Chapter 123: Expected

Online players were divided in their opinions, and the debate quickly escalated from text arguments to video arguments.

Videos from players of Dark Souls began circulating, including live streams from streamers who had played Dark Souls immediately after its release.

One player uploaded a battle video against the first boss, Ash Judgment Gundyr. Unlike the actual gameplay demonstration video shown during the online promotional launch, in this video, Ash Judgment Gundyr appeared overwhelmingly powerful.

With his halberd spinning and maneuvering, he landed a fatal blow, emptying the player’s health bar amid a blood-curdling scream.

It fully showcased what true horror looked like.

There were also videos of players being flattened by Crystal Lizards, or instantly killed by the Uchigatana Guy’s Iai combo slash.

However, before these videos could go viral, other players uploaded new ones.

These featured the same boss, Ash Judgment Gundyr, but the outcome was completely different.

In the game, a knight in armor stood with a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. As Ash Gundyr swung down, the player lightly raised his left hand holding the shield, parrying the attack, then lunged forward and performed an execution.

Throughout the entire fight—including the boss’s second phase—Ash Gundyr didn’t even land a single hit.

He was utterly toyed with.

Same boss, completely different results.

This instantly left players bewildered.

What was going on? Was this game hard or not?

The same situation occurred on live streaming platforms. Some streamers died repeatedly, crying out in despair.

Yet others calmly strolled from the Cemetery of Ash, effortlessly defeating Ash Gundyr, the Uchigatana Guy, and even the Ro Rider.

Of course, new players didn’t realize that whether it was videos or streamers, while some truly possessed exceptional talent, a significant number had actually practiced extensively in advance—or died countless times to gain experience.

With the game having just launched, this created an information gap. Players lacked a unified understanding, which only fueled greater curiosity.

What kind of game was this, exactly?

Some players even recalled Outlast from earlier.

They suspected someone was trying to stir up a big drama.

But that only made them more curious.

After all, humans are naturally drawn to the unknown—and this was just a game.

Besides, Dark Souls didn’t seem to be a horror game like Outlast.

They couldn’t bring themselves to enter the asylum in Outlast, but how could they not dare to link the fire in Dark Souls?

With such thoughts in mind,

countless players leapt headfirst into the huge trap that was Dark Souls.

Then, these players who entered the game shortly after launch were utterly stunned.

Just like the first batch of players,

these newcomers immediately felt the deep malice embedded in this game.

Despite the in-game messages and death footage left behind by veteran players,

innumerable players still discovered through firsthand experience that there actually existed a game capable of making them die so gloriously.

They recalled the towering, imposing figure of Uncle Ash Gundyr, and the cool, flashy scenes in the demo video where players took him down in just a few hits.

But when it came to their own turn, they realized they were the ones being chopped like vegetables.

As for the lovely Fire Keeper, whom they had seen in videos and whose image made their hearts race—forget about meeting her.

To see her, they first had to defeat Ash Gundyr!

Otherwise, they couldn’t even touch the bronze gate of Firelink Shrine!

High difficulty, no mini-map, treacherous and malicious level design.

Many players who had initially been drawn in quickly joined the chorus of complaints.

"I'm disgusted! This game is way too hard!"

"Why no difficulty options? Why no mini-map?"

"Those who say this game is easy—don’t your consciences hurt?!"

"Died 10 times in one hour—how on earth did I manage that?!"

"I was full of excitement, thinking it’d be a hack-and-slash game, but now you're telling me I'm the grass being cut down?!"

………………

In the office of Nebula Games,

despite it being National Day holiday, nearly all core members of the project team voluntarily stayed behind to work overtime.

After all, Dark Souls was Nebula Games’ first big project, and everyone was closely watching its progress.

Of course, the generous overtime pay and benefits also played a role—everyone was happy to work extra hours.

"Mr. Chen, the game community, our official Weibo account, and even your personal Weibo are flooded with players discussing Dark Souls' difficulty!" Qin Yi from the project team sounded slightly worried.

"Yeah, are we planning to add a difficulty selection system in future updates?"

"And what about the mini-map?" Ruan Ningxue and Yang Xin added from across the office.

"No need to change the game systems or difficulty. It’s far too early to draw conclusions," Chen Xu smiled. He then turned toward the Customer Service Department and asked, "How are the data looking?"

"We can't gather data from third-party platforms yet, but on the Nebula Games Platform, as of now, 495,721 copies have been sold within 24 hours of launch. Only 24,916 have been refunded. Forty percent of refunders cited the game being too difficult, while the remaining sixty percent gave various other reasons."

As Nebula Games’ first blockbuster title, and after a sustained promotional warm-up period,

combined with the company’s prior reputation, a first-day sales figure of nearly 500,000 copies wasn’t particularly surprising.

Moreover, due to discount coupons, most players chose to purchase directly on the Nebula Games Platform.

As for refunds, compared to typical games, Dark Souls did have a higher number.

Yet this was still within Chen Xu’s expectations—and in fact, the refund rate for Dark Souls was even lower than that of Outlast.

Was Dark Souls a game suitable for everyone?

Clearly not.

Or rather, no game could ever be suitable for everyone.

Because gaming was an intensely personal experience.

Some found AAA blockbusters enjoyable, others preferred mobile games, while some even liked web games.

So what kind of game one liked ultimately came down to personal preference.

Yet Dark Souls was undoubtedly a game that, once players settled in and immersed themselves, they would begin to feel its deep attraction.

The game’s high difficulty was, in fact, closely related to this.

The design of boss levels, map design, the construction of the combat system, and even the game’s art—all were tightly interconnected.

Lowering the difficulty would be like cutting a link in a chain, causing the entire structure to collapse.

That would be counterproductive.

Moreover, compared to players’ online comments,

as the game’s developer, Chen Xu could see a clearer picture of Dark Souls' actual situation through the backend server data.

So far, the situation was far better than he had anticipated.

And aside from the critics, there were also many players defending the game.

Currently, the balance was roughly 40-60, but more importantly, player online duration wasn’t steadily declining.

In fact, among the first wave of players, seventy percent had already surpassed the two-hour refund period.

That surprised Chen Xu.

Apparently, the M attribute of players in this Parallel World was higher than he had predicted during his earlier market research!

These data points were more than enough to keep Chen Xu calm.

All that remained was time—to let the rich aroma of this fine wine called Dark Souls slowly spread.

So that more and more players could catch a whiff of its fragrance.

Of course, some appropriate guidance would still be needed during this time.

Otherwise, it might still affect Dark Souls' final results.

(5555555, First time trying to rob someone, but ran into a tough opponent—my underwear got stolen in a dog-eat-dog robbery. Kind souls, please give some Monthly Pass and recommendation votes so I can go home)

(End of Chapter) <>