Chapter 546: I Believe You
"Hey, what are these frogs doing here? They spit poison gas, but they seem so weak... Whoa, how did I die? I got cursed? So when that bar fills up, you just die instantly? That's so messed up!!"
"Oh my god, I finally put out three fires. My poor heart can't take this kind of shock... So now I have to face the first Lord of Cinder? I'm so excited."
"Whoa, what the hell is this Lord of Cinder's skill? What the heck, are you breakdancing? Damn, three hits and I'm dead!"
"How am I supposed to fight this? This boss just keeps dancing like crazy, I can't even touch him!"
"Hahaha, I finally killed him! I just realized that red-eyed monster seems to draw aggro for me. It's basically a total pushover, no challenge at all... Whoa, why is there a cutscene? Damn, this is phase two, he's back at full health! What the hell, how am I supposed to fight this?!"
After going through the High Wall of Lothric, players had developed a strange confidence in themselves, thinking they could steamroll through the game without much trouble. But in the later areas, they quickly realized they were wrong...
The difficulty kept ramping up, and more and more ridiculously twisted monsters appeared that they simply couldn't beat!
That's when everyone realized that the Lothric Knight from earlier was actually a weak little mob, not even ranking in the top ten of twisted monsters... There were far more twisted creatures ahead!
For example, the giant in the Undead Settlement swinging that huge pot and smashing the ground like crazy, the giant crabs on the Road of Sacrifices, the Tree Lord in Farron Keep, the Thai-style head-washer guys, and the Skeleton Sword Saints in the Catacombs of Carthus...
And players unanimously agreed that the most disgusting mob was the Rat Lord of Cinder in the sewers!
The reason they called it a Lord of Cinder was because this thing was harder to fight than many bosses. In the sewers, those two giant rats were absolutely lethal!
If both of them attacked together, no one could beat them. Even fighting them one at a time, it was easy to mess up!
The worst part was that these two rats could swallow you into their mouths, chomping wildly, and you'd die instantly!
These two rats left an incredibly terrifying impression on countless players. Many said they'd rather fight a boss than those two rats! When you meet a boss, at least there's a chance to fight back, but when you meet those two rats, you might as well just wait to respawn!
And the traps in the maps were everywhere. In the Catacombs of Carthus, you never knew what you'd step on that would trigger a volley of crossbow bolts, or get crushed by a giant rolling skeleton ball, smashing you into agony...
Some of the faster streamers finally made it to the Profaned Capital and Irithyll Dungeon after grinding hard, and that's when their sanity truly began to crack...
In there, there were mobs that would push you off ledges from doorways, corpses that would scream when you picked up items, and jailers that could reduce your max HP and brand you with hot irons...
In VR mode, all these terrifying scenes constantly tested the players' nerves. Many streamers even screamed out loud on the spot, turning the game into a full-blown horror experience...
These streamers were being tortured to death, but the viewers were eating it up.
If a streamer successfully cleared an area, the viewers would spam "666" in admiration of their skill, and the immersive thrill of it all made for a great watch.
If a streamer failed and kept suffering in the same spot, the audience loved that too. After all, it wasn't them suffering, so why not enjoy the show?
And the difficulty of Dark Souls was actually within a relatively reasonable range. Many people found it hard simply because they hadn't figured out the game's mechanics or gotten used to the attack patterns of the mobs and bosses.
After kindling the Ember, many bosses allowed you to summon NPCs to fight alongside you, which actually lowered the difficulty. After suffering a few times, you could usually push through the earlier parts fairly smoothly.
After the streamers made the game popular, many players also got the urge to try it themselves.
This brought in a new wave of players for Dark Souls, but most of them were crying from frustration as soon as they entered the game...
For this game, playing it yourself and watching someone else play were completely different experiences. A boss that looked easy on stream was a whole different story when you actually picked up the controller!
...
Back with Chen Mo, his resentment value was piling up more and more.
For Dark Souls, the resentment value harvest was incredibly persistent. Many players contributed a huge amount of resentment right from the start. Almost every area presented different challenges, and the players' resentment flowed endlessly until they finished the first playthrough.
And even finishing the first playthrough didn't mean the game was over. Many players chose to start New Game Plus and continue suffering...
That was the beauty of Dark Souls. It wasn't a game purely designed to torment players, like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, which only brought frustration.
Dark Souls could give players a lot of satisfaction. This satisfaction came from the joy of getting stronger, the surprise of figuring out the tricks, and the pleasure of constant exploration.
After working hard to improve, enemies that once defeated you could be taken down effortlessly. This joy was the fundamental element that kept players coming back for more.
Chen Mo was grinning happily when he suddenly got a call from Qiao Hua.
Qiao Hua's tone was full of helplessness: "Chen Mo, what's going on? This is your first game made with the Pangu system, and you've already caused a big stir?"
Chen Mo pretended not to know anything: "Huh? What big stir?"
Qiao Hua was speechless: "Look, you usually make troll games, fine. But this is the first game using the Pangu system. Everyone has high hopes for it, wanting to beat foreign games! Don't mess things up."
Chen Mo chuckled: "Don't worry, nothing will go wrong. I know what I'm doing with this game."
Qiao Hua sighed helplessly: "Alright, as long as you're sure... Let me ask one more thing: are you really not going to adjust the difficulty?"
Chen Mo: "Hehehe..."
Qiao Hua was at a loss: "Fine, fine, then don't change it..."
Chen Mo said: "Don't worry, Minister Qiao. The players haven't yet felt the love I've put into Dark Souls! Once they do, they'll definitely praise this game to the skies."
Qiao Hua: "...I believe you."