=============================================================================== ___ _ __ __ ___ ___ _ _ _ _____ ___ _ _ ___ ___ / __| /_\ | \/ | __| / __| || | /_\_ _| / __| || |/ _ \| _ \ | (_ | / _ \ | |\/| | _| | (__| __ |/ _ \| | \__ \ __ | (_) | _/ \___|/_/ \_\|_| |_|___| \___|_||_/_/ \_\_| |___/_||_|\___/|_| =============================================================================== GAME CHAT SHOP - Complete Walkthrough and FAQ =============================================================================== Platform: Browser (Multi-Window) Genre: MMORPG / Simulation / ??? Version: 1.5 Author: xXNetopia_LegendXx Last Update: August 16, 2009 Contact: Do NOT email me about the ending. I know. . * . . * . * /|\ * /|\ . /|||\ . . /|||\ . * /||||||\ * /||||||\ * ||| ||| ||| ||| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ VERSION HISTORY: v0.1 (07/22) - Started writing. Forest only. 45 lines. I thought this would be a quick guide. I was wrong about this and many other things. v0.2 (07/23) - Added Sea section. Fixed controls (heal is key 3 not key 2. I had it backwards for my first 6 runs. Embarassing.) Added Overview. v0.3 (07/25) - Added Chat Strategy. Realized chat is more important than the game. Rewrote Introduction. v0.4 (07/26) - Tried to add Field section. Could not reach the Field consistently. Removed section. Left a note that says "FIELD SECTION COMING SOON" which is a promise I should not have made. v0.5 (07/27) - Added Shop Events. There are so many. I have a second notepad window open just for notes. My desktop is filling up with .txt files. v0.6 (07/27) - Same day update. Found the TV plays music. Added note about it. Cannot document songs because I am also fighting mobs. Need more hands. v0.7 (07/28) - pH1l1pp1n3_g4m3r published his guide. It is wrong about almost everything. I am motivated now. Added Combat Guide and Before You Begin section. v1.0 (07/29) - First "complete" version. Forest, Sea sections done. Submitted to GameFAQs. Pending review. My hands smell like the cafe keyboard. v1.1 (08/01) - Added Field section. Fixed typos (thank you kuya_mark). Added Combat Guide detail about heal cooldown. (Is there a cooldown? I still do not know. I added it anyway. Guide writers do this.) v1.2 (08/03) - Removed Field section. Information was wrong. I described a structure that I now think was a visual glitch from low sanity. pH1l1pp1n3_g4m3r screenshotted my wrong Field section and posted it on the forum. I will not forgive him for this. v1.3 (08/07) - Re-added Field section with corrections. Added Secrets. Added FAQ. My mom says I need to stop playing this game. She does not understand. Also added TV Playlist section, documented 20 songs across 30+ runs. My notes folder has 14 .txt files in it now. I should organize them. v1.3.1 (08/08) - Fixed typo in Section [9.0]. Added 3 more events. pH1l1pp1n3_g4m3r emailed me to say my guide is "too long." A guide cannot be too long. That is the point of a guide. v1.3.2 (08/10) - kuya_mark emailed again. Still will not explain what he means by [nothing]. I asked him five different ways. He replied "you have to see it yourself." I am trying kuya_mark. I am trying. v1.4 (08/14) - Added kuya_mark's email about the structure. Updated FAQ. Added Final Thoughts section. I did not plan to write a Final Thoughts section. It just happened. I was typing the FAQ and then I was typing about Ragnarok and Netopia and I could not stop. (See also my Ragnarok Online Merchant Class FAQ v3.2, also on GameFAQs, if it is still up.) v1.4.1 (08/14) - Deleted half of Final Thoughts. Put it back. Deleted it again. Put it back again. It stays. I am not deleting it a third time. v1.4.2 (08/15) - Someone on the forum said my guide "made them feel things." I do not know how to respond to this. I am a walkthrough writer not a therapist. Updated Special Thanks. v1.5 (08/16) - I LIED. I am not done. Found new events that use the ACTUAL BROWSER. Webcam. Notifications. File downloads. The game is inside the computer now. Also found new end conditions (sanity zero and energy zero both end the game differently). Updated Sections [6.0], [11.0], [14.0]. v1.5.1 (08/16) - Same day. Added more chat messages I noticed. The bots in the chat are trying to sell casino apps even on the last day of the server v1.5.2 (08/16) - Third update today. I found out there are people who DM you. Different people each run. One of them mentioned Ragnarok. One of them mentioned a guide writer. I think someone in this game is writing about me. I do not know how to feel about this. This is the final version. I am not updating this again. (I am probably updating this again.) =============================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS =============================================================================== [1.0] ...... Introduction [2.0] ...... Game Overview [3.0] ...... Before You Begin (IMPORTANT) [4.0] ...... Controls [5.0] ...... The Three Windows [5.1] .... GAME Window [5.2] .... CHAT Window [5.3] .... SHOP Window [6.0] ...... Stats and How They Work [7.0] ...... Walkthrough - The Intro [8.0] ...... Walkthrough - The Game [8.1] .... The Forest [8.2] .... The Sea [8.3] .... The Field [9.0] ...... Combat Guide [10.0] ..... Chat Strategy [11.0] ..... Shop Events and Disruptions [12.0] ..... Tips for Winning [13.0] ..... Secrets [14.0] ..... Frequently Asked Questions [15.0] ..... Final Thoughts (Personal) [16.0] ..... Credits / Legal Use Ctrl+F and search the bracketed number to jump to that section. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ YOU HAVE 15 MINUTES. GOOD ♥ ♥ LUCK. YOU WILL NEED IT. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ =============================================================================== [1.0] INTRODUCTION =============================================================================== Hey everyone. xXNetopia_LegendXx here. I have been playing GAME CHAT SHOP for about three weeks now I have completed every area, fought every mob, read every chat message, and survived every single shop disruption. I am writing this guide becuase there is NO good information out there about how to actually play this game properly, every forum post I see is people complaining that "the game is broken" or "you can't win" or "the timer ran out." Trust me I have been there. But if you follow this guide you WILL have the best possible experience and you WILL see evrything the game has to offer. I think. NOTE: There is another guide floating around by someone called "pH1l1pp1n3_g4m3r" that claims to be a "100% completion guide." It is not. He did not even mention the SHOP window. I am not going to start drama but if you are reading his guide instead of mine you are wasting your time. No offense to him. Full offense to him actually. I am updating this guide as I discover new things. If you have info I don't, you know where to find me. (Actually you don't. The cafe closed.) =============================================================================== [2.0] GAME OVERVIEW =============================================================================== GAME CHAT SHOP takes place on the last day of an MMORPG before its servers shut down forever. You are sitting in an internet cafe. You paid 20 pesos for your time. You are logged in. The experience runs across THREE browser windows simultaneously: - GAME: The actual RPG. Move, fight mobs, collect items. - CHAT: The chatroom. Other players logging in and out. Stories. - SHOP: The internet cafe. Events, disruptions, time remaining. All three windows share a single timer. When it runs out, it runs out across eveything. There is no pause. There is no save. There is no continue. The total session is approximately 15 minutes but it will feel like both 3 hours and 30 seconds, I cannot explain this you will understand when you play. _________________________ | ___________________ | | | | | | | GAME CHAT SHOP | | | | [ Click to | | | | begin. ] | | | |___________________| | |_________________________| ____[_________]____ | | \_______________ / =============================================================================== [3.0] BEFORE YOU BEGIN (IMPORTANT) =============================================================================== READ THIS BEFORE YOU START THE GAME. 1. You need a browser that supports multiple popup windows. Turn off your popup blocker or the game literally will not work. I spent two hours thinking the game was a single black screen. It was not. 2. DO NOT close any of the three windows during gameplay. If you close one, it is gone. I have not found a way to reopne them. 3. The game will try to distract you. Ads will appear. Windows will shake. Messages will pop up. THIS IS INTENTIONAL. Do not panic. 4. I recommend having all three windows visible at the same time if your monitor supports it. If you are on a small screen, you will need to alt-tab. This is also part of the game. The alt-tabbing is the game. 5. Pick a good name when prompted. The chat users will address you by it. My first playthrough I entered "asdf" and then had to watch NPCs say heartfelt goodbyes to "asdf." Don't be like me. =============================================================================== [4.0] CONTROLS =============================================================================== GAME WINDOW: W / A / S / D .... Move (Up / Left / Down / Right) X ................ Attack / Interact 1 / 2 / 3 ....... Switch equipment (Sword / Shield / Heal) CHAT WINDOW: Type in the input box and press Enter to send messages. Click channel tabs to switch between: Forest, All, Sea, Town, Field SHOP WINDOW: Click buttons when events appear. Sometimes there are choices. Sometimes there are not. You cannot pause. You cannot save. The controls are simple because the hard part is not the controls. .--------. .--------. .--------. | GAME | | CHAT | | SHOP | | ____ | | > hi | | [====] | | | | | | > bye | | 14:59 | | | /\ | | | > ... | | $$$$$ | | |/ \| | | > :( | | [ad] | '--------' '--------' '--------' | | | '-------.------'-------.