This was a dark and damp cave.
Erwin Aaron awoke from his sleep.
The cave walls were covered in moss, and some unknown small animals rustled in the corners, foraging for food. The air was filled with a suffocating musty smell.
Before the game began, an old man with a long beard, holding a staff, stood before the male protagonist.
If you spoke to him, he would tell you basic information about this world:
On this continent called Normel, there were three powerful main countries:
Star Kingdom, Haoyue Empire, and Eris Federation.
Star Kingdom was located in the eastern part of the continent.
The people of Star Kingdom advocated freedom and equality.
The King of Star Kingdom was a young woman who had earned the respect and love of her people with her wisdom and courage.
Haoyue Empire was located in the western part of the continent and was a country known for its military strength.
The people of Haoyue Empire were tenacious; they believed that only through unremitting effort and combat could they protect their homes and loved ones.
The King of Haoyue Empire was an elderly man who, with his firm resolve and strong leadership, led the Haoyue Empire to prosperity and strength.
Eris Federation was located in the southern part of the continent and was a country primarily focused on commerce and trade.
The people of Eris Federation were intelligent and adaptable; they believed that only through continuous innovation and development could they achieve national prosperity and strength.
The leader of Eris Federation was a middle-aged woman who, with her unique perspective and forward-thinking mindset, led Eris Federation to new heights.
The Federation, rather than being a single country, was composed of many smaller countries or tribes, all united under this agreement framework, following common laws.
Therefore, the overall structure of Eris Federation was somewhat looser.
Although these three countries each had their unique characteristics, they all shared a common goal: to protect their people and homes and to maintain world peace and stability.
Later… a war broke out between them, which has continued to this day.
…
Furukawa Hirozawa didn't actually remember these details, and the developer team didn't intend for players to memorize them through text. This initial exposition by the old man was merely a prelude; players would gradually understand the world's composition and truth throughout the game.
After the conversation was complete, the old man naturally gave the male protagonist a quest.
In the game, the protagonist's name was Erwin Aaron, from Star Kingdom, and he was a member of the vanguard team in that country.
With the three countries currently in a chaotic war, Erwin accepted a mission to attack Ice Wolf Fortress.
Next, the game entered the tutorial section.
…
The tutorial part was actually quite simple.
First, it guided you to move forward, backward, left, and right using the left joystick, and to turn using the right joystick.
Since the game camera was usually fixed at a 45-degree top-down perspective, the right joystick would not change the player's field of view, but only serve to rotate the character's own facing.
In other words, in a game like "The Witcher: Devil's Egg," the camera perspective was completely different from "princess mononoke" which Furukawa Hirozawa had experienced before.
The main perspective in "princess mononoke" was a third-person chase camera, meaning you always maintained a certain distance and angle from the protagonist, looking from behind him, mostly at the character's backside.
However, in "The Witcher: Devil's Egg," although the male protagonist remained in the center of the screen and the scenery moved with the character's movement, overall, you could see the character's entire body.
Moreover, you could control the joystick to rotate 360 degrees in place, allowing for a full, all-around view of the character.
This perspective was more like a God's-eye view, looking down from above.
To make him look better from this perspective, Pokeni also changed the male protagonist's physique.
In "princess mononoke," because it was a flat perspective, characters could be made to look more like ordinary people; both Ashitaka and princess mononoke were rather slender types.
But from a top-down perspective, such a physique didn't look good.
It would look like a bamboo pole, or a thumbtack viewed from above.
In such a situation, the male protagonist of "The Witcher: Devil's Egg" was greatly "enhanced"; he was exceptionally strong, with an unruly square face, large muscles, and a robust upper body.
He still carried the Claymore, a symbol of The Witcher, on his back, which was almost as tall as a person, wide and large.
The male protagonist's upper body was clad in iron armor, but his two thick arms were exposed, bulging with large muscles.
A tattered, somewhat old red shawl was draped diagonally over his shoulder.
Overall, the male protagonist, Erwin, gave a first impression of—
This guy was definitely a powerful warrior.
He would absolutely not be associated with magic or wisdom.
However, the male protagonist's face was very Japanese-style, softened into a delicate and handsome appearance.
It looked strangely out of place.
He had a face that looked like he'd be a kept man, yet possessed the physique of a muscular, brawny man.
…
This cave was a secret mountain path leading to Ice Wolf Fortress. Although there were few enemies encountered, it wasn't entirely unguarded.
After walking up a bit from the bottom of the cave.
On the steps above the cave, stood two fully armored guards. They held broadswords and charged towards the male protagonist upon seeing him.
