Chapters Twilight and Rainbow Play Dragon of Grace
Author's Note
Born of Tragedy
Rainbow grabbed a two-liter bottle of Mr. Pibb and a box of Cheez-its from the counter. Twilight had been hinting at a new project since January. Now was the time to see it come to fruition.
"So what's the story behind this, anyway," Rainbow asked, "I haven't read the comics yet. Wanted it to be a surprise."
"Spike started writing the story when I was in college," Twilight explained, "We pretty much kept to ourselves the entire time. We were both in the throes of a major existential crisis. We couldn't figure out a reason to keep breathing knowing our lives didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. I struggled with suicidal ideation on a daily basis, but I didn't tell him about it for a long time. I hatched a plan to go through with it after I made my fortune, that way I knew my family would at least be taken care of."
"Damn. That's heavy."
"Spike came up with the concept of a human teenager named Maria Drake, a reference to his own state of being. The series started off as two completely separate stories that had nothing to do with each other. They sort of merged together over time as they matured. Part of the reason was because he wanted to write a longer story. Once they came together, it evolved even further from there."
"The whole thing's about evolution, right?"
"In literature, modern humans are referred to homo sapiens. They're descendants of the hominoid family much the same way we are to equines."
"So there's legit evolutionary theory behind it."
"Yeah. We never gave this new phase of evolution a name. There aren't any noticeable changes to the body. The only difference is that Maria and the rest of your party members have full control over their energy. The horror and dark fantasy influences revolve more around the environments, the music, and the enemies."
"It's not very often you see a main character who loves extreme metal, that's for sure."
"Spike took a lot of inspiration from our own lives while he was writing. By the time he drew the actual comics, he had a solid idea of who the characters were, what they looked like, and how they'd cope with the insanity around them."
"That's badass. Guess it didn't take him long to put everything together from there."
"He revised everything a few times before we moved. He wanted to make sure it was deep and complex, but also easy for the average reader to digest."
"Makes sense. Hard to build an audience if they don't understand what you're saying."
"Yeah. Anyway, you ready to test this sucker out?"
"You know it."
Rainbow followed Twilight to the Pegasus's room. They shut the door and turned on the heater to enhance the atmosphere.
Twilight inserted the disc into Rainbow's console while the Pegasus inspected the case. The manual contained information about the characters and combat system.
"You don't have to read over that. I put in a tutorial option so you can learn as we play."
"I'm just checking the character bios. They look really cool."
"Spike wanted them to wear casual clothes to contrast the big-name comic companies. He didn't really like the leotards and latex suits, especially the older ones where they used to wear their underwear on the outside."
"I don't blame him."
The title screen appeared. A portrait of Maria stood next to the title. The background was covered in dark clouds. Heavy, metallic hardcore played through the speakers. When the vocals kicked in, Rainbow noticed they weren't the usual screams and growls she was accustomed to, but a loud spoken word style. She listened carefully to the lyrics.
"What are my feelings of despair!? In silence, I'm dealing, well-prepared! Mind or machine programmed to see - facing which way I need to believe!"
The tempo shifted, slowing down slightly, but the breakdown maintained the pace of a normal riff.
"You've managed to forget what life has meant!"
"These guys are badass! Who are they!?"
"Hand over Fist. They were part of the transitional period between regular hardcore and the heavier metalcore stuff that came later. They had two albums that came out the same year as Life. Love. Regret. ."
"Awesome!"
"I put a few codes in. We can use one of them now if you want."
"What are they?"
"Max Level is Up, L1, R1, L2, R2. Max Stats is Square, Circle, Triangle, Left, Right, Up, L1, R1, L2, R2. For 99 of every item, press L1, R1, L2, and R2 simultaneously. The last two codes are costumes for Maria. I set it up like Mega Man X6 where you can only use one per playthrough. The first costume is her Halloween costume from some of the early custscenes. It doesn't change your stats at all. It's just for aesthetic effect. The second one wasn't in Spike's comic, but I added it with his permission. It's called the Azazel costume. Her lips and nails are painted like the Halloween one, but her hair turns light blonde like Emily's and she gains 30 points for all her stats."
"Kinda like a super saiyan."
"Yeah. Kinda."
"What are the codes?"
"The Halloween costume is just circle ten times. The Azazel one is X, Up, Down, Left, Right, L1, R1, L2, and R2."
