Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 469 - 452: The Difficulty of Polarization

Chapter 469: Chapter 452: The Difficulty of Polarization

Zhuge Jun was beside himself with frustration; he had now entered a vicious cycle.

"I can’t beat the boss!"

"Then you should first execute a perfect move in the first three minutes, making the boss enter simple mode!"

"If I could execute a perfect move in the first three minutes, do you think I’d still be unable to beat the boss?"

You have to understand that although the boss’s second phase has some changes, such as igniting its entire body, most of its moves are still the same.

In other words, if Zhuge Jun wanted to execute perfect moves at the start, he’d first have to familiarize himself with all of the boss’s moves and essentially manage to handle them all with ease.

Not only would he have to stay unharmed, but he’d also need to take advantage of every opportunity to sneak in damage during those safe moments to enter simple mode.

But this is very difficult; if he could handle these moves perfectly and steadily, it would mean he was already quite proficient with the boss. Even with some changes later on, these wouldn’t pose much of a problem, and defeating the boss would just be a matter of time.

So, why would he even pursue this so-called "simple mode"?

Simply put, this simple strategy can be described in ten words: the weak can’t use it, the strong disdain it.

"I’ll try it first. If I can stay unharmed, maybe I can trigger this simple mode."

Zhuge Jun hadn’t given up. Although he had his suspicions, he still wanted to verify them.

This time, upon entering, he immediately started to play marathon with the boss, keeping his distance.

The boss had a few wide-range leap attacks, but luckily they had a long startup. Zhuge Jun chose to unlock the target, so the dodge key changed from a small step to a roll, covering more distance, which he used to successfully evade.

However, one minute passed, then two minutes...

Judging that the time was more than enough, Zhuge Jun approached the boss again, moving towards its right leg, trying to bait out the "simple mode."

But all his efforts were in vain; the boss’s moves remained exactly the same as at the beginning.

Back at the gaslight, Zhuge Jun wanted to stare up at the sky and sigh deeply.

"As I suspected, the developers are out of their minds!!"

Combining the strategy video of the neighbor, Lao Wang, with his own gaming experience, Zhuge Jun confirmed that the game itself had some sort of "no-damage incentive mechanism" or "damage penalty mechanism."

If players managed to attack the boss without taking damage, then the boss would gradually become less intelligent, making it easier to beat.

But once the player took damage, the boss would no longer decrease in intelligence, instead, it would ramp up, its moves becoming progressively more frequent and complex.

To lower the difficulty, one must first avoid damage in the early stages and steal enough hits.

But who would want to lower the difficulty? Of course, it’s the novices. It’s simply impossible for them to avoid damage early on.

"What is this, dynamic difficulty?

"No, it should be considered reverse dynamic difficulty, right?"

Zhuge Jun was overwhelmed with sorrow, never imagining that Nitiandang could also perpetrate such a massive action in this aspect.

In other games, dynamic difficulty generally means it gets easier for novices and harder for experts, but how come "Blood of Lies" is the opposite?

It gets harder for novices and easier for experts—is this even something a human would do?

Zhuge Jun opened Lao Wang’s video again, wishing he could have a good cry and ask him to make another video with a strategy that even players with poor skills could use.

But then he thought about it, what’s the difference between this and a "full boss skill breakdown"?

The boss’s initial moves are quite random; there’s no chance of cutting corners. All players can do is seriously remember and learn to handle every move.

If you can master about seventy to eighty percent of them, the difficulty won’t decrease significantly, but you can gradually whittle down the boss.

If you can master a hundred percent, you can play in simple mode, making it easier to get through.

In other words, the prerequisite for cutting corners is that you must first graduate with a full score.

Do you need a full boss skill breakdown? Not really necessary, because by now Zhuge Jun already knew how to handle those moves, as Lao Wang had pretty much demonstrated them all in the video.

A roll means quickly turning around and running; a headbutt means advancing with a small step...

But knowing how to handle something is one thing, being able to execute it is another matter entirely.

In a real boss fight, the situation changes rapidly; a slight delay in reaction and one mistake could lead to a complete waste of efforts. Isn’t it still a long time of suffering?

"Nitiandang really has outdone themselves, they even invented a ’strategy-proof mechanism’...

"Can’t you guys be a little humane?"

This was the first time Zhuge Jun encountered such an outrageous situation. In other games, when players couldn’t beat a boss, they’d look at a strategy, prepare accordingly, and often the battle’s difficulty would significantly decrease.

However, "Blood of Lies" was different. After watching the video, he realized he was just consoling himself with loneliness, as he had only learned the best way to handle individual attacks. The rest had to be practiced slowly.

"Then I’ll practice!

"Isn’t it just perfecting a few moves? As long as I can practice them, I can play in simple mode. How can I let such a small hardship get the best of me?"

Zhuge Jun was angry, but in the end, he chose to calm down and continue the struggle.

...

And at this time, the controversy over the difficulty of "Blood of Lies" had been fermenting nonstop.

Gamers were shocked to discover that "Blood of Lies" had become the most polarizing game in history in terms of "difficulty."

