[Game] Chapter 403-405

Chapter 403: Late December, Livestream

The rest of December for Ichin was spent either working or preparing for final exams.

Fortunately, freshman courses weren’t too difficult—most were just fundamentals, and if there was one thing Ichin had plenty of, it was foundational knowledge, especially as a computer science major.

The five days of exams passed, and with every subject finished, winter break arrived right before Christmas.

As for the grades, they could be checked online later; there was no need to return to campus.

With exams over, it was time to prepare for the Christmas party.

For the past two years, everyone had gathered together on Christmas Eve, and this year would be no different.

Near the end of the workday, Tsubame stretched lazily and glanced at the time.

“Looks like Ichin and Utaha won’t be coming in today—they had exams this afternoon. Ruri, do you have plans for Christmas Eve? Want to come to our party?”

“Party?”

“Yeah.” Tsubame grinned. “At Kō’s place—it’s huge. We’ll cook tons of food and stay up all night!”

Though tempted, Ruri shook her head.

“No, I’ll be home. My parents aren’t busy with work this year, so we’re having a family gathering. Plus, I want to spend time with my two little sisters.”

“I see, that can’t be helped then.”

Tsubame didn’t press further and began packing her things. Her work was already finished for the day—time to relax with snacks and wait for quitting time.

Ichin and Utaha, after finishing their exams, indeed didn’t go to the office. Instead, they drove straight to the supermarket.

For the Christmas Eve party, aside from Rin Toyama’s contributions, they too had to prepare food, so they needed to shop early.

Pushing a cart through the meat section, Ichin inspected the cuts carefully before tossing several high-quality steaks into the cart.

“Steak’s settled. Utaha, anything you want?”

Clinging to his arm, Utaha thought for a moment.

“Hmm… how about chicken wings? We can do fried or baked. Oh, and let’s grab some beef ribs too. Everyone loves roast ribs.”

“Alright, ribs and wings it is.”

An hour of shopping later, their car’s trunk was packed nearly full. They drove home and had dinner.

Afterward, Utaha went to spend time with her parents, while Ichin headed to his bedroom. There, he booted up his computer and dug out his long-unused webcam and microphone.

Before finals, he had announced on Bilibili that he’d do a livestream tonight to showcase some Dark Souls gameplay.

Once the equipment was set up, he launched a demo build of the game’s opening area. Around 8:30 p.m., he started the stream.

Within seconds, chat was flying with messages:

“He’s here, he’s here!”

“Where is he?”

“New content today??”

Seeing the barrage of questions, Ichin put on his headset, pulled the mic close, and switched on the camera.

“Don’t rush—it’s only just started. Let’s wait a bit for more people to join.”

After greeting the early viewers, he scanned the chat and picked a few questions to answer.

“Yes, finals are over—not too hard, just another set of exams for me. Vacation starts now. For Christmas Eve, I’ll be relaxing with friends at a party. As for going back home, that’ll wait until Lunar New Year. I’ll spend New Year’s here in Tokyo with my girlfriend’s parents, then we’ll head home together for Spring Festival.

As for tonight’s stream, like I mentioned earlier, it’s only about Dark Souls. Titanfall won’t be shown this time.

Platform-wise, Dark Souls will launch on all platforms—including the Switch. But because of visual effects, the Switch version will have some graphical, effects, and framerate adjustments. Still, we’ll optimize it as much as possible.”

The moment he mentioned Switch, chat lit up with understanding—hardware limitations.

But it wasn’t really a problem. Most players didn’t rely solely on Switch—they had PCs or other consoles, and many were multiplatform owners anyway. Even PC-only players could run it fine, as long as their setup wasn’t ancient.

After chatting for about ten minutes, the stream’s viewership spiked, and Ichin got to the main event.

“Alright, let’s take a look at the game you’ve all been waiting for. It’s not very complete yet, so I’ll just demo a small portion of the opening area to show you how combat works.”

Once he switched the stream to capture the test window, the audience could see the gameplay screen. Ichin’s camera feed shrank to the bottom corner.

On-screen was the Cemetery of Ash, where the protagonist first awakens.

Spinning his character around with the controller, Ichin explained:

“I won’t go into detail about the lore yet—we’ll release several trailers later that will give you hints. For now, I’ll just show you the gameplay.

Movement I don’t need to explain. Light and heavy attacks, guard and parry, rolls, and item usage are mapped here. Top-left, you’ll see three gauges: red is HP, blue is for weapon arts and magic, and green is stamina. The first two are obvious. Stamina is used for rolls and attacks. Every dodge or strike consumes it.”

He walked up to a withered humanoid enemy, swung his sword twice to kill it, then rolled twice—nearly emptying the stamina bar.

“See? The action system may look simple, but you can’t be reckless. Against easy enemies it’s fine, but tough ones will punish blind aggression and counter you hard.”

After dispatching two more enemies, Ichin moved forward.

Unlike in Dark Souls III, the large crystal lizard wasn’t included in this demo. He didn’t bother detouring—he headed straight for the first bonfire.

“That big crystal beast? I’ll leave that for you all to experience once the game is out.”

