Because of her email-like message she sent me, I feel a little bit like I am going into a job interview or some type of appointment. How do they (fate-fan and wisemaster667) manage to type up emails in this game’s text chat? The format isn’t the same as an email, at all!

Okay here goes nothing, I’m calling Fate!

…

…

Fate-fan: “Heyo Amuleeet Pond!”

MC: “Hello again Fate!”

Fate-fan: “Can I come visit you?”

MC: “Wha-uh sure?”

Fate-fan: “Sweet!”

*Fate-fan suddenly appears in front of Amulet Pond*

She teleported!

Fate-fan: “Huh, I don’t see you! Where are you?”

MC: “Uhh I’m down here”

Fate-fan: “Oh! I didn’t think you’d have your character laying down on this roof. I was looking around and I couldn’t see you! I thought you might’ve acquired an invisibility potion and went invisible…like “poof!””

MC: “You can go invisible in this game?”

Fate-fan: “Yup, of course! Why are you surprised Amulet, Divine Mortality is full of wonders!”

MC: “Speaking of wonders, you said you wanted to talk but before that…aren’t you super excited right now?”

Fate-fan: “Damn right I am! I am not just excited…but joyful! Jolly me, hehe!”

MC: “Did something good happen today?”

Fate-fan: “Nope, but something good will happen today.”

MC: “What is it?”

Fate-fan: “I can’t say it right now, it’s a secret! Shhh… but actually you might find out about it soon. Actually, no more talking about this subject! It’s related to something special I want to tell you soon…buuut before that, how’s the game going?!”

MC: “The game is obviously fantastic. I’m loving it, it’s like my dream game. This has to have been a passion project, right? No way something like this could have been made without passion.”

Fate-fan: “Exactly right! This is a passion project for sure, maybe one of the most expensive video game passion projects ever! I’m sure you know this, but if we didn’t have passion and enough willpower (as individuals but as a team) to create something like this…then we wouldn’t even have had the money to pour into Divine Mortality.”

MC: “Like I said, the game is fantastic. The graphics are amazing. Maybe they aren’t the best-looking ones out there, but the world feels so immersive. How did you make a world this big and detailed?”

Fate-fan: “Hmm…that’s tough to answer. Of course, nobody did everything manually when creating the Overworld. Since I am a level designer, I did work on some parts of the Overworld, but there are some sequenced or separate levels in this game that need to be loaded into. I worked a bit on those too. Now that I think about it, I will say that when we are making areas in this game there is a surprising amount of manual labor done. But we delegate each section to work on, for example things like trees and rocks, to one person and then another person does something else like the rivers and ponds.”

MC: “Is it okay with you if I say something a bit negative about the game. Earlier you told me you wanted to know if I thought that there needs to be any areas of improvement…”

Fate-fan: “Of course! This is my part of the deal after all. Hit me!”

MC: “Don’t you think the Overworld is too big? I actually love how big it is, especially since it’s not simply open space but is filled with life and detail. But I am surprised that this game is so far doing well in terms of sales and player activity. I mean, yeah this is still early on, and you probably don’t deal with the marketing-sales-management side of the development team. Yet, I have a feeling many Players, not most just a lot of them, will leave Divine Mortality because it takes so long to get to anywhere unless you have mount transportation.”

Fate-fan: “Tell me about it! This is actually one of the big discussions we are having at work. Even though the game is still over, so many mechanics and features we placed are heavily influenced by the level design. So, as a level designer, we need to take many aspects of the game in great consideration. Specifically, things like what you mentioned, the physical area in the game world is super huge, even compared other similar games like MMORPGs. So, we took in the consideration that many players would be turned off by the whole “realistic” traveling parts of this game. But, from my point of view, we actually toned down the size and distance of the world a lot more than how it originally was planned to be like. But I’m confident that this part of the game won’t be a problem for most players. With great distance, the issue isn’t really that it takes around 3 hours to cross the whole Holy Lands region. The biggest issues with big worlds like this one arise when players are basically forced to go back and forth between multiple places around the world that take a long time to go to. I can’t say that won’t happen in some of the quests in this game or some of the activities that a player might do. But I know that the team has done a lot to decrease those scenarios, but more importantly, the gameplay isn’t reliant on those types of activities because we specifically developed it to be a dynamic game that is meant to be fun at almost every moment of gameplay. What do you think? Do you think we succeeded?”

MC: “Woah, I haven’t thought about those things before, but it does make sense to me. But I don’t know whether you guys succeeded or not. All I can say is that I haven’t ran into that problem yet and I don’t see it appearing. However, I do certainly think you guys succeeded in making this game fun or interesting at almost every moment. Whenever I’m walking to some place in this game, and it takes a while, even if it is a boring journey…the game is too damn stylish, pretty, melodic, interesting, interactive, and vast to get properly bored of!”

Fate-fan: “That’s great to hear!”

