Chapter 773: First Game Experience

As more and more information about Xenoblade Chronicles was gradually revealed to players, their discussions quickly shifted from the story presented in the promotional video or the characters themselves.

Regardless of whether Nebula Games' new title might eventually betray them, making them realize Mr. Chen's cruelty, or if the game seemed a bit otaku-oriented in style.

One thing was certain: they would definitely buy it when it came out, even if they cursed while doing so. After all, it was a universally acknowledged fact among players that the quality of Nebula Games' new titles was completely guaranteed.

However, the game genres revealed on Mr. Chen's official Weibo account later attracted a lot of player attention.

Many tags and content indicated that it was a traditional RPG.

And thinking about it this way, many players felt it made sense.

"Holy crap, a traditional RPG? I didn't expect that!"

"But if you think about it carefully, the promotional trailer already hinted at a lot. A protagonist's party and a major antagonist, the protagonist suffering a setback midway then awakening to fight the antagonist – these are all common tropes in traditional RPGs!"

"It depends on the presentation effect; that's still very important for traditional RPGs."

"What nonsense are you talking about! As long as it's a story-driven game, isn't the presentation effect important for everyone?"

"Stop arguing. I'm more concerned about the gameplay. Please don't let it be one of those maze-like maps with random encounter turn-based combat."

"LOL, I think Nebula Games definitely wouldn't make a combination like random encounters, turn-based combat, and mazes. At most, they'd turn random encounters into visible encounters."

"Honestly, if the combat system is fun, neither random nor visible encounters matter. The most important thing is the combat system."

Online players discussed more content about Xenoblade Chronicles, but that was where it stopped.

Because there was no more information for them to speculate on.

Regarding Xenoblade Chronicles' combat system and other gameplay elements, Mr. Chen didn't intend to tell players too much during the promotional phase. He simply said that how complex and interesting it was would be difficult to convey through words or videos.

Only by truly playing the game would players be able to experience its charm.

As for superficial aspects, for most players, the game had already captivated them with its characters before they even started playing.

In particular, Pyra, the Aegis of the Sky, who appeared in the promotional trailer, made countless players' eyes light up.

Especially after many players had been tormented by Silent Hill, seeing Xenoblade Chronicles' appearance completely overwhelmed them.

Mr. Chen released Xenoblade Chronicles in a multi-platform mode.

Of course, for most players, the VR platform was still the primary choice, as they couldn't let their previously purchased redemption vouchers go to waste.

For Switch and PC platforms, the operation mode was not significantly different from the controllers of its previous life, only some button adaptations were made.

The only difference was that the VR mode had undergone more significant changes. The operation method itself wasn't much of a problem, relying on a combination of consciousness and the controller.

The main changes were in the visual presentation. The game offered both a close-range over-the-shoulder perspective and a distant God's-eye view, allowing players to choose freely.

Additionally, in the sub-interfaces, such as the Mercenary System, inventory, and Blade System, transparent screens were used to replace them, aiming to maintain the player's sense of immersion as much as possible.

If it were a first-person game, this mode wouldn't be very suitable, but Xenoblade Chronicles was clearly not suited for a first-person perspective, so this setting was a good choice.

………………

On the day of Xenoblade Chronicles' release, it only took a few tens of minutes to dominate the top spot on Nebula Games Platform's best-selling game charts.

Innumerable long-awaiting players had already prepared. Those with VR headsets blindly entered VR.

Those without VR considered portability or other versions.

In the room, Zhang Yi and Wang Han were also ready to dive into Xenoblade Chronicles to play. As two older veteran players, they still held a fondness for traditional RPGs. Especially with Nebula Games' Xenoblade Chronicles seemingly aiming for a traditional RPG experience, they wanted to see what surprises the game might bring.

"For a traditional RPG, Mr. Chen can certainly create some unique features. It's just that the character art is... too pandering to otaku!" Zhang Yi remarked, sitting next to his VR gaming pod.

"You don't like it?" Wang Han glanced at Zhang Yi.

"Of course I don't. I don't have much interest in 2D anime characters. But Old Song definitely likes it." Zhang Yi said earnestly.

Just as his voice fell, Song Ren's voice came through the voice channel: "Old Zhang, I've already ordered the Pyra, the Aegis of the Sky figure you asked me to pre-order. But it won't ship for three months."

"Hehe!" Wang Han scoffed.

"You bastard! Old Song, when did you get into the voice channel?!" Zhang Yi's face showed a pained expression.

"I've been here the whole time! What the heck are you showing off for? You have to drag me into your bragging! Every time you order a figure yourself, you have to say I sent it to you! You're a hardcore otaku, and you say you don't like 2D characters? And before you say anything, please change your pink avatar, damn it!" Song Ren's voice echoed through the chat.

"The game's unlocked! I'm going in to experience it!" Seeing the clock in the room hit the launch time, Zhang Yi quickly changed the subject and entered the game.

Clearly, pretending to be dead was the most effective method at this moment.

Upon entering the game, Zhang Yi found himself in a deep sea, facing a salvager in a diving suit, using a grappling hook to attach a wooden chest from the deep sea to an iron hook, then returning to the surface.

But as he left the deep water, Zhang Yi's eyes widened in amazement.

It wasn't the expected clear blue sea, but a boundless sea of clouds.

The salvager was Rex, the soft and cute young boy from the promotional trailer, and his location wasn't a ferry as imagined, but an enormous, peculiar creature, whom Rex called his grandpa.

Judging by the house and other items, it seemed Rex lived on this strange creature.

Next, as Rex opened the large iron chest he had just salvaged, a large lobster jumped out, followed by a simple tutorial system. There were three stages of auto-attacks, which built up Arts, and releasing these Arts had different effects.

Compared to the original version's brevity, Mr. Chen made the description more substantial, so a quick read of the text would provide a general understanding.

Furthermore, unlike the previous life where you couldn't revisit tutorials, Mr. Chen, similar to the system in the Torna ~ The Golden Country DLC, added a small tip section in the system interface. Players could enter it separately to learn, and there were corresponding videos to better explain things.

After all, it was just a basic attack and Arts tutorial, posing no great difficulty for a veteran player like Zhang Yi.

Instead, he was now more focused on the worldview Xenoblade Chronicles presented.

Alrest. This was the world of the game. In the distant past, at the dawn of creation, it was said that humans lived with gods on the World Tree. That fertile land, built high in the sky, was an ideal realm where day could turn to night, and rain to clear skies, a place people called Elysium.

But one day, humans were banished from Elysium. No one knew why. The humans driven out of Elysium migrated to Alrest, but Alrest was a world formed by a sea of clouds where humans could not survive. Thus, the compassionate gods sent their servants, the Titans, to Alrest.

Tens of thousands of humans migrated onto the Titans. There were colossal Titans, large as continents, and also smaller Titans that could only accommodate a few people. But now, the Titans too were on the verge of extinction.

(End of Chapter) <>