Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 466 - 449: Early Strategy

Chapter 466: Chapter 449: Early Strategy

Arriving at the end of the bridge, Zhuge Jun indeed found a suspicious door.

This was most likely the shortcut used by the evil craftsman when he sneaked onto the bridge.

But at this moment, pushing the door would prompt that it was locked and could not be opened.

If Zhuge Jun hadn’t previously searched for this NPC, it would definitely have been considered a shortcut to be accessed in the future, and he would not have paid much attention to it but chosen to cross the bridge and continue forward.

But now, he decided to turn back first, retracing the fork in the road to see if the NPC had anything else to say.

And indeed, there was a plot twist.

After being exposed, the NPC was forced to tell the "truth" or possibly "part of the truth".

According to him, his name was "Bazi," a craftsman passionate about researching beastification disease and puppets, and claimed to be a "Puppet Doctor", so his previous words couldn’t be entirely considered lies.

He was indeed a doctor, only his patients were not ordinary people.

Moreover, Bazi boldly claimed that although he indeed intended to trap players, didn’t the players also lie and deceive him?

In today’s world, those who dare to venture are generally not of a kind nature, everyone’s hands are stained with blood, and mutual distrust is quite normal.

"Out of apology, just accept this little gift," Bazi said.

Bazi also gave a prop and the key to the shortcut behind.

Zhuge Jun looked at it. It was a common Beast Blood Clump, whose purpose was to be crushed to obtain essence, which is the currency used in this game for leveling up and purchasing items.

It wasn’t much, only enough for him to level up halfway, but at least it was something useful.

"Alright, thanks for your meager reward," Zhuge Jun said.

Zhuge Jun did consider whether to kill this nuisance right here.

The game also allowed killing NPCs, except in few "safe zones," where players could act against NPCs.

The so-called safe zones, such as places like Claridge Hotel, would force weapons to be holstered, and pressing the attack button would have no response.

But clearly, the small platform where Bazi was located was not a safe zone.

However, after some thought, Zhuge Jun decided to spare his life. Not because he felt any compassion or truly forgave him, but because he thought this NPC probably had some significance and there might be more plot to follow.

Upon opening the shortcut, he discovered it was a network of tunnels, one of which led directly to the bridge, while another led to the town’s sewer area.

Zhuge Jun took a brief look and found the sewer area quite sinister, so after contemplating, he decided to first continue exploring the main storyline, advancing the district beyond the bridge to in front of the boss’s door, before coming back to explore the sewer.

...

That evening, in the villa.

Lilith sat lounging with her legs crossed, triumphantly munching on chips.

Negative Emotion Value was visibly accumulating!

"Very good, everything is going smoothly so far!"

"Hehe, the streamer plan is indeed a great success!"

Gu Fan timely praised, "President Li is truly brilliant and heroic. The essence of the streamer plan lies in mutual cooperation, with some playing the good cop and others the bad cop. This way, we can dynamically adjust the difficulty and influence the public opinion at the early stage of the game’s release, controlling players’ emotions.

"One can only say, it’s extremely clever!"

Lilith couldn’t help but feel a bit smug, almost ready to strike a pose, "Of course! Who am I? I am the First Producer of Hell, Lady Lilith!"

Clearly, the streamer plan was a layered strategy and not a simple one-off deal.

Had the Invincibility Frame been changed? Of course, it had!

If it hadn’t been changed, how could we significantly disadvantage the players and generate enough negative emotion?

But if left completely unmanaged, players would quickly realize something was amiss, just like Zhuge Jun.

What then?

They might quit the game, perhaps go online to expose the truth and persuade other players to quit, or take some other measures...

But whatever they did, it would certainly create a bad demonstration effect, significantly reducing the negative emotion contributions the game could garner.

So, that’s when the streamers come into play.

So far, the streamers have shown three main roles.

The first role is Atmosphere Group, the second is the Extreme Group, and the third is the Strategy Group.

The work of the Atmosphere Group is quite simple: just stream normally and play down the difficulty aspect of "Blood of Lies," making it seem not so challenging and through this illusion, attract more players online, creating a widespread but false impression.

The Extreme Group is represented by streamers like Ning Meng, who despite heavy coaching, still need to deliberately lower their gameplay, finally overcoming the boss after an intense battle.

This could stimulate a competitive psyche among the players: if she could pass the level, why can’t I? I can’t believe I might be worse than her!

If those players who are not very sensitive to GP get provoked by this, they would stubbornly fight the boss right there on the spot.

If players could still stay calm at this time, not fooled by the cloud gamers or provoked by the incompetent streamers, then it’s the turn for the strategy team to take action.

