Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 573 - 556: Official Launch

Chapter 573: Chapter 556: Official Launch

Two months later.

Endless Fantasy Legend 2 officially went live!

Early that day, Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji arrived at Nitiandang’s virtual experience store, eager to snag the best spots.

However, once they secured their positions, Zhuge Jun looked around and noticed Gu Fan’s absence.

"Hmm, President Gu didn’t show up after all.

"Figures, as the big boss, there’s already a thick barrier between us gamers and him!"

In reality, playing Endless Fantasy Legend 2 on one’s personal computer was no different; the high-end PCs and consoles at the experience store didn’t hold much advantage in that respect.

Although the graphics would indeed improve, including better haptic feedback from controllers and game optimizations, Endless Fantasy Legend 2 was a well-optimized game that didn’t demand high specs.

Still, Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji came to the experience store mainly in the hopes of seeing President Gu once again.

After all, President Gu often appeared at the store for new game releases and new product collaborations.

But not this time.

Hou Ji pondered for a moment, "I don’t think it’s just about President Gu putting on airs as a boss, he might be more worried about his personal safety... "

Zhuge Jun thought for a second, "...That makes sense."

He also felt that President Gu was quite approachable and easily mingled with players. It wasn’t like him to distance himself from the community just because a game was successful.

Previous Nitiandang games had been hits, and yet President Gu regularly visited the experience store.

So maybe it was the poor ratings of Endless Fantasy Legend 2 that kept him away...

Right from the announcement to the beta testing, there had been many voices skeptical about the game.

The good news was, as soon as the beta launched, these skeptical voices got drowned out.

The bad news was, they were overshadowed by even worse criticism!

Especially when one UP’s gacha tore cards, and another character’s legendary quest continued to tear cards, treating players like dogs, the forums were just short of cursing to the heavens.

Who taught you to make a gacha game like this!

Beyond that, many hardcore single-player gamers expressed strong outrage at Nitiandang’s move, considering it a degeneration, a betrayal of all single-player gamers.

How could a solid single-player game company stoop to making mobile games?

And gacha mobile games that require in-game purchases at that!

Disgusting! Just one word, disgusting!

In the eyes of these players, Nitiandang’s previous sincere single-player games did not earn them immunity; instead, they stood as evidence of an even greater sin.

In any case, once the beta ended, the reputation of Endless Fantasy Legend 2 became highly polarized, with some slamming it to the bottom and others lifting it halfway up the mountain.

Why just halfway up the mountain?

Well, that’s as far as mobile games could be elevated, after all.

Online, there were indeed players who thought Endless Fantasy Legend 2 wasn’t bad, mainly mobile gamers.

Because they had never seen such a high-caliber game on a smartphone!

Whether it was the game’s scale, mechanics, open-world gameplay, or the optimization and interoperability across devices, it was an entire generation ahead of other mobile games of the time.

Many said it was like a dimension-reducing strike from a single-player game company making mobile games!

Others said it had nothing to do with being a single-player game company. There were so many of them; didn’t they want to make money from mobile games too? They did, but maybe they just didn’t have the capability.

Nitiandang was different; they had the capability.

So, it was best not to view Nitiandang as any ordinary single-player game company. They aimed much higher than that.

The voices online didn’t impact Nitiandang in the slightest; the game continued as planned and launched on schedule.

After all, Nitiandang had long been immune to criticism; since its inception, it faced constant complaints, but while gamers grumbled, they kept playing, and now Nitiandang’s reputation was better than ever.

Soon, Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji were ready to dive into the game.

But just then, they noticed that there seemed to be a new batch of merchandise on the countertop of the experience store.

These items weren’t as flashy as action figures or large models, appearing rather understated; they had been preoccupied with grabbing seats earlier and overlooked them.

"Is this physical merchandise for ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2’?" Zhuge Jun curiously approached the counter.

The shop assistant explained earnestly, "Yes, there are two tie-in products for ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2’. The first is an interactive controller, which you can try out freely in the experience store.

"The second is this physical book. You cannot just try this out; it is only for purchase.

"There are three price tiers:

"Just buying the book costs 39 yuan; however, if you want to integrate it with the game and enjoy some special features, you’ll need to use it in conjunction with a reading pen or the interactive controller.

"The package of the book and reading pen is 198 yuan, and the bundle with the book and controller is 498 yuan."

Zhuge Jun took a look. It seemed to be a very large, very thick physical book, a genuine tome, with a design similar to pop-up books and art concept albums.

As for its basic content, it wasn’t hard to guess that it definitely included the art and concept design collection of ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2’.

As for the specific interactive game features? That was still unknown.

"This is pretty interesting, okay, I’ll take one."

Zhuge Jun bought just the book, as after all, the interactive controllers could be used for free within the experience store, so there was no immediate need to buy a reading pen.

Speaking of which, the design of that reading pen was also quite unique. It wasn’t the more childish kind usually found with children’s educational books; instead, it had adopted the fantasy style of ’Endless Fantasy Legend,’ appealing to both young and old.

After taking the thick book back to his seat, Zhuge Jun started to unwrap it.

Turning the pages, the content inside was indeed diverse and quite elaborate.

The book was roughly divided into more than ten Chapters, each spanning 4 to 6 pages.

At the start of each Chapter, there was a pop-up design. As soon as you turned it, you would see special terrain and buildings pop up from the pages, the display effect was actually quite good.

For instance, in the East’s Wood Country, the right half-page was mostly towering trees and lush forests, while the center featured the original King’s City, and in the lower-left corner was a volcano.

The entire main storyline terrain of Wood Country was basically depicted.

The following pages seemed to correspond to the side quests and collectible elements of this region, and the design of these pages was more whimsical, each Chapter distinct from the others.

According to the instructions, the whole book was interactive.

The interactive controller didn’t look to have any significant features at first glance, or you could say it was full of features.

Like its tie-in game ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2,’ the controller was a true frankenstein creation.

The controller manufacturer had adopted a detachable modular design, allowing for the addition of mini steering controls, trigger paddles, and other extra functionalities that previous controllers featured.

Of course, the initial version didn’t include these miscellaneous items, and it just came with extra accessories like a high joystick cap, wide joystick cap, and a replaceable d-pad. If you wanted to use trigger paddles and other accessories to play ’Blood of Lies,’ you’d need to purchase them separately.

Its color scheme was also done to match the style of ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2.’

In terms of price, the bundle of the controller and book was sold for 498 yuan, with the book itself costing 39 yuan, making the actual price of the controller around 459 yuan, roughly equivalent to previous co-branded controllers in price.

After all, the trigger-paddle edition controller for ’Blood of Lies’ was 549 yuan, so after deducting the trigger paddles, the prices of these two were rather similar.

However, the ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2’ interactive controller had one feature previous controllers did not – it could be used as a reading pen.

On the pointed end where the left hand holds the controller, there was a special scanning area that could directly scan any area of the physical book and produce a corresponding effect.

"Looks pretty good, quite novel.

"Let’s give it a scan and see.

"Oh, I have to be in the game for it to work."

Zhuge Jun tried scanning right away with the controller, only to find that he needed to enter the game and bind the physical book to his account first.

The binding process was also quite simple: just log in to the account, then scan a specific spot on the front page of the book, and the binding information would pop up.

So Zhuge Jun put the hefty book aside for the moment, ready to dive into the game experience.

Meanwhile, Hou Ji had already stepped into the game ahead of him.

As for Zhuge Jun’s physical book, he only had four words to describe it.

"All flash and no substance."