AETHER: Eight Helpful Tips

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[0004] Eight Helpful Tips
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So, you are a Player of AETHER. You received a shitty app on your phone, got involved in a disaster one way or another, found time freezing around you and last but not least sucked into the Blackened Void. You were kidnapped by strange creatures and rescued by a group of other humans, probably fighting a boss together on the way. Most of all, you have no damn clue what is going on or why this is happening to you.

I would say I'm sorry, but there's no real point. I can't give a fuck about some Player in a realm outside my own. I've got bullshit of my own to deal with. Really, there's no point in apologizing. You're just been dumped into a world where conventional logic was thrown out the window thousands of years ago AND the moment you just arrived. Not to mention, you've already lost the round. You lost your life the moment the AETHER client was installed on your computing device. Now, it's up to you to spit in the Void's face and snatch victory from its grasp. You are going to meet a dysfunctional group of like-minded sufferers, explore dangerous territories, be subject to the mercy of the ridiculous twists AETHER is determined to wrap around you, fight, kill, hurt and repeat the previous over and over again until you begin to wonder what's the bloody point. You are playing a game where hundreds have stumbled into bad ends, fallen into despair, given into temptation, abandoned by all they've ever cared about, tore their sanity to shreds and done the unthinkable in the name of progress.

There is no use in crying over spilt milk.

So chin up, eyes open and breathe. Look towards the future. The more you curse the past and the present, the deeper the hole you dig yourself into. You are alive. It's more than what can be said for many. Go forward, even if it's just a tiny shuffle across the barren wasteland ground. Even if you are so petrified by the sheer magnitude of it all that your limbs have suddenly transformed into stone blocks. All that matters is that you're moving ahead. You are doing this shit, you are making this happen and you are going to reach the finish line. Your adventure is going to grab you by the hand and drag you across the street. Don't just hold it and act like a piece of wood drifting erratically in a typhoon. Crush it hand, hold onto your butt and take the fucker for a dance.

Information is power. You will need both to clear the game and claim the Ultimate Reward. I've compiled several of the more important tips into a handy list. Knowing this certainly would've helped me when I first started out.

So without further ado...

[#1: TRUST YOUR TEAM]
You're going to be stuck with a bunch of random dudes for the next year or so. They'll enter one by one you'll be scratching your head wondering who the hell these motherfuckers are, unless you're the Leader. Yes, you're going to have your differences. You likely won't get along 100% of the time. You'll spend weeks trying to co-ordinate your various skills and abilities into something resembling a strategy. There'll be times where you'll have arguments so blistering you could fry egg on your faces. They'll fuck up doing something completely inane and you and the rest of the team will scream at them in the aftermath. Then you'll do a 180 and proceed to do exactly the same. You might even contemplate murdering them in their sleep. I won't lie, I have.

But in the end, they're your precious comrades and you have to look out for them. When you fight in battles, they'll be right next to you. They'll be eating with you, sleeping in the same bunk rooms, patching you up after missions and generally watching your back. Did you know that if a quarter of the Players die, the game is considered to be unwinnable? Allies in AETHER are far and few in between. Treasure the ones you already have. Be nice to them. Try to make friends. Buy lunch together, hang out with them over weekends, revel in the spoils you've earned. I say this without irony: friendship is one of the strongest forces in the universe.

[#2: PROCEED WITH CAUTION]
AETHER is not like conventional video games. There are no saves to reload, no quitting the game once you're bored. Permadeath is something all entities within the game share. If you're not careful, it'll happen to you. I've looked back on my team's history and noticed a lot of senseless grievances we could have avoided if just took an extra bit of caution. Read the item descriptions, carry an extra Trafuri Canister at all times, always bring backup with you on missions, set up working battle strategies, furbish your safehouse with defense mechanisms and store your Macca in a separate account in case of Macca/Wastrel Beam. Don't enter areas too high level for you, examine your surroundings careful in case of traps and only consider mercy towards your enemies when its absolutely safe. No man is an island. No man is capable of taking on the Void's monsters by himself, either.

It's okay to be a hero at times; that's what Players sort of are. But it's better to be a cautious and intelligent hero rather than a reckless and suicidal one.