I’ve been talking to Fate-fan for 20 more minutes. We’ve been talking about various things. The other features in this game and some random topics. I keep thinking, “Fate-fan, should you really be telling me this stuff? What if it’s top secret?” but she’s been very nonchalant about it all. I guess she trusts me enough. Or it’s probably because the information that she is mentioning are merely fragments of important information which I won’t or can’t bother to try and piece them all together.

Fate-fan: “So, Amulet Pond!”

MC: “Yes?”

Fate-fan: “Besides the fact you haven’t dared to speak to me once since the first time we met several days ago, I have come here to tell you something interesting that I’d like you to do. Did you know the government of this place has its own quests set up that it would like non-governmental forces to accomplish?”

MC: “So these are official quests created by the duke of Malus-Seversi?”

Fate-fan: “Yes. However, the one I want to tell you about is technically set up by the Queen, but the duke is in charge of it. So, both the duke and the queen of this place are asking for this quest to be done.”

MC: “If there are two employers, doesn’t that mean there are two rewards?”

Fate-fan: “EXACTLY! It’s exciting, isn’t it?”

MC: “Wait-, so is this why you’re so excited right now? Come on, tell me what’s up!”

Fate-fan: “That’s right, I am very excited!! Fine I shall tell you. Right now, I basically want you to train and level up your character here at this magic academy. But…”

MC: “But…?”

Fate-fan: “You have a time limit, but I can’t tell you how long it is exactly since it depends on a lot of factors”

MC: “Wait, isn’t this like an official command from the goddess Fate?”

Fate-fan: “Oh yeah! But don’t take this as a command! This is more like a request. Anyways, this is similar to our deal we made back at the start, remember? If you want me to become your patron goddess, then you will need to do something ‘great’. And you might as well complete some requests from me along the way because it’ll probably help you out in the future!”

MC: “Sure, why not.”

Fate-fan: “So, let me finally explain to you why I am so excited and what you should do…”

Fate-fan explained to me that she wants me to defeat a tough enemy called “Ogre Captain”. According to her, the Duke of Malus-Seversi and the Queen of Orchard Hills wants people, such as mercenaries or in our case ‘adventurers’, to prevent the rise of a “evil country” called Coldpass. Coldpass is located in the High Peak Mountains. Specifically in a region of valleys which acts as a one of the few hospitable passageways between Orchard Hills in the west and the “Lunar Empire” in the east. Apparently, by defeating the Ogre Captain, that will prevent Coldpass from growing into an actual state. The basic reason to why the quest is targeting Coldpass is because it’s a place for “scum and villainy” according to Fate-fan. But, since the quest offers valuable rewards, 1,000 gold for each participant in the fight, Fate-fan has conveniently told me that other groups of Players are preparing to complete the quest before anyone else. So, I will obviously need to train my character Amulet Pond into someone powerful in order for me to compete and win.

But why was Fate-fan so excited, especially convincing me to try this quest out? The reason was surprisingly simple. She was informed today that she was now allowed to act/play as the Lesser Gods, a group of game masters who specialize in interacting with the community. And now she is obviously happy because she gets to use “her” character Fate officially and freely, which is an honor because Fate is closer to a “high god” in lore than a “lesser god”. But admittedly, isn’t this a risky thing to allow!? One of the very images and symbols of Divine Mortality, is now being played by Fate-fan…legally! She also told me that there are two reasons why she wants me to do this quest. The first reason being is that she would like to see me complete my main goal which I decided at the very beginning of the game, which is “to do something great” enough so that Fate-fan could recognize me as something lie the “champion of fate”. I still can’t believe she agreed to it, but if I do succeed…MUAHAHAHA… I would be super overpowered compared to the average player and my EGO will flourish!!! Speaking of egos, the second reason Fate-fan gave was that there are actually 2 other lesser gods who are targeting this quest. And of course, Fate-fan wants to “show who is boss” by having me be her wild card, so ultimately if things go according to plan… me and Fate-fan will profit big time from all of this!

I chatted with Fate-fan for around 30 minutes before she teleported away.

I instantly agreed to her proposal because now I have a new and clear objective to focus on. Before it was defending Goldflake Village from the Marauders and then asking guards from Susana to be sent over to the village. I think I succeeded in that(?).

This new objective is cool, but I won’t bother trying too hard to accomplish it. I am honest with myself, and I know that I’ll likely fail at it. By the time I finish training, some other Player is probably going to finish it. Or I simply won’t stand a chance against a tough enemy called an “Ogre Captain”. I’ve only fought Marauders and Skeletons before now, so an Ogre Captain sounds terrifying! So, I simply don’t want to rush myself in this. I don’t think it’s my type of playstyle either. I’d rather have fun “training” rather than focus on completing that quest.

The 1,000 gold coins reward does sound like a lot of money… but I’m fine for now… Okay maybe not, I just realized this robe I’ve been wearing since I started this game has now almost lost all its durability! Plus, it’s dirty…you have to wash clothes in this game too?!?