Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

As Takeyusei's number one fan, Murakami Kazuo also held reservations about this story.

He didn't dare to praise the story too much at the beginning, otherwise it would be bad for both Youxing Electronic Entertainment and himself if it backfired.

Furthermore, due to Yuxing Electronic Entertainment's distribution strategy, the game only has a demo version at most, and no media outlets are given the privilege of early access. Therefore, these reviewers can only wait for the official release of the game, just like other players, to get a glimpse of the full game.

On the day Final Fantasy XIII Versus was released, Kazuo Murakami simply gave all employees of the company three days of paid leave.

If these employees feel that the time is still not enough, they can extend their vacation, but then it will be unpaid.

Generally speaking, professional gamers like them can complete the early stages of a game in about three days, so this company rule won't affect most people's salaries.

As for Murakami Kazuo, he now has a legitimate reason to stay at home and prepare to play for at least seven days and seven nights.

Whether the game is good or bad, it's all about his passion. Out of professional ethics and love for the series, he will insist on finishing the game.

The game begins with a stunning opening CG animation.

The opening introduces the general worldview of this world: in ancient times, gods created this world and then created humankind. After creating the gods, internal strife broke out among them, with the Sword God leading a hunting operation to eliminate the other gods.

Finally, the remaining gods joined forces to seal the Sword God, and the world entered a period of stable development, during which humanity rapidly rose to prominence.

The main character you control in the game is the prince of the Kingdom of Lucis, whose appearance follows the flamboyant and outlandish style that is a hallmark of the Final Fantasy series.

The character appears with a rebellious hairstyle and clothing, exuding a touch of nonchalance and coolness.

Murakami Kazuo shook his head slightly upon looking at the character's image.

He actually felt that the Final Fantasy series should change its style a bit.

The "Shamate" style is no longer popular; few people think it's cool anymore.

Shortly after the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, some people began to criticize this.

Kazuo Murakami now at least feels that he is gradually getting tired of this "Shamate" style.

However, it must be said that Yuxing Electronic Entertainment's aesthetic sense has always been on point.

Nowadays, the Western game and film industry has begun to move towards racial political correctness, and the characters on screen and in games are becoming increasingly ugly. Among them, pure American companies like Mickford serve as bad examples, producing many games that are actually quite good in terms of gameplay, but whose character designs are hard to describe, making many game reviewers both love and hate them.

Those review agencies based in the United States dare not say too much, for fear of getting themselves involved in something scandalous.

In order to promote internationalization and align with international standards, Surui Electronics is also developing in a direction that is not appealing.

Looking back at each game released by Yuxing Electronic Entertainment, they are more pleasing to the eye, slightly alleviating Murakami Kazuo's aesthetic fatigue with the emo/punk characters in the games.

Hmm... this song is actually quite nice.

Stand by me

This is the music that plays at the beginning of the game when the protagonist leaves the kingdom and pushes a cart on the road with his attendants.

The singer conveyed the song's depth and lingering quality, carrying a subtle sense of sadness and destiny.

Kazuo Murakami quite likes this music.

I've never heard this music before. It seems like it was created by the God of Games himself.

Although Yusei Takeshi has focused solely on the video game industry for the past few decades, he has also made significant achievements in the music field, with many of his game scores becoming classics of this era.

People in Europe and America are not usually interested in music from other cultural spheres; they tend to prefer punk, rock, country, and other styles.

But Japanese music is an exception; Japan is one of the few Asian countries that can export its musical culture to Europe and America.

Kazuo Murakami quickly took out his phone to identify the music, and soon the official tracks from Final Fantasy XIII Versus appeared on the music recognition screen.

All tracks need to be purchased; the complete set costs five dollars for a lifetime subscription, and Kazuo Murakami chose to pay without hesitation.

He felt that the opening "Stand by Me" music alone was worth the ticket price.

As the song progresses, the protagonist's cart-pushing segment finally ends, and the next step is to find a way to reach the princess's location.

During this process, the game also enters the initial monster-hunting and collection quest phase, which can be considered as teaching players the basic gameplay.

Actually, at the very beginning of the game, there is a battle scene that looks like the final scene of the game.

Players can also learn basic combat tactics in that battle scenario.

Yuxing Electronic Entertainment's guidance is indeed excellent. As expected of a long-established giant in the gaming industry, they have always maintained a very good foundation in this area.

Huh? This game has a fishing feature? Why would a game like this need a fishing feature?

Murakami Kazuo was both surprised and delighted.

He has recently developed a liking for fishing.

Nowadays, many company executives like to engage in so-called elegant entertainment activities such as golf.

However, Kazuo Murakami was not interested in these things. He suddenly learned about fishing from a TV program and began to develop an interest in the activity.

He is now considered a semi-experienced fishing enthusiast.

