When I write a bug it becomes the core gameplay.

Chapter 431: Novice Boss, but not discouraged
The good news is that this defensive action seems to be an independent action, which means that the defensive action can take effect even if the character is in the middle of an attack action.

But this is also the bad news!

Originally, Zhuge Jun thought that this defense was the same as in other games, using weapons or off-hand shields to defend.

According to the general game settings, defense and attack actions cannot be performed at the same time. You cannot defend while attacking, and you cannot attack while defending. Of course, special routines such as shield poking are excluded.

Some games do not have shield settings, but players can use the weapons in their hands to perform defensive actions.

"Blood of Lies" is a bit weird. The defensive action in this game is just to block the prosthetic left hand in front of the body, that's all!

That is to say, this defensive action LB does not conflict with the attack action X or RB, but conflicts with the action LT of the puppet prosthesis.

Players can use the puppet's prosthetic limbs to block the opponent's actions while waving the weapon with their right hand to attack.

Of course, the character's attack module will change at this time. It will not be possible to execute the attack module of holding the weapon with both hands. It can only be held with the right hand alone, and the attack speed will also be slightly affected, after all, the action is deformed.

But the problem is that this defensive action is not easy to use, because its judgment is confusing. Some enemies' attacks cannot be blocked, and each attack will cause the puppet's prosthetic limb to lose a lot of durability, which will not only affect the subsequent damage reduction rate, but also affect the original function of the puppet's prosthetic limb.

Once the prosthesis is damaged, it can no longer be used and needs to be repaired using specific tools next to the gas lamp as before, and it also consumes a crystal.

According to the initial demonstration, crystals can also be considered as blood medicine to restore the player's blood, so it seems uneconomical no matter how you look at it.

Therefore, Zhuge Jun didn't want to use this defense function at all. He felt that dodging or transforming to slash GP was more reliable.

Of course, in addition to this, LB has another use, which is to release martial arts.

While long pressing LB to make a defensive move, the player can also press the combination key to release martial arts.

Similar to the usage of LT's prosthetic limbs, the LB key can also be used with the light attack, heavy attack, and transformation buttons to form a combo skill to cast three different martial arts.

The effects of martial arts skills vary depending on the type of weapon.

The weapon in Zhuge Jun's hand at this time is the default weapon that comes with the game, called "Hunter Sword and Spear".

As the name suggests, it has both sword form and spear form.

Zhuge Jun is quite satisfied with this weapon because both of its forms have quite comfortable action modules.

In sword form, the module of this weapon is similar to the common straight sword module, mainly slashing, with very short forward and backward swings, and there is nothing wrong with it except that the distance is slightly shorter and the damage is slightly lower. In spear form, the action module is mainly stabbing, with a long attack distance and a fast attack speed. Although the damage is still slightly low, it is good enough for novices.

In addition, its transformation and slashing action module is also quite excellent.

It is worth mentioning that there was a similar weapon in the internal demo of Blood of Lies before, but they are not the same. Although they are both sword and spear combinations, the weapon in the demo is a great sword, and its official name in the official version is "Holy Sword", while this one is a one-handed sword, straight sword, and its official name is "Sword Spear".

In comparison, this sword and spear is more friendly to novices.

Because the hilt of the holy sword is in a folded state, the transformation slash is completed by extending and retracting, and the hilt of the spear is usually installed on the puppet prosthesis of the left hand, and the transformation slash is completed by combination.

The transformation action of the sword turning into a spear is that the character holds the hilt of the sword with his right hand and chops, and at the end of the chopping action, the position of the hilt of the sword is combined with the spear handle of the left arm, and after the combination is completed, a stabbing action is performed.

The transformation and slashing action of the spear turning into a sword is to rotate the spear behind the back and separate it during the rotation. The spear handle is stuck on the puppet's prosthetic limb, and the right hand holds the sword handle, returning to the normal standby state.

The former is a smooth little combo against a single target, while the latter even has a good aoe effect.

During use, Zhuge Jun also discovered why the trigger back button has completely different key travel when pressing it down and up?
Because they correspond to different transformation slashes, and the two transformation slashes have fast and slow movements, they are also reflected in the key travel of the back keys.

The back button on the left does not have this setting. It will automatically bounce back after being pushed down, which is the same as the usage of the left trigger button.

But so what?

Zhuge Jun was still very confused, because judging from the situation of these monsters, there was absolutely no difference between using the trigger button to perform the transformation slash or using the trigger back button to perform the transformation slash. Anyway, they all hung up the monsters and hit them, and basically triggered the GP effect.

At this point, Zhuge Jun was puzzled again, is this GP so useful?
He vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he didn't dwell on it too much. He continued to move forward, pushed open the door in front of him with both hands, and faced the first boss in the game.

