Chapter 905: Multiplayer Gameplay

Entering the interior of the textile factory was completely different from being outside; it was a self-contained space. Only players within the same group could see each other upon entering.

Upon entering for the first time, a cutscene played before Zhang Yi and his companions.

Hmm, you look a bit more energetic than I thought. Coincidentally, I have a job here that might be perfect for you.

Also, I can give you some payment beforehand. Make sure to prepare yourselves.

Inside the textile factory, a lame, half-bald middle-aged man named Lester was conversing with Zhang Yi and his in-game characters.

Then, he pulled out a bank card from his pocket and handed it to their characters.

After receiving the bank card from Lester, he continued.

Find yourselves a place to stay, get some sleep, and then come talk to me again.

Before the operation, you might want to upgrade your equipment.

But remember, this money has to be repaid.

Listening to Lester's dialogue and combining it with the in-game content, Zhang Yi and Song Ren pretty much understood the situation.

Clearly, this was a new player tutorial cum welfare system. Like repaying a mortgage in Animal Crossing, this was Lester's startup capital for them.

Regular missions in the game didn't require any special prerequisites.

However, for racing missions, whether it was supercars, bicycles, motorcycles, or 'no distinction' races, players needed to own their own vehicles to participate.

Cars stolen on the street were obviously not allowed.

As for robbery missions, players needed to own a base to activate them.

Holy cow! This is way too real! In real life, I repay my mortgage, and in the game, I have to rob to repay my mortgage! Song Ren couldn't help but complain.

Old Song, you're overthinking it. Lost City doesn't support installment payments; we can't get a loan from a bank at all, Zhang Yi interrupted Song Ren.

Repay a mortgage? You're dreaming big, aren't you!

But Lester is pretty generous, giving 100,000 dollars at the start, Wang Han exclaimed, looking at the balance in the top right corner.

It's not much use though; I still can't afford anything, Zhang Yi sighed, looking at the webpage on his phone.

He first entered the real estate interface.

What immediately caught his eye was a large advertisement displayed at the top.

【The unparalleled Lost City Sky Mansion, for a limited-time discount of only XX, you can enjoy the treatment of top socialites!】

Looking at the string of zeros, he counted a bit... 300 million? Goodbye!

Damn it, in the single-player storylines of Carl, Nick, and Tommy, he hadn't even accumulated that much money playing normally to the end.

There were all sorts of mansions, some in Hollywood, some in the city center. Finally, when he scrolled all the way to the bottom...

Zhang Yi finally saw a house he could afford if he worked hard enough.

An apartment worth 250,000. With more work and more overtime, this house wasn't completely out of reach!

As for the apartment's location? It was already good enough to have a place; what was there to be picky about!

This is too miserable. And why can't we transfer money? If we could transfer money, wouldn't we have 300,000 now and could buy a house to start robbery missions? Song Ren complained.

The game had settings for banks and ATM machines, but it was impossible to transfer in-game money, which was simply ruthless.

Coming out of the textile factory, a group of players in the session were chatting animatedly at the entrance.

An apartment, then buying a bulletproof vest, a pistol, and a sedan car—1 million gone!

Holy cow, bro, how do you have 1 million? Did you find a bug? I only got 100,000!

Call me 'good bro,' and I'll teach you how to exploit the bug.

Good bro!

Open the in-game store interface. See that Criminal Empire Starter Pack? Choose to buy it, and you'll have 1 million.

Damn it! I'll kill you!

I'm a pay-to-win warrior; I have guns!

Actually, I feel like there isn't much to spend money on in this game. Buying firearms requires unlocking levels, and there are many ways to earn money: seizing territory, assassinations, and missions like smashing and stealing cars. Even on easy difficulty, these give over 10,000, so if you do them a few times, you'll have money to buy a house, right?

Anyone want to team up to steal cars and rob convenience stores?

Let's go, bro!

Soon, players in the session began their respective online gaming experiences.

Some chose to get everything at once, wanting to be the first to experience the robbery gameplay content, and directly purchased Shark Cards.

More chose to grind, as, considering the reward acquisition and time-to-completion ratio, spending money was actually a bit of a loss.

Should we spend money or grind a bit? Zhang Yi asked Song Ren for advice.

Let's just grind a bit first and see what these jobs are about, Song Ren said after thinking for a moment.

The 250,000 apartment wasn't that expensive. According to the rewards from these jobs...

And with the 100,000 Lester gave them, doing about 15 jobs would be enough to buy an apartment and weapons.

As for vehicles, weren't they everywhere on the streets? Let's put that aside for now.

Hearing Song Ren's words, Zhang Yi and Wang Han nodded in agreement.

These jobs were basically easy enough on normal difficulty.

In the original version, many players didn't play the online mode, not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't.

Because a large number of jobs required players to team up, especially robbery missions.

Furthermore, more difficult jobs had very high demands for team cooperation. Even on easy difficulty, a single pig teammate could drag down the entire team, unlike in FPS games where you could only watch from the sidelines if you died.

The original multiplayer online mode was more like DOTA; dying not only dragged down your own team but also gave the enemy extra economy.

Even more exaggerated was that the original Vice City and Monster Hunter had a setting where if a certain number of deaths were exceeded, the entire mission would immediately fail.

With such high participation requirements and a negative experience in pick-up teams outweighing positive ones, many players naturally lost interest in playing multiplayer mode.

Compared to the original, Chen Xu had also made many improvements. In high-difficulty job modes, it was still quite demanding, requiring players to have good cooperation.

However, on easy difficulty, as long as players weren't intentionally disrupting or incredibly unskilled, it was very hard to fail; it would only reduce the in-game earnings.

Secondly, the participation threshold was lowered. Players could also choose to do various jobs with NPC teammates, though they still had to give them a share of the profits, and the proportion would be higher compared to real players.

Stealing cars, buying guns, then robbing convenience stores, buying more cars with the money, unlocking more awesome robbery missions, and undertaking bigger ventures.

There were also options to form companies and gangs to cause trouble, and ultimately, sell firearms and goods.

Players could also buy and decorate entertainment facilities like bars and ball courts. Players in the same session could choose to visit the businesses owned by other players with these facilities and spend money there.

All sorts of gameplay, exciting robbery missions, combined with the three vibrant cities of Lost City, Vice City, and Liberty City, made all players feel a different kind of charm.

(End of Chapter) <>