Clearly, at this moment, it wasn't just Cynthia who was shocked by the game's price; the viewers in the livestream could no longer hold back either. They began to type furiously:
[288 ₽?? For a little pixel game? It looks like the file size is less than a few hundred MB. How much content can it possibly have? And he dares to sell it for 288??]
[The game creator is such a nice guy. He could have just robbed us directly, but he decided to make a game to give us in return.]
[Even "Angry Stones" only sells for 99, and the Battle Road Season Pass is only 150. What gives him the right to sell it for this much?]
[I think he just wants to use the gimmick of the 100,000 prize to scoop up some cash and then run away, right? Pixel game, plus this clickbait description... it's not the first time we've seen this.]
The crowd had no idea what was going on in Cynthia's heart regarding the Rayquaza cover art and the creator.
In their eyes, this was just a cash-grab game with a price so ridiculous it defied logic. Thus, it was only natural for them to start roasting it verbally and in writing.
After all, what kind of legitimate game sells for 288?
But in the next moment, under the gaze of everyone watching, Cynthia pressed the buy button and selected payment.
The comments instantly went silent.
It took several seconds before they exploded again, with question marks flying across the full screen.
[???]
[Calm down!! Wifey!! I can earn that money, but you can't spend it like that!!]
[Holy crap, 288 without even blinking?]
[The Boss is confused!]
Facing these comments, Cynthia's explanation rang out quickly.
"Don't worry, everyone. I saw that the price was so high, so I got interested."
"If the content isn't good, as a designated game tester, I can get a full refund later."
"Rest assured. According to his claims, this is a game related to Pokémon battling. If I can really clear it, there's a 100,000 prize waiting for me."
Once Cynthia said this, the comments instantly seemed a bit more understanding.
[That makes sense. Since he dared to write such an introduction on the official League website, if someone clears it and he refuses to pay the 100,000, the creator will be arrested and jailed.]
[Hahahaha, the creator definitely thought he could scoop up some money and run by making the game difficulty extremely high. But he definitely didn't expect that the first person to play his game would be the Sinnoh Champion!]
[Right, right! And Sis is the League's appointed professional game tester. If she's unsatisfied with the game, she can demand a refund at any time.]
[LMAO, this guy just sold one copy of his game, and now he has to pay out the reward?]
[To the guy above, he has to pay out 99,712. Be precise.]
Watching the chat calm down and return to joking around, Cynthia sighed in relief.
She certainly couldn't reveal the information regarding the game cover or her true hidden objective.
Information regarding top-tier existences like "Legendary Beasts" was classified top secret. It wasn't something ordinary citizens could just know about; otherwise, it could easily cause panic or other issues.
So, she had to find a reasonable explanation for buying the game.
Moreover, when she saw that price, for some reason, a thought suddenly crossed her mind...
For him to make a game like this... perhaps it really is worth that money?
——How could someone who understands the Legendary Beast "Rayquaza" be an ordinary person? Would they really need to make a trashy game just to scam money?
Besides, 288 really wasn't much to her.
So, as for the specific situation, wouldn't she know once she tried it?
Anyway, clearing the game first and obtaining the creator's contact information was her true goal.
With this thought, Cynthia took a deep breath and, under the gaze of the livestream audience, clicked the download button.
The biggest advantage of pixel games was that their file size wasn't large. A few seconds later, accompanied by a crisp "Ding," a green gem icon suddenly appeared on Cynthia's desktop.
As she clicked the mouse, a window immediately popped up.
After a black screen, a drop of water fell from a lush green leaf. Accompanied by dynamic electronic music, it fell into a pond below, stirring up ripples.
The camera moved up. Under the shining sun, on a vast grassland, a young man wearing a green bandana rode a bicycle, speeding with the wind.
Countless silhouettes of Pokémon appeared beside him, traveling along with him!
A running Manectric, a soaring Flygon, a trailing Volbeat...
There was also a cute Torchic, clumsily sprinting with its two little claws. It wasn't paying attention and tripped over, then hurriedly scrambled back up to keep running, as if afraid of being left behind.