------' | | YOU ARE HERE. TIME IS HERE. (running out) =============================================================================== [5.0] THE THREE WINDOWS =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ___ _ __ __ ___ / __| /_\ | \/ | __| | (_ | / _ \ | |\/| | _| \___|/_/ \_\|_| |_|___| [5.1] GAME Window ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the RPG portion. Your character spawns in a forest area rendered in what I can only describe as "ASCII art having a fever dream." You have hearts for HP. You have a sword, a shield, and a heal. Mobs will appear and you must fight them or avoid them. The game area changes as you progress: FOREST -> SEA -> FIELD Each area has its own mobs, its own background, and its own feeilng of dread that I cannot adequately describe in a .txt file. Your health is displayed as hearts. When you lose all your hearts, you... well, see Section [14.0] FAQ. IMPORTANT: The game window WILL freeze periodically due to "lag" events triggered by the SHOP window. This is not your computer. This is the game simualting the experience of playing on a terrible internet cafe machine. Do not alt+F4. Just wait. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ___ _ _ _ _____ / __| || | /_\_ _| | (__| __ |/ _ \| | \___|_||_/_/ \_\_| [5.2] CHAT Window ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The chat window simulates an in-game chatroom where other "players" are logging in and out during the server's final hours. You will see: - System messages (server announcements, login/logout notices) - Player messages (NPCs chatting, sharing memories, saying goodbye) - Direct messages (addressed to you specifically) - Glitched messages (more on this in Section [6.0]) The chat follows a scripted narative that unfolds over the full duration of the session. Early on, the chat is lively. People are joking, reminiscing, planning one last raid. As time goes on, people start logging off. The messages get quieter. Some get strange. PRO TIP: Pay attention to the chat. I know it is tempting to focus only on the GAME window but the chat contains the actual story. The first time I played I ignored chat entirely and afterwards felt like I had missed something enormous. I was correct. You can type messages yourself but no one will respond to them directly. They are all having thier own conversations. This is accurate to my real internet cafe experiences in a way that I find personally upsetting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ___ _ _ ___ ___ / __| || |/ _ \| _ \ \__ \ __ | (_) | _/ |___/_||_|\___/|_| [5.3] SHOP Window ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The SHOP window represents the physical space of the internet cafe. It shows: - Your remaining time (progress bar) - Events and disruptions - Stats: Sanity, Energy, Ambience - Decision prompts Events appear periodicaly and often require you to make choices. Someone might tap you on the shoulder. An ad might cover your screen. The cafe owner might say something. A brownout might flicker the lights. Some events affect the GAME and CHAT windows directly. A "lag spike" event in SHOP will freeze your game. A "power fluctuation" might glitch the chat. The three windows are connected through the SHOP like organs connected through a nervous system that is slowly dying. I am sorry for that metaphor. I have been writing this for six hours. =============================================================================== [6.0] STATS AND HOW THEY WORK =============================================================================== There are three hidden stats that govern your experience: SANITY - Starts at 100 and decreases over time and through events. As sanity drops, chat messages begin to glitch and corrupt. Visual effects intensify. Events become more frequent and more disturbing. Thresholds I have identified: 80 - Mild glitches begin. Occasional corrupted text. 60 - Events accelerate. Chat gets stranger. 45 - Things start overlapping. Windows may shake. 30 - I do not want to talk about it. 15 - [REDACTED] ENERGY - Starts at 100 like sanity. Decreases continuously. I am 90% sure this controls your movement speed in the GAME window, I have tested this across multiple runs and when energy is low your character defintiely moves slower. (It also might affect typing speed in chat but that could just be my fingers getting tired.) AMBIENCE - The "mood" of the cafe. Starts at a default state and shifts based on events. High ambience means the cafe feels alive: people talking, machines humming, radio playing. Low ambience means silence, flickering lights, and the feelling that you are the last person on earth. IMPORTANT NOTE: All three stats only go DOWN. I have tried every combination of event choices and I cannot find a way to raise any stat permanently. If you find one, please tell me. Please. =============================================================================== [7.0] WALKTHROUGH - THE INTRO =============================================================================== When you first load the game, you will see a dark screen. This is the intro sequence. It has several phases: PHASE 1: CLICK Click anywhere on the screen. A sound will play. You are now "entering" the cafe. PHASE 2: THE NOTE You will see a note or sign. Read it. It sets the scene. You are in a computer cafe. It is the last day. PHASE 3: PAY You pay 20 pesos. I also tried clicking around the payment screen to see if there was a skip. There is not. You pay. Like I payed. Like we all payed. PHASE 4: TAKE YOUR SEAT You sit down at one of the machines. The monitor is dirty. There are fingerprints on the screen. The chair is uncomfortable. None of this is stated explicitly but you will feel it. PHASE 5: LOG ON Enter your character name. The game boots up. Three windows open. (If only two windows open, check your popup blocker. See Section [3.0].) From this point the TIMER IS RUNNING!! NO PAUSE NO SAVE NO CONTINUE!! ,., ,., ,., / \ / \ / \ / ^ . \ / ^ \ / .^. \ / /|\ \/ /|\ \/ /|\ \ / / | \ / | \ / | \ \ | | | ~~~~~|~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~ FOREST SEA FIELD → → → ??? =============================================================================== ___ _ __ __ ___ / __| /_\ | \/ | __| | (_ | / _ \ | |\/| | _| \___|/_/ \_\|_| |_|___| [8.0] WALKTHROUGH - THE GAME =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [8.1] The Forest ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You begin in the Forest. The background is generated procedurally so your forest will not look exactly like mine, but the layout is similar: trees rendered in ASCII, clearings where mobs spawn, and paths that lead deepr in. Mobs in the Forest are the easiest in the game. Use your sword (key 1) and press X to attack. Keep moving between attacks to avoid takign damage. The shield (key 2) can block but I find it is usually faster to just dodge. (The guy next to me at the cafe keeps looking at my screen every time I die. I have started angling my monitor.) ITEMS: You may find items dropped by mobs. I have found health pickups (restore hearts) and... other things that I'm not sure what they do. If you figure out what the small glowing orbs are for, let me know. TO PROGRESS: You need to kill exactly 12 mobs in the Forest to unlock the path to the Sea. I have counted this across multiple runs and it is always 12. (UPDATE: kuya_mark says it is 10. He is wrong. It is 12. I am certain of this.) WARNING: Do not spend too long here. The timer is shared across ALL windows. Every minute in the forest is a minute less everywhere else. TIP: While exploring the Forest, check the CHAT window occasionally. Forest-channel messages appear here and some of them contain what I believe are hints. Or poetry. It's hard to tell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [8.2] The Sea ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sea is the second area and it is... different. The background shifts to a blue-green ocean pattern. Movment feels different here, more floaty. I don't know if the controls actually change or if it's a visual illusion. Either way, watch your positioning. Mobs in the Sea are harder. They move in less predictable patterns. I recommend saving your heal (key 3) for emergencies hear since mobs hit harder and you will need the hearts. The Sea is also when the SHOP events start intensifying. You will get disruptions more frequently now. An ad might cover half your game screen. The cafe owner might try to talk to you. Stay calm. Deal with the events in SHOP, then alt-tab back to GAME. I lost my best run in the Sea because a lag spike event froze my character right next to a mob and I took three hits. There is no counter-play to this. It is just somthing that happens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [8.3] The Field ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Field is one of the final areas. If you have reached the Field, congratulations. Or condolences. I am not sure which is appropriate. The Field is open and sparse. Fewer trees, fewer places to hide. Mobs here are the stongest. Your sanity is probably below 45 by now, which means the visual glitches are intense. Chat messages may be unreadable. The SHOP events are coming fast. I want to be honest with you. I have reached the Field four times. Each time, the timer ran out before I could find what I was looking for. I believe there is something at the far end of the Field. I have seen the edge of it. A shape. A structure. Something. I have not reached it. If you reach it, PLEASE write in and tell me what it is. I am not going to add speculation to a guide. That is not what guides are for. UPDATE 08/14: A reader named "kuya_mark" emailed me claiming he reached the structure and said it was [nothing]. I do not know what he means by that. He did not respond to my follow-up. ⚔️ COMBAT REFERENCE CARD ⚔️ [1] SWORD --|--> fast, close [2] SHIELD =[]= block, slow [3] HEAL ~♥~ restore, cooldown(?) [X] or CLICK MOB = attack [WASD] = move (never stop moving) =============================================================================== ___ _ __ __ ___ / __| /_\ | \/ | __| | (_ | / _ \ | |\/| | _| \___|/_/ \_\|_| |_|___| [9.0] COMBAT GUIDE =============================================================================== Combat is simple but timing matters: SWORD (Key 1): - Close range, fast, decent damage - Best against slow mobs - Press X rapidly for combo hits (I am 100% sure this works, you get a 3-hit combo if you press X three times fast, the damage is definitely higher) SHIELD (Key 2): - Blocks incoming damage when active - Cannot attack while blockign - Useful in emergencies but slows you down HEAL (Key 3): - Restores hearts - Has a cooldown (I think?? it does not always work when I press it. Either there is a cooldown or the A key on this machine is interfering somehow. The A key sticks.) - SAVE THIS FOR EMERGENCIES. Do not waste heals on chip damage. You will need them in the Sea and the Field. - I have not been able to determine if the heal amount is fixed or scales with something. It seems to heal less as the game goes on but that might be my imagination. Or the sanity. GENERAL COMBAT TIPS: - Always be moving. Standing still is death. (This is also good life advice but I am not qualified to give life advice, I am writing a walkthrough from an internet cafe at 11pm on a Tuesday) - Heart pickups exist but are rare. Treat every heart as precoius. - If a lag spike hits mid-combat, pray. I am not joking. There is no other strategy. - Mobs respawn. You cannot "clear" an area. Do not try. I watsed an entire run trying to clear the forset. The forest does not clear. The forest does not end. BOSS FIGHTS: I have not encountered a boss. I believe there may be one in the Field but I have not confirmed this. If the structure at the end of the Field contains a boss, my recommended strategy is: get there first, then worry about strategy. Getting there is the hard part. =============================================================================== ___ _ _ _ _____ / __| || | /_\_ _| | (__| __ |/ _ \| | \___|_||_/_/ \_\_| [10.0] CHAT STRATEGY =============================================================================== "Strategy" is a strong word for what amounts to "reading a chatroom while everything falls apart," but here are my recommendations: 1. READ EVERYTHING. The chat messages are the heart of this game. They tell the stories of the other players: who they were in the game, who they are outside it, why they are here on the last day. 2. SWITCH CHANNELS. The chat has multiple channels: - All (general) - Forest - Sea - Town - Field Each channel has different converstaions. The channel that matches your current GAME area will have the most relevant messages, but ALL channels have content worth reading. 3. WATCH FOR DIRECT MESSAGES. Occasionally an NPC will message you directly. These are rare and important. Do not miss them because you were too busy fighting a mob. 4. AS SANITY DROPS, messages start corrupting. Letters swap. Words become garbled. Entire messages become strings of symbols. This is NOT a bug. This is the game telling you something about the state of things. 5. PEOPLE WILL LOG OFF. And they will not come back. The chat will get quieter and quieter. Toward the end, you may be the only one left. This is fine. This is how it goes. HIDDEN DIALOGUE: I believe there are certain chat messages that only trigger if you type specific things in the chat. I have tried typing common MMORPG phrases ("gg," "LFG," "where is the boss," "I'll miss you," "salamat sa lahat") but have not found a consistant trigger. Someone on a forum claimed that typing "thank you" triggers a unique response but I could not replicate it. Take this with a grain of salt. pH1l1pp1n3_g4m3r claims in HIS guide that you can "unlock a secret channel" by typing a specific phrase. He does not say what the phrase is. Because he does not know. Becuase he made it up. Moving on. .--. .--. .--. .--. ( AD ) ( LAG) (CALL) ( !? ) `--' `--' `--' `--' | | | | v v v v POPUP FREEZE RING CHAOS | | | | '--------+--------+--------' | YOU, TRYING TO PLAY A GAME IN A CAFE WHILE THE WORLD ENDS =============================================================================== ___ _ _ ___ ___ / __| || |/ _ \| _ \ \__ \ __ | (_) | _/ |___/_||_|\___/|_| [11.0] SHOP EVENTS AND DISRUPTIONS =============================================================================== The SHOP window generates events throughout the session. These events are the game's way of reminding you that you are not just a character in an MMORPG—you are a person, in a cafe, in a country, on a planet, and things are happening around you whether you like it or not. COMMON EVENTS: ADS Popup advertisments appear on screen. They look like real early- 2000s internet ads. Flashing GIFs. Bold text. You cannot close them immediately. Wait for them to time out or look for a close button. LAG SPIKES Your GAME window freezes for a few seconds. There is nothing you can do. If you are in combat, you may take damage. See Section [9.0] for my "prayer" strategy. POWER FLUCTUATIONS Lights flicker. Screens glitch. Sometimes affects all three windows simultaneously. Very disorienting. THE CAFE OWNER A character appears in the SHOP window. He may say something to you. Sometimes you are given a choice of how to respond. I have not found that the choices matter in any measurable way, but they FEEL like they matter, which might be the point. He reminds me of the owner at the Netopia where I used to play. Same energy. Same way of hovering. I do not know if this is intentional or if all cafe owners are the same person. PEOPLE APPEARING Other cafe patrons. Someone looking over your shoulder. Someone asking how much time you have left. A kid wanting to use your machine next. The physical world intruding on the digital one. THE TV A television in the cafe occasionally plays content. I believe this is a separate popup window. Do not close it. DISRUPTION FREQUENCY: Early game: Rare. Maybe one every couple minutes. Mid game: Frequent. Multiple per minute. Late game: Constant. You will not have time to process one before the next arrives. The disruptions scale with your sanity. Lower sanity = more chaos. There is a feedback loop here that I find deeply unfair and also deeply accurate to the internet cafe experience. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOCUMENTED EVENTS AND OUTCOMES (INCOMPLETE) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below is every event I have managed to write down across my runs. I am SURE there are more. I could not document evrything because, as I have mentioned, the game does not pause. Some of these I only saw once. Some I saw many times. Some I saw but did not write down the outcome because a mob was killing me in the GAME window at the same time. If you have seen events not listed here, PLEASE email me. Except you, pH1l1pp1n3_g4m3r. STOP FUCKING SPAMMING ME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - EVENT: "A bit thirsty" Appears: ~1 minute in CHOICE 1: Take a sip -> You leave the computer for a few seconds. You come back and nothing bad happened. Sanity might go up?? Or at least it stops going down for a moment. The game keeps running while you are gone. I lost a heart once because a mob wandered into my character while I was "drinking water." CHOICE 2: Ignore -> Something goes down. Energy I think. You stay at the computer but you feel worse. MY RECOMMENDATION: Take the sip. The few seconds away are worth it. Real life recommendation also: drink water. I have been at this cafe for four hours and I have only had one Royal. EVENT: "Mom is calling" Appears: ~45 seconds in (feels way too early for this) CHOICE 1: Take the call -> You are away from the computer for maybe 12 seconds. The game does not wait for you. I missed an entire chat conversation during this. CHOICE 2: Decline -> Words start buzzing around the screen like guilt made into pixels. MY RECOMMENDATION: I always pick up, it is your mom, even in a game about the end of a virtual world it is your mom. EVENT: "Got to go to the bathroom.." Appears: ~2 minutes in CHOICE 1: Go -> You are gone for A LONG TIME maybe 60 seconds, the game runs the chat runs everything happens without you, when you come back the chat has moved on entirely and people may have logged off while you were gone. CHOICE 2: Stay -> A note appears. I think it shames you. I only picked this once and I don't remember what it said because a lag spike hit at the same time. NOTE: There are multiple bathroom events. "Starting to need to piss..." and "Getting an urge to pee..." are similar but the away times are different. I did not write down which was which. Sorry. EVENT: "Your phone is ringing. Might be important..." Appears: ~2 minutes in CHOICE 1: "Take the call" CHOICE 2: "Decline" I have seen this event three times and picked differently each time and I honestly cannot tell you which does what. I think one of them takes you away from the computer and the other one makes the screen buggy but I did not write down which was which. I was in the Sea. EVENT: "Someone taps you on the shoulder" Appears: Anytime CHOICE 1: "Yell out" CHOICE 2: "Invite them" I always pick yell out. Words fly all over the screen. I have never picked invite. I do not know what happens. I was not in the mood to invite anyone. I was in the Sea and there were mobs. If someone picks invite please tell me what happens. EVENT: (Multiple ad events) There are SO MANY ad events. They all look like real Filipino internet ads from 2005-2015. Flashing GIFs. ALL CAPS. "YOU WON A PRIZE." I have seen: - Something about mobile gaming - A COVID-related prize (???) - Peso bonus - A Pacquiao lottery (lol) - Casino/slots/fishing game - An email from "Mrs. Angelina" (this is a scam email IN the game. The game has scam emails. I love this game.) - SBET betting referral - Money doubling scheme - Free iPhone 14 spin - LAZADA 11.11 sale You cannot close them quickly. They have a timer. Just wait. Or look for a tiny X button. Some of them do not have an X buton. I think. I might have missed it becuase the X was one pixel large like a real popup. EVENT: "ANG LAG!!!" Appears: ~20 seconds in This is just... the game yelling at you in Tagalog that it is lagging. Your game freezes breifly. There is no choice. It just happens. Like