***

Chapter 404: Iudex Gundyr, the Ashen Judge

The monsters in the starting area, aside from the missing crystal beast, were all just weaklings—two swings each and they were done.

Ichin’s main goal here was only to show off the basic gameplay.

Lighting the bonfire and sitting down, Ichin explained to the stream:

“This bonfire is basically the save point of the game. Whenever you find and light one, then sit down, your healing items will be restored. But at the same time, all the enemies you already defeated will respawn. And when you die, you’ll revive at the last bonfire you rested at. So when you’re just starting out, make sure you sit at every bonfire you find—otherwise, if you die, you’ll have to run all the way back.”

It sounded interesting, but the viewers knew they wouldn’t truly understand until they tried it themselves.

After clearing the enemies ahead, Ichin pushed open a gate. On the plaza beyond knelt a towering knight, a massive sword thrust through his chest.

“Alright, time to show you the game’s very first boss. When the game launches, this guy should still be the one you’ll face first.”

He walked his character up and pulled the sword out of the knight’s chest.

The knight, who had been motionless until now, began to stir and slowly stood.

At the bottom of the screen, a long health bar appeared, along with the name:

Iudex Gundyr, the Ashen Judge.

Even kneeling, Gundyr was taller than the protagonist. Standing, with his hulking frame and long halberd, he looked utterly terrifying.

So this is a boss? Way different from the trash mobs earlier."

Now this is interesting. "

Wonder if he’s gonna die here…"

Ichin drew some distance. In fact, while Gundyr was still rising, you could sneak in some early damage—he hadn’t removed that mechanic. But since tonight was just a demonstration, he didn’t bother.

Blocking Gundyr’s first two strikes with his shield, Ichin’s stamina bar was instantly emptied, and his HP halved.

"Damn, half my health already?"

The damage is insane!"

Dodging away, Ichin glanced at the barrage of comments and chuckled:

“High damage is normal. The point of Dark Souls isn’t to trade blows with monsters. The real strategy is dodging, or blocking then countering. And of course, if you think the boss hits too hard, you can always level up or change armor for more defense.”

In that sense, it wasn’t so different from other big-boss games, like Monster Hunter.

Of course, there were “cheese” methods too—like the infamous Havel’s Set. With high defense and poise, plus a big enough HP bar, you could just tank hits and brute-force your way through.

This time, though, Ichin planned to raise the stat requirements so it wouldn’t break the difficulty curve later on.

Trading blows with Gundyr, Ichin told chat:

“I’ll fight him twice—first to show you his moves, then I’ll finish him off the second time.”

He advanced, attacking while rolling through strikes. No parries—just dodging and countering.

Bit by bit, viewers realized how tricky the boss was.

"Holy crap—slow and fast swings mixed! If you don’t dodge at the right moment, you’ll get nailed!"

"That range is huge. Blocking eats stamina like crazy. Dodging seems safer."

"Wait, this is the FIRST boss?? I’m doomed. I can’t even beat him in my head."

As chat blew up, Ichin whittled Gundyr’s health down below half—then Gundyr roared.

To the viewers’ shock, black, tar-like matter spewed from his torso, writhing and twisting until half his body transformed into a monstrous form. His left arm elongated into a skeletal limb that supported his hulking mass.

“Alright, phase two. Couple moves in and I’ll probably die.”

Sure enough, Gundyr’s attacks became faster and more savage. After blocking a few hits and shaving off a little health, Ichin was crushed beneath Gundyr’s massive leaping slam.

YOU DIED.

The screen faded to black and white. Ichin set down his controller, stretched, and asked with a grin:

“So, what do you all think? Not too hard, right? Just for demo’s sake. I’ve already playtested this boss several times.”

After a sip of water, his character respawned at the bonfire. He picked up the controller again.

“Some of you don’t believe me, huh? Fine, I’ll show you. This boss really isn’t tough—as long as you keep a clear head and don’t get greedy.”

This time, he skipped the trash mobs, sprinting straight to the fog gate.

No hesitation—he rolled cleanly through every swing, counterattacking precisely, cutting down Gundyr’s health.

At half HP, Gundyr transformed again. But Ichin seized the opening, slipping in three quick strikes before the boss could act.

He dodged the slam, landed two more hits.

“See? Even though phase two is more aggressive, it also gives you more dodge opportunities. Blocking still works too—just don’t chain blocks endlessly.”

Calmly narrating, Ichin chipped Gundyr down. At last, with one final, simple light attack, Gundyr collapsed. The black tar retracted, leaving behind the fallen knight’s body, which then faded away.

In the plaza’s center, a bonfire ignited.

Ichin set the controller down.

“Alright, that’s everything I wanted to show. We’ll wrap up soon. Before we end, I’ll chat a bit more and run a giveaway—some Persona figurines for a few lucky viewers.”

He set up the draw and continued answering questions from chat.

“Is the game open world? Not exactly.” Ichin shook his head.

Dark Souls has large maps with vertical areas and exploration, but technically it’s a collection of interconnected zones—a sort of semi-open design. Not full open world, but you’ll still have plenty to explore, with no shortage of monsters or bosses.”

Even though he’d only shown one boss tonight, the audience remembered the trailer had already teased several more.

