With renewed enthusiasm, knowing that this character is my only shot, I close out the menu and scan down the multiple panels of character info. Let's see what I'm working with...

Status Power: 5 Vitality: 1 Finesse: 18 Speed: 12 Perception: 3 Spirit: 11 Sorcery: 13 Aura: 38 (59) Character Points: 23 Skills Stat Boost Defense Boost I: 1 Aura Boost V: 1 Melee Hammer I: 1 Ranged Bow I: 1 Power Shooting I: 1 Magic Melee Spell Trigger I: 1 Piercing Exploit+ XI: 1 Healing Life Drain Magic I: 1 Self Healing I: 1 Support Party Defense Boost I: 1 Skill Points: 25 Abilities Skillful: 75 Offensive Abilities Power Shot: 12 Counter+: 8 Stunning Blow+: 7 Sneak Attack+: 15 Weapon Parry+: 13 Offensive Magic Drain Touch: 1 Ability Points: 70 Empowered Attacks Empower Points: 0/65

“Ok, that's... a lot.”

Of course, that leads to my first obvious question.

“Why is there so much?” My eyes rove over the floating panels, making sense out of things the best I can. A few taps for some extra info gives me the bare basics I need.

Besides my stats themselves, Skills and Abilities have completely different uses. Skills are the things you want to do and be good at, and Abilities are specific actions, spells, and stuff, that are unlocked from those Skills. Some of those Abilities can be combined together to form Empowered Attacks.

The other main difference is that Skills level up when you use them, Abilities only get stronger from putting more Ability Points into them.

I nod a few times. As long as I understand that, I can work the rest out. Still, there's so much here already, why is it like this? Just looking at them, the Empowered Attacks window is empty, but the three others all have a bunch of stuff filled in already. Do characters get a bunch of their base stats randomized in this game? Or maybe it's based on something else, like the way I built my character? There's no way it's related to my real life body... right?

I've never seen an MMO pull something like this before. Most people would lose their shit not having full control over every last point of their character stats and everything. How else are you supposed to min-max? Unless that's a selling point of this game?

I mean, just look at those Skills it gave me! A melee weapon Skill for a weapon I probably couldn't use well in a body this size, and a complete lack of supporting Skills for it. There's Bow and Power Shooting which is a good start for a ranger, but what about magic?

Apparently I can trigger spells off of melee attacks, but I don't have any spells! Unless you count Life Drain, but that's labeled as healing for some reason? Not to mention I can self heal, presumably with said healing magic, but it's already life stealing magic anyway? Doesn't that make self healing a moot point?

And I have two different defensive Skills despite having literally one point of Vitality.

“What even...” I mutter. I'm seeing a bunch of different ways I could run with this. A quick check reveals that taking a new Skill costs five Skill Points, so I could take five more to plug the gaps in this build, or ignore some of the starter Skills to focus where I want. I could go melee mage, using attacks to trigger magic. Ranger since I have some bow abilities to start, support and healing...

It's that 'Exploit+ XI' that really catches my eye though. It's in a different color and everything, gold where most everything else is just black text. When I tap on it for more info, I find out why.

Exploit+ is stronger than normal due to your Minor Exploit Skill Personal Affinity.

So, that's the personal affinity it talked about earlier. Apparently, I randomly rolled to have that particular skill stronger on my character. It's also listed as Mastery level 11. Which I'm guessing also has to do with my Affinity.

A little poking through menus reveals that Mastery levels are gained by putting extra Skill Points into a Skill after acquiring it. Doing so will boost the effects, and can have other effects depending on the Skill. Like for Exploit, the higher Mastery level clearly unlocked all those extra Abilities in the next window over.

I consider all of that a little longer before turning my attention back on my base stats. Mainly to see why Aura is so much higher than the others. My Aura Boost Skill? This one is gold too, so maybe... Another tap brings up its info.

Aura is being increased by: Major Aura Boost Personal Affinity, Aura Boost V.

Another affinity? And it's labeled as Major this time, is that why it's so high? What does Aura even do? Scanning through the description, it turns out it acts as an ability power amplifier. So it's for making all my special attacks and stuff stronger I guess. Should also cover my spells and other skills like my passive party buff by the way it's written.

I doubt it affects the stat boosting Skills though, that'd theoretically create ridiculous feedback loops unless they set it up strangely. Shaking away the thought, I note the last important part, and once I do, I get how this all works.

Every Character Point put into Aura gives an Ability Point. Following that over, the Skillful Ability at the top of the window basically converts two Ability Points into one Skill Point. So the stats you gain can be siphoned over into more Ability levels, Skills, and Skill Mastery. Doesn't look like there's any way to do the same thing in reverse, so it's a tradeoff between higher stats and a more varied assortment of abilities. Or more specialization in a few, I suppose.

