Chapter 532: This Is a Grass-Cutting Game?
This version of *Dark Souls* features both Chinese and English voice acting, with multiple language options integrated into the game itself.
It’s a bit strange to think about—in the previous life, *Dark Souls* was clearly a Japanese studio’s work, yet it had no Japanese voice acting at all.
Of course, the reason for this was actually quite simple. Hidetaka Miyazaki personally had a strong preference for European medieval-style games and even harbored a certain disdain for traditional Japanese “retirement-style” otaku games. So, when developing *Demon’s Souls*, every detail of the game was deliberately aligned with American-style RPGs.
In other words, from the moment the Souls series was born, it was inherently a game designed to cater to Western players, with little interest in appealing to Japanese gamers.
And indeed, when *Demon’s Souls* first launched, its sales in Japan were dismal. It was only after Miyazaki went through considerable trouble to release it in Western markets that it received widespread acclaim and impressive sales.
Later, Miyazaki released *Dark Souls 1*, which, with its exceptional quality, swept everything in its path, generating countless discussions in the West and earning endless praise from Western players.
At the time, Miyazaki’s thoughts were probably something like: *This is the normal reaction *Dark Souls* should get. Japanese players can go eat dirt—why bother with Japanese voice acting?*
Of course, later on, *Bloodborne*, being a collaboration with Sony, did get Japanese voice acting. But when it came to his beloved *Dark Souls 3*, he simply couldn’t be bothered to add Japanese dubbing again…
As for Chen Mo, he didn’t share that mindset, nor did he hold any dissatisfaction toward domestic players. So, naturally, he went ahead and produced a Chinese dub.
For Chen Mo, whether or not to include Chinese voice acting didn’t make much difference. After all, *Dark Souls* was aimed at hardcore players who enjoyed Western fantasy themes and loved to suffer. These players wouldn’t care too much about whether the game had Chinese dubbing.
Still, since it didn’t add much workload—just hiring a few more voice actors—Chen Mo decided to include the Chinese dub anyway.
And honestly, the lines actually sounded pretty cool when spoken in Chinese, without any awkward translationese.
As for the English voice track, that was a decision made with other considerations in mind.
Chen Mo’s goal this time was very clear: the main battlefield would be the Western market. *Dark Souls* would go head-to-head with *Knight’s Glory*.
So, the reactions of Western players were also extremely important.
Even though both games shared a Western fantasy theme, that very similarity made the comparison all the more telling.
…
Frank, the project lead for GA’s *Knight’s Glory* and one of GA’s top designers, also took note of the news about *Dark Souls*.
After watching the promotional video for *Dark Souls*, Frank instinctively felt a twinge of wariness.
In the competition between COG and *League of Legends*, GA had the home-field advantage but still got thoroughly crushed.
What made it even more frustrating was that *League of Legends* itself was set in a Western fantasy background…
Thunderbolt Interactive had already made a name for itself overseas, becoming one of the most famous Chinese companies abroad.
Although Imperial Dynasty Interactive and Zen Interactive also had many good works, their games were primarily popular domestically, with limited influence overseas.
On the other hand, Chen Mo’s Thunderbolt Interactive had gained significant prestige at home thanks to several high-quality games.
Frank naturally didn’t dare to underestimate them. After all, not much information about *Dark Souls* had been released yet, and no amount of caution was excessive.
…
Soon after, *Knight’s Glory* and *Dark Souls* suddenly entered a silent competition.
One day, you’d release a concept art; the next day, I’d leak some game data. You put out a little, I put out a little—each side was determined to dominate the conversation!
At first, Chen Mo’s side mainly released environment concept art, weapon designs, monster sketches, and so on. But eventually, some actual in-game footage started appearing!
This video showed a player fighting a Lothric Knight.
To make the footage more impressive, the player was equipped with the Elite Knight set, a small shield, and a straight sword. The entire battle wasn’t too long—just enough to showcase weapon skills and combat techniques.
In the end, the player defeated the Lothric Knight without taking a single hit.
The entire video was shot from a god’s-eye view, not a first-person perspective, so viewers could observe the finer details of the fight more closely.
During the battle, viewers could clearly see that when the player’s sword clashed with the knight’s blade, there were actual physics-based collision effects. When the player’s sword struck the Lothric Knight’s armor, the result varied depending on where it hit!
Finally, the player parried the knight’s attack with the shield, then thrust the sword straight through a gap in the knight’s armor for an instant kill, drawing gasps of amazement from everyone watching the video.
In this clip, Chen Mo only showcased a few techniques—rolling to dodge, parrying, and finishing moves. He didn’t show any other weapons or equipment, nor did he reveal any bosses. He just used a random elite enemy as a backdrop.
This was mainly to avoid leaking too much information.
But even just this short video was enough to astonish the players.
“Holy crap, is this the actual gameplay of *Dark Souls*? It feels on par with *Knight’s Glory*!”
“Yeah, and both the environments and character models are incredibly detailed. I almost feel like I’m watching a CG cutscene, but obviously it’s not, right?”
“This physics engine is amazing! Is this the Pangu System? It feels like it’s not losing to Origin at all! In terms of hardware quality, it’s basically tied with *Knight’s Glory*—no disadvantage at all, right?”
“But I feel like *Dark Souls* has a much richer combat system. Rolling, shield blocking, and that direct thrust through the armor—I’ve never seen anything like that in *Knight’s Glory*!”
“Yeah, how should I put it? *Dark Souls* combat seems more exciting, more dramatic, and more game-like. As for *Knight’s Glory*… it feels a bit too realistic?”
“Chen Mo really did make a grass-cutting game after all! It’s just that in VR mode, cutting grass feels even more satisfying!”
“Right? Look at that character—just keeps rolling, and the knight can’t even touch him before getting one-shotted!”
“Wow, I can’t wait. Just thinking about a grass-cutting game in VR mode gets me hyped!”
Clearly, in the footage, the player’s victory over the Lothric Knight looked far too easy, giving many players the false impression that *Dark Souls* was just another hack-and-slash, grind-heavy game like *Diablo*.
Of course, they would soon learn that this was a beautiful misunderstanding.
For some skilled players, *Dark Souls* really was a grass-cutting game. But for most newcomers, they’d probably end up being the grass getting cut…
However, Chen Mo had no intention of correcting this misconception. In fact, this video was somewhat deliberately misleading.
Heh, it’s definitely not about collecting resentment points.
[Reminder: Your output must contain ZERO Chinese characters. Translate or transliterate everything.]