……

“That’s three minutes and seventeen seconds faster than the last time.

“Do you remember how many times you came here?

“Well, that’s not important.

"Because this is the last time."

After pushing the door, as expected, the cutscene CG entered immediately. At this time, the character he controlled came to the interior of a church. In the empty hall in front, at the end were statues, candlesticks and various corresponding arrangements, which looked solemn. A figure was kneeling in front of the statue, seemingly praying, and the previous lines were spoken by this person.

But unlike those desperate praying people, his back looked cold and ruthless, and even gave people a vague sense of determination.

As the character moves forward, the perspective gets closer and closer, and Zhuge Jun begins to gradually see the whole picture of this person.

It can be seen that he is tall, even close to two meters tall. However, due to his slender and skinny figure, and the slim hunter clothes he wears, he does not make people feel that he is a clumsy and strong man. Instead, there is a unique sense of oppression.

What surprised Zhuge Jun even more was that this man's body was covered with all kinds of weapons.

There are huge sickle blades, long swords, spears, axes, serrated knives...

These messy weapons were stuck all over his body, some pierced from the front, and some from the back. If there were more of them, his appearance would be closer to that of a hedgehog.

However, it is obvious that the number of these weapons is maintained at a just right level, giving people a feeling of horror rather than comedy.

Then the man gradually stood up and turned around, looking at the hunter coming towards him.

Zhuge Jun noticed that many of the weapons on this man had actually pierced through his vital parts, such as his heart, abdomen, etc., and there was even a dagger stuck in his thigh. If he were a normal person, he would have died long ago, but he was still able to move without any hindrance, and some of the weapons even collided with each other and made slight noises during his movements.

"Come on, let me see what lies you told and what you lost this time."

As the mysterious man spoke, he casually grasped the long handle of a sickle at his right rib with his right hand and slowly pulled it out in a strange posture.

The sickle pierced through his right ribs and came out from his left shoulder, and the long handle of the sickle extended diagonally upwards, looking quite terrifying.

When the mysterious man picked up the blood-stained sickle with an expressionless face, the battle officially began.

Seeing the boss's long health bar appearing on the screen, Zhuge Jun panicked.

He noticed that the boss' name was "Lie Hunter - Daniel".

It was obvious that this thing would be a very important boss in the game. Zhuge Jun also guessed that the entire boss battle would most likely be a losing plot kill, but the tense atmosphere and the magnificent BGM still made him subconsciously feel a little flustered.

Seeing the scythe coming towards him, Zhuge Jun didn't think much and subconsciously pulled the trigger.

GP!

Anyway, no matter what kind of monster it is, just defeat it first. Winning is temporary, but being cool is for life.

Originally Zhuge Jun had no expectations for this GP, but a shocking scene happened. The moment he changed his sword into a spear, the weapon just collided with the scythe!
The next second, not only was Daniel's scythe bounced away, but the blood holes on his right ribs and left shoulder where he had originally pulled out the scythe also spurted out a large amount of blood!

Zhuge Jun continued to execute his GP action, and the second half of the spear pierced Daniel's chest, causing the boss's health bar to drop visibly.

Daniel rushed over again, and this time Zhuge Jun chose to dodge, but unfortunately this attack seemed to be a slow knife, and his step was a little early, and he was hit by the boss.

But the blood loss is not too much and is still within an acceptable range.

Zhuge Jun immediately counterattacked by stabbing with his spear, and blood mist spurted out of Daniel's body and enveloped him, restoring some of his health.

"It doesn't seem to be a plot kill. Can we win?"

Zhuge Jun couldn't help but feel a little happy, because according to the general game design ideas, the boss encountered at the beginning is mainly to help players familiarize themselves with the operation, and the numerical values ​​will often be adjusted higher, and then the plot will continue to advance after the boss is killed.

After some training, the protagonist challenges the boss again.

However, the gatekeeper boss in "Blood of Lies" does not have the value adjusted very high, it is completely normal difficulty.

A novice player may not be able to beat it, but any experienced player of action games should be able to win.

Zhuge Jun couldn't help but cheer up and continue fighting.

Soon, the first challenge ended in failure.

Obviously, this boss does not only use the sickle as a weapon. As the battle progresses, his sickle will be destroyed, and at this time he will draw a new weapon from his body, and all the action modules will also change.

This made Zhuge Jun very uncomfortable, and he was eventually defeated when the boss's health was only one third left.

However, the game did not enter the CG animation at this time, and Zhuge Jun was resurrected under the gas lamp.

It seems that you really have to defeat this boss before you can move on to the next stage.

(End of this chapter)