Rainbow entered the Azazel code. A wind chime jingled for a brief moment, letting Rainbow know she'd entered the code correctly.
"Press start and go to Options."
The Pegasus did as she was instructed.
"You can configure the controls and toggle tutorials. I made the sound effects and music separate from each other so you can control them individually. After you beat the game, you'll unlock sound test mode. Each number is a complete album from the bands that show up in the game."
"Guess I'll have plenty of music to keep me occupied for a while."
Rainbow set up the controls to her liking and returned to the main menu.
"There are four difficulties: Dream, Grind, Strife, and the last one you'll have to unlock. It's called Empathy mode. If you read the description in the manual, it says 'a difficulty for those with a heart of gold and a will of steel'."
"I say we skip the baby steps and jump straight into Strife mode. Knowing you, I have to beat Empathy to get the real ending."
"Ya got me."
"Watch me get murdered."
"At least you can save as many times as you want unlike Resident Evil."
"True. You said the save points are the same as the ones in that Powerpuff game, right?"
"Mixed shades of blue light with spirits floating around them."
"All right! Let's do this!"
Twilight and Rainbow Play Dragon of Grace
Journey to the Soul (Part 1)
Author's Note
Journey to the Soul (Part 1)
A name entry screen appeared.
"Just stick with the defaults for now. We can change them on Empathy mode."
"I thought Maria was the main character. Why'd Emily show up first?"
"Emily's introduction is the catalyst for what follows. She's one of the deuteragonists."
"Ah. Gotcha."
"When I told you the concept started as two separate stories, Emily was the protagonist of the second. It was originally titled 'Bleeding Machine' after a Cast From Eden lyric. Her parents Robert and Chelsea were originally intended to be killed off by a pack of feral wolves, but Spike thought the whole dead parents shtick was played out since it's in every anime these days."
"Fuckin' weebs, man."
"Emily's controllable on the field during the intro. This part of the game is set in '97 at the beginning of October. Her birthday's on Halloween, so this is just before we get into the real meat of the game. The beginning takes place in Arkansas, one of the states in Earth's North American lore."
The first cutscene showed Emily being awakened by her father. He had curly, dark red hair with glasses.
"Graphics are cool. Kinda has a late PS2-early PS3 feel."
"For some reason, Robert stops wearing the glasses after they move. They just disappear from his face for no reason. That was an inconsistency from the comics I kept in. Wanted to stay faithful to the source material. It didn't disrupt the flow of the story, anyway."
"Probably just got contacts or laser surgery."
"Yeah. We'll go with that."
Rainbow assumed control of Emily. Her first objective was simple. All she had to do was retrieve Emily's clothes and get changed.
"You don't actually see anything, right?"
Twilight rolled her eyes.
"No. The screen cuts to black like Resident Evil 2."
"Just checkin'."
Rainbow pulled out a black shirt, a puffy silver jacket, navy blue jeans, socks, shoes, and a black belt with a silver buckle.
"She'll tie the back of her hair after she's done changing. I put in a little animation for it before you take control again. It was a bit tricky 'cause of the hair physics."
"I'll bet."
Before moving on with the game, Rainbow took some time to take everything in.
"So this is like a small cottage like the ones from the 1600's?"
"Yeah. Chelsea and Robert moved outside the city for a quiet, peaceful life. Emily was conceived, born, and raised here."
"I'm diggin' the music. Nice and soothing with a heavy edge."
"It's from a newer band called Volumes. The 90's stuff kicks in during the wolf attack. From there on, it's pure, unadulterated metalcore until the ending."
"Gotcha. Givin' the player a reprieve from all the dark shit."
"Exactly."
When Emily was done changing, Rainbow left the bathroom.
"I set up the game with an interactive progression system. It won't force you to continue the story until you trigger cutscenes with other characters by pressing the X button near them. I did it that way so you could explore and complete any side-quests in the area before you move on."
"Can you come back and do them later?"
"Yeah, but it's easier to do them as they become available."
"Fair enough."
"Check under Emily's pillow. There's some extra money for shops later. It's measured in the North American currency of dollars."
"It's pretty cool how you mixed pre-established lore with an original story. Makes it feel more real."
"You can explore outside. There's a tree where the attack will happen during the next cutscene. Check the trunk and you'll find an energy drink."
"What's it do?"
"Restores a small amount of your evolution points."
"Guessin' that's this game's version of magic."
"Yahtzee."
"Are there any health items right now?"
