Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 603 - 586: Plot Restoration and Plot Review

Chapter 603: Chapter 586: Plot Restoration and Plot Review

"Never mind, let’s just continue testing Lie Hunter."

Heilong was testing the strength of the two-star Lie Hunter while progressing through the storyline.

For him, not being able to skip the story was indeed torturous, but there was no help for it. Nitiandang surely wouldn’t change that.

After aimlessly clicking around for a while, he finally almost completed the current version of the storyline.

"Ah, I’m really broke.

"The rewards from the story, these few pitiful amounts, really aren’t enough to spend.

"It’d be great if the rewards could double."

After completing tasks, Heilong looked at the rewards displayed on the screen and couldn’t help but sigh.

Similar to other games, "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" also provides rewards for completing various task lines. These rewards, though small individually, add up when combined with large map treasure chests and various event rewards, making a decent loot pool.

But on each specific task line, the rewards aren’t much, maybe just about thirty or forty Game Coins, which isn’t very noticeable.

For Heilong, the only motivation to go through the story is the Game Coin rewards.

"Hm? A new side quest has appeared; go to Priestess Xie to claim it.

"Eh? That’s a lot of rewards!"

Heilong suddenly noticed that after completing a phase of the main quest, a new entry had appeared in the side quest bar.

Following the quest guide, he found Priestess Xie in Jiangdu City and, after a conversation, unlocked two new features.

These were "Story Restoration" and "Story Recollection."

The former restores all the main storylines to their original state, allowing the player to experience them from start to finish.

The latter sounds more complicated: "Immerse into your own internal world, recalling past memories you least want to face. (Randomly experience part of the main or side storyline, with a 30% increase in rewards)"

Heilong raised his eyebrows: "Oh? There’s such a thing.

"I don’t often play pay-to-win games; is this feature common?

"Not common? Is it original to Nitiandang?

"Hmm, that’s quite interesting.

"And the rewards are indeed very tempting!"

The first option "Story Restoration" was something Heilong definitely wouldn’t touch.

Because since the game’s launch, each version has been updating its main storyline, and the story has become quite lengthy. Experiencing it all over again would indeed be tormenting.

Even if the rewards look very attractive, it’s still tormenting.

But the second option "Story Recollection" is different. It clearly states that it’s a random experience of part of the story, with a 30% additional increase in rewards.

That seems to be a great deal!

"Key point is, just watching the story gives rewards, where else can you find such a good deal!" Heilong couldn’t help but rub his hands together in anticipation.

Of course, the rewards provided by this feature are definitely not as much as the first time experiencing the story, it would probably be reduced by more than half.

But the trickiness lies in that, the total rewards are directly displayed on this page.

For example, if a main storyline task series gives 50 Game Coins for each step, with 20 steps in total, that adds up to 1000 Game Coins.

Or a side quest series, giving 30 Game Coins per step, with 30 steps total, that would be 900 Game Coins.

On this page, the rewards would probably be cut by more than half, but with the additional 30% from "Story Recollection," the displayed value would be around 600 or 550 Game Coins.

The exact amount depends on which specific Chapter is randomly selected, but overall it won’t be less than 500.

That’s quite appealing, since a ten-time draw only needs 1800 Game Coins.

"Alright, let’s see what this Story Recollection is all about!

"Random main or side storyline?

"If it hits the main quest of Chapter Two, then I’ve hit the jackpot. Just hope it doesn’t lead to the Night Parade of Hundred Demons."

Currently, each Chapter’s main storyline is approximately similar in length, and Chapter Two’s main tasks match Heilong’s taste the best.

Because in this Chapter it primarily involves battling a large number of Earth Element monsters, with more combat scenes and less dialogue.

And obviously, the thing that makes Heilong despair the most is obviously the side quest ’Night Parade of Hundred Demons,’ which is both stinky and long. After running through it once, he absolutely doesn’t want to run it a second time.

"Hm? I can directly claim the reward!

"Claim!"

On this page, in the lower right corner, there’s a huge button "Start Story Recollection and Claim Rewards."

Moments later, a notification popped up on the screen: 1000 Game Coins!

"I’m hit, jackpot!"

Heilong’s eyes literally sparkled.

