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route_292014-05-22 08:16 pm
these_balls) wrote in route_292014-05-22 08:16 pm
Entry tags:
Plot MacGuffins Are A Girl's Best Friend!
Hey, Routians! As those of you who've been watching the calendar have surely noticed, we've got our FOUR-YEAR GAME ANNIVERSARY coming up one week from today! And since we're not content to go with just your ordinary Fourth Wall event for such a momentous occasion, we've added some extra twists to this year's event in the hopes of making it a particularly awesome one!
We will of course be linking our standard Fourth Wall Infopost for all of your informational needs; you'll find that link at the end of this post. But for now, please keep reading for more information on the other things that will be happening as this game reaches the conclusion of its fourth year of play!
THE BACKGROUND — WHO SET OFF THE MACHINE™ THIS TIME
As particularly diligent thread-stalkers of this past year's prom log might have noticed, Champions LANCE and CYNTHIA ended up deciding to go on a whirlwind tour of the various interesting ruins, relics, and digsites in the Johto/Kanto area, because nerding out over Pokémon archeology is way more interesting than stuff like, you know, being the champion of your entire region. And coincidentally, as of today (Thursday, May 22), they've found something! Sort of.
And it turns out that what they've found is a mysterious crystal of sorts, and by "found" we mean "probably used to hold their backpacks and/or kicked by mistake".
Well, coincidentally, Mysterious Plot Crystals™ don't tend to take particularly well to being kicked, and this one is no exception! Therefore, now that it's been...let's say percussively awakened, it's going to proceed to do two things:
1) begin emitting a strange form of spiritual energy, which will awaken other crystal masses in given locations beneath Johto/Kanto
2) start growing at an accelerated rate
From Thursday, May 22 until 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, May 25, all will be generally quiet on the home front; the one exception to this is that Psychic-types and anyone who participated in last October's Nightmare Castle plot may experience feelings of vague anxiety, headaches, or a general sense that something in the air isn't quite right.
By Monday, May 26th, formations of Mysterious Plot Crystals™ will have grown large enough to have broken through the surface in eight locations across Johto/Kanto; we'll detail where those are specifically located later in this post. Characters may investigate the crystals, but attacking them isn't advised; physical attacks won't do much save for maybe snapping off a few shards and splinters, while special attacks will just make them grow faster and taller. Curious!
At 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday, May 28th, the crystals will have grown tall enough for their internal hyperresonance to network across the full Johto/Kanto region, and after about one minute of that competing signal, everyone's favorite Rocket-created Fourth-Wallin' Macguffin, THE MACHINE, will proceed to go haywire accordingly.
THE FOURTH WALL — HAPPY FOUR-YEAR ANNIVERSARY, ROUTE!
For the usual description of our semi-annual Fourth Wall event mechanics, head right on over to THIS POST HERE! If you'd rather keep on reading, though, we'll link it again at the end of the post. o/
On top of our usual Fourth Wall extravaganza, we've got a mini-challenge for you! See, if these Mysterious Plot Crystals™ don't go away, The Machine might never stop malfunctioning and then it'd be Fourth Wall forever. And since Fourth Wall Forever sounds a lot like stealing forty cakes, we're pretty sure that Fourth Wall Forever would be nothing short of Terrible.
So! We're asking for volunteers to destroy the crystal towers at some point during the Fourth Wall Event! You'll all have your powers back, and you can feel free to bring those suckers down in any way you feel like. Whether you choose to thread it out, post about it, or handwave it and let us know afterwards is entirely your call! We recommend having fun with it, no matter what you do.
THE CRYSTAL MASSES ARE LOCATED IN:
• The North: Ecruteak City in Johto, and Saffron City in Kanto
• The East: Blackthorn City in Johto, and Lavender Town in Kanto
• The South: Azalea Town in Johto, and Fuschia City in Kanto
• The West: Goldenrod City in Johto, and Viridian City in Kanto
As there will be eight crystal masses scattered across Johto/Kanto, we're looking for eight volunteers to take the credit for knocking down the spires! We'll be rolling an RNG to pick the Elite Eight (or if you prefer, the Elite Four x2) at 9:00 PM EST, on Wednesday, May 28th, so if you want to sign up for a chance to wreak some havoc, make sure to comment to our spin roster before then!
