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∎ ETRAYA MODS ∎ ([personal profile] etrayamods) wrote in [community profile] etrayamemes2025-05-30 09:20 am
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TDM 008


content warnings for this TDM include: gambling references, mild horror themes and suggestive content


⏵ arrival⏴

Arrival does not happen as Aurora usually plans for it. Newcomers generally find themselves waking up within the hospital, are given a brief overview of their situation, and sent on their way. Now? They wake up immersed in a game within The Gold Saucer. But it doesn't quite feel like a game: whether it's snowy mountains, riding a chocobo as you listened to the wind quickly pass by your ears, or in the middle of a battle with a beast, it feels utterly real.

It's only after the game concludes - either by winning or losing - that you find yourself back in the main game area. A bot, dressed as personnel in this lavish playground, approaches each arrival with an earpiece allowing them to communicate with those in their same situation. It also serves to inform them of their goal: collect enough gold saucer points (or GP) by playing the games to acquire a card fashioned to their own likeness from the game counter. Then, they must trade it for someone else's. Seems simple enough, right? Hopefully the cards aren't too expensive...


⏵ the gold saucer ⏴

The Gold Saucer is an ode to the very idea of fun. It’s huge, labyrinthine, colorful, and lively. Everywhere you look, there’s something to do. At the same time, it’s also impossible to tell what time it is. There are no windows to the outside, there are no clocks. This place is beyond such a thing.

There are games everywhere you look, ranging from the pseudo-gambling to sports to pixelated video games in cabinets. Yet no matter which boxing game, pinball machine, or skeeball machine you look at, the same creatures and themes arrive. Cactuars, chocobos, the fiercest Behemoth, the cuddliest Moogle… For those from the realms of Final Fantasy, this will feel natural- homey even. Everyone else will simply understand that there is a fairly strong central theme here about magic, machines, and monsters.

It’s hard to tell how long you spend here, and it seems to sit outside of the very concept of time. Still, there are many restaurants, lounges, and vending machines. There are shops and costume rentals. There are even little pharmacies with headache remedies if the partying gets out of hand. And when you grow tired, there is a hotel- though it is made up like a haunted house, you can count on getting some semi-restful sleep.


⏵ playtime ⏴
Interdimensional Games


At first, stepping through to play any of these games may make participants wonder if they have been teleported somewhere else entirely. But on closer inspection, all the skies above are merely well-constructed interiors with painted ceilings. After all, it always seems to be daytime during these games.

Snowboarding - Race to the bottom of the mountain, but avoid obstacles and complete as many tricks as possible!

Chocobo Racing- Race on Chocobo-back around a treacherous outdoors race track which can either be taking place in a desert, a swampy forest, or upon an island beach. Work in tandem with your rented bird and against your competition by throwing hazards in their way or utilizing buffs garnered on the track. Different colored birds will yield different advantages.

Yellow - Good All Rounder
Red - Fast, but hard to steer
Blue - Slower, but very easy to steer. Much easier to pick up items from them.
Green- Resilient against traps and sabotage

Colosseum Battle- Face off against the fiercest beasts around. Pair up with friends or rivals to Collaborate or Compete to do the most damage and deliver the final blow. These battles are synced to the comparative power of the one entering the competition.

We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt unnecessarily, after all. And indeed, no one will get seriously, gruesomely, or permanently injured in these battles. Those without fighting capabilities can rent weapons outfitted Materia to assist them in their trial. These will allow anyone to cast spells, though not guarantee any better wielding of weapons. There are a hundred rounds, starting with fairly simple Spriggans, ranging all the way up to blood-thirsty Behemoths to challenge even the most battle-hardened hero.

Gold Saucer Games


Leap of Faith- Players are presented with an obstacle course that stretches a hundred feet into the air upon floating platforms and islands. Both are held aloft by magical crystals. Powers are entirely nerfed, though falling and hitting the ground is strangely painless. Those who collect the most silver and gold statuettes of cactuars placed at random throughout the course will be awarded proportionate GP; though there is a bonus for those that reach the very top first.

Triple Triad- Everywhere you look, people are playing this game on little 3 by 3 boards, or any surface with enough space. You will be given a loaner deck to play with. Are you clever enough to defeat your fellows.

Fashion Report- Theobold, familiar to some, stands by himself in a little booth with a dressing room and an incredibly expansive walk-in closet. He is a robot of distinguished fashion and strong opinions on those fashions. Do you dare subject yourself to his scrutiny? Come prepare in his wondrous closets to make the best outfit for the chance to win a prize. Please submit your fashion here!

There are Arcade Machines and activities galore. If you can think of it, it’s probably there- Just with that Final Fantasy pastiche on it, of course.


⏵ the beehive lounge ⏴

There are other places to eat at the Gold Saucer, but the vending machines and cafés all pale in comparison to the dinners at the Beehive.

For all the rave reviews, there is a dress code at the Beehive, and this is literal. If you step inside and are not currently wearing a dress, you will be ushered into a sideroom and appropriately made over.

However, this is only for those trying to go in through the normal doors. Around the side there happens to be an employee entrance, manned by a bot. He will only allow those in who seem like they intend to work— and therefore must be wearing at least one piece of the Bunnysuit Collection to trick the guard.

Once you are made over or have snuck in, you are free to relax inside with drinks, dine on a fine meal, watch the dancers, or participate yourself if you feel brave enough. Why would anyone ever dance here? Well, that’s simple. It pays really well. So if you’re sick of games, or terrible at them— you can always come dance for a shift. Though, don't get any unseemly ideas about freeing yourself of your clothing, this isn't that kind of establishment!


⏵ haunted house ⏴

When you grow too weary or drunk from a day of games, you may be directed to somewhere a little quieter to sleep. Up the elevator, and through the doors reveals a modest walk through some woods until a quaint, victorian hotel appears. It is always nighttime here, and the stars and moon twinkle above.

The receptionist, a bot in a rather bedraggled-looking chocobo mascot costume checks you in and shows you to your room. You can sleep here, especially if you can tolerate the hokey haunted decorations strung up around the place. Though sometimes, late at night, there will come a vigorous thumping on the door to startle sleeping patrons awake- Only for the culprit to vanish and be impossible to locate.



⏵ ticket counter ⏴


The prize counter is manned by a bot and has a sign posted overhead. Most prizes will be handed over inside an appropriately sized wrapped box, as the contents are a mystery.


Sparklers & Glowsticks 10 gp
Bunny Suit 300 gp
Bunny Stockings & Heels 150 gp
Animal Ears (Random) 500 gp
Kigurumi (Random) 100 gp
Chocobo Barding (Random) 1000 gp
Classic White Mage Robes 500 gp
Classic Black Mage Robes 500 gp
Plush Toy (Random) 100 gp
Wind-Up Minion (Random) 200 gp
Chocobo Mascot Suit (Random Color) 2000 gp
Triple Triad Booster Pack 50 gp
Triple Triad Card in your Likeness 10,000 gp


⏵ NOTES ⏴


This TDM may be treated as a mini-Mission. Time will not pass inside of it in relation to the world outside - meaning, this can be happening at any time between late May into early July!

This Gold Saucer is a bit of a mix between that of FF7's and FF14's, but it also has some things that neither have as well. Any inaccuracies are entirely intentional, aimed to make this rest within a space of uncanny valley for those who are familiar. While otherwise being a bit of a chaotic fantastical funhouse for everyone else! If there is something unlisted, chances are it will exist if it is in either of the other versions of the Gold Saucer.

Characters already in game are welcome to post to the TDM, too! Please mark them as current characters in your header. Threads can be kept as game canon as long as both characters get into the game!

Please direct all questions to our mod queries comment!

FULL NAVIGATION

tinflower: (pic#17907076)

[personal profile] tinflower 2025-06-28 01:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Chocobos? Oh, those--bird things? The things in Etraya? That makes him curious, but between Yuri speaking and his own attention on his small bot, Gorgug doesn't speak up immediately. It's undone the panelling, and he whispers under his breath, 'Grip it with your tongue' like a sigh, and the bot changes its tongue's design into a stickier grip. Don't mind it...!

But as for Gorgug: ]
Y-yeah-- it's... it can learn, um, depending on how well I make it and the space it's got for its-- brain? Bots can... you need good materials or a lot of space like, like Borealis did, to get something like that or Aurora.

But it should-- my bot, uh, it should be okay. It's just, sometimes-- it panics? I guess it isn't that old...

[ And what's currently not being witnessed is it panicking now when, in trying to take off the panelling has made it fall backwards with it, the metal frame too big for its current, shrunken size. It's going through its own adventure back there, b-but it'll get up and get inside the machine itself!! ]

I've never made a sneak bot before. [ That's also probably an issue... ]
wolfish: (regard)

[personal profile] wolfish 2025-06-29 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
So your gadgets need some training...

[ It's a curious concept, learning machines. Yuri hadn't ever heard of such a thing before all of this. In many respects, the experience remains surreal despite just how much time he has spent in this place. Aurora seems to learn the way people do, aside some baseline understanding of how things work, which makes good enough sense if someone's making a person of a sort.

Gorgug's little creature might start off with less, he supposes. ]


Can the one you made build confidence? If it can panic, I'd think it could, but it's far and beyond what my world's got.

[ He's had his run-in with mechanical weapons, but they didn't seem to possess that sort of intelligence or capacity for anything resembling emotions. ]
tinflower: (pic#17818419)

[personal profile] tinflower 2025-06-30 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Well... I tell it to do better, and to stop acting like I messed up somewhere when I programmed it, but I don't think it's been working. [ What's the solution? Gorgug's got a wrinkled forehead from even trying to think about it. ] I can keep trying...

...

...or I can. You know.

[ He makes a motion that either looks like the "tear out its brain" implication he wants it to be, or it looks like he's taking a cookie out of a cookie jar. ]

Fix it.

[ He doesn't want the bot to hear...! ]
wolfish: (mull)

[personal profile] wolfish 2025-07-01 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Yuri frowns as he considers this. He hasn't ever made something that possessed its own intelligence before, but the notion of "fixing" the little guy doesn't quite sit right to him. Maybe it's his limited perspective or something else entirely, but even so... ]

I could be wrong here, but... Maybe it needs you to work with it, instead of on it. You know, give it some pointers.

[ That's your little guy, Gorgug! ]
tinflower: (pic#17818420)

[personal profile] tinflower 2025-07-03 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Hmmmmm.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Yuri is getting to see some hard thinking faces here, of the "should I? Do I want to? Fixing it might be easier, buuuut" varieties. A mumbled, ]
I guess, [ that's audible despite the chimes and tunes in the environment.

But before Gorgug can come to a conclusion, he feels his wrist screen activate, and turns it to look at him. ]


--Oh, it got it. It looks like... it could try and get in the programme. It's not complicated. [ He looks at Yuri, brows still together in thought. ] It could set off some kinda alarm if there's security in the game itself. Should we give it a go? Maybe if one of us plays it at the same time...

[ And by one of us: ] --You?

[ Yuri.

Wanna play a game? ]