Chapter 547: Multiple Endings?
Logically speaking, the people on the Game Committee wouldn’t meddle with what kind of games a designer made, as long as it didn’t violate relevant laws and regulations or affect the review process. Whether the game made money or lost it, whether it got criticized or praised, was entirely the designer’s own business.
But Chen Mo’s *Dark Souls* was different. This game was the first one made using the Pangu System, and many on the Game Committee were looking forward to it going head-to-head with *Knight Glory* and showcasing the Pangu System’s capabilities. Yet Chen Mo had gone and made a game that tortured players—wasn’t that a bit too infuriating?
Still, Qiao Hua had no choice. The game was already finished; he couldn’t exactly demand that Chen Mo lower the difficulty, could he?
And given Chen Mo’s personality, he wouldn’t be swayed by others anyway. He was stubborn as a mule…
So Qiao Hua could only hint at it and hope Chen Mo would handle things well on his own.
…
After several days of grueling effort, the first batch of players who had bought *Dark Souls* and were relatively talented had basically pushed through to the later stages of the story.
Lin Xue was no exception. By now, she had nearly completed all the tasks, collected all the Lords of Cinder’s embers, and arrived at the final scene.
Here, Lin Xue had to face the Soul of Cinder. This was the game’s final boss. Defeating the incarnation of all the past Lords of Cinder would allow her to link the fire and end the game.
At this point, Lin Xue’s character was a sight to behold—wearing a full set of Havel’s heavy armor, holding Havel’s Greatshield in her left hand, and a plain straight sword in her right. She looked like a turtle.
The live chat was full of mockery.
“Oh my god, Ah Xue’s build really screams ‘coward’! Cowarding her way to the heavens.”
“Don’t knock it. With Ah Xue’s playstyle, the game seems a lot easier. Holding up that greatshield the whole time really does make it much more manageable!”
“Wow, finally going to challenge the final boss. I think with Ah Xue’s skill level, she should be able to clear it, right?”
After these days of practice, Lin Xue’s skills had improved rapidly.
Lin Xue’s playstyle was all about playing it safe. She wore the full Havel set and held up the greatshield, tanking all the boss’s damage.
She had also invested heavily in her stats, putting points into endurance to ensure she could roll smoothly. Of course, this meant her damage output was pitifully low, but Lin Xue didn’t care. She just chipped away at the boss with her straight sword, one hit at a time. It was slow, but as long as she could win, that was all that mattered…
Being able to play *Dark Souls* like this, Lin Xue was truly something special…
The Soul of Cinder’s moves were incredibly flashy. From a first-person perspective, its five-hit combo sent waves of flames cascading, and it constantly showed off all kinds of flashy techniques. Lin Xue blocked everything with Havel’s Greatshield, only daring to sneak in a couple of hits when she saw a clear opening.
After dying several times, Lin Xue finally managed to grind the Soul of Cinder to death…
“Wow! I’m so awesome, I beat the game! Hurry up and spam ‘666’ for me!”
Lin Xue shouted excitedly. Luckily, she was in her gaming pod; if she’d been at her computer, she probably would have jumped up…
The live stream chat was flooded with “666.” Lin Xue wasn’t the first player to clear *Dark Souls*, but she was among the earlier ones.
Especially among streamers. While other streamers were still getting wrecked left and right, Lin Xue had managed to take down the game’s final boss and clear it using her brute-force memorization and cowardly playstyle!
“Wow, Ah Xue is truly gifted. Chen Mo probably never imagined a player like this would exist, right?”
“It’s Serent’s miscalculation! Ah Xue solved this game with a scholar’s mindset. Haha, how interesting!”
“I think you’re all underestimating Chen Mo. He definitely thought from the start that someone would clear the game this way. In fact, I think he encourages players to beat the game like this. It’s just that most people think in conventional terms and can’t clear it!”
“Huh, that makes sense too. Ah Xue’s build is really safe, and it’s a creative approach. She’s a top student, after all—her intelligence is impressive!”
On the screen, Lin Xue’s character stood beside the First Flame.
She reached her hand over the bonfire and ignited the flame.
Then, the fire spread across her entire body. Lin Xue’s character, this knight clad in heavy armor, sat down beside the flame. The camera slowly panned into the distance, toward the dark sun…
The game ended. The first playthrough was complete.
Lin Xue let out a long breath. “Alright, that’s it for today’s *Dark Souls* stream. I finally cleared it! I know there’s a New Game Plus, but I’m exhausted after these past few days. I’ll take a break and tackle that later. Okay, I’m switching to my computer. See you all in a bit.”
After switching to her computer, Lin Xue still felt a lingering sense of satisfaction.
These past few days of playing *Dark Souls* had given her such a complex mix of feelings. At first, like other streamers, she thought it was just a game designed to torture players. To make the stream more entertaining, Lin Xue had even studied the game and invented her own “turtle” playstyle, relying on heavy armor, a greatshield, and a straight sword to clear it.
But during the game, Lin Xue suddenly realized there was much more to it.
As she played, she began to feel that this game wasn’t purely about torturing players. Its high difficulty actually highlighted the brilliance of the combat system and level design.
For now, Lin Xue only had a superficial impression of this. A more intuitive feeling was that, by the mid-to-late game, *Dark Souls* had a way of making you unable to put it down, even making you completely uninterested in playing other similar games.
In *Dark Souls*, the sense of accomplishment from defeating an enemy without taking damage was far greater than in other games. And because players had to be cautious every moment, the gaming experience felt richer.
It was like savoring a fine dish—your heart was full of mixed emotions, and anything else you ate afterward seemed bland and tasteless.
Having just finished the game, Lin Xue felt a bit tired. Instead of playing another game, she chatted with the live chat viewers while opening the official forum on her computer to check out some *Dark Souls* related news.
At the moment, the official *Dark Souls* forum was still dominated by strategy guides and experience-sharing posts. Players exploring the game were sharing their new discoveries and seeking comfort from each other…
Just then, a hot post caught Lin Xue’s attention.
The post title was: “About the Multiple Endings in *Dark Souls*.”
Genius remembers this site's address in one second: