I think the responses are hilarious. I made it about Vindictus, this Nexon game that just got into Open Beta.
[URL]http://forum.nexon.net/Vindictus/forums/1/5971192/ShowThread.aspx[/URL]
The photoshopped image at the bottom is kinda crappily done, I know. They bought it for the most part though.
haha well done, but to be honest i think you could have made the photoshopped image look a little more natural to sell the story
The image doesn't look too good, but congrats on the story! if I knew what the game was i'd definitely not craft that :ohdear:
I like how easily they're buying it. My only gripe with your mask edit is really just the fact that the eyes are the exact same pixels, makes things a bit obvious.
loving the responses that are reinforcing your story
[quote]I actually had the same thing but to my gloves... the were golden gloves.. from the Crimson set... it looks cool.. lol[/quote]
[quote]Yeah so I downloaded that picture to zoom in on it, so I could see if you just photo shopped it, and as soon as I got up to nothing but the face my computer froze leaving me to look at nothing but that face for about 5 minutes while I restarted it. Definitely weird/creepy. [/quote]
[quote]Well when I looked at the mask it looks like it should be apart of it but i seen others and they dnt have that whats wired is after i looked at it my "Alienware" saying this cuz it never frezzes froze on the pic and actuly zoomed in by its self thinking it was a zoom in lag witch shouldnt happen I tryed to hit the back button and it froze again and zoomed in more already getting scared cuz of what i been hearing from friends and this forum about this mask I got even worse when it did this $hit now I herd a rumor that makes me not even wanna type cuz im like hella shivering atm but if i can calm down ima tell u guys what i have herd from 5 other ppl all the same story about y its doing this man i hate this feeling. for who ever comes on this forum and thinks we are lieing try for ur self u might not have the same reaction but im sure something will happen..... for any of u who wanna hear this story ask me so I can tell u knowing the Nexon and devcat GMs i dnt wanna get baned for this rumor even if it is a banded able reason if not im gonna make a new forum topic about this mask out of all things the game is fine besides this .....and trust me on this one the eyes in the mask isnt even the main part for if the story is true or just a glitch ask me and ill tell u when im not so shivery sorry for my miss spells but i barly seen this forum this morning i herd the story during the closed beta so this is freaky $hit.
P.S when i say story its what i have herd from 5 or 6 ppl about one of the designers on the armor witch might make nexon mad at me if i say this but its only what i have herd from these ppl all the same story one in witch being my friend from nly god knows where he herd it from but lets just say I play the game but never do the blood price Battle ever again ..... this is so fked up.[/quote]
haha... Alienware
-snip, rate me box-
it was a commenter, not the OP
Then the commenter must not live.
I really enjoyed the bullshit people were spewing that supported my story.
But I let them know it was just a story tonight. I know the shop was really bad, but all I have is paint.net and I'm not even good at that.
The reactions from that thread are pretty awesome.
[QUOTE=177cheese;25543679]
But I let them know it was just a story tonight. I know the shop was really bad, but all I have is paint.net and I'm not even good at that.[/QUOTE]
Try GIMP
I didn't really find tat too beliebable but ten again I just come from fp creepypasta tread so mabbe I am ~desensitized~ good job fooling like dat whole community though that's pretty funnie
no so scary soz :(
lololno scary :]
Wasn't really scary, probably because I've never played the game. If I were to play the game, I would have probably believed it.
I think the Nexon community is a perfect target for creepypastas.
Someone should cook up one about Maplestory. If you can make that scary, I salute you.
[QUOTE=177cheese;25562668]I think the Nexon community is a perfect target for creepypastas.
Someone should cook up one about Maplestory. If you can make that scary, I salute you.[/QUOTE]
hold up a few minutes, I got a guy.
[QUOTE=daijitsu;25562962]hold up a few minutes, I got a guy.[/QUOTE]
At your service. :buddy:
Give me some time. I can cook something up before too long.
Make sure you link me to the thread you make on the Nexon forum. I really want to see that.
Never played the game.
And to be honest, I've gotten a tad tired of video game "glitches creepy pasta". BEN had me on my toes for a while, but when I saw that after it tons of other video game creepy pastas popped up, I got sick of it. Real fast.
Personally I prefer the twist creepypasta's, for example.
[quote]You are home alone, and you hear on the news about the profile of a murderer who is on the loose. You look out the sliding glass doors to your backyard, and you notice a man standing out in the snow. He fits the profile of the murderer exactly, and he is smiling at you.
You gulp, picking up the phone to your right and dialing 911. You look back out the glass as you press the phone to your ear, and notice he is much closer to you now.
You then drop the phone in shock. There are no footprints in the snow.
It's his reflection.[/quote]
You are home to watch Pravda on televisir about degenerate murderer who is on the loose. You look out the window door to beet field, and you notice Man standing in the snow. He look like foto on televisir and he smile at you. You gulp vodka, picking up fone to your right and dialing Local Militia Precinct Commissar. Back out the glass you look, pressing fone to ear. Notice he now closer to you. You drop vodka in shock.
No footprints in snow. It was reflection. You dullard!
Your apartment is bulldozed down to make way for glorious tractor factory.
