Cool ice sculpture, Velvet!
Story Mode
- Not long after starting the game, you can find yourself in a secret cave with a cow inside. Arizona can incredulously ask if the cow lives there, resulting in this exchange:Cow: Yep. I live here. It's quiet, it's cozy, an' all my stuff fits in nice.Arizona: *looks around at the barren cave* I don't see any stuff...
- The cow gets nervous, and claims she "just moved in" and hasn't finished decorating yet. Arizona, clearly not buying it, just tells her "good luck with that, I guess."
- Arizona can also question the cow's choice to live in a dark cave. She promptly claims to be scared of the dark, which is why she has a pair of oil lamps lighting it. You can choose to turn off the nearby lamp and have her "confirm" this phobia, and then try the other one, prompting this text box:Game: That cow was very insistent on keeping the cave lit. You could still turn it off, if you feel like being a beef jerky.
- If you do so, you promptly open a secret passage, to Arizona's shock and the cow's slight annoyance. If you talk to the cow afterward, you get these dialogue options:"What kinda two-timin' sorcery is this?!"
- If you pick the first, Arizona demands to know what the heck is going on. The cow explains that she uses it to get around the main road because there are too many people on the main road, resulting in Arizona thinking she's a bandit. Even after she clarifies, Arizona isn't entirely convinced. While using the path and climbing the canyon, Arizona makes this remark:Arizona: ...I wonder how that sm- "merchant" hauled them carts through these tiny passages...
- Near the top of the canyon, Arizona remembers something her Pa loves to tell her:Arizona: "It's a dangerous business, calf, going out t'prairie. You step into the wild unknown, and if you don't watch your hooves, you can trip, roll off a cliff into a river... get swept by the current, fall down a waterfall... and land in a cactus so hard y'can sit down right for a month, and yer spittin' needles for two!" ...Still wonder why he says that.
- Madison has a large loaf of bread sitting outside her wagon. At night, Arizona has the option to sneak up and lick it.
- Later on, if you lose the fight with Oleander or have Fred beat you for her if you win a third time, Fred will comment on it:Fred: Ew, some sticky bread... has she been licking this?
- Later on, if you lose the fight with Oleander or have Fred beat you for her if you win a third time, Fred will comment on it:
- The deerfolk love milk, but have no idea where it comes from (they think it comes from some mysterious plant), only that the cattlekind know how to get it and will trade it for goods and services. Arizona has the option of telling one patron at an inn the truth, and it completely breaks him.Deer: ... Great heavens, it comes out the WHAT?!
- If the player has at least 100 Salt by the time they make it to Reine, they can get a special hat from Cashmere in exchange for the Salt, who claims this legendary hat will “cloak your presence from the sight of cosmic entities residing just beyond the veil”. It's a Tinfoil Hat.
- This becomes a Brick Joke at the end of the chapter when Fred finds said hat when looting Arizona’s bag, saying that "That doe Oleander likes" is up to her scams again. Ollie insists that she was referring to her glasses.
- In the plaza in front of the museum, there are two deer, each waiting for their date at a statue. They're at two separate statues and facing away from each other.
- Reine's Museum, all of it.
- Arizona gradually gets more irritated by the excuses for "art", but she's more befuddled than anything by the apple on a podium, thinking it smells overripe and wondering if someone just left their lunch there by accident, before eventually deciding that at least it's not a banana. In the room to the right, she of course comes across a banana on a podium. She gets so irritated by it that, if you interact with it twice, she'll storm out of the room on her own.
- The risqué — and ridiculous — paintings of Velvet emulating classical art pieces.Arizona: This... pretty much leaves nothin' to the imagination...
- Returning a book to its place in the museum library opens a secret passage where, at the end, a bear is seen lying on a couch...cuddling a Velvet plush. And if you manage to beat it, you get to keep it for yourself and have it ride on your head.
- Arizona's comments on the missing texture painting.Arizona: ... Did someone forget to put a painting here? Is it... transparent? I swear I can see the wall behind the frame.
- The "Velvet is Great" and "Vixen is Great" art exhibits are both closed off. If you ask around, you'll find out that they vandalized each other's galleries with drawings of mustaches and stink lines.
- The leader of the Alpacas, Adobo, says he will never tell Arizona the entrance to the Eternal Caves of Neverending Length. But the entrance is in plain sight, just a few feet away. When Arizona walks up to the entrance, Adobo is astonished that she found it.
- The Eternal Caves of Neverending Length is also amusing. You go in, cross a river, and you're at the exit.
- To the right of the alpaca encampment is a cave, with an alpaca guarding it. It'll tell you the cave is a dead end, "just like life". Going inside confirms the alpaca was right. Once you step out...Alpaca: See, what did I tell you?
- After beating Paprika, Arizona can stomp her, making her bounce. Doing it over and over makes her bounce higher until she disappears.
