Pear’s Spooki Forest Of Spooks

So, at first there wasn’t much of an idea that worked for all characters as I only applied the idea to some OCs of mine and the explanation I had at the time was their magic leaking through and altering the forms. But I wanted something that would allow everyone to be a part of the fun so I went back to the drawing board.

And then I remembered how there’s recording rates in game and thought to base things off of that! Below is a little scale I made using Bansheep as an example.

The main gist is that the higher the recording rate, the closer the recorded form looks to the original. I decided that the only time there’s a complete color overhaul is if you somehow manage the 1% record which makes them difficult for most people to obtain and will probably just result in you wasting hours upon hours for the equivalent of a fancy Fortnite skin (There’d be groups in my version of New Wirral who will absolutely make fun of you for putting your life on the line for a recolor.). The logic behind the forms beginning to distort from the original came from the idea that the tape only has so much of the original beast recorded on it so if there’s gaps in information, it pulls on the user to fill in, resulting in personalization of the form. The less information the tape has, the more the recorded form resembles the user.

Keep in mind for all recordings, the type will never change unless it is naturally a bootleg. This does not stop people from being confused upon seeing lower quality tapes for the first time.

Below are some blurbs on what happens in each bracket I made up:

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100% - Perfect 1-1 copy. Literally cannot tell if the user is a wild beast. Most easily attained with the optical laser tapes but can still be attained with regular tapes and damage.

99%-90% - Colors of recorded beast stay the same and no new colors appear. There may be small differences like a slightly altered fur style (Bansheep example: More wool than normal), but nothing too noticeable.

89%-60% - This tends to be the most used category, especially by the rangers. These recorded forms still hold the originals colors but may have 1-2 extra colors that come from the user (In the example 75%, Kayleigh is using the tape and features little orange flecks on her snout) and the tape begins to have more personalized features/accessories. Many are encouraged to stay within this bracket as it still leaves the beast form as identifiable as the beast, lets others know there’s a human underneath, and can be easier/safer to record. All ranger tapes that are given to others fall within this range.

59%-50% - This is the final bracket that keeps the original beast’s colors intact and is the highest percentage you can achieve with the roaming beasts (ie Glaistain, Miss Mimic, Averevoir) without the use of an optical laser tape or other beasts with similarly low recording rates. Recorded forms begin to heavily deviate past this point and can begin to show features that never existed in the original beast.

49%-2% - Recorded forms that fall into this bracket begin to shift hue or outright replace colors with different ones, more drastically so if the recording is of low quality. These forms can lead to confusion on what a beast’s type is if color changes are drastic enough but the main color that shifts when a beast is a bootleg will always be the last color to drastically change and normally becomes a colder or warmer hue in this bracket. (Bansheep example: the light purple wool is what changes when a Bansheep is a bootleg so it will always shift to be a darker purple or a lighter purple depending on the user, never drastically changing to be another color). Old features of the beast may disappear or be replaced in this bracket

1% - The rarest and most difficult to achieve recording. These recordings have the largest changes and have been mistaken for entirely new beasts or remasters. All colors of the original beast are gone and replaced with new ones. It is highly discouraged by the rangers to actively seek out 1% recordings due to the danger you will be putting yourself in.

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Bootlegs are a bit special as they automatically override color(s) no matter the recording percentage. They are also already more difficult to record than their non-bootleg counterparts so most tend to be in the lower brackets (1%-59%). Below is an example of a bootleg at >30% compared to a non-bootleg at the same percent

As you can see, the dress, hair, and eyes of Spooki-Onna do not change when it is a bootleg so they stay the same no matter what.

In the case a bootleg type completely changes a beast’s palette, you will unfortunately be stuck with that palette no matter the quality, though you can still have different features/accessories.

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The only factor that can potentially impact the quality of a tape after recording is whether the user is an archangel. Some suffer more quality degradation compared to others (My Cass suffers from about 25% quality degrade which is why Kayleigh is completely confused when the 75% tape she gave them appeared as a 50% when they used it). If one uses a tape that would go below 0, it simply won’t work for them. Explanation I came up with was the power of an archangel just overwrites information with itself and eventually, if there’s no more to overwrite, then the tape gives up. So in the event an archangel isn’t aware of their origins, they will suffer from less degradation.

Cultural impacts with tape quality would be:

The rangers generally sticking to the upper brackets (60-89%) but only carrying at max 1 high quality tape (90%-100%) to avoid confusing people who may need saving and just see another wild beast charging at them. It was agreed that it would be better for people to recognize that someone was coming to save them than scare them further, though some use the high quality tapes to hide among wild beasts for surveillance.

