After the PV was broadcast, the player community immediately exploded.
Countless players exclaimed that they had been looking forward to this day, finally seeing it arrive.
"Wow. Is Pokeni's the witcher 2 finally coming out?"
"That's great, I've finally waited for this game. The last Time I played The Witcher was about 3 years ago.
The experience it gave me back then was quite good, although there were some minor flaws in certain areas, both the action combat and the story created in The Witcher were impressive.
I still remember the scene in the final battle where Mia fell from the high tower and was burned to ashes.
Like a blooming butterfly.
Pokeni's design sense for game is truly too good.
Even a work from 3 years ago is still not outdated now."
"How many years have I waited for this game? From the first generation of The Witcher in '94, I've been waiting until now, almost 3 years. I originally thought I would never wait for a sequel to The Witcher in this life, but I didn't expect this day to finally come."
"At last year's Tokyo Game Show, I was very much looking forward to this game. It's just that everyone was attracted by princess mononoke at the Time and didn't notice the witcher 2, but I discovered then that this game had great potential.
The graphics are very beautiful.
It's not the traditional sense of beauty, not the aesthetic quality of animated films we commonly see, but a beauty that goes to another extreme.
It's a beauty that comes from the abyss, a mix of extreme darkness, gloom, and fear.
But, as long as you look at it, you will definitely be attracted by this game.
Now it's finally going to be released, I'm really so happy."
In fact, some content from the The Witcher: Devil's Egg PV was already shown at last year's Tokyo Game Show. Of course, Pokeni didn't waste it and directly edited it into the first half of the game PV.
The content of the latter half, which showcases the game characters, combat, and gameplay, is actually the essence and the part most anticipated by players.
"There's not much to say about the first half of the PV, it only shows Pokeni's extremely high level of drawing, but the latter half, though very brief, fully demonstrated the game's performance.
What completely surprised me was that the actual combat in this game actually uses a completely new 3D production method.
The character models instantly became much more three-dimensional, and the overall precision also improved by several grades.
As for combat, it's not yet possible to experience it, only to evaluate it based on effects and presentation.
At least in terms of effects, it's absolutely first-class.
That sword light, the afterimages it creates, plus the explosion light effects… it's truly divine.
Only Pokeni could achieve such effects, right?"
"Although the drawing method changed, the first glance at The Witcher: Devil's Egg immediately captivated me with its aura.
That sense of fear from hell.
Exuding an extremely terrifying aura.
One look and you know it's something written by Gen Urobuchi.
What's still unclear, though, is—
Does this new Producer named Miyazaki Hidetaka truly have the ability to handle such a work?
You know, before him was a game production master like Shinji Mikami."
"This effect is simply explosive! Can game now reach this level?"
"Tsk tsk, this makes it very much worth looking forward to."
"Could this game be a tribute to devilman? From the setting, it actually seems a bit similar: humans possessed by demons then turn into demons, or into devilmen…
And people with equally terrifying demonic power begin to fight back against the demons.
Is that the story?"
devilman is a work created by manga genius Go Nagai in 1972. The story tells of the thrilling battles between the boy Fudo Akira, who gained demonic powers, and the demon clan.
Besides being full of graphic violence and gore, the entire manga's dark, rebellious worldview and the deepest dark side and terror of human nature itself, expressed through extreme ideas and brushstrokes, were quite avant-garde at the Time.
Compared to manga of the same era, it stood out even more.
In the manga, demons are terrifying monsters that can revive in humans, occupying their bodies to reappear in the human world.
And the male protagonist, because of his pure heart, can maintain his sanity even after being possessed by a demon, thus becoming the controller of demons, also known as a terrifying guy called devilman.
To defeat demons, one must become a devilman.
To some extent, the setting in The Witcher: Devil's Egg, where one transforms into a Demon Warrior through demonic power, is indeed somewhat similar.
However, these are all just speculations based on the released PV content.
"It's hard to say now, the game hasn't been released yet, so anything is possible."
"No more talk, I need to go play game. I'll try to re-experience The Witcher 1 before the witcher 2 comes out."
...
In short, after the advertisement for The Witcher: Devil's Egg was released, players expressed great anticipation.
After 3 years, many people were still quietly waiting, which deeply moved Shinji Mikami and Gen Urobuchi.
"Ah~ I thought an outdated game wouldn't be remembered by anyone anymore," Shinji Mikami sighed.
"Hmm, I was a bit too naive before. The first Time I tackled such a deep game work, I didn't manage to do it well, which led to some failures in public reputation.
This Time it shouldn't happen again," Urobuchi Gen said.
However, he was also initially worried that the Time interval for the sequel to The Witcher was a bit long, and he didn't know how many players were still waiting.
It wasn't until he saw the enthusiastic responses from everyone online that a huge weight was lifted from Gen Urobuchi's heart.
On the other hand, Miyazaki Hidetaka, as a first-Time game Producer, was still a little nervous.
Everyone seems to have such experiences; there's a first Time for everything.
Shinji Mikami was like this, Ishino Mika was like this, and later Maeda Jun was also like this…
Only strong-willed individuals like Urobuchi Gen seemed to never show fear or worry.
Any normal person would feel some pressure.
Whether the game sells well or not directly relates to one's career.
Especially for his first game as Director, Senior Shinji Mikami and the President gave him so much encouragement, almost completely allowing Miyazaki Hidetaka to develop according to his own ideas.
How could he let them down?
"It's alright."
Shinji Mikami walked over and patted him on the shoulder, "Think about it, at last year's Tokyo Game Show, you handled facing so many people. Now it's just the game release.
No one is watching you, so you don't need to feel so much pressure."
"What's more, I'm the Director of the game. If problems arise, I'll definitely be the primary person responsible."
"Senior, please don't say that. When you say it, I get even more nervous."
Little Miyazaki lowered his chin, not daring to look Shinji Mikami in the eyes.
"Haha, good."
Shinji Mikami laughed. This guy, who seemed gloomy on the surface, was actually a cute fellow.
"Just relax, that's all."
...
Last year, the overall performance of The Witcher: Devil's Egg was overshadowed by princess mononoke, so it was hard to tell how good it truly was.
After all, princess mononoke's momentum was simply too strong. With Hayao Miyazaki's endorsement and the gimmick of princess mononoke 3+2D, it directly drew everyone's attention at the Time.
More than half a year later, as princess mononoke's glow faded, The Witcher: Devil's Egg began to display its extraordinary power.
Shining to the extreme, like princess mononoke, radiating intense light, is one kind of strength.
Dark to the extreme, like The Witcher: Devil's Egg, where even a simple PV can make people feel deep fear—this is also a kind of strength.
Overall, Pokeni's game almost encompasses the extreme expressions in the game field, from one end to the other.
Heaven and earth, almost everything is covered in Pokeni's game.
In this world, there's no one who can compete.
Pokeni, in terms of game, primarily stands for invincibility.
...
At this Time, within Square company, Miyamoto Masafumi once again felt that deep fear through Pokeni's PV.
That fear was from the heart, a sense of oppression brought by terrifying strength that only insiders could perceive.
Last year, when Miyamoto Masafumi returned from the Tokyo Game Show, he was so overwhelmed he couldn't breathe.
He had thought that with Time passing and princess mononoke already released, he could finally relax. But then the appearance of The Witcher: Devil's Egg once again reminded him—
The fear of being dominated by Pokeni's game.
"Terrifying… too terrifying. I didn't feel it so strongly before. Last year at the Tokyo Game Show, my mind was full of princess mononoke, but now it seems The Witcher: Devil's Egg also has an extraordinary charm."
Beside him, Hironobu Sakaguchi, the Producer of final fantasy 7, and Tetsuya Nomura, the character designer, wore the same expressions.
Both of them had personally experienced last year's Tokyo Game Show, so they could deeply empathize.
"3D mode, it seems Pokeni has found a new trick again," Hironobu Sakaguchi said uncomfortably.
But what Tetsuya Nomura was thinking was—
He hadn't expected a dark-themed game like The Witcher: Devil's Egg to be able to reach such a level, as if it were a swirling vortex of darkness, constantly drawing people in.
Pokeni's strength is simply too terrifying.
For players, what they see is the game's expressiveness, whether it's fun or not.
However, for game developers, they deeply know how complex and difficult it is to achieve the current state.
Even the part shown in the PV.
3D action game and 2D action game have many fundamental differences.
This Time, The Witcher: Devil's Egg is entirely made as a 3D action game, so the difficulty will be higher.
To give a simple example, in 2D combat, monster movements and expressions are all drawn frame by frame. What image to switch to after being hit, what image to switch to when casting a skill.
Continuous images become actions, and with some effects drawn on the images, it becomes a 2D action game.
As for 3D game, models need to be made, and model hit feedback needs to be determined. In the game, there is an invisible bounding box not displayed to the player, and also a hit box.
This is equivalent to wrapping two or more cubes around the model. If you want to distinguish different parts, you need to create different hit boxes for different parts.
If damage is detected, corresponding effects and animations will be triggered.
The difficulty immediately increases significantly.
And there are also collision boxes. To prevent models from overlapping and looking strange, each monster has its own collision box, some large, some small.
This is equivalent to putting a swimming ring around the monster. When you get close, you will be pushed away, ensuring that each monster has its own space in the game.
This prevents it from becoming extremely crowded.
In the game, various monster pathfinding routes will also be added…
These things are content that players cannot perceive or do not care about.
But for 3D game production teams who have been exploring for so long, they can immediately discover the difficulty involved when they see the combat video.
While they might not immediately understand how Pokeni produced it, they can still glimpse some aspects and realize how difficult it is to achieve such a result.
This further confirmed their impression of Pokeni—
Pokeni's game technology is indeed the top in the industry.
There is no other.
...
"A top-down 3D combat mode."
At Nintendo, after seeing the PV, Miyamoto Shigeru's heart was once again shaken.
Nintendo did not participate in last year's Tokyo Game Show, nor will it this year, and it's unlikely to participate in many future Tokyo Game Shows either.
So Miyamoto Shigeru hadn't actually seen Miyazaki Hidetaka's demonstration at the Time.
Watching the PV on TV was his first understanding of The Witcher: Devil's Egg.
However, like the guys at Square, Miyamoto Shigeru is, after all, a master Producer in the industry. He understood at a glance where the difficulty of this game lay, and how remarkable it was to achieve such a level.
What surprised him even more was that a game like The Witcher had also gone 3D.
It's worth noting that when The Witcher 1 was released back then, it was a major benchmark for action game in the 2D realm.
However…
When he saw the combat screen in the PV again, Miyamoto Shigeru had a strange illusion: after this game went 3D, it not only retained its original game characteristics but also developed new gameplay.
"It seems to offer a completely new experience."
What are those people at Pokeni thinking about all day?
...
The internet was filled with all sorts of speculations. Some were waiting for the game to be released and wanted to buy it, some marveled at how well Pokeni's PV was made, and some were astonished by The Witcher: Devil's Egg's combat performance.
Many players also commented in forums:
"This game doesn't seem as good as princess mononoke.
Has Pokeni already brought out all its best game, and now there are no better game to release?"
Aoki Haruhi stated: I have too many hidden gem game.
I can't release them all.
They are all hidden gem game.
It's just that you don't understand.
As long as they play The Witcher: Devil's Egg, these guys will be amazed.
This game is a completely new experience.
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