The camera moved up again, and the screen erupted with a burst of light. Immediately after, the emerald-green game logo appeared—
[Pokémon: Emerald]
Such an opening animation made Cynthia momentarily stunned.
Half a year ago, after being invited by the League to become a special game tester, she had livestreamed and experienced quite a few games.
Pixel games made up a portion of those. In her memory, the characteristics of such games were crude and rough visuals, relying entirely on the core gameplay.
After all, the production cost of pixel games was the lowest. It was the priority choice for many manufacturers and studios that had ideas but no startup capital.
But correspondingly, their visual performance would be very poor.
Yet now, just this opening animation alone completely overturned her understanding of pixel games.
Although it still had that familiar pixel feel, the visuals were incredibly refined, possessing a sense of depth as if they were truly presented before her eyes.
In this moment, just seeing this opening sequence, Cynthia made a judgment in her heart.
——This is definitely not just some crudely made cash-grab game!
At the same time, the viewers in the livestream also realized something was different and spoke up one after another:
[Holy crap? This is a pixel game?]
[Why do the visuals and expressiveness feel so strong?]
[The rhythm of this music is amazing too. I feel brainwashed after listening to it just once.]
[Although it's far from the opening animation of "Battle Road"... this is already much more refined than any other game I've seen!]
[Oh no, don't tell me it's actually worth 288?]
Cynthia glanced at the comments and shook her head slightly.
If it's just an animation like this, it's definitely not worth the price of 288.
The specific situation depends on the actual game content.
But in her heart, she actually began to feel a hint of anticipation.
She took a deep breath and pressed the 'X' key according to the game prompt.
The logo disappeared, replaced by a prompt.
[Please enter your name]
Cynthia hesitated for a moment, then typed:
[Strawberry Ice Cream]
Of all sweets, ice cream was her favorite.
And strawberry was her preferred flavor.
On the screen, prompts popped up again.
[Welcome to the world of Pokémon, Strawberry Ice Cream.]
[An adventure filled with courage and friendship is waiting for you!]
[Don't forget your original intention. With bonds and passion, go become the strongest Pokémon Trainer!]
At this moment, comments flooded the livestream.
[She still loves ice cream so much. I'm crying.]
[Haha, if I say the streamer is already the world's strongest Trainer, how will you respond to that?]
But as Cynthia looked at that text, she was suddenly taken aback.
Courage, friendship...
Bonds and passion...
In her eyes, a different kind of emotion seemed to flow.
After a long time, Cynthia took a deep breath and solemnly pressed the [Start] button.
After officially entering the game, a little girl wearing a green hat, representing her, appeared inside a moving truck.
Jumping out of the truck, "Mom" came up to greet her and explained the current situation—the player and their family had moved to a new home in Littleroot Town in the Hoenn Region.
This day was also the important day when the player would receive their starter Pokémon and set off on their Trainer's journey.
As Cynthia played, the exquisite architectural structure of Littleroot Town once again surprised and amazed her.
Although she had never been to Littleroot Town in the Hoenn Region...
The appearance of the surrounding buildings was exactly the same as the characteristics of the Hoenn Region in her memory. Completely identical.
It was evident that the author had diligently looked up information and compared it with real-life examples.
The details of the wind blowing the grass and trees, the blooming flowers, and even the Pokémon following the town residents made Cynthia feel it was somewhat incredible.
Everything was lifelike. Although pixelated and slightly blurry, it was remarkably vivid.
——Is this really something a pixel game can achieve?
Next, as the plot progressed, after setting the clock at home and meeting a boy in the neighbor's house, the boy asked Cynthia to say his name.
Not yet realizing that this would be her rival for the journey ahead, and being hopeless at naming things, she directly named him "Black-haired Boy," which elicited another round of laughter from the chat.
[Sis is just like that. Apart from ice cream, she can't name anything.]
[Haha, seeing that the Champion is as bad at naming as I am puts me at ease.]
