Farming is definitely a niche genre in gaming.
People don't play farming games because they genuinely want to toil away under the sun. Clicking around in a farming game on a computer is one thing, but if it's as realistic as Doomsday Ring, a magical post-apocalyptic world, let alone the exhaustion involved, it also takes months for a harvest. For the Undead, farming would be pure drudgery.
But if you add one thing to farming - the ability to grow rare item crafting materials - that's a whole different ballgame.
As long as the rewards are good enough, farming becomes a worthwhile side hustle.
[NEW! | FEATURED! "Star Dragon Outpost" Unlocks Farming! Discussing God Yuan's Game Freedom]
A thread about "Star Dragon Outpost" quickly rose to the top. Among the numerous "beginner villages" in the game, Star Dragon Outpost has consistently maintained top-tier popularity.
With a total player count of only 3,000-ish and the game only being in closed beta for five days, everyone has pretty much experienced the same content.
Meanwhile, in a certain wilderness area, the lone Undead player "Still Gotta Talk That Talk" who's switched to leather armor, was resting while holding a short sword. He hadn't completely shut down his senses, so he was feeling a bit fatigued.
He had lost an arm, but no biggie. At least compared to what he gained, the injury wasn't much of a loss.
That was a small cufflink engraved with the symbol "——十——," not made of pure gold, but possessing a special ability.
[Cufflink of the Frenzied Devotee (Cursed Trinket)]
[Rarity: Common (White)]
[Effect: At the cost of madness, release the Frenzied Flame that ignites the rationality of your enemies.]
This was his greatest reward. It could release a small wisp of crimson flame, and those afflicted would either go mad and commit suicide, or go mad and attack others, often helping him create chaos to exploit.
Even if other players might be at a higher level than him, nobody could possibly have better gains.
He confidently opened the official forum, something he hadn't dared to do for days. The thread discussing Star Dragon Outpost was pinned at the top.
As a success story, he could finally proudly look at the pathetic state of the struggling players, and then whip out his cufflink.
Time to be smug!
[I'm player @NiaoNiao'sPlace. I believe everyone has now entered the beginner village and explored for a long time, probably understanding the game's setting and style. If you don't understand, it doesn't matter, you can check out the walkthrough videos previously made by the pros, here's the portal: XXXXX]
[To put it simply, this game is set in a post-apocalyptic world, and uniquely, has few players and a lot of monsters, with almost every place having a BOSS, and the BOSSes are basically never repeated. Taking my experience at Star Dragon Outpost as an example, first there's the Carrion Queen (Attached Image.JPG) that almost all players have seen in videos, who was also the first BOSS since the game was launched. Then there's "Hyena" Old Mandred (Attached Image.JPG). It goes without saying that our Lord of Star Dragon Outpost is a game changer who took out two BOSSes, he is definitely BOSS-tier character! and today he even tamed another BOSS during exploration (Attached Image.JPG)]
[But don't think of this game as a simple monster-killing leveling game. I think that compared to the frighteningly intricate background setting and gameplay, monster-killing leveling only takes up a small part. In this game, the interactivity of NPCs is beyond your imagination! This is the first point about freedom that I want to make. As long as you're in this game, you'll find that many NPCs can be interacted with. They seem dull, but they can remember you, recognize you, and give various responses depending on the character. Friends with game development experience should know how terrifying it is to make NPCs able to distinguish you from another player.]
[Interaction means negotiation.]
[That's right! Most of the NPCs in this game can be negotiated with. I'm not sure about other places, but taking "Star Dragon Outpost" as an example, we players in Star Dragon Outpost have received a large number of tasks, such as repairing walls, finding grain seeds, gathering information, etc.! Then! Here's where it gets interesting! The players repairing the walls felt that the current wall-repairing materials were too poor, so someone came up with the brilliant idea of using cement. When the players told the Lord about this, the Lord actually agreed to let them research it.]
[Even more shocking! Players took off their headsets and searched for relevant information online, then brought that knowledge back into the game. After some experimentation, they actually managed to produce cement! This means the game's freedom isn't just about interacting with NPCs; it also manifests in the realm of physics and logic.]
[Also, we have a lovely player, @RomanticRiceBucket, who was curious about the food in the game. She chatted with Old Pete, the veteran, hoping to help him taste the dishes. Before this, many players had tried to get a quest from Old Pete, but all had failed. However, she succeeded, and the reason might surprise you. It's because Old Pete remembered the Lord bringing her to eat with him, and believed she was someone the Lord trusted, making her a cut above other players.]