At the same Time, a speech bubble appeared above one of the guards' heads:
"Enemy! How did someone from Star Kingdom appear here?!"
They appeared extremely surprised, as if they hadn't expected enemies from Star Kingdom to be there.
Next, the game entered the combat tutorial section.
Although as an experienced player, Furukawa Hirozawa had basically mastered the techniques in The Witcher, the tutorial was an indispensable part, at least to see if anything had changed.
Combo tutorials appeared on the screen.
For normal attacks, pressing the Y Key was a horizontal slash, and pressing the B Key was a forward thrust.
The A Key was for rolling, which could be used to dodge enemy attacks.
Similar to "princess mononoke," if you pressed the R Key, you could lock onto an enemy, and the RT trigger key would automatically switch to a ranged weapon for aiming.
These two systems were quite similar in some aspects.
However, in The Witcher, there were different rules. In the character panel, players could configure and upgrade skills for the protagonist.
After configuring skills, they would be triggered by a specific sequence of button presses.
For example, Whirlwind Slash was YYY.
Jump Attack Combo was BBB.
Horizontal Slash followed by Aerial Jump Attack was YBY.
These all required players to memorize combinations, and the further into the game, the more elaborate the skills obtained and the higher the damage dealt.
When using skills, players also needed to consider the synergy between different skills to achieve better effects.
Currently, Furukawa Hirozawa was still at the LV1 beginner stage, so the only combos he could use were the YYY Whirlwind Slash and the BBB Jump Attack Combo.
Ranged attacks couldn't be used without obtaining a ranged weapon. Of course, later on, it might be possible to obtain magic and unlock more skill options.
…
The first soldier charged forward, and Furukawa Hirozawa mindlessly used YYY.
The soldier was stunned by the Claymore, retreating repeatedly.
His health instantly dropped to critical, almost empty.
Che.
Cut in two.
Explosive effect!
The male protagonist directly cut the guy's body into two pieces.
Furukawa Hirozawa was utterly stunned when he saw this.
"Wow!"
Furukawa Hirozawa hadn't expected such an exciting death animation.
Yes, in this game, to enhance the sense of impact and provide players with a more significant and thrilling experience, the game included many death animations for enemies.
This part actually consumed a lot of programmer and artist workload.
However, the benefit was that it could provide players with sufficiently powerful and impactful visual effects.
Of course, in addition to death animations, there were also special effects, hitstun, and various aspects of impact that could enhance positive player feedback.
…
The first two small soldiers given in the tutorial were generally not strong, serving as practice to get familiar with skills.
So Furukawa Hirozawa quickly dealt with them.
It was normal to think so. I've experienced countless action games, playing since The Witcher Time. If I couldn't even pass the beginner stage now, wouldn't that be embarrassing?!
After defeating these two guards, a crossbow dropped to the ground.
Now ranged attacks could be used.
Furukawa Hirozawa was also familiar with this part.
Players honed by "princess mononoke" all had the potential to become combat masters to some extent.
After walking a few steps forward, the light in the cave grew dimmer and dimmer. Only the torches on the walls illuminated a certain area, combined with the protagonist's own field of vision.
The eerie and terrifying atmosphere was fully established.
…
A few steps further, there was a stone bridge in the cave. Two guards stood at the edge of the grass on the other side of the bridge. Torches were stuck into the cave wall, illuminating one corner.
According to the instructions, Furukawa Hirozawa needed to kill the opponents with the crossbow or lure them over.
In the game, the camera was freely controlled by the system, and players couldn't rotate it with the right joystick. However, they could perform micro-operations by rotating the character in place with the right joystick.
This was also a new control mode developed in "The Witcher: Devil's Egg."
Left joystick for walking, right joystick for character rotation. When used together, they allow the character to walk in different directions and also to rotate in place to cast directional skills.
The game's replayability instantly increased significantly.
Especially when using the crossbow, it fired in the direction the protagonist was facing, so you could stand still and control the direction by flicking the right joystick.
After firing several shots, Furukawa Hirozawa was able to flexibly master this weapon.
Moreover, "The Witcher: Devil's Egg" was completely different from "princess mononoke" in that—
Under a top-down perspective, although the frontal field of view became narrower, a wider circular field of view centered on the protagonist was gained.
At least enemies coming from behind and from the sides could be detected immediately.
This setting actually reduced the difficulty of the game's controls to some extent.
So Furukawa Hirozawa played with particular ease.
…
Playing on the PS platform was completely different from playing on the MD platform.
Just the joystick controls were much smoother.
The field of view was also much wider.
It was indeed a wise choice to select the PS platform, Furukawa Hirozawa thought.
…
After walking a bit further, the light in the cave grew dimmer and dimmer. Only the torches on the walls illuminated a certain area, combined with the protagonist's own field of vision.
The eerie and terrifying atmosphere was fully established.
Furukawa Hirozawa and Yukitake Junna sat in place, nervously watching the TV, not daring to breathe.
It was as if something could jump out of the screen at any moment.
After moving forward for a bit, Furukawa Hirozawa discovered an enemy.
Drawing the Claymore from his back, Erwin launched an attack without hesitation.
Let me show you what a God of War looks like!!!
He had only taken two steps, almost reaching the soldier, when a shrill scream echoed from within the cave.
A dark shadow fell from above.
It jumped directly onto Erwin's face.
"Ah!!!"
Furukawa Hirozawa almost dropped the controller in fright.
Yukitake Junna beside him also let out a soft gasp.
It turned out to be a humanoid monster with a lizard tail that had jumped down from above.
This creature landed on Erwin and immediately began to bite him without a word.
Furukawa Hirozawa only reacted then.
But it was too late; his health bar instantly dropped by more than half.
Just then, the Lizardman startled the guards ahead, and so the two guards also drew their swords and rushed towards Erwin.
After several rounds of fighting, Erwin let out a tragic cry and collapsed to the ground.
The first big "YOU DIED" appeared on the screen.
...
Ah~
Damn it!!!
Furukawa Hirozawa clutched his head, unable to believe what had just happened.
Where did this guy come from?
Are you kidding me?
Who designs things like this? It's too insidious, jumping down from above?
Is this Producer a bit twisted?
What to do?
The boast he made in front of Junna.
Now he was completely humiliated.
He actually died in front of her.
...
Furukawa Hirozawa stiffly turned his head, like a puppet.
He forced an ugly smile at Yukitake Junna.
"I was careless."
"I didn't expect them to fall from the sky."
Yukitake Nao beside him covered her mouth and chuckled, without any hint of mockery. Instead, she gestured with her hand, making a 'please' motion, indicating that Furukawa Hirozawa shouldn't mind her and should continue playing.
"This setting was indeed unexpected. Next Time, there shouldn't be any problems," Yukitake Junna encouraged him from the side.
Ah~
Is this what it feels like to be a game companion encourager?!
...
Starting over from the resurrection point, this Time Furukawa Hirozawa was cautious and finally figured it out—
It turned out that as he walked, he could see that Lizardman clinging motionlessly to the wall above, with only its head visible.
If you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't notice it.
Moreover, the camera angle was designed to be particularly insidious. As you walked along the path, there was a large stalactite hanging above. Once you walked behind the stalactite, you actually couldn't see this lizard monster anymore.
That's exactly what happened to Furukawa Hirozawa earlier.
However, you couldn't say that they deliberately tricked you, because it was your own fault for not noticing. The hidden details in the game allowed you to discover the monster's presence.
It's really annoying!!!
Damn Miyazaki Hidetaka.
Now Furukawa Hirozawa finally remembered his name.
...
This Time, Furukawa Hirozawa was extremely cautious, taking one step at a Time, and his eyes were constantly scanning, not only observing the male protagonist's surroundings but also looking for potential targets lurking in the shadows.
After defeating these enemies, Furukawa Hirozawa successfully passed, and then the terrain ahead gradually rose.
Like a spiral staircase, Furukawa Hirozawa wound his way upward along the stone path.
This section of the path made his heart race inexplicably; he always felt something was about to happen.
And the most amazing thing was that when Furukawa Hirozawa stepped onto the spiral stone steps, the camera in the game also rotated with him.
It provided a better perspective.
"Wow, so that's how it's designed."
Compared to the previous installment of The Witcher, this generation of Demons Egg was completely different in its game space design.
It expanded the spatial dimension from the original two-dimensional to three-dimensional, meaning it broadened the three-dimensional space in the vertical direction.
This was the first Time Furukawa Hirozawa had seen such a thing in his entire game career.
Although princess mononoke also had undulating terrain, there was generally no spiral ascent; most of it could be projected onto a flat plane.
Nor would monsters suddenly fall from the sky and land in front of you, startling you.
From this perspective, the new Producer, Miyazaki Hidetaka, was a bit different.
However, it was precisely because Miyazaki Hidetaka fully utilized the entire three-dimensional space that the witcher 2 was vastly different from its predecessor, offering a very novel experience.
In 2D game, because it was a flat plane, you didn't need to observe so carefully when walking, and you wouldn't think that gameplay could be designed in terms of depth. But now, it completely broke players' preconceived notions.
It made people realize that danger was everywhere.
There was no absolute safety in the game.
Just like an unwritten rule in old horror films—
The blanket and bed were absolute domains; ghosts could not enter.
But later directors broke this rule, having ghosts pull back people's blankets, which naturally elevated the sense of horror to another level.
Because the [absolute domain] had been broken, there was no longer anything safe in this world.
Now, The Witcher: Devil's Egg was doing just such a terrifying thing.
Furukawa Hirozawa couldn't help but gasp—
Is this Miyazaki Hidetaka?!
...
Winding upward all the way.
On the cave walls, one could see strange Lizardmen crawling densely.
They were called Lizardmen simply because they resembled lizards, with tails, but their entire bodies were humanoid. They were just resting on the walls, seemingly on high alert, waiting for enemies to arrive.
Of course, a large portion of these were fake.
Otherwise, the game's performance couldn't handle it.
What was meant by 'fake' was that they were rendered by art, not concrete models.
They also wouldn't attack players; they were just for atmosphere. So, from the screen, you could see that many of the Lizardmen were actually much smaller in individual size, seemingly without much attack power.
However, this scene, a mix of real and fake, dense and numerous, could give players an unexpected psychological shock.
"So scary..." Yukitake Junna murmured beside him.
...
During the ascent of the spiral staircase, the camera movement was very comfortable and natural.
An overhead view game, unlike the free camera of princess mononoke, under fixed camera conditions, if you use a circular staircase to design a level, then as the character moves and ascends, one side will naturally be invisible, blocked outside the camera's view.
Because the outer part was the cave wall.
The cave itself had a very high height, and unless your camera could penetrate it, the resulting disharmony would be even stronger.
In Pokeni's "The Witcher: Devil's Egg," an automated camera system was used, where the system rotated with the changing scene.
The entire transition was very smooth and natural.
Furukawa Hirozawa felt no discomfort at all while walking.
He even felt his scalp tingle from the terrifying scene of the Lizardmen clinging to the rock walls being exposed in his view due to the camera's rotation.
Here, Pokeni applied a very advanced processing method, one that only a Time traveler like Aoki Haruhi could conceive of—
Area camera.
That is to say, the entire large game scene was divided into several areas, and corresponding cameras were placed in each area.
These cameras had certain rules and were adjusted according to the planner's needs.
For example, the camera rotation of the spiral staircase seen now.
In fact, an area camera was laid on each floor of the staircase. This area was a fan-shaped base, a three-dimensional model with a certain height, not visible to the player.
Then, the initial camera angle was set at the entrance, and another camera angle was set at the exit. The programmer automatically calculated the angle difference between the two, and then evenly distributed it within this fan-shaped module.
So when you walked from one end of the staircase to the other, the entire camera rotation was a very smooth and uniform transition.
In addition to this, Aoki Haruhi also requested programmers to develop various camera modes.
For example, instant cut cameras, over-the-shoulder cameras... and so on, and also made camera priority configurable for planners.
In normal circumstances, the game's default camera was an overhead 45-degree view, but sometimes, according to needs, other camera angles could be set in an area, giving that camera higher priority, which would then naturally become that camera mode.
In some special scenes, different camera perspectives would bring a completely different combat experience.
...
Although Furukawa Hirozawa was just an ordinary game, he was also a programmer.
So, while playing the game, he could also think.
The more he thought, the more incredible it seemed.
Pokeni's programmer capabilities and the planner's design capabilities were too strong, weren't they?
...
While Furukawa Hirozawa was fully focused on the monsters hanging on the walls, ready to attack at any moment, he unknowingly arrived at a rock platform.
And as he walked past this intersection, a knight in heavy armor ahead directly shot an arrow.
"Ah!!!"
Furukawa Hirozawa's hand trembled in fright, almost dropping the controller.
He was caught completely off guard.
Immediately after, several Lizardmen from above also jumped down, surrounding Erwin.
In less than two seconds, Erwin screamed again and fell into a pool of blood.
Nani?!!
Furukawa Hirozawa covered his face, completely unable to believe what had just happened.
He had focused all his attention on the walls, and consequently, he hadn't seen the knight standing openly on the platform.
All of this must have been designed.
The planner had already guessed that players would focus their attention on the walls here, which is why they set up such a move.
All of his psychology had been perfectly grasped.
Damn it!!!
Too insidious!
Too insidious, Miyazaki Hidetaka!!!
...
Terrifying!
This game...
It inexplicably reminded Furukawa Hirozawa of the fear of being dominated by monsters in "princess mononoke."
Please Support me by becoming my Patreon member and get 20+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon