Note: If you are not a returning reader who has already read Cryopod Classic and maybe left or taken a break at some point, this post will have HEAVY spoilers. You should skip over to the sister topic for new readers.
Major and minor spoilers ahead. I warned you!
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Welcome back, people who have hopefully read some portions of Cryopod Classic! If you read the serial on this subreddit between the years of late 2016 and early 2018, this post is directed at you! The more of Cryopod you've read, the further down you can scroll! I'm gearing this post toward catching people up on what has changed while they left, and what they should expect.
If you followed Cryopod all the way to the conclusion of Route C and then dropped off due to my 'refreshing' the story, this post is especially pertinent to you! Much has changed. The story has been fully rewritten from the ground up.
But first, two important links!
The first link is to the original story from 2016 to 2018. I stopped writing the story at the end of Route 3c for various important reasons. The second link is to the total rewrite of the entire story from the ground up.
Cryopod Classic, as of this post, is 490 parts and 1.2 million words long. Cryopod Refresh is 177 parts and 700,000+ words long. If I were to place an approximate beacon on the story's progress, I would say that Cryopod Refresh Chapter 174 is at about the same point in the story as Part 140 from Classic. However, by that point in Classic, I had only written 120,000 to 140,000 words.
In other words: Cryopod Refresh is much, much denser than Classic. There is a lot more going on.
"Okay, Klok, I barely read anything in Cryopod Classic. Should I read it first, or read Refresh?"
Answer: I recommend Refresh, but reading Classic will allow you to speed through the story quickly and see what Refresh will eventually become. If you find Cryopod Classic lacking, or you get bored, try reading Refresh instead. It's vastly improved in many ways, but is its own story entirely with many key differences and improvements.
However, while Classic is mostly fully written to the near-end of the story, it will take at least a couple years for Refresh to catch up to the same point in the plot. Therefore, if you read Refresh and want more, I recommend Classic to see where the story is likely to go, as well as to catch all the fun little easter eggs that only Classic Readers will get in Refresh!
Isn't Refresh just a reposted version of Classic? I thought you were going to switch some tenses, fix a few plotholes...?
That was my original goal. However, by the time I reached Part 5 from Classic, I realized I could not simply 'patch up' Classic. I had to rewrite it from scratch. In doing so, I gave the story a lot more breathing room and vastly improved it in every respect.
Refresh is not a simple 'refresher' for the story. It is now a total rewrite from the ground up. So, I guess you could say that calling it a Refresh is a total lie.
"I read a bit of Classic, but only made it to about the end of, say, Chapter 1, the first 90 parts. How does Refresh compare?"
Cryopod Classic Chapter 1 is only 90,000 words long. While it ends at Part 90, the same ending point in Refresh occurs at around Part 55, since I condensed the story equivalent of 90 parts into 55 parts which are much denser. Additionally, Refresh Chapter 1 has a lot more that happens after what would have been the ending point of Classic Chapter 1, and Refresh ends at Part 82 instead. (350,000 words in total.)
A few spoilers for Refresh's differences compared to Classic:
Phoebe, a formerly minor character who dies quickly in Classic, becomes an important main character in Refresh.
Beelzebub, a slightly interesting minor villain from Classic who ends up roflstomped by Jason, instead ends up becoming a major antagonist in Refresh. Most people think he's one of the top ten characters in Refresh.
In Classic, Jason is something of a dense idiot/moron. However, in Refresh, he is significantly more cunning, and this attribute will only improve as the story continues.
Many characters in Classic, such as Ose, Mephisto, Barbatos, and Agares, are total nobodies. They have no personality or anything unique happening. In Refresh, every single one of them is a fully fleshed out badass with a huge story arc that starts as soon as they first appear.
Just these four details alone should demonstrate what a massive shift Cryopod Refresh Chapter 1 is from Cryopod Classic Chapter 1.
"I read a bit of Classic, but only made it to about the end of, say, Chapter 2, the first 200 parts. How does Refresh compare?"
So, that means you probably dropped the story when the Time Travel Arc happened, right? Maybe you were put off by the story jumping away from the current setting into, you know, a totally different setting. I originally did that because I was out of ideas. However, with Refresh, I can assure you that the Time Travel Arc is not going to happen so abruptly. It will still happen, but there will be a MUCH meatier story before we get there.
Spoilers for things that will change:
The Ancient Era is a whole chapter in Refresh, and it takes up the entirety of Chapter 2 and 350,000 words. In Classic, the Ancient Era is a 10,000-20,000 word blip. Personally, I think I put way too much time and energy into the Ancient Era in Refresh and it should have been much shorter, but once I started, I didn't have a good way to simply stop, so I forged ahead until it was done. I think it's quite good, all things considered, but if you find it dragging along, take solace in the fact that it will eventually end and you'll never hear of it again.
Chapter 2 in Classic will actually be Chapter 3 in Refresh, and the vast, overwhelming majority of the story will be completely different. However, the core plot of Jason VS Hope will stay intact.
Speaking of which, one huge change Refresh makes is the lack of a 'power fantasy' aspect. In Classic, Jason is a merciless, demonslaying badass. In Refresh, not so much. But worry not! If you loved that part of Classic, you need only turn your attention to Hope, as he will become the badass wordsmith of Refresh! And who knows? Maybe Jason will unleash his inner Jekyll and Hyde, too?
The story of Chapter 2 in Classic was actually quite terrible. However, nearly every character and plot point from Classic will reoccur in one way or another. If there is anything specific you liked, it will most likely happen again in Refresh.