IF YOU WANT TO ENTER YOUR CHARACTERS FOR A CHANCE TO KNOCK DOWN SOME CRYSTALS:
LEAVE US A COMMENT HERE!
Please make a separate comment for each character, to make the process smoother on our end!
At the end of the Fourth Wall event, with all of the crystal towers destroyed, The Machine will fortunately cease malfunctioning, and things will get right back to normal.
...Sort of.
"SORT OF", YOU SAY? — THE SCOOP ON OUR POST-FOURTH WALL FESTIVITIES
With four solid years under our belts, we couldn't leave you with nothing but an average Fourth Wall event, could we? Certainly not! So here's what will be happening for the four days following the end of the event:
Due to the lingering spiritual hyperresonance from the now-destroyed crystals, certain areas of Johto/Kanto around the destroyed crystal sites will find themselves subject to some...unusual aftereffects.
• In the North:
In the areas in and generally surrounding Ecruteak City in Johto and Saffron City in Kanto, PCs will find themselves compelled to behave as though they are part of a Michael Bay action movie and/or Over-The-Top Shounen Anime! Suddenly all your mundane daily activities come accompanied with unnecessary explosions, thrilling chase sequences, dramatic crescendos, and gripping summer-blockbuster motives! Why just walk down the street to pick up your mail from the Pidgey Post when you can — HANG ON, CUTESY BUTTONS, WE GOTTA GET THAT PACKAGE THROUGH!
• In the East:
In the areas in and generally surrounding Blackthorn City in Johto and Lavender Town in Kanto, PCs will find themselves compelled to behave as though they are part of a heartstring-pulling Soap Opera and/or Romantic Comedy! Bring out your wacky couples hijinks, ghosts of dead lovers, dramatic cliffhangers, and canned-laughter sight gags! Who needs continuity when you've got a plot to tell and ratings to score?
• In the South:
In the areas in and generally surrounding Azalea Town in Johto and Fuschia City in Kanto, PCs will find themselves compelled to behave as though they are part of a suspense-filled Thriller and/or Film Noir! Is it just me, or have the sights and sounds of these beautiful towns suddenly started looking like they're filtered through shades of gray? (Let's keep it to 49 shades and under, please.)
• In the West:
In the areas in and generally surrounding Goldenrod City in Johto and Viridian City in Kanto, PCs will find themselves compelled to behave as though they are part of the token Musical Episode that every series inevitably has. Whether you're sharing your feelings through toe-tapping hits, singing in the streets, spontaneously attracting NPCs for dance numbers that no one choreographed, or spending a quiet moment in melodious lament, we can't wait to see the show!
The effects of this resonance are limited only to the cities and the areas just outside the city limits; the majority of the routes around them will not be affected.
Also, please note that these effects are optional; they can affect your characters (and their Pokémon!) as strongly or weakly as you choose, and we encourage you to play around with the possibilities that they afford. Characters and Pokémon may also find themselves immune to the effects, at your discretion.
After four days of ensuing shenanigans, the lingering energy from the crystals will finally dissipate enough that things get back to normal for real this time; as of 12:01 AM EST on June 6th, everything will be back to standard operating procedure!
...for now.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS — BECAUSE WE KNOW YOU HAVE THEM
OH MY GOD DOES THIS MEAN GEN VI IS COMI—
Those Mysterious Plot Crystals™ do look awfully familiar, don't they?
Can I keep a shard of the Mysterious Plot Crystals™ if I break some off?
You may! However, we are requiring that characters may take and keep no more than a 2" by 1.5" by .5" shard of the crystal — for reference, that's about the size of a Zippo cigarette lighter. If you want to break that crystal up into smaller shards, go right ahead; if you want to grind it into powder, go ahead. But the sum total of crystal in your character's possession should be no more than that, please!
What happens if I have my character beamspam their shard of Mysterious Plot Crystal™?