[QUOTE=r1ck;25591643]You are home to watch Pravda on televisir about degenerate murderer who is on the loose. You look out the window door to beet field, and you notice Man standing in the snow. He look like foto on televisir and he smile at you. You gulp vodka, picking up fone to your right and dialing Local Militia Precinct Commissar. Back out the glass you look, pressing fone to ear. Notice he now closer to you. You drop vodka in shock.
No footprints in snow. It was reflection. You dullard!
Your apartment is bulldozed down to make way for glorious tractor factory.[/QUOTE]
hahahahahaha
Such is life in mother Russia.
Those ones are so great.
Hello. I would like to leave this here for you.
I worked at a Game Stop over the summer as a full time job. Lame right? I guess once a gamer always a gamer...But with that aside,I actually made a pretty decent friend there. His name was Tom,and he was currently in college for animation and game design. I,myself,had plans to study things like creative writing and literature in college. Nothing to do with gaming,but I guess our interests don't always have to match the concept of our careers. Anyway,as much as I loved games,I knew that I didn't have the ability to do what Tom could do. But our shared interest in gaming brought us to almost an immediate friendship.
I told Tom about all sorts of games I had played since I was a kid. Pokemon,Zelda,Mario and Final Fantasy. Tom wasn't so much into the oldschool games,but more concerned with the newest games that the world of technology was coming out with these days. One of the games he had mentioned was all too familiar to me. It was something I'd just left behind like an old toy from my childhood. Maplestory. I told him I'd actually just quit,where he'd countered,asking me why.
College of course. I'd been a huge gamer. I could go for hours on end,playing because when I was in the gaming world,there was no concept of time. That's how it always felt. In my younger years,I would sometimes wake up forgetting what day it was. Silly,but it happened very easily. As a gamer,Tom understood my decision. I was an adult now. Still,being in a shop full of games...it was very temptating.
After that discussion with Tom,I came in a little late to work the next day. I was scolded,but I had a fairly good reason. My cousin is in the hospital,you see. She's been in a coma for about four years. I'm not really sure why. My father thinks its best to pull the plug,but I think that's a little harsh. Though the reality may be...Anyway,I had to drive mom up to the hospital. Aunt Becca was to meet her there. After that,I raced to work at lightning speed and got to work. That day was a pretty slow day,but on our break,Tom said he wanted to talk to me. He had something to show me.
We went to the back room,where we tested games. As we entered the room,I saw tables and shelves with gaming systems and handhelds piled up everywhere. At the very back were a couple computers. Tom went ahead of me and I followed. I wasn't really sure,but I figured he'd probably found a game that was hacked or something. We find those often,but we still sell them. People don't usually complain and return them so I guess they don't mind. Low and behold,I was right. Tom had grinned at me and tossed me a small cartridge without a label. It was a DS game. Curious,I asked about it and Tom just held up a DS Lite. DS Lites were kind of outdated in my opinion,now that there was the new 3DS. Which I don't have.
I took a seat beside Tom in front of the first computer and popped the cartridge into the slot after he'd handed me the DS. He wasn't saying anything,so I guess he wanted me to find out what it was on my own. I remembered at that point that there were also times where people claimed they owned games with what we called mastermind glitches. Games that had been professionally hacked and then generously donated to random game shops. They were usually old school games that people would especially look for. Basically,those games were hacked beyond recognition and were creepy enough to scare the living daylights out of anyone who played them. Now as far as I knew,there'd never been a game like that discovered in my place of work. But every so often I would hear about them being bought from places like Gamestop. I kind of want to believe it.
So as I flipped the switch on the DS Lite,I was hoping that this game was either really rare,possessed or hacked. Whatever. I was interested. I remember Tom watching my face as the screen lit up and the nintendo logo appeared. I watched the other logos,hoping for hints as to what this game could possibly be,but none of them were familiar. The last couple logos faded on and off of the screen until there was an animation scene that particularly peeked my interest. Usually when I play a game,I just button mash the A button until I reach the start screen. I'm an impatient person,I guess. However,this game's opening intro was rather...odd.
It started with the ocean. Purple waves crashing over sand under a indigo night sky. I expected to hear the sound of the waves hitting the shore,but when I turned the volume up to max there wasn't any. The scene focused on this for only a moment,before shifting to the sky where a yellow-ish moon hovered behind transparent clouds. After studying the animation for a moment,I made a casual assumption. This had to be a newer game. It's graphics were simply beautiful. Tom seemed to not have an answer about this so I turned my attention back to what was going on on the screen. The scene now focused on the water. The water didn't move,but then there was suddenly a small ripple,spreading circles across the surface. With a splash,something fell through the surface and tumbled down into the depths of the ocean. With my eyes glued to the screen,I watched it tumble,the water becoming darker until the object was almost unseeable. At that point,the animation seemed to pause,and then the screen became black. Sure that I'd accidentally flipped the off switch on the DS,my fingers reached to flick it on again,when the screen lit up once again with a new scene. Floating atop the purple waves of the sea,was a mask that looked much like that of a Knight's. The silvery piece of armor shined under the golden moonlight with unbelievable realism. Again,I looked at Tom with excitement. His expression still hadn't changed.