To his slight disappointment, there isn't a single fishing game in video games that he's particularly satisfied with.

Of course, it's also possible that he just didn't find it, because video games are really springing up like mushrooms after rain these days.

The Unreal Engine greatly reduces the difficulty of game development, and indie game crowdfunding has given some creative developers the opportunity to bravely develop games.

It's no exaggeration to say that hundreds of games are released every day.

The Battle.net platform should account for 80% of the daily increase in games played.

What surprised Murakami Kazuo even more was that he discovered the fishing in the game was just as professional as fishing in real life.

In the game, you can find suitable fishing gear and bait through various methods, and different types of fish will live in different areas of the game.

That's interesting.

It seems that Murakami Kazuo has completely forgotten the main story of the game without realizing it.

This feature, which was originally just a small gameplay element, actually piqued Murakami Kazuo's interest even more.

In games, you can even do things that are impossible in real life.

For example, fishing lines are made of very common materials in real life, but they can be much more varied in games.

One of the most powerful fishing lines is made from materials left over from crystals, fused with the most ferocious beast, Bahamut.

To obtain such a fishing line, you must follow the instructions step by step.

Murakami Kazuo was surprisingly patient with this, spending most of the day trying to get a fishing line.

After a whole day of work, he finally collected all the prerequisites and materials needed for the fishing line.

During this process, he leveled up his game character several times, and at the same time, he learned more about the overall worldview of this world.

This worldview is related to the previous Final Fantasy XIII series.

The Final Fantasy XIII series was originally a completely new Crystal Mythology, starting with the original character Lightning as the protagonist to introduce the basic structure of the entire world.

Murakami Kazuo already had a basic understanding of this before playing the game, so understanding some of the game's worldviews was not difficult.

"Hey, aren't we getting a little late? Shouldn't we go greet the princess?"

Murakami Kazuo was still enjoying fishing when he recently acquired a super-powerful fishing bait. This bait had a chance to catch the most beautiful fish in the game when used in a pond inside a mysterious cave.

He didn't know how the fish helped the game itself; he just thought the game was so cool and beautiful, and it would be a huge loss to his reputation as a fisherman if he didn't catch it.

But at that moment, one of the followers who had been following the protagonist suddenly made a comment.

"Hmm, speaking of which, I'm getting a little tired of eating fish lately."

Another character, who usually specializes in cooking in the game, couldn't help but complain as well.

Murakami Kazuo was immediately somewhat embarrassed.

The NPC characters in this game react so realistically!

It's likely that Yuxing Electronics Entertainment anticipated that some players would become so engrossed in fishing that they would forget to greet the princess, causing the main storyline to stall, and thus implemented this small feedback mechanism.

With the reminder, he came to his senses and realized that now was not the time to play the fishing game. As a game reviewer, he needed to at least complete the entire game first.

So he packed up all the fishing gear he had prepared and re-entered the main storyline.

In the main storyline, the protagonist needs to travel by ship to the princess's location.

The task wasn't difficult, but to Murakami Kazuo's surprise, the game also unlocked a new large map as the story progressed.

Fishing spots can be easily found on this large map, and some of these spots contain fish species that are exclusive to this area.

So, in this game, you still need to progress through the main storyline to catch more fish?

After thinking for a moment, Murakami Kazuo decided to put aside his urge to go fishing for the time being and focus on playing the main storyline, at least finishing the storyline before the final boss battle.

Then, the story takes place when the protagonist, Prince Noctis, suddenly learns of the death of King Lucis.

The reason for this was that the rival Niflheim Empire suddenly abandoned the peace agreement and launched a surprise attack during a meeting with King Lucis, ultimately resulting in the king's death from his injuries.

This was devastating news for the prince.

Unexpectedly, his trip to fetch his bride led to the destruction of his own country.

The Kingdom of Lucis was thus completely erased from this world.

Huh?

This plot is getting interesting.

Kazuo Murakami became slightly interested.

He wasn't very interested just now.

Because he previously thought the game's plot was a traditional prince and princess romance.

But now it seems there's also some political intrigue involved.

There's also the story of the kingdom's downfall and the prince's escape.

While on the run, they also have to search for their childhood sweetheart princess who has gone missing. The plot development is indeed quite good.

Yes, I wasn't wrong. Yuxing Electronic Entertainment is really good at coming up with all sorts of tricks. How could the God of Games be satisfied with a simple main story?

At this moment, he had automatically forgotten that he had previously looked down on these prince and princess stories.

The main storyline that follows is no longer about finding the princess at the wedding venue, but rather about the prince seeking the truth.

He wanted to return to the capital of his kingdom to find out what was going on.

Despite his attendants' advice, the prince insisted on returning to the kingdom's capital, even though there might be many deadly traps waiting for him from enemy countries.