It will blow up, possibly injure them and their Pokémon in the backlash, and depending on the strength of the attack, destroy the crystal shard. We don't recommend it.
Can I make my crystal into jewelry and give it to my character's significant other?
That's so very thoughtful of you! Hopefully that won't go horribly awry someday!
Can I still move my character to wherever I want after the Fourth Wall is over?
Yes, you may; and remember to read our Fourth Wall-specific post for more information like that about the event itself!
Can I catch a Pokémon during the Fourth Wall event and keep it afterward?
Yes, you may; and remember to read our Fourth Wall-specific post for more information like that about the event itself!
So whatever happened to Lance and Cynthia?
They're fine! And who knows — maybe we'll be hearing from them again sometime soon. Strange things are afootat the Circle K in Johto/Kanto lately, it seems.
I have more plot-related questions!
You can ask them here!
I want to sign up for the crystal-destroying part of the plot!
You can do that here!
Can I use the comments of this post to plan things for fourth wall with my fellow characters?
You certainly may!
Where is the Fourth Wall-specific Information Post again?
You can find it right over here.
Can you give me a quick run-down of the event timeline again?
Sure thing! It goes as follows:
• Thursday, May 22 to Sunday, May 25: Psychic resonance noticed by Psychic-types and participants in last October's Nightmare Castle plot
• Monday, May 26: The Plot Crystals™ break the surface and continue to grow; the psychic resonance continues
• Tuesday, May 27 to Wednesday, May 28: The crystals continue to grow
• Thursday, May 29: The Machine™ goes haywire; Fourth Wall begins
• 12:01 AM EST on Thursday, May 29 to 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, June 1: FOURTH WALL EVENT; at some point during this period all crystal spires should be destroyed
• 12:01 AM EST on Monday, June 2: Fourth Wall ends; aftereffect shenanigans begin
• Monday, June 2 to 11:59 PM EST on Thursday, June 5: Aftereffect shenanigans
• 12:01 AM EST on Friday, June 6th: Aftereffects end, NORMAL GAMEPLAY RESUMES
Anything else I need to know?
From all of us at the modteam, thank you so much for four excellent years of gameplay. As is fitting for a game about Pokémon, we've evolved a lot in our time together, and we feel we've gotten all the stronger because of it. The heart of any game is its playerbase, and we sincerely hope we've stuffed you full of enough macarons to get you to hurry up and evolve into a Sylveon someda— wait.
...In seriousness, we love you all very much, and want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the wonderful times and memories we've shared together. We can't wait to see what Year Five brings; let's all work together to make it an amazing one.
~The Mods
We will of course be linking our standard Fourth Wall Infopost for all of your informational needs; you'll find that link at the end of this post. But for now, please keep reading for more information on the other things that will be happening as this game reaches the conclusion of its fourth year of play!
THE BACKGROUND — WHO SET OFF THE MACHINE™ THIS TIME
As particularly diligent thread-stalkers of this past year's prom log might have noticed, Champions LANCE and CYNTHIA ended up deciding to go on a whirlwind tour of the various interesting ruins, relics, and digsites in the Johto/Kanto area, because nerding out over Pokémon archeology is way more interesting than stuff like, you know, being the champion of your entire region. And coincidentally, as of today (Thursday, May 22), they've found something! Sort of.
And it turns out that what they've found is a mysterious crystal of sorts, and by "found" we mean "probably used to hold their backpacks and/or kicked by mistake".
Well, coincidentally, Mysterious Plot Crystals™ don't tend to take particularly well to being kicked, and this one is no exception! Therefore, now that it's been...let's say percussively awakened, it's going to proceed to do two things:
2) start growing at an accelerated rate
From Thursday, May 22 until 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, May 25, all will be generally quiet on the home front; the one exception to this is that Psychic-types and anyone who participated in last October's Nightmare Castle plot may experience feelings of vague anxiety, headaches, or a general sense that something in the air isn't quite right.