"Not until you take control of Maria. There's three energy drinks in her refrigerator and a suture under the right bathroom sink."
"Gotcha."
Once all the items were collected, Rainbow triggered the next phase of the game by speaking with Emily's parents. Not long after breakfast, Emily was hounded by three wolves under the same tree a good ways off from the house. One of them jumped her, leaving a bite wound on the arm she used to defend her face. The child narrowly escaped with her life intact.
"That survival instinct is some powerful shit."
"That was the whole point. She wanted to live. That's a trait often forgotten by the modern world."
"I hear ya. You either have the world at your hooves or you're broke and hungry. It's hard to find a content middle ground."
"But she did."
"Talk about a stroke of luck."
"Check the computer. Robert'll send an SOS to Maria and transition you to her part of the game."
"Gettin' close to the first battle?"
"Eeyup."
Twilight and Rainbow Play Dragon of Grace
Journey to the Soul (Part 2)
The game shifted to Maria's point of view in the state of Georgia. She finished her morning workout with pull-ups behind her house.
"So this chick's really intense like Mikasa in Attack on Titan." Rainbow noted.
"She's struggled with existential depression since she was five years old."
"This is where the real hardcore shit comes in."
"The story is completely and utterly merciless. There's no fluff, no unnecessary romantic sub-plots - it's pure brutality from beginning to end."
"The way it should be."
"The band in the background is Decontaminate by the way. They put out an EP called Cleanse and Burn and a split with another band called Absone."
"Vocals are crushing. Of course I love it."
"Thought you would."
Rainbow gained control of Maria as soon as she entered the house. The Pegasus collected the items Twilight described and headed upstairs.
"The funny thing is, she actually grabbed snacks in the first comic. It was one of the lighter moments of realism Spike put in just 'cause he felt like it. I guess the mundane can contribute to a story in its own way. That's why I put the drinks in there."
"Makes sense."
"You can start grinding after the next cutscene. Check the computer. You'll see Robert's message."
"It's all gothed out! That's awesome!"
"Those old computers look so ghetto now, but they have a charm that'll never be matched."
"Well, duh. Old school always dominates. I mean, they had 3-D Pinball for crying out loud. How do you think my love of PC gaming got started?"
"Can't argue with that."
The following cutscene showed Maria calling her brother at the local hospital. He suggested calling animal control, but Maria protested, knowing their lives would be at risk as well. Instead, the pair opted for a rescue mission.
"See, this is what I love about you guys' work. You go the unconventional route and spice things up."
"This was all Spike's doing. I just programmed what he gave me to work with."
"Little dude's got a firm grasp of plot progression."
"He was always like that. We used to sit around with our folks and tell scary stories on Halloween. I see this as us turning that tradition into an art form."
"That's a good way to look at it."
"The cutscene will end when Brandon gets back and changes into his regular clothes. You'll spawn on the veranda. You can start exploring the city from there. Just be aware Brandon won't join your party until you trigger the next series of cutscenes. It might be a bit tricky since we're on hard mode, but I'll guide you through it. Your first save point's coming up soon."
"There any goodies I can loot?"
"Oh, yes."
"Nice."
After the cutscene, Rainbow assumed control once more.
"Go back inside and go upstairs again. You'll find Maria's payment from her last computer job. Between her and Emily, you should have 800 bucks in total at this stage. From there, go north past the car to the next block. The save point's right on the edge. There aren't any enemies on this side of the city, so you can explore to your heart's content. I put treasure everywhere, so take your time."
"This map is HUGE!"
"I wanted to make it the size of a real city. The main story's not very long, so I had to think of creative ways to pad it out. You'll see what I mean soon."
"How short is it?"
"There's only three story bosses. The rest are optional ones that reference earlier versions before Spike revised it."
"I gotcha. By making big maps with lots of quests, you could make it longer and give the player more bang for their buck."
"I took a few liberties and put in a bunch of neat extras. Spike's only concern was keeping the characters and story intact."
"Kinda reminds me of Koudelka. The game was only seven hours long if you knew what you were doin'."
"Yeah, well, I'm not charging people thousands of bits for a short-ass game."
"That's beyond highway robbery."
"Don't I know it. Buncha bastards gouging the ever-loving fuck out of old RPGs like Lunar and Dragon Warrior. To hell with 'em."
"Hear, hear!"
Rainbow raised her bottle of Pibb. She took a small swig in an effort to recreate Lord of the Rings .
Twilight and Rainbow Play Dragon of Grace
Journey to the Soul (Part 3)
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. View Online
Twilight and Rainbow Play Dragon of Grace
Journey to the Soul (Part 4, End of Prologue)
Twilight triggered the next series of cutscenes. During the second one, Brandon stopped just outside the city where Emily lived. Maria rushed out of the car, retching on the side of the road.
"Aw, that's gnarly!"
"It was kind of a throwback to Shadow Hearts and Final Fantasy 7. Yuri and Cloud both had severe motion sickness as I'm sure you remember. Nuances like that make characters feel more realistic and relatable."
"Can't argue there. Still gross, though."
"That's why I didn't actually show the puke. Seems more like unnecessary shock factor than atmosphere in my opinion. Not showing it is more intense if you think about it."
"Thank fuck for that."
"Human civilizations are more often than not portrayed as dystopian societies rife with corruption and despair. This really isn't much different, but the characters and story display a pocket of empathy in such a world."
"A tight-knit group with high morals and ethics that conflict with the world around them."
"Nailed it to a T. That's exactly what they are. There's no ambiguity as to who the good guys and bad guys are. The entire story can be taken at face value."
"It kind of goes back to what you were saying earlier. It's reminiscent of old comics with a more realistic and emotional feel."
"Nothing the protagonists do is malicious or done out of ill intent. The anti-hero trope's been done to death. The creative fields needed a breath of fresh air. I think Spike realized that when he told me he felt like we were living in a cultural wasteland."
"He ain't wrong. Everybody's eager to jump in on bullshit trends instead of doing their own thing. The market's saturated with uninspired, unoriginal crap that's been recycled a billion times over. It gets jarring after a while."
"Guess that's part of why we're here, then."
Rainbow smiled for the third time that evening.
"Guess so."
The scene continued with Brandon driving his sister to the nearest gas station. He refilled the car while she listened to music. He bought her a Gatorade to help ease her discomfort.
"Grape flavor."
"Mom loves grape-flavored stuff. Spike knew that when he wrote this scene."
Rainbow started singing.
"Fourth Wall! That's a fourth wall break, yeah!"
"Someone's been watching too much YouTube."
"Says the chick who understands the reference."
"Ya got me. Ya gotta admit though, purple is the most goth drink color."
"True that."
Rainbow opened the menu screen and equipped Maria's upgraded weapon. The first battle took place outside Emily's cottage. Twilight taught Rainbow how to dodge and read enemy movements, a feature almost unheard of in turn-based RPGs. Once Emily's family was rescued, the next phase of the game began.
Author's Note
Twilight and Rainbow Play Dragon of Grace
Before the pair continued on with the story, Twilight returned to Maria and Brandon's house. A menu displayed on the computer upstairs.
"I put in a sound test mode in case you wanted to hear the music. You can see the names of each artist below the test number."
"Play that shit!"
Twilight selected a band she knew Rainbow hadn't heard before: a long-dissolved hardcore outfit dubbed 'Ides of March'. Rainbow listened intently to the lyrics.
"SERVICERS OF AN ENTIRE POOR WORLD DROWNING IN DEATH, NO LONGER FREE TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICES! YOU ARE NOW CONSIDERED PROPERTY OF THE SYSTEM! IF OUR GREED FOR POWER AND CONTROL CONTINUES ON, OUR DESIRE SHALL BRING OUR WORLD TO ITS END!"
"Holy shit! These guys are so heavy I'm worried they're gonna crush my windpipe from here!"
"Back when this kind of stuff was coming out, the phrase 'metalcore' wasn't being thrown around yet. This was considered straight-up hardcore despite the obvious metal influences."
"Better be a battle theme. That's all I'm gonna say."
"It's for the second half of the game. I put the whole demo in, actually."
"What about stuff like Catharsis?"
"I put them, Chalice, and Shortage in along with a few others. You heard Hand over Fist earlier. Obviously I had to include Frailty of Words and Until the Day Breathes and the Shadows Flee ."
"Endgame?"
"Best place to put the melodic stuff."
"True that."
"Anyway, we've done everything we can for now. Let's rescue Em."
"Shouldn't we grind first?"
"We don't have to at this point. The enemies here are easy regardless of difficulty."
"If you say so."
"Don't worry: I got your back."
Rainbow smiled.
"I know."
Author's Note