My game is depressing worldwide.

Chapter 120 Chen Xuan, a pioneer ahead of his time!

"What's Fang Juexia up to??"

Chen Xuan thought to himself, "This is bad! Big brother, don't mess with me!"

However, upon closer inspection, there are some subtle differences.

This is not a video.

It is an article.

Can articles go viral?

Chen Xuan also broadened his horizons.

The article section used to be the main part of the site. If Chen Xuan remembered correctly, this was one of the earliest places to creatively use idioms.

What talk of debating with a group of scholars, being content with what one has, and sharing one's knowledge without reservation...?

However, data plans are generally cheaper now, Wi-Fi is everywhere, and not many people like reading articles anymore.

Indeed, Fang Juexia kept his promise.

There are no videos about Dark Souls on the entire site.

But this is an article, not a video!

Snapped!

Chen Xuan slapped his forehead, somewhat annoyed.

Even the most meticulous plans can have flaws.

Chen Xuan had a pretty good idea of ​​why this article would become so popular.

Video websites have banned videos of Dark Souls. At this point, whenever players search for the game's name looking for walkthroughs, almost all the traffic will be directed to this article.

Those who are willing to search for walkthroughs are at least those who can barely accept its difficulty and intend to complete it.

Upon seeing an article with such a title, most players would click to read it.

It's no wonder this article went viral and became a trending topic across the entire site.

An article, published in the Dark Souls game section which was banned, climbed to the top of the site's trending list, overshadowing a ton of game videos.

How can this be so surreal?

Now let's look at the author...

"Wait, who?!" Chen Xuan's eyes widened.

Irritable Gamer!

The content creator who initially relied on awkwardly praising "Tanko Daikazoku" and made videos explaining the mystery of the Light Orb.

Chen Xuan gritted his teeth.

When the anime "Dumpling Family" didn't get as many defense-breaking points as expected, although there were reasons for insufficient foresight, a small part of the blame should also be placed on this grumpy gamer.

No, they've all gone from animation to games.

Why are they still chasing after them?

Looking at the article title again, I was even more baffled.

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

"What the hell? What do you mean by 'fallen from grace'? Don't talk nonsense, I'll sue you for defamation."

With a sense of foreboding, I continued watching.

On April 13, 2020, Asylum Studios' first AAA title, Dark Souls, was officially released. However, unlike producer Chen Xuan's previous works, which received widespread acclaim upon release, this game was met with constant controversy.

At the time of writing, the positive review rate was only 63%, and it received overwhelming negative reviews within the player community. One particularly witty post even stated that this genius had fallen from grace and his true colors had been revealed.

But is that really the case?

The article concludes with a screenshot from a popular forum post.

Chen Xuan had also seen that post, but he just laughed it off.

However, it still has a considerable influence in the player community.

It's not that the post was poorly written, but rather that it was too abstract.

The post used "War Souls 3" to criticize "Dark Souls," but those who know about it know that "War Souls 3" is a work that Sun Zhirui is ashamed of, and she herself joined the Asylum Studios to become the combat planner for "Dark Souls."

Clearly, the author of the article was aware of this as well.

Let's rewind to a few years ago when "War Souls 3" was released, but it was ridiculed by the entire internet for its lack of innovation, and its reputation collapsed.

A brilliant combat strategist quit his job in anger, determined to make his own way and create a game that would change the history of action games.

This work is now known as Dark Souls.

Ironically, in today's increasingly rigid action game design landscape, this refreshing masterpiece from top to bottom has been criticized as "overly innovative."

Is this really "over-innovation"?

Do not!

I hereby predict that these designs will become a great innovation that will change the history of gaming!

Now, let me explain in detail.

Right there in his office, Chen Xuan was staring blankly at the article.

In the workspace, Sun Zhirui pointed proudly at the article and said, "See! What did I say back then? I told you that sooner or later players would understand the genius of the boss's designs, and that it would be recognized eventually!"

This article covers everything from numerical issues and boss design to looping miniature garden levels, fragmented narrative, campfires and monster spawns, and harsh death penalties!

Colleagues around him, including Shen Qingtu and Xiong Xuewen, all expressed their heartfelt praise.

Shen Qingtu, in particular, breathed a sigh of relief.

Being recognized is the greatest reward.

Zhou Qian scratched his head, couldn't help but chuckle, and said, "I actually got praised. So I do have some talent after all."

"Uh... Little Fish, you're overthinking it." Sun Zhirui narrowed her eyes, gave a mischievous grin, and pointed out a part of the article, "You're the one who got scolded the most."

what?

Zhou Qian quickly looked over.

Finally, there's the issue of malice that's everywhere in the game.

With all of the above, who would dare say that Chen Xuan is unworthy of the title of genius? Such a genius naturally knows just how annoying these malicious designs are.

And Sun Zhirui is a meritorious planner of "War Souls 2", so there is only one explanation for all of this.

Zhou Qian was responsible for all of this, and he must bear full responsibility for these malicious schemes!

"I'm more wronged than Dou E! Weren't these things specifically requested by Brother Xuan?! What does it have to do with me?!"

Zhou Qian felt like crying but couldn't shed a tear.

Let's continue reading.

Almost every aspect of the game, from the named to the unnamed game designers, was praised.

Even Yu Xiaoming dressed as a woman.

Only Zhou Qian could be described with a single word.

