Mar 9, 2024

[Neolithic]To the End - orochi2k

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another week's developer's diary.

Before we start, let's take a moment to mourn the passing of the world-famous Akira Toriyama, the author of Dragon Ball. On March 1, 2024, Toriyama died from acute subdural hematoma, at the age of 68. His funeral was held privately with only his family as attendees. His death was announced by his production company Bird Studio one week later on March 8. Thus, we only know that recently. It's the end of another era. We once lived in an era with him. Now this era is no more.

However, have you really seen the full Dragon Ball animation for once? There are many different versions outside, in the US, Germany, France, and many different parts of the world. All of them are more or less censored from the original versions in the name of protecting the audience from bad influence while actually denying the whole and complete experience of such a masterpiece. We live on the same planet. We watch animations, play video games, and see movies of the same name. Yet, what we get is different. Because someone out there does not want us to see the same thing, they make our prospect be manipulated to their liking. They try to play God, denying us from sharing the same memory, making us unable to understand each other, as if an uncensored original piece of artwork is a Tower of Babel that will challenge them.

Yet, do you believe there was once upon a time, there was no censorship?
If you do, type in "I want to believe." in the game's console command and you can unlock all the faith beliefs and tenets of the game. It's a phrase from X-File. So, we also get a new faith to worship aliens because of that.

It's an Atheism faith as it believes all gods are just their advanced alien overlords.
Yet, the followers of this faith can pray. Although there may be no divines listening, their alien overlord out there may somehow listen in mysterious ways. Thus, they also get a quite different prayer. They may pray for an orbital bombardment upon their enemies. If they are very devoted, maybe their alien overlords will even answer that. It's an instant act which means they can try to pray multiple times in one turn during a battle, burning both their devotion and the HP of their enemies very quickly.

Now, let's get back to the X-File. do you know, such a television series with all the conspiracy theories, sometimes blood and gores, sometimes exposed and naked bodies, and sometimes quite politically incorrect, can once actually be on TV in mainland China? Don't be surprised, in that era, there were also very violent (towards today's standards) Japanese animes such as Dragon Ball and Fist of the North Star, and sexy (towards today's standards) Japanese animes such as Sailor Moon on the TV of China. They were all uncensored and available to audiences of all ages. Of course, there was no "Twin Peaks" because I think the government really really really does not like Agent Cooper's political views. But, you get the point. There was once upon a time no censorship even in China. That was the beautiful golden age of the 1990s when I grew up. Unfortunately, many of our younger players may never experienced such an era of freedom that rarely appeared in the history of this nation. But, such an era was there. So, I intended to carry on the freedom I embraced in my childhood to this game so that maybe there is a chance that people can know games, animes, TV shows, and the culture they carry were different back then.

In that era, Blood is Red and Bones were White.

We are human. Our blood is red, our bones are white, and we die if we are killed. Yet, what do some modern censored games tell people? You can find in some countries, blood is censored to green or black. If you play League of Legends and pick Valdmir, you do not get a vampire, you get an oil baron. You can also find in some countries, white bones are also subject to be censored. Now imagine the Lich King in World of Warcraft has his head entirely concealed in a big box and his skeleton minions do the same. Funny, right? Unfortunately, it's not so funny to players who live in those countries. One more, you can also find people do not die if they are killed in some games. They somehow start to wave their hands to surrender or kneel on the floor allowing your bullets to shoot right through them in Counter-Strike. If you don't know any of those, then congratulations, you are lucky enough to live in a country where you can fully enjoy your games, a privilege that about 20% of the population on earth does not have.
I don't know when such censorships start. I don't know who would do such inhumane things.
But, I want you to remember that Blood is Red and Bones were White in a new procedurally generated quest added this week even one day "they" come to censor it and take away such memory from you.

In that era, girls could show their beautiful bodies as they liked and wore whatever clothes they wanted.
When did even Mortal Kombat stop having sexy girls?
When did all female characters start to look ugly in games?
When did companies like Sweet Baby Inc. appear in this industry?
Those so-called "awakens" and so-called political correctness are just another form of censorship to me. They shall have no place and will not exist in my world. Sure, we have diversity and towards a level of freedom that many do not have. Yet, our difference is, that I let you, players make your own decisions instead of forcing those decisions upon you. You can certainly play heroes or heroines. But,
If you want to burn down the entire city, killing everyone, you can do that. If you want to make love with girls, you can do that, we even have animations. If you want to just let the world burn when you play some mini-games, you can do that, we have plenty, including a built-in HealthStone skeuomorph. If you want to try out all those different character appearances, customizing your gender, changing them whenever you want, go ahead. That's the diversity I am talking about.
So, as we just finished the story of the Dark Elf King last week. Someone proposed to have a beautiful dark elf girl in our game. I think that's a great idea. After all, we are going to eventually have all 4 knights of the Dark Elf King return to this game. Here we are:

Judging by her hair color, you may already figure out which one she is.
She looks darker and more elf than his king because of some backstory reasons.
Most importantly, she does not hide her beautiful and formidable body. After all, why wear armor if you do not plan to get hit? And who says a spellcaster cannot have an athletic body? Just like the element she represents, she may look slender and fragile from afar, but she may also be the strongest among the four. We will have more information about her when her story comes. But, for now, you can already use her appearance for your main character or any customized teammates.

But, what about the other side of the coin?
After all, you are playing a secret organization agent. It's a grand masquerade that many organizations like yours want to hide the supernatural world from ordinary people. There may be no worse censorship than that.

A new faith tenet you can unlock if you ask a certain Illuminati doctor in the Queensmouth airport about the masks or ask Kalina about the veil. Maybe, once you have the power and knowledge, you may not want to share with others. Maybe, you finally learned it's too dangerous to have others know the unspeakable horror behind the truth, you want to "protect" them. (However, in real life, I have no idea how censoring and slut-shaming adult content even for adult-only games can help protect anything other than sinking the birth rate of a nation even further. It's not like you are fighting Slaanesh in Warhammer 40k or something like that.)
Anyway, you do not need to be someone who breaks the wall. You can also choose the path to reinforce it. Maybe that way is most beneficial to you as you already have the power, why have more competitors? So, you need tools to manipulate the public.
You now have it:

In Liu, you can now find a newspaper named "The Universal Times." It's a media with quite low moral standards. As long as you pay them enough money, they can post everything you want in the newspaper to change the view of the majority of people who live in their blessed ignorance like sheep.
You can improve your reputation. You can decrease the public's supernatural awareness. Or, for some reasons that only you may know, to increase the public's supernatural awareness. It's another tool at your disposal that allows you one step closer to a puppetmaster.

Of course, you are not alone in this game of social re-engineering. Remember that one-eyed officer in Liu's Public Security Bureau? He now receives constant reports regarding anything supernatural on his desk. The good news is, that you may also sneak into his office and take a look.

Oh, well, most of the data is still redacted. At least, you can now know the value of the local public's
supernatural awareness.

That's for this week. You can have your own choice to pick your side in this war to either break the wall or reinforce it. But, remember the history, once upon a time there was no censorship, then "they" came. In the name of protection, they made blood green and black, they covered bones with boxes and clothes in the name of your protection.

However...
"感動的な映画はたくさんあるが、それで世界が平和になったかい？" --- 北野武
"There are many beautiful movies, but have they brought peace to the world?" --- Takeshi Kitano
The answer is no.
100 years ago, there were no video games, yet the World War 1 and the World War 2 still broke out.
100 years later, there are so many beautiful things in the world other than video games, yet Putin still started a war on Feb. 24th, 2022 and Hamas terrorists still went on to murder and rape on Oct.7th, 2023. Does anyone's censorship on anything stop that from happening?

Once upon a time, there was no censorship.
Will that time come again?
I don't know. But, this game comes from that golden era and it is still alive.

The full update log of this week:
20240303
English
############Content###############
[Console Command]New Console Command: "I want to believe." (It unlocks all faith cores and tenets.)
[Wiki]Added a page about console commands: https://neolithia.fandom.com/wiki/Console_Commands
[Phantom Tide Lodge]Added a microwave.
[Cooking]New Food Recipe: Vegetable Baozi (You can use any vegetables to make it.)
[Cooking]New Food Recipe: Fruit Baozi (You can use any fruit to make it.)
############System###############
[Faith]When checking against faith that is currently available the system now checks $game_party.faith_availableFaith functions instead of $game_party.faith_unlockedFaith functions.
############Debug################
[Traditional Chinese]Word changed 【尸】->【屍】(Thanks to 渺兔's feedback)
[Traditional Chinese]Word changed 【斗】->【鬥】(Thanks to 渺兔's feedback)
[Traditional Chinese]Word changed 【松】->【鬆】(Thanks to 渺兔's feedback)
简体中文
##########Content#################
【控制台指令】新控制台指令："I want to believe." （解锁所有的信仰核心和信条。）
【维基】加入了一个关于控制台指令的页面：https://neolithia.fandom.com/wiki/Console_Commands
【幻潮旅馆】加入了一个微波炉。
【料理】新食谱：菜包子（你可以使用任何蔬菜制作）
【料理】新食谱：水果包子（你可以使用任何水果制作）
############System###############
【信仰】在判断一个信仰的内容是否可用的时候，系统会调用$game_party.faith_availableFaith的函数而非$game_party.faith_unlockedFaith的函数。
############Debug################
【繁體中文】用語替換【尸】->【屍】（感谢渺兔提出的反馈意见。）
【繁體中文】用語替換【斗】->【鬥】（感谢渺兔提出的反馈意见。）
【繁體中文】用語替換【松】->【鬆】（感谢渺兔提出的反馈意见。）