By Monday, May 26th, formations of Mysterious Plot Crystals™ will have grown large enough to have broken through the surface in eight locations across Johto/Kanto; we'll detail where those are specifically located later in this post. Characters may investigate the crystals, but attacking them isn't advised; physical attacks won't do much save for maybe snapping off a few shards and splinters, while special attacks will just make them grow faster and taller. Curious!
At 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday, May 28th, the crystals will have grown tall enough for their internal hyperresonance to network across the full Johto/Kanto region, and after about one minute of that competing signal, everyone's favorite Rocket-created Fourth-Wallin' Macguffin, THE MACHINE, will proceed to go haywire accordingly.
THE FOURTH WALL — HAPPY FOUR-YEAR ANNIVERSARY, ROUTE!
For the usual description of our semi-annual Fourth Wall event mechanics, head right on over to THIS POST HERE! If you'd rather keep on reading, though, we'll link it again at the end of the post. o/
On top of our usual Fourth Wall extravaganza, we've got a mini-challenge for you! See, if these Mysterious Plot Crystals™ don't go away, The Machine might never stop malfunctioning and then it'd be Fourth Wall forever. And since Fourth Wall Forever sounds a lot like stealing forty cakes, we're pretty sure that Fourth Wall Forever would be nothing short of Terrible.
So! We're asking for volunteers to destroy the crystal towers at some point during the Fourth Wall Event! You'll all have your powers back, and you can feel free to bring those suckers down in any way you feel like. Whether you choose to thread it out, post about it, or handwave it and let us know afterwards is entirely your call! We recommend having fun with it, no matter what you do.
• The East: Blackthorn City in Johto, and Lavender Town in Kanto
• The South: Azalea Town in Johto, and Fuschia City in Kanto
• The West: Goldenrod City in Johto, and Viridian City in Kanto
As there will be eight crystal masses scattered across Johto/Kanto, we're looking for eight volunteers to take the credit for knocking down the spires! We'll be rolling an RNG to pick the Elite Eight (or if you prefer, the Elite Four x2) at 9:00 PM EST, on Wednesday, May 28th, so if you want to sign up for a chance to wreak some havoc, make sure to comment to our spin roster before then!
LEAVE US A COMMENT HERE!
Please make a separate comment for each character, to make the process smoother on our end!
At the end of the Fourth Wall event, with all of the crystal towers destroyed, The Machine will fortunately cease malfunctioning, and things will get right back to normal.
...Sort of.
"SORT OF", YOU SAY? — THE SCOOP ON OUR POST-FOURTH WALL FESTIVITIES
With four solid years under our belts, we couldn't leave you with nothing but an average Fourth Wall event, could we? Certainly not! So here's what will be happening for the four days following the end of the event:
Due to the lingering spiritual hyperresonance from the now-destroyed crystals, certain areas of Johto/Kanto around the destroyed crystal sites will find themselves subject to some...unusual aftereffects.
In the areas in and generally surrounding Ecruteak City in Johto and Saffron City in Kanto, PCs will find themselves compelled to behave as though they are part of a Michael Bay action movie and/or Over-The-Top Shounen Anime! Suddenly all your mundane daily activities come accompanied with unnecessary explosions, thrilling chase sequences, dramatic crescendos, and gripping summer-blockbuster motives! Why just walk down the street to pick up your mail from the Pidgey Post when you can — HANG ON, CUTESY BUTTONS, WE GOTTA GET THAT PACKAGE THROUGH!
• In the East:
In the areas in and generally surrounding Blackthorn City in Johto and Lavender Town in Kanto, PCs will find themselves compelled to behave as though they are part of a heartstring-pulling Soap Opera and/or Romantic Comedy! Bring out your wacky couples hijinks, ghosts of dead lovers, dramatic cliffhangers, and canned-laughter sight gags! Who needs continuity when you've got a plot to tell and ratings to score?
• In the South:
In the areas in and generally surrounding Azalea Town in Johto and Fuschia City in Kanto, PCs will find themselves compelled to behave as though they are part of a suspense-filled Thriller and/or Film Noir! Is it just me, or have the sights and sounds of these beautiful towns suddenly started looking like they're filtered through shades of gray? (Let's keep it to 49 shades and under, please.)
