Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 590 - 573 Li Huanzhen and Zhao Siyuan

Chapter 590: Chapter 573 Li Huanzhen and Zhao Siyuan

At night, in Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji’s dorm room.

"Ai! Why are there three new tasks again! I can’t take this anymore!"

Hou Ji was almost breaking down, looking extremely frazzled by the three new side tasks that had just popped up.

It was already 10:55 PM, close to lights out.

Originally, Hou Ji planned to finish this task just in time for lights out at 11 PM, then he could happily go to sleep after a perfect day.

But unexpectedly, these three new tasks mercilessly shattered his plan.

Even the look Hou Ji gave Zhuge Jun took on a slightly hostile edge.

After all, if it wasn’t for Zhuge Jun, he probably wouldn’t have bought the physical "Fantasy Book".

Zhuge Jun coughed awkwardly twice: "Well, you don’t really need to finish these tasks today.

"Even if you finish these three tasks now, they will definitely keep adding more tasks. Trying to rush through ’Fantasy Book’ in one day is just unrealistic.

"According to online information, the total game duration of ’Fantasy Book’ is about fifteen to twenty hours, depending on how fast you solve the puzzles.

"Even if you go by the shortest duration of fifteen hours, it’s definitely not something you can finish in one day."

Hou Ji was really frustrated: "I understand, but... I just can’t help myself!"

This is the torment ’Fantasy Book’ inflicts on many players.

Looking at this task alone, there’s nothing wrong with its design.

The story is simple and easy to understand, adding a touch of fairy tale charm that complements the wonderful scenery;

The task dialogue is also relatively concise and well-refined, and is fully voiced by AI;

The puzzles and various other gameplay elements are plentiful and diverse.

If these tasks were broken up into many different side tasks, making them seem unrelated to each other, or if players had an initial expectation about the complexity and length of the tasks, negative feelings would be significantly reduced.

But by making it into one game, and adopting a "task offspring, the more you do, the more there are" approach, it cleverly manipulates player psychology, thereby generating a lot of negative emotions.

Especially when paired with the physical "Fantasy Book," the effect is exceptionally striking.

Although players understand that tasks can always be done tomorrow,

Thinking it is one thing, doing it is another.

Since the side tasks in ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2’ are usually quite short, only the main tasks are longer.

While doing main tasks, players consciously reserve enough time, so there’s no problem; during side tasks, they reserve bits of time, half an hour or an hour, which fits just right.

But now, side tasks suddenly stretch to 20 hours, even longer than the time-locked main plot stages, this completely deviates from players’ habits of fragmented gaming.

The players always think, "I’ll rest after this task."

But once they finish the task, many more get refreshed suddenly, and without realizing it, they follow along and start doing them, but can’t finish, giving up midway also feels a bit painful.

That puts them in an awkward position.

Ultimately, Hou Ji decisively turned off the computer.

"Forget it, we’ll talk about it tomorrow!"

It wasn’t his willpower that saved him, but the dormitory lights out.

If the lights weren’t turned off, he might have battled on till dawn today.

...

This week, players have basically been battling with ’Fantasy Book’.

The internet is full of grievances and suffering, but there’s no help for it—the tasks are there and they don’t change at the whim of human desires.

Players made different choices.

Some insisted on doing it themselves, playing for a long time to finally complete it;

Some looked up video guides and followed along, blanking their minds and copying standard answers, and managed to finish the tasks;

And some simply gave up, out of sight, out of mind.

For a time, the infamy of ’Fantasy Book’ spread all over the internet, so much that even many players who don’t play ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2’ had heard about this ridiculous task.

Memes and emoticons were abound.

Many players say if you accidentally wander into the world of ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2’, and further stumble into Earth Country Daliang, and then come across a beautifully picturesque valley with a lonely exclamation mark and a foraging person lying unconscious on the ground.

Then please, with the speed you’d escape Electrical Scam Park, run, and the farther the better!

Once you take pity and decide to save her, sorry to say, you’re about to start a ’77 hectic quests’ journey, beginning an adventure you completely don’t want to start yet can’t just stop.

However, most players still gritted their teeth and completed this series of tasks.

Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji also successively accomplished the task, and it took them quite a while to push the exploration degree of the map to 100%, ultimately receiving the deserved reward: a stamped physical book.

It’s gotta be said, stamping that was truly difficult.

Even the moment of stamping didn’t bring as much joy as initially anticipated, just a deep sense of exhaustion.

"Nitiandang, the side quests are well done, but let’s not do them next time."

Hou Ji couldn’t help but remark.

In fact, after completing the entire series of side quests, from a gameplay perspective, the side quests were actually quite well executed.

At the end of the story, the Hero finally gathered all seventy-seven spirits and purified all the Cave Heaven Blessed Lands on the map.

The spirits expressed their gratitude to the Hero, presenting various herbs, putting garlands on the Hero, and the beautiful valley regained its peace, returning to tranquility.

In the final cutscene, all seventy-seven spirits danced awkwardly for the Hero. The Hero, Xi Yun, and the awakened herbalist played together with the spirits, making the whole scene rather childlike.

But clearly, this doesn’t dilute players’ grievances about the quest itself.

It’s fair to say, one such task is enough.

Any more than that, and it would really be overwhelming.

...

A day later, a new version was released.

It’s undeniable that Endless Fantasy Legend 2’s content schedule is packed tightly. Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji, not considering themselves hardcore players, played between three to six hours a day.

Yet even as such players, they could just about complete all the content of Endless Fantasy Legend 2.

Had they played any less each day, say just one to two hours, they would have to give up on the Fantasy Book’s side quests and achieving 100% map completion.

But then again, players don’t necessarily need to keep up with the latest update immediately.

Since it’s essentially a single-player game, if they can’t finish this version, they can revisit it in the next. Playing slower than others doesn’t impact the gaming experience.

With such an update frequency, it’s just right for players who play around three to five hours a day, and for those hardcore players, it effectively reduces the game’s idle time.

"New version, check out the gacha first!"

Hou Ji couldn’t wait to open the gacha interface.

Endless Fantasy Legend 2, unlike other gacha games, doesn’t announce its next card pool in advance, so players can’t prepare beforehand and must wait until the game actually updates to see.

This also creates a sense of opening a mystery box.

But when Hou Ji finally saw the UP pool character, his eyes lit up with surprise.

Because he recognized an old character!

The first UP pool character turned out to be Li Huanzhen!

This character is the protagonist of "Ascension," and although his art style has changed in Endless Fantasy Legend 2, he’s still recognizable.

Especially multiple elements on him are quite accurate.

For instance, under his wide Daoist robe, you can see a skeletal arm encircled by special black bamboo slips, faintly emanating a dark aura.

That clearly is Li Huanzhen’s Seeking Immortal Record.

Li Huanzhen’s main attribute is Earth, aligning with the official attribute of Earth Country Daliang; his secondary attribute is Metal, which subtly matches with the Cyber Life of the Golden Country.

After all, in the original "Ascension," Li Huanzhen’s consciousness could switch between the flesh world and the Cyber World.

As for his skills, they seem ordinary at first glance but reveal cunning upon closer inspection.

His minor skills are similar to the Blade Bounce in "Ascension," where pressing the skill key performs the corresponding operation.

Perfectly timing the Blade Bounce once grants him an Earth elemental shield;

Twice in succession grants him an Earth enchantment;

Three times in succession grants him a Metal enchantment, boosting his attack power, attack speed, and elemental damage.

His ultimate involves a Metal attack, unsheathing the Relic Sword to strike.

During the ultimate, Li Huanzhen’s body automatically heals, and he can even auto-revive once from fatal damage.

The performance of this Relic Sword is presumably the "Huan."

Since the "Zhen" effect causes Flesh Monster’s AI to malfunction and turn them into allies; whereas the "Huan" slashes open a spatial rift, glimpses of another world are seen, and instantly annihilates certain monsters, sending them to another world.

In this game, Li Huanzhen’s ultimate isn’t that overpowered, but it still delivers significant damage and very cool effects, along with special execution animations.

As for the other character, also an Earth element character, whose primary and secondary attributes are Earth.

He too is a familiar face to players, General Zhao Siyuan from Great Liang, clad in Heavy Armor, wielding the Horse-Cutter Saber.

His skills seem much more straightforward and brutal; minor skills grant him an Earth element shield and a domineering body, while his ultimate enchants the Horse-Cutter Saber with Earth enhancement, boosting attack power with long-press attack key transforming the heavy strike module, effectively doubling the attack range, like wielding a forty-meter saber.

"...Yet another tough choice!"