- In the Temple of Gloom, losing to Oleander or having Fred beat you for her if you manage to beat her third phase triggers a scene where Fred gleefully rummages through your belongings, commentating on the various hats and items you've collected.
- Cactus Hat- "Wow, this is... eclectic. A memento from home, maybe? Weird."
- Bread Loaf- "Ew, some sticky bread. ...Has she been licking this?"
- Ten-Gallon Topper- "*AHEM* Howdy pardner! Ah have a snek in mah boot! ...Slap leather, mistah!... Bah. Rubbish."
- Minizona- "Is this, a...plush of herself? Geez, talk about narcissism."
- Tinfoil Cap- "...More rubbish. Hmm...is that...hibiscus I smell? Hey, Ollie! Do you want this thing? Same perfume as that doe you like..." "NOIMFINETHANKYOU. Geez...I only said that I liked her glasses..."
- Heroic Headband- "Oh look, a slightly thinner red scarf. Oh, wait this is the kind that goes across your head... Fascinating..."
- Emperor's New Crown- "Faaaaaaaaake."
- Tutanubus Mask- "Oh, this one's actually nice. ...Too bad I've got six already..."
Game
- Teabagging your opponent will make your character do a taunt while dancing about
, such as Arizona headbanging (though Velvet does a Noblewoman's Laugh, or at least the gesture, her actual voice clip isn't actually laughter), that will loop as long as you're pressing down.Oleander: I do what I must because I can! - A lot of the post-fight dialogue is this, such as Velvet being very protective of her chest fluff:Velvet: I hold you accountable for any damage done to my floof!
- Another example is Pom scolding her puppies for their rough behavior, only to softly whisper her approval.
Pom: Bad Puppies! <whisper> Good Puppies... - The character-specific intros added in the December 2018 patch. Gems include:
- When both players are Oleander:1P Oleander: What dark magic is this? And how do I learn it?
2P Oleander: It's in chapter 34, you're a slow reader! - Tianhuo vs. Pom:Tianhuo: Let me hear your battle cry!
Pom: Um...rawr! - When both players are Tianhuo:
- Velvet getting angry that Paprika is floofier than her, and calls her a marshmallow. By the look on her face after she says that, it's the meanest thing she's ever called anyone.
- For every interaction where Paprika is player one, whatever she does startles, angers, or scares the other character. Except for - inexplicably - Velvet, who seems to be able to understand her and is genuinely amused by the alpaca's suggestion.Paprika: *crazed giggling*
Velvet: Snuggles? Haha, get in line! - Paprika's interaction with Oleander: she wiggles around and makes throat gargling noises. Oleander is left at a loss for words and just blankly stares at her.Fred: ... well, I like her.
- Both Oleander and Fred falling for Cuteness Proximity in the presence of Pom and her puppies.
- When Oleander is player 1:
Oleander: *loud gasp* PUPPIES! I-I mean... prepare for battle!- When Pom is player 1:
- If Pom's opponent is Arizona, she drops this gem:Pom: How about a nice game of rock, paper, scissors? [None of the playable cast have hands, let alone fingers.]
- When both players are Oleander:
- The Tutorial Mode, thanks to Deadpan Snarker Oleander being in charge of teaching newcomers and pros alike on the mechanics of the game. She offers lessons on basic mechanics, advanced techniques, and will teach you how to play as each character... while also making fun of her competitors, and being amused by the player getting hit by her surprise attacks.
- She tries to explain Paprika's moveset, but is exasperated by the very existence of the alpaca and struggles to explain how any of it works.Oleander: Paprika throws her weight around with some moves she calls [incoherent alpaca noises]. Everyone else calls them 'cartwheels'.
Oleander: Sticking with her general theme of 'what', Paprika's wool seems to produce an endless supply of food. It could probably solve world hunger if it was in the hooves of anyone else, but no, let's use it to annoy Oleander instead.
- She tries to explain Paprika's moveset, but is exasperated by the very existence of the alpaca and struggles to explain how any of it works.
- Pom's level 3 Super is a Counter-Attack: her puppy jumps at the opponent, and if they hit it, she completely drops her shy, sensitive persona and screams in rage directly at the camera while the injured pup flies across the screen in slow motion. She then inflicts a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown while the screen goes black, referencing Akuma's Raging Demon. The fact that it's POM out of everyone who uses this move is what pushes this into comedic territory.
- Paprika's level 3 is also amusing, mostly because of the completely out of character expression of complete frustrated concentration and bizarre animations she has while moving in this state. And if she traps the opponent, she proceeds to give them a bone-crunching hug.