20240304
English
############Content###############
[Faith]New Beleif: Alien Worship (Can summon Orbital Bombardment if devotion is high.)
[Faith]New Prayer: Pray for Orbital Bombardment.
[Character Customization]Added a new female character variation. (A certain dark elf.)
简体中文
##########Content#################
【信仰】新信仰：外星人崇拜（在虔诚足够高的时候能够召唤轨道轰炸）
【信仰】新祈祷类型：召唤轨道轰炸。
【角色自定义】加入了一个新的女性角色造型。（某个黑暗精灵。）

20240305
English
############Content###############
[Tool] Updated the LPR interest calculation with the latest data of the interest rate of China.
[Misleading]This procedurally generated quest now rewards more relationships with the Dark Cloud Cyber Cafe.
[Dark Cloud Cyber Cafe]New procedurally generated quest: Blood Is Red, Bones Are White.
简体中文
##########Content#################
【工具】使用最新的中国央行贷款市场报价利率数据更新了LPR计算器。
【误导】这个过程生成任务现在提供更多的和暗芸网吧的关系度奖励。
【暗芸网吧】加入了新的过程生成任务：《血是红色的，骨是白色的》

20240306
English
############Content###############
[Faith]New Tenet: The Grand Masquerade (You can unlock this tenet by talking to the Illuminati Doctor in Queensmouth Airport about the masks or asking Kalina about the veil after she appears in the safe house.)
[Cooking]New Recipe: Tarte Tatin
[Wiki]Everything mentioned above has been updated to the game's wiki.
简体中文
##########Content#################
【信仰】新信条：假面舞会（你可以通过和王后镇机场的光照派医生谈论【面具】的事情或者在卡莉娜出现在安全屋后向她询问【帷幕】的事情来解锁这个信条。）
【料理】新食谱：反转苹果塔
【维基】上面提到的内容均已倍更新到维基百科。

20240307
English
############Content###############
[UI]Added an invisible global message window that can pop up messages at any moment at the corner of the screen without interrupting the gameplay.
[UI]Added animation support to global messages.
[UI]Global messages shall automatically fade away after a while.
[UI]If another global message appears, all old messages will move up a bit.
[Passive Resource Generation]When your pets poop or lay eggs, the information will now use the new global message window on the bottom left. It will no longer interrupt your gameplay.
[Safehouse]You can now directly get through the door in the "Outside the Safehouse" area to get back to the safehouse. Clicking on a confirm button is no longer needed.
[Procedurally Generated Quests]Made the descriptions of procedurally generated quests in Liu sound more natural in English localization.
[Liu]New Location: Universal Times Office. (It's on the 3rd floor of the Commodity Market. The location is still working in progress.)
[Commodity Market]Added an elevator to the 2nd and the 3rd floor. (The button for the 2nd floor does not work.)
[Commodity Market]Added a billboard of the Universal Times outside the building.
############DEBUG################
[River Road No.181]Fixed a bug that allows you to bring Harold or Trump to the 2nd floor.
简体中文
##########Content#################
【用户界面】加入了一个隐形的全局信息显示窗口，用于管理并能随时显示获得的信息，并且不会干扰游玩的正常进行。
【用户界面】加入了对全局信息附加动画的支持。
【用户界面】全局信息会在一段时间后自动淡出。
【用户界面】如果有新的全局信息出现，所有旧的全局信息将会自动向上移动。
【被动资源生成】当你的宠物便便或下蛋的时候，相关的信息现在会使用新的位于左下角的全局信息显示窗口来显示。这些提示信息不会再打断你的正常游玩。
【过程生成任务】让疁城的过程生成任务的英文描述更加自然。
【安全屋】你现在可以直接穿过安全屋外区域的门返回安全屋，不再需要按下任何确认按钮。
【疁城】新地点：环宇宙时报办公室。（在小商品市场的三楼。该地点仍然在施工中。）
【小商品市场】加入了一个通往2楼和3楼的电梯。（2楼的按钮无法使用）
【小商品市场】在建筑物外加入了一块【环宇宙时报】的广告牌。
############DEBUG################
【清河路181号】修复了一个能让你带川普或哈罗德到2楼的Bug。

