Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 596 - 579: New Main Quest Begins

Chapter 596: Chapter 579: New Main Quest Begins

In the initial stages of conceptualizing "Endless Fantasy Legend 2," Lilith had already decided to have intense and tough emotional moments in the storyline that break the players’ defenses.

The inability to skip the story and the feature to replay certain parts were developed specifically for this purpose.

But how exactly could they break the players’ defenses? This was where technical expertise came into play.

Initially, Lilith did consider several other options, such as initially portraying an utterly despicable antagonist and then forcefully redeeming them, or making a beloved character act out of character.

However, these methods felt somewhat lacking in intensity.

"Endless Fantasy Legend 2" itself is a complex game, encapsulating a vast array of content, including various IPs and designs from different countries, all of which influence its narrative style.

Simply put, if it were a 12+ game for all ages, the storyline would face many restrictions, such as not being able to portray villains as thoroughly or obviously evil, to avoid setting a bad example for young children.

This naturally made the narrative more constrained.

However, since "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" incorporated storylines from games like "Ascension" and "Blood of Lies" from the beginning, it definitely also fits the 18+ category, even though its art style is rather cartoonish and doesn’t contain explicit 18+ content.

Therefore, players are quite forgiving towards its storyline.

For instance, in a game like "Ascension," even if it ends with a total annihilation scenario, players won’t be too shocked.

But in many 12+ games, not to mention a total annihilation, even harming a character beloved by the players could provoke severe backlash.

Therefore, players have varied levels of tolerance toward different games.

For "Endless Fantasy Legend 2," this represents a significant disadvantage but one that cannot be changed.

The reason behind creating such a worldview, after all, is to save resources, and it cannot be modified.

So, how can "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" ensure it profoundly impacts players under its established universe?

Total character death? Redeeming the antagonist? Darkening the protagonist?

Perhaps these could elicit some negative emotions, but likely not too many.

After much consideration, Lilith thought the best strategy boiled down to two words.

"Tear the book!"

In essence, it’s about destroying the original ending that people loved and replacing it with a worse one.

In both novels and games, similar tactics to disrupt readers or players are quite common.

Take the previous game’s well-loved protagonist; by the beginning of the sequel, they’re struck with a "dumbed-down and brutally killed" scenario, immediately maxing out the anger levels of returning players.

If that’s followed by "forced forgiveness of their enemies," then it truly could cause players to figuratively spit blood.

Or consider if the previous game’s ending was actually decent, and the protagonist had a satisfying conclusion, but then the sequel introduces a host of new crises and challenges, eventually leaving both the protagonist and the world in a worse position.

Both these scenarios would maximally evoke the players’ negative emotions.

Thus, Lilith decided to use the endings of "Ascension" and "Blood of Lies" as a starting point, allowing "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" to completely negate these games’ beloved endings, thereby achieving a widespread breaking effect.

However, this plot twist wasn’t planned for the beginning but kept hidden until now.

After all, it’s better to fatten up the players before the slaughter. If they revealed this storyline too early, Lilith worried many players might be deterred from engaging at all, leading to a significant loss.

Now, as the operation of "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" gradually stabilizes, the timing seems just about right.

...

Two weeks later.

Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji, both sporting dark circles under their eyes, welcomed the commencement of a new main quest in "Endless Fantasy Legend 2."

These two weeks have been quite harrowing due to the Night Parade of Hundred Demons!

If it goes on like this, they felt they might as well become two additional spirits outside of the Night Parade of Hundred Demons.

Although compared to the previous enhanced content like seventy-seven lively dads, this time the Night Parade of Hundred Demons only added about 20% more content, the perception was definitely more than just a 20% increase.

After all, the diminishing returns’ effect in gaming is real—the further you play, the more irritating it becomes; long quest lines make the latter 20% of the content feel much more torturous than the initial 20%.

Moreover, it wasn’t just about completing this quest; they also needed to achieve 100% exploration of the large map.

Originally, Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji managed to play for about 3 to 6 hours on average each day besides attending classes, which was just about right.

But the additional 20% meant they had to spend more time grinding in the game despite not extending their overall gaming hours.

It wasn’t exactly exhausting, just a bit frustrating.

Of course, they could also choose not to grind and leave some content for later, which would be fine.

However, the temptation of achieving full map exploration and the lure of getting stamps on their physical books were like the devil urging them on, making them eager to grind through as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, by rushing at times and going slow at others, they finally caught up with the new update.

"Alright! Let’s see which new area has been opened up this time.