Birth.

Why am I being blamed again?

Sun Zhirui pointed at the screen and continued, "Keep reading. This article was able to appear and help us turn around our reputation mainly for two reasons. First, the game's excellent content, and second, the help from the Chinese game reporting media."

Zhou Qian dragged the mouse.

[Many people may think I'm just exaggerating and desperate for clicks, but I have some data to share with you.]

On its first day of release, the game had a positive review rate of only 53%, mostly given by players who were initially angry with the game. However, by the time of writing, the positive review rate had soared to 63%, averaging two percentage points per day!

This is extremely rare in the entire history of gaming.

This illustrates a point: more and more players are discovering that as long as they successfully defeat Gundyr, it means they are suited to this type of game and will gradually fall in love with it as the content progresses.

Furthermore, I followed up on the current situation of some players who gave negative reviews.

100条随机抽选的差评之中，有75%的玩家在打出差评之后继续游玩且时间在20小时以上；50%的玩家已经通关，且击败了绝大多B0SS；33%的玩家开启了二周目；12%的玩家找到并击败了隐藏BOSS无名王者。

If Dark Souls were truly so bad, how could it have such high stickiness?

At this moment, Yu Xiaoming, who was standing behind Zhou Qian, nodded and said, "I actually collected this data a long time ago, but Brother Xuan didn't even bother to look at it. Doesn't that mean he already guessed this day would come? That's why he said to just wait and not do anything."

Sun Zhirui said meaningfully, "Do you remember what the boss said? 'Great scholars will debate the classics for me!'"

"Brother Xuan'er's level is still too high; we really can't understand it."

At this point, there's not much more to the article.

[There may still be people who don't believe what I'm saying—who are you, a small UP with 80,000 followers spouting nonsense.]

Indeed, I am just an ordinary player, but surely no one hasn't read China Game Report, such an authoritative gaming media outlet?

It's important to understand that the journalists involved must be gamers, and their game accounts are even publicly disclosed! This is why their articles have such high credibility.

The article "Our Games Are Healthy, Positive, and Uplifting - An Interview with Genius Producer Chen Xuan," written by reporter Wang Yuhan a few days ago, fully corroborates my thoughts.

Many people thought it was just random writing, or even a product of madness and abstraction.

In fact, this article uses satire to fully dissect the current state of the game industry's lack of progress and the heartache of pioneers being misunderstood.

Reporter Wang Yuhan immediately saw through the various ingenious designs of "Dark Souls", but producer Chen Xuan rejected them one by one, even answering in a self-deprecating way.

how so?

This genius knew that avant-garde designs would win applause, but groundbreaking designs that transcended their time would be misunderstood by everyone, and any attempt to explain them would be seen as an attempt to whitewash them.

Therefore, Chen Xuan chose to respond to the players' lack of understanding with humorous self-deprecation, without complaining that no one understood his brilliant design, because he knew that time would bring the answer.

A salute to reporter Wang Yuhan, who braved controversy to defend Dark Souls.

A tribute to Mr. Chen Xuan, a pioneer in the industry and a voice that was often misunderstood!

Almost everyone in the company has read Wang Yuhan's article.

At the time, some people were angry, some were confused, some felt sad, and some wanted to question the media outlet that reported on Chinese games.

After reading this last paragraph, everyone suddenly understood.

Reporter Wang Yuhan, you can't judge a book by its cover!

It turns out she had already figured out the boss's design. The two of them were working together, using dark humor and satire to indirectly explain the ingenuity of Dark Souls' design to the players.

Clever methods, bold creativity.

High, it is high!

The comments below further corroborate the studio's thoughts.

[1st Floor: I knew it would be like this. What kind of producer would say in an interview that I was deliberately trying to disgust people? I must say, reporter Wang and CEO Chen worked together really well.]

[2nd Floor: Damn, I'm used to cursing. I've played for over fifty hours and am on my second playthrough. I usually curse while I play.]

[3rd Floor: I've always loved this game! You never know what's waiting for you ahead, unlike trash like "War Souls 3" and "4" where you can tell what's coming next just by looking at it.]

[4th Floor: I'm terrible at games, but I absolutely love the story of Dark Souls. Does anyone know how to piece together the weight and depth of historical events from various fragmented texts?]

[5th ​​Floor: I suggest that, regardless of your strengths, brothers, leave your researched strategies, story analyses, mathematical studies, and build combinations in the comments section of this thread so that more players can see them.]

[6th Floor: The person upstairs is a genius! I have a small Dark Souls group, and we all absolutely love this game. We're all getting really anxious because of its poor reputation.]

[7th Floor: Wow, so many brothers like Dark Souls! I'm not alone! With so many things worth studying, shouldn't we, a group of passionate researchers, be given a name?]

[8th Floor: What should we call each other? We're all Soul Scholars, let's just exchange ideas often.]

[9th Floor: It turns out the game's reputation is improving, and it wasn't just my imagination.]

[10th Floor: This is a game that's selective, so I suggest buying it with caution. However, it's definitely a great game; the campfire and other design elements are absolutely brilliant!]

Sun Zhirui's face flushed with excitement, and she looked completely satisfied and very proud.

I have made up my mind about one thing.

The boss is a pioneer ahead of his time.

Even if you can't understand some of the designs or concepts for the time being, don't doubt them.

There's definitely a deeper meaning behind this!

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