Chapter 1 The Subversion

According to the unwritten rules of DLC development, the core gameplay and combat system of a game are definitely not subject to major changes. At most, some new maps, new bosses, new weapons, and new skills are added on top of the original content.

But this obviously couldn't satisfy Pei Qian's needs.

Because if the DLC was developed in this way, players would definitely buy it without thinking!

It would be completely impossible to reduce the game's sales.

Pei Qian's primary goal was to get players to buy fewer copies of *Turn Back is the Shore*, so that after the revenue dropped, he could make the base game free without being warned by the system.

So, the DLC had to be placed before the base game's content, forcing players to experience the DLC before the base game, and the DLC had to be more difficult than the base game.

That way, players who hadn't yet bought *Turn Back is the Shore* wouldn't be able to beat the DLC and get the 30% discount, and they'd be reluctant to buy the base game at full price, wouldn't sales go down?

And coincidentally, the story content of *Eternal Reincarnation* happened to be a story that took place before the events of the base game, with the DLC's protagonist being the first Zhenyu Shi (Warden of Hell).

This provided theoretical support for Pei Qian to pull off his tricks.

System, you see, the DLC content comes first and the base game content comes later, it's not that I'm deliberately causing trouble, the author's plot setting is like this, I'm changing it to follow the timeline!

Next was the second problem: how to make the DLC more difficult than the base game.

The pure numerical difficulty couldn't be increased any further, after all, Pei Qian had to make sure he could beat it himself.

If he wanted to continue to increase the difficulty, he could only work on the gameplay.

This meant that the basic combat system of *Turn Back is the Shore* also had to be changed.

Fortunately, the story of *Eternal Reincarnation* had some minor details in this regard that could be used.

Of course, the so-called use was just a far-fetched association, forcing it to fit.

On the surface, it was using the protagonist's identity as a "Martial God," but in reality, it was simply to increase the difficulty and discourage players.

Pei Qian quickly had a rough idea and cleared his throat, saying, "Your original ideas are not entirely wrong. But the problem is, they're too conservative, you can't feel that this is a completely new story."

"DLC must bring a different feeling to players, if it's just a small fix on the basis of the original combat, how can it live up to the players' expectations? It's also letting down the hard work the original author put into conceiving the plot!"

This made Yu Fei, the author of *Eternal Reincarnation*, a little embarrassed.

In fact, he didn't think too much when he wrote this story, he just felt that the identity of Zhenyu Shi was special and could be explored, so he made up such a slightly cliché story.

President Pei was the producer of *Turn Back is the Shore*, and obviously had the highest right to interpret the plot related to *Turn Back is the Shore*.

It was already very good that his casually written plot could be recognized by President Pei, and he didn't expect the production team to make it completely according to his plot.

But President Pei's statement made him feel a strong sense of respect.

Pei Qian continued, "In my opinion, it should be changed like this."

"First of all, the content of the DLC takes place before the events of the base game. In that case, we should obviously let players experience the content of the DLC first, and then experience the content of the base game."

"So, set it up so that the DLC can be purchased and experienced separately from the base game, players who have already purchased the base game of *Turn Back is the Shore* before the DLC is released will not be affected."

"You must beat the first few chapters of the DLC to pay for it; and if you beat the DLC, you will get a 30% discount when you pay to buy the base game of *Turn Back is the Shore*."

"This will guide new players to play the DLC first, and then play the base game."

"The order must be clear, so that the player's game experience is consistent with the timeline of the story!"

"Although this is only a very detailed part, the more detailed it is, the more it cannot be ignored!"

Hu Xianbin and the others hurriedly took notes.

This rule sounded a bit strange. What's the point of a DLC that can be purchased separately from the base game, encouraging players to play the DLC first?

Never heard of such a thing.

But the people present were all veteran employees, after seeing the tricks that President Pei played with other games, especially *BeQuiet*, they were no longer surprised by this kind of operation.

Since President Pei arranged it this way, there must be a reason!

Seeing that no one raised any objections, Pei Qian was very satisfied.

He thought for a while and continued, "Secondly, the gameplay of this DLC, *Eternal Reincarnation*, must be distinguished from the previous game!"

"*Turn Back is the Shore* is already a game from two years ago, and its combat system is a bit outdated. And in the past two years, players' tolerance threshold has been constantly increasing, old players are getting more and more skilled, they can beat the game with their eyes closed, and new players can also find a lot of walkthrough videos online, the difficulty of this game can't be compared with the first time."

"So, we have to innovate the combat system of *Turn Back is the Shore* and bring some new challenges to the players!"

"And this can be started from the details in the novel *Eternal Reincarnation*."

"According to the setting in the novel *Eternal Reincarnation*, the protagonist is a Martial God in the human world, a super master at the level of Du Gu Qiu Bai (a legendary, undefeated swordsman), who can even kill Black and White Impermanence."

"This is obviously inconsistent with the setting in the base game of *Turn Back is the Shore*: the protagonist is an ordinary person."

"We should allow the Martial God protagonist in the DLC *Eternal Reincarnation* to master more martial arts techniques, make more fancy moves, and have a unique combat mechanism!"

"When describing battles in novels, the protagonist's *qi* is often described. When two masters fight, the one whose *qi* is disordered will often fall into decline quickly, while the one whose *qi* is smooth will gradually gain the upper hand."

"So, on top of the original stamina bar, add a '*qi* bar'."

"The icon of the *qi* bar is a bit like the shape of a lung, and it is divided into three states: green, white, yellow, and red. At the same time, this icon will have a breathing effect, constantly expanding and shrinking like a person's breathing, and the fullness inside represents the amount of gas in the lungs."

"The expansion of the *qi* bar icon and the increase of the amount of gas in the lungs represent inhalation; the shrinking of the *qi* bar icon and the decrease of the amount of gas in the lungs represent exhalation."

"The four colors of the icon, green, white, yellow, and red, represent the protagonist's *qi* state. Green represents smooth *qi*, white represents normal, yellow represents rapid, and red represents disordered."

"Along with the exhