"This battle system kind of feels like a knight duel!"
"The moves aren't flashy at all, really plain and by the book!"
"But fighting a giant boss like that… that's pretty exciting."
"Yeah, this Ash Judge Gundyr looks really strong."
"But don't you think the difficulty might be off? Or maybe in the demo they were wearing gear that was too good? That boss fight felt way too short."
"Exactly, it didn't feel satisfying at all. Sure, crushing a boss feels amazing, but taking half its HP in just thirty seconds is way too fast."
"Well, it's just a demo. When players actually play, the pace will change depending on their gear and level. Right now it's mainly to show the combat system."
"That's true. The combat system looks fine to me, at least from what I've seen."
"Yeah, once the full version comes out, the difficulty will probably be higher. Worst case, you can just play on the hardest mode."
"I just hope the game offers a challenge. Short fights always feel unsatisfying."
"Exactly!"
A lot of players were sharing their thoughts in the livestream chat.
Most of the discussion focused on the boss fight flow and the visuals.
After the video ended, Lucas picked some of the most liked questions from the chat to answer, and also talked about Dark Souls.
"I'm sure everyone's seen the Dark Souls gameplay demo. What we can tell players now is that this will be a stage-based progression game."
"I've also noticed players asking if the boss fight was too short or if the difficulty curve was too easy."
"That ties into the game's core design, which is also what makes Dark Souls different from other ARPGs. All I can say is that Dark Souls will be a special game. As for how long a boss fight lasts, that's up to the player—it depends on how fast or slow you play."
"I've also seen players wondering if this is a hack-and-slash game. All I can say is that you can play it like one, but that still depends on the player's skill."
"In fact, for some players, Dark Souls will still be very challenging."
Hearing Lucas say this, the viewers kept sending comments in the chat.
The stream's popularity was also climbing quickly.
Even though most players came away from Lucas's answers feeling like they'd listened but didn't really get much, the hype was definitely there.
The online game showcase was still going on.
After the short combat system presentation, Lucas also showed players various in-game locations on the big screen.
From Firelink Shrine at the start, to Lothric's High Wall after passing through it, then the Catacombs, Cathedral of the Deep, Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, Farron Keep…
Each location was shown from close-up to far away, letting players clearly see the details up close, and the breathtaking scale when zoomed out left the audience amazed.
It was obvious these weren't just concept art images Lucas had posted before.
They were actual in-game environments.
That impressed not only the players but also game designers who had been following the project closely.
In a certain game designers' chat group, people were also talking about Dark Souls.
"Lucas's Dark Souls has some amazing art design."
"Yeah, you could definitely call it top-tier."
"But looking at so many locations, this Dark Souls seems like a big project. I'm actually a little doubtful."
"True. This is Lucas's first ARPG, and he's going this big? Having this many areas is definitely a big challenge."
"That's already seven or eight locations, right?"
"I wonder how long the whole game will be!"
"As long as the story and gameplay aren't a big letdown, this Dark Souls will already be halfway to success."
"Yeah, the visual design for these locations is just incredible."
"Especially that scene in Cold Valley, it was amazing."
Industry-followed game designers thought so, and players in the official livestream chat were also flooding it with exclamation marks.
No doubt about it—just from the combat gameplay and the art design alone, Dark Souls was already halfway to success.
Whether it could become a truly great game would depend on how it performed later.
After all, a game can't be judged by just one thing. You have to look at the whole picture—how much content it has and how deep the experience goes.
Even if a game uses the best technology in the industry and pushes visuals to the max, if its content—like the story—is weak, it's still hard to win players over.
Like when a game has first-class visuals…
…but as a story-driven game, it makes players watch the main character's loved one get their head blown off, then go through a revenge-retirement-revenge cycle, and finally, just as the revenge succeeds, learn some "violence begets violence" life lesson. Could you call that a masterpiece?
Most players would have a very clear answer to that.
For Dark Souls, it had only reached its basic minimum so far.
Whether it could become a great work, and how far it could go, still depended on the story and gameplay content.
At the end of the launch livestream, under the eager gaze of countless players at their computers, Lucas finally announced the release date.
"Dark Souls will officially launch on October 1st, priced at 37 dollar!"
Of course, that was the public price. But as the first big title on the Nebula Games platform…
…it was both the platform's flagship and a way to bring in users.
To boost sales, Lucas didn't make it an exclusive title.
It was too risky.
But using a money-off approach was fine, since Nebula Games still had plenty of funds.
The public price was 37 dollar, but players buying it on the Nebula Games platform would also get a 9 dollar coupon.
For Nebula Games right now, the key was to build a user base and slowly guide them into spending on the platform, making it harder for them to leave.
The livestream viewers didn't know all that—they were just happy the game they'd been waiting months for was finally coming.
After months of waiting, it was finally here!
(End of The Chapter)
---
Read +100 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
Free Tier can read 3 advanced chapters
---