Chapter 0: Flame War To Same World

The latest fantasy single-player game just hit the market, Pandrago Oricle, as the dev called it. It has received somewhat warm reviews and praise from the community. However, even in the mildest of games, games that are 7/10, there is still a dedicated hater hellbent on ripping it to shreds. Pandrago is no different.

Mizaki is what you call a true hater. He didn't just hate it and then move on; no, no, he hated it for the sake of hating it. He criticizes the combat for being too generic, samey, and uninspired. He criticizes the character for being tropey, uninteresting, and boring. He criticizes the story for being a sleepfest, unoriginal, and predictable.

Toyashi is the solo developer of Pandrago Oricle. He has poured all of his passion into his game for 6 years of his life, making sure everything is ready for the big launch, and even when the launch is kind of successful, Mizaki's hurtful words made him feel like all of his work is for naught. But he wasn't ready to go down without dragging Mizaki down first.

So when two opposing forces collide, what would you get? ...CONFLICT. Their battles on the forum were among some of the most legendary flame wars on the internet. Mizaki called his game shit; Toyashi hit back with "unemployed snobs". Mizaki called his character uninteresting; Toyashi hit back with, "Big word from someone who has never accomplished anything in life or even made a game." At first, Toyashi tried to defend his game by showing Mizaki all of its good points, but Mizaki, being a professional hater, wouldn't listen. Toyashi tried to understand Mizaki's POV and address his criticisms through a professional lens, but he soon realized that Mizaki doesn't want to listen to any of it, so now it just devolves into them calling each other names.

During one of their most legendary spats yet, Mizaki and Toyashi both throw insults galore at each other.

"That plot twist during chapter 2 was totally uncalled for, like as if you don't even understand your own character. Your character does one thing, and then BAM, they completely change their personality 180% with no reason to indicate why they change; that's not good writing, that's some toddler's first writing gig. But I guess it fits you, Mr. No Talent." Mizaki smirks from his computer.

"Have your abilities to read between the lines been stunted in childhood? You do know how to read, right? Many people have told me how brilliant it is that I was able to subtly foreshadow their personality change without being too in your face. But you need a brain and reading comprehension to appreciate my writing, but since you don't, oh well~ Isn't the toddler here you, MizakiLvSkip?" Toyashi retorts back. 

"Oh, 'subtle foreshadowing'? Is that what we're calling lazy writing now? Your character goes from good-hearted mob to villain so suddenly, I was wondering who wrote this. Do you have any idea how real humans work? Give me a break. There is nothing brilliant in your 'writing'. I've seen more clever writing in cereal commercials." Mizaki shoots back with increased smugness.

"Right, because you're the expert on character writing, right? What's your qualification again? Professional couch critic? Have you made anything that is considered functional to earn the right to criticize a creator with your complaint and hot air? Go on, big guy, tell us what you've been working on." Toyashi deflected to Mizaki's personal life.

This would go on for hours, with some commenters sometimes stepping in to stop both of them but being quickly ignored.

"Guys, this is stupid! Both of you couldn't even agree on the simplest thing. How about you both take a breather? MizakiLvSkip, don't you have anything else to do? And MasterRonshi, couldn't you just ban him already?" But he was screaming into the void, with Mizaki and Toyashi continuing to fling turds at each other.

It has gotten so bad that the thread was locked after 2,000 replies.

It seems that Mizaki and Toyashi will never meet eye-to-eye on anything.

However, after both people have gone to sleep, ready for the next flame war, their PC turns on by itself and boots up Pandrago; the game greets a nonexistent player. It then proceeds to delete both of their save files before starting a new game. A black hole appears and sucks both unconscious men into the game while the world continues as normal.