this?
Is this the "exquisite BOSS design" that Sekiro players praised so much, with more than tens of thousands of people tagging him on social media platforms to let him see it?
That’s it?
Kazuo Koizumi felt angry and amused at the same time, and even didn't know what expression to use to deal with the situation before him.
Yes.
Yes, Koizumi, who is still recuperating in the hospital, could not resist the "suggestions" of countless players after all.
Besides, he really had nothing to do in the hospital alone.
So, with an unconvinced attitude, Koizumi opened the game live streaming platform.
He wanted to see what this so-called 'top BOSS battle design' that players were talking about was like!
result.
After watching for less than 20 minutes, the live broadcast of Yingshu, who is known as Japan's number one gaming anchor, fell silent.
So the BOSS design that you guys boasted about so much turned out to be a monster that is impossible to kill?
OK!
I will admit that your way of designing the BOSS is unconventional.
And your unconventional approach was indeed unexpected and caused a sensation among players and spectators.
But the problem is——
"How the hell am I going to get through this?"
At this moment, Yingshu, who was standing on the covered bridge, ran away with his head in his hands, wailing in despair:
"No, no, no! Bridge Bean Sack! Bridge Bean Sack!!!"
Boom! Boom!
boom!!!
The huge sword slammed heavily behind him.
The entire wooden bridge was shaking!
Take a step forward, take a step forward, and take another step forward!
Yingshu now has completely lost his fighting spirit. He is just dodging frantically and doesn't dare to challenge the edge of the Armor Hero.
Because, just in a moment.
He discovered that not only did his previously invincible and never-missing ninja skills fail to cause fatal damage to the big armored man, but when he looked closely, he even found that the guy hadn't lost a single drop of blood!
Yes.
Because in Sekiro, the posture bar is an extremely important combat setting.
Generally speaking, in a normal fight, the enemy's posture bar will collapse before its health bar.
The posture bar is right above the heads-up display and is much more eye-catching than the enemy's health bar.
So under normal circumstances, players will not pay special attention to the enemy's health.
But this time it’s different!
This armored brother is simply unbearable to kill!
Xie Wan couldn't wipe his neck at all!
So at that moment, Yingshu shifted his attention to his blood volume, wondering if this BOSS was special and could not be killed by ninja, and could only be killed by draining his blood.
It’s better not to watch this.
I felt even more desperate the moment I saw it!
"No! Wait a minute! You don't lose blood, and you can't be killed by the ninja! You let me - Fuck!!!"
There was a loud bang.
Yingshu was unable to dodge and was chopped by the Armor Hero and flew more than three meters away!
The audience was delighted——
'wwwwww totally invincible'
"It's a bug, this game is difficult, but it shouldn't be difficult to create such an invincible guy."
'This bug is hilarious, especially after seeing the airtight armor, it makes more sense'
"It seems that even ninjas can't gain an advantage against fully armed medieval knights."
"But to be honest, this knight's moves and actions are so cool, and he has a strong charm."
' I suggest Xiao Huang make a medieval wolf game in the future. I also want to wear heavy armor.'
'+1, I want to use a two-handed sword'
'Hahahahaha, let's just reopen it, this bug is too serious'
"Stop struggling in vain..."
"……"
After some analysis!
Both the audience and Yingshu gave up resistance.
Obviously, this is a bug.
Yingshu also agreed with this and gave his own analysis when he restarted the game:
"I understand. The special design of this BOSS should be on its health bar."
"Since he is wearing heavy armor, we cannot cause any damage to him, so theoretically, we can only kill him by breaking his posture bar."
"But because he locks his health, there is a possibility of an 'invincibility' bug in the program logic,"
"Well, let's start over. After all, this is Golden Wind's first 3S-level masterpiece, so a few bugs are not a big deal..."
Speaking of.
Yingshu stood in front of the covered bridge again.
Because there is only one road leading to the main gate of Xianfeng Temple.
So no matter what, he needs to kill this Armored Hero before he can move on.
"Come on! Let me kill you this time with justice!"
Talking about it!
Yingshu ran towards the middle of the covered bridge.
As expected, the Armor Hero rushed out from the observation deck again, swinging his two-handed sword and fighting with Yingshu.
Ding! Dang! Boring!
Click, boom!
With the experience from last time, Yingshu seemed much calmer when facing the powerful attack of Armor Hero this time.
He also discovered that the ninja prosthetic axe, which had been used to deal with shield soldiers, was extremely effective against the Armor Heroes.
