Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

 Honest Players

Zhao Youyue may have used her “Two Dimension Gate” to enter the fictional world and act out the miserable life of the nameless maiden, but all that mattered was that her nameless swordswoman becomes an iconic character. She even gave creator Zha Feng some inspiration. A genius like him did not just repeat it word for word, he took it upon himself to add far more features and entire routes.

Creators who lacked that extra step were not “creators,” they were “copycats.”

So, was it possible for the Nameless Swordswoman to find happiness?

Let’s not even get our expectations that far up – did she at least have a neutral end?

Most viewers started to focus on Ah Yu’s stream. Many deduced that Ah Yu’s holy monk character was this popular, ironically because of its simplicity and nicheness.

After all, almost everything about Holy Monk Ah Guang gave off too much of a ‘women’s benevolence’ vibe. He often tossed himself into desperate situations, only increasing the difficulty of the gameplay. Regular players do not simply pick such troublesome routes.

If you wanted to be a Madonna in this game, you better have the strength to back it up.

As Zhao Youyue continued streaming, she came upon a troubling thought. Completing the game meant that the credits would roll, and that would also mean that her name would make its appearance. Why then, has a witch hunt for her not yet been initiated?

She should have been exposed as a “foretelling” fake player by now, but it had not yet happened.

Was it just her “passerby aura” taking affect?

Truthfully, players never really bothered to check out on VAs. Those who did would not play hardcore games, they were trivia hunters. When someone picks up on it, others might jump into the bandwagon and smoke her out.

No other player could emulate Holy Monk Ah Guang’s purity. They were resigned to the fact that no matter what role they played, the ending would not change – it would remain depressing as ever as they were too weak. They were too weak to do anything that could potentially reverse or change the Nameless Swordswoman’s depressing fate.

In a sense, such stigma made a game immortal.

A good example of this was the case of the Lolita in Central Yharnam of Bloodborne [1]. She was the daughter of Father Gascoigne. [2] Regardless of what you did, she would always die.

This was a pain in the neck for players, and the circulating of rumor where you could actually save her did not help matters

The rumor was to: Attempt making a deal with Hidetaka Miyazaki [3].

The Nameless Swordswoman’s sensationalized tragedy became a red mark for players to pick at. Viewers who refused to believe that all hope was lost for her went ahead and bought the game themselves, hoping to prove the popular streamers wrong, with the added bonus of successfully completing the game.

This time, Su Li could not cover the surmountable fame that surrounded Zha Feng. Famous as she was, she could not protect a genius creator from the rage of the masses.

Zha Feng was already a walking case of misfortune by himself. Su Li did not act much impact in that aspect. She only made the scenes for more emotional. The main gravedigger would still be Zha Feng, no matter what.

Zha Feng even mentioned that his inbox had been flooded with questions concerning Nameless Swordswoman’s favorable end, if any.

He had innocently stated that he did not know. You may not believe it, but the Nameless Swordswoman had seemed to have gained a sense of self-awareness, thus making him unable to control her actions

Such a reply was scorned upon, saying that he was irresponsibly shunning his role in the affair of things. Some pessimistic users had immediately scoured the game for evidence that proved otherwise, such as how he had deliberately placed Yan Qingmeng as the decoy protagonist.

If it were not for her looks and not so bad personality, players would definitely get angry from the fact that Yan Qingmeng killed their “sister”, and littered the streets with her skulls after beheading her – repeatedly.

Some players even gone so far as to call Yan Qingmeng trash. Sitting on her throne for so long made some even “admire” her baselessly, yet a pure soul like the Nameless Swordswoman could sacrifice so much for a pipe dream.

If given a choice, players would have most definitely taken the Nameless Swordswoman’s sight. Not only did she look good, but the beauty of her heart also mirrored her exterior. Waving her sense of justice about had only protected the tyrant Yan Qingmeng, even if it had been unintentional.

Yan Qingmeng had been given a good name. Once deciphered, it would show how we SHOULD NOT trust her, just like the fleeting words of lucid dreams [4].

All these despicable traits notwithstanding, her character model had been created exceptionally well. It was almost enough to hold back the masses, which was somewhat rare? The song < My Taoist nun Friend > [5], laid the final piece in the puzzle.

Listening to the song alone told the story of an unfortunate lady meeting a scumbag who cheated on her, and her ending up as ‘the other woman.’

Listening to the song and playing the game added on to Yan Qingmeng’s bullsh*t stat. She was doing fine by herself, but when things were going well with the Nameless Swordswoman, she had to cockblock their interactions. What a drama queen!

To male players, this “spiritual love” was a load of cr*p. It only existed to be a “spare tire” to the “green hat” [6], leaving everyone uneasy and disgusted. Her honeyed words carried more weight than songs, but in terms of actions, she could very well be armless. She would never be touched by what the player did for her, thinking that it was to be expected, as if the player was her “servant”

One would only notice this in retrospect after experiencing a bad end. It was most infuriating to relive the experience of being tricked, toyed about, used by one they thought to be their comrade.

It wasn’t as if real life gave them their fair share of such experiences. Zha Feng simply had to sneak this into his game as well.

What luck!

The rage fueled players would only be driven to replay the game a second time and spend more time on the game, which played right into Zha Feng’s hands.

Translation Notes:

[1] Central Yharnam of Bloodborne: An area in the game Bloodborne where players will fight the boss Father Gascoigne

[2] Father Gascoigne: A boss fought by players Bloodborne in Central Yharnam.

[3] Hidetaka Miyazaki: Game director of the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne.

[4] Words from dreams: , aka Yan Qingmeng can be translated to Clear Words from Dreams, which foreshadows her persona, as words are never clearly remembered from dreams and words from dreams does not implement in real life, aka a lie or something fake.

[5] “My Taoist nun Friend” : Song from “The Fate of Swordsman 3” or commonly known as JW3, explaining the story of the character played in the game.

[6] Spare tire/ Green hat: Words often linked to being a third wheel.