Chapter 195: 17 Difficulties
"I don't believe it either. If Diablo sells over 500,000 copies in its first month—no, make it 800,000—I'll eat my monitor!"
"I'll eat my USB drive!"
"I'll eat my coffee cup!"
"Upstairs, why don't you guys set it at a hundred million? Then none of you have to eat anything. First-month sales of 800,000? If you don't want to eat, just say so, alright."
"Anyway, I've written down all you upstairs folks in my little notebook. When Diablo sells big, I'll dig up your posts one by one."
"Watching the upstairs Chen Mo fanboy."
"I am a fanboy, so what? Use your brain—how many games has Chen Mo made so far? Has any of them not sold well?"
"Wow, you've really lost it. Keep blowing smoke; I'm out."
"Calm down, bro. Chen Mo isn't a god. The RTS and casual puzzle games he made before only got those results because of explosive creativity. But RPGs are mainstream games, and he's using this outdated third-person perspective. No amount of ideas can save that!"
"Have you guys even watched the video before discussing? It looks really fun in the video."
"I really don't think so. I just discriminate against third-person RPGs!"
"Enough, let's wait and see. When the game launches, we'll let sales do the talking. If it exceeds 800,000, I'll dig up every post. Whoever backs out is a coward!"
...
Some industry insiders were also discussing it.
"Is anyone paying attention to Chen Mo's new game about to launch?"
"Diablo? Haven't we already discussed it? Third-person perspective kills half the appeal, dark cult style kills another half for being too niche. Estimated first-month sales: 300,000. What else is there to say?"
"Recently, some demo videos and CG animations have leaked. They say the quality is high."
"There are plenty of high-quality RPGs out there. If you said a casual game could turn things around, I'd believe it. But RPGs have been done to death. How many good mechanics are left? Can innovation really bloom into something new?"
"Let me remind you: everyone who underestimated Chen Mo before ended up looking pretty bad. Anyone have a game launching soon?"
"There are quite a few games launching after the New Year, but most are online games, so they don't clash much with single-player games. Besides, even if they did, so what? This is an RPG. Can a greenhorn like Chen Mo really turn the tide?"
"Exactly. You can tell from his approach to Diablo. What's with the third-person perspective? That design philosophy is clearly stuck several years in the past."
"I think he might not have even done market research. Otherwise, how could he be so off the mark?"
"Honestly, I don't get it either. It's his first time making an RPG. It's normal to start with a simple game to test the waters. But spending so much money on CG and game quality? Isn't that stupid?"
"I think he might have been inspired by the RPG maps in Warcraft. Since a lot of people play those, he probably thinks third-person RPGs can still be salvaged."
"You're overthinking it. How many people actually play Warcraft RPG maps? Take that popular one, Sacred Realm—at most a few thousand concurrent players. If you make a game that sells a few thousand copies, isn't that a joke? Such a small player sample means nothing."
"Ah, forget it. Let's just wait for Diablo to go on sale. We bystanders can just watch the show."
...
Amidst a sea of doubt, Diablo was about to launch.
Several other games were launching at the same time, including some MMORPGs, but they had little impact on Diablo. Since single-player games sold by copy are relatively less affected by concurrent competitors, the only thing determining Diablo's sales now was the players.
In the experience store, almost every computer was occupied by players playing Diablo, with two or three people queuing behind each machine to watch.
"Hey, I just got another drop with light!"
"Awesome! Check the stats!"
"Not bad, better than what I have now. Let me equip it."
"Oh man, my four-hour session is up! I haven't had enough!!"
"Buddy, hurry up. It's my turn."
Two weeks had passed, and these players had basically become hardcore Diablo fans, addicted to farming for light drops every day.
In fact, while Diablo's entire storyline was fairly rich in content, the game's playtime wasn't that long.
There was an achievement in Diablo called "Leg It," which required players to complete all five acts within one hour at the maximum level.
Of course, that was an extreme case. Generally, for a new player to finish the entire story on Normal difficulty, it only took a few hours at most.
Chen Mo had increased the difficulty of the story mode, which would pose some challenges for new players, but at most, it extended the time to around ten hours. The story mode was designed for everyone to clear, so there was no need to block players.
However, players quickly discovered that the game also had a Hard difficulty, as well as Expert, Master, and Torment difficulties!
The scariest part was that after Torment, the difficulty started counting up directly, from Torment 1 to Torment 13!
In other words, the game had a total of 17 difficulties!
Many players who had smoothly cleared Normal difficulty eagerly jumped into Master difficulty, only to get beaten to a pulp by the basic mobs.
A lot of people were shocked. If Master difficulty was already tough, what would Torment 13 be like? Would the basic mobs' power break through the sky and punch a hole in the galaxy?
And the key point was that the stats gained from leveling up weren't that high. Leveling didn't mean much, so how could combat power increase exponentially?
As they played, many figured it out: gear!
The more they delved into it, the more they realized the game's complexity. When they got good gear, their character's combat power would skyrocket, sometimes increasing three or four times.
Moreover, the higher the difficulty, the higher the drop rate for good gear. At first, everyone got excited when they saw a light drop (orange gear or above), even taking screenshots to commemorate. Later, they became calmer, but the addiction had set in.
No light drop in a day, no peace of mind.
And more and more people were matching gear based on their character's skills and traits, researching specific builds and playstyles, sharing experiences and tips.
"How to Deal Higher Damage," "Output Techniques," "Gear Pros and Cons," "Farming Light Tips"—these topics replaced "Story," "Gameplay," and "Game Quality" as the most discussed subjects among players.
By now, even many employees who had previously doubted whether Diablo could succeed had a rough understanding of Chen Mo's design philosophy.
The players' reactions filled everyone with confidence. They were all waiting for Diablo's launch, eager to give the players a huge surprise.