Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 472: Next, falling attacks are very useful

It was night.

The sky remained a gray haze, the gloom of a dying fla permanently shrouding this world, desolate and despairing.

"...You killed the Lord of Ashes and that Undying Host...."

"This is....bringing the Lord back to his seat......"

"How pitiful, so this is a king."

In the silent Bonfire Ritual Grounds, Hawkwood’s voice echoed lowly.

The Ashen One had returned.

From the mire-covered fortress of Firelink.

Besides a large number of souls, he had also brought back a head wrapped up very carefully.

Beneath the mottled, pointed knight helm was a face scorched black and shriveled from flas.

Gray Explosion had only brought the head back, not speaking much about it,

but Hawkwood recognized at a glance whose head it was.

The one he had always regarded as a joke, the ember compared to the blazing kings, the unburnable remnant—Gray Explosion—had actually followed the path of living sacrifices and reached Firelink Fortress.

And had succeeded in "bringing back" the Fran Undying Host to the Lord of Ashes' throne.

No one understood what that signified better than Hawkwood.

There was no doubt: this man now carrying the Fran Greatsword had successfully doused the beacon fire and passed the Undying Host’s initiation.

And in that unending carnage of mutual slaughter, he had beco the final victor over the hunting kings.

He had been braver than Hawkwood.

At that mont, Hawkwood no longer greeted Gray Explosion with any sarcasm or mockery.

He simply watched the silent Gray Explosion with complicated expression,

looking at the ever-calm yet powerfully resolute color in Gray Explosion’s eyes.

"...It must have...been no easy task."

Hawkwood’s cracked lips moved, and for the first ti he asked the Ashen One in an ordinary tone.

Gray Explosion shook his head:

"I can't rember clearly."

Silence fell again over the Bonfire Ritual Grounds.

Hawkwood knew that, as soone who had already been burned once and co back, Gray Explosion’s answer was not loss of humanity or mory.

How much effort it took to defeat the Lord of Ashes and bring back the Fran Undying Host’s fuel—he might truly not rember.

Maybe ten tis, maybe twenty, maybe a hundred or two hundred.

A re piece of fuel, no matter how mighty, could never equal a king.

What Gray Explosion did was simply die repeatedly, then stand up again and again.

Even knowing his strength was far below the leaders, even knowing the Undying Host's curse, even knowing this world was already rotten through,

he still, like a Don Quixote charging windmills, fought the outrageously powerful Lord of Ashes, steadfastly keeping his mission in this rotten world.

True, this world with its first fla dying was utterly rotten.

And I, who once threw myself into the furnace aninglessly, am also rotten through.

But at least my soul has not rotted.

Clutching an air of superiority and wasting my days in a posture that claims to have seen through the world’s hopeless origin—this is not clarity after awakening, but cowardly surrender after losing courage.

There is only one true heroism in the world, and that is to love life even after recognizing its truth.

The world is mottled and scarred, but my soul remains upright and noble.

Even if my little firefly is tiny and utterly insignificant to the world, I will still strive to burn, to raise the brightest middle finger at this rotten world—

Screw this world, no one can crush .

"The Fran Undying Host did not fail, and never fails."

After a long while, the Ashen One spoke slowly:

"The wolf blood that resists the Abyss, that never gives up, still flows."

Having said that,

the Ashen One drew the Fran Greatsword from his back and slowly raised it, while his left hand ford a fist and pressed against his right shoulder, saluting Hawkwood.

At that mont,

Hawkwood’s hand tightened around his shield relaxed.

What a dramatic scene.

Although the skull of the Lord of Ashes had been brought back to the throne,

the wolf blood of the Fran Undying Host had not been severed.

And now, the only two in this world who inherit the Fran Undying Host’s wolf blood—one was the destroyer who personally finished the Lord of Ashes, and the other was the coward who carried the na Despondent.

Perhaps that, too, was a kind of curse.

Hawkwood thought.

But who could really say.

As Gray Explosion said—the Fran Undying Host did not fail, and never fails.

Whoosh—

With the Ashen One placing the Fran Undying Host’s fuel on the throne,

the fla’s temperature swelled, the embers flared to life.

Gray Explosion once more set off to seek the second Lord of Ashes.

When he returned to the Bonfire Ritual Grounds again, to have the Fireguard Maiden upgrade his abilities and to ask Discouraged Bro for news of other Lords of Ashes, he found Hawkwood was gone.

And where Discouraged Bro used to stand, in front of the tombstone of the Wolf Sword, Gray Explosion found a shield.

It was Discouraged Bro’s shield.

[Hawkwood Shield]

With this, Discouraged Bro’s story seed to co to an end.

He had once been a pessimistic, cynical scholar.

He had passed the Fran Undying Host’s trials, wanting to beco a hero admired by others, but had lost the courage to support all that because of that curse-like fate.