Just like that,came the screeching sound. If you've ever turned on a gameboy advance and dropped it into a toilet,you know this sound; when a hand-held game system suddenly crashes. Only these sounds got worse. Startled,I looked down at the DS in my hand. The scene remained on the screen,but now in a frozen state as the screeching sounds began to hitch,almost as if someone was taking a saw and cutting across the strings of a violen while blasting the white noise of a tv in the background. It was a terrible noise,and Tom's face looked horrified. I wasted no time in flipping the switch then,and the DS fell a short distance from my hands,clattering as it met the table where I sat.
There was no reason to be scared. Nothing weird had happened,just a simple malfunction. Our break by then had come to an end and as I headed back to work I couldn't help but wonder why Tom had showed me the game in the first place. And most importantly,why hadn't he just discarded it? Many games had been given to us,and we usually didn't accept them if they were corrupted beyond playability. I'm not talking about hacks or cheats,but if the hardware of the game itself had actually been damaged,it was not kept and thrown away. But even that situation rarely occured. Games that don't work don't even get accepted into the store. I couldn't help but think that it was odd that something that damaged had been made into a sale.
I stopped worrying after awhile,telling myself that I was just overthinking it. I said things like 'maybe the cartridge had been a little too dusty,or maybe it'd been abandoned and had gotten ruined during the time it'd gone undiscovered'. It was no big deal. And it wasn't anything I needed to concern myself with anyway.
But I'm a gamer...
The next day at work,it was break and I decided I would go out for lunch instead of hanging around inside the store. I was just grabbing my things and heading to the door,when Tom had stopped me on my way out. He said he wanted to join me and talk about the day before. I didn't really understand ,but I didn't turn down the opportunity to chat with any gamer friend of mine. So we went out to a local restaurant where my friends and I would go when we decided to ditch school lunch and go out. The good old days.
Anyway,as soon as we got there we sat down and began to talk. The conversation was light at first. A new zombie game was coming out this year. Dead Island. Tom was telling me I should purchase it on the day of its release,but he knew about my decision. 'Fine' he didn't argue any further,to my relief. We were quiet for a time,and that's when Tom's expression became blank,similar to how it had become yesterday during the strange incident. Tom then asked me what I'd thought of the game. 'Dead Island? I'd asked him. I'd never played it. Tom only looked at me blankly,which made me slightly uncomfortable. I'd realized that he must have been referring to the game he'd showed me the other day. I answered him honestly. It wasn't playable.
Tom disagreed,claiming it had a few minor bugs,but it was perfectly playable once passed the starting screen. It was only slightly skeptical. Despite it's previous malfunction,I still was still interested in the game. My only problem was that I'd already made a decision for myself,not to play any games. Again,Tom said he understood. He made a point to remind me that I'd planned to start college in the winter,so for now I actually had some free time when I wasn't at work. I couldn't agrue about that. So I did what any enticed gamer would do at the point of max temptation. Tom gave me the game. And later that night I took it home to play.
After I got home,I did my usual routine. I took a shower,had dinner and walked my dog. I watched TV and browsed the internet,watched some porn. The usual. Unfortunately,I was running out of things to keep myself busy. I'd left the DS sitting on my dresser and hadn't touched it since I'd gotten home. I'd put it off for as long as I could,until my curiousity got the best of me again.
I decided to play.
I remember just grabbing the DS,flicking the on/off button and trying to sustain from button mashing my way to the starting screen. I had to watch the opening animation all the way through,in order to confirm whether or not the game really had any faulty glitches. Again,I was amazed by the deep,beautiful colors displayed on the screen. The indigo sky. The purple sea,and the golden moon. This game was way before it's time,in graphics. This time,as I turned the volume up,a soft,sorrowful melody played. It was a violin piece,played at mid-pace accompanied by the soft thrum of a snare. The music reminded me of something I'd heard before. Possibly some sort of pre-war in-game music. This was definitely the first time heard it before. But it was very familiar.
Again, the animation played through to the scene with the mask,and paused after the dark object plunged into the depths of the purple sea. Just like before,the screen went black for a moment before lighting up and displaying the same image I'd seen yesterday. The mask,illuminated with the golden moonlight,floating atop the calm waves of the ocean. I dropped the game on my bed to cover my ears,ready for the screeching and hitching of the game's malfunctioning to begin. I was relieved when that didn't happen. Instead,the soft waves continued to overlap on the silver mask,carrying it gently across sea. It seemed to be moving across the screen,but I realized that was just a trick of the eye. I watched the animation continue on an infinite loop for over a minute. Nothing was wrong. Tom had been right. I'd picked up the DS to take a closer listen to the soft music that wouldn't go any higher,despite it being at max volume. Now that I'd confirmed this,I was ready to button mash my way to the start screen and discover what the game was about. Excitement bubbled inside of me,the way a gamer feels when he rediscovers a game he hasn't touched in years. Excitement,and disappointment that Tom had been right. Since the game was in good condition,we would have to put it up for sale tomorrow.
I was really starting to appreciate the unbelievable beauty of the pixelated animation displayed on the screen,when a series of white letters then scrolled below the mask in cursive writing. This had to be the longest pre-game intro I'd ever seen. I was done looking at it though,so I started tapping the A button with my thumb,in a hurry to get on to the starting screen. The animation would not shift,but instead another set of words scrolled below the first.
