Chapter 828 - 828: Our Players Are Very Tough

As time went on, major game developers' big titles started to flood the market.

And before their releases, they all rushed to generate buzz, afraid their games wouldn't get enough attention and would flop in sales.

But Nebula Games' new title, Elden Ring, was clearly different.

Aside from the previous online broadcast, there was absolutely no other news, making countless players incredibly impatient.

After all, up to this point, other than the game's name, genre, and theme, nothing else was known.

And while players outside were being teased relentlessly, inside Nebula Games, Lucas and his team were having a great time.

The game quality of Elden Ring in its previous life was indeed excellent, but there were also many aspects that players found disappointing.

Regarding the content, the most direct point was that many side quests were cut.

From the content triggered within the game and the dialogue later deciphered by players, it was clear that many important side quests had been deleted.

According to content deciphered by some players in the previous life, besides the quests for the wine-selling monk and half of Hyetta that didn't appear at all, Melina, who held the position of Maiden, also had a series of related stories.

From her original dialogue, it could be seen that she was confused about her own purpose in life, had deep affection for the Tarnished, and constantly encouraged the Tarnished to become Elden Lord.

Melina also did not tell the Tarnished the method for independent leveling; the original design was that every level-up would require Melina to hold the Tarnished's hand.

There was also a related mimic tear side quest in the Eternal City, but it was directly cut and became a story map for Ranni and the Deathbed Companion's questline.

These were parts that were completely deleted, and players wouldn't be able to discover them without deciphering the game files.

However, some parts were unfinished, starting strong but ending weak.

For example, the sorcerer Sorren, who was very good to the player, had some dialogue removed, but his story was actually quite complete.

But for familiar names to veteran Souls players, Patches' story was abruptly cut off; you'd never encounter him again after reaching the Mountaintops of the Giants.

There were also the Lord of Blasphemy, the warrior Nepheli Loux, and the envoy at the gate of Stormveil Castle; these were supposed to be three interconnected storylines.

Among them, the Lord of Blasphemy was looking for the warrior as the true heir to Godrick, and at the gate of Stormveil Castle, the envoy who would steal money every time the player died, forcing them to go through a side path into a dark room to get a key, and finally, the angry and crude envoy over the defeated Godrick, all these characters had their own dialogue with each other.

But they were all cut.

However, even so, the side quest content in Elden Ring was still quite excellent, especially the questlines for Ranni and the Deathbed Companion, which players almost always had to complete.

One of them allowed you to obtain a must-have weapon in the Souls series: the Moonlight Greatsword, and you could also gain a wife.

Not the kind players imagined, but one with whom you could have a unique ending by personally putting on a ring.

The other story, about Fia, the Deathbed Companion, was even more exciting.

Not only could you experience her loving embrace throughout, but in the end, you could even become a cuckold and surpass the legendary Prince of Death.

And these two memorable questlines have interactions between them.

To complete the Deathbed Companion's quest, you must first complete Ranni's prerequisite to open a secret passage in the Carian Regal Scepter and head to the Divine Tower.

For Lucas, he also planned to fill in as many missing pieces as possible.

He also planned to optimize some of the game's content.

Since it was their first attempt at an open world, Elden Ring in its previous life had many shortcomings in player experience.

Unlike Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, because it was an open world with more extensive content and numerous items.

The player experience wasn't very good.

For example, after picking up items, players had to open their inventory and slowly sort through each item to determine if it was a consumable, a material, or a quest item.

In addition, there was the imbalance of stats.

The Spirit Ash system was intended to make it easier for players to defeat bosses, and many bosses were designed with Spirit Ashes in mind.

However, the influence of aggro values, combined with some special weapon skills and classes, such as the Frostbite and the Ash of War: Hoarfrost Stomp of the Rivers of Blood katana with its heavy poise damage, caused the game's difficulty curve to collapse.

However, these were clearly not problems for Nebula Games, as they could conduct better content and stat testing.

As for the influence of Spirit Ashes on difficulty via aggro, that was even easier to solve.

With more mature AI, bosses would exhibit more intelligent behavior, rather than like in MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, where monsters' aggro was always on the Spirit Ashes, which could directly make the difficulty curve more reasonable.

This was something that had already been perfected in the previously existing "Death Mode" of Dark Souls.

Therefore, for Lucas and his team, what was more important was level design and some detailed settings specifically for VR performance.

"Boss Lucas, this design of yours..." Anna looked at the screen in front of Lucas, hesitant to speak.

"Isn't this to give players a more immersive experience?" Lucas smiled slightly.

The image above was a preview that would later be fed to the VR platform.

In the game, the Tarnished, clad in armor, slowly pushed open an iron gate in an attic.

Inside the room was pitch black.

At this moment, the Tarnished did not have a waist lantern like in Bloodborne.

Then, a knight in armor, holding a sword and shield, slowly stood up from a corner of the room, pushing aside a wooden crate in front of him.

The next second, footsteps suddenly came from behind, accompanied by a sinister laugh and a creak.

The large iron gate closed, leaving only the formidable knight facing the player.

There were many similar insidious designs.

"The immersion is so strong, just watching it makes my blood pressure explode!" Anna couldn't help but complain.

In Souls-like games such as Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, almost every installment was filled with various insidious monsters.

But compared to Elden Ring, Anna felt all of those were just child's play.

Because of the open-world elements, this game had too many ways to mess with players.

Places that looked like they wouldn't kill you if you jumped down, but actually would make you fall to your death.

The ballistae in Stormveil Castle that could obliterate players.

Ordinary explosive barrels.

Various gargoyle imps hiding in dark corners in the dungeons.

Just looking at them, Anna couldn't imagine.

"And more importantly, Boss Lucas, the monsters in these few maps will really make players break down!" Rachel, in charge of art, also complained.

She originally thought that the Lovecraftian cosmic horror designs in Bloodborne were already the peak.

But when it came to Elden Ring, according to the materials provided by Lucas, it was simply going from bad to worse!

The fluffy big ants in the Deeproot Depths, the spiders, maggots, and big-eyed frogs in the Royal Capital's sewers, and the maggots spewers in the forest outside the Royal Capital of Leyndellâ¦

It could be said that in Elden Ring, the monsters that would make players' sanity drop would definitely not be fewer than in Bloodborne.

"Relax, our players are very tough.

We have to believe in their psychological resilience," Lucas said to Rachel with a smile.

He wasn't worried about any of this at all.

After all, by the time players reached this point, they would have at least defeated Godrick and the full moon queen.

After such a long time without being discouraged, what else was there to worry about?

Maybe some players with special tastes would even like it very much?

(End of this chapter)