"It should likely be the latter half of Thunder Country, right?

"Or counterattacking Water Country?

"Or skipping Water Country and heading to Ice Country, Golden Country?

"The pit in Wind Country has never been filled; even though the citizens of Wind Country have scattered and fled, the relics of Wind Country are still there, which should also make for an exhilarating adventure."

Zhuge Jun opened the map with great anticipation and then froze.

Has the new map unlocked?

Yes, it has!

The previous large map was blank except for simple outlines; those locked areas were sketched roughly in a cartoonish style.

Each time an area is unlocked, the corresponding part of the map would have special effects, like a scroll being unveiled, turning loose sketches into detailed scenes, signifying that the area is now available for exploration.

But this time, the unlocked area left Zhuge Jun somewhat confused.

Because what was unlocked wasn’t a previously locked individual country; in reality, it was a tri-junction of three countries, and even many areas were overlapping with regions that had been previously unlocked.

This area is roughly in the upper left corner of Earth Country Daliang, and it also includes the westernmost parts of Golden Country and part of northern Water Country.

Especially for Earth Country, which was already unlocked, but now it’s been unlocked again, creating a new boundary distinguishing it from the original Earth Country territory.

"Not unlocking a new country?

"What about the remaining areas of Thunder Country? Next time for sure?

"I can understand Water Country and Golden Country, but why open only part of them?

"The most ridiculous thing is Earth Country; wasn’t the plot already completed across the whole territory of Earth Country? Even those seventy-seven living fathers were collected, and Cave Heaven Blessed Land was back to normal.

"What’s the meaning of this now?"

Zhuge Jun felt a bit baffled.

Other games, of course, also repurpose maps, but that usually happens only after other regions have been fully utilized.

But now, with "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" still having vast unexplored areas around it, suddenly revisiting Earth Country’s storyline indeed feels odd.

The repurposed area in Earth Country even overlaps with the previous Cave Heaven Blessed Land and the seventy-seven wanderers in some places, and other non-overlapping areas originally also had respective large map exploration quests.

What about the players who had not completed these contents before?

Do they have to complete these old contents first before unlocking the new ones? Or are the two areas treated as parallel spaces, entering separately?

That’s unclear.

After roughly confirming the situation with the map, Zhuge Jun opened the new UP gacha pools to check.

As a gacha game, seeing the newly released characters is always something to look forward to.

And upon closer inspection, wow, the two UP pool characters updated this time are both heavyweights.

One is the Lie Hunter from "Blood of Lies," and the other is Priestess Xie from "Ascension."

These two are indeed very crucial characters.

"How can one not pull for Priestess Xie and still be human?

"But typical of Nitiandang’s usual antics, I guess, this Lie Hunter is definitely a stats freak.

"And then Priestess Xie is a healer, looks invincible in mechanics, everything about her seems great, just that she doesn’t quite hold up in actual combat.

"Of course, after a while, Priestess Xie is sure to be enhanced, or the official mechanics will give her a boost.

"So altogether, pulling for either one is almost the same, I still choose to XP pull, pulling for Priestess Xie!"

Obviously, as important characters, these two weigh differently in the hearts of the players.

Lie Hunter in "Blood of Lies" indeed has a significant role; this guy is called the Weapon Master, and upon detecting a player lying, he enters a Berserk State, causing no small amount of trouble for players.

And Priestess Xie? She’s a gentle healer.

No matter how you look at it, she had already won without any suspense from the start.

As for their strength, that’s even less of a concern since Zhuge Jun and the other players are almost fully aware of Nitiandang’s typical tactics; initially, Lie Hunter will be strong, and later on, they’ll enhance Priestess Xie.

"Don’t rush to pull gachas yet; let’s first see what’s with the new map."

This newly opened area actually includes the three countries: Earth Country, Water Country, and Golden Country. The enemies encountered are different, and naturally, the elements they counter vary too.

As a non-spending player, due to already being in the late phase of the gacha cycle, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ensure pulling both UPs in one pool.

In this case, it’s best to first observe and then make a decision.

According to the storyline, after temporarily repelling the Expedition Army of Water Country, the Hero and Xi Yun established an organization similar to the resistance on the southwestern coast of Thunder Country, subdued the Night Parade of Hundred Demons, and faced off against the remaining forces of Thunder Country for a long time.

But during this process, hearing of an abnormal upheaval in Earth Country, they hurried back.

When just arrived back in Earth Country, no significant changes were noticed at first, just heard that Golden Country from the west had invaded, so they hurriedly went to defend."

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