Find the right opportunity to chop once or twice, and then supplement with bouncing knives and attacks.
This time, he didn't even use the resurrection. He only used two bites of the gourd to break the Armor Hero's posture bar again.
"Ha ha!"
Yingshu roared:
"Accept my righteous killing! Nishi-Nei--"
Chichichichi——Shock!!!
A string of sparks flew!
Yingshu clearly felt the friction between the blade and the armor, as well as the harsh metallic hissing sound!
"I—f—?!"
With a gulp!
Yingshu rolled over and landed on the ground, looking with a pair of terrified eyes at the Armor Hero who was rushing towards him again!
[For my son! Put down your weapons! ]
Buzz——
This time, Yingshu even completely forgot to resist and watched the huge sword coming towards him!
Boom! Boom!
【die】
At this moment, all the players who have reached here can no longer hold back!
"Ward! Bug! This is a bug! It's definitely a vicious bug!"
"Hey, Xibaer#￥%@#, there's no way to kill Xibaer￥@#%@!#!"
"Sokka! There's no way this guy can be defeated! Sokka is not good enough!"
"Don't do this for your son! Can I be your son? You really are my father! You are even more awesome than Long Yin!"
"Hehehe, you have to smile when playing games, just like me, hehehe - I'm playing with my mother!"
“G-Gah-Gah!!!”
I really can’t stand it anymore!
From anchor to ordinary player.
Anyone who gets here will get stuck!
Looking at the many players whose defenses were broken, Koizumi in the hospital couldn't help but laugh!
…
good!
Good, good, good!
Originally, I just wanted to see how great the design of your game was.
I never expected this!
How unlucky I am to encounter such an embarrassing scene of yours!
You know, this little BOSS on the corridor bridge is one of the BOSSes that must be encountered in the game process.
Only by killing him can you enter Xianfeng Temple and obtain the Immortal Slash.
But now, such a crucial BOSS has an extremely vicious bug of "cannot be killed"!
Even the streamers who are making the fastest progress in the game today are helpless against this vicious bug!
For a while.
Koizumi realized that his opportunity had come.
Even if they organized public opinion to attack "Sekiro" at this time, it would not help the sales of their "Toriy".
But if it doesn’t benefit myself, can’t I harm others?
Even if I can't save my own sales, I can lower your reputation and affect your sales, isn't that good?
Think of this.
Koizumi immediately picked up the phone and called his assistant.
In fact, the atmosphere within Konami is very subtle, or even a little chaotic.
Due to a mistake in the arrangement at the previous video game festival, Moritani beat up Koizumi and sent him directly to the hospital.
Immediately afterwards, Moritani announced his resignation as the lead in the promotion and marketing of the event, which directly led to the failure of Torii's subsequent marketing.
The failure of the Video Game Festival, the head of publicity and promotion resigned at the last minute, the 3S-level masterpiece had a dismal start, and the overall reputation continued to decline...
Amid all the chaos, it stands to reason that Kamijou Jingzheng should have acted quickly, made timely adjustments and responses, and stabilized the situation.
Afterwards, they launched a secondary marketing campaign to stabilize Torii's declining reputation, and then ordered Koizumi to make additional adjustments to the game.
After all, the game’s first week sales have not yet been released, so it’s not too late to make amends.
However.
At this time, the senior management of Konami did not make any response or action, just like a stagnant pool of water, as if they regarded Torii and all the works of this video game festival as abandoned pawns and did not care about them at all.
Therefore, Kazuo Koizumi, as the director of Koizumi Studio and the first designer of the Torii project, naturally became the full person in charge of the project without any arrangements or detailed instructions from the upper level, and could mobilize some of the publicity and public relations forces.
that's all!
In just half an hour!
With the doubts of many players and the complaints of major anchors.
soon.
Posts about "Sekiro has a serious and malicious bug!" were spread on major game forums.
It became a hot topic for a while, and players were talking about it!
…
"...If you ask me, you should try another route. Look, this has spread all over the Internet. This is a serious bug."
at the same time.
Wang Yong, who was in the smoking area of ​​the bar, took a puff of cigarette and handed his phone to Zhao Yi:
"It's not that your method is wrong, this is a bug. Many anchors have changed their routes to explore other places."
In the game, after players defeat Genichirō for the first time in the castle tower, Genichirō will escape by relying on his resurrection ability that has changed like a precipitation.
After this, players will embark on the real main storyline of the game "Cutting off Immortality".
Since two items, the Immortal Slash and the Fragrance of Source, are needed to cut off immortality, some players, such as Quinn and Yingshu, went to Senpu Temple to look for the Immortal Slash.
Some players chose to go to the Collapse Valley first to look for materials to synthesize the Original Fragrance.
As for Zhao Yi, he chose to go to Xianfeng Temple to look for the Immortal Sword.
Yes, he has a characteristic when playing games - he takes a long time to get started, but quickly masters it.
Whenever he gets his hands on any game, he will stumble and fall into trouble in the early stages.
However, once he becomes familiar with the game mechanics and adapts to the game environment, Zhao Yi's strong ability to learn and apply what he has learned can be fully utilized.
Like a late-game hero.
It's not very good in the early stage, but with the support of experience and equipment, you can kill all the enemies in the field.
Now Zhao Yi has caught up with the attack speed of the first echelon and encountered this completely immortal Armor Hero.
"Um--"
After browsing the online discussions, Zhao Yi smacked his lips, thinking:
"Such a serious bug... How could Golden Wind not be discovered before release?"
Obviously, Zhao Yi did not quite agree with the BUG statement.
"indeed,"
Wang Yong was actually somewhat puzzled by this:
"So some players say this is a game mechanic, which means it's not the right time to kill the Armor Hero yet,"
"Maybe we need to go somewhere else first and find a targeted item before we can completely kill him."
This analysis seems to make sense.
However.
Zhao Yi still shook his head:
"No, this does not conform to the design logic of the game."
After playing the game for so long, Zhao Yi has actually gained a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of "Sekiro".
That is, any combat BOSS you encounter now can be defeated on the spot.
After all, even the first encounter with Genichirō could be defeated, turning into "Kushiichirō" who won by a sneak attack.
How could Golden Wind arrange a BOSS that makes players have to work hard to defeat but also prevents players from passing the level?
"It's torture," Wang Yong shrugged as a matter of course after hearing Zhao Yi's analysis, "This isn't how the old thief plays his games."
"Alas - that's wrong,"
Hearing this, Zhao Yi slowly shook his head:
"There is a fundamental difference between torturing people and disgusting people."
"The old thief just likes to torture players and make them lose their balance in their mentality after dying again and again, but in the end, you can definitely beat him,"
"He would never arrange a boss that is impossible to defeat just to annoy you."
this……
After hearing what Zhao Yi said, Wang Yong opened his mouth.
What Zhao Yi said seems to make sense.
From the perspective of game design logic, this is indeed not in line with the tone of this game.
But the problem is that the situation is now right in front of us.
Players just can’t find a way to pass the level?
"That means you've found the wrong method!"
That’s it!
Zhao Yi crushed the cigarette butt into the ashtray, waved the smoke, walked out of the smoking room, and re-entered the sensory cabin.
As for Wang Yong, it was time to play together, so he simply turned off the game and connected to Zhao Yi's perspective.
Have to say!
After playing and understanding Sekiro in depth, Zhao Yi's skills have improved by leaps and bounds.
Boom! Brake!
Before entering the covered bridge, Zhao Yi was seen standing at the end of the bridge, raising his hand and stepping on the ground, with two rays of light, one red and one yellow, lighting up on his body.
Yaksha Killing Candy, Strong Body Candy.
These are two consumable items in the game.
The former will temporarily lose 50% of the maximum health in exchange for a 20% attack power bonus, helping players to achieve execution effects faster.
The latter will reduce the enemy's damage to the player's stance bar by 66%, helping the player to parry better.
whoosh!
Since the duration of both candies is only 25 seconds, Zhao Yi needs to fight quickly!
[For my son! Give me your...]
"Shut up!"
Before the Armor Hero finished speaking!
Zhao Yi flew up the mountain and waved his hand.
Crackling!!!
A string of firecrackers exploded in front of him, directly interrupting the Armor Hero's words, and at the same time frightened the Armor Hero so much that he subconsciously put out his hands to cover them!
Brake! Brake! Brake!
Three consecutive swings of the sword!
The armored warrior was beaten back repeatedly, with sparks flying all over his body!
The wedge ball swept across his extremely sturdy armor, making a series of piercing golden sounds!
[Ughh ...
Buzz!
After a brief exchange of three slashes, the Armor Warrior reacted quickly, swung the giant sword in his hand and smashed towards Zhao Yi!
Boring!
Sparks flying!
Zhao Yi's posture bar rose slightly, while the Armor Warrior's posture bar had already reached a quarter!
“What the hell!!!”
Wang Yong, who was watching at the same time, was shocked!
So fucking strong!