"I'll do what I have to. Even if I must..." the first sentence said. The second sentence appeared to be a series of strange letters that were too small to read. I figured it would probably become clear once I'd started the game. If I could ever get to that point,as the animation seemed to be dragging. The words then waved away and faded below the surface of the water,where the mask then began to sink,bubbles bubbling through the eyeholes as it slowly disappeared into the purple sea. The music had stopped,and then the screen had faded to black. The music had started again,louder this time as the words start faded onto the black screen in white glowing letters. Usually,in a game there is either an option to create a new game or continue an existing one. There were no options like that,and so I chose the only one that was there.
I pressed start,and the music died. The game opened with a menu screen that looked all too familiar to me. The wood-carved sign for one's username and password. The fantastic background of trees and various mushrooms,and of course the maple leaf that adorned the far left side of the screen. Like an open book of a story,my childhood game laid open and waiting for me to play. The white-gloved cursor pointed to the title written in elegant white cursive. Maplestory.
At that time,I only had one thing on my mind. This was amazing! I'd gone through various DS games in the past. RPGs with fighting,fantasy,bewitched monsters and legends much similar but they'd never come close to Maplestory. For years,I'd kept up with Nexon's every announcement,as well as whatever small merchandise it was that they attempted to sell. I admit,I'd been a sucker for the small,pricey things,as well as the infamous nexon cash that every kid would suffer a week without lunch money for. Perhaps a project like this was just something that never made it as big as what it had been spun off of. Nexon had had many unannounced failures in the past,since it had remodeled Maplestory to it's own liking, for example trying to duplicate the game into a 3D version. Maybe this was just one of those things that didn't get much popularity. Maybe.
Despite my ability to recognize the start screen,I noticed a few things that were different about its usual display. Instead of two boxes for the username and password,the sign simply said Maplestory. Unsure of what to do,I moved the cursor around,up and down,left and right until the gloved hand pointed to the sign where a yellow box highlighted the word. Pressing the A button once brought me to a different screen,but again it seemed familiar. Instead of the several worlds of Maplestory,a row of blank board pieces lined up vertically across the top of an open blank scroll. For the most part,they all appeared to be blank except for two. I realized that they were slots for two game files. The first was a anonymous user that had chosen the name Drella. The second was an empty game slot,which I instead decided to start. I decided that I would have a look at the Drella file later. Despite my curiousity,I had a greater interest in the full plot of the game and didn't want to ruin whatever story it held,for myself.
The new file asked me a few simple questions in the form of a few small pop ups. My choice of file name,my gender and such. After choosing whatever optional answers it offered,I was brought to a new screen. Three transparent characters stood in a ready position,much like the PC version,and the small sign on the right gave me the option to create a new one. For fun,I chose a male and named him Allerd. Drella backwards. I planned to delete my file and character before returning it to Tom anyway,so I thought I'd poke some fun at the mysterious other game file. This portable version of Maplestory suprisingly had a plentiful amount of options when it came to creating a character. I made Allerd a bowman with dark eyes and red metro hair. I was unaware of what features or jobs that the character on Drella had,but that was okay. I wasn't going to go all out,as this was a one-time thing.
I decided to skip the island tutorial,as it was an option on this game,unlike the PC version. My character spawned in a place with a large forest-like area and lots of vibrant green trees. It was a training area with low level monsters like snails,which I had Allerd level from several times. He gained levels easily,and I raised his stats according to my knowledge from previous games of the real Maplestory. I'd never had a bowman,but I'd been aquainted with fellow maplers who did. I took Allerd through many small quests that were offered by the various NPCs planted around the maps throughout the forest,finishing them easily and then receiving small,but beneficial rewards.
In no time,Allerd had reached level thirty,and it was time to give him his official job. An NPC named Athena rewarded Allerd for his progress with new weapons and a set of equipment compatible with his job and current level. I finished receiving the award,and after Athena had said all the proper greetings,I ended the NPC chat,and started walking Allerd towards the portal to a new town. Being a former Night Lord,I wasn't quite used to having character that didn't move fast or have Haste.
Just as Allerd neared the portal,a small box appeared on the screen,signaling that I was conversating with an NPC. Athena's calm,cheerful face appeared on the left side of the box,while a series of text capped in large letters scrolled across the center,
THE UNCONCIOUS DREAM WAS CORRUPTED!!! FORCED DATA HAS BEEN ENCODED.
...Proceed with uncertainty?
The unrequested chat had of course startled me. I also wasn't sure how to make any sense of it. The only option was a small orange button which said 'okay'. Other than that,there was the idea of simply ending the chat. I remember completely going back on any reluctant thought that Tom had been right. I wanted to believe that there was something off about the game before,but the circumstances had suddenly changed. This was Maplestory. A game that I'd thorougly enjoyed throughout my teenage years. Besides all of it's gibberish about corrupted data,the NPC had asked if I wanted to proceed through the portal. I saw no harm in doing so. In the worst case scenerio,the game was actually corrupted and we wouldn't be able to sell it in the store. If that was the case,the simple solution was just to discard it. With that in mind,I pressed 'okay' and proceeded through the portal,without the further objection of Athena the bowmen instructor.