He always carried the shield that helped him Escape from Hell, yet never discarded the Fran Greatsword he bore on his back.

He cursed the Undying Host’s mission to resist the Abyss, mocked their brutal sacrifices, yet frequently ca to mourn and rember his fallen brothers at the Wolf Sword’s morial.

He was a contradictory man.

Until Gray Explosion brought the Fran Undying Host’s fuel back to the throne again.

At that mont, perhaps he realized that if he only ever tried to run away, he would forever carry the na Despondent and die aningless:

Perhaps he realized, as one sworn to the wolf blood, he could never truly escape the curse of the Undying Host;

or perhaps he understood that a hero is not the one who stands on the pinnacle under the worship of the masses.

Facing the world’s pain with song—that is heroism.

Being soone else’s hero is rely nominal; being your own hero is true heroism.

As an NPC who appears from the demo and threads through to the ga's first major milestone, Discouraged Bro—Hawkwood’s—character arc clearly moved many players.

Even many dia and industry people praised the NPC’s storyline—

From despondency to rising again, without much flashy plot, yet deeply affecting and morable.

While other studios were busy promoting self-sacrifice to save the world, Golden Wind was telling you to love yourself.

Who says your own hero isn't a hero? The one brave enough to give the world the finger is the true master of heroism!

Compared to a more linear, lupine narrative, the sandbox-style structure gave players a richer experience and produced many touching scenes and stories....

"Probably in Old Thief’s fashion, Discouraged Bro’s story ends here…"

Ayin carefully put Hawkwood’s shield away and let out a long breath.

Back at the Bonfire Ritual Grounds, he looked at the spot where Discouraged Bro used to sit.

This guy always sat here spouting depressive lines, head hanging low, listless like a sleepless Poppy in League of Legends—definitely annoying.

But after he was gone, the empty space by that stone pillar indeed felt oddly hollow.

No one knew what adventures Discouraged Bro would face next.

Had he gone to wander farther lands? Or returned to Firelink Fortress to continue watching the Abyss in place of his captain and fallen comrades?

Liu Liu had no way of knowing.

To her, Gray Explosion and Hawkwood seed like two people who had co from opposite poles of the earth to et.

They influenced each other, walked each other’s paths.

In that brief companionship, Discouraged Bro experienced Gray Explosion’s perseverance and persistence.

And Gray Explosion learned the reasons behind Discouraged Bro’s slackness through their various encounters.

A strange and special gaming experience.

Dark Souls is that kind of ga—

The more experience a player has, the deeper their appreciation for what makes this ga unique.

It’s so captivating.

Not only because the chanics make you hurt and yet feel joy,

but because of that soulslike feeling that the world does not revolve around you, the despair of that realization.

Using despair repeatedly to gamble for that final sliver of hope.

This distinctive tone and worldview is without doubt a shocking refresh to veteran players.

And even if you aren’t soone who pays close attention to story,

this motion-sensing pod version of Dark Souls will still deliver an unprecedented experience through imrsive visuals!

For example—

"Motherf—!!!"

"This is fucking ridiculous!"

Ancient Dragon Peak!

Legend had it that the power of an Ancient Dragon was hidden here, and Gray Explosion needed to comprehend the dragon's way to reach it.

In short, it was a hidden map.

But when Ayin appeared, he realized he seed once again to have fallen into Old Thief’s sche!

Look at that enormous ancient drake sprawled across the steps before him, it was like returning to Lothric High Walls!

By progression, having collected the fuels of the three great Lords of Ashes, he should theoretically be in the late ga by now.

Starting from Lothric High Walls, he had passed through Firelink Fortress, gone through Irithyll, crossed underground tombs, even traversed to the Unkindled Grounds.

His armor’s stats kept improving, attributes rising, and the greatsword in his hands had grown sharp!

Yet he still couldn't shave this massive ancient drake blocking the path!

"If one slash can make a Lord of Ashes lose a chunk of health, why do I have to chip this dragon away bit by bit?!"

Ayin, once again charred by the dragon’s breath, felt awful.

This damned thing was huge! Its health was enormous! And it covered all angles!

Have rcy!

When I fought Lord Ym, the Giant King, with Onion Bro, at least they gave a greatsword to use a storm to fell the big tree!

This ancient dragon is even larger than that bloody Ym, what am I supposed to fight it with!

Isn't this ridiculous?

If this thing gets any more absurd, it’ll rival the White Snake God from Sekiro!

Grumbling angrily, Ayin stood up and prepared to try to go around it, or failing that, to step on it so hard the whole Ancient Dragon Peak would shake to pass by!

However!

Just as the thought ford,

Ayin’s mind suddenly flashed with inspiration!

Wait?

Sekiro? White Snake God? Dark Souls? Ancient Dragon?

Hss—

Ayin pondered.

At that mont, as his foot moved and he stepped beside the fire, a piece of advice from other players also caught his attention:

[Next, falling attacks are very useful]