Some believed the game was way too easy, lacking any sense of challenge – even bosses often seemed like idiots, leaving much to be desired in terms of thrilling, exciting combat!

Others thought the difficulty was utterly unreasonable – players were fragile as glass, shattering upon contact, while bosses were all rabid dogs. How could anyone fight against that?

Clearly, the seeds of this debate were sown yesterday.

Upon the release of "Blood of Lies," due to the substantial difference in GP feel between the prologue and the official Chapters, many people questioned it right away.

When various streamers began broadcasting, most of them managed to defeat the giant beastification puppet with relative ease, which only led many battered players to break down, suspecting the streamers might have a special version of the game.

These two issues could have been clarified quickly – after all, unpacking the data could easily reveal the truth about the invincibility frames in GP.

But then some players suggested that "different protagonist performance between the prologue and official Chapters fits the narrative setting," and combined with today’s rapid polarization of player reviews, it stirred the waters again, splitting the community.

Busy quarreling with each other, naturally, they temporarily overlooked the real instigators – Nitiandang.

Both the "Simple Party" and the "Hardcore Faction" believed themselves to be in the right, and neither would give an inch in their opposition.

The "Simple Party" primarily consisted of elite and "cloud gamers."

Most of these elite players were similar to the proverbial ’guy next door’ – although they hadn’t played in advance, they had talent and quickly adapted to the combat rhythm of "Blood of Lies." While pursuing flawless victories, they found the game increasingly simple and the bosses more and more idiotic.

At times, only the first few minutes of battle brought any enjoyment.

If one performed perfectly in the first three minutes, rubbish time would soon follow, with bosses repeating simple moves, allowing for easy GPs at will. Finishing the fight brought no satisfaction, not even a chuckle.

Cloud gamers, after watching the streamers’ broadcasts, also expressed their "Is that all?" amazement.

"I could do that too!" they boasted.

Because cloud gamers hadn’t tried playing firsthand, they naturally found it hard to comprehend the specific difficulty of "performing perfectly within the first three minutes." They only saw the boss entering an easy mode, thinking "if I tried, it’d be easy too."

And cloud gamers weren’t just the audience in livestreams but also viewers of flawless playthrough videos; they were staunch "Simple Party" supporters.

Players like Zhuge Jun, whose skills weren’t top-tier but who had actually played the game, were firmly in the "Hardcore Faction."

They found the low margin for error in this damned game extremely tough – wasn’t this challenge enough?

But a communication gap between the two sides meant it was hard to persuade the other.

The Simple Party accused the Hardcore Faction of being noobs, telling them to "practice if you’re bad," "to find this simple game hard means you’ll be bad for life," and "suggest you go play some puzzles." In short, they brandished the brain-dead mode boss from the flawless videos in their opponents’ faces.

Among them were indeed some real pros who found the game was simply too easy and boring, so it was hard to distinguish the truth.

Meanwhile, the Hardcore Faction saw the Simple Party as cloud gamers who just watched streams and a few flawless videos and then imagined the game’s difficulty – "Why don’t you actually buy the game and try it yourselves?" they argued.

This quarrel made everyone forget the original arguments. Issues like invincibility frames in GP or streamers having a special version now seemed irrelevant.

With players so divided, unable to reach a consensus on whether the game was hard or not, why bother arguing about differing experiences with GP invincibility frames or how smoothly novice streamers played? These now seemed like unimportant trifles.

But regardless, this fierce debate only further stirred the game’s popularity.

The more unsolved mysteries there were, the fiercer the debates, attracting even more newcomers eager to prove the skeptics wrong.

...

"Damn it, it all fell through again!

"I’m so mad!"

Zhuge Jun’s failure to execute a successful GP after being stomped by the boss nearly broke him.

After an hour of practice, he finally managed to get into easy mode and thought he’d soon finish off the boss without a scratch, but then he messed up the Transformation Slash GP when the boss stamped the ground!

Failing to GP wasn’t a big deal; he could recover with a blood vial. But the carefully induced easy mode was gone, and the boss started acting all hyper again!

Zhuge Jun was utterly dejected.

Logically, boss stomps were a relatively easy move to GP, but to get the boss to repeat this move required much practice on other moves first.

Zhuge Jun hadn’t practiced GP specifically for the stomps, and the game’s GP timing was also quite strict, so this seemingly easy step was not simple at all.

One misstep, and it was back to square one.

Of course, by now, Zhuge Jun could handle the other moves quite well and could slowly chip away at the boss’s health if he chose to.

Giving up on GP and steadily tackling with previously learned techniques might be a more reliable approach.

But Zhuge Jun wasn’t satisfied. He’d worked hard to reach easy mode; if he couldn’t enjoy some fantastic GP action, wouldn’t that all have been for nothing?

After all, GP moves were much faster than slowly wearing down the boss and offered a completely different visual and satisfying experience.

"I’m done with this; GP really is a huge headache. Why does it still linger like a specter? How on earth am I supposed to practice it??"

While Zhuge Jun was grumbling, a flash of inspiration struck him as he suddenly remembered something very important.

The official co-branded controller!

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