The game chugged to the next area,lagging in a dark screen that took almost thirty seconds to load. I waited patiently,taking the time to snap back to reality and look at the time. It was getting late and I had things to do the next day,so I decided that once the next screen loaded I would take a look and then shut the game off. After a few more moments of patience,the screen finally faded from black and turned revealed the next map. Much like the first,it was a forest with many green trees. Allerd hopped up the cliff-like platforms,taking a swing with his bow and shooting down the various colored snails that crawled across the ground. A yawn suddenly reminded me of my tiredness,and my finger inched toward the on/off switch,ready to call it a night. Before I could shut off the DS though, a new message appeared on the screen. The messege was again,written in capped lettering but this time no NPC was accompanied with it.
DATA INTRUSTION DETECTED! COMMENCING EXECUTION!
A BEAUTIFUL DREAM! DON'T DESTROY IT!
This time,there were no options to close the small message. Instead of simply shutting the game off like I'd intended,I waited for what was to happen next. With the messege box still open on the screen,I watched my character stand on the edge of a platform,swaying back and forth and blinking idley as Maplestory characters do when you aren't moving them around. It was clear to me now that the game did have some sort of faults,and I would be telling Tom that the next day when I returned the game to him at work. I was unbothered by the fact that Nexon had produced one faulty game. So non-PC games weren't their thing. My finger lingered near the off switch once more,when suddenly I saw the feet of another character walking across the screen. The rest of the body was not visible,due to the length of the messege box and it's position,which I couldn't adjust. I sat there with my hands now gripping the DS. Despite the DS Lite's capabilities, there was no way that this was a multi-player game,like it's successful PC version. Depsite that,the feet of the character continued across the platform,heading from the opposite area where my character was. The unknown sprite had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. It sounds kind of stupid,but it was probably just a trick of the eye. Maybe while I wasn't looking,it had come. It just sort of...appeared. A human-like mob?
I can't explain it.
But it had come,still. From what I could see,it held a sword at it's side. I saw the blade swing,and then it was brandished in every direction. Allerd's HP and MP dropped immediately from the little amount that he had,and I watched his sprite fall onto the platform below the messege. His dark eyes were open,but there seemed to be something odd about the make-up of the colors within the pixels. The highlights that made his eyes shine with virtual life were now gone,leaving his dark hues looking hollow and vacant. The messege on the screen then displayed a new series of capped words,
DON'T INTERFERE! THIS MUST BE DONE!
My character then layed on the ground,with his HP clearly dropped to zero. Under the normal circumstance of a Maplestory death,one should know that only the HP hits zero once the character dies. Followed by that,a gravestone will usually fall from the sky,where the ghost of the character floats around until the player requests for it to be revived in the nearest town,or safest area.
To put it simply,Allerd had clearly been attacked by what was safe to assume the second party that had suddenly appeared on the screen. His HP had dropped to nothing,where his MP remained as it was. To say this feature was a normal formality of this game...well,that would be a rather dark thing to assume. Especially since I'd already made a solid assumption that the game itself had already been experiencing some kind of malfunction within itself.
The lighting of the screen flicked,and the low sound of a series of violins began to play the mid-paced melody of the melancholic song I'd heard in the game's beginning. Slowly,the messege on the screen faded and zoomed in where I could see the sprite of my bowmen lying on the grounds of the empty forest,eyes still vacant and lifeless. Several large red scratches were etched into the pixels of his skin. Allerd's mouth then then formed a pained expression. A simple line curving up to create something that looked like a smile to me.
My heart dropped in my stomach as the game cut off without warning. It had taken me a moment to realize that the battery might have been dying. That didn't matter to me. Though my original intention through all of this was to discover the game's plot and get some sleep,I was finding it hard to keep myself calm. Leaving the game in my room,I went into the kitchen and sat at the table for a bit with the tv on. I must have fallen asleep at some point,because when I woke up I was still there and then it was time for work.
My decision had been to give the game back to Tom,and tell him it was probably better if it wasn't sold. Hacks were one thing. Glitches were managable. He would understand. Tom was a sensible guy. Or at least that's what I came to work thinking that day. Over our break,I explained my experience with the game to Tom,who didn't seem the least bit concerned with the faults that I'd found. 'It's what you wanted,right?' he'd asked me after I was done explaining. I wasn't sure what he meant by that. Had he somehow seen my desire to come across something dark like this? It wasn't exactly a desire. I was bored and hopeful. But to come across something like this...it was a nightmare. The nostalgic feeling of wanting to return to my childhood PC game had suddenly shattered when I'd discovered the corrupted contents of this unpleasant little cartridge. Maybe I'm a bit dramatic about it. I've read many strange stories. As a gamer, this bothered me to the core. Why would Nexon create a game like this? Was it Nexon? Tom had no answers for me this time,but instead told me that he would agree not to sell the game to anyone. He seemed appologetic,mumbling something like he'd wished he'd known how I actually felt before he'd given me the game. Said he'd been through a box of outdated or recalled games that were old school and thought I'd be interested in some of them. I was relieved to hear that,realizing that of course Tom had a rational explaination for everything.
But as we were finishing up our break,I handed the game back to Tom. 'You should probably keep it' he told me. He said he'd never played it himself,as he was never actually into any of Nexon's games. Said something about how he didn't appreciate the way they suckered kids in for money. Even I had to agree with that,as I well knew how that went.
Later that night,I decided to go home and do some research. Not knowing the name of the game,as the label had been ripped clean off I simply typed 'Maplestory DS game' into a search engine and waited for the results to pop up. I received few thousand hits,though most of them only looked slightly related to what I was looking for. I clicked on the first link,which brought me to an article,revealing a short paragraph of information. The game had no specific title,it was simply called 'Maplestory'. Apparently it'd had a few recalls in the past,for reasons I couldn't seem to find within the context. Staring down at the game packed into the DS,I didn't have to think hard to assume a few. The game had apparently to released as recently as April of 2010. It was June of 2011 at the time,so it was safe to assume that this was the latest version. The publishers of the game had been both Nexon and Nintendo of Korea. This definitely wasn't Korea,so what the hell? I wondered how it'd got there. I knew that there were probably some long-shot,semi-logical reasons somewhere and I was already forming them in my mind,but at the time I didn't want to think of them. There were several points that I began to focus on. The fact that the game had been recalled on several occasions exposed the fact that Nexon had failed to meet it's goals in whatever it desired this DS game to be. Whether or not they had gotten it right the last time,I was unsure. Again,the game had been released from a completely different part of the world. How had anyone managed to get their hands on a game from Korea? I supposed it was possible,and anyway I wasn't complaining because I had it...Not that I wanted this game at all to begin with.
I'd done my research. The results left me at a dead end. What was I supposed to do? Trash it? I didn't. At least now I knew a thing or two. Why I'd never heard of the game from Nexon through GMS or even advertised anywhere. After I couldn't think about it anymore,I shut off my laptop and went for a shower. I had a short dinner and then did the usual. It was getting late before I knew it. I wasn't tired yet,though I knew I had work again the next day. While alone by myself,I began to think it wasn't a good idea to play the game. Thoughts like these entered my mind for the remainder of the night,until I found myself still awake at four am. It wasn't out of the ordinary for me to become so obsessed by something as simple as a game. I was a gamer,and sometimes that's what gamers did. But I ignored my trivial thoughts and went ahead to bed,getting what little sleep I could to stay awake for work the next day.
The following day was Wednesday,which meant it was the middle of the week. Luckily we didn't have much business,which allowed me to be the zombie that I was till about five pm that evening. Once we were off work,Tom said that he wanted to go to the bookstore across the street to look for a game guide he'd been having trouble finding anywhere else. I agreed to go with him,and so we took his car.
Once at the bookstore,Tom went off on his own,leaving me to wander around for a bit. This was perfectly fine. It'd actually been quite some time since I'd even read or wrote anything,probably since about graduation. This place was like a sanctuary to me. To a writer,literature was the greatest form of art. Every word of context crafted straight from the author's mind,and poured onto the pages of a book. In short,one could say that a library or a bookstore was sort of like a writer's mueseum. There were so many pieces of art that I wanted to take home with me,but unfortunately living alone can put quite a rip in your wallet. I learned that during my first few weeks of staying by myself,but I have managed fine.
Once Tom had found the book that he'd wanted,we'd set out after buying it. It was for some game called .Hack. I think I've heard of it before,but I can't really be sure. Anyway, with a small conversation in the car,we drove back to the vacant parking lot where my car sat all by its lonesome,awaiting my return. Tom and I held a casual conversation while I fished in my pockets for the keys to my car. Well,it started out casual. But it took a sharp turn. 'I'm really glad I gave you that game' is what I think he'd said. 'I've been looking to for someone to give it to for a very long time. You seem experienced'. At last,I'd finally found my keys. I'd only heard a part of what Tom had said,so it took me a moment to then filter through my own thoughts to pick out the words he had said to me. I realized then that what he said said had made no sense whatsoever. Hadn't he claimed to have found the game in a box in the store along with several others? I asked him what he had meant,but at that point Tom was opening the door to his car and getting inside.
I remember calling his name once,but to no avail. He was already backing his car out of the place he'd parked,and was pulling it away from where I stood. I called out his name,though his windows were up. I figured he hadn't heard,and so I prepared to leave. Just when I was turning away,I heard Tom's voice call to me. 'It not her fault. It wasn't our fault either. You'll have to blame the King'. Tom's voice was then drowned out by the screeching of tires,as he pulled away and sped down the street. I watched his car entering into the five o'clock traffic,until it was gone,turning around the curves of the road and disappearing into the evening. With a response in mind that had come too late,I got in my own car and drove myself home. It was the first time that Tom had thrown me for a loop. Everything he did. Everything he said had always seemed sensible to me. If I could have ever prioritized my life in a way that any respectable guy could,it would probably something close to his. But things had changed suddenly. The things that Tom had said had not only made little sense,but they also sounded foreboding. Like a threat,or maybe a warning. A few thoughts crossed my mind,coming from the more logical side of my brain that told me again that I might just be overthinking it. I couldn't know for sure if I'd misunderstood. Maybe Tom had been quoting something from a game,and expected me to know where it was from. I was definitely overthinking it. That's what I told myself.
