Interviewing the Locals
The DOASys always spawns two generic enemies, and one boss character. Medusa (the first boss) never spawns in the DOASys for some reason. I'll see if I can dig out the dialogue from the game's files later.
For now I'll fully interview two generic enemies and one boss character. I figure we can interview characters as we run into them.
Number Five - interviews - Goner 
We'll start by taking to the one character we've actually run into in the wild: Goner.
I'll be summarizing key points at the end of the post, so don't feel that you have to strain to retain everything.
(General)
Number Five: "What is: The Garden?"
Goner: "The core of Perfect."
Number Five: "Where is: The Garden?"
Goner: "The only place you can be inside of Perfect."
(Characters)
Number Five: "Who is: Balkan?"
Goner: "Balkan ranks 8th. He protects us from the silver one. He is our ruler."
Number Five: "Where is: Balkan?"
Goner: "The residential districts. He watches our homes at night."
(Items)
Number Five: "What is: Stunya?"
Goner: "It won't do much good against the silver one. I know; I've tried it."
Number Five: "Where is: Stunya?"
Goner: "There's probably some in the residential districts. That's where I found mine."
Number Five: "What is: Hex?"
Goner: "A bomb. You won't find many around here."
Number Five: "Where is: Hex?"
Goner: "Balkan says we shouldn't tell."
Number Five: "What is: DFA?"
Goner: "Things falling from the sky."
Number Five: "Where is: DFA?"
Goner: "I found it once in the west residential district. If you go there, watch out for the si"lver one.
Number Five: "What is: Chaff?"
Goner: "It's a defensive weapon that deflects incoming attacks."
Number Five: "Where is: Chaff?"
Goner: "My friend swears there is some downtown. But I've never seen it."
Number Five: "What is: Switchya?"
Goner: "It makes you switch places with whomever you hit."
Number Five: "Where is: Switchya?"
Goner: "I don't know."
As you can tell, the Goner is kinda spineless and not terribly sophisticated. They are cannon fodder in this game, and they'll be slaughtered in droves.
Hey, wait a minute, he looks familiar, doesn't he? Yes, I've seen him before...
Yeah, that's definitely him. I knew I'd seen him before. Yes, or buddy Goner is a simpleton. Representing the uneducated masses, the Goner is predictable, dim-witted, and votes cleanly along party lines.
All the goners agree that Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull was a good movie. They really are that stupid.
Number Five - interviews - Picasso 
Next, we interview Picasso
This is the second weakest enemy in the game. We'll be running into Picasso's frequently as well.
(General)
Number Five: "What is: The Garden?"
Picasso: "Our-our cage."
Number Five: "Where is: The Garden?"
Picasso: "Here."
(Items)
Number Five: "What is: Hex?"
Picasso: "An area effect-effect explosive."
Number Five: "Where is: Hex?"
Picasso: "In the north residential-residential district."
Number Five: "What is: Ashflay?"
Picasso: "Ashflay-Ashflay? I don't know."
Number Five: "Where is: Ashflay?"
Picasso: "I've never heard of this heard of this Ashflay."
Number Five: "What is: Chaff?"
Picasso: "A deflective-flective defense."
Number Five: "Where is: Chaff?"
Picasso: "I don't think you'll find any find any here."
Number Five: "What is: Boomerang?"
Picasso: "A sneak attack from behind from behind. If I find find one for you. Will you use i"t on Perfect-Perfect 1?
Number Five: "Where is: Boomerang?"
Picasso: "I don't know. I've been trying to trying to find one."
The designers made Picasso's dialogue have a record-skipping effect ocassionally; the dialog here is transcribed verbatim.
Number Five - interviews - Riberto 
Next up, I spot Riberto.
I'm quite happy to have run into Riberto. He's my favorite boss character to chat with, and maybe just because of the nifty character design. I also remember him as being pretty despondent, but I'm starting to learn that this isn't really so uncommon in this game.
(General)
Number Five: "What is: Perfect?"
Riberto: "Perfect is our world, our eden, our paradise lost."
Number Five: "Where is: Perfect?"
Riberto: "Where is the center of the universe?"
Number Five: "What is: The Garden?"
Riberto: "The Garden... is Perfect."
Number Five: "Where is: The Garden?"
Riberto: "Where is the center?"
(Characters)
Number Five: "Who is: Perfect 1?"
Riberto: "Who indeed, and I tell you this: Perfect 1 is above us all."
Number Five: "Where is: Perfect 1?"
Riberto: "Where is the source of our power? The sun that that brings us light. Go to the spire and "call out that name, and you shall have your answer.
(Items)
Number Five: "What is: StunYa?"
Riberto: "My greatest fear, and darkest nightmare."
Number Five: "Where is: StunYa?"
Riberto: "It grows everywhere. The StunYa that will one day slay me."
If I remember right, StunYa did nothing to Riberto. I'll be sure to test this out later.
Information Inventory
We've seen or heard about these bosses:
* Medusa (Rank 11) - I told you about her. She's right next door.
* Balkan (Rank 8) - The goners told us about him. Balkan allegedly protects them.
* Raven (Rank 2) - She was the one from the introduction video who sent the message into the past to us.
* Perfect 1 (Rank 1) - Pretty much everyone talks about Perfect 1.
We've seen or heard about these items:
* Hex: An explosive grenade.
* Boomerang: "An attack from behind". That's misleading, though. It's just a basic, non-explosive attack, weaker than Hex.
* Stunya: Stuns enemies, and apparently is Riberto's weakness!
* Ashflay: Gives temporary extra Agility (nobody told us this, but it's in our inventory)
* Annaballs: Gives temporary extra Offense (nobody told us this, but it's in our inventory)
* Chaff: A temporary defensive shield.
* DFA: "Things falling from the sky." according to Goner.
* Switchya: Will switch places with whomever you hit, Goner says.
By the way, I neglected to mention this, but the game started us with three items:
* Ashflay (temporary Agility)
* Annaballs (temporary Offense)
* Chaff (temporary defense shield)
I did not list item locations that we learned because I believe they're all bogus. I don't really even know what "downtown" or "residential district" refers to in this game. It may just refer to the city as a whole. The only nameable location I remember the characters mentioning is "The Power Plant", but last time I got advice to go there, it was wrong.
I'll need to demonstrate combat a bit before explaning items too much, so I intend to do that next update. This will force the story along as well.
Next time: We take the Immercenary safari bus out and demonstrate the basic game mechanics!