Well, rather than base stats, I could take more of the stat boosting Skills, but without proper research, I have no idea how effective those are. I highly doubt it would be more efficient to increase strength by shunting all of my Character Points into Ability Points, to Skill Points, to Mastery levels on stat boost skills. Instead of, you know, just putting the things into the base stat.

Chances are the calculations don't help either, lots of games make single points into the underlying base stats significantly more effective through multipliers that come in later. Multipliers these boost Skills might not get.

I'm broken out of my theorizing when there's a tiny flash from the slowly circling stream camera. Oh, I have a new viewer. I give a little wave and a smile for the camera, swinging it around so he can see how I'm working on my stats, before there's another little indicator, this one letting me know he's chatting.

Wait, I swear there's a shortcut streamers use... With the correct twitch of my fingers, the stream chat window pops up immediately. Just in time for him to send his message.

' lolwtf you noob.'

Huh? While I'm blinking at the message stupidly, he leaves my channel. I sigh. Being a jerk just because I'm new? With a shake of my head, I move the window aside and get back to what I was doing.

Alright, so I normally make mages, and I have pretty good starting stats for a mage or archer. Maybe I can make use of melee stuff as a last resort, but my miniscule Vitality makes me a total glass cannon. For now, I'll focus on a long range playstyle. I'm thinking of using magic to support my archery to start, so I open up the available Skill list to look things over.

Hmm, they have everything divided up in an interesting way. There are twelve 'Archetypes' as they're called here. Classes... for the most part. Some of them seem more like specialization options to support various playstyles, actually.

Melee, Ranged, Magic, Servant, Piercing, Splash, Healing, Support, Control, Mobility, Sense, and Industry. I glance at the ones that aren't immediately obvious. Servant is basically the summoner and pet class, and Industry covers all the crafting skills.

Piercing, Splash, and Sense are the stand-outs. Actually, my Exploit Skill comes from the Piercing Archetype, I realize. It only takes scanning over a few more skills to get it. Piercing is used for armor piercing to deal more damage against high defense enemies, and Splash is for area of effect attacks. Sense is literally for increasing your senses. Apart from better sight for my archery, I'm not sure why I would want them, but who knows?

Paging back to the Ranged Skills, I look through them for a bit. There are options for different weapon types, but I already have Bow. Then some stat boosts that would support rangers. And a section for a wide variety of supporting abilities. Things like Short Range Shooting and Long Range Shooting, for increasing damage depending on range. Fast Fire to increase attack speed. Stealth to reduce the aggro you generate, and so on. Some are active abilities, some are just passives, and some look like special attack styles, like the Power Shooting one I already have.

Oddly, the descriptions of each Skill are very precise, making it clear exactly what they're for and how to use them, while having absolutely no indication of how effective they are beyond single words like 'large' or 'small.'

Support Fire for instance. It details how it increases attack damage against enemies who are already in combat with your allies. It even specifies that it is more effective the more allies you have, and that party members are considered more highly than others, but being attacked by your target will disable the ability, so it cannot be used in a melee. It's really only for providing supporting fire from a safe distance, as the name implies.

But at the same time – How effective is 'more?' And is there a limit to the number of allies who will help? Minimum and maximum percentages for the bonus? Not a word.

Based on what I'm seeing here, if I had two options to choose between, there'd be no way to tell which one had a higher bonus and choose that one. At the same time, each Skill is unique enough that I don't see significant overlaps between them. Like, if I want to do better shooting from long range, what else would I take instead of Long Range Shooting?

After I spend some time pondering that, I decide that I'll just have to take Skills based on my intended play style. I can't simply choose whichever ones give the best stat bonuses and play around them. Just have to hope they're balanced, or I don't choose the weak ones...

With that in mind, I scour the list. Since I see myself most effective as an ambush assassin with my Sneak Attack, I choose the Sniper Skill. It says it increases shot accuracy and projectile velocity, which is always useful for long range weapons. Not to mention that while I have some practice with bows from other VR games, it's not like I'm a particularly great shot, so having the game add some assist to my accuracy is a definite plus.

That leaves me twenty points, enough for four more Skills. First I go under Magic and find Ranged Spell Trigger, which will let me activate Spells on my ranged attacks, and take that. Now I just need to choose what kind of magic I actually want... I have that life draining magic, but I'm not seeing much point in it when I'm a ranged glass cannon assassin that either kills things immediately, or I'm dead. Not much in-between there.

