Chapter 548: Frank Feels His Advantage Is Great
Lin Xue clicked on the post to read it.
"To be honest, Chen Mo hasn't revealed whether this game has a single ending or multiple endings. Most people who've cleared it so far have gotten the 'Link the Fire' ending, but I ended up on a completely different storyline. Not sure what impact that'll have."
"Near the bridge in the Undead Settlement, there's a pilgrim from Londor who's still alive. If you talk to him, he becomes your follower. After that, you can draw out true power and level up for free!"
"I haven't quite figured out the specifics of how to draw it out, but I noticed I suddenly had something called the Dark Sigil on me. As I kept drawing out power, my hollowing got worse and worse, until I looked completely unrecognizable..."
"Also, what the NPCs related to this pilgrim say is totally different from the mainstream view. I suspect this is another ending, or at least a pretty important side quest."
"Since I'm not that skilled and haven't beaten the game yet, I don't know if it'll affect the ending. But from what I've seen so far, this game has incredibly rich side quests, and linking the fire probably isn't the only goal."
The post also included very detailed information, with screenshots and videos. The authenticity was beyond doubt—it was definitely part of the game content.
"Huh? There's something like this?"
Lin Xue was startled.
Indeed, there were way too many collectible elements in Dark Souls, and it was easy for many people to overlook certain NPCs.
When Lin Xue entered the Undead Settlement, she had just gone straight through the main gate, completely missing the special NPC near the bridge.
And from other people's posts, it was clear that the game had many different side-quest NPCs, but each NPC's quest was hidden very deeply, and it was easy to break it off by accident.
Plus, it seemed like every NPC had their own ending.
During her first playthrough, Lin Xue was focused solely on clearing the game and hadn't paid much attention to these NPCs' storylines. Now, seeing these extra side quests being uncovered, she realized that even though she had beaten the game, there was still a lot of content she hadn't truly experienced.
"Hmm... I should try a second playthrough! I feel like I can explore these NPCs' side quests. I've missed so much stuff!"
Lin Xue thought to herself.
...
Overseas, Dark Souls had also caused a huge stir.
In fact, compared to China, there were more players in Europe and America who liked this kind of theme, and more hardcore players. So abroad, Dark Souls was even more popular than in China!
On major streaming sites overseas, Dark Souls had suddenly become a hot game. Many foreign streamers were chatting with their chat audiences while going through their own torture sessions in Dark Souls.
Some media outlets were also reviewing Dark Souls. Although no specific review articles had been published yet, based on feedback from streamers and players, Dark Souls had surprisingly received widespread praise.
In a sense, there really were more masochists abroad than in China...
This situation was extremely frustrating for GA. After all, Knight's Glory had released its information first and was the earliest game to use the AI physics engine. Yet Dark Souls had beaten it to the punch. This was just awkward!
Frank, the person in charge of Knight's Glory, was also keeping an eye on Dark Souls. After trying it out, his biggest takeaway was: this game is just not meant for humans!
Frank had only wanted to check out the physics system, but as soon as he entered, he got schooled by Gundyr the Teacher, beaten black and blue, and was so mad he almost asked for a refund...
Frank was shocked too. Did the game have to be this hard?
But after a quick look at the physics system, Frank actually felt more at ease.
Because in terms of performance, the Pangu system wasn't superior to the Origin system. The physics engines built by these two AIs were very similar in functionality, with no particularly huge performance gap.
Frank was still a bit dismissive of Dark Souls' design philosophy. On one hand, he thought the game was too hard; on the other, he felt it was somewhat unrealistic.
Because Dark Souls' theme was a medieval fantasy setting, with many elements completely detached from reality.
For example, under normal circumstances, a human simply couldn't wield ultra-heavy equipment like the Fume Ultra Greatsword or the Black Knight Greatsword. What kind of muscle-bound maniac could swing a sword heavier than themselves and still make it look effortless? It just wasn't scientific.
Also, the game had tons of impractical equipment, like Havel's armor and greatshield. In real life, if a normal person wore that set, even a muscular brute probably wouldn't be able to walk...
Let alone rolling on the ground and dodging attacks...
Clearly, the game's design was still leaning toward flashy combat, with many things deliberately exaggerated for artistic effect compared to reality.
Coupled with the game's insane difficulty, Frank believed that Dark Souls would be a relatively niche game.
In contrast, Knight's Glory took a completely different path.
On one hand, it was very close to reality. The story, equipment, and some combat methods in Knight's Glory were all meticulously researched by Frank and the project team, aiming to faithfully recreate history.
At the same time, while Knight's Glory's combat system was fairly rich, it was still based on real knight combat. The overall focus was on swordplay and finding openings in the opponent's defense. Bosses had some difficulty, but as long as the player's stats improved, they could get through.
For Frank, this game was mainly meant to showcase the superiority of the physics engine. As long as players could get a sense of satisfaction and feel like a medieval knight in battle, that was enough.
Frank believed that sometimes, precisely because it was close to reality, players would get a more authentic experience in the game.
So Frank thought that compared to Dark Souls, Knight's Glory would be a more mainstream work and would likely be more popular in Europe and America.
Many players who had been tortured by Dark Souls and reluctantly refunded were also looking forward to Knight's Glory's release. According to the information Frank had released, Knight's Glory was much easier than Dark Souls, and players could get a more satisfying combat experience, so many were anticipating it.
As for other designers, they were paying attention to Knight's Glory for a different reason.
The Pangu system and the Origin system—these two physics engines built by AIs—were a test for all designers.
Chen Mo had already submitted his answer, but could he get a better score than the foreign designers? That was what everyone was waiting to see.
And all of this would only be revealed after Knight's Glory officially launched!