test drive.

[vivariummods]

TEST DRIVE

Want to test out the setting? Not sure if your character is a good fit? Need to start gathering some samples? You know how it goes: → Comment with the character's name and series in the subject. → Pick an option or make your own. → Tag around. → Enjoy yourself!! The Test Drive will be open up until Vivarium opens on July 5th. Check out these helpful links to get a sense of the game: G A M E  L I N K S ✖ FAQ ✖ Bracelets ✖ Locations R E S O U R C E S ✖ Virtue's Last Reward Wiki ✖ Virtue's Last Reward Trailer ✖ Virtue's Last Reward OVA option one. You're awake. You're lying on a cold floor, and your head is pounding. It feels like you've been hit with a sledgehammer. You can barely move, but you push yourself up anyway, and look around. You're in an unfamiliar warehouse, and on your left wrist is a bracelet. It feels heavy, and no matter how hard you tug at it, it refuses to come off. You can't remember how you arrived here, nor do you recognize anyone else. Try not to panic too much. ( For the purposes of the Test Drive, characters will be arriving in the warehouse instead of the Elevator/AB Room) option two. An Ambidex Game has just concluded. You have entered in your vote and there's no turning back. Did you trust your opponent and vote ally? Or did you double-cross them and vote betray? What did your opponent do? Did they vote betray while you voted ally, or did they vote ally while you voted betray? Why did you choose one or the other? Just what did you do? option three. Rules are meant to be broken. You've just reached a certain amount of BP, and you can finally have access to food (low or high quality) or to the dorms. It's great, things are getting a bit more bearable now, but seeing the others without the same "luxuries" as you, you feel like you should do something. It's against the rules to bring food or blankets out of their respective rooms, but Zero can't have eyes everywhere... can he? option four. Exploration and Escape. All the windows are bolted shut, and all the doors are locked. The exit is through the number 9 door, but no one can reach it until they have 63 BP. It'll take too long to wait for help to arrive, and to accumulate that many points. There must be some way out. Maybe if you search enough, you can find a tool to help you break down a door. option five. Wild Card. Want to try something else? Go for it! Have your own AB Game round, have characters argue against each other, try to keep the mood cheery, whatever! Make full use of the environment and mechanics, just remember to keep it within the game's structure.

Comments

Jake Muller // Resident Evil 6

[fairsfair]

[ The AB Game was easier than he thought, considering that there were only two choices to pick from and anyone with half a brain would know the "right" one to choose. It only took him a second to select betray and go out his merry way to check the score board. ]

Did anyone actually expect someone to choose ally?

[ Sorry to the poor sap who went up against him and choose ally... ]

[demoneyed]

[This girl picked ally!! But thankfully she's not the one who went against this guy; she went against someone else who also picked ally. Hooray for her!]

How cruel! Now I know what I'm picking if I ever go up against you!

[She'll be amazed if he gets anymore BP after pulling this in the very first round.]

[punintentional]

...Why wouldn't you choose ally? It doesn't make any sense to pick anything else.

[ UNLESS YOU LIKE KILLING PEOPLE... ]

[ex_deem195]

Good thing I went with my gut. [ Chris has some idea on the game, he figures picking the betray option in some instances would result in a stalemate where no one loses or gains. It was a good fail safe to fall back on when when his intuition wasn't telling him to choose one way or the other. So betray option it is! ] Figured sooner or later I'd end up going against you.

[ you know what jake he's not even gonna judge you for picking betray gosh. give it up to chris for laming it out and expecting jake would make that choice. he thought sherry fixed you!! ]

[lanvaldearest]

[ meet the poor sap who chose ally. see, natalia has a sense of honor and nobility, memories or not. who could choose betray when someone's life was on the line? certainly not her.

but certainly jake, apparently, judging from the board, which she's watching with the most betrayed expression. prepare for a very confrontational princess, jake, hands on her hips once the shock settles in. ]

I expected you to, which I see now was a poor choice. [ .... ] How could you?

[ BITCH PLEASE. ]

late tag!

[cursedchosen]

[Wow what an opportunistic asshole.]

[Thankfully, for Zelos' life, he had been nothing if not surrounded by opportunistic assholes; he knew how to pick them out of the crowd. Betray really was the better choice, in this instance.]

Y'know, I'm almost hurt that you didn't.

[This is why he didn't deal with guys.]

just because i feel like it

[vengefulyears]

[Clive had originally intended on choosing ally for his first round, but after spending time with this guy in the puzzle room, it was extremely obvious that he had no intention of playing nice. So naturally, Clive has also chosen betray.]

Well, I certainly wasn't expecting you to. Seems I was right on the money.

[He's not even mad. He's quite amused, in fact.]

Sasuke Sagami | Animal Academy: Hakobune Hakusho

[not_that_sasuke]

[One]

[Sluggish he may be, but Sasuke is determined to get to his feet - or, well, maybe a sitting position would work too. His head aches, but he still manages to gather his wits enough to examine the source of the new (it is new, isn't it?) weight on his wrist.]

A... watch?

[His voice is quiet, probably only audible to someone right next to him.

Just what happened to him...?]

[Two]

[Unless your character has made it abundantly clear they are untrustworthy, Sasuke voted Ally. We're talking would-beat-the-elderly-with-a-crutch and then kick them while they're down kind of untrustworthy here. And regardless of the results, his expression remains fairly blank.

Well, okay. If he was just betrayed, there's a bit of a strain there. But he's still surprisingly calm about it all.]

[Three]

[Somehow, he's made it... His eyes are on his watch, staring at the number that now indicates he is able to get food and proper rest.

He was lucky enough to make it so far by constantly allying. But at the same time, there are others who weren't so fortunate. Even though he should be relieved, he can't help but feel like this is wrong somehow.

It isn't fair. The others should have access to these things too.

And so he stands quietly by the door, not quite entering yet. If you don't have the clearance to get in, now might be a good time to catch him...]

[Four]

[When everyone goes their separate ways, Sasuke decides to split off on his own and scour the open rooms for anything useful or, assuming one exists, some kind of hidden passage. His movements are quick, but his searching is surprisingly thorough - no cabinet is left shut, no jar left unturned. He'll freeze almost guiltily if anyone walks in on him, but once he remembers there's nothing to feel guilty about, he'll simply continue rifling through everything without a word.

By now it's probably obvious he's a quiet kid. You're going to have to ask him if you want to know what he's found so far.]

[Five]

[HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT.]

3

[fairsfair]

[ Thankfully, Jake has managed to get at least 9 BP, but he's stuck with shitty food. He's... surprisingly kind of okay with it, like he's willing to eat it since food's food, but he wouldn't mind getting some of that higher quality stuff. ]

[ About to enter the cafeteria but stopping when noticing Sasuke just... hanging around. ]

What are you waiting for?

Junpei | 9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors

[punintentional]

[ ...After waking up, Junpei ignores the pounding in his head (and the weird fact that he can't seem to remember very much anymore) for a much more important concern: this thing on his wrist. ]

You know, I don't think I've ever seen a watch like this...unless it's an hour-only watch. Not very practical, but the perfect gift for someone who thinks time is all relative.

[ This is healthy coping, yes. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

[...How do you even crack jokes at a time like this? Sasuke glances over, one hand rubbing at his temple in an effort to ease some of the pain.]

...I don't think anyone would design a watch that way.

I'm sad they won't have memories but I had to join this test drive

[blind_badass]

*Snake is also still shaking off the effects of arriving here, unfortunately unaware of who he's really talking to.*

I take it you can't remove your watch either?

[vengefulyears]

Charming, but I don't think this is actually a watch.

[Though honestly, Clive has no fucking clue what else it's supposed to be. He instinctively tugs at it to try and take it off, but the bracelet has his wrist in a total death grip. Flipping it over, he discovers that there isn't even any sort of buckle or clasp on it.]

Is this thing even possible to remove...?

Saenoki Naho | Corpse Party

[misinforms]

option two

[Ten. Nine. Eight. There's so much her mind is telling her right now, rapidly firing through doubts and fears... Seven. Six. self-preservation battled with the idea that betrayal was wrong. Five. Four. But not choosing isn't an option. Will her opponent really choose ally? Can she trust them...?

Three. Two. One.

Naho closed her eyes and pushed the button.

Coming out of the elevator, she looks white-faced and anxious. She'd chosen betray - what else could she do? But even so, she didn't look like she was happy about it.]

option four

[They might have been told they were trapped, but she wasn't going to accept it until she saw everything and tried everything she knew how. Starting with the warehouse she begins searching every nook and cranny - trying to pull at the metal bolting the windows shut.]

Urrgh...

[She sighs. No luck.] This is insane...

option four

[followsnogod]

[ Naoya isn't exactly the type to sit down and accept this situation, but even he knows there's a point you should stop at. He has explored the area (which isn't actually that big, once you realize that you can't go through any of the doors or additional floors) and after taking a good look at the doors and window coverings, he figured that there wasn't much that he could do. ]

I suggest that you begin to accept the fact that we will remain here for quite some time.

Two

[not_that_sasuke]

[He'd picked ally not long after the announcement. Not because he didn't consider the possibility of a betrayal, but rather out of the realization that if each person continued to ally, they could easily escape all at once.

Perhaps he'd been too optimistic.

Naho's expression speaks multitudes, and although he watches the screen intently nevertheless, it provides the results he had more or less expected. He was betrayed; and now his points have decreased to one.

Even when the announcement ends, he remains silent for a moment before turning to his opponent.]

...You chose betray.

Why?

[There isn't any malice to his voice. Tension, yes. But anger? Not really.

Regardless of her reasons, he'll need to be extra careful if he wants to survive the next round...]

Kariya Masaki | Inazuma Eleven GO!

[netting_nettles]

[2]

[Stepping out of the AB room, Kariya is barely on his feet. He's sweating. He looks almost like he's been hyperventilating and is trying not to show it. He is working very, very hard not to panic.

Because he just hit "Ally."

It was the worst - but also the only - decision he could think of. Not even because the other option meant potentially condemning another person to death. That's horrible, but if it's his hide versus a stranger's...he knows how he'd pick. What had frozen his finger over the button to betray was different and more mind-numbing: They were going to know.

It didn't matter how trustworthy they were or weren't. If the people in the other part of the room voted to keep him alive, they'd see that he'd sold them out. Then, if they were still breathing, they'd be bound to tell everyone else. (Kariya knew he certainly would in their shoes.) And then, with that reputation... he'd never walk into those rooms without someone ready to cut his throat ever again.]

Please have gone "Ally," please have gone "Ally"...

[He's not sure his brain is going to be able to take it if he screwed up. He's going to cry or puke or something. Or, for right now at least, stare down at the bracelet around his wrist like it's a ticking bomb.]

[apolling]

[Apollo had also picked 'Ally', but not quite for the same reasons. He'd considered 'Betray' not because he'd been worried about anyone knowing, but as a matter of trust. No offense to the people he was trapped with, but could he really put his life in their hands when he had no idea how honorable, for lack of a better word, they would be? He couldn't help but be skeptical, considering the circumstances. Besides, if they both picked 'Betray', then neither of them would get hurt, right?

...But the thought of picking 'Betray' and potentially condemning an 'Ally' to death... No matter how hard he tried, he could never fully justify 'Betray' with that thought in mind. So in the end, he chose 'Ally', even though every cynical fiber in his body wasn't going to be surprised if he got screwed over for it.

He stepped out of the room, and the first thing he saw was a rather anxious-looking kid standing there, muttering to himself. Even though he knew the kid wasn't his opponent, seeing him somehow made Apollo feel more certain that 'Ally' had been the best choice.]

... It sounds like we're in the same boat. [Maybe making some conversation would help the poor kid out while they both waited for results on the score board. N-not that Apollo was nervous and looking for a distraction or anything.]

Snake | Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

[blind_badass]

*Option one*

*Bad enough that you have to wake up in a strange place with a splitting headache and your memories are fuzzy. Even worse? You're blind and you have to feel around to get a sense of where in the world you ended up. Welcome to Snake's world. He's getting his bearings and examining the watch on his wrist.*


*Option four*

*Now having a better idea of what is where, Snake is feeling along the walls, trying to spot any inconsistency and hollow areas. So far he hasn't had much luck but he's a patient man. It's not like he's got anything better to do.*

[curryparty]

[And from somewhere nearby, the concerned voice of a young teen boy.]

Hey, are you alright?

[They way he's feeling around, this guy has to be blind...]

Clive Dove | Professor Layton

[vengefulyears]

[Clive steps out of the AB room for the very first time and approaches the score board, feeling a bit more anxious than he'd like to admit. Although every fiber in his being told him that he should pick Betray, he ended up deciding to choose Ally instead. It would look bad to betray someone in the first round, after all, and he doesn't want to start burning bridges with anyone this early on. But will it be worth it if it turns out that his opponent really did betray him after all?

Well, it's not like he can go back in time and change his vote. Prepared to face the potential consequences of his decision, Clive looks up at the screen and watches as the results begin to display one by one...]

hello old friend

[tarotcards]

[ This whole Nonary game does not sit well with Souji. It just rings bad news everywhere, but honestly, what choice does he have? He has to partake in it, if he wants to live and make it out of here. So, he's been doing his very best to solve whatever puzzles that are thrown at him and, now, making sure he picks the "right" choice during this AB Game. ]

[ Betray seemed like the best answer - go with an option that minimizes risk and maximizes reward, but at the same time... he would be putting someone that much closer to death. He couldn't do that so easily, and besides, by choosing ally, it might influence others to do the same in future rounds. If everyone just picks the ally throughout the whole game, they would be out of here in no time. With those thoughts in mind, he presses 'Ally', and leaves the room the moment it opens up. ]

[ Walking over to the score board with a sense of nervousness pitting in his stomach, he looks up and sees the results from his opposing team: ]

[ ALLY ]

[ With a sigh of relief, he turns over to Clive. ]

Looks like we've both made the right choice.

Bobby Fulbright | Ace Attorney

[juuustice111]

[3]

[Does that beefy detective look a little beefier? Actually, come to think of it, doesn't he smell a little like beef? What did this idiot shove down his shirt?]

Who's hungry? I ask hypothetically, of course! Ha ha ha!

Re: Bobby Fulbright | Ace Attorney

[detectiveofthewest]

[What is that delicious smell and how can Heiji make this a part of his life? Two very important questions.]

You kidding? I'm starving. Have been ever since we got here. Think the folks in charge haven't gotten the memo yet -- you know, the one about thinkin' on an empty stomach.

robin | teen titans | one!

[birdarang]

[ robin felt so groggy.

he came to with an awful headache. he grimaced and let his hand skim over his head, trying to find any evidence of an injury. there was no bumps, no swelling, not even a speck of blood that he tried to find. okay, so that was kind of weird. he's had the occasional migraine before, sure. but it wasn't bad to the point where he felt sick. and out of nowhere, too!

he rolled over onto his stomach, and tried to push himself up to his knees. it was a little concerning whenever he tried to...and fell right back down. maybe someone had used knockout gas? it wasn't like he had been doing anything; he was in the tower last, filling out some reports, and then...

when he finally managed to push himself up, robin crawled to the nearest wall, and settle his back against it. and that's when he noticed the band on his arm.

he brought his wrist up, twisting and turning the odd little thing over and over again. whatever it was, it was heavy; he could feel his wrist trying to drag down when he lifted it up. robin tried his best to wriggle it around, bringing his fingers tightly together so he could remove it. but it was like the thing was glued to him; robin couldn't get the thing off if he wanted to.

so he was stuck here with a massive headache, with no idea where he was and some kind of bracelet stuck to him.

don't panic was the first thing that came to mind. panic held back judgement and reality. robin had been through worse, hadn't he? or at least he had been stuck in weirder situations (even though this was pretty high up the list).

robin slowly got to his feet, and started to look around for an exit. if he could just find a door, or something... ]

Re: robin | teen titans | one!

