Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

Many games have been cleared for a week, and basically, they have a complete understanding of the game's plot.

The remaining two weeks are more to study some routines, or to complete some content that was not collected in the previous main line clearance.

But "Dark Soul" is different. When players clear the game for a week, many of the content of the game itself may not be found at all.

For example, players who play "Dark Souls" for the first time will rarely know if they don't read the guide. In fact, in "Dark Souls", in addition to pinching the fire and then encountering NPC and player invasions, or shaking people to help fight BOSS outside.

In fact, in front of some specific boss rooms, you can still summon NPCs.

For example, in front of Lothric Ice Dog's BOSS room, if he defeated Da Dao at the fire sacrificial ground before, then he can bring Da Dao's spiritual body to fight Ice Dog, and also know Da Dao's name: expert.

You can also see the spirit mark left by the summoned Lion Knight Albert before passing through the steps on the left outside the door of the Big Fat Winged Knight. Of course, this can only be seen by the player in the state of embers.

When many players came here for the first time, they had already lost their residual fire state under the ravages of various mobs before.

Also in the world of "Dark Souls", there are many things unique to ARPG games, that is, side quests.

But these branch lines require players to discover the triggers themselves.

And the more players understand the side stories of these NPCs, the more they realize that this is a game full of despair.

The worldview, the story, and the difficulty are all the same.

The first place where the player begins his adventure is a thief with a hood named Garrett, imprisoned under the high walls of Lothric.

After he is rescued, he will appear in a corner of the Fire Sacrifice, and you can get a prop from his hand, allowing the player to go to the undead settlement to find a woman named Loretta.

It may be his lover, it may be his relatives, but obviously this woman is his spiritual support.

And in order to repay the player, the thief will deliberately go out to steal some useful things and sell them to the player at a low price, which is much more affordable than the old lady before the blacksmith.

But when the player went to the Undead Settlement, he accidentally knocked down a corpse hanging in the air, picked up the glowing relic, but found that the corpse was the person the thief was looking for.

Go back with the relic and tell the thief brother.

‘Ah… so… that woman… is dead. ’

'Thank you, in fact, I already had this hunch, um... I feel much more relaxed, take this ring... It's a thank you gift. ’

The calm tone revealed despair.

After this, the thief will help the player to go out and steal things.

Every time you steal something, you can get some useful props.

For the first time, Brother Thief slipped back with his wit.

The second time I went to Ilusil in the Cold Valley, if the preconditions were met, the thief brother could still return safely, and told the player that an 'onion knight' had rescued him.

But the third time, when Brother Thief proposed to go to Wangcheng to vote again, the players agreed because of the previous two harvests, but this time Brother Thief would never come back.

'Hey...Listen to me, I want to steal some more things back, there may be something you want in Lothric King City. ’

'I know... this city seems very dangerous, but I still want to go...'

'After all, I don't want to be a lowly street rat until I die. ’

On the roof of the big library with the arakkoa, the player found the ashes of the thief brother, and recalled the conversation of the thief brother before departure, and his heart could not help but feel mixed.

Obviously, after learning about Loretta's death, the thief had a heart to die in addition to wanting to repay Ashes who helped him, so he put himself in danger again and again.

………………

Also, for the first time, most players are fighting alongside a real living NPC, not a ghostly onion knight.

The first time I saw the Onion Knight, I felt that he was always dumb and a little stupid.

But at the same time, I can feel his optimist character and righteousness.

Seeing Ashes fighting with the flame demon, he would come to help without saying a word, and would drink with him to praise the sun after the battle.

Along the way, the Onion Knight interacted with the player several times until he told the player something in Illushier.

That is, he has a mission, and that mission is the same as Ash's goal.

He wants to personally send his old friend, King Yum, the giant king of the capital of sin and one of the kings, on his way.

For it was his promise, the highest promise of a knight's glory and friendship.

As the bell rang to wake up King Xin, Youmu woke up from his slumber and saw that his capital had withered, and his former citizens had turned into a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

In the depths of Yum's heart, in addition to self-blame, there is also a burning hatred for the fire. His hope did not become a reality, but turned into a deformed flame to devour everything, and his soul began to distort with this power. The corrosion of the fire completely collapsed his mind.

Immediately, Yumshe removed the shield that had accompanied him for several years, holding a large sword to guard the deepest part of the crime capital, paranoid and frantic attacking all those who invaded his territory.

And the Onion Knight, Jack Bardo of Catalina.

He will also fulfill the promise he once made and kill his former best friend with his own hands.

Stormmaster, two great swords capable of killing giants.

One sits beside the throne of Yum, the capital of sin, and the other is given to his most trusted friend.

