Part 29: Day 14 - Gameplay

Day 14: Gameplay

Music: neutral 1


This is honestly a choice between two relatively useless abilities. We won't need to pick up newbies until close to day 20, and Clerks don't matter. It's slightly suboptimal, I guess, but I went with the stat powerup.



Just some personnel shuffling, Safety honestly doesn't need more than one person yet so this'll probably get changed before too long.



Most importantly, Talow is now our first Agent decked out in full WAW gear. He's still a bit fragile compared to Mizu or Bishop, but he's fast and the extra armor will keep him from getting killed.





It doesn't matter… just do whatever.



Alright, brain trusts, today our job is to… Keep everyone alive? What?

Huh… sounds hard, but I'm sure we can do it!

So long as they keep laughing, they'll never die! HAHAHAHA!

Right. Well. On to our new Abnormality…



It looks like some kind of automatic… something machine!

Thanks, Twee. So, who's testing it?

As the ranking agent, it clearly falls to me. Wait here with a smile for me to return!

Good luck!

_{Wait… He outranks us..?}



The new tool is time-based, meaning it's either equipment or channel-type. Since it doesn't look like it moves, probably channel. Mr.Black is thrown in unceremoniously.



...no? And with such immediacy? Have I neglected to shower again? I don't believe so!



And now it's yes! How curious…

The device swaps back and forth between Yes and No every couple seconds, over time getting faster until it alternates between them every frame. Since it takes 3:20 to fully research everything, Mr.Black will be here for a while.



God, same? I usually just have some coffee.

They do have the good stuff, here. Say… where's Bishop?

He said he needed to take care of something and went to the manager's office. He should be back soon.

Orders from the top, everyone! Credentia, they need you in Training to deal with the Scarecrow. Tenebrais?

Radio duty?

Radio duty.

Sweet.



Hm-hm-hm, give a little smile~



Wow, Zeta21, that's super interesting! I still can't believe you MADE it!

It's a surprise, yeah.

Can you put in a good word for me with the bosses? They have you working with real Abnormalities, right? You have to have some pull!

It's just me for Laetitia and Rudolta today. Something about needing to catch up in a hurry... And not working with the freaky sleigh if I get a gift?

Is it true that you guys can split boulders with a single strike and get thrown through walls without taking damage?!

Dunno. Don't wanna find out.

Do you get to talk to Tenebrais? Are you friends? Could you introduce me?

Nnno? We're in different departments.

Aw. She's cool.

...yeah, I'm going on break.



Outside of waggling menacingly, this machine doesn't seem to do much… Oh well! I'll simply grin and bear it!



Let's all do our best today!

Oh hey, Zeta. Why are you here?

I'm on break. Somewhere far away from the Information Team.

Did you see Mizu, by chance?

Passed her in the hall. Something about a… 'super-mega-cutie?'

Ah.



She's going to see the Knight of Despair. That explains why we're at the first progress meter.

I... see. And the Manager's just okay with her doing whatever she likes?

It's easier if you just think of her as an Abnormality, or maybe a force of nature. She just… does what she does.



My goodness… if I weren't so chipper I'd be roundly annoyed by how long this was taking!



...nobody's home. Of course.

The others are out working, per my orders. The clerks… well, they just wander around.

So this was your plan, eh? Bring it on.

I don't have a plan.

What?

I know you're expecting something dramatic, but… That's basically it. I don't have any plans. Ever, really.

Then how is it that our death rate has been so much lower than under every other manager?

I mostly just let you guys do your own thing. Mizu seems to instantly get how to work with Abnormalities, and Talow somehow managed to catch things she missed. The two of them together are enough to handle the new ones. Sometimes we get bad situations like the Ordeals, but half of you seem to be natural fighters, so you mostly take care of them for me, too.

So you're telling me that you don't do anything? That this place could have been this safe all along?

The only things I really handle are handing out training regimens and picking which new Abnormality we get the next day. I can sort of… sense which ones to pick, but that's all.

So you're a figurehead. Why are you telling me this, though?

Let's call it a gesture of goodwill. I can't expect you to work your best if you're worried I'm planning to off you, right?

...You're a weird manager, sir.

I'll take that as a compliment. Now get back to work, fluffhead.



Can I come out now..?

Hold on a second, let me just pull up the work notes…



You Must Be Happy is actually really simple: Yes = stats go up, No = stats go down, and Agents blow up at the end of the day if their stats go up too much. With it being one frame between each word now, what we get is effectively random. The machine stops either when we click on it to stop using it, or when we pause-this prevents us from gaming the system.



So the question is, am I happy..?



What a silly question! I'm always grinning ear-to-ear!

Just look at the stats differences between these two shots. Mr.Black gained around 78 points between them all, meaning he's below the 200 cutoff.. YMBH cannot boost an Agent over a 100 base, and that's what's going to keep Mr.Black alive at the end of the day.



Welcome back! How do you feel?

…Powerful.

Good, because you're just in time.



Manager-

Already on it. Everyone, take care of business.





Bishop and Mizu are sent to deal with their departments' infestations. There are no survivors.



Talow is using a melee weapon, so he still has trouble. We pull him out right after this.



Safety handles their business quickly enough, and I realize I've forgotten to do anything about Information Team's Dawns.



That's three more funerals today already, Manager.

It's alright, I sent Mizu in to clear them out, see?

…...



Umm… Manager! One escaped, and it's in my department now!

Eat lead, Dawn!



Want some help?

Please.