[detectiveofthewest]

[Heiji was over by the entrance of the room, running his fingers along the seams of what looked like elevator doors. He turned when he heard Robin move behind him.]

Hey there, kiddo. I was starting to get worried about ya! How's your head?

alibaba saluja } magi } option one

[entrant]

[ of course, alibaba chose ally, just as he said he would. it would be much easier to beat this insane game if everyone worked together to gain the necessary amount of points quickly so they could leave this place as soon as possible. ]

Even though I knew my answer from the start, that countdown sure makes things nerve wracking, huh?

Colette Brunel // Tales of Symphonia

[stop_apologizing]

[3]

[This is a bad idea.

No, it isn't just a bad idea - it's silly, even for her, and might end up hurting more people than helping them. Assuming it will help at all. So many people were kind enough to explain the gravity of the situation, what will happen if she lets her heart run away without common sense.

Colette's shoulders slump, looking at the scratchy, thin excuse of a blanket caught in her hands, and then she glances in what she hopes is a discreet manner to the door. First day inside the dorms and already she's wondering if she should have just stayed in the warehouse with everyone else. They should all stick together, right? They're all working towards the same goal, yes?

Is it such a crime to take one little blanket out to her friends?]

Colette Brunel // Tales of Symphonia

[cursedchosen]

[It's a terrible idea.]

[Getting out had always been his first priority. He'd tried to avoid getting involved with the other players as much as he could; they'd worked together, but in a situation like this, actual trust wasn't a thing he really saw happening. They'd rely on each other to the end that it actually suited themselves, and not any further.]

[Well, everyone but his dormmate, apparently. The layout of the room made it really easy to tell when anyone moved, and he doesn't have any doubts as to where Colette is going with that blanket. It's a terrible idea to get involved with the other players, especially when it's not going to help him in the end, but he doesn't want to see Colette face Calhoun (or Zero) because she's too nice for her own damn good.]

[He'll try to cut her off by the door. Nonchalantly, of course.]

Heading out, my cute little angel?

Simon Keyes | Ace Attorney / option three

[eeeek]

[Simon doesn't like to break the rules. He doesn't even like to bend the rules. He's a good guy! He plays games the way they're meant to be played, honest! There's just-- there's no way, there's no way no way no way he can do what he's about to do. Every bone in his body is telling him to just turn around and walk away.

But... he's hungry. He's really, really hungry.

His BP has started to run pretty low, either because he's been allying when he shouldn't or he's been pissing Calhoun off and getting punished for it. When he sees an animal, he just wants to tame it, you know? If Calhoun would just do a flip like he had asked, maybe Simon wouldn't be floating on 1 or 2 BP, but - whatever, too late now.

He's hungry. That's the problem. He hasn't eaten for a long time. He's standing in front of the cafeteria, anxiously dancing on the balls of his feet. If he could just find a way in, maybe he could grab something without anybody finding out... he could snipe a can of peaches from the shelf and take little bites when nobody's looking. Calhoun wouldn't really straight up murder him for trying to eat, right? That'd be crazy!

He's either going to cry or get himself killed if someone doesn't come help him.]

[puzzlinglad]

[Guess who's riding high on plenty of BP to get food? This guy. Frankly it's a crime that he's managed not to get betrayed yet, especially given he was on the first team to betray, but apparently Murder Game God was smiling upon him for now.

Despite the smiling of kind murder game gods Hershel was not smiling, mostly because guilt had a funny way of taking away your appetite. Seeing Simon standing there, knowing how long it must have been now-

He can't help but approach, tone soft.] Simon, maybe it'd be better if- [If you didn't tempt yourself like this. He can't bring himself to finish that so he lets out a soft exhale.] How are you?