• In the West:
In the areas in and generally surrounding Goldenrod City in Johto and Viridian City in Kanto, PCs will find themselves compelled to behave as though they are part of the token Musical Episode that every series inevitably has. Whether you're sharing your feelings through toe-tapping hits, singing in the streets, spontaneously attracting NPCs for dance numbers that no one choreographed, or spending a quiet moment in melodious lament, we can't wait to see the show!
The effects of this resonance are limited only to the cities and the areas just outside the city limits; the majority of the routes around them will not be affected.
Also, please note that these effects are optional; they can affect your characters (and their Pokémon!) as strongly or weakly as you choose, and we encourage you to play around with the possibilities that they afford. Characters and Pokémon may also find themselves immune to the effects, at your discretion.
After four days of ensuing shenanigans, the lingering energy from the crystals will finally dissipate enough that things get back to normal for real this time; as of 12:01 AM EST on June 6th, everything will be back to standard operating procedure!
...for now.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS — BECAUSE WE KNOW YOU HAVE THEM
OH MY GOD DOES THIS MEAN GEN VI IS COMI—
Those Mysterious Plot Crystals™ do look awfully familiar, don't they?
Can I keep a shard of the Mysterious Plot Crystals™ if I break some off?
You may! However, we are requiring that characters may take and keep no more than a 2" by 1.5" by .5" shard of the crystal — for reference, that's about the size of a Zippo cigarette lighter. If you want to break that crystal up into smaller shards, go right ahead; if you want to grind it into powder, go ahead. But the sum total of crystal in your character's possession should be no more than that, please!
What happens if I have my character beamspam their shard of Mysterious Plot Crystal™?
It will blow up, possibly injure them and their Pokémon in the backlash, and depending on the strength of the attack, destroy the crystal shard. We don't recommend it.
Can I make my crystal into jewelry and give it to my character's significant other?
That's so very thoughtful of you! Hopefully that won't go horribly awry someday!
Can I still move my character to wherever I want after the Fourth Wall is over?
Yes, you may; and remember to read our Fourth Wall-specific post for more information like that about the event itself!
Can I catch a Pokémon during the Fourth Wall event and keep it afterward?
Yes, you may; and remember to read our Fourth Wall-specific post for more information like that about the event itself!
So whatever happened to Lance and Cynthia?
They're fine! And who knows — maybe we'll be hearing from them again sometime soon. Strange things are afoot
I have more plot-related questions!
You can ask them here!
I want to sign up for the crystal-destroying part of the plot!
You can do that here!
Can I use the comments of this post to plan things for fourth wall with my fellow characters?
You certainly may!
Where is the Fourth Wall-specific Information Post again?
You can find it right over here.
Can you give me a quick run-down of the event timeline again?
Sure thing! It goes as follows:
• Monday, May 26: The Plot Crystals™ break the surface and continue to grow; the psychic resonance continues
• Tuesday, May 27 to Wednesday, May 28: The crystals continue to grow
• Thursday, May 29: The Machine™ goes haywire; Fourth Wall begins
• 12:01 AM EST on Thursday, May 29 to 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, June 1: FOURTH WALL EVENT; at some point during this period all crystal spires should be destroyed
• 12:01 AM EST on Monday, June 2: Fourth Wall ends; aftereffect shenanigans begin
• Monday, June 2 to 11:59 PM EST on Thursday, June 5: Aftereffect shenanigans
• 12:01 AM EST on Friday, June 6th: Aftereffects end, NORMAL GAMEPLAY RESUMES
Anything else I need to know?
From all of us at the modteam, thank you so much for four excellent years of gameplay. As is fitting for a game about Pokémon, we've evolved a lot in our time together, and we feel we've gotten all the stronger because of it. The heart of any game is its playerbase, and we sincerely hope we've stuffed you full of enough macarons to get you to hurry up and evolve into a Sylveon someda— wait.
...In seriousness, we love you all very much, and want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the wonderful times and memories we've shared together. We can't wait to see what Year Five brings; let's all work together to make it an amazing one.
~The Mods