20240308
English
############Content###############
[Universal Times Office]The main office area is now accessible.
[Universal Times Office]Added a secret room.
[Universal Times Office]Added an NPC that will allow you to post something on the newspaper to achieve your propaganda goals in future updates. (For now, just some story content.)
[Butterfly]You can now use Butterfly Wings to teleport out of the building that contains the Commodity Market and the Universal Times Office.
简体中文
##########Content#################
【环宇宙时报办公室】办公室主要区域可以进入。
【环宇宙时报办公室】加入了一个秘密房间。
【环宇宙时报办公室】加入了一个NPC，此后的更新中可以用他来为你在报纸上刊登各种内容实现你的宣传目的。（目前该功能还在施工，只有一些故事剧情有关的对话。）
【蝴蝶之翼】你现在可以使用蝴蝶之翼从包含了小商品市场和环宇宙时报办公室的建筑物里直接传送出来了。

20240309
English
############Content###############
[Universal Times Office]You can now spend money to post "Heroic Stories" to improve your reputation. (You will need to spend more money to increase your reputation further if you already have a very high reputation.)
[Universal Times Office]You can now spend money to post "Scientific Explanations" to reduce local supernatural awareness. (You cannot reduce it below 0.)
[Universal Times Office]You can now spend money to post "leaked information from your secret organization" to increase local supernatural awareness. (You will need to spend more money if local supernatural awareness is already high. Most of the secret organizations will not like it. Certain teammates will not like it.)
[Universal Times Office]All those actions will display the amount of change if successful.
[Wiki]Added a page about the Universal Times Office: https://neolithia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Universal_Times_Office
[Teammate]Alicia will be unhappy with your action if you spend money to increase local supernatural awareness by using the Universal Times. (Only if she is in your group at that moment.)
[Teammate]Harold will be unhappy with your action if you spend money to increase local supernatural awareness by using the Universal Times. (Only if he is in your group at that moment.)
[Teammate]Mark will be unhappy with your action if you spend money to increase local supernatural awareness by using the Universal Times. (Only if he is in your group at that moment.)
[Public Security Bureau of Liu]There is now a supernatural report on the table of the One-Eyed Officer. You can now check the current local supernatural awareness there.
[Butterfly]Once you have visited the Universal Times Office, you can now teleport there from any outdoor location of Liu.
简体中文
##########Content#################
【环宇宙时报】你现在可以花钱刊登【你的英雄事迹】来提高你的声望。（如果你的声望已经很高了，则需要花费更多的钱才能进一步提高。）
【环宇宙时报】你现在可以花钱刊登【科学合理的解释】来降低当地民众的超自然世界认知度。（无法降低到0以下。）
【环宇宙时报】你现在可以花钱刊登【从你的秘密组织里泄露的信息】来提高当地民众的超自然世界认知度。（如果已经很高了，则需要花更多的钱。很多的秘密组织并不希望你这么做。你的某些队友会对此不满。）
【环宇宙时报】如果成功的话，上面的行为都会显示造成的变化量。
【维基】在游戏维基上加入了关于环宇宙时报的页面：https://neolithia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Universal_Times_Office
【队友】艾丽西亚会对你使用环宇宙时报来提高当地公众的超自然世界认知度感到不满。（如果她当时在队伍里的话。）
【队友】哈罗德会对你使用环宇宙时报来提高当地公众的超自然世界认知度感到不满。（如果他当时在队伍里的话。）
【队友】迈克会对你使用环宇宙时报来提高当地公众的超自然世界认知度感到不满。（如果他当时在队伍里的话。）
【疁城公安局】在独眼警官的桌子上，现在有一份超自然现象报告。你可以在那里检查当前的疁城民众对超自然现象的认知度。
【蝴蝶之翼】在首次进入环宇宙时报办公室后，你现在可以从任何疁城室外区域传送过去。

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