When I got home,by no means did I even attempt to go about being evaisive with the game. I skipped many parts of my nightly routine,besides feeding the dog,and...maybe a little porn. With everything else aside,I made plenty of time for the game. It didn't matter if I looked like a zombie in the morning. Long ago,I'd neglected my decision to put aside the games. Maybe I saw this as an exception; maybe even work-related. Up until then,I was convinced that the point of Tom giving me this game was to make the decision of whether it was worth selling. As I'd said before,hacked or glitched games were accepted into sales at our store. Even I would get a small thrill from seeing about 10 badges obtained on a pokemon game,or a trainer sprite complaining that I might have murdered his pokemon. Small thrills for small chills. Because those weren't my favorite games. Maplestory was.
It might strike anyone odd that I would seem overly concerned about a game that I'd never played before,experiencing saidglitches or malfunctions. I guess I could have probably agreed that I was overreacting at that point. But anywhere beyond seven pm that night was a nightmare. I'd only picked up the game for the second time then,and I was already feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight. Once again,I'd flicked on the switch to the DS,watching the screen light up and glow with the multi-colored Nintendo logo. I button-mashed,wanting to get passed the world's longest,dragging pre-game intro animation ever. I continued to button mash the A button,until I came upon the start menu. The two files were there in the slots. Drella and Allerd. Everything appeared to be normal,though I don't think I was expecting anything out of the ordinary this early in the first few moments. Deciding that since my character was probably too weak(Or dead,who knew) I would try out the Drella file. Moving the cursor with the arrowpad,I selected 'Drella' and proceeded to log into the game. The screen then faded to black,where I began estimating how long it would take for the game to chug to the map of where ever the player had left their character. I'd guess about maybe thirty seconds,but unfortunately it was a lot longer than that. Two minutes tops,and then something unexpected happened. A small messege appeared in a white box,scrolling across the center in small,default black text. I stared at the messege for a moment,where it remained still on the screen without any suggestion that there was more for it to say.
THE FILE IS CORRUPT!
So that was it. I was both relieved and disappointed. It was most likely a combination of Tom's words and those creepy stories that I'd sometimes read on the internet late at night that became the catalist to all my worries. The file was corrupt and unplayable,so it was probably okay to just delete it; so I figured. Moving the cursor around the two files,I brought the white-gloved hand to the Drella file,selecting it again,when this time the loud humming sound emitted from the DS's small side speakers. The sound had at first startled me,but it was nothing compared to what had come next. There was a small laughter. I'd say it was female,but it sounded generally like a child's. The laughter played on an infinite loop,though not quite consistantly. Almost as if someone had been pressing a button at an almost continuous rate in order for the sound to come from the speakers. To say the least,it was a high-pitched sound that was very obnoxious. Despite my immediate instinct to let go,my hands gripped the hand-held until my knuckles turned white. The sound of the laughter surged and hiccuped,taking on a new pitch and consistancy to where it sounded almost sinister; robotic. Despite the sounds bugging out tremendously,the screen stayed as it was. I'd never felt so completely alone and frightened as I did in that moment. And with these feelings,it was almost as if the game had sensed that. A new messege then formed on the screen,followed by a scene that had not been impelled in anyway by my will.
The game opened with a scene that was tinted in such a way that made me believe it was some sort of past-time flashback. The animation began with a young girl,who, despite her pixelated make-up,appeared to be very beautiful. She sat in a garden, just under a grand tree,surrounded with flowers of only pastel colors. Around her head,was a thin crown of gold adorned with jewels that complimented her pale,blonde hair. Her eyes,the color unknown,remained lowered to whatever lay inside the palms of her delicate hands. I knew she was nothing but an imagine on a screen. But she was absolutely breath-taking. I wanted to know her. I wanted to be with her there,in that solacing, infinite moment. In the time that the situation had eased,my hands had loosened their grip on the DS. The soft,familiar melody poured from the speakers,starting up with the warm,melancholic sound of the humming violins. Instead of being on edge again,I remained at ease. The music fit the scene. In the palms of her hands,the young girl revealed a small bird,fluttering it's wings about. The girl's mouth began to move,but the words I assumed she was speaking appeared in white text below the screen. I couldn't read them. If I had to guess,the scribbly looking characters were probably in some form of Korean. The girl allowed the bird to fly free from her hands,and then she rosed to her feet. Her outfit was elegant. A dress of pastels; teal and white. Something about the way that she carried herself made it apparent that she was aware of her own beauty,but at the same time she held an aura of innocence. I watched the girl walking about the garden,petals of different flowers trailing after her in the wind. Before I could then say good-bye to my princess,she was gone with the fading black of the flashback.
A new scene appeared. The girl had returned. I still had not seen her eyes,or most of her face for that matter,but the length of her limbs and the more refined build of her body told me that this was now a later time. The girl stood in the garden,bickering with a man who appeared reluctant to argue with her. White text once again scrolled under the animation,in that language that I was so misfortuned to not understand. It might have helped a lot if I knew. But from what I could see,I tried to make sense of. The man and the young lady continued to argue. It would seem that the young lady had lost. The white text came to a halt as she then turned from the man and disappeared. Without a word,the man had tipped his glasses,and the scene had faded into another.
'A few years later' the next scene announced under the korean characters. That was all,as far as any other english subtitles went. My princess was now at a different place. With her crown in her hands,she stood before a princely character who's face was concealed by a mask. I recongized it. The mask from the pre-game animation. Even knowing where it had originated from,I still didn't know what it meant. Their lips moved,and my princess shook her head. She wasn't pleased with this conversation either. The princely character clothed in darkness removed his mask,revealing a handsome face. This made the young lady's lips curl into a smile,but her fingers gripped around her crown until her knuckles turned white. I couldn't understand her what made her feel uneasy. The man replaced his mask,and then left shortly after. My princess walked away,and the scene reset.
In the next scene,the animation was textless. It came on too suddenly,not even fading in at all. The animation was choppy,and had screen glitches which made some of the images partially stick to the screen a second or so longer than they were meant to. The nameless beauty arrived at a place where a large tree stood in the middle of a rather small forest. It looked familiar. I'd only visited once. With her eyes closed,my princess leaned against the tree in a manner that made her appear to be fatigued. A ray of sunshine casted over her,and a soft smile came to her lips. She wanted to be here. I could tell.
The young princess had then began to open her eyes. Beautiful,almond,but I could not make a sure guess regaurding the color. The scene was too glitchy,and tinted too pale. With her head still resting against the tree,her eyes flew open. A shadow swallowed the sunshine that that touched her. The unknown seemed to be speaking with the young lady,but again no dialogue of any sort. The look on her kind face was that of someone who was about to scream. I braced myself,ready for the shrill sound to blast through the speakers of the DS,but the dialogue remained silent. My princess looked like she was ready to run,when a hand was held out to her,where a white rose bloomed. A face concealed by a cloak of shadows,gave a light smile. My princess extended a hand to except. Taking the rose,she then brought it to her lips. She smiled as she seemed to be inhaling the sweet scent of the petals.
The scene shifted back to the smile of the cloaked unknown,the hand that had been gentle now curling its fingers into a tight fist. The young lady pressed her back against the tree,her body becoming limp and her eyes becoming low. The lighting of the screen had become darker,as the scene took on a gruesome demeanor. The darker it got,the more I desperately squinted my eyes. It was much like trying to watch a movie while struggling to stay awake. Red eyes gleamed through the fading scene,while two hands gripped my princess's frail shoulders. Tighter,they gripped,forming into two ugly claws until a sharp scream cut through the speakers like a knife flying through the air.
The image on the screen was barely visible at that point. Holes began to burn into the darkness,as if by some acidic substance. The screen had then gone blank,where I assumed the game had shut off. I remember suddenly abandoning the DS. Leaving it there on the couch and going out for a drive. I didn't want to think for a second about what I'd seen. I needed to see the town. To have reality come back to me like a big slap in the face. I had to see life. Everyday life,moving about. I needed to see cars speeding,people wandering,boats sailing. I needed to hear childrem laughing,birds chirping,to hear my own name. It didn't matter what it was,but I had to see it. I needed to KNOW that the place where I existed was real. Was there any innocence left in the world,since my princess had become submitted to darkness?
I drove twice around my town,and then once around the area where I lived, before I decided to head home. Once I got to my apartment door though,I didn't feel like going inside. Inside was a place where I saw no else but me. I didn't want to go. The thought about stupid things,like callling Tom and telling him about the game. I wasn't sure if he'd believe me or not. It was late either way,though. I decided I would try to discuss it with him at work the next day. That night,I was still feeling uneasy. I found myself crying for reasons I couldn't explain. I didn't feel right in the head. Or maybe this was normal. I knew it was just a game,but...I felt like I'd truely lost something pure.
My performance at work suffered greatly from my lack of sleep the previous night. Several times,my co-workers,along with Tom himself,made it apparent that they were concerned about my well-being. Jack,the assistant manager had told me that I should probably go home. I'd said I was fine,and I wasn't bothered after that.
I went home later that day without speaking with Tom. I had questions for him that I'd planned to ask. But I wasn't sure what to say.
Even now,I haven't decided what to do with it; the game,that is. Keep it? Throw it away? I still have it. College starts in about two months. I'm looking forward to my first year,and I have a new job. I quit my job at the Gamestop,so I'm not stressing so much anymore. Tom and I talk on occasion,but he hasn't asked me about my new job or the game. I kind of feel like he has a clue why I quit before the end of the summer. Oh,and I have some really great news. My cousin finally woke up from the hospital. She's only ten. Sweet girl.
I'm so relieved.
-snip
Boxes, give me them.
[QUOTE=Anonuranus;32285658] Words [/QUOTE]
tl;dr. Tell me the outline of the story.
[QUOTE=Anonuranus;32285658]Wall of text[/QUOTE]
that was the best piece of writing I've read in a long time, more please.
[QUOTE=ItazukiShi;32288130]that was the best piece of writing I've read in a long time, more please.[/QUOTE]
Yep, pretty good creepypasta. Maybe not really disturbing, but definitely convincing and well written.
sell the mask for lodsemone
[editline]16th September 2011[/editline]
[sp]scam[/sp]
[QUOTE=Anonuranus;32285658]Wall of text[/QUOTE]
A lot to read, but I really liked it. Can't any maple pasta besides the one about the ghost lady in perion. So thanks.
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