nycdaug Chapter 68 Tears of the Kingdom
Chapter 68 Tears of the Kingdom
The screen lit up, and the logo of Tangren Games disappeared into a swirling, blood-red miasma.
The scene flashed by, Link's left hand was stained with dark red, and a withered, dried-up corpse raised its arms. Then, a thick red mist completely engulfed the view.
The short-haired Zelda falls into an abyss, the screen suddenly goes dark, and then a familiar and melodious horn sound breaks through the air.
Link plummeted from the sky, his tainted left hand now transformed into a cold, mechanical arm.
Above the clouds, floating islands are scattered like stars.
The camera then cuts to actual gameplay footage of him exploring Hyrule:
A bluish-green light flowed across the surface of the mechanical arm. Link raised his hand and pointed to a massive iron ball that was rolling down with a roar, casting a spell that appeared to "stop time." However, the iron ball did not freeze; instead, defying the laws of physics, it rolled backwards along its original path, crushing all the monsters that were chasing it!
Immediately afterwards, he used his robotic arm to hold a flamethrower, and the intense flames instantly ignited the vines in front of him.
The water on the ground flowed backwards, forming beads that rose into the air, and Link also leaped into the air, passing through the thick rock layer without any hindrance, and jumped out of the bridge.
Finally, the castle that appeared in the Breath of the Wild trailer collapsed and rose from the ground with a roar. In the freeze-frame, the ruined castle silently floated under the setting sun. The screen went dark again, and a countdown appeared, the number a staggering 299 days.
The trailer abruptly ended, and the live stream chat exploded with comments.
"Wait a minute, this DLC looks completely different from the main game! Is it an epilogue? Although I haven't even played the main game yet."
"What does this mean? They spent 299 days developing a DLC of this size? What exactly is Tangren Games trying to do?"
"Everyone, do you remember what Ren Zhengfei said before the broadcast? WG, are they serious?"
The camera cuts back to the studio, where the four people sitting in the center are equally excited.
Host Hao Zheng took the lead in stabilizing the pace and posed a question:
"In the demonstration just now, the skills Link used didn't seem to have appeared in Breath of the Wild before. So in the DLC, Link will get a completely new ability system, right?"
Tang She nodded, his tone calm yet resolute:
"That's right. In the Kingdom Tears DLC, we will drastically abandon most of the previous abilities and instead create a completely new set of interaction rules. Only in this way will it be truly interesting."
Another host, Lin Wan, glanced at the rapidly scrolling comments on the screen and asked the most pointed question on behalf of the audience:
"So, Mr. Ren's earlier mention of 'challenging WG' wasn't just a joke?"
This time, it was Ren Wei who took the microphone.
She stopped smiling, looked directly at the camera lens, and her expression became extremely serious.
"Yes. Whether you're here in the live stream right now or watching this replay in the future, I want to solemnly announce that Zelda will definitely win the WG Award."
Tang She, standing beside him, remained silent, his thoughts drifting back to the countless nights he had spent working late into the night with bloodshot eyes.
In his opinion, the game called Kingdom Tears would have been perfect if it had been released as a standalone title.
However, it is burdened with the heavy halo of being a sequel to Breath of the Wild, so those original shortcomings seem particularly glaring. The exploration of the sky islands and underground feels somewhat hollow, and the epic feel of the Four Sages is far inferior to that of the Four Champions.
But in the past year, Tang She not only personally filled in these shortcomings, but also devoted countless efforts to them, and even hid a very significant Easter egg.
Therefore, if a game like Zelda, which has evolved to its fullest potential, still fails to win a prize from WG, it's definitely not a problem with the game itself, but rather that the award is utterly terrible.
However, the lofty aspirations expressed in the studio are like a stone thrown into an abyss in the online world.
The planned interview process was completely disrupted, the barrage comments took a sharp turn for the worse, and no one cared about the gameplay anymore. The screen was filled with insults and ridicule for Tangren Games' "overestimation of its abilities".
In the eyes of most viewers, Zelda is indeed excellent, and it is understandable to expect it to be nominated for Game of the Year.
But to dare to make such outrageous claims about taking over WG before even seeing a glimpse of the game is simply the height of arrogance.
"Haha, Tangren is still the same Tangren. They just made a few games that barely passed the test and now they're swaggering."
"I used to praise Tangren as a conscience of domestic production, but now I see them as pure clowns."
"It's fortunate that foreign websites don't pay much attention to domestic single-player games, otherwise if this recording were uploaded, foreigners would laugh their heads off."
"I was originally planning to support it when it premiered, but seeing the creators' attitude, I'm out of here."
"This is the funniest joke I've heard all year. These two are just ridiculously extravagant."
"Hey upstairs, can you please stop insulting the name 'Jiahao'?"
Hao Zheng tried to force the topic back on track, dryly reading from the script:
"We see many sky islands around Link in the video. Is the main stage of this game in the sky?"
It was to no avail. The screen was already flooded with malicious and sarcastic comments, and nobody cared what he was asking.
Tang She turned his head and keenly caught a glimpse of confusion in Ren Wei's eyes. He was all too familiar with that expression; it was just like when he first presented the "Three Kingdoms Kill" game design proposal.
The team members' faces showed confusion, timidity, self-doubt, and even complete self-denial.
Ren Wei forced a pale smile, opened her mouth as if to explain, but the words stuck in her throat.
None of their public relations plans anticipated that the situation would spiral out of control to this extent.
They had anticipated that players would be shocked and questioning, but they never imagined that amidst the overwhelming barrage of comments, not a single voice of support could be found.
Tang She could almost see the mocking faces of those frantically typing on keyboards in various game forums.
A deep sense of exhaustion washed over me.
He couldn't understand why an ordinary game developer, simply by loudly proclaiming his ultimate dream, had to suffer such a barrage of ridicule and personal attacks.
Does a domestically produced game deserve to be ridiculed by the entire internet simply because it revealed its ambition to reach the top of the world?
That's really quite funny.
Tang She sighed silently, shook his head, and then stood up straight in front of the camera.
He completely ignored Hao Zheng's attempt to smooth things over, his cold eyes piercing through the screen, staring directly at the torrent of negative comments, and spoke with resounding conviction:
"It seems that people don't have much confidence in Tangren Games."
"Then let's do this. If Zelda doesn't win the WG contract by this time next year, I, Tang She, hereby announce my permanent retirement from the gaming industry, and I will never touch a single line of game code again in my life."
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a resolute determination:
"After all, if even Zelda can't win that damn award, it just means that the game industry is really rotten to the core."