I'm sending Mizu over now, she may get there before the clerks are-



…..Angela.

Yes, X?

Did those two clerks just kill an Ordeal, and finish off our energy refinement because of it?

That is what I just said, Manager.

Buy those clerks a bear-brand beer. They've earned it. Also a day off.

...Very well, X.

Man, a clerk was useful today? Didn't see that coming at all...



...ah. Thank you Hod. I was almost feeling like something had changed.

Anytime, Manager!



That plan? Their vacation plans are nice, but there's not a lot of parts of the city worth seeing.

There's a sandwich shop I wanted to check out, actually. I've heard it's really good.

It's not in district 23, is it?

Oh, goodness no. I couldn't stomach that.

All departments, prepare for a Green Noon. I repeat: We have a Green Noon incoming, please send all low-Fortitude agents to their designated safe areas.



Hey, boss, where's our safe area at?

zzzz…

Ugh… He's asleep at a time like this?!

That's incredible in its own way!

Focus, kid. We're in trouble.

Worry not! There's not a robot anywhere near-



Your comedic timing is perfect! Come fellows, to arms!

Four departments is around where things start getting a little more complicated when it comes to 1-per-department ordeals like Green Noon. In addition to the fight over here, there are three other robots roaming around.



One engages in Training, and now we see the major problem: These are on opposite sides of the screen. My options are either pausing and moving manually from one side to the other, or pulling back and watching both at once, which loses out on visual information. I can't even look at both sides' HP efficiently, since being pulled back makes the bars small, and we can only view the status of one team at a time in the work menu.

In these situations, there are two main options: Pause a lot, or focus on whichever fight is the most dangerous. Training will be fine, so I keep an eye on Safety.



They win, but Mr.Blond gets pretty torn up.



Just go with the flow… HYAH!

Woah! It's the super-cutie's signature super stabbing strike shot!

Not bad, Talow!

That huge stream of White 2's is courtesy of the special attack of Talow's E.G.O weapon. Some weapons have secondary attack types, which can deal bonus damage or have other effects. This one is simple: it's a bunch of extra stabs that deal low damage.



I had Talow go deal with the last Noon by himself so I could get a good shot of it. Don't worry, he runs away right after this. The Safety team comes back in, and they're easily able to mop up a half health Green Noon.



Green Noons are the terror of earlygame, but this facility is the terror of Green Noons.



By studying the construction of this robot, I might be able to find a better way to enact that base theory in fighting them.

I love it! A million points for enthusiasm!

zzz-hnk?! Hey. Keep it down out there…

_{Ah! Yes, sir!}

Manager, there is still plenty of time left in the day. Perhaps you would like to pursue the newest mission?

...Not yet. Not without a plan. That thing… It's not natural.

Manager?



Just… look at it, Angela. Bobbing. Waiting. Plotting. Last time, I was careless-and it killed Ishmael. The one blemish on my record.

Aside from all the clerks.

Clerks don't count.

Perhaps if we had the entire facility act en masse?



Look at it, Angela. It can stretch that far as just a warmup. Who knows how wide those jaws really go? They might even be able to reach… here.

...This level of worry is incongruous with your previous tendencies, Manager.

Dang. Can't fool you, huh? Still, we do need a plan, and today I got blindsided. Couldn't think of one. I'm going to take a night to think it over and see about getting this done tomorrow. Who knows, maybe we'll get an Abnormality that can breach without being such a problem.

Manager, does that mean..?

Yep. We're turning in early.



Okay, pack it in everyone! We're getting a day off early.

You notice anything off about the clerks today, Bishop?

No… I've had my mind elsewhere. Something going on?

They keep staring and whispering… I think they're planning something.

...Huh. Weird. I'll keep an eye out.

Yeah.



zzz… huh?! Over already? 'Kay.

The main thing I want to bring attention to today is actually Medea's stats:



Her Prudence has fallen a level, from 5 to 4. What this means is that her actual Prudence stat is below the threshold from 4 to 5 (85), but her E.G.O. gifts/title are enough to push her over the edge. Agents can't actually lose stats except from something like Mirror, so there's no need to worry whenever we see this.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


O-01-12: She was so talkative before, yet in the end, loneliness was the only listener
D-02-107: Dude… your "little angel" is gnawing on our colleague's finger.
F-05-52: Somewhere in the distance, you can hear seagulls.

Oh boy! That Abnormality in the center is special! Long ago when the game was being created, Project Moon put out a request for funding using Tumblbug. Several backers put in for a reward that would let them create an Abnormality for the game, and they were put into the game using the D- prefix and these special circular isolation rooms on the Abnormality selection screen. These can be turned off in the options menu, but there's not any real reason to do so since they're pretty interesting and one of them is a firm pick for the top five best tools in the game.

Anyways, this selection… is two TETHs and a ZAYIN. I think we've seen -52 before, but if not: ZAYIN with a chance to just randomly kill Agents (in a hilarious way, admittedly). It gives a lot of suits, but we're sort of past the point where ZAYIN gear would be useful. -12 is more interesting: She's a TETH which serves as a good Prudence and okay Attachment trainer, and the first source we've seen of a White damage gun. She's a fine pick for facilities since she's so low-risk, but we have a glut of Prudence and Attachment thanks to a good girl who has done nothing wrong in her life and Scarecrow/Rudolta, so she's a skip for our facility as it is now.



That leaves -107, which I am going to take without providing any additional context.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: We meet Netzach, and learn of a pressing hygiene issue.

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You Must Be Happy