in real life. EVENT: "GRABE PISONET TALAGA" Appears: ~3-4 minutes in Same as above but angrier. More lag. For the non-Tagalog speakers: this roughly translates to an expression of extreme frustration at the pisonet (coin-operated internet terminal). If you know, you know. If you don't, imagine paying for internet by the minute and the internet decides to stop working for 10 of those minutes. EVENT: "TANGINANGGGG PISONET" I am not going to translate this one. But same energy as above except worse. EVENT: "What are you playing?" Appears: ~30 seconds in Someone at the cafe is asking you what you are playing. On the last day of the server. CHOICE 1: Ignore -> Words bother you on screen CHOICE 2: Respond -> MORE words bother you on screen There is no good outcome. You are being bothered either way. This is the most realistic event in the game. EVENT: "Why are you still playing that?" Appears: ~100 seconds in CHOICE 1: "Ignore" CHOICE 2: "Tell them off" I do not know what either of these does, I saw this event and then a lag spike hit before I could pick and I think the timer ran out on the event itself, I remember feeling annoyed which I think was the point. EVENT: "Someone is trying to take your bag away..." Appears: ~1 minute in CHOICE 1: "Chase after them" CHOICE 2: "Curse them out" I picked chase, you leave the computer for ~20 seconds, I do not know what curse does, this event stressed me out more than any mob in the game my actual bag was next to my actual feet and I looked down at it when this event appeared that is how you know the game is working. EVENT: "A loud group walks in" Appears: Anytime No choice. Words appear on screen. The ambience of the cafe shifts. You just have to sit with it. Like sitting in a real cafe when a group of college students walks in at 10pm talking about their org's induction. (This may be a specific memory of mine and not a general experience.) EVENT: "People begin fighting..." Appears: ~1 minute in No choice. Massive word disruption. The cafe has become chaotic. I do not know if this affects your stats or just your screen. Both feel bad. EVENT: "A kid is screaming..." No choice. Words. Just words everywhere. I did not write down when this appeared becuase I was dealing with a mob and a lag spike and the kid screaming all at the same time. EVENT: "Huh...?" Appears: ~45 seconds in CHOICE 1: "Zoom out" CHOICE 2: "Zoom in" I picked zoom in. The screen zoomed in. I regretted it because everything got too close and I could not see mobs approaching from the side. I do not know what zoom out does. Presumably the opposite. I have not tested this because every time this event appears I panic and pick the wrong one. EVENT: "Losing a bit of focus..." Appears: Later than "Huh...?" CHOICE 1: (something about zooming?) CHOICE 2: (something about zooming?) I think this is the same type of event but worse. I did not write down the choice text. I was alt-tabbing too much. EVENT: "Tunnel vision..." Appears: Later still CHOICE 1: ??? CHOICE 2: ??? By this point in the run I was not documenting. I was surviving. EVENT: "(Your head is aching...)" There are MANY headache events. They escalate. I have seen: - "(Your head is aching...)" - "(The headache is getting worse)" - something about a migraine with many exclamation points Choices are usually "step away" (you leave briefly) or "close your eyes" or something. I could not document all of these because by the time they appear my sanity is low and I am managing three windows and also my actual headache from staring at this monitor for too long. EVENT: "Someone slips a note" Appears: Early game, multiple variants A note appears on screen. I have seen: - Bible verses - Religious pamphlet text (the kind people hand you on the street outside SM) - What I am fairly sure was a Nigerian prince scam No choice. The note just appears. You read it or you don't. EVENT: "A note tucked underneath the monitor" Appears: VERY late game (~5 minutes in) CHOICE 1: "Pick it up" CHOICE 2: "Trash it" I picked trash becuase I panicked. I do not know what the note says. kuya_mark claims it says "NEVER LOG OFF" but kuya_mark also claims he reached the structure so I do not know what to believe from him anymore. EVENT: "The computer has your heart" Appears: ~5 minutes in CHOICE 1: "Stay alone" (or something like this??) CHOICE 2: "Accept" (I think) I picked one of them idr which, idr what happened after either, I was crying a little lol not becuase of the event just in general by that point in the run, I keep saying I will document this properly on my next playthrough but its been three playthroughs and I keep EVENT: "Click and get a little closer..." I wrote this down but I did not write down what the choices were. I just typed "click" and "closer" in my notes file. I think both options make the screen fill with click effects. It felt ominous. EVENT: "A strange message appears: Click to find me" Appears: ~2.5 minutes in CHOICE 1: "Click" CHOICE 2: "Discard" I picked discard once. An ad appeared but it was not a normal ad. It felt... personal? Not like a real ad. Like something the game was saying to me specifically. I did not write down what it said. I picked click the other time and the screen filled with click effects. I do not know which is the "better" choice. I do not think either is better. I think the game just wants you to choose. EVENT: "Blockmate is calling..." Appears: ~40 seconds in CHOICE 1: "Pop sim" CHOICE 2: "Respond" I do not know what either of these does. I saw this once and the event timed out before I picked becuase I was reading a chat message from someone saying goodbye. The chat mesage felt more important. I do not regret this. EVENT: "(Getting a bit frustrated...)" Appears: Anytime CHOICE 1: (continue playing - something) CHOICE 2: (continue playing - something else) Both choices say to continue playing I do not understand the difference the screen gets buggy after either one maybe the amount of bugginess is different I could not tell. EVENT: "(It feels so hot...)" Appears: Anytime CHOICE 1: ??? CHOICE 2: ??? I saw this but did not write down the choices. My actual body was also hot because the aircon in the cafe was broken. I could not tell where the game ended and my life began. EVENT: "(You're getting a bit dizzy...)" Appears: Anytime CHOICE 1: (something) CHOICE 2: (something) Same situation as above. Both choices seem to continue the game. Screen gets disrupted either way. I was also actually dizzy. EVENT: "Someone's harassing you..." Appears: ~100 seconds in CHOICE 1: "Ignore" CHOICE 2: "Yell at them" I have not picked either. Both times I saw this event I let it time out because I froze. Not a game freeze. I froze. The event disappeared and something happened to the screen but idk what would have happened if I had picked. EVENT: "They are all laughing non-stop..." Appears: ~1 minute in CHOICE 1: "They're laughing at me" CHOICE 2: "They're laughing at themselves" idk the consequences I stared at both options for the full timer trying to decide what I believed and then the event timed out. EVENT: "I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU" Appears: Late game (~5 minutes) No choice. The screen just... does this. Words everywhere. The game is telling you it loves you. Or the computer is. Or the dying server is. I don't know. I don't know who is saying it. EVENT: "Running out of time..." Appears: Final ~15 seconds CHOICE 1: Extend time -> you pay more? I think you get 15 more seconds. CHOICE 2: Ask someone to cover you -> I think you get a bit more time than option 1? IGNORE: You get kicked out of the computer. Game ends. This is the last event one way or another it ends here even if you extend it ends the timer is always running you are always running out of time. I have picked all three options the ending is the same the ending is always the same. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - EVENTS I HAVE SEEN BUT DID NOT DOCUMENT: - Something about someone bumping into you - "It feels so gross here..." (no choice, just vibes) - Something with the word "glimpse" - "Dark thoughts cloud you, for a moment" (this one scared me) - "A memory overtakes you" (this one also scared me) - Multiple events about voices and typing sounds - Something about pressing Tab - had two choices, did not read them - "Press tab?" or something like that - choices were "Alt+F4" and something else. I was too afraid to click Alt+F4. What if it actually closed the window. I was not willing to risk it. - Events that made the windows SWAP PLACES (I thought my computer was broken. The game window was where chat was. Chat was where shop was. I alt-tabbed for two minutes before I realized it was intentional.) - "(A shiver runs through your spine...)" - late game only, no choice, something happened to the chat - Something about a strange voice - also late game - "I want to find you" - this one had TWO CHOICES and one of them triggered what looked like a GEOLOCATION WARNING??? I closed it immediately. I was scared. I am still scared. - "Look all around you" - no choice, visual effect - "(Where is the self?...)" had two choices. I did not read them. I did not know how to respond to this as a game event. I still do not. - "The world is spinning..." - choices unclear, windows moved - "Why does everything hurt..." - I saw this at very low sanity. idr if there were choices tbh. Everything was glitching. - "Take a breath" - had choices. One of them might have been good for energy? I did not write it down. - "Notification on your phone" - two choices, something about peeking or responding. idr the outcome of either tbh. - "(The room feels weirdly small.)" - two choices. I picked one. I think I left the computer briefly. Or the zoom changed. One of those. - "(Everything is closing in.)" - no choice. The zoom just changed on its own. It was terrifying. - "...Activate Windows..." - this one is just funny. A Windows activation popup. In the game. On the fake computer. I laughed and then a mob killed me. - Something about the other players in the game walking toward you, I think they all gathered around my character and just stood there and I was trying