'Yum, my old friend! ’

'The Knights of Catalina, Jack Bardo, have come to fulfill their promise! ’

'May the King of Sin be with the sun! ’

After the fierce battle, the exhausted Onion Knight sat down under the body of the giant king Yumu, as if returning to the scene when he fought alongside Ashes to defeat the flame demon for the first time.

'I'm so sorry! Always let you save my life. ’

‘However, thank you too, thanks to you, I can fulfill my own promises. ’

'Okay, let's toast together at the end. ’

The Onion Knight once again gave Ashes a glass of his own brew and toasted them.

‘May your courage and mission, and my old friend Yum, be with the sun! ’

'Okay, I'm going to take a nap, I must do it after the celebration! ’

‘My friend… may you fulfill your mission safely. ’

The two met on the journey for different reasons, and the mission of the Onion Knight has been completed.

Ashes will continue to fulfill their mission.

The Onion Knight sitting there bowed his head.

But this time, the Onion Knight didn't snore like before.

It was not until the player walked away that a dull sound of something falling to the ground reached his ears.

All players understand that in the next journey, the Onion Knight will never be seen again.

………………

It can be said that there are too many characters in the game that players can remember deeply.

The disheartened brother who constantly spreads negative thoughts in the Fire Sacrifice Field. He used to be a member of the undead team, but after the players continued to complete the challenges that he thought was impossible, he finally stopped being disheartened and decided to inherit the undead. the will of the team.

Instead of seeking swordsmanship, he pursued the power of dragons, and after slaying the top of the ancient dragon, he obtained half of his destiny's glorious dragon stone, and finally came to an end at the Falan Ling Temple, where he fought with his teammates. .

Brother Xinxin, who took up the big sword again, took the Elemental Bottle of the undead team and fought with Ashes for a dragon stone battle. The winner had the power of the ancient dragon and the loser slept.

There is also the Holy Maiden, who shoulders the mission of becoming a fire girl. If she comes into contact with the dark dictionary, she will lose her reason and can only be eroded by darkness.

But if she didn't learn the dark dictionary, and eventually became a fire girl, she would only become a machine that only knew how to upgrade players, waiting to die alone in a tower full of fire girl corpses.

And the knight Yiguo who guarded her also felt that her mission of guarding was over. First, she went to the dragon hunting armor to draw a white talisman to repay Ashes' favor, and finally returned to the dungeon where the Holy Maiden started to commit suicide.

The hero Gouda, the unknown king, the twin princes... Whether it's a BOSS or an NPC, everyone has their own stories behind them.

But these stories are also hopeless.

No matter what you do, all you get in the end is tragedy.

As the name of the game "Dark Souls", the more you know, the more you feel that the world is so dark.

Originally, most players thought that the flame would continue to pass in the end, which was the orthodox ending.

Because whether it was Chen Xu's official blog before the game was launched, or the promotional trailer, it all showed that the theme of the game was spreading fire.

But as players get to know more and more about the content of the game, the other three endings besides the fire pass have also been discovered by players one by one.

They are the ending of extinguishing the fire, which plunges the whole world into darkness.

The ending of stealing fire, attacking the fire girl in the process of extinguishing the ending, snatching away the embers that were about to go out.

At the end of the King of Wandering Souls, after saving the pilgrims of Rondore, he will draw out the dark power hidden in the body for the players. Players who follow this path will eventually gather eight dark rings, swallow the flames at the end, and become The king of wandering souls.

Whether spreading fire is the right choice has become the main topic of debate among players.

Each of the four endings has its own player support.

Players who have passed the fire ending believe that spreading the fire is to pass on the fire of hope. When the flame is extinguished, the world falls into darkness and ghosts are everywhere. How can such a hopeless world be correct?

Players who think that the ending of fire extinguishing thinks that spreading fire is a conspiracy, and just like the fire girl sister said, there will be a new flame in the dark one day, and in the end, you can talk to the fire girl sister. Let's stay together and fly together, the world will be dark!

Of course, there are also people who think that the king of wandering souls should be the real ending.

Even including the ending of stealing fire, many players think this is the real ending.

The reason is very simple.

After all, the ashes in this ending are eager for the afterglow, which can be said to be in line with the beginning of the game.

That's why this ending has a narration dubbing at the end!

But anyway, the plot of "Dark Souls" is fragmented and open-ended.

Therefore, there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, and each player has his own interpretation that is correct.

More and more players who have cleared the level are like archaeologists, delving into the content of "Dark Soul".

I hope I can dig out more credible evidence to prove my point of view is correct.

Although Chen Xu did not launch the content of Soul One, the existing related content is enough for players to think of what kind of epic plot is behind it.

The more you dig, the more emotional the player will be.

The suffering at the beginning, which is the label of "Dark Souls", can be accompanied by more and more flaws in the plot and details of the game.

Obviously, the so-called "suffering", "hardcore" and "high difficulty" cannot fully summarize the game "Dark Souls".

There's more to it than that.