A colossal monster, its entire body covered in wriggling black insects, emerged from the forest, and wherever it passed, plants withered and decayed, becoming rotten.
The monster's body was three times as tall as the male protagonist, and its size was exceptionally massive.
Animals scattered and fled.
At the same time, the terrified samurai, seeing this, were unable to move their legs.
The monster seemed filled with endless hatred for the samurai; it crawled over their bodies, and one person was instantly devoured.
When the monster left, the samurai had already become a corpse.
Another samurai was not so lucky; he tried to run, but the monster caught him, and the insects immediately wrapped around his thigh, then spread upwards.
Before he had fully died, the massive monster had already quickly crawled down the hillside.
Seeing this scene, Yamada Masaharu was completely stunned.
He felt a chilling sensation.
Especially when he saw the black insects wriggling all over its body, he felt goosebumps all over.
The Black Worm Monster instantly vanished on the mountain path, leaving only a trail of decay.
Just as the male protagonist was about to chase it, a terrifying clacking sound came from behind him.
Turning around, he saw that the fellow whose body had been covered in cursed worms had now mutated.
Although he still had a humanoid form, he was half-dead, completely taken over by the evil worms.
The cursed worms burrowed under his skin and then rapidly expanded.
All that could be heard was cracking and the sound of bones breaking.
The man could still let out a wail at first, but soon he fell silent, his entire body filled with countless cursed worms, swelling up like a balloon.
He transformed into a terrifying creature over 2 meters tall, with a humanoid skeleton but completely alienation (mutated).
This creature was covered in black worms, its belly swollen like a ball, and its limbs sprawled on the ground, like a humanoid spider.
The back part was highly swollen.
"Ah so painful"
The man let out his last sound, pleading, "Kill… kill me."
After the animation ended, the camera returned to the male protagonist.
Because of the monster's destruction just now, a large circular clearing had been created around them.
At this point, Yamada Masaharu began his first BOSS battle in "princess mononoke."
…
This segment actually never appeared in the "princess mononoke" movie; Aoki Haruhi added it himself, following the original film's main theme.
Games and animations are still very different. An animation only needs to express things for 1 to 2 hours, but game content carries many more details, and the playable content far exceeds 10 hours.
Therefore, the amount of information increases exponentially.
Especially in action 3D RPGs, where combat is the main gameplay, a large number of enemies need to be filled in.
Overall, "princess mononoke" not only maintained the animation's presentation and story content while adding a lot of new content, but also created many monsters that were not within Hayao Miyazaki's original settings.
Of course, these elements actually have no impact on the movie's main storyline; they even serve to supplement it.
Now, in front of Ashitaka—
The cursed man.
Had turned into a giant monster.
Yamada Masaharu couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, feeling his mouth dry.
Terrifying, this overwhelming 3D sense of oppression was truly too strong.
…
The cursed humanoid giant swayed, pulled up a large tree nearby as a weapon, and then, staggering on its legs, shakily attacked Ashitaka.
When it walked, the entire screen shook.
Terrifying.
Boom!
A tree stump came crashing down, and dust flew up from the ground.
Fortunately, Yamada Masaharu reacted quickly and dodged in time, otherwise…
Before he could finish his thought, a shadow passed overhead (of course, this was just Yamada Masaharu's illusion, as current hardware levels could not support real-time dynamic light, let alone shadows).
The giant held the large tree with both hands and swept it outwards in a fan shape.
Whoosh~
A strong gust of wind swept past.
Yamada Masaharu trembled all over, sent flying backward by the large tree.
His health instantly dropped by more than half, almost to rock bottom.
He quickly drank a potion.
After drinking the potion, he continued his attack.
Slash!
Slash again!
I'll make you suffer, die!
Seeing the BOSS's health drop rapidly, Yamada Masaharu felt a great sense of satisfaction. The feeling of every strike hitting flesh, each slash bringing up a swarm of worms, and blood splattering was simply too good.
Thud!
Just then, a wooden stake came crashing down.
Since the character cannot interrupt his action to dodge backward while performing a continuous attack, Ashitaka was directly slammed heavily onto the ground.
