My game is depressing worldwide.

Chapter 117 Polarized Game Players

On the third night after Dark Souls was released.

"Brothers, that's all for today's live stream." Xie Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. "Not bad progress today... Although the Farron Fortress map was tough, we managed to conquer it."

[One person wrote in blood, please broadcast it a little longer!!]

[Damn, no wonder he's the player who overcame a level difference of dozens to kill the Dancer. His stamina control and the timing of his attacks and defenses are absolutely amazing!]

[Are you the dancer's husband? I came here because I've heard so much about you.]

Seeing the teasing comments in the live chat, Xie Yuan rolled his eyes.

Ten hours!!

Despite the overwhelming disadvantage of his weapon's high health and damage output, he managed to kill the dancer from the Cold Valley.

This is even more useful than Kodatsu-sensei.

As a result, he had a much smoother time in the subsequent stages and suffered far less than other streamers.

The teacher is good.

"No, guys, the streamer is still a student and has class tomorrow."

[Let's watch a video, War Souls 4 is about to be released, a new PV has been released] ¥10

"Thank you for the paid comment 'She speaks with a childlike innocence,' thank you." Xie Yuan thought for a moment, "It's not like I've been watching a PV for long, so I'll give it a try."

The "War Souls" series is an IP from Hongtu Studio, a veteran action game developer.

The first and second installments sparked a trend in action games, and many of their designs became industry benchmarks.

However, the reputation of "War Souls 3" in previous years was not great.

The main reason is that it used the same design as its predecessor, with almost no innovation.

This reportedly caused disagreements within the company.

Among them, the radical innovators were suppressed, and there were even rumors of the core creative team leaving the company.

Yes, it's not a rumor, it's a fact.

While collecting information, Xie Yuan found a name.

Sun Zhirui.

He was reportedly a semi-professional player of fighting games.

When she first joined the company, she became the combat planner for "War Souls 2". A series of innovations brought the series to its peak, which was also her breakthrough battle.

However, the success of the second generation may have led to the stagnation of the third generation.

Even she couldn't persuade the higher-ups to innovate.

The fourth generation is about to be released.

This accomplished female planner has long since left the company and now works as a combat planner at the Asylum Studio.

That is, the combat designer for Dark Souls.

While watching the PV for "War Souls 4", Xie Yuan casually remarked, "Time waits for no one. This childhood memory series has already reached its fourth installment."

The video is short, only 2 minutes long.

From the very beginning, Xie Yuan smelled a familiar scent.

"Well, this system, these moves, are they paying homage to the original? I must say, this nostalgia card is quite effective."

"Uh... this one's here too. It seems pretty much the same as the second generation?"

'

"No, this isn't just paying homage anymore, it's just relying on past successes! Aside from the different plot and monster models, what's the difference between this and the previous games?"

The comments section started mocking them.

[It's pathetic. The first and second installments amazed the game industry back then, but now they just rest on their laurels.]

I can understand relying on past successes, but I don't like it. Innovative works like Dark Souls were heavily criticized.

[So I played Dark Souls while cursing it; this kind of experimental work is quite precious, and some of its concepts are quite advanced.]

[Even I, a long-time fan of "War Souls," am disappointed. Is this all?]

The video finished quickly, and it was getting late.

Even if the audience tried to persuade him to stay, he could only say goodbye and click to end the broadcast.

"call..

'

Xie Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

After recovering from the excitement of Dark Souls, I glanced at my account, which was stuck at 8 followers.

He couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

His fan base grew primarily through videos; his live streams were generally less successful.

There have been more viewers watching Dark Souls streams these past few days, but there are only about 300 to 500 people in the chat room.

This number is considered high among game streamers of the same caliber.

But he also knew that he was taking advantage of the fact that the game genre was suitable for live streaming.

He also knows what kind of content his fans want to see.

But..

I have no ideas!

He originally thought there were two approaches to gaining followers through video creation.

One is blatantly praising Honkai Impact 3, and the other is blatantly praising Dark Souls.

Unexpectedly, the launch of Honkai Impact 3rd went too smoothly.

