The true difficulty of Dark Souls was finally made clear to everyone after its release.
After spending two hours browsing through various livestreams, Ichin looked into the camera and said,
"Alright, it's getting late. That'll be it for tonight's stream. For the next three days, I'll be streaming again at 8 p.m. China time to play Dark Souls myself. I'll show everyone the proper way to play this game. If you're free, come watch. And if you're stuck somewhere, feel free to ask—I'll help you out."
With that, Ichin quickly ended the stream.
Checking the time, it was already past 2 a.m.
"Haruno, Yukino—it's late. You two should head back and get some rest. Yukino's fine since school hasn't started yet, but Haruno, you've got work in the morning."
"Yeah, it's definitely not early anymore."
Haruno yawned and stood up along with Yukino. "Then we'll head back. Night~"
"Goodnight, Onii-san. Goodnight, Utaha-senpai."
Once the sisters had gone home, Ichin and Utaha washed up and went straight to bed.
The next morning, after breakfast, they arrived at the company around 10 a.m.
Even though the game had already launched, Ichin didn't immediately give everyone time off. They needed to make sure no unexpected bugs appeared after release.
But while no major issues were surfacing, everyone in the company had already turned on their PCs, picked up controllers, and were enthusiastically playing Dark Souls.
After all the stress of preparing for launch, they could finally enjoy the game properly.
Ichin had barely stepped into the office when he heard Aoba's sharp scream from across the room.
"AAAAAH! I died again!!"
Walking over, he saw the black-and-white death screen and, just before it, the Frostbite hound—Vordt of the Boreal Valley—charging along the ground.
Sitting next to Aoba, Eriri had one headphone on and chuckled. "Hehe, Aoba, how are you still stuck on the ice dog? You were in the dev test back then too!"
"I couldn't beat him even then!" Aoba pouted. "I got through Gundyr easily, but this guy? I just can't handle him. Ah—Ichin-kun, Utaha—you're here! Ichin-kun, help me! I can't win, I've died five times already!"
Ichin smiled. "Don't worry, just focus on dodging. Stop relying on your shield so much. You don't have enough stamina yet to both block and attack efficiently. Don't get greedy with your swings—watch the boss's tells."
"Easier said than done…" Aoba groaned, respawning at the bonfire and running the route again.
She had picked the Knight class. Its stats and starting gear made it a solid choice for beginners. She had already swapped her straight sword for the Deep Battle Axe she'd looted from a mimic chest.
The axe's stats were great, but it was a bit slower than a straight sword—Ichin personally preferred the latter.
Still, Aoba stuck to her choice. She'd said she picked Knight mainly for the armor and shield anyway—she didn't like straight swords. For her first playthrough, she wanted something different; she thought the straight sword was too plain.
Of course, "different" also meant "harder."
After dying twice more and finally beating Vordt on the third try, Aoba moved on to the Undead Settlement. Ichin then went to check how the others were doing.
Yagami Kou wasn't using a straight sword either—she'd gone back and stolen the katana from the Sword Master NPC.
Aoba had skipped that fight entirely, but Yagami had spent time mastering it. Her progress was a bit slower, still exploring the High Wall of Lothric.
Seeing Ichin approach, Yagami grinned. "Once I get another katana, I'm going dual-blade!"
"But Kou, didn't you say you were going to go with dual greatswords?"
"That's before you made greatswords swing so slow! I had to change plans. Dual katanas are cool too!"
In Dark Souls, equipping two of the same weapon type in both hands changed the entire moveset—a system Ichin had personally designed.
For example, dual daggers or rapiers were weak when single-wielded, but using them together completely transformed the attack patterns. With their speed and bleed potential, they were deadly in skilled hands.
Of course, this came with trade-offs—no shield meant no defense. A single mistimed dodge could mean instant death.
While players could still equip a shield on the left hand and swap between it and a second weapon, the controls became much more complex.
Ichin figured that even after discovering the thrill of dual-wielding, most beginners would still stick to shields.
A 100% physical-block shield was hard to resist.
After checking in on the art team, Ichin headed to the programming department.
There, two of the company's top players—Sakura Nene and Gokou Ruri—had both picked the "Deprived" starting class.
With only a broken wooden shield, a club, and some ragged clothes, they began as the weakest of all classes—but that also meant the most efficient stat growth later, since none of their points were wasted.
For example, if someone wanted to go pure Strength, they could ignore Intelligence and Faith entirely, investing only in Strength and Vigor. Maybe a touch of FP for skill usage, but that's it.
"Hey, Nene, Ruri—what kind of builds are you going for?" Ichin asked.
Nene, now deep into the Undead Settlement, grinned while wearing scavenged rags and wielding a claymore and a medium shield. "Hehe, I'm going full Ultra Greatsword! The feeling of that one heavy swing from testing—it's just too good!"
Ruri, having just defeated a Fat Hollow, replied, "I'll probably experiment with different builds. I want to try greatswords and greataxes first, then maybe spears later… and eventually a pure mage or faith knight."
During testing, those Faith miracles had looked incredibly flashy—Ruri still remembered how dazzling they were.
The rest of the programmers all had their own quirky build ideas too. Since they had access to the game's data, they already knew which late-game builds scaled best and how different weapon infusions performed.
"So, Ichin-kun," Nene asked with a smile, "what about you?"
Ichin thought for a moment, then said, "Me? I'll stick with a straight sword at first. During my stream, I should show everyone the basic way to play. Can't go too advanced right away."
After all, he wanted players to discover the more creative builds for themselves—not just copy what the developers used.
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