Game Coins isn’t much, but can also get 9 pulls in the UP pool. If converted to money, one 648 is about 80 pulls, and this reward is roughly equivalent to 60 dollars.

What other game gives such generous perks, huh?

The key is that this gameplay only requires experiencing part of the storyline, and it’s still unclear whether this reward can be claimed repeatedly.

If it can be repeatedly claimed, wouldn’t that mean you could just keep exploiting Nitiandang until it’s bankrupt?

Who would even spend money then?

Heilong was lost in immeasurable joy, as if he could already see the wondrous scene of freeloading a massive amount of Game Coins.

However, the next second, he saw a quest activation on the screen:

"Side Quest - Night Parade of Hundred Demons has started!"

"Pfft!"

Heilong almost spit out a mouthful of old blood, damn, it really was a case of fearing what might come!

Out of all the quests in the game, Heilong dreaded the Night Parade of Hundred Demons the most because this series of quests was both foul-smelling and lengthy, truly frustrating!

You have to find one hundred ghosts, and also complete various different challenges.

The first time Heilong encountered this quest, it was painful, but he still gritted his teeth and completed it.

After all, initially, the quest still had some novelty.

But now?

Heilong kind of wanted to die.

"Can I not do it?"

He tried operating it but quickly realized he was thinking too wishfully.

It wasn’t just about being unable to quit, he couldn’t even switch to doing something else!

Once this plot quest starts, the entire map gets confined to the area of the Night Parade of Hundred Demons, during which time you can’t leave or teleport to other places, and of course, you can’t connect with other players or anything.

It’s somewhat similar to the "focus mode" in many games that forces players to concentrate solely on one quest without distractions from other activities.

The only difference is, in other games, focus mode is something players activate willingly, but in this game, there was no such prompt.

Heilong just casually clicked something, received a reward, but also got trapped in a cage without any warning.

"I’ve been tricked!"

Heilong realized, but it was too late. He tried many things, like exiting the game and re-entering, or trying to exploit various bugs to leave the area, but all attempts failed.

Though Nitiandang often had some inexplicable bugs, it absolutely did not have them where it shouldn’t.

Heilong’s expression became blank, and he could only grit his teeth and do the quest.

...

It wasn’t just Heilong; other players also fell victim.

Given such generous rewards, it was hard not to click.

And once clicked, you’d be trapped in the cage with no antidote for regret!

At first, some players angrily commented: Is there something wrong with this gameplay? Why is it always the Night Parade of Hundred Demons?

Like it’s deliberately meant to disgust players?

But soon, other players mentioned that the quests they initiated weren’t the Night Parade of Hundred Demons.

Among these, there were quests from the Earth Country Daliang Cave Heaven Blessed Land, or different main quests from various versions, as well as some other lengthy side quests.

In summary, when players met on forums, they realized although many encountered the Night Parade of Hundred Demons, there were also many who encountered other plots.

But all these facts had one thing in common.

They were precisely the part of the storyline the players loathed the most!

Like a player who hated a series of side quests in Daliang called "The Traveling Gourmet."

Because, in this quest, NPCs would introduce a lot of cooking knowledge, like popular local recipes from Daliang, details of ingredient selection, cooking, and timing for each dish.

This series of quests would also link to the game’s cooking system, rewarding the player with decent food.

And these foods would boost various buffs.

For players who liked this quest, they could learn a lot of cooking-related knowledge and also make some decent food.

But for this player who wasn’t interested in cooking, all these felt extremely dull, and all he wanted was to skip it as fast as possible.

He was miserable when he first encountered it, and now dammit, he bumped into it again!

For him, while he could accept other quests, just not this one.

And yet, the game, as if it had mind-reading skills, accurately picked this very quest.

Just freaking bizarre!

Besides, some encountered main quests randomly.

Like one Chapter’s main quests, whether part of the Golden Country or the Water Country, it left many old players of "Ascension" and "Blood of Lies" frustrated during plot reading, instinctively speeding up the text to get over it quickly.

Because the more they thought about the details, the more uncomfortable it felt.

They thought they didn’t have to fuss over this poor plot again, but once the feature to revisit it was activated, they were forced to go through it once more!

Absolutely spitting out an old mouthful of blood.