- If it becomes a final K.O. attack, Paprika is happily hugging her opponent as she sways them from side to side. Most characters merely show annoyance, but a few show different funnier reactions. Arizona merely looks on unsure how to react, Tianhuo has lost consciousness with her eyes as swirls and her snake-like tongue hanging out, and Pom has her eyes closed shut in fear (hoping the hug ends soon). The funniest, however, goes to when she's fighting herself as the opponent alpaca has hearts in her eyes smiling happily as she is being swayed by the other Paprika.
- Shanty's level 3 has her climb atop her opponent's back, ready to unleash Parley only for her to look to the horizon and sees an enemy ship unloading its cannons including a gigantic yellow one. The enemy captain, Subito dal Segno, then orders to fire while Shanty runs away from the cannonball salvo (getting the opponent hit in the process). The giant cannon finally fires, releasing an enormous durian that splatters the entire screen as Shanty dives for cover, letting the opponent get hit by the mega-sized fruit.
- For the 2020 Christmas event, the pixel lobbies were decorated with Christmas flair. In Reine, Velvet's idea for decorating for the holiday involves dozens of uncomfortably sexy snow deer men everywhere, including three right next to Cashmere's shop. Cashmere is not amused.Cashmere: Oh cousin! I wanted to thank you for your... robust... additions to the decorations.
Cap: (ice sprite gibberish)
Cashmere: Don't call us, we'll call you!
Book of Lore
- In the lore post about Oleander, we get to see this bit when the unicorns react to her coat now being dark.Priestess: Oleander! Your appearance is an affront to the Magic of Light! You dare appear in this holy place in such a state? Explain yourself!
Oleander: I-I don't know what happened! I… just woke up like this.
Priestess: Well, I know, for one thing only can mar the purity of Light.
Oleander: It's not what you think…
Priestess: DARK MAGIC!
Crowd: Gasp!
Oleander: Alright. It's a little what you think…
Crowd: GASP!
[…]
Oleander: But –
Crowd: GASP!
Oleander: Seriously? - Velvet's own short story involves her participating in a tournament with all of the other deer to see who will go for the key. Various bits of Refuge in Audacity ensue, such as, in a log-pulling competition, her weakly pulling (complete with little "Ehn" sounds) and ordering logs removed until there's one log left.
- The land the Alpaca come from is basically a wasteland that seeks to kill everything that lives in it. The Alpaca have survived here for centuries, using nothing but what the land provides them with and their own wool. Then Paprika comes along, and the entire race begins to consider themselves heading towards extinction."Her name is Paprika. And she's going to kill us all."
- In Pom's lore entry, she gathers up the courage to voice her opinion that, yes, the sheep SHOULD choose a champion to defend all of Fœnum! Naturally, she does a 180 when everyone chooses her as their Key Keeper.“Hold on, wait,” she stammers, “I-I didn’t mean it! I meant, nah, we shouldn’t help! I meant to say that’s a stink idea!”'
Streams
- When someone asked Lauren who is the cutest character in the gamenote , they started joking about it being an exact science, Lauren eventually nailing the word "cutologist".
- While discussing the ESRB rating of the game:
- In one of their work streams, they talked about how hard it was to name the characters (saying they were named shortly before the funding began). In particular, they talked about how one of Arizona's names, Dakota, was rejected not just because it sounded too human, but because it also sounded like a stripper's (stage) name.
- In their ninth work stream, they reference the "Touch the Cow" meme associated with Arizona in a test version of training mode, by having a recolored Arizona standing there, with the words "Don't touch the cow" on the screen. Guess what they do to start the training?
- Then, at the end of the training, they end up facing a string of shots that are impossible to dodge, getting comboed until the life count says "bacon." Then the game congratulates them.
- Then, at the end of the training, they end up facing a string of shots that are impossible to dodge,
- To preview the Story Mode update, they show off the first chapter without showing the cave or the museum. But they want to show off the fight with Velvet, which is supposed to happen inside the museum. How do they handle this? By having Velvet show up outside of the museum... and having Arizona call her out for going off-script.Velvet: VELVET is ZE star of zis game, and does NOT read scripts... also the developers keep changing it and it's hard to keep up.
- Then the devs show off the fight against... Denim, Velvet's stunt double.
- After the fight, Velvet gets mad at Arizona, threatening her by saying she will never work in a fighting game again. Even as something as menial as a UI designer. A joke even the devs were caught off guard by.
Other
- Shortly after the dev team released the mysterious unicorn-like silhouette, the brony fanartist Egophiliac gave her own take of what the mystery character was.Mane6: Mystery Solved!
- Once the game was fully funded, Mane6 released a bunch of sketches and artworks◊, one of them depicting Pom and one of her puppies as Venom Snake and D-Dog.
- Arizona. Velvet. Wimp Fight. 'Nough said.
- In response to one of the Streams going down, somebody made a fan comic of the characters reacting to it, with Paprika inciting the panic, and Oleander being the Only Sane Ungulate.
- Behold, the Paprika mating dance.