Followed by a sweeping attack.
A large "DEAD" appeared on the screen.
Ashitaka's corpse rolled once on the ground.
The Cursed Man BOSS seemed to still be unsatisfied, swinging the tree stump back and forth, and even without any expression, its actions seemed filled with merciless mockery.
Well, he died again!
But…
His mood was inexplicably excited!!
…
Yamada Masaharu loved challenging action games like this.
Moreover, this game felt absolutely amazing to him, truly extraordinary, unlike any other action game he had ever played on the market before.
Not only did it have exaggeratedly sized BOSSes, but with the 3D effect, that overwhelming, in-your-face, direct impact of being beaten right in front of you was truly unheard of and unseen.
Playing it felt like watching an animated blockbuster, and his whole body was burning with excitement.
After dying about 5 or 6 times, Yamada Masaharu finally figured out the BOSS's pattern.
The Cursed Humanoid BOSS had a fixed attack rhythm and movement path.
After completing a combo, the BOSS would enter a certain "rest" state, and its single attacks were actually quite slow, with long intervals.
Its movements were not only clumsy but also had a large range, which meant it couldn't perform very quick and high-frequency attacks.
So, once you understood these things, it was actually very easy to counter.
The most crucial point was not to be greedy with attacks.
Generally speaking, after hitting two times, you needed to dodge and get behind it.
Otherwise, this guy would unleash a combo with a wide range, and if you got hit by the first strike, you would basically take all subsequent attacks.
And after taking all of them, you could only wait to die.
…
With experience, the rest became much easier.
Attack, dodge.
Attack, dodge…
Yamada Masaharu, having mastered the rhythm, was completely at ease and proficient, playing with extreme satisfaction. Not only did the BOSS have a rhythm, but he himself was also creating a rhythm.
Ah, so satisfying.
Finally, he cut off the BOSS's last drop of blood.
The massive creature in front of him collapsed with a crash.
At the end, a death animation played:
After the Cursed Giant fell, the cursed worms on its body also made sizzling sounds, as if they were melting in the sunlight, constantly evaporating.
In the end, only a human skeleton remained on the ground, along with a pool of decaying blood.
Looking around, the plants and everything else had been destroyed, making the area completely different from when he arrived.
…
Here, Pokeni used direct scene replacement, essentially creating two identical scenes, one before the decay and one after.
After the BOSS battle,
The villagers said the village had been attacked and told Ashitaka to hurry back.
Upon receiving the villagers' message, Ashitaka quickly rushed back to his village.
Along the way, many of the monsters he encountered were cursed mountain beasts.
…
This journey took a lot of time to clear monsters. By now, Yamada Masaharu had gained a lot of experience and avoided group fights whenever possible.
He would push through non-elite monsters, but if it was an elite monster, he would slow down and advance steadily.
It was best to lure it over with a bow and arrow first, and kill them one by one.
Arriving at the village entrance, not far outside was a lookout tower used for post (watching).
A white-bearded old man was perched on the lookout tower.
The NPC's name was Ippei, but the villagers called him Grandpa.
Ashitaka also called him Grandpa.
After talking to him, the next plot point was triggered.
"Something doesn't seem right, Ashitaka," Grandpa said, "Something is coming."
The two anxiously looked into the distance, only to see a black shadow rush out of the darkness—it was the terrifying large black spider-ball monster that Yamada Masaharu had seen on the mountaintop earlier.
Its entire body was covered in terrifying maggots, and it directly crashed through the village's defensive wall, then rushed down the slope.
"It's a Demon!" Grandpa exclaimed in horror.
"Demon?"
When this thing ran from the shadows into the sunlight, the maggots on its body seemed to feel the sun, spreading outwards as if their hair stood on end.
In Ashitaka's line of sight, a huge boar's head was revealed beneath the massive body covered in cursed worms.
"Isn't that the Mountain Lord?" Ashitaka asked in surprise.
In the legends of Japan, mountains have masters, equivalent to mountain gods who protect the land. However, these mountain gods, or Mountain Lords, are often ancient, spiritual mountain animals with powerful energy.
Each mountain has its own Mountain Lord, who protects that land.