[#3: LEVEL UP]
AETHER will not wait for you. The Shadows and the Denizens will pursue you and your team relentlessly. Random encounters are the norm, peace and quiet is a respite. You will reach a point where your normal training won't do. You'll hit the proverbial brick wall and it will be overwhelming. What next, Player? Will you surrender? I suppose you could curl up in a ball and cry, if you had a few screws loose and really wanted to die.

To all us sane people, the solution is obvious. Get stronger. Don't do normal, do abnormal. Go to the gym more often and get fit. Work those muscles. Beat up thugs to get real-world fighting experience, no-one is going to miss them. Practice your magic until you're flinging fireballs the size of tables around. Kill Shadows to gain experience. Boost your six main attributes. Learn new skills, then learn some more. Go down unvisited avenues to acquire new abilities. Gather up all that sweet, delicious C. EXP. When you amassed enough, LEVEL UP and show off your new found strength. Then go back out into the Blackened Void and begin the whole process all over again.

You can never hoard too much experience in this game. Speaking of hoarding shit...

[#4: MONEY MONEY MONEY]
Macca makes the world go round, and the Blackened Void is no different. You'll need cold, hard cash to purchase equipment, buy medical supplies, bribe your way through encounters, persaude individuals to talk and acquire uncommon resources (like neurotoxin or infectious air-borne viruses). Macca can be obtained in a number of ways. Killing Shadows, finding treasures, getting a part time job, plain stealing or selling junk. Be creative and find the method that works the best for you.

Most of all, be careful of Macca and Wastrel Beam. Those skills don't drain a fixed amount, they do it based on a percentage (15% and 25% respectively). Make sure the team has a shared account for this!

[#5: KNOW YOUR ENEMIES]
At some point, your team will receive a Player with analytical abilities. They will be able to scan enemies and reveal their strengths and weaknesses. Exploit them. Make note of them, because AETHER is fond of recycling encounter tropes and enemies. Record that shit down in a database and store it someplace secure. As I said before, knowledge is power. The weaknesses of your enemies are some of the greatest of them all.

There are several types of enemies within the Blackened Void. They are Shadows, Hostile Denizens, ///$% 57 69 74 68 6f 75 74 20 6e 6f 72 6d 61 6c 69 74 79 20 74 68 65 72 65 20 69 73 20 6e 6f 20 73 70 65 63 69 61 6c 69 74 79 2c 20 77 69 74 68 6f 75 74 20 77 65 61 6b 6e 65 73 73 20 74 68 65 72 65 20 69 73 20 6e 6f 20 73 74 72 65 6e 67 74 68 use this information to your advantage.

[#6: AVOID THE PVP (AT FIRST)]
It is not balanaced for low level Players. Only consider it when you've reached C- rank of something. Even then, it's a tad broken. If you see a red and black phantom that is not a Denizen or any non-Shadow AETHER enemy NPC, run the fuck away. I've heard it yields great rewards such, but in my opinion that's not enough to justify participating. Players already have enough problems. Why add another one that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back?

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[#7: DO THE COMPANION THING]

At some point in the game, you'll encounter your Companion. Companions are basically strong NPCs on the side of the Players. They have their own unique skills and abilities. You can use their Summon Object to summon them as a white phantom in any part of the Blackened Void. Don't be hesitant in using them if the situation calls for it. For one, you need all the help you can get. Secondly, white phantoms are not subject to permadeath and will only fade away when their vitality runs out. Companions are a huge help in boss fights, especially in some of the standard early yet unreasonably difficult ones.

This brings me to...

[#8: ANYTHING GOES]
You are not cheesing it. If it works, it works. Even if it's as ludricous as stealing two nukes from the American government to blow up a magically sealed cathedral to gain access to the final dungeon and then using the fallout to poison the boss to death. That's how you survive in the Blackened Void and live long enough to claim the Ultimate Reward. Anyone who says otherwise deserves  throw themselves headfirst into the Forlorn Abyss and get chewed on by a Preta.

--By // 4c 75 63 65 72 6e 65 20 53 63 79 74 68 65 20 53 68 6f 74 65 6c