Heilong is playing such a role.

Is this strategy useful? Of course, it is.

After reading this guide, players would be able to more easily defeat the first high-difficulty boss.

But the main idea is to fatten up the pigs before slaughtering them as otherwise, players would quit at the first boss and how else could we make up for the lack of negative emotion later?

Although the first boss is passed, there are quite a few traps set for the subsequent ones.

Because Heilong will not always release guides, the later guides would come out slower and slower.

When the players first got stuck with the first boss, they saw the guide, so after a few hardships, they passed it comfortably.

The second boss was chosen to be released after most players were stuck for two hours, making them suffer at least a dozen times before they could see the guide.

As for the later bosses, generally, the guides were released even slower, and the players, becoming impatient, had to challenge them on their own, culminating in negative emotions, right?!

Of course, each player’s progress is different, some may take a day off and enjoy playing for ten hours, while some only have three or four hours after work in the evening.

This pace can’t possibly align perfectly. It could only dynamically adjust according to the progress of most mainstream players. In layman’s terms, Nitiandang would check backend data and then secretly tell the streamers the approximate timeline for releasing strategies.

As for those who play 10 hours a day...

They are already suffering so much that whether they see the guide or not, they will continue to suffer in the game; thus, it doesn’t matter.

As for another trap, that would be this Lying Mechanism.

Even if no guides were released, players would eventually notice this mechanism, but the guides make them aware of it sooner and more dependent on it.

Once the players get used to lying to lower the difficulty, the good times are yet to come!

The game "Blood of Lies" has many traps, not just one or two. Take GP for example; players would always swing between "I got GP!" and "Did I get GP?"

After the prologue, feeling mastered, the giant beastification puppet teaches a lesson;

After feeling mastered again post giant beastification puppet, the next boss gives yet another lesson.

And when they’ve finally defeated one strong enemy after another and feel they’ve completely gotten it, the Lying Mechanism suddenly exposes flaws, and they are taught a lesson yet again...

In a nutshell, with regards to GP, players are always in a state of "as if I’ve got it."

Do you finally have it? As if.

In this process, they will repeatedly doubt themselves, continuously generating negative emotions.

And those players who get angry and quit, produce even more of it.

Of course, eventually, they will learn it, just as those streamers who underwent intensive training mostly passed their tests, but the required time can reach hundreds of hours.

And a very few players with exceptional talents, who can quickly master and thoroughly understand GP, will of course gain a lot of Positive Emotion Value in this game. But such players are very rare among the whole player base, so it’s insignificant.

...

Soon, the players’ progress in the game continued to advance.

The first batch of "Real Initial Guides" also began to appear gradually.

Why call them "Real Guides"? Because what Heilong and others issued were actually fake guides, selectively released after they had prematurely experienced the game, which strictly speaking were not the result of players’ independent exploration.

However, this batch of "Real Initial Guides" were the strategies summarized by players who genuinely experienced the game and fell into traps, thus they held a high misleading value.

These initial guide suggestions included:

Try to make your early avatar look human if you choose a human start since starting as a puppet often leads to frequent lying failures, requiring frequent truancy, and the initial difficulty is noticeably higher than for humans;

The three initial weapons recommended are the Sword Spear, which is the most newcomer-friendly;

The Sword and Shield seems like a defensive weapon, but it actually doesn’t offer good protection. Instead, switching to a two-handed axe form provides higher damage, making it the top choice for strength players; while the double swords are clearly designed for skill-focused pros;

As for the attribute points, undoubtedly prioritize stamina, endurance, and power, namely the Blood Bar, energy bar, and strength, and these must be added at the craftsman’s, because he provides more attributes, and it’s said that after reaching a certain value at the craftsman’s, a hidden subplot can be triggered;

During challenges, you can obtain blueprints for Puppet Prosthesis, remember to replace them immediately, but try not to replace the legs because it affects the stepping motion template and Invincibility Frame. Other parts only have benefits without drawbacks, not only making you tougher but also giving extra attributes when adding points; the more parts you replace, the more extra attributes you get;

Choose to lie in all options that allow it. Lying not only brings some direct benefits, such as boss form changes, opening shortcuts without keys, but also many lies can increase Spiritual Vision Level.

This Spiritual Vision Level hasn’t been fully figured out yet, but it is known that it affects the character’s last three attributes: knowledge, faith, and mystery. The higher the Spiritual Vision, the more you can add to these three points. Although not adding these attributes now, increasing the Spiritual Vision level is always beneficial for preparing for later tank builds.

The guides organized by the players initially cannot be said to be perfect; they are almost completely wrong.