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Accessibility & Gripes
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...maybe other spoonies can tell me how they personally try to get through it?
I am unsure if I have the same issues you do, but I can offer my own strategies and tips for how I handle things.

Other people may chime in with what they use, but a lot of it is learned through trying out what you can do to see how it works.

For context, I'm answering as a person with Visual/Auditory sensory issues, Executive Dysfunction, and Communication/Social difficulties. While I have issues with reading large chunks of text, it isn't as severe as it is for a lot of people; I am sorry if I can't answer well for it.

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Lack of keyboard controls on explore and enemy selection in battle or item discovery
I can promise you, this will only be an issue for early game combat.
The extension you are using is made for the improved parts of the map. Unfortunately the early game is still using systems from when the site was first developed, and as you progress further you can use keyboard shortcuts. It will be updated to fit the new system with time.
Once you reach Astryl's Vale, the third section of the map, you can use arrow keys and number keys during combat.

That being said, there are few keyboard shortcuts for things like Nurturing and to Navigate the site.

I personally don't have issues with motor skills, I can't offer much advice to help with this other than to not push yourself too hard. Take as much time as you need to do things. :)

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The brightness of the website causes constant headaches
Big agree on this one, there was formerly someone who was working on a Dark Mode extension for the site, however it is no longer in the works.
The best advice I can offer is to take frequent breaks from the site while you play; It sucks, but it isn't worth hurting yourself over.

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I am squarely in the Sunk Cost Fallacy corner.
There are things you don't need to spend money on (Feeding pets, healing your party, etc).
Especially when you're in early game, making gold is very grindy and time consuming.
The further into the map you get, the easier it will be to make gold. You will find better things to sell and will have more access to things (such as the Bartering System in the final area; you don't use gold, you use items).

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I don't really think I can agree from a design philosophy standpoint with a system that puts so much emphasis on extremely difficult to attain cosmetics while also stat breeding....
I'm a little confused by this, I'm not really sure what it means.
If you're referring to breeding pets to look good and to have good stats, it takes a lot of time. Getting to a point where objectively pretty pets are easy to access has taken the community years of work--I remember when getting a 6-visible pet of any kind was difficult.
It's meant to be a pet breeder overall, and it's not meant for everyone. It's okay if you don't like it.

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I do not see any way that it is feasibly possible for someone with my disabilities, anxiety, and functionality to be able to ever understand how to do any of the things people go on and on and on about without someone holding my little baby hand and telling me step by step what the right thing is to do.
I get this. It took me a very long time to understand how a lot of the systems on the site work (and to be honest, some of them are still a mystery to me without a guide lol).

Unfortunately, if the site takes a toll on your mental health, it may be best to find something that suits you more. I've definitely had to take breaks from games (Including this one) or find something new--There is nothing wrong with that, and ultimately it will make you feel better.

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TDLR:
- Keyboard shortcuts are there: They are just later in the game because the site is still under development.

- The brightness of the site is difficult to manage: Take frequent breaks to prevent eye strain and head aches

- It will be easier to make gold later in the game: You find better things to sell and an entirely new system to Barter (Other players will Barter for items instead of gold too)

- This site is ultimately a pet breeding site: It takes a long time to breed traits and stats if you start from scratch

- If the game takes a toll on your mental health and wellbeing: Take frequent breaks from the site.

- There is nothing wrong with needing to find something that can better suit you more than this game if it begins to negatively effect you. You will ultimately feel better than if you force yourself to struggle through this one.




Edit to Add: If you need further help, please feel free to message me. I don't mind dedicating time to helping people out.

I'll make a quick correction/clarification to Yurei's post,

re
Breeding & Projects post

"I later found out I can't even use a trait disrupter on these so I found myself asking what the point was if I can never get what I want out of that pet.
...
Restricted Trait Disruptors can only be used on certain pets and will need a visible trait already in that slot so it can be replaced by the new trait. ..."

Restricted Trait Disruptors will not take a trait and replace it specifically.

RTDs will take one random, visible, non-restricted trait from the pet, removing it entirely, and will give the pet one randomly selected trait from the RTD's trait set in return (so the pet doesn't change its Trait Point count, it's a 1-1 trade)

They cannot remove or replace Carried traits, or Restricted traits, but that's it.

If a pet has G1 visible and no other traits, and an RTD's trait set has G1, M1, and M3, the pet could get any of those three, not only the G1.

If instead the RTD's set has M1, M2, and M3, the pet would lose its G1 and get one of any of those.

Hi everyone! Thank you for all your responses and messages. I will go through them with my partner's help tomorrow after we rest.

I realized it was my 1-Month Sylestia Anniversary and hadn't introduced myself, so I spent my entire day trying to write something... and. Something unexpected happened... It helped me heal quite a bit mentally and emotionally from some things that have culminated into this mire of anxious depressed nothing. Even if I never understand this site, you guys helped me regain part of who I am. You will never know my immense gratitude. Thank you. Thank you. I feel more like myself now than I have in a very. Very. Long time. Even if I cut my losses and quit, I will have come away with personal healing.

Also I know it's VERY daunting to navigate my everything and strill try to be helpful and you guys deserve gold medals for trying.

Sometimes things can be overwhelming, and the brain Nopes out or just devolves into going aaaaA! even if at the same time your thinking brain is going "it isn't that bad I should be able to do this it's not hard, why do we react like this?!", I know that feeling! It sucks! 0/10.
Take your time, it's okay! Do what's right for your health and wellbeing.

On our part, we just have to work out how to break things down, if we need to do things like have more visual references and such in our guides/replies, or simplify/ shorten stuff!
(we know we can get verbose because we want to be as clear as we can be, but also know that can make it harder for some people to read at the same time, so it's a balancing act)

You can ask any questions here in Q&A forum, one of the relevant discussion forums, in the General Chat (that's the direct link, but also found down in the bottom left of sylestia screens, the 'chatrooms' button), and, if/when you get there, region 3 onwards and the four seasonal festival zones (when open) have a chatbox on the page that they all share.


If you need any visual image references of how things work/ where things are, just say and we can do our best to whip something up!

Just letting you awesome people know that my partner and I are working through this information piece by piece and we are very, very grateful!

I swear someday I will directly respond to some things I am slow

Ok I feel guilty posting a bunch of new threads.

Does anyone know if there is some easier way to post your pets en-masse into the forums (for sales threads, etc) because I have severe Fibromyalgia and this is actual physical torture to the point of crying.

Also totally sorry if you answered this already I forgot to mention i have the memory of a gerbil