[In this game, NPCs don't treat all players equally!]
[What happened next was also pretty wild. @RomanticRiceBucket took on a quest to grind "Fire Tongue Grass" into powder (attached Fire Tongue Grass image). This Fire Tongue Grass is a mutated plant, and excessive consumption can kill you with spiciness. Then, @RomanticRiceBucket actually died from the spiciness! Immediately, someone had a brilliant idea to make ranged weapons using Fire Tongue Grass. But after talking, they realized that while Fire Tongue Grass wasn't super rare, it wasn't exactly easy to come by. Just then, the Lord showed up. He listened to the conversation for a while… You can't imagine the feeling of an NPC listening to you all talk smack. When the players were lamenting the scarcity of Fire Tongue Grass, he chimed in with: "The yield of Fire Tongue Grass is too low, but I can sell you seeds. Do you want to start farming?" Then he gave a location and told the players to go there and start farming!]
[Is this clever game design? Impossible. There's no way the developers could have known when we'd talk about wanting to farm and make it a keyword trigger. What if the Lord wasn't nearby? So, I think this game has some incredibly powerful AI. They trained the models to be just like real people! They can understand player conversations, think of responses, and logically issue quests. If they didn't tell me, I'd think he was a real person.]
[And another aspect of God Yuan's incredible freedom is @S&M. He took on the quest to explore and search for mutated grain seeds, then discovered a Frenzied Flame village and brought the Lord to help. This is good news for all players. NPCs become powerhouses who directly lead you across the map! In other words, as long as you max out your relationship with an NPC, you can either be treated specially and get unique quests like @RomanticRiceBucket, or you can be like @S&M and directly roll around with a powerful NPC by your side. According to my current statistics and investigations, the quests in this game are basically never repeated. No one can do the same quest, so if you get a quest due to high favor, someone else won't be able to get it.]
[Going back to the Frenzied Flame village, the villagers in the Frenzied Flame village are called Frenzied Sages, who will attack outsiders. And there is indeed a BOSS in this village. As I said earlier, @S&M got killed by the Frenzied Sages, then he dragged the big daddy Lord over. Unexpectedly, when the hidden BOSS discovered that the Lord was a bloodline noble, he actually surrendered!]
[For more details, everyone can go to the thread of the handsome guy @S&M. The thread also contains a lot more detailed and important information, such as the royal city of Goliad, and how nobles' surnames could draw power from the Magic Ring before it broke, etc. If you're a lore enthusiast, you'll love it.]
[Finally, let's talk about the freedom of increasing your favor with NPCs. As long as you're well-mannered and pamper the NPCs, there's a good chance you'll get crucial information from them, including some secrets. Each NPC has a different personality. A tip: food is definitely the most important gift at this stage!]
End of the post.
Comments from players quickly appeared below.
Silk White Granny: [Straight up died from the spice? Hahaha, just watched the video of the lady eating! The ID RomanticRiceBucket is a perfect fit!]
Floating Void: [Are you just showing off? I'm still hacking away at bandits with a hoe, and you guys have already defeated two BOSSes and tamed one? Are we even playing the same game?]
Old Book Friend 10086: [Got it, I'm immediately going to grind favor with the village chief's daughter-in-law.]
White World: [So, how do I get to Star Dragon Outpost? My beginner village is kind of trash. (Attached Image: Fine Infantry Armor Set.JPG), (Attached Image: Excellent Steel Longsword.JPG), (Attached Image: Oak Crossbow.JPG) ¯_(ツ)_/¯ ]
Book Friend 20230213001438202: [Is Lord Linde Yang Guo or something? A strange fragrance under his armpits, BOSSes get all attracted and flustered when they get close, what an NPC succubus!]
Everything is an Ant: [Anyone selling access to the playtest? Paying a lot, please~]
Looking at the lively thread, "Still Gotta Talk That Talk" curled his lip. So what if they have BOSSes? His gains were far better than other players'! Even that whole fine infantry armor set didn't impress him.
His was a cursed trinket! He was the only one in the entire game to have one right now.
So he posted a comment as well.
Still Gotta Talk That Talk: [The content is pretty interesting, but this "Star Dragon Outpost" looks pretty average. (Attached Image: Cufflink of the Frenzied Devotee.JPG)]