Of course, players could still attack him; if they killed the monk, they would still get the ordinary reward.
However, if they started to talk to the monk, the old monk would say a few words along the lines of how the Degenerate Age was impending and the Buddha Dharma was about to be wiped out-how he was at his wit’s end but still had remnant powers of the Buddha himself. As long as the protagonist could enter the six realms of rebirth and existence, he could then leave behind all suffering and pain.
At this moment, the old monk would shine with divine light; the Buddha beads in the treasure chest and the staff in his hands would become a new weapon named ‘Pudu’. That would be the duplicated and enhanced weapon Pei Qian had made.
‘Pudu’ didn’t look very different from the ordinary staff. The head of the staff just had an additional golden glow that was the divine Buddha light.
After obtaining this weapon, players would not only have their attacking strength elevated, but they could also directly go across the Bridge of Forgetfulness from the Road to the Underworld; passing the Three-Life Stone and reaching the six realms of rebirth and existence. These gamers would be able to skip to the conclusion of rebirth.
According to the game’s settings, the six realms of rebirth and existence was actually a false ending
At the start of the game in the village, there was an old man. Players needed to kill this old man in order to follow his soul and be connected to the Road to the Underworld. However, after gaining a few clues here and there, players would be able to ascertain that this old man was the player themselves after rebirth.
According to these settings-during a player’s second try of the game, this old man would take the appearance, accessories, and weapons of the player during his first try of the game. The only difference was the player’s appearance would be rather gaunt and shriveled.
Hence, if one held onto ‘Pudu’, this old man’s weapon would also be ‘Pudu’ except without the special effects and attributes, becoming an ordinary staff again.
Besides this, ‘Pudu’ could only be used to pass through the six realms of rebirth and existence. If a player went to fight other endings’ bosses, the weapon would lose its efficiency and turn into an ordinary weapon.
During the second try of the game, this weapon would also not be allowed to level up.
As Pei Qian’s aim was to speedily complete one of the game’s endings, he only wanted this weapon to serve its purpose; that was all.
Pei Qian wasn’t a sucker for pain and agony; he didn’t want to go and try other endings and also didn’t want to play so many times.
Pei Qian busied himself for one afternoon and finally used his own crude way to make all the necessary alterations.These changes actually weren’t complicated; it wasn’t hard to change them using the game editor. However, as Pei Qian hadn’t used the game editor for a long time, this effort took a considerable amount of time.
After making the revisions, Pei Qian took a quick look at his work.
He also didn’t need to check too much in detail. If there really were bugs, others would definitely help Boss Pei to resolve them.
Pei Qian confirmed the changes and went to look for Li Yada.
“I have made some changes to the game content. They don’t affect the game significantly, and you don’t have to pay much attention to it. Also, there’s no particular need to broadcast these changes.”
These changes naturally would be picked up by the design team. Li Yada being the chief planner couldn’t possibly be so dumb as not to notice that an additional weapon had been added.
Since they would definitely notice this, Pei Qian decided to inform them directly.
Furthermore, as it was Boss Pei’s request, the design team would definitely help Boss Pei to keep this secret.
Chapter 237 - Anything not Logical had Great Meaning!
Boss Pei had changed a little of the game’s content?
Li Yada was a little taken aback.
Based on her impression of Boss Pei, he rarely personally made changes to games. If he wanted to change something, he would normally speak to Lu Mingliang; and the latter would perfect the changes requested.
Why did Boss Pei make the changes personally this time? Did he not trust me?
Li Yada thought for a while. This doesn’t make sense; if Boss Pei didn’t trust me, how could he have made me the chief planner?
Having some misgivings, Li Yada returned to her workspace and looked at the altered portions of the game.
Not much had been changed. The modifications had mainly centered on one weapon.
One ordinary filler staff had been strengthened and had a new glowing effect. Besides that, a special mission and way to obtain this enhanced weapon had been added.
Li Yada took a good look at the weapon named ‘Pudu’.
From its stats, this was a rather formidable weapon in the early stage of the game; it was overkill. However, its ordinary attack speed was still the same and as it required a rather lengthy swing to execute each strike, it was rather cumbersome.
Of course, during the design phase for this weapon, just like other two-handed heavy weapons; they all had leap-attack settings. A faster attack could be executed after a series of moves were made.
That meant that if a skilled gamer got his hands on this weapon, it would greatly reduce the difficulty of the battles in the early stages of the game.
At the same time, this weapon had severe limitations as well. If it was used for game content beyond that of the six realms of rebirth and existence ending, it was not evidently superior to other weapons. Furthermore, during a player’s second try with this weapon, it would lose its special enhancements.
Li Yada was a little perplexed.
Why did Boss Pei specially create this weapon? Was it because Boss Pei couldn’t advance in the game and had created a backdoor for himself?
Err, that didn’t make sense.
If Boss Pei felt that the game was too difficult, why didn’t he just lower the difficulty level? Furthermore, as a designer, Boss Pei did not need to finish the entire game.
Hence, she could eliminate this line of reasoning; there must be another reason.
Could it be that this action had greater meaning behind it?
Li Yada thought about it deeper. The game’s present difficulty level was indeed very hard for ordinary players. Those ordinary little monsters at the start of the game could kill gamers within two moves, that meant that a majority of players had to try their best to not get hit at all.
Although they would soon obtain items that could replenish their health-compared to how fast a player would lose health, these items were a little inadequate.
At the end of the day, players’ movements and actions had to be superb.
In that case, is this weapon of Boss Pei’s considered a bonus to newbie players? Less-experienced players that obtained this weapon could at the very least complete one ending of the game and reach one conclusion? Or perhaps, this was the benevolent side of Boss Pei?
This is possible.
In that case… why was it so well-hidden?
Li Yada noticed that the staff-dropping old monk’s stats had been decimated by Boss Pei; the old monk was not even as strong as a small monster.
He was also situated on the outskirts of a town. Most players who reached this place would have experienced many hardships along the way and killed many monsters; they had no reason to stop and deal with the monk.
Even if they accidentally perished, they couldn’t possibly do so consecutively six times, right?
Unless it was done intentionally, it was hard to think about what type of gamer would die at the hands of this monk six times.
Furthermore, killing this monk would allow one to obtain an ordinary staff and some beads. These could be used to get the weapons’ collector and early-stage weapons exhaustion bonuses; this would be very attractive to players.
All in all, ‘Pudu’ had been so deeply embedded in
the game; probably 99.99% of players would not be able to get their hands on it!
If this weapon was Boss Pei showing his benevolence, why did he hide it at this place that was not easily discoverable? Li Yada was deep in thought.
According to Senior Bao Xu’s thinking, anything that wasn’t logical had great meaning. At present, this weapon was indeed very illogical!
“Why is it after dying six times, that during the seventh time the old monk would suddenly become a friendly NPC? What did the numbers mean?”
Li Yada went on the Qiandu search engine to search for some clues.
Although the search results all varied and Li Yada couldn’t be sure which saying Boss Pei had adhered to, she more or less could guess at the significance behind the numbers.
Of course, high-level Buddhist teachings were beyond Li Yada, beyond the Qiandu search engine, and also beyond players. Some concrete meanings had to be understandable at a shallow level so that they would be acceptable to players.
‘Seven’ and ‘nine’ were more important numbers in Buddhist teachings. For example, the ‘nine’ in the ‘Ninth-Grade Lotus Throne’ signified a great success.
‘Seven’ had many more meanings. It also meant great success, though some viewed this number to mean small successes.
Besides these interpretations, legend had it that when Buddha himself was born in this world, he could walk immediately and walked seven steps. The first six steps represented the six realms of existence while the seventh step represented enlightenment. Hence, ‘seven’ could also be used to signify transcendence.
“Dying seven times; did that mean achieving success? That shouldn’t be the case. Strictly speaking, players had to die six times. In that case… the six deaths represented the six realms of rebirth and existence while the seventh represented enlightenment?
“That’s why those that wielded this weapon could only use it to reach the six realms of rebirth and existence ending?”
Li Yada consolidated all her deductions and thought that this was the most logical explanation.
Six deaths represented the six realms of rebirth and existence. This also meant that players could gain access to the six realms of rebirth and existence earlier. When gamers met the old monk for the seventh time and received ‘Pudu’, they would officially reach the six realms of rebirth and existence ending.
Not only could they directly skip from the Road to the Underworld to face the six realms of rebirth and existence boss, but this weapon had also been specifically customized for this boss.
It was expected that players would have two differing reactions.
The first would be being overjoyed at obtaining ‘Pudu’ and relying on this weapon’s high attacking strength to engage in some easy battles, happily reaching the six realms of rebirth and existence ending.
The second would be deciding to give up on ‘Pudu’ and use their own efforts to battle and search for other endings.
After all, the original setting of the game was to make the six realms of rebirth and existence ending a false conclusion, with the protagonist thinking that he had managed to flee from a hopeless world. However, in the actual fact, they had once again entered into rebirth.
Using ‘Pudu’ to get to this ending would also be more ironic!
Choosing ‘Pudu’ would mean that players have chosen escapism; they didn’t dare to face tougher challenges and only aimed at self-preservation. Giving up ‘Pudu’ and taking up ordinary weapons to face tougher enemies and more difficult battles would allow one to truly be set free from pain and suffering!
Thinking about this, Li Yada wanted to shout out her praise.
Come to think of it, the original game setting had not been wrong; it just lacked a little depth.
According to it, this old monk in the ruined temple was but just a filler; whether a player attacked the monk or not had no effect on future gameplay. The six realms of rebirth and existence ending also didn’t differ that much to players when compared to other endings.
