Last Advent—Trapped in the Spiritual Successor to a VRMMO Death Trap
Community Rating
Description
We've been here for twelve hours since spawning. The admins and devs won't answer us. Could this really be happening—again?
Philip Foster, a young man who works as a lowly contractor for goliath tech company Mimmisoft, spends much of his time consuming products IRL while wearing his Kaleidoscope headset in order to help developers recreate them in VR. In his free time, he is an avid if noncommittal gamer, flitting frequently from one virtual world to the next with an abandon that lends itself to trolling. But when he and his estranged sister attempt to reconnect through Mimmisoft's new blockbuster VRMMO Last Advent, a decade after rumors dubbed a spiritual predecessor to the VRMMO a "death game", Phil must commit to retooling a character built as a joke in order to get to the roots of the mystery in which he and his sister are immersed.
Last Advent
Tired of the endless aisles of virtual worlds whose enchantments wear off after mere months of play?Last Advent, the newest VRMMORPG from Mimmisoft, offers a world that will enchant players for years to come. The most immersive VRMMO experience yet,Last Adventutilizes Mimmisoft's new Adventure Framework 3.0 to bring you endless thrilling adventures, fluid and consequential community-building, and a vast and dynamic environment to explore and endure. Traverse the Trothagren Mountains surrounding the fallen imperial stronghold of Wardendask, and, while you learn of the legends chronicled in derelict dungeons and usurped castles throughout the mountains, live out new legends with friends—in parties of 2-5 and guilds of up to 100 players—vanquishing the mythic terrors of past ages in dungeon and field raids.
Have a score to settle with another player—or another guild?Last Advent's realistic combat system, populated with over a dozen unique weapon types, tons of tide-turning skills, and even more playstyles, is as exciting a vehicle for PvP duels and skirmishes as it is for monster-hunting. Or is the village life more your thing?Last Advent's extensive trade system, drawing from advanced simulation media built into AF 3.0, allows players to engage in fishing, hunting, farming, cooking, carving, smithing, and countless more activities to support their fellow adventurers in the solace of cities like Losthearth. However you choose to play,Last Advent’s only imposition—is freedom.
"This isn't just game-changing; this is life-changing." - Mark Hodgson,Mediabeast
"The crowning achievement of a long line of games, from the MUDs of the 20th century to the MMOs of the early 2000s to the VRMMOs of today, that aspired to immerse players in a world—and one worth fighting for. A new home." - Serena Rafflesia,MMO Journal
"Thought I was in for another slapdash VRMMO (coughKnightscough)—but I can't stop playing." - Jordi Firth,Gamercoven
"Mimmisoft has done it again, complementing their monster-collectingWildlandsfranchise with a true competitor to Rarify'sKnights of the Realm. And this competitor has struck an early fatality. Killer." - Apollo atAIdevice: Games
"It wears its influences on its sleeve, and one will recognize the stamps of both lead designer Matthew 'Matt-kun' Cunningham and executive producer Kousei Hashiguchi on this fantasy world. But fantasy has never felt so real." - Larson Han,New Media Weekly
Information
- Status
- Hiatus
- Year
- 2024
- Author
- PowerFool
Tags
Royal Road Stats
- Rating
- 5.0/ 5.0
- Followers
- 15
- Views
- 9,823
Chapters(25 total)
Reviews
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Community Reviews(4)
- AuteurRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Last Advent does great work at combining the immersive elements of VRMMO with personal stakes, humor, and moments of tension. The protagonist is relatable and the worldbuilding shows promise.
The writing style is pretty engaging and immersive. The first person perspective increases the tension in the narrative. The exposition clearly captures the beauty of the game and the dangers present. The tone and style of writing fits the genre pretty well. A little suggestion would be to go for smaller and punchier lines during action sequences, although it's still great as it is.
A great opening to the story. The premise being players immersed in a game which blurs the line between real and fake. The MC's struggle for survival and the emotional element adds weight to the story which is usually missing in the genre.
Solid grammar. The sentence structure is varied. The flow of sentences is great. Writing is clean and easy to follow.
A relatable protagonist with a blend of humor, frustration, determination etc. Interactions with Mercury and Xeno provide strong character dynamics. Rain and Sage are interesting as well. Haven't read much yet but I'm sure the author will be able to develop the side characters and the relationships very well.
Keep up the great work! - CoJoGoRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Style -
The author's description of people, settings, and other things in the story are detailed but brief in a way that make it easy to visualize things as a reader and continue a fast-pace within scenes and action. The prologue really showcases the dedication and depth the author has to their story.
Story -
So far, everything is progressing quickly, and seems really well paced in terms of action, place setting, etc. I may update this section of my review once the characters are safe/stationary for a bit. For anyone reading the story, I highly recommend you start with the prologue, then read the 0.# chapters, then CH1. It gives great context.
Grammar -
Mostly great here. There are some instances of things being off, but that's mostly format/capitalization. Something that I kept out of the star score because it is my preference - the way multi-hit damage is shown throws me off a bit. It's represented as #- #- # -#, where the format is not always the same. It makes it look sometimes like you're seeing a range instead of a static number. I think something like (#) (#) (#) or [#] [#] [#] would make for a better reading experience.
Characters-
Phil and Ad have spent almost all of their time so far mid-action, so there hasn't been too much opportunity to develop them. What we have gotten so far from the story is a realistic, not-overly-heroic MC with a problematic sibling relationship. Other characters haven't stuck around quite long enough to get to know them - but if the author's detail and varied perspectives in the prologue are any indication, I think they'll be able to build out a varied, engaging cast.
Overall, engaging story so far, lots of action and high stakes, and a ton of threads to pull on for the plot. - R. C. VettaRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0This story kicks a**!!
The full dive virtual mass multiple player game troupe is here in all it's techy goodness, but there is a generous supply of uncertainty and very human reactions, compared to other stories in this genre.
Quite possibly my favorite part of the introduction is the fact players band together. So often in these types of stories do characters just set off on their own and somehow manage to survive all by themselves as the noobiest noobs in a suddenly deadly game.
Don't expect that here. This game is ruthless and it is unclear what happens to players when they die and boy do they die. I like to think if people were put in this kind of situation they would band together to survive and the first few chapters get into that idea incredibly well.
The main character isn't special straight from the beginning. They aren't a beta tester, they are just a dude who convinced his semi-estranged sister to play a game with him and boom they are f***** cause their is no logout and they aren't together.
The skills and abilities side of things is well done and a bit of a slow burn progression, which adds a lot of tension. Very much reminds me of old school Runescape and other MMOs where you could get one shot if you weren't careful where you traveled.
Everything about this story makes for a gripping read. Highly Recommended!!
This story is so good I forgot to talk about grammar in my original draft of this review! XD - Spicy Space SquidRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0So often, I read works in gaming-adjacent genres and find authors who have clearly never played MMOs, let alone participated in high end content. Even in the rare cases where they have, and are able to offer a limited view into said world, I find them severely lacking in understanding of the online discourse, likely not members of any notable, non-insular communities themselves. PowerFool suffers from none of these problems. And this immediately brings me to this work's greatest strength: the shitposting.
I swear I'm not joking. Even the description is a shitpost, with fake game reviews plastered all over. The game's mechanics are no different. We are presented with the typical VRMMO standard of ridiculously long cooldowns that no real person could possibly enjoy, but the framing is so shitposty that it almost makes it believable. I can believe that a guy who rageposts about smegma comes up with total dogshit mechanics and I can believe that he'd be too lazy to stop players from typing into the server chat and throwing an access-level based safeguard, just like how I can believe that the giant shitpost that is the prologue could be a real thread on reddit. At If there's one thing to take away from this review, it's that Last Advent is absolutely hilarious.
All shitposting aside, I really like how the characters are set up. It's not just their oftentimes hilarious or otherwise onpoint IGNs, but the diversity of attitudes demonstrated by the cast. Some people are cold and uncaring, others are more benevolent, but even those who are can remain spiteful. It's great. I feel like I'm dealing with not just real people but real netizens. The MC is the only one that I struggle to like, but that's almost only because of the second-hand embarrassment that comes from reflecting on all of the times that I was annoying in MMOs as a child.
The use of the web novel format is creative and unrestricted, both in the formatting and size of the chapters, as well as the justification of