“So you made it to the Adventurer’s Guild-o! And a rank up to E already-o?”
“Yeah. I might have over-leveled on those Young Turtles. Goblins are just insta-kills now. One hit and poof. Literally poof.”
“Well, better than being under-leveled-o?”
“True. Especially since dying means a Character Lost in this game.”
The next day, my colleague and I were already deep into a conversation about the game.
“By the way, the town I’m in is called Tsudon. Is that where you are, too?”
“Nah, I’m somewhere else-o. I’m in a town called Frilene-o. Looks like meeting up will be a tall order-o.”
“That’s a shame. Oh, I’ll send you my Friend Code. I completely forgot about it.”
“Whoops! I forgot too-o! My bad-o! I’ll register you later-o.”
I sent the Friend Code I’d saved in our chat.
“By the way, what about the voxel display-o?”
“Oh, did you try it? It has a nice aesthetic, doesn't it?”
“I didn’t have the option-o.”
“You didn’t? No way.”
I tilted my head, puzzled. I had definitely been able to enable the voxel display from the configuration menu. I knew my memory wasn't failing me.
“...But it showed up once I hit Level 15-o.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“A level cap on the system settings-o? This game is too much of a mystery lol-o.”
“Seriously? I’ve never heard of a system like that. What are they even doing?”
Come to think of it, Penpen had said she was Level 15 too. A random start, and then features unlock as you level up? Does that mean the visual variety increases?
Looking at the situation, that seemed to be the most logical conclusion.
“It’s common for gameplay options to expand as you progress, but I’ve never seen it applied to the graphics before-o.”
“Really? Is it that common?”
“You know, like unlocking upgrades as the story moves forward, or getting a home and then unlocking the furniture system-o? Things like that-o.”
“I guess that’s true when you put it that way.”
“But capping the graphic styles makes zero sense-o!”
“You’re right about that.”
It was beyond nonsensical. Truly.
“People have been uploading battle screenshots, right? If that’s the case, I’d expect the players like Penpen who started with voxels to have said something by now.”
“Actually, when I checked the Wiki, there were comments like ‘This looks nothing like mine. Is this a screenshot from a different game?’-o.”
“Oh, so they are talking about it.”
“And the screenshot that person posted showed a command-based battle system with SD characters-o.”
“……”
I was lost. SD characters? A command-based battle system? Like a traditional RPG?
“Are you sure they didn't just accidentally post a screenshot from a different game?”
“But several other people were posting their own SD characters, saying ‘Look how cute mine is’-o.”
“Are they playing a different game with the same name?”
“Hmm. I searched, but nothing like that came up-o. All I can say is that the Wiki is getting more chaotic by the second-o...”
Even though we were supposed to be playing the same game, it felt like entirely different games were unfolding.
It was... well, how should I put it?
“Is the AI GM constructing a unique game system for every single person?”
“Nice one, Mr. Colleague! That’s a sharp observation-o! There’s a very good chance of that-o!”
“I don't even know what kind of game this is anymore, then.”
“Maybe that’s why there was almost zero info on the gameplay before release-o?”
If the AI was building the mechanics from scratch for every scenario, of course they couldn't release details. They wouldn't even know what the game would look like.
Usually, that would be a major selling point, but the management behind Kite a Lise hadn't said a word.
...Do they even care about making money?
“Wait. If that’s the case, then even though Penpen is playing a box-garden slow-life game, she’s able to adventure in the same world as me—a 3D action RPG player. How does that even work if the systems are different?”
“Highly flexible and adapting on the fly-o?”
“That’s absurd. How would that even function?”
“AI is pretty incredible these days-o. Maybe they have a few templates-o? What do you think, Mr. Colleague? From a programmer’s perspective-o?”
“Me? Well...”
As long as the shared interface was built correctly, could different games actually sync up? It wasn't exactly cross-platform play.
Wait.
“What if they built one single virtual world and just gave everyone different ‘skins’ or filters? I see 3D action, Penpen sees a slow-life game, and the Wiki people see an RPG. It’s all just different layers on top of the same world.”
“Does that explain it-o?”
“For the part about different genres playing together in the same world? I think so.”
“Ooh-o!”
“But the reason why they’re mixing genres is still a complete mystery. 3D action should have been plenty... What’s with the RPG stuff?”
“It’s a mystery-o... Should I add it to the ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ section of the Wiki-o?”
“Yeah, go for it. We have so little info that I’m completely stumped.”
Not only were the scenarios unique, but the game systems were different too...
“Maybe we’ll be able to play the slow-life version later-o? Like, when we unlock production classes-o.”
“Hmm, but I don’t think I can afford to waste skill points on production for my Tria.”
“Your info is outdated, Mr. Colleague-o! Believe it or not, someone already unlocked a second character-o!”
“A second character? Not just a restart after a character loss?”
“Nope-o. It wasn't Mr. Takuro; they’re still alive and playing their second character-o. That player, Aruru, commented, ‘I hired a second person and did their character creation! Now I’m gonna make some serious bank!’-o.”
Heh. A second character. So that was possible.
“Wait. What does ‘hired’ mean?”
“...Maybe it’s yet another game system-o?”
I’d have to check those Wiki comments for myself later.
For now, I should probably get back to work... If I slack off too much, my paycheck’s going to suffer.