If the first boss is this well-designed, the later ones must look incredible…

***

Chapter 405: Another Year

Seeing a barrage question asking for a release date, Ichin thought for a moment and replied:

“Hmm~~ we’re aiming for the end of next year, but to allow time for optimization, there might be a delay. By around June or July next year, we should be able to estimate more accurately, so don’t worry.

As for Titanfall, that one should be guaranteed to launch within the year.”

The Titanfall dev team had several veterans experienced with shooters, plus excellent 3D modelers. Combined with a shorter campaign length, development was moving faster than Dark Souls.

Stretching his neck, Ichin continued:

“This year’s output from our studio has already been solidPersona, The Binding of Isaac, and BattleBlock Theater. Next year we’ll continue expanding the team, though expansion takes time to adjust. Step by step. Don’t worry—we’ll definitely make even more interesting games.”

After answering a few more questions and finishing the giveaway, Ichin ended the stream.

Just minutes later, Utaha returned.

“You timed it so you got back the moment I ended my stream?”

Utaha smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I even tuned in for a bit—quite a lot of people were watching.”

“Well, we did just win three awards at TGA, so of course we’re getting lots of attention.” Ichin shrugged. “But that doesn’t really matter. Persona just launched half a year ago, so there’s no way it’s going on discount yet. Still, winning awards did give it a little bump in sales.”

Though not discounted, both Steam and Switch stores had added TGA award tags to Persona and boosted its visibility. With its already high ratings, sales naturally climbed.

Meanwhile, Slay the Spire and Hollow Knight were discounted, and Isaac had just pushed a massive update—adding plenty of items and three new characters.

Despite only being out a short while, Isaac had already sold over 400,000 copies. BattleBlock Theater, in less than a month, had surpassed 150,000.

For games of their scale, both were very successful openings.

Glancing at the time, Ichin noticed it was already 9:50 p.m., close to ten.

“Let’s shower, play some games, maybe watch a show, then call it a night.”

After Christmas, the year wound down quickly. Another year gone in a blink.

Just like last year, before New Year’s, Ichin settled everyone’s salaries early—along with year-end bonuses—handing them out before vacation so the whole team could celebrate happily.

After New Year’s Eve, a seven-day holiday followed. Ichin and Utaha, aside from visiting a few of the Kasumigaoka family’s relatives with Utaha’s parents, didn’t travel much.

The winter was surprisingly cold. Even with a car, they preferred to stay at home—snacking, cuddling cats, watching TV, and playing games.

But on the third, they had visitors.

Opening the door, Ichin found the Yukinoshita sisters—Haruno and Yukino.

Haruno grinned. “Happy New Year, Ichin!”

“Happy New Year, Senpai,” Yukino added.

“Haruno, Yukino? Happy New Year—come in!”

Ichin hadn’t expected them, but quickly welcomed them inside.

In the living room, Utaha looked up from petting the cats and asked curiously,

“Haruno, Yukino, what brings you here? You didn’t even call ahead.”

Haruno set down a fruit basket and said cheerfully,

“It’s New Year! Of course we came to visit. Last year you came to our house, so this time it’s our turn.”

Picking up George the cat at her feet, Yukino smiled softly.

“Father and Mother are very busy with New Year’s social obligations. But they gave us both a break, so we came straight to Tokyo.”

“I see,” Ichin nodded. Last year at New Year’s, the sisters had been swamped, only catching a breather when Ichin and Utaha visited.

Since he was brewing milk tea, he poured cups for Haruno and Yukino and said with a smile:

“I’m guessing it’s because Yukino got into Tokyo University? Auntie probably wanted you two to relax. So Haruno, you’re benefitting from Yukino’s achievement, huh?”

“You’re absolutely right.”

Haruno beamed, sipping her tea.

“Yukino had told the family she’d aim for Todai, but Mother never expected her to be admitted early. When she found out, she was so shocked—and she actually smiled. So this year, aside from being busy the first couple days, they didn’t drag us along. We got to enjoy ourselves. But unlike Yukino, I’ll be busy once the holiday’s over.”

Her future was already set: taking over the family business and growing it.

That meant her free time would shrink year after year—unless she found a strong partner to share the load.

Yukino’s path, on the other hand, was lighter. She still had four years of university ahead, maybe masters too, and planned to pursue law.

Utaha turned to her with a smile.

“Come April, Yukino, you’ll be our junior again. If Ichin’s too busy with work, we can study at the library together.”

Yukino naturally agreed. She knew her personality—she wasn’t the type to get along with everyone. But with Utaha by her side, her university life wouldn’t be lonely.

After half a cup of milk tea, Haruno suddenly asked:

“So, Ichin, no plans to go out these days? I know a fun place—want to come?”

“A fun place?”

Ichin was intrigued. He knew Tokyo well, and no new attractions had opened recently.

Before Haruno could answer, Yukino spoke flatly:

“What she means is she wants us to come along to meet her arranged date.”

“…Huh?”

Ichin and Utaha both froze, staring at Haruno in disbelief.

Haruno just spread her hands, utterly carefree.

“Isn’t it interesting? Sounds like fun to me.”

***