In FOW's office, Grayson's expression was quite complex.
If someone had told him before that a game's expansion pack could be as rich as an entire game, or even better than the main game, he would have never believed it.
But now, whether he believed it or not.
'Heart of Stone' and 'Blood and Wine' achieved this.
He experienced the stories of Heart of Stone and Blood and Wine as soon as they were released.
Completely different stories, even polar opposites.
But both were so excellent. Compared to Blood and Wine, which had higher replayability, he actually preferred Heart of Stone more. This was because the atmosphere of entering the world within the painting, dealing with the Mirror Master, was simply artistic.
Whether it was the script or the game's presentation, it was flawless. Grayson was deeply moved.
As more and more players finished Blood and Wine and ended the disputes in Toussaint.
Seeing Geralt raise his wine glass and give a slight smile, and the familiar faces in the White Orchard vineyard at the end.
All the players who experienced the game couldn't help but shed tears.
Finally, among Nebula Games' many game characters, one found a happy ending!
The last one, he seemed to recall, was Nathan Drake, right?
As for Ezio, although he passed away suddenly, he was still gone.
The protagonists who are still alive can be counted on very few fingers.
......
While players online were overcome with emotion, Lucas and his team in a park in Salt Lake City were reaching the final stop of their location scouting trip.
"Boss Lucas, stop watching that. The players don't feel guilty at all," Rachel said, looking at Lucas who was browsing his phone in the park.
"That's right!" Anna chimed in.
"How can you say they don't feel guilty at all? There's still a small portion," Lucas coughed lightly and showed them his phone screen.
Glancing at the phone screen he handed over, the two women pouted. It was hard enough to find one post out of a hundred!
"But Boss Lucas, are we going to destroy all these cities in the new project?" Marcus was very curious.
The journey had given everyone on the team a general idea of what to expect for the upcoming project.
Combined with the keywords Lucas had previously revealed, it was clear that all the cities they had visited would be recreated in the game.
Just like Florence in 'Assassin's Creed'.
The difference, however, was that Florence was meant to represent the Renaissance period.
And now it was going to face a post-apocalyptic scene.
"Of course, we can't destroy them completely. If we were going to destroy them completely, why would I bring you here to experience it firsthand?" Lucas shook his head lightly.
Seeing his team members gathering around, he thought for a moment and then briefly explained the requirements.
"A fungal outbreak that swept through American civilization. Humans infected by the fungus would lose their minds in a short period and become infected mutants. However, this infection only affects humans, and the fungus can also promote plant growth."
"What we need to recreate is not the bustling metropolis of today, but the metropolis after the fungal outbreak. A contrast between urban ruins and new nature."
The people who accompanied Lucas on this trip were considered elites in the industry.
Although it wasn't explicitly stated, the team members were able to grasp and analyze some unusual points from Lucas's description.
"So, Boss Lucas, the new project isn't a horror game then?" Hector asked curiously.
Before they left, Lucas had mentioned three keywords: 'family,' 'zombies,' and 'apocalypse.' So, everyone naturally thought of 'Resident Evil'. Although Lucas had said it wouldn't be a zombie story, they subconsciously leaned towards horror games.
But now, based on the backstory Lucas described, it was clear that the new project was unlikely to be a horror-themed game.
Because if it were horror-themed, Lucas wouldn't have specifically mentioned that the fungal infection only affected humans.
Also, the contrast between urban ruins and new natural environments wouldn't be very suitable for a horror game.
After all, if the fungal virus could infect animals, combined with a strange jungle, it would definitely create a greater sense of pressure for the players.
But now, from Lucas's description, these two settings had clearly been abandoned for the new game.
"That's right. Although the new game has zombies as a setting element, horror won't be the theme. At most, there will be some thrilling moments. It will focus more on emotional connection," Lucas nodded with a smile.
'The Last of Us' or 'The Last of Us', this was the project Lucas was preparing for next.
Weren't players lamenting the regrets of Ethan and Rose as father and daughter?
Then let's use Joel and Ellie to mend the players' regrets.
If there was one game that could make players remember the father-daughter relationship in a game, then 'The Last of Us' would definitely hold a special place.
Its most outstanding feature was its ability to bring the immersive experience of game interaction to the extreme.
Games have always been hailed as the ninth art, and if one had to pick representative works among them.
Then 'The Last of Us' from his previous life would undoubtedly be one of them.
What, you say there's a second part to this game?
A game made by a psycho, can it be a sequel?
Joel being killed by a golf club, Ellie letting Abby go, this can only mean that a psycho has become a psycho, but there's no sense of sanity.
And that sense of sanity is what players find most unbearable.
That is the game's forced moralizing, and the split personality of the game's characters.
In the first game, Joel was cautious and decisive. In the second game, he was like a completely different person.
Ellie was the same. From hatred to letting go of hatred requires an event to push it forward. It's like Yukishiro Tomoe in 'Rurouni Kenshin' approached Kenshin for revenge, but ended up falling in love with him out of hatred.
But in the second game, the psycho Neil's actions were extremely crude. First, Ellie, during her revenge, killed her friends and a pregnant woman.
But with Abby? The game re-created Abby, and had a similar scene with her.
This was to force the players to realize that Ellie killed a pregnant woman in revenge, but Abby did not. Therefore, Ellie was inferior to Abby. In other words, it was to prove that Ellie's revenge was wrong.
In addition, there was the 'painstakingly crafted' tragic backstory of Abby, showing how much her father loved her, and that Abby's revenge was justified.
If you just look at this part, there doesn't seem to be any problem. However, in the plot, Abby's father was also 'selfish'. When facing Queen Flores's question, he stated that he was willing to sacrifice Ellie, not his own daughter Abby.
From a father's perspective, Abby's father was well-portrayed. But such a portrayal doesn't make players see him as a tragic hero, but as Joel's enemy.
Your daughter is your life, but is Joel's daughter not a life?
It can be said that the second game wanted to tell a very ambitious story: to make players hate a character first, then to make them accept and even love her.
However, the final feeling was just a carnival of split-personality psychos.
Therefore, for Lucas, the first game was already perfect. The open ending, leaving everything else for the players to imagine.
As for the second game? He wasn't a psycho.
(End of Chapter)
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