Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 364: The One Who Tied the Knot Must Untie It

With the first round of demo reviews for Call of Duty fresh off the press, reviews for other titles rolled out as well.

Clearly, this year’s Higashitsu Gaming Festival was larger in scale than last year, and the quality of gas released by various companies seed noticeably higher.

Not only did big studios like Tianlang, Zhenting, FoxForce, and Flabird receive unanimous praise for their gas,

even so small and mid-sized developers making their debut at the expo brought several indie titles that impressed attendees.

But!

Among all of them, one major company’s performance actually regressed instead of improving.

And it was so huge, so distinctive, and so conspicuous that it was hard to ignore.

After all, it was one of the host companies for this Higashitsu Gaming Festival, one of the largest hegemonic ga companies in all of Asia—and arguably the most heavyweight rival to Golden Wind’s release this ti!

Kora.

Yes.

Kora ssed up again!

Actually, saying Kora “ssed up” isn’t entirely accurate.

Because this ti, whether it was Nishikawa Studio’s tennis ga co-branded with The Prince of Tennis or Takasugi Studio’s formula racing title, both received quite favorable reputations at the expo.

Nishikawa Studio’s Prince of Tennis ga benefited from the IP and added so fighting-ga-like chanics: after a character’s anger bar fills, they can unleash their ultimate move—like Kaoru Hado’s snake ball, Kunimitsu Tezuka’s Zero-style cut, Shusuke Fuji’s White Whale Spin, Ryoma Echizen’s dual-wield technique, and so on.

The faithfulness was high, and dia reviews were generally positive.

Takasugi Studio’s formula racing ga was a more serious affair: they partnered with many real-world manufacturers, compiled highly realistic data, and even included a full simulation mode that removed all assists so players could learn the genuine F1 experience firsthand.

The dia praised it unanimously, calling it the most realistic formula racing ga ever.

Three peak-of-their-ga studios—part of the Big Three.

Two of them perford well.

Although not as overwhelmingly dominant as Golden Wind—ruling the whole show upon arrival—

at least in sports and racing categories, both teams' works ranked among the top.

However!

Just when everyone assud Kora had learned its lesson and would refine its ga—planning to redeem itself with its flagship Night Owl Island—

the unexpected happened—

“BUGS EVERYWHERE! Kora’s Night Owl Island suffers catastrophic bugs at the expo!”

“AI logic collapsed! Monsters all behave identically! How did this ga cost three hundred million dollars?”

“SNG gives Night Owl Island demo a 5.5, calling it ‘an absolute disaster.’”

“Strange weapon feel, monotonous enemies, repetitive level design... it's hard to believe this is a Night Owl team product...”

...

[Insiders reveal the reason Night Owl Island had so many issues is that President Kagemasa Kamikoshi acted on a whim, forcing Nakamurai Studio to rush completion...]

[Kamikoshi’s stubbornness sent an unfinished ga to the expo. Should Kora change hands?]

[After Golden Wind was kicked off Silent Hill and Night Owl Island was rushed, players’ resentnt toward Kora’s president has reached a peak...]

[According to a Nakamurai Studio employee, Night Owl Island is actually only 40% complete...]

[Is it Nakamurai Studio’s incompetence or President Kamikoshi’s ego? As Night Owl Island flunks demo scores, Kora’s hidden wounds seem increasingly irreparable...]

[....]

Right!

Night Owl Island blew up spectacularly!

A mistake even small developers rarely make happened front and center at a world-class expo—and in SNG’s motion-sensing pod, no less.

When that SNG reporter brought up the scope and attempted to snipe a distant vampire, the so-called “auto-aim” sniper rifle flashed erratically over the heads of seven or eight vampires, like it had too many targets and didn’t know which to hit!

Seeing this, the SNG reporter put the sniper down and tried again.

But problems kept coming.

Due to a bug, his movents beca desynchronized from the pod’s in-ga character; the whole screen froze in place.

Then, three seconds later, the ga crashed and the reporter was kicked out.

This was an expo.

One of the four major global gaming expos.

And SNG was the largest ga forum in the world, with the biggest user base.

With such a catastrophic bug, Night Owl Island’s reputation instantly collapsed!

Originally, many players and dia had complained about odd weapon feel calibration and overly repetitive levels and monster designs.

Now this severe bug provided an outlet for everyone’s venting.

It blew up on the spot.

That wish Kora had longed for—making the ga go viral—paid off,

but in the worst possible way.

So called it a pile of trash, so called it a poor imitation, and others labeled it digital torture of this generation.

Amid the sea of condemnation,

Kagemasa Kamikoshi beca the target of scorn!

Players had long resentful of this money-driven, profit-obsessed president.

The FxxkKOMINA campaign had once been so widespread partly because Kamikoshi kicked Gu Sheng out and took over the Silent Hill rights,

and partly because players used it to vent old and new grievances.

Now!

Kamikoshi’s reckless move was brought up again!

dia lambasted him for putting an unfinished ga on display just to save face.

So outlets branded him “Kora’s sinner,” claiming under his leadership Kora’s gas had soured so badly it looked like the company was changing industries!

Greedy, autocratic, oppressive, valuing money above all, a historical sinner...

One accusation after another landed on his head.

Right now, Kagemasa Kamikoshi felt like he had fallen into an ice pit, shivering uncontrollably.

Indeed!

This was not the first ti players and dia had excoriated him.

But the problem was!

This ti was different!

At this mont, in the board of directors’ eyes, he was a thorn—a target they wanted to remove!

Night Owl Island’s collapse was the last death knell for him!

Three hundred million in developnt cost!

Nearly four hundred million in marketing expense!

Altogether, Night Owl Island had close to seven hundred million dollar inputs!

He had been counting on this title selling well to secure his remaining six months in office!

But now Night Owl Island hadn’t even officially launched!

Just the demo was shredded by reviews and called garbage!

It seed retiring peacefully had beco the least likely outco of his life,

or... should I resign now and take responsibility?

Kagemasa Kamikoshi wanted to leave himself a little dignity in the very end.

But given the current situation, many shareholders were poised, ready to push him out as early as possible.

Those who weren’t ready to move yet would not let him walk away so easily.

In other words—

this project had to continue!

And it had to be seen through to the end!

Because this might be his last lifeline, his last chance to save face!

But!

With Night Owl Island’s reputation shattered to pieces like tempered glass, what miracle could he possibly have to salvage such a wreck?

He had no miracle.

Worse than that—looking across all of Kora, there probably wasn’t a single person bold enough to claim they could turn the ga around.

If there was such a person, they wouldn’t be an ordinary employee; they would be—

......

“.....I’d like... to ask President Gu...”

Over the phone, Kagemasa Kamikoshi’s humble voice ca out strained, with traces of difficulty and sha trembling in it.

Right!

“The one who tied the knot must untie it”!

Now, the only person in the world who could save the Night Owl Island project was one man—

Gu Sheng!

If he were willing to open his mouth and announce he would once again serve as Kora’s guest art director, participate in and complete Night Owl Island’s overhaul and subsequent developnt,

you could imagine, with eyes closed, how tomorrow’s dia wind would instantly turn!

It’d be nailed down!

After all!

Why had Kora—or rather, why had Kagemasa Kamikoshi—been driven into such a desperate situation?

At the root was his greed-driven lapse in judgnt years ago: he used underhanded tactics to forcibly push Golden Wind off Silent Hill’s developnt and dragged out Golden Wind’s projects.

Now!

After four full rounds of clashes!

Two of the three major studios had fallen, dozens of core developers had been poached, a forr executive director angrily left, the group’s board was dissatisfied, and the company had suffered hundreds of millions in losses under direct and indirect influence!

Total failure!

And all were crushing defeats!

You could say!

From the mont he opposed Golden Wind to now, he had neither hindered Golden Wind’s growth nor slowed it—if anything, he had inadvertently aided Golden Wind’s rise!

The most direct evidence was Steel Chain Fingers Studio, and—

“I’m Moriya Tetsuya. Mr. Kamikoshi, President Gu is out on business. What’s the matter...”

Moriya Tetsuya gently set the phone down, turned on the speaker, and slowly lit a cigarette.

“You can tell .”

Silence.

Long silence.

If there were one thing in the world more embarrassing to Kamikoshi than pleading with Gu Sheng, it would surely be asking Moriya Tetsuya for help.

Facing Kagemasa Kamikoshi again,

Moriya took a drag and exhaled the feelings in his chest along with the smoke.

Originally, he thought that when he confronted Kamikoshi again he would be full of grievance and loudly proclaim, “Now you understand? I didn’t betray you!”

But when the chance actually appeared, Moriya felt it unnecessary.

Pointless.

And from his knowledge of Kagemasa Kamikoshi,

he believed that Kamikoshi must already understand that he had been wrongly accused.

In fact!

Kamikoshi probably knew Moriya hadn’t betrayed him—he had to pin that false charge on him to save himself.

“Moriya...san...”

After a long pause, Kagemasa Kamikoshi finally spoke with difficulty:

“This call is to... to ask you a small favor.”

Small words.

But Kamikoshi spoke them with extre difficulty!

Sha, humiliation, embarrassnt...

A tangle of emotions left him sweating despite the winter cold!

“Is it about Night Owl Island?”

Moriya was too smart!

And although he had left Kora long ago, he still had many good old colleagues and friends at Kora!

He had heard about Kamikoshi’s current predicant.

How could soone as clever as him not guess Kamikoshi’s true purpose in calling?

“It’s... yes...”

Kagemasa Kamikoshi’s Adam’s apple bobbed; he nodded, hesitated a mont, then in a voice near begging said:

“Could your company... please stop using Huaguo XunTeng to launch a public opinion offensive against Night Owl Island... We’re... in a very difficult position right now.”

PS: The normal update ti is still eight o’clock. The last chapter was early because it had images; images posted after eight have to wait until tomorrow, so this one ca earlier.