If a Mountain Lord dies, or feels themselves weakening and about to pass away, they will seek out the next master to maintain the area.
And the Boar King before him was the Mountain Lord.
But Ashitaka didn't understand why it had become like this; Mountain Lords were generally kind and friendly, great beings who protected the mountains and forests.
After the dialogue, the Mountain Lord, now a Demon, let out a huge roar, and the worms surged skyward like locusts, circling in the air before covering the Mountain Lord again.
The Boar God charged down again, preparing to attack the village.
Grandpa shouted, "If you kill the Boar God, you will also be cursed."
But the male protagonist couldn't care less. To prevent it from attacking the village and harming the villagers, the male protagonist jumped down from the lookout tower without hesitation, ready to fight the Boar God, who had turned into a Demon.
The camera returned to the male protagonist.
A new, arduous BOSS battle began.
However, this time the BOSS battle arena was extremely large, encompassing the entire outer area of the village.
And unlike previous battles, at Ashitaka's summons, a long-horned deer named Yakul came running.
Ashitaka smoothly mounted Yakul, then tightly gripped the bow on his back.
The camera also pulled back.
It seemed the male protagonist, riding Yakul, looked smaller.
But it was through this comparison that Yamada Masaharu realized the Demon Boar was much larger than he had imagined, firmly dominating the upper half of the screen in his vision.
At this point, Yamada Masaharu became completely excited.
Pokeni's game was truly amazing; this gaming experience was like watching an animated blockbuster, a wonderful enjoyment he had never had before.
…
The music also intensified.
Joe Hisaishi's music is truly grand and powerful, and his ability to evoke emotions is super strong. The BOSS battle music was soaring and passionate, with a clear, fast rhythm, plus the shocking effect of the drum beats, making one's heart pound continuously.
In this BOSS battle, the male protagonist attacked by riding Yakul and firing arrows from a distance.
There were two main weak points to attack: two red dots in the middle of this black mass of Demon.
These were also the two eyes of the Boar God.
Each time one was destroyed, it would enter a more enraged phase.
If both eyes were destroyed, the Demon could be shot down.
Focusing on the main target while dealing with distractions, using a hit-and-run tactic by riding and shooting arrows—Yamada Masaharu had never seen such a combat style in a game before.
With the experience from the previous BOSS, this battle was relatively easy.
Although the Demon's attack methods looked very oppressive, it also had its own fixed rhythm and patterns.
As long as these were mastered, it was simply a matter of firing arrows at the appropriate moments.
…
Yamada Masaharu played with great patience, and at the same time, thoroughly enjoyed this visual feast.
After some time, with the last arrow shot, the Demon Boar God's health dropped to zero.
This was followed by a cutscene:
Before its death, the Boar God, who had turned into a Demon, attacked, causing the worms on its body to form a tentacle that wrapped around the male protagonist's right hand.
With its death, the cursed worms on the male protagonist's right hand turned into a puddle of goo, directly corroding into his arm.
Ashitaka's face showed an expression of immense pain, his left hand tightly gripping his right wrist.
A black smoke emanated from it.
The worms on the Boar God's body also melted and decayed in the same way, revealing a massive boar's body.
But at this point, mortally wounded, it could no longer hold on and collapsed with a crash.
"We hit it!" The villagers immediately gathered around.
Many were worried about the male protagonist's injuries.
"This isn't an ordinary wound; it's the Demon's curse."
The High Priestess, who had arrived in a hurry, told the villagers not to approach Ashitaka, then took out a gourd and gave the potion inside to Kaya.
Kaya poured the potion from the gourd onto Ashitaka's corroded arm, and it immediately made a sizzling, smoking sound.
The dying Boar God, with sorrowful and despairing eyes, cursed, "Oh, you filthy humans!"
"Let you know my pain and my hatred."
After saying this, the Boar God's body rapidly decayed and stank, turning into a pile of bones in the blink of an eye.
…
Seeing this, Yamada Masaharu couldn't help but frown.
So, what exactly happened?
The Boar God, who was supposed to be a guardian, had turned into a Demon.
And cursed Ashitaka before its death.
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