to write down what happened next but then the - Oh and there was one where everyones names changed to like ??? and glitched text and I think one of them said my name but I was ~~~ v1.5 UPDATE (08/16) ~~~ Okay so I lied when I said I was done becuase I played six more times yesterday and three more today and there are events I have NEVER seen before. Either the game updated or I got to lower sanity than I ever had before or something else happened but these are new and my hands are shaking as I type this. I have a notes.txt open in the other half of my screen and I keep alt-tabbing to it. EVENT: "The screen is speaking a language you don't recognize" Appears: Mid-late game, only at low sanity I think CHOICE 1: "Try to read it" CHOICE 2: "Close your eyes" All the text on every window just changed. To Tagalog words but not in any order that makes sense, just scattered everywhere like someone threw a dictionary at the screen. WALA NA and PAALAM and HUWAG. I picked "try to read it" and I swear the words rearranged themselves into something about me, not my character but actually me, and I closed my eyes in real life (not in the game, my actual eyes) and when I opened them everything was back to normal. I sat there for a while after that one. EVENT: "(The game wants to see you.)" Appears: Very low sanity only CHOICE 1: "Let it see" CHOICE 2: "Cover the camera" Okay so this one. THIS ONE. The event popped up and I picked "cover the camera" because I did not like where this was going and the game said "It doesn't need the camera. It already sees you." which is creepy enough on its own but THEN my actual webcam permission dialog appeared?? The browser was asking me if I wanted to share my camera?? With the GAME?? I almost fell out of the chair. The plastic chair. In the cafe. I unplugged my webcam which is probably an overreaction but idc I was scared and I am not ashamed to admit that in a .txt file. EVENT: "The computer is trying to tell you something" Appears: Low sanity CHOICE 1: "Listen" CHOICE 2: "Mute" THE GAME TALKED TO ME. Out loud. Through my headphones. Using that robot text-to-speech voice like when you make Google Translate say funny things except it said "Don't leave me here alone" and I was wearing my actual headphones in an actual cafe and a robot voice from inside a dying MMORPG asked me not to leave. I took the headphones off and put them back on and the voice was gone but I kept hearing it for maybe ten minutes after. I dont know if that was the game or me. EVENT: "(Your cursor is gone.)" Appears: Mid-low sanity CHOICE 1: "Feel around" CHOICE 2: "Wait" My cursor just vanished. Not like a game effect where something covers it, my actual mouse cursor was gone from the screen and I could not see where I was clicking. I picked "wait" by memorizing where the button was and clicking blind which is a sentence I never expected to write in a game guide. The cursor came back after maybe 8 seconds which does not sound long unless you are in a cafe trying to play three windows at once with no cursor. EVENT: "The tab title is screaming" Appears: Low sanity No choice. My browser tab titles started cycling through words really fast, like HELP and DONT LEAVE and WHERE ARE YOU and PAALAM and it kept going and I could see it flashing in my taskbar. One time instead of random words it did a countdown 10 9 8 7 all the way to zero and then it just said "still here?" and another time it erased the title one letter at a time like GAME CHAT SHOP then GAME CHAT SHO_ then GAME CHAT SH__ all the way down to nothing and then it said "hello?" and I am sitting in a computer cafe and my browser tab is asking me hello. I had to look around to make sure no one else saw that. EVENT: "Something downloaded to your computer" Appears: Low sanity CHOICE 1: "Open it" CHOICE 2: "Delete it" A .txt file appeared in my downloads. I did not click on anything that should have triggered a download but there it was. I picked "open it" and ANOTHER file appeared. I was too scared to open them during the run so I opened them after. One was called receipt.txt and it said "1x TIME - 20.00 / 1x MEMORIES - 0.00 / 1x GOODBYE - 0.00 / TOTAL: EVERYTHING" and another one just said NEVER LOG OFF over and over for like 50 lines. They are still on my desktop. I renamed one of them so I would stop seeing it but I did not delete it becuase I don't know, it felt wrong to delete it. EVENT: "The game wants all of you" Appears: Very low sanity CHOICE 1: "Let it in" CHOICE 2: "Resist" My browser went fullscreen. Not like the game window maximized, my ENTIRE BROWSER went into fullscreen mode, no taskbar no tabs no nothing, just the game filling my whole monitor and I hit Escape so fast I almost knocked my mouse off the desk. The second time I saw this I picked "resist" and the screen just zoomed in really close instead which was somehow worse becuase it felt like the game was creeping toward me. EVENT: "(Wait, why do I have to log in again?)" Appears: Low sanity CHOICE 1: "Log in" CHOICE 2: "Refuse" The login screen from the beginning of the game just showed up again in the middle of a run. The username field said "WHO ARE YOU" which I did not type and the password field had something in it that was definitely not my password. I logged in again and my character was still there which was good but also the fact that I had to log in again while the server is literally shutting down felt like getting punched in the stomach by a website. The second time I saw it the username field just said "???" and at the bottom it said "(Why do you have to log in again?)" and I sat there for the full timer becuase I genuinely could not answer the question. EVENT: "SESSION EXPIRED. Please log in again." Very low sanity. Same deal but it said "But you never logged out..." and yeah bro I KNOW I never logged out THE SERVER IS DYING why would I log out lmao I have literally never voluntarily logged out of this game. EVENT: "You are back at the beginning" Very low sanity. A new window opened. The intro screen. "Click to begin." But I already began?? The game was still running in the other three windows?? I closed the new window and another one opened. I closed that one too. It felt like the game was trying to restart itself inside itself and I dont know what to do with that information. EVENT: "Click to begin. Click to begin. Click to begin." EXTREMELY low sanity. THREE intro windows opened at once all saying "Click to begin" while my actual game was still going and the chat was still filling with goodbyes and the shop was still running events. The ending and the beginning happening at the same time. I stared at all of them for a while. The guy next to me asked if my computer was broken and I EVENT: "A notification wants to reach you" Mid-low sanity. The browser asked me if the site could send notifications, like the real browser permission dialog, and I allowed it becuase I was curious and then a real notification popped up on my actual desktop that said "The server misses you." I closed the browser. The notification was still there. On my actual computer. From the game. I stared at it for a long time. Then I opened the game again. I don't know what that says about me. EVENT: "Someone is trying to print something..." Low sanity. My print dialog opened. The real one. The game tried to print. I was on a shared computer in a cafe with a shared printer and the game tried to print and I hit cancel so fast I think I pulled a muscle in my hand. Imagine if it had actually printed though. Imagine the cafe owner walking over with a printout of whatever my screen looked like at that point I would have had to [NOTE TO SELF: finish this part. also a mob just killed me brb] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NEW END CONDITIONS (v1.5): So apparently the game can end in two ways I did not know about and I have been playing this game for three weeks so that is either bad documentation on my part or the game is hiding things from me. SANITY END: If your sanity hits zero the game just ends. No warning no timer no last chance event it just goes. I got a message that said "You can't tell what's real anymore." and all three windows showed the same text. On my second sanity death (which is a phrase I did not expect to ever use) it said "The avatar closes its eyes. So do you." and I sat there with all three windows showing that message for maybe two minutes before I closed anything. ENERGY END: If your energy hits zero you fall asleep. In the game. The message said "You fell asleep at the keyboard." and the thing is I had been playing for four hours at that point and I was actually exhausted and the game telling me I fell asleep made me realize I was about to actually fall asleep at an actual keyboard in an actual cafe. I dont know if the game knew that or if it was a coincidence or if the difference between those two things matters. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - There are defintiely more. The game has so many events. I cannot catch them all because I am one person with two eyes and three widnows and a notepad file that is getting too long to scroll through. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SANITY ████████░░░░░░ 53% . . ENERGY █████░░░░░░░░░ 38% . . AMBINC ██████████░░░░ 71% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . =============================================================================== [12.0] TIPS FOR WINNING =============================================================================== Okay. Here is the section you have been scrolling to. I know. I would do the same. Here is what I know about winning GAME CHAT SHOP: 1. MANAGE YOUR ATTENTION The biggest resouce in this game is not hearts or sanity or time. It is your attention. You have three windows demanding it simultaenously. You cannot give 100% to all three. Decide what matters to you. The game? The chat? The cafe? My recommendation: prioritize CHAT in the early game when messages are clean and legible. Shift to GAME in the mid game when you need to push through areas. Monitor SHOP throughout but do not let events derail you completely. 