At the same time, discussions about the core gameplay appeared:
[Speaking of which, next is getting the Pokémon, right? In this kind of pixel game, how are they going to do Pokémon battle animations? Feels like they can't do it at all.]
[Yeah, will they just skip the battle animations? After all, the scenery in this game is good enough to just treat it as a sightseeing trip?]
[Shouldn't be. Didn't the game intro say the difficulty is very high? It even said something about not being responsible for heart attacks or cerebral hemorrhages.]
While the chat discussed, the character controlled by Cynthia arrived at the entrance of the woods above the town.
A cry for help came from the distance. A Poochyena was chasing a Professor wearing a lab coat, running all over the place.
Cynthia looked at the image of this Professor and blinked.
Why does this Professor feel so familiar??
Isn't this Professor Birch from the Hoenn Region?
"Strawberry Ice Cream!! You came just in time! There are Poké Balls in the bag over there, help me, quick!"
The dialogue box popped up.
The chat instantly erupted in amusement.
[Holy crap, Professor Birch, is that you? Haven't seen you in a few days, have you become this trash? Even a Poochyena can chase you around?!]
[Hoenn Region's top research professor is asking Sinnoh's Strongest Champion for help to solve a Poochyena biting his butt. How could I dream up something like this?]
[Hahahahahahahaha Strawberry Ice Cream please help me hahahahahahahaha]
[To the guy in front, your loud typing is hurting my ears!]
At the same time, the interface for choosing a Pokémon popped up in front of Cynthia.
Three Poké Balls, corresponding to—
A fire-type Pokémon resembling a chick with orange fluff: Torchic.
A cool and handsome grass-type Pokémon, like a lizard, holding a twig in its mouth: Treecko.
And a simple, honest, and cute-looking water-type Pokémon: Mudkip.
These three Pokémon were the unique "Starters" of the Hoenn Region, the popular initial Pokémon choices for novice Trainers in that area.
Looking at the images of the three Pokémon, Cynthia began to consider.
If this was a high-difficulty battle game, then the choice of this starter Pokémon was naturally crucial.
After all, she would need to rely on this Pokémon to get through the early stages.
While Cynthia pondered, the chat was also giving her ideas.
[Pick Torchic! Torchic is cute pinch!]
[Mudkip is the GOAT, okay? Do you like the stats of my Swampert, the all-rounder?]
[When can the one who is 4x weak to Grass sit at the adult table? Rewarding you with a Grassy Glide!]
[How about Treecko? I think Treecko is pretty well-rounded, and it fights pretty well after evolving into Sceptile.]
Looking at the comments and combining them with her own thoughts, she soon made her final decision and chose the Poké Ball containing Treecko.
The reason for this choice was that she had been interested in Treecko as a Pokémon before.
Since there was a chance to experience it now, it wasn't a bad idea.
Moreover, Grass-type Pokémon logically had some advantages in the early game, after all, they had many means to restore their own stamina, such as Absorb and Leech Seed...
As a cool ripple effect appeared on the screen, the game instantly switched to the battle screen.
Intense battle music rang out instantly. The boiling drumbeats and orchestral electronic harmonies made one's blood pump!
Looking at the interface and options before her, Cynthia instantly understood the combat method of this game.
——Turn-Based.
Simply put, both sides take turns acting. Whoever is faster gets to move first.
For a pixel game, this kind of battle style seemed to indeed be the most suitable.
While controlling Treecko to use "Pound" to attack, she spoke to the audience in the livestream:
"Judging from the current situation, this game is quite creative."
"But I haven't encountered a game that uses a turn-based system for Pokémon battles before. I don't know how much depth this game has in that regard."
The chat also expressed their opinions one after another:
[True, turn-based seems okay I guess.]
[You move, then I move... feels a bit boring. Doesn't that mean there's no room for mechanical skill at all? Whoever has the type advantage or higher level wins?]
[True, feels like that's a problem.]
[The visuals are refined, the music is great, the creativity is good, but the combat system is weak and boring. It's just a stat check. In this regard, it's not as good as Battle Road. 4 out of 5 stars overall. Appraisal complete.]