Chapter IV - The Christmas Day Massacre
Howdy Realmers! For those just joining us, the RealmLocke Chronicles is a running series of posts on Reddit and RealmEye detailing the process of a specific challenge to complete as much of the game as I can using only fifteen characters, one for every class. This is based off of a specific style of playing Pokemon known as a Nuzlocke where each Pokemon that faints in battle cannot be used again. For more information, please take a look at the forum thread on RealmEye or the first Reddit post . Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!
Session 3 - December 25th, 2019
I’ve been regretting the day I write this.
So let me give some context leading up to this session. I had just returned from a four-day vacation. Still, one of the first things I did when I returned was type up the second log of the series. I was ahead of schedule in terms of entries since I knew the second chapter was only going to be the second part of the first session and I had already completed the second session before I left. If I wanted to, I could take a step back, relax, enjoy the holiday, maybe play on my regular account with a lot less on the line. And then I could start again in the new year, bring this idea of a challenge to full swing and just have at it.
But that’s not who I am.
After playing some Samurai and finding some success with that DECA Luck, I decided that it would translate over to the RealmLocke account. I fell for what could be considered the “hot hand” fallacy. It’s a ideology in sports, typically basketball, where one person makes bucket after bucket after bucket. Everyone around them believes they have the hot hand and that they will continue to have it until the streak is undoubtedly broken. So, they put their faith in what they believe is a constant. And by that, I mean what they believe is a fact.
The truth is, there are two likely outcomes if the player with the hot hand is susceptible to believing the “hot hand” fallacy. They will become confident enough to try more big plays…and they will become confident enough to try more risky plays. And this was my first mistake.
On top of this belief, I was going to play Oswald the Archer. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Archer is my favorite class to play as. My true fear initially was never making it to the point where I could play Archer and that I would die as the Wizard and the Priest first. And well…I was half right. But more on that later. Right now, Oswald is the savior of the run, the champion of the RealmLocke account, the one that stood the greatest chance of going the distance. He was the most reliable character at my disposal.
So I started things off with a little warm-up from Nameless the Wizard. After doing a little Godland farming, I happened upon a Permafrost Lord and acquired this little bell:
And if you’re looking carefully, you might notice a little bit of yellow on the right middle portion of the screen. 1/8 was a reality. And in one of the better stats too…Speed is a magical thing in a game all about dodging.
So the “hot hand” fallacy continues. And having accomplished something already for Nameless, the next course of action was to bring Oswald up to his level. I mean, if I could achieve this with a character class I had yet to reach 800 fame on my original account, then the Archer would be no problem.
There were two factors that led to my downfall.
The in-game factor was my misjudgement on how far the Wizard had come. As you can see in the snapshot above, I had already consumed half of the required defense pots to max, not to mention the vitality pot quota was almost maxed out, too. This was technically a discounted 3/8 Wizard, and I mean a severely discounted 3/8 Wizard. Still, it was more tanky than a 0/8 Archer.
The out-of-game factor…was liquid courage.
I rarely drink alcohol and play this game, but it was Christmas and I was in a relaxed state of mind. For those that are too young to touch the stuff, alcohol has a tendency to slow down your reaction time at a certain point. And the specific drink I was having was a sleeper, meaning I didn’t feel the alcohol until I was already well past this previously mentioned point. But those are just excuses.
There were even warning signs, as I had hopped into a Sprite World while a cavalcade of Godland enemies were firing upon me. But the damage wasn’t too collateral:
I even got my second White Bag out of the ordeal…an EP Staff, but it still counts:
However, instead of playing it safe and returning it to base, I ran into the heat of battle, tested my luck…and got rocked.
Looking back on the decisions that I do remember from that night, it was my hubris that killed off this character. My decisions to play through my inhibitions and ignore my sleep-deprived state and drunken stupor led to the downfall of what I believed to be the easiest character of the run.
Needless to say, I was angry. Y’know…the kind of primal rage that enters the body when you realize permadeath is a thing and all progress that was just made was squashed…the kind of feelings this game is known for bringing out of people. I legitimately had to take a step back and not pick up the RealmLocke challenge for a little bit. I went back to my main account to relax for the rest of the day and grind some stat pots (which went about as well as you can imagine).
Truthfully, I’ve been writing this for about a couple weeks now, trying to find the words that describe how I felt, what I did, and how it went going forward. I’ll be honest, this did discourage me from continuing the RealmLocke Challenge. I’m already down significantly from where I wanted to be starting off. And I’ll be honest…it is fun having the super overpowered items that you’ve worked for years to collect rather than having to struggle and grind to reach that point again. And I think that is the true struggle of the challenge. To go from everything from nothing and then try to gain everything…in fifteen characters or less…that’s a hard sell in a perma-death game.
But in that vein, you realize…that’s part of the fun. How far you truly can go. How much further you have left before you can successfully say you’ve mastered the game. Get the White Star? Get all the White Bags? Get a Divine Pet? The limit is only set by you. It’s up to the player to determine the limit they wish to go to. That’s true in every game.
And this is all reflection and maybe a little hyping myself up to continue this. Because I believe it to be a cool idea and I think it’s a newer way to play Realm…definitely a harder way. Much harder than PPEs, NPEs, OPEs, or even starting a brand new account, all by itself. And that’s interesting. It changes the way you think, the way you approach challenges, allows you to see the game in a new light and develop not only your instincts, but your judgement.
And that is the true magic of the RealmLocke.
Session 4 - December 28th, 2019
So that’s exactly what I did. I changed my strategy. I decided not to rely on any one character and work on developing them all. This challenge is not about cheesing your way to the best results. This is about developing and honing your skills and instincts to achieve the best results. Each pot will be earned by their own character. Each white will be earned by their own character…okay, maybe that’s a little too far. They are rare. But you get the idea. One character cannot carry the rest of them to success. Everyone has to pull their own weight. It’s part of the challenge.
It’s part of the fun.
I had eight or so character slots and I chose to use them, so here they are! Cue the montage music!
#Don’tClickThisLink
So with that, I concluded that Session with 0 deaths and a whole lot of optimism (but not a whole lot of time, since this session was before the new year and this post is coming out…two weeks later? Something like that). I’ve given into the naming theme as requested by one of the RealmEye users (LudwiGa), so expect that to be a thing going forward, if ya haven’t noticed already. (Oswald, Barty, Nameless, etc.) But not right now. Each character will get it’s own chapter in the saga.
So, before I conclude this post, I wanted to ask y’all something. As you’ve noticed, I’ve only used 8 of the 9 character slots I have remaining (yes, I know I don’t have a screenshot for leveling the Huntress up, but I didn’t unlock any new characters with her). Meaning I have one slot remaining. As I go through the other classes and start leveling them up, I’ll pop the question to y’all: What class should get the final spot?
Right now, I have a choice between four. I have a preference, but I’d rather wait to hear what y’all want me to do before I pick it. The remaining classes to pick from go as follows:
- Mystic
- Paladin
- Sorcerer
- Samurai
Let me know in the thread (if on RealmEye), in the comments (if on Reddit) or through DMs on either (If you choose to not be publicly judged for your opinions). You can explain why if you’d like. It may help influence my decision.
Thanks for reading. Sorry for the hiatus. And I hope you enjoyed it.
Summary
Characters:
Wizard: 529/800 Fame, 1/8 Stats Maxed (Speed)
Priest: 294/400 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed
Archer: 102/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed
Rogue: 116/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed
Warrior: 25/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed
Necromancer: 25/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed
Huntress: 75/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed
Assassin: 33/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed
Knight: 22/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed
Ninja: 23/150 Fame, 0/8 Stats Maxed
Goal Check:
Total Fame Accumulated: 1,244
Stars: 13
Maxed Characters: 0
White Bags: 2
Dungeons Traversed: Abyss of Demons, Cave of a Thousand Treasures, Cursed Library, Davy Jones’ Locker, Deadwater Docks, Forbidden Jungle, Forest Maze, Ice Cave, Mad Lab, Magic Woods, Mountain Temple, Ocean Trench, Pirate Cave, Puppet Master’s Theater, Snake Pit, Spider Den, Sprite World, The Crawling Depths , Toxic Sewers, Undead Lair
(NOTE: Most of these screenshots have captions underneath them that simply don’t work in the RealmEye thread style, so you can view the Reddit Post to examine those. I’m trying to figure out a way to liven things up here, format-wise. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to let me know. I’ll take them into consideration. Thanks again!)