However, now that Boss Pei had made these changes, everything had been changed.
The addition of this super-weapon ‘Pudu’ directly placed two tough choices in front of all players: did they want to remain in their comfort zone and get to a false ending and deceive themselves, or did they want to step out of their comfort zone and endure hardships to search for the truths of this world?
This way, players would have a deeper impression of the different endings in the game; they would then be more immersed and captivated by the game!
Chapter 238 - I Can’t Suffer Alone
“Boss Pei is indeed Boss Pei. This could be said to be the highlight of this type of game!”
Li Yada was truly impressed as she felt deeply that she still had so much to learn. Of course, the only problem with Boss Pei’s move was it was hard to be discovered.
Li Yada even felt as if the chances of this happening were close to zero.
“Why did Boss Pei choose to hide it so deeply in the game? Was it really because six deaths represented the six realms of rebirth and existence while the seven represented enlightenment?
“That isn’t right. Boss Pei had also lowered all the stats of the old monk; the odds of players dying in the monk’s hands was extremely low.”
If it was the original settings and the old monk was as strong as a miniboss, many players would die repeatedly here and perhaps might actually do so six times speedily.
That way, this weapon would definitely be discovered.
However, now that the monk’s stats had been so reduced, even those who only had one hand would at most die once or twice by the monk’s hands.
After all, those who are really crippled would not be able to defeat the other easier monsters in the early stages; they wouldn’t have survived the journey to face this monk.
“Such a brilliant design, such a unique point of the game; and yet, Boss Pei doesn’t want many players discovering it. Indeed, Boss Pei is that unique.”
Li Yada sighed out emotively.
She had to admit that Boss Pei was not an ordinary designer.
Other designers would try their best to please players. Boss Pei, on the other hand, never bothered if he would be scolded by gamers or not.
A
Naturally, that didn’t mean that pleasing players was wrong and that torturing players was right. Li Yada just meant that Boss Pei had a very unique way of designing, and he didn’t expect players to be able to understand his train of thought. This was evident from Game Designer.
Although countless people were analyzing the deeper meanings behind the game, Boss Pei had never made any official clarification and explanation.
There was a saying that ‘a thousand readers had a thousand Hamlets’. Some authors believe that after a piece of work had been completed, it belonged to all readers; and the author himself didn’t have the only true interpretation.
Evidently, Boss Pei had a similar thought process for his games.
Although Boss Pei had done such a splendid modification to Repent and be Saved, he was not expecting that players would discover or chase after it.
In other words, in Boss Pei’s eyes, even if no one discovered his alterations and it continued to be buried for months or even years before someone managed to strike gold; that didn’t matter to him!
Perhaps, Boss Pei even hoped that it wouldn’t be discovered.
No wonder Boss Pei had repeatedly emphasized that this special addition to the game should not be broadcasted.
This was Boss Pei’s level of attainment!
Li Yada felt a little aggrieved that such a wonderful segment of the game might actually be buried; she felt really terrible.
However, she could understand Boss Pei’s heart and felt that she could not leak this information out.
Although she was very conflicted-after thinking about this matter repeatedly, Li Yada still decided to listen to Boss Pei’s instruction.
“What I can do now is try to perfect
all the details in the game and try to erase the minor flaws that Boss Pei hadn’t managed to change in time. If a player really found out about this, he cannot encounter any bugs; I must give the lucky players the most perfect gaming experience!”
Li Yada adjusted her thick spectacles as she was filled with vigor all of a sudden. She seemed to get an inkling of why every chief planner that Boss Pei had promoted had so much energy and strength.
That was because someone like Boss Pei could naturally stir up emotional appeal such that people working under him would want to strive and push ahead!
At this time-in his office, this natural leader that could stir up emotional appeal and make people strive and push ahead… was looking at his own screen. He had an impulsive rage at this moment.
I’m so angry!
Although Pei Qian had already arranged his special weapon in the game, the weapon wasn’t omnipotent.
After having its stats altered, Pudu felt like the crescent blade in Dark Souls 1 to Pei Qian. Although ordinary attacks were not very handy and attacks were rather slow, it was good at smashing attacks.
At the same time, its attacking reach was long; and its damage was high. It was considered a rather perfect weapon.
When dealing with monsters, as long as a player diligently avoided their attacks and found an opportunity to stab and retreat, if this was done repeatedly; most enemies could be defeated.
Furthermore, Pudu’s damage was even higher than a crescent blade; it made the game’s difficulty level even lower.
The problem was… even after possessing this weapon-while players’ damage was increased significantly, monsters could aim and would aim, ultimately killing him. Hence, Pei Qian was still suffering. “How did I end up like this…?”
Pei Qian was feeling terrible.
No, this can’t do; I can’t suffer alone!
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