Rising From The Moonlit Fog... It's... It's... A Bicycle!

Rising From The Moonlit Fog is the next milestone update for Neverness To Everness. Don't you just love these titles? MassivelyOP had a compendium report on three upcoming gacha game content drops yesterday and they all had names that sound like Jon Anderson might have considered them a little too much, when he was drafting the lyrics for Tales From Topographic Oceans.

Alongside the title I just mentioned, there was Tower of Fantasy's relatively tame Dreamland Beyond The Void and Wuthering Waves' frankly bananas Lamplight in Mirage, Sword’s Resolve in Heart. What does it all mean? And what drugs are these people on?

The NTE update comes out in exactly a week, on August 19th. I'm really looking forward to it. Inconveniently for me, since I'm currently attempting to play both of them, Wuthering Waves drops its new content the day after, on August 20th.

It would be a problem if I really was trying to stay up to date in both games but since I'm already about six months behind in WW, it's not going to make much practical difference. I'll be focusing on NTE and plugging away at the storyline I've missed in WW when I either want a change or if I run out of things to do in Hethereau.

Looking at the six-minute YouTube trailer for Rising From The Moonlit Fog, that doesn't seem too likely. There's a lot in there. Let me break it down a little.

First, here's the video. Take your time. I'll wait. 

And now I'll tell you what you would have seen if you'd watched it, which I'm betting hardly any of you did. Top Tip for Blaugust: if you find yourself short of original content, find something someone else has done and summarize it. 

We open with just over a minute of excerpts from the main storyline. I found it extremely confusing. There's some sort of game, arranged by that sociopathic woman from Daffodil's past, which looks like it takes place in some Anomalous Realm. Apparently we may "choose one thing in the Fogden as a reward" but we have to beat out all comers because "the Fog Coffin only allows one victor."

Is anyyone getting this? And if so, would they care to explain it to me? 

It looks like there are lot of people on the Appraiser's team. A whole gang. In one long shot I think I can count seven of them. Of us, I guess that should be. 

Two of them are the new draws, Zankou and Linko. They look like they've been selected to appeal to very different parts of the audience. Also, why do so many characters in NTE have names that make them sound like they used to be in the Marx Bros?

Honestly, you could start putting the characters into teams just by archetype, now. Zankou looks like one of the sultry, grown-up femme fatales in the mold of Hotori and Jiyuan while Linko is obviously Team Cute 'n' Crazy along with the likes of Chiz, Iroi and Haniel. 

Yet again, there are no new male characters. Hotta knows its audience. Looking at the wiki, including the two about to be added, the roster is now five male to fifteen female. A three to one ratio in favor of the girls, although you could subdivide that again into adults, adolescents and children. All we need now are a couple of robots and a few cuddly animals and we'll be all set.

 

Also looking at that wiki list, I see Zankou is supposedly a member of The Scarlet Letter, which makes her a baddie. Can she be one of the bad guys and a playable character? I guess we're about to find out.

So much for the story, about which I feel like I now know less than I did before I watched the video. On to the non-story content. There are a few very interesting additions to the game there.

Before I get to those, though, there's a whole racing "Expansion" to get through, if we're following along with the video. I don't think they mean expansion as in Wrath of the Lich King or Ruins of Kunark. I think what they mean is they've literally expanded the course. Made the race tracks longer. Or added more of them. Or both.

I wouldn't know. I don't race in Neverness To Everness. As I've said before, I find steering  four-wheeled vehicles in the game difficult to the point of being stressful and I do absolutely as little of it as possible. I am not the target market for any expansion of the racing side of the game. Although as we're about to find out, I'm not averse to more vehicular options.

After the video's done showcasing the new tracks and challenges it's on to the catwalk. There's almost a minute and a half of fresh fashion, beginning with outfits for the new characters. There's a clear explanation of how to get each of them, which is nice. It's good to be able to set goals. 

Unfortunately, few of those goals will be easily achievable or cheap and never both at the same time. You can roll for them or grind for them or pay real money. Them's your choices.

Fortunately for me, I don't much like any of the new clothes except for Linko's Couch Potato outfit, which is just a sweatshirt and shorts. I really would like some ordinary, unpretentious, casual clothes for my characters; things that don't make them look like they're cosplaying anime characters at an off-brand comic convention.

 

Then again, it could be worse. Much, much  worse. Until my recent return to the game, I'd forgotten - or more probably driven from my mind for the sake of my mental well-being - what the player-character is forced to wear as a default outfit in Wuthering Waves. It's hideous beyond belief. The default PC look in NTE is orders of magnitude more acceptable.

Still, I'd like that sweatshirt. Only there are two problems. No, three. First, I'd have to roll for and win Linko. Second, I'd have to grind to Bond Level 10 with her. And third, I'm guessing only Linko can wear it, so I'd have to be Linko. I don't imagine any of that is going to happen.

The second half of the fashion show is all beachwear. In my opinion, they could have more usefully introduced this with the last update. Summer will be nearly over by the time this one arrives. Not to mention the last update was actually set on a frigging holiday beach resort island! Does no-one think these things through?

The beachwear itself is okay, although it seems odd that it's character-specific. What's everyone else supposed to do? Stay at home? Or maybe sit at the beach cafe and watch while the lucky few have fun on the sand. 

For once, the boys get by far the best of it. The male Appraiser outfit is nicely ordinary but the best of the lot is Chaos's wetsuit, which really does look good. Other than that, I like Mint's big straw hat and that's about it. Oh, and the female Appraiser look is awful. She seems to have put her bra on over the rest of her clothes. Is that a thing, now?

After the outfits comes the first Very Interesting Addition: Beach Volleyball. I have no clue how this is going to work. Since NTE is primarily a single-player game, I assume it's something you play with NPCs but it would obviously make a great co-op game. I seem to remember playing soccer in an MMORPG before (Free Realms, I think...) but never volleyball. I'm extremely curious to try this one out.

 

If you thought volleyball was a left-field choice for a new activity, Hotta would like you to hold their beer. Next up is another mini-game. It's called Brick By Brick and from the video it would appear to involve driving a fork-lift in a warehouse. 

I know what you're going to ask... WHY!!!??? For the sake of all that's holy, why? Did someone fill in that box at the end of one of the surveys, saying "I really like the game but it's lacking one, vital element - repetitive manual labor, preferably warehouse work". Who wants to drive a fucking forklift truck when they could be doing literally anything else in the game?

I bet I end up loving it. 

But from here, I'm a lot more interested in the next section - new vehicles. Yes, I don't get on very well with cars in NTE but these aren't cars. 

For a start, one of them's a jet ski. Which, for some reason, the video doesn't call a jet ski. It just calls it "New Water Vehicle". It even has a name: Tide. Guys, we can see it's a jet ski! 

And it looks great. The big advantage the sea around Hethereau has over Hethereau itself, when it comes to driving a vehicle, is that there are no roads in the sea. And no walls, buildings, bushes, central reservation barriers, buses or zebra crossings. I'm not saying it'll be impossible to crash into anything but it's going to be a lot harder.

Jet skis are not uncommon in video games. I've ridden one or two before. I'll tell you what I've never ridden in any game though and that's a bicycle.

Which is odd, when you come to think of it. Loads of games have motorcycles but I can't think of a single game I've ever played that had pushbikes.The mechanics must be the same, mustn't they? Once you've done the work for the motorbike, it's just a different skin, isn't it?

Well, no, I guess there's the leg animation to consider. You have to pedal a bicycle. They're famous for it. Maybe that's why no-one bothers to add them. 

 

The animation looks excellent. Very convincing. And you can give someone a ride on the back, too. Can you have another NPC ride pillion on the motorbike? If so, I hadn't noticed the option. 

There's also a kind of dune buggy/quad bike deal called Sirocco that looks like it might be fun, especially if you like running people over. Seriously, that thing's going to be a menace, on and off the beach. 

The bikes (There's more than one model.) and the buggy can be bought with Fons but the jet ski comes from "Mystery Boxes", which I assume means loot boxes you buy. If these are a thing in the game already, I hadn't noticed. Since I would like the jet ski, I'm going to have to look into it. Maybe it's like the sports car event. I never even looked at that one.

After the vehicles comes housing. Normally, I'd be all over a new housing option but NTE is one of those rare games that's already too generous when it comes to setting up home. You can get five massive houses now and the only real obstacle is amassing enough in-game cash to buy them. I have two and even that feels like it's one too many.

Consequently, I wasn't very hyped to see we were getting a sixth... until I saw what it was. It's on a completely different scale to the others, by which I mean it's much smaller and more manageable. It's down to earth and best of all it's an actual house, not an apartment. 

Stillmeadow House has a garden and a car-port and a lovely, suburban setting and I want it. It's buyable with Fons so I can have it, too. I just have to stop going to the Catzebo every day.

Finally in the video we come to the "And also..." section, which is really pretty interesting. I had to freeze-frame this part because it all flips by too fast to take in and not all of it has been translated but when I was able to read the tiny English text along the bottom, I saw quite a few things I liked the look of.

Nanally gets optional glasses to go with her Popular Kid outfit. I don't have Nanally's Popular Kid outfit. In fact, I don't have Nanally. If and when I do, though, I will certainly have her wear them. Glasses are second only to hats as essential accessories in games.

 

There's a bonus to speed of city stamina consumption coming with Tycoon Level 16. Until very recently I had no interest in City Stamina and had no idea why people seemed so fussed about it. I still don't really understand how it works but I do know it's a way to make money and as of this update I'm going to need a lot more of that. Anything that makes it come faster is welcome.

Speaking of which, you'll be able to grow crops in your garden in the new house and sell those for Fons. And so farming comes to Hethereau. I am not a fan of farming, as a rule, but it does depend on the implementation. I reserve judgment until I try it.

Also on the money-making trail, Pink Paws Heist is getting a mini-map. That's very good news. I have no idea where I am in that damn bank. Not even with a walk-through. With a map, I might actually be able to grab some cash and get out in time. 

But then, there's an incomprehensible rules change to Pink Paws that now somehow ties it to a weekly volleyeball challenge match... What do beach volleyball and bank robbery have to do with each other? Will I ever get my one million Fons? I very much doubt it.

One coming feature that sounds half-baked at best is "Random Outfits". As of the update "Characters will automatically swap to a random outfit from their wardrobe whenever you log in or change scenes." 

Excuse me? So I spend either time or money or both getting the look I want and then the game randomly swaps it for something else? Is that good business sense? Did anyone ask for it?

It'll be fine if it's optional. It had better be optional! Although at the moment, since I only have two outfits, it's hardly going to be a pressing issue for me. But if I get more, the damn game had better let me wear the ones I want, whenever I want!

There are, of course, a whole raft of limited-time events, some tied to the new stuff I've been talking about. But then there always are. Let's not bother with any of those.

No, I've left the very best part of the entire update to last. Here it comes! Ready...?

 

"A button will be added to the main screen to hide the UI with a single tap"

OMG! That's exactly what I wanted! That one change will make a massive difference to my gameplay. I know that for absolute certain because Wuthering Waves has it and it's been transformative for me there.

The issue is that because I play both NTE and WW on GeForce Now, any screenshot I take with the in-game camera gets sent to Nvidia's servers not to my PC. In order to take screenshots I can use on the blog, I have to use Win+PrtScr, which works perfectly, but which captures the full screen as it appears on my monitor, UI and all.

To get clean screenshots in Wuthering Waves I just have to toggle the UI off using Alt-C but in NTE I have to hit Escape to get to the "Mobile Phone" menu, open Settings, click on the Video tab and push the UI Opacity slider back to zero. And then, when I'm done taking screenshots, I have to do it all again in to put the UI back.

Being able to click one button on the screen instead of doing all of that is going to be so much easier. Huge quality of life improvement.

I'm really looking forward to Rising From The Moonlit Fog just for that.

Okay, not just for that...