Some rangers do dip below the 50% though it is not the norm

Captains always have 1 high quality tape to help educate the public about what a normal, usually difficult to find, beast looks like

Some requests on the Rangerboard are from townsfolk who want a specific quality of a species but are unable to get themselves for whatever reason. 1% requests almost never get answered

100% tapes that did not use an optical laser tape are considered impressive by certain groups

A popular strategy for getting lower quality tapes is using basic tapes due to them being inexpensive compared to other tape types and having a lower chance of a successful recording. Many run stall strategies to keep the fight going to secure their lower quality tapes

Another more expensive strategy is using the elemental tapes to record a beast of the wrong type (ex. Using an Ethereal Tape (Astral) on a Beast Bansheep)

There are some battle enthusiasts who dislike the use of lower quality tapes as they can potentially give an opponent an unfair advantage, so if there is an organized event, competitors must use tapes above 50%

There are some people on the island who exclusively use low quality tapes as they feel more themselves that way

Actively hunting for a 1% tape can be seen as very foolish by a majority of people and generally isn’t worth it as you will be gambling your life for the chance at a recolor

Someone who is both new to recording and has a lot of lower quality tapes can be a sign that someone is struggling with recording and may result in a ranger being sent to help the struggling person with recording

Lower quality tapes confuse wild beasts as much as they do people

When lower tape quality was barely known, someone tried to pass off a very low quality Traffikrab form as a new remaster of the beast. Once the truth came out, that person got in trouble

It is possible to hack your tape to be a lower quality but it comes at the consequence that you can very easily break your tape in the process. Codey has the most knowledge on how to not break your tape and an OC of mine learned the hard way with a Gearyu that degraded so bad in quality that it look like it stopped remastering midway through.

Hacking a tape to be a bootleg will generally lower quality, will be at increased rate of lowering quality, and is more likely to end in breaking the tape. If the quality dips below 1%, the tape will break and become unusable and no respool can ever save it again

Story takes place in the present day (2025ish). In this world, Cassette Beasts originated from its mystery creator, only known as E, sending out copies anonymously through emails in early 2023. This version of the game is almost one-to-one with the current version (1.8/Sunshine Update) with some changes.

Changes include:

Jumpkin redesign (not affiliated with Bytten Studios so the monster looks a little different now).

No sign of Lenna at Brokenhead (Same reason as prior).

Partners were added periodically instead of releasing with all of them at once. (Order goes: Cass (Base Game), Meredith (mid 2023), Felix (late 2023), Viola(early 2024), Kayleigh(mid 2024), Eugene (mid-late 2024), Barkley (late 2024), and Sunny (early 2025)).

There was an additional partner in the game’s beginning named Cass T. who acted as a tutorial character and partner, like Kayleigh does in the present version. This character was removed at some point in the early spring of 2024, re-added in August as an NPC in the cafe before ultimately being removed again in early December. Removal was said to be due to game-breaking bugs related to the character.

In February of 2024, data miners discovered the remains of a scrapped romance cutscene involving Cass. The cutscene completely disappeared in a patch around late March.

Like partners, archangels were also added periodically save for the ones not tied to any partner (Morgante, Poppetox, Heckahedron, Alice, Lamento Mori, Babelith, The Amber Lodge, and Aleph). When Cass was the only partner, the game required only 2 archangels to be defeated to get to the ‘mid-game’ cutscene. This number was increased by 1 with the addition of Viola. The number increased again to 4 when Eugene was added as a partner.

At first, the game lacked a post game like its real world equivalent but one was added after fans of it asked for it. Post game is unfinished with the gauntlet noticeably missing. Post game only includes Sunny and Helia quest.

This version of the game has a secret ending that originally caused the game to remove itself upon completion. Many think it has been patched out in the recent releases but it can still be encountered under special conditions.

Almost all partner lines are voice acted.

In a recent release, Morgante’s voice lines are more dull than normal.

This version includes more partner cutscenes outside of the 5 heart event and cafe interactions. Most are triggered by wandering through Harbourtown and entering certain buildings after a special condition has been met.

Prior to her arrival, ENIAC’s Cassette Beasts only had 3 available partners which included a patient and outgoing partner, a moody, sardonic partner, and an artistic and collected partner. It felt the partners were unbalanced as 2 of them were not as adventurous as the other one. So, ENIAC started looking for someone who could fit the criteria of: adventurous, passionate, and someone who could captivate an audience with their performance. And to his luck, a copy would be passed to a well-read actor who fit the bill.

Viola heard of the game from a friend who had found it fun and had discovered a “secret” mode with one of the partners. According to the friend, you could get special lines out of the tutorial partner by simply answering questions out loud, especially if you gave a different performance than the answer would suggest (ie An answer that is supposed to sound cheery is read out in a sarcastic tone could trigger a special line/reaction from the partner). The friend said it helped them practice acting and was fun to play at the same time. Intrigued, Viola ended up trying the game out and during that time she decided she’d have some fun with it and act as Viola of Messaline. She had recently been given the role for an upcoming play and it would be fun way to spice up getting into the role.

Unfortunately for her, ENIAC took the act too seriously and decided it would be a fantastic opportunity to try out its custom backstories again. ENIAC is obsessed with giving players the best experience while playing his game and he thinks the best way to provide that experience is to use actors who truly believe what they’re saying. He had tried to get 2 humans to believe in the in-game stories he created for them though both failed. It hoped that because Viola was already acting so close to the play character, she would slip right into the role and it would have its first success. It didn’t quite work as intended. He did kidnap a pretty good actor after all. It thought it succeeded for a few weeks but eventually it found out the truth.