In terms of gameplay and design, it can't compete with other streamers; the tracks are too crowded, so I've given up.

Dark Souls was a flop upon release, and now the game doesn't have a good reputation, so there's no reason to praise it.

But in fact, Xie Yuan has discovered a strange phenomenon to this day.

Polarization!

Extremely severe polarization!

Whether it's players or streamers.

Among those streamers, some played the game to the point of breaking their defense on the first day, or even the first morning, and never played it again.

Either he streams every day, cursing while playing, as if he gets pleasure from being tortured by the game and has become a masochist.

Let's look at the game's comment section.

Either it's a negative review because the game lasts two or three hours.

Either you get 30 or 40 hours of positive reviews.

Many players even gave negative reviews with a game time of 2.3 hours, but the actual game time was 45 hours, and they even started a second playthrough.

It's only been three days!

If this isn't an addiction to masochism, what is it?

There are even some story enthusiasts who piece together the story of this world from snippets of information, revealing the past experiences and identities of the Lords of Cinder and the bosses.

Moreover, these videos featuring meticulous plot analysis are incredibly engaging!

Something's wrong, something's very wrong.

Even Xie Yuan himself was the same.

I can't explain why I still want to play this game, but I just stream it whenever I have free time.

Even if he doesn't stream, he still wants to beat the game himself.

His online savvy told him that there was great potential in this area.

Now all that's missing is a key, or an opportunity.

Just then, a WeChat message popped up.

Upon opening it, I found it was a news article forwarded by Lao Wei.

[Cousin: "Our Games are Healthy, Positive, and Uplifting – An Interview with Genius Producer Chen Xuan"]

[Cousin: I think Mr. Chen really should see a psychologist. What is he even saying?]

[Cousin: Is this because they're afraid of not provoking the players' anger?]

Ok?

Xie Yuan was stunned for a moment. What was this thing?

When I clicked on it, I was immediately shocked.

Chinese gaming news?

This is a game media outlet that is widely recognized as having high credibility among gamers.

However, the very first sentence of this interview made Xie Yuan lose his composure—this interview contains no artistic embellishment, and all the statements in the report are verbatim!

Xie Yuandu laughed.

No, what kind of content could make a Chinese gaming news outlet like this put on so much armor?

With a hint of curiosity, Xie Yuan continued reading.

Then he found out why.

Blast!

"No, this...this...are you really not playing with abstract concepts?" Xie Yuan was both amused and exasperated.

Question: Is there a problem with the numerical value?

Yes, there is a problem. Don't overthink it; it's just torturing the players.

Q: What about malice?

Disgusting player.

Q: Fire Keeper is incredibly powerful, an AI that's like a real person. What's going on?

Our game is healthy, positive, and uplifting; if we appease the players, we can continue to torment them.

What is this?

Is it self-deprecation?

Xie Yuan was both amused and exasperated.

Now look at the comments below.

[I was so angry I laughed; they actually admitted it!]

[Dude, are you really not afraid of getting flamed?]

[Anyone who didn't know better might think Chen Xuan was the reporter stirring up trouble, but the reporter is actually the producer of Dark Souls.]

[Is this ironic? Who would make a game for disgusting people? I even have this feeling sometimes when I play Dark Souls.]

Xie Yuan glanced at the article's data.

Perhaps because the data was too abstract, many players shared it with various online groups or their friends.

In just two hours, it garnered 8000 reposts and 11 views.

It's obviously become a hit.

"Hmm...that's interesting." Xie Yuan watched the question-and-answer session between the reporter and Chen Xuan, pondering, "No normal person would answer a reporter's questions like that, right? Or rather, is there some deeper meaning behind doing so?"

For some reason, I was reminded of the perfect ending of "Dumpling Family".

Amidst the barrage of criticism, no one expected that the perfect ending actually contained a puzzle mini-game.

error?

and many more.

Xie Yuan's eyes lit up; the opportunity he had been searching for had finally arrived.

Thinking back to that amazing post on the forum before, even the video title came up.

A Genius Who Fell from Grace: On Why Dark Souls is a Groundbreaking Work