A black room, with some... palm trees. The words "world map(?)" scroll across. Okay.
Wait... do I hear... whispering? It's getting louder... tons, maybe hundreds of voices whispering at once...
What...the...fuck.
Whatever, let's go before I lose my sanity.
Zone 1. It looks kinda like zone 0, except all green instead of yellow. The sea is pink. And it's raining. Right away, I can tell that this is not a normal place.
Walking up with the Batter, I saw some guy. An actual person!
Upon closer inspection, though... he doesn't seem like any human I've ever seen. He has a rectangular head, no hair to speak of, black holes where his eyes should be, and his voice sounds like he's got lung cancer.
"Train #1 is a really useful means of transport to get about zone 1."
Okay, then. We hop in the train and enjoy the nice, relaxing ride. At our next stop, The Batter interacts with another one of those creatures.
"I...uhm... welcome to the smoke mines. Uh... may I know who you are? Are you an inspector?"
"No. I'm the Batter. I've come to exterminate the impure spirits."
"The... Batter... The... impure spirits? Are you some sort of... prophet? Or perhaps a man of belief?"
"Yeah. Something like that." Being vague as usual, I see.
"I... who sent you?"
"Nobody. I'm being led by Puppeteer." Hi! I'm up here!
"Ah, I don't know him. He must be a member of the superior personnel..." Far as I can see, I wouldn't be caught dead working here.
An "Add-on." That's what the Judge told me I just picked up. It's a big floating ring. It's called "Alpha." With it, we walk off to the mines.
Only a few rooms in and we already get ambushed by specters. I'm glad- finally, I get to fight something!
"Show yourselves, corrupted children! I'm the voice of forgiveness that will eliminate your calamitous forms. Prepare yourselves to suffer my judgement."
Again with the creepy religious talk. Whatever. The scrubs are easily defeated.
Upon exiting the mines, we're tasked with "purifying" a barn of it's specters. It wasn't a hard task at all. But, just before we left... outside the barn is a... big looking guy. I can't tell, from the angle, what the hell he's supposed to be. He looks all boney, his skin's all wrinkly, and... is that a helmet or his face? I can't tell from here.
"Shut your trap, you poor moron."
"I...I don't know..."
He's arguing with one of those... Elsens, they were called?
"If you'd only listen to me more often, you wouldn't be in so much shit." Okay, this guy's rude.
"I'll be leaving now. I'll be returning to Alma. At least the people there are polite. They ain't constantly cutting you off."
"Pl-... Please... Don't..."
"Goodbye. ...Piss off."
"Don't... No... I..."
"I command you. Get the fuck out of my way this instant, if you want to keep your job." Sheesh, this asshole swears a lot! And what the fuck is his problem?! Why's he being such a prick to his workers?!
"That was Dedan. He's the Queen's supervisor."
He mentioned a Queen... so is she the one running this place? Also, is she the one behind the specters? I get the feeling we'll have to fight her at some point...
The Batter threatens to "destroy him," but strangely the "Elsen" defends his boss. He claims his boss is not a specter. Well... whatever, I guess. Let's go, Batter.
Welp, after getting lost in the darkness of the mines and constantly getting ambushed by specters, we finally made it out of the friggin cave!
Here's a yellow box and... who's that? Is he wearing a surgical mask?
"The characters are starting to pile up, aren't they?"
"Pardon?" asks The Batter, clearly as confused as I am.
"What I'm saying is that the average player doesn't need all these complicated and tedious dialouges. There should be more action and fewer questions."
"Who are you?"
"I'm Zacharie, the traditional items merchant that's necessary in every video game. I'll always find myself in places you're going to visit before you arrive. But enough blether. I'm not one of those protagonists you need to listen to for hours."
The Batter really hasn't been talking that much. In fact, a lot of my clients don't talk much.
"So, lemme see the color of your credits."