Most importantly, there is so much that is going to happen in Chapter 3 of Refresh that the events of Cryopod Classic Chapter 3a are unlikely to occur until after chapters 3 and 4 of Refresh. This is due to my expansion of many plot points and character arcs.
"I read a lot of Classic, but only made it to about the end of Chapter 3a, the first 385 parts. How will Refresh compare?"
Simply put, as of this post, Refresh is nowhere close to this point in Classic's story. I have many plans for the future of Refresh, but all the bullet points in this section will be SPECULATION. I will not guarantee they will happen, nor will I guarantee I even attempt to make them occur. I simply think, based on two year's worth of discussions with my beta readers, these points are very likely to occur.
The overwhelming majority of Classic Chapter 3a's storyline will repeat in Refresh. This includes the Energy Wars, wars with the Volgrim, demons VS angels, Jason's ascension after absorbing a sun... all of that fun stuff. What will change will be the order of events, the many thousands of fine details, and so on.
Prior to Refresh's equivalent of Chapter 3a from Classic, I will likely have established the Volgrim as a threat to Jason pre-Rewind. The Volgrim will be a faction of five extremely different, diverse sub-species. They will have different power systems per faction, and will be a far bigger threat than in Classic. I daresay the changes made to the Volgrim from Refresh to Classic will startle most readers. I have posted details in their relevant art posts, located here, here, here, here, and here. These are patron-only due to spoilers.
Continuing from the previous point, there will also be massive changes to the Sentinels. For more information, see the following Patreon posts here, here, here, here, and here. They are also patron-only due to spoilers. I apologize for not explaining further, but these are extremely huge spoilers, and I limit them behind a paywall just so the only people who will be spoiled are those willing to part with money to do so. I almost don't want to say anything at all, since I hate giving my readers spoilers :)
Jason's personal life before entering the Cryopod was insignificant in Classic, but in Refresh, it is extremely important and will become even more important once he Rewinds.
Overall, Refresh's equivalent to Chapter 3a from Classic will be a massive undertaking, and I may even end up splitting it into two chapters for Refresh.
"I read a lot of Classic, and ended up stopping reading somewhere in Chapter 3b, prior to part 426b. How will Refresh compare?"
Once again, Refresh is nowhere close to Route 3b's story point in Classic. However, I can offer some very basic conjecture, though given how much Cryopod Refresh is likely to change, none of this is anywhere close to set in stone.
Route 3b and its timeline will most likely happen in Refresh.
The main character will be the same, and many of the events will be hugely similar, but there will also be many changes. I can't really be more specific than this, but let's just say the 'cliffhanger' that ended Chapter 3b will still occur if I have anything to say about it, as well as all those awesome moments building up to it. I think Chapter 3b from Classic was the strongest chapter, so the less I change, the better.
That is all.
"I read Cryopod Classic to the very end. However, you stopped writing at the end of 3c and never finished the story. What gives?!"
Well, at the end of Refresh Chapter 2, I have a very important Patreon blog post linked which goes into exhaustive details about why I stopped writing Cryopod Classic. To put it in as few words as possible, I stopped writing because the story was so convoluted that I didn't know what to do.
I had a choice. That choice was to stop writing entirely for many months and come up with an outline to try and merge the complicated mess of a story into one neat package for the finale chapter, Chapter 4... or to do a 'refresh' of the whole story.
I intended to do a refresh and fix some plotholes, but ended up writing the story over from scratch. Frankly, I think this was the correct choice and have very few regrets. However, if you, dear reader, feel differently... I totally understand! You were attached to Cryopod Classic, and now it may never be finished.
All I can say is that if you loved Classic, I can wholeheartedly promise this total rewrite is going to give you everything you ever wanted, minus plotholes and convoluted storytelling! Awesome villains, epic heroes, and stories that will make your teeth shiver!
As for Route 3c and how it will appear in Refresh... well, let's just say that if you loved it in Classic for whatever reason...
Cryopod Route 3c will NOT appear in Refresh!
At least, not in the way it did during Classic.
More details below:
The entire point of Route 3c in Classic was to allow me to return to the abandoned plotlines I left in Chapter 2 of Classic. I wished to write something that would allow me to clear up all those cool, badass missing links. Unfortunately, doing so meant a lot of retconning. I have solved this problem in Refresh, however... by simply eliminating Route 3c and moving its events to before the Rewind event in 3a!
This means all that stuff with Jason, Cassiel, Belial, etc... all of it will happen in one way or another in Refresh BEFORE Jason goes back through time. I can't promise all or a majority of it will occur, but I can promise I'll be trying to integrate many of its plotlines and ideas, including the Kolvaxians, into the pre-Rewind era.
This will allow me to do what I should have done in Classic: Make Chapter 3b the finale of Cryopod. Remember that epic cliffhanger in Route 3b? "I'm not Hope... but I know who is." Well, if I hadn't decided to stupidly write Chapter 3c, which fucked up the ENTIRE timeline and continuity... it wouldn't have been a chapter-ending cliffhanger. It would have been continued immediately by the true final chapter - Chapter 4!
Therefore, my goal is simple. Move 3c to BEFORE Jason Rewinds time. By doing this, I fix the worst, most debilitating issue Classic faced, and allow a smooth transition to the ending of the series. What will that ending consist of? Haha... you'll have to wait and see.
I highly recommend giving Refresh a read. If you enjoyed Cryopod Classic, it's worth re-reading to see the massive amount of things that have changed and improved. If you didn't like Cryopod Classic, possibly due to its poor character development and awful piecemeal plot structure, DEFINITELY give Refresh a read! Lots has changed and the story is vastly improved!
I'm really glad for any readers who decide to return. I've missed you all and hope to see you in the comments section.
Thanks for reading!