Actually... Once I consider that, I pull up the Mobility section. Running away should always be an option, right? There is actually a surprising variety of different Mobility Skills, from stuff like air-dashing to a slow-falling one. I might take some of those later, they sound pretty cool. For now, I select Running Boost to help me run my ass away if I have to.

Two more. Back in Magic, I see that there are actually a number of things that go into it. There are the normal variety of spell elements, with more specific spell types nested within, and a section labeled Attunement. It contains each of the elements as individual Skills, and when I pull up the info on them, it looks like being attuned to an element will strengthen any of your spells of that type, while decreasing the effectiveness of that magic against you.

I doubt I want to go that far right off the bat. I'll leave that for higher levels, when I have a better idea of what I'm doing. So, spells... This game includes Fire, Earth, Ice, Air, Light, and Dark. A little popup explains that each pair of opposing elements is extra effective against each other. So fire and ice, earth and air, light and dark... Oh, and apparently each element has a higher form you can unlock later.

Sticking with the assassin theme, I decide to go with Dark. I see a few different spell options: Shooting, Curse, and Poison, and check through their details. Generally, each focuses on something different. Target distance, stacking effects, and damage over time, respectively.

That's not sticking with the assassin theme except for the Shot type maybe having long range magic, but the others could be useful to cover my weakness against enemies I can't burst down. I decide to go with curses since they might give me some weakening effects later.

Just one skill left. I look back across what I have. Leaving aside the ones that don't really contribute, what's left is... Bow, Power Shooting, Sniper, Ranged Spell Trigger, Dark Curse Magic, and Exploit. And Running Boost if I need to flee. That covers the basics for getting by in combat, doesn't it? I could put the last five points into Mastery levels, or save them for later, when I have a better idea of what I'm doing.

For now, I check over my Abilities again, I have new ones after taking my new Skills. Actually... there's only one, I realize. I got the Dark Curse spell from Dark Curse Magic. The rest of the Skills I took are all stat boosts or general utility stuff. I put ten Ability Points in to bring it up around the level of the others.

Last up are my base stats. I start out by immediately putting a few more points into Vitality so I don't die by like, tripping or something. Then I spread the rest across Power, Finesse, Speed, and Perception, with most going into Perception since I'd really like to see what I'm shooting at.

All that finished, I look over my character sheet one last time.

Status Power: 8 Vitality: 4 Finesse: 20 Speed: 15 Perception: 15 Spirit: 11 Sorcery: 13 Aura: 38 (59) Character Points: 0 Skills Stat Boost Defense Boost I: 1 Aura Boost V: 1 Melee Hammer I: 1 Ranged Bow I: 1 Sniper I: 1 Power Shooting I: 1 Magic Dark Curse Magic I: 1 Melee Spell Trigger I: 1 Ranged Spell Trigger I: 1 Piercing Exploit+ XI: 1 Healing Life Drain Magic I: 1 Self Healing I: 1 Support Party Defense Boost I: 1 Mobility Running Boost I: 1 Skill Points: 5 Abilities Skillful: 75 Offensive Abilities Power Shot: 12 Counter+: 8 Stunning Blow+: 7 Sneak Attack+: 15 Weapon Parry+: 13 Offensive Magic Dark Curse: 10 Drain Touch: 60 Ability Points: 60

As I eye the full sheet, I wonder, why do I have Aura V? I have that Major Aura Affinity, but the Skill isn't golden like Exploit is, so it shouldn't be from an that. So then why is the Mastery level higher than everything else?

“Haaa...” I sigh. No way of knowing, I guess. Could be a small chance for them to generate like that. I'll just be thankful for it and move on.

“Ok,” I murmur softly to myself, even though my stream is still dead. I have my character, I have all my stats set up at long last, and I think I'm ready to go. A swish of my hand brings up the menu, and I press the big confirm button. It asks to make sure that I'm happy with my character and a mirror poofs in out of nowhere so I can look myself over again. I flinch and nearly shield my eyes, but it's Mei in the mirror. That's right, I'm Mei now. Yes, as long as I'm Mei, this is fine. I do a couple turns to examine myself one more time, and nod.

I hit the ok, only to have it come up with a second warning on top of the first.

WARNING

Playing in a body very different than your own can cause significant discomfort. Are you SURE you want to continue?

I can't help but laugh aloud. Then why are the character models generated randomly?

Whatever, joke's on them. I hate myself so much that playing in any body that isn't mine is a huge relief. I hit the big glowing button to continue, and there's a flash of bright light.

Everything fades out slowly, until all my senses are swallowed up into nothingness. Then, a blazing message appears in glowing white lines.

Welcome to Planes of Oblivion