The firecracker started with three sword strikes and one fight, and smoothly broke a quarter of the defense of the extremely brave Armor Warrior!
And what Zhao Yi did next could be described as a "Sekiro" operation!
Step on the knife, nod, parry, bounce back...
As the sword was swung, the armored warrior was defeated and could not hurt Zhao Yi at all!
Boring!
And as the golden sound of the last flick of the knife rang out, the Armor Hero's posture bar collapsed instantly!
Zhao Yi also took this opportunity to throw the money at him and kill him with a ninja move!
laugh--!
Boom boom boom!
Sparks flew and the Armor Hero staggered backwards, but he still did not die!
This time!
Zhao Yi was completely confirmed - this was definitely not a BUG!
You know, this is a motion sensing cabin game, although the machine in the motion sensing bar is not the most advanced Yiyou x2, but the older Polar Bear generation.
But the full sense of touch is still very clear.
Zhao Yi could clearly feel the blade cutting through his armor, which was different from all the executions he had performed before!
If this is a BUG, ​​then why would Golden Wind go to the trouble of adjusting the feeling of a knife cutting armor in a place like this?
so!
Zhao Yi looked at the Armored Warrior who had recovered half of his stance bar and rushed back, and raised his wedge pill again:
"Something's wrong. This is definitely not a bug. There must be a way to get around it. Please help me keep an eye on it!"
Talking!
There was a flash of cold light in his hand, and he attacked again!
Ding! Dang! Boring!
Flames were flying everywhere, and Zhao Yi and the Armor Warriors were fighting together!
At the same time, Wang Yong's mind was spinning rapidly!
As a cloud player, although he did not experience the game personally, he basically understood the combat mechanism of the game through many online live broadcasts and Zhao Yi's "live broadcast".
In Sekiro, there are only three ways to cause damage to the enemy:
Stealth and back-attack, kill with normal attacks, break the stance and kill with ninja, and use the items in the ninja's hands to kill.
But now, stealth is definitely not feasible. The Armor Hero's alertness is extremely high, and normal attacks cannot cause damage. The Ninja prosthetic arm can only cause a debuff effect without damage, and the Ninja Kill can only kick this tin can and make it stagger a few times.
Zhao Yi took on the Armor Hero's attacks again and again, and broke his stance bar again and again.
For a moment, Wang Yong frowned.
Once, twice, three times...
Ninja prosthetic arms, candy, gourd, resurrection...
Endure killing, endure killing, and endure killing again...
The roaring tin can seemed tireless, waving the giant sword in its hand and smashing towards Zhao Yi madly.
As time goes by, Zhao Yi's situation becomes more and more dangerous. He has played all his cards and is now at the end of his rope, with only a thin layer of blood left!
The battle between the two was so fierce that the entire bridge became a mess!
The wooden windows on both sides of the corridor bridge were smashed one after another, and even the railings next to the observation deck were hacked to pieces!
[Wooooooooooooo! Put down your weapon!]
Buzz!!!
Following another roar from the Armor Hero!
The giant sword seemed to be carrying the power of thunder and lightning, and it charged towards Zhao Yi and chopped him down fiercely!
Boring, boring, boring -- boring!!!
At this time, Zhao Yi was already at the end of his strength. Facing such a heavy blow, his steps were unstable and he retreated repeatedly. He was almost retreated to the side of the observation deck!
Thump thump thump——
Below is a thousand-foot cliff!
Above is the giant thunder sword!
A critical moment!
call--
Boring——!!!
In an instant!
Sparks are flying!
A perfect parry shook off the Armor Hero's sword and also broke his stance at the last moment!
Zhao Yi's heart rate even soared to one hundred and fifty!
Seeing the red dot appear, he subconsciously stepped forward and killed it again.
And at this moment, a scream of surprise suddenly sounded in the voice channel!
The tin can that cannot be killed, the stagger triggered by the killing, the shattered covered bridge...
"Fuck! I get it!"
Wang Yong screamed:
"Go around his back! Go around his back! Kick him! Now!!!"
salad--!
Hearing this, Zhao Yi almost subconsciously took a step forward and went around behind the Armor Hero. The two of them swapped positions and Zhao Yi flew forward with his waist raised.
The wedge ball in his hand once again crossed the neck of the Armored Warrior, and then his legs were tensed, like a compressed spring, and he kicked into the air!
Boom——!!!
Thump—thump—thump—!
The unstable armored warrior staggered a few steps, and his heavy body rushed towards the observation deck without guardrails like a dump truck. He stretched out his hands as if trying to steady himself, but the airtight armor on his body was too heavy!