2. DON'T FIGHT EVERYTHING Mobs respawn. Combat takes time. Every second spent fighting a mob is a second not spent reading a goodbye message in chat or making a decision in the shop. Fight when you have to. Run when you can. 3. ACCEPT THE DISRUPTIONS You cannot prevent lag spikes. You cannot stop ads. You cannot make the cafe owner leave you alone. The sooner you accpet that these interruptions are part of the experience and not obstacles to it, the better your run will be. 4. KEEP ALL WINDOWS OPEN I cannot stress this enough. Do not close a window. Even if it seems broken. Even if it seems empty. Even if it seems like it is doing nothing. Keep it open. 5. THERE IS NO OPTIMAL PATH I have tried speedrunning to the Field. I have tried slow-playing the Forest. I have tried ignoring GAME entirely and only reading CHAT. I have tried making every SHOP choice differently. The timer runs out every time. The stats go down every time. The game is 15 minutes long. You get 15 minutes. I have timed it with a stopwatch and it is exactly 15 minutes every time regardless of choices. That is what you get. 6. ----- I had a sixth tip here but I deleted it. It was "try to enjoy it" and I felt stupid writing that in a strategy guide. But I am putting this note here so you know I thought it. ╔═══════════════════╗ ║ ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ║ ║ ? ? ║ ║ ? S E C R E T ? ║ ║ ? ? ║ ║ ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ║ ╚═══════════════════╝ =============================================================================== [13.0] SECRETS =============================================================================== Things I have found that may or may not be secrets: - If you do not move in the GAME window for a long time, the background changes subtly. I think. It might just be the sanity effects. - The TV window plays music videos. It shuffles randomly every time so the order is different each run. I have been trying to document every song but I can only hear the TV when I am not focused on the GAME window and sometimes the audio overlaps with the chat sounds and also the guy next to me is playing DOTA with the speakers on. See the TV PLAYLIST section below for what I have identified so far. - The "glimpse" window appeared once during a low-sanity run. It showed a visual distortion effect. I do not know how to trigger it intentionally. - Chat message corruption at very low sanity may contain hidden readable text within the glitched charactres. I have been screenshotting these and trying to decode them. No results yet. - kuya_mark (see Section [8.3]) claims there are different "endings" depending on which window you are focused on when the timer runs out. I have not been able to verify this because I keep trying to reach the structure in the Field and I always fail. - If you pay attention to the login/logout messages in chat, the population of the server follows a specific curve. Early: many logins. Middle: logins and logouts balanced. Late: only logouts. At the very end, there is one last login. I do not know who it is. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TV PLAYLIST (WHAT I COULD HEAR) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The TV in the cafe plays music videos. It shuffles every time so you will not hear them in this order. I could only catch some of these because the TV is small and the game is loud and also I was trying to not die. Some of these I recognized immediately. Some I had to Shazam on my phone while simultaneously fighting a mob in the Sea. Some I could only hear for a few seconds before an event pulled my attention away. Here is what I have identified so far: SONGS I AM 100% SURE ABOUT: 1. "Nadarang" - Shanti Dope I know this one. Everyone knows this one. It played during my best run, right when I entered the Sea. The timing felt intentional but the playlist is shuffled so it cannot have been. It felt intentional anyway. 2. "Mga Praning" - Francis M Francis Magalona. When this came on I stopped playing for a moment. Not on purpose. My hands just stopped moving. I lost a heart. 3. "Hari ng Tondo" - Gloc-9 ft. Denise The Manila Kingpin one. This song is so good it is distrcating which is a problem when you are trying to play a game about the end of the world. 4. "Kabet" idk who sings this. But I have heard it in every computer cafe I have ever been in. It is like the national anthem of pisonet. It played during a late-game run when my sanity was low and the chat was glitching and hearing this song felt like being 14 again. 5. "Classmate" - Hambog ng Sagpro Krew Hambog. Of course Hambog is on here. This is the most accurate pisonet simulator ever made. 6. "Facebook" - Hambog ng Sagpro Krew Two Hambog songs. Correct. Historically accurate. 7. Budots dance remix (the "tiwtiw bomb mix" one) If you have been to a cafe in the Visayas you know this sound. If you have not, imagine techno but it is trying to give you a headache on purpose. It worked. I got the headache event at the same time this was playing. I could not tell which headache was real. 8. "Habang Ako'y Nabubuhay" I heard this during the Field. Low sanity. Chat was mostly empty. Just this song and the game. I do not want to describe how this made me feel because this is a strategy guide. 9. "Kami Ang Hari" - the Mobile Legends song LMAO. This is the Mobile Legends anthem. In a game about an MMO shutting down. idk if this is a joke or a commentary or both. SONGS I THINK I HEARD BUT AM NOT 100% SURE: 10. Something by Gagong Rapper - the Ignition tagalog version?? I think I heard the beat for like 5 seconds before a lag spike ate my audio. If this is actually on the playlist that is hilarious. 11. "Mirae" by someone - Foenineth?? Slow song. Came on during a quiet moment. I only caught the chorus. I typed "mirae??" in my notes. 12. Some song called "Mhine" - could not identify the artist Only caught a few seconds of it, something slow, might have been by someone called Slim from Repablikan but the TV is small and the DOTA guy next to me was yelling over it. 13. "Sulutera" - Gagong Rapper (again??) If there are two Gagong Rapper songs on this playlsit then this game knows exactly what it is doing. 14. Another budots remix - different from the first one There was defintely a second budots track. Something about "sakit sa legs." Love Radio DJs maybe?? It sounded like it was coming from inside the game AND from outside the game simultaneously. Like someone in the cafe was also playing it. 15. "Tiwala" - Breezy Boyz?? Caught maybe half a chorus before an event pulled my attention, typed "tiwala / breezy?" in my notes and I cannot tell if the question mark was intentional or if I was just unsure about evrything at that point in the session. 16. "Bring dat booty" - Mastaplann Heard this for maybe 10 seconds during a disruption-heavy moment. Could be wrong. SONGS I COULD NOT IDENTIFY: 17. Some acoustic guitar cover of a song I know but cannot name. It sounded familiar. Like a love song. The guitar was nice. I was dying in the Field at the time so I could not Shazam it. 18. Something by Aleck Bovick?? Is that a person or a band? The TV showed a music video I did not recognize. I caught the name on screen for one second before an ad event covered it. 19. A third budots?? Or was it the first one again?? I genuinely cannot tell. They all sound the same. (Sorry to all budots fans. You know I am right.) 20. There are at least 2-3 more songs I heard but could not identify at all. One of them was slow. One was fast. One might have been the same as another one on this list. The TV shuffles and repeats and my memory is not reliable after 30+ runs. NOTE: Some videos would not play. The TV would skip them or show an error. I think some of the videos are privated or deleted. This feels appropriate for a game about a server shutting down. Even the playlist is losing things. NOTE 2: The TV starts muted. You have to click on it to hear audio. I did not realize this until my fourth run. Four runs of silence. I thought the TV was decorative. It is not decorative. CLICK ON IT. NOTE 3: kuya_mark says there is a "secret song" that only plays if your sanity is below 15. idk if I believe him but I also have not been able to test this because when my sanity is below 15 I am not paying attention to the TV. I am paying attention to the chat which is disintegrating and also to my own hands which are shaking. _____________________________________ / \ | Q: How do I win? | | A: ............................ | | | | Q: No seriously how do I win. | | A: ............................ | \_____________________________________/ || || \||/ \/ =============================================================================== [14.0] FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS =============================================================================== Q: How do I win? A: I have been playing for three weeks and I will let you know. Q: no srsly tho how 2 win??? A: I heard you the first time. Read the guide. Q: Is the game beatable? A: Define "beatable." Can you reach the end of the timer? Yes, that is guaranteed. Can you "win" in a traditional sense? I... don't think that is what this game is asking you to do. But I am also not ready to accept that yet so please do not make me say it out loud. Q: bro i died in the game window is my run over or what A: No the timer continues across all windows, you just can't play the game portion anymore but the chat continues the shop continues you are now a person in an internet cafe whose character died on the last day of the server, this is a valid experience some might say it is the most realistic experience. Q: the chat mesages are all garbled is this a bug or is my pc broken A: No your pc is fine lol. Your sanity is low. I literally wrote a whole section about this. See [6.0]. Please read before emailing me. Q: Can I increase my sanity/energy/ambience? A: If you figure out how, you will be a legend. As far as I can tell, no. They only decrease. The game models entropy. I emailed the developer about this and did not receive a response. I choose to interpret this as confirmation that I am correct rather than that they did not see my email. UPDATE v1.5: Some "away" events (getting water, going to the bathroom, stepping outside) seem to restore a TINY amount of sanity. But you lose game time while away. The game gives you a choice: your mind or your time. There is no right answer. Q: My sanity hit zero and the game ended. Is that normal? A: Yes. New in v1.5. If your sanity reaches zero, the game decides you have lost touch with reality. You get a message like "You can't tell what's real anymore." All three windows show it. It is the saddest game over I have ever experienced and I have played Final Fantasy X. Q: wtf i fell asleep in the game??? how A: Your energy hit zero. The game says you fell asleep at the keyboard. This happened to me during a run where I was ignoring every "take a break" event. The game punished me for not taking care of my body. My actual body was also tired. The game was right. Q: DUDE the game opend my webcam and also it downloaded files to my pc???? and it TALKED to me thru my speakers???? is this a virus A: Yes. All of this is real. All of this is the game. See Section [11.0] v1.5 update for details. I am still processing it. The game uses your actual browser to do things that games should not be able to do. I dont know if this is a feature or a haunting. Q: why does the game freeze randomly its so annoying pls fix A: Its not a bug dude its literally the game. Lag spike events from the SHOP, see Section [11.0]. The game is simulating a bad internet connection at a cafe where 15 people are sharing one DSL line. If you have never experienced this irl then congrats you had a better childhood than me. If you HAVE experienced this then idk what to tell you bro you already know. Also I cant "fix" it I did not make the game I just wrote the guide. Q: i accidentaly closed one of the windows can i get it back pls help A: Nope. Gone. I literally warned you about this in Section [3.0], rule number 2, in capital letters. I closed the CHAT window once by accident and spent the rest of the run just playing the game in silence, it was awful and also it was the most honest run I have had so maybe you should thank me for the tip actually. Q: What is the "correct" order to do things? A: There is no correct order. There is only the order in which you do them and then the order is over. Q: Is this game about the Philippines? A: The game takes place in a computer cafe where you pay in pesos and sit at machines with brand names I reconize from my childhood. So. You know. Draw your own conclusions. I am drawing mine and they are making me emotional so I am going to move on to the next question. Q: Can I play this with friends? A: You can have friends sit next to you and each open the game on their own machine, you will each have your own 15 minutes you will each have your own chat you will not be in each other's game, this is also accurate to the internet cafe experience you are alone together you were always alone together. Q: I feel sad after playing. Is this normal? A: Yes. Q: I feel angry after playing. Is this normal? A: Also yes. Q: I feel nothing after playing. A: Give it a day. Q: can i pk the other players on last day lol A: Bro they are NPCs. They are not real. You are the only real person in the chatroom which is honestly kind of the point of the whole game but sure go ahead and try to pk an NPC on the last day of a dying server, that is a choice you can make. I tried to type "/duel darK_eLf_2002" and nothing happened and I felt stupid so learn from my mistakes. Q: r the devs gonna make a private server or somthing A: Did you play the game. The game IS the server shutting down, a private server would defeat the entire point, that is like asking if you can un-close a restaurant. The food is not the point the closing is the point. I think. I am not a food critic I am a guy writing a .txt file at 11pm but even I can see that. Q: I want to play again. A: That is not a question but yes you should it is different the second time not because anything changes in the game becuase you change, I have played maybe thirty times now the game is always the same I am worse every time or better I cannot tell the difference anymore. Q: Does the game get harder the more you play? A: I think so. I cannot prove this. But around my fifth or sixth run it started feeling like things were happening faster, like the game was less patient with me, like it knew I had been here before and did not need to be eased in anymore. Events I swear I only saw at the very end of my first run were showing up earlier. Things felt more intense sooner. Maybe I am imagining it. Maybe I am just more aware of what is coming and that makes it feel heavier. Or maybe the game actually remembers you and decides you can handle more. idk. It just feels different the more you play, not easier not harder just more. Q: has anyone speedrun this game yet whats the wr A: There was a thread about this on a forum I will not name. Someone claimed a "perfect run" of 14:47 reaching the edge of the Field. The thread devovled into an argument about whether speedrunning a game about savoring your last 15 minutes in a dying world was "missing the point" or "the ultimate point." The thread was locked. I bookmarked it. Q: ur guide is worse than pH1l1pp1n3_g4m3r's guide lol A: First of all that is not a question. Second his guide does not even have a Table of Contents so idk what guide YOU read. Third he listed the controls wrong, the heal is Key 3 not Key 2, which means he either did not play the game or he played it wrong which is honestly worse. Fourth his ASCII art header is just the title in all caps with asterisks around it, that is not ASCII art that is yelling. Fifth I have a mob kill counter and a TV playlist section and he has neither so respectfully shut up. Q: Are you okay? A: Please refer to Section [12.0], tip 6. Q: What is at the end of the Field? A: I DON'T KNOW. PLEASE STOP ASKING ME. I AM TRYING. Q: no but rly what is it tho A: kuya_mark said it was [nothing] I am starting to think he did not mean "there is nothing there" I am starting to think he was trying to tell me what the thing IS, I don't know I need more time the game does not give you more time that is the whole problem that has always been the whole problem. Q: Who made this game? A: Someone called Chia Amisola. See Section [16.0] for what I know. Which is not much. They do not have a gamefaqs profile which I find suspicious but also kind of respect. Their website is at https://everythingi.love but they have not responded to any of my emails. Q: I cried. A: That is not a question either. But same. 𓆝 ˚𓆛 ˙ ｡ ｡ 𓆝 ｡ ˚ 𓆞 ｡ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ =============================================================================== ___ _ __ __ ___ ___ _ _ _ _____ ___ _ _ ___ ___ / __| /_\ | \/ | __| / __| || | /_\_ _| / __| || |/ _ \| _ \ | (_ | / _ \ | |\/| | _| | (__| __ |/ _ \| | \__ \ __ | (_) | _/ \___|/_/ \_\|_| |_|___| \___|_||_/_/ \_\_| |___/_||_|\___/|_| [15.0] FINAL THOUGHTS (PERSONAL) =============================================================================== I do not usually write this kind of section in my guides. My Ragnarok Merchant FAQ does not have a "feelings" section. My Warcraft III notes do not have a "feelings" section. A guide is supposed to be useful. It is supposed to help you beat the game. That is the deal. You read my guide, you beat the game, you move on with your life. I do not know how to do that here. I have played GAME CHAT SHOP maybe thirty times the first few times I played it like I play evrything: to win, I wanted to reach the end of the Field I wanted to find the structure I wanted to clear every mob read every message make every correct choice I wanted to write the definitive guide the one that would make pH1l1pp1n3_g4m3r's guide look like the joke it is, I wanted to be complete. But you cannot be complete. That is the point. Isn't it. The game gives you 15 minutes and three windows you cannot see all three at the same time not really you can tile them on your screen but your eyes can only look at one thing at once, while you are fighting a mob in the Forest someone is saying goodbye in the chat while you are reading the chat an event is happenign in the shop while you are dealing with the shop you are taking damage in the game, something is always happening that you are not seeing somthing is always being lost while you are looking somewhere else. I think this is what the game is about. Not the MMORPG not the server shutdown those are the setting, what the game is about is the experience of not being able to pay attention to everything at once of knowing that things are happening people are talking the world is ending your mom is calling and you can only be in one place at a time you can only read one message at a time you can only fight one mob at a time you can only be in one window at a time. And then it is over. I used to go to the Netopia on Katipunan Avenue after school Machine 3 if it was available Machine 7 if it was not, I would pay my pesos and sit down and log into Ragnarok Online and for one hour I was somewhere else the cafe was loud the chairs were bad the monitors had fingerprints from the person before me the keyboards were sticky none of it mattered becuase I was in Prontera or in Payon or in the Culverts killing Thief Bugs with a group of people whose real names I never leraned. I knew them by their character names SwordMaster_ph xxDarkAngelxx kuya_jay, they were real to me more real sometimes than the people in the cafe who were just bodies in chairs hunched over keyboards all of us together in a room but each of us somewhere else entirely. One day I went to the cafe and Ragnarok had been patched and the server I played on was emptier people had moved on and then the cafe itself closed the machines were sold the sign came down the space became a milk tea shop or a laundromat or somethign I do not remember I remeber the cafe I do not remember what replaced it. GAME CHAT SHOP made me remember all of this. Not because it is a replica of my experience. It is not. The game in GAME CHAT SHOP is not Ragnarok. The chat is not the same chat. The cafe is not Netopia. But the FEELING is the same. The feeling of being in a place that is temporary, surrouded by people who are also temporary, doing something that matters completely and does not matter at all, and knowing that the timer is running, it is always runnign, and when it reaches zero you will stand up and walk out into the sunlight and the world will be exactly the same as it was before you sat down, except that you will be different, a little, in a way you cannot explain to anyone who was not there. That is what I think the game is about. I could be wrong. I am worng about a lot of things in this guide. The heal might not have a cooldown. The sanity threshholds might be different. kuya_mark might be lying about evrything. But I do not think I am wrong about this. The three windows are not three games. They are three versions of the same experience: being somewhere, with people, while time runs out. The GAME window is the adventure you came for. The CHAT window is the people you shared it with. The SHOP window is the reality that you are a body in a chair in a room in a city in a country and your time is paid for and finite and the world does not stop because you are having a moment. The disruptions are not obstacles they are the game the lag spikes are the game the ads are the game your mom calling is the game the kid screaming is the game the guy looking over your shoudler is the game all of it all of it is the game the game is not the RPG in the GAME window the game is what happnes when you try to play the RPG while everything else is also happening. I think this is also what life is. I am sorry this is a walkthrough I am not supposed to write things like that in a walkthrough but I have been sitting in this cafe for a long time now and the owner is giving me looks and I payed for another hour even though I should go home and I keep playign GAME CHAT SHOP even though I know how it ends it ends the same way every time the timer reaches zero the screen goes dark you are back in the cafe you were always in the cafe. I keep playing because 15 minutes is not enough that is the cruelest thing about the game not that you cannot win not that the stats only go down not that the chat empties out and the mobs keep respawning and the Field goes on forever the cruelest thing is that 15 minutes is not enough to see evrything to read every message to hear every song on the TV to reach the structure to say goodbye properly and you know this going in you know it from the moment you pay your 20 pesos you know it and you sit down anyway. Maybe that is the guide not the controls or the stats or the combat tips the guide is you will not have enough time you will miss things the chat will empty the songs will play and you will not hear them someone will say goodbye and you will be lookign at the wrong window and then it will be over and you will want to play agian. And you should play again not to win not to reach the structure not to document every event and every song and every chat message for a .txt file that maybe twelve people will read. Play again because 15 minutes is not enough it is never enough but it is what you get. Okay I am done I think I am done. I am going to play one more time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' 15:00 → 00:00 thank you for playing. =============================================================================== [16.0] CREDITS / LEGAL =============================================================================== GAME CHAT SHOP was created by someone called "Chia Amisola." I have tried to find out more about this person. Here is what I know: - They are Filipino. - I do not think they are a game developer in the traditional sense. This does not feel like a game made by someone who makes games. It feels like a game made by someone who played games in a cafe and then grew up and needed to remember what that felt like before the memory faded. - I emailed them once asking about the heal cooldown. They did not respond. I choose to believe this means the heal cooldown is real and they do not want to confirm it because it would ruin the mystery. (It is also possible they did not see my email. Or that the heal does not have a cooldown. I am not ready to accept this.) - kuya_mark claims he knows who they are. kuya_mark claims a lot of things. - Whoever they are, they made something that made me write 1700 lines of .txt about it. So. You know. They did something right. This guide was written by xXNetopia_LegendXx and is intended for personal use. Do not redistribute without permission. Do not post on GameFAQs without crediting me. (If GameFAQs still exists when you are reading this. I genuinely do not know anymore.) (if you are reading this pH1l your guide is not that bad I just needed someone to be mad at so I did not have to be sad. your ascii header is fine. the controls were wrong though. that part is real.) Special thanks to: - kuya_mark, for the emails, for being the first person to tell me about the structure, for refusing to explain what [nothing] means even when I asked five different ways. I understand now. I think. I will not explain it either. That is probably the point. - darK_eLf_2002, for the tip about the shield. It was wrong but I apreciate that you tried. You were always the first person to reply to my forum posts even when nobody else did. That mattered more than you know. - pH1l1pp1n3_g4m3r, for writing a guide that made me angry enough to write a better one. Your controls section was wrong. Your Field section was mostly guesses. You did not have a table of contents. But you were there on the last day too, and you were trying, and I should have said this sooner. - My mom, who does not understand what I am doing but brings me rice anyway and calls me even when I decline and calls me again and I am sorry I declined that one time during a run, I should have picked up, it was just a game but it was also not just a game but I should have picked up anyway. - The guy on Machine 7 at Netopia Katipunan who let me borrow his headphones in 2007 so I could hear the Ragnarok login music. I never asked his name. I never returned the headphones. I think about this sometimes, like once a month at least, and if you are reading this somehow I am sorry and also thank you they were good headphones. - The girl who used to play on Machine 12. I think she was older than us. She lent headphones to people and never asked for them back. I wonder if she knows the cafe closed. I wonder if she still plays anything. - SwordMaster_ph, wherever you are. We killed Thief Bugs together for 200 hours and I never learned your real name. If you are somehow reading a .txt walkthrough for a browser game about internet cafes please know that I remeber you and the Culverts and the time you tanked the Mistress boss for our whole party even though you were underleveled. That was the bravest thing I have ever seen in a video game. - The regulars at Netopia Katipunan, circa 2005-2009, who taught me that a shared computer and a shared game could feel like a shared life. xxDarkAngelxx. kuya_jay. That guy who always played Gunbound on Machine 1 and never talked to anyone but always said bye when he left. - The Jollibee on Katipunan Avenue for the Chickenjoy that got me through the longer sessions. You cannot write a guide on an empty stomach. Or maybe you can but I choose not to. - The cafe owner, the real one, from Netopia, who let me stay past closing once because I was in the middle of a War of Emperium and he could tell it mattered to me. He did not play games. He just understood that I needed to be there. That is a kind of grace I did not appreciate at 14. I appreciate it now. - noodle_93, whoever you are in the game. Your DMs were the first ones I noticed. "I miss you" is a hard thing to read when your sanity is at 30 and the chat is glitching. I do not know if you are an NPC or a memory or what but I hope someone reaches you. - The person who DMed me about Ragnarok during one of my runs. I do not remember your username but you mentioned the Culverts and my hands stopped on the keyboard. How did you know. How did the game know. - The kid who DMed me in Tagalog asking what I was doing. First time playing. Did not understand why everyone was sad. I hope you understand now. Or I hope you never have to. - The guild leader who showed up on the last day. 3 out of 200. You showed up. That is evrything. - The call center person who was playing on their break at 3am. I hope your shift was okay. I hope the American was not too mean about his cable bill. Salamat for the company. - Everyone who DMed me across 30+ runs. I could not respond to any of you because that is not how the chat works. But I read every message. Every single one. You were not talking to nothing. I was here. - Chia Amisola, whoever you are, for making a game about the thing I have been trying to describe to people for 15 years and failing. You described it in 15 minutes and three windows and a dirty monitor and a song on a TV that I had to click to hear. Thank you. Maraming salamat talaga. - Everyone who logged in on the last day. - And the last person who logged in. Right at the end. I do not know who you were. I do not know why you came. But you were there. That is enough. This guide is dedicated to every server that shut down while someone was still playing, and to every cafe that closed while someone was still sitting there, and to every friend whose real name you never learned, and to every song you heard through cheap speakers at 11pm, and to every .txt file you kept open on the side, and to everyone who stayed until the end even though they knew it would not change anyhting. Sapat na 'to. =============================================================================== END OF DOCUMENT =============================================================================== This document is best viewed in Notepad at 80 columns. Copyright 2023 xXNetopia_LegendXx. All rights reserved. Version 1.5.2 FINAL (there will not be a Version 1.6) (there will probably be a Version 1.6) i reached it