Falling happens in the next second.
A roar of fear and unwillingness suddenly resounded through the towering valley of Xianfeng Temple, startling a flock of birds.
【Robert! ! ! 】
call--
Boom!!!
The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground took several seconds to emanate.
[Obtain: Buddhist beads]
Then, a trophy popped up in the lower right corner of Zhao Yi’s head-up display—
[BOSS defeated (armored warrior)]
In an instant!
The voice channel of the somatosensory cabin was silent for five full seconds!
Then, two screams burst out at the same time in the somatosensory cabin!
"I--!"
"Grass--!"
laugh--
When the somatosensory hatch opened, Wang Yong and Zhao Yi saw incomparable excitement in each other's eyes!
More than two hours of exploration!
Dozens of attempts!
Countless possible analyses!
Hundreds of sword flicks and moves in the final battle, and six full rounds of ninja killing!
The two big boys high-fived each other, making a pleasant and crisp sound!
"Passed! Shit! Passed! Man!!!"
“Awesome!!!!”
“We are the champions! Hahahahaha Wuhu——!!!”
…
And at this moment!
Riverside.
Golden Wind Games Company.
In the vice president's office.
Sato was sitting on the sofa opposite Gu Sheng, looking a little worried:
"The discussion among players is very intense now. They are all mentioning us and want to get an explanation."
"There are even quite a few players attacking us on various forums and social media platforms, and the language used is...very intense."
[Malicious BUG] Two hours after the incident, public opinion that "Sekiro" had a serious BUG that needed to be urgently fixed was overwhelming in the gaming community.
Although many of the players were relatively rational and stood up to "excuse" Golden Wind.
Either they could say that this "invincible bug" is just because players took the wrong route to clear the game, or it could be that Xiao Huang lacks experience. They hope everyone can be more tolerant of their first 3S-level masterpiece.
But don't forget.
Amidst all this turbulent public opinion, Konami's public relations team is fanning the flames.
As a result, the situation escalated, and a larger number of players denounced Golden Wind and asked them to come out and give an explanation.
After all, this is a major bug that affects the main progress of the game.
In this regard, Sato, as the studio director of Steel Chain Fingers and also the main person in charge of the Sekiro project besides Gu Sheng, was helpless and anxious.
You know, when he was designing this BOSS, he had a vague feeling that something was wrong.
Although the setting of "relying on terrain to execute the BOSS" is not uncommon in the gaming circle.
But generally speaking, such settings are often accompanied by extremely obvious prompts .
In some games, players will even be told directly what to do through the words of their companions.
But there is no such thing in Sekiro.
Don't even mention telling players what to do.
When fighting against the armored warrior, the player doesn't even get any hints.
Just rely on your own exploration!
The most important thing is that the torturous nature of their game is quite prominent.
Sato couldn't even imagine how explosive the players' mentality would be when they found out that the BOSS they had fought so hard to defeat not only did not fall, but instead rushed up again as if nothing had happened.
And now.
He saw it.
"How about...we release a demo video of the game?"
Sato suggested.
If this continues, the game’s sales and reputation will be seriously affected.
"That's just calling the players stupid."
Regarding this, Gu Sheng seemed very calm.
He closed the pen cap, turned the pen in his hand, and gave Sato a comforting smile:
"Don't worry, there will always be stubborn people,"
"They could even spend a whole night beating Genichirō, who was just meeting him for the first time."
"There will definitely be people who will stubbornly fight with the Armor Heroes and try to pass the level."
"Don't panic, let Robert fly for a while..."
Hearing this, Sato wanted to say something.
But at this moment.
Suddenly, the cell phone dinged.
I took out my phone and saw a hot post from the world's largest player community forum [SNG Forum] -
"Xianfeng Temple Armor Warrior Invulnerability Strategy (with video and fighting tutorial)"
Posted five minutes ago.
Number of replies——
80790 items.
Sato suddenly became embarrassed while talking, as if he was stared at by Medusa, and was petrified on his sofa.
Gu Sheng couldn't help but twitch his lips.
"Emmmm..."
Gu Sheng opened his mouth, even a little embarrassed to interrupt the petrified Sato:
"Is it—has our reputation reversed?"
"have……"
Hearing this.
Sato slowly raised his head and swallowed.
Then, he turned his phone to Gu Sheng:
"Someone has captured the armored warrior,"
"80,000 replies in five minutes,"
"Our reputation has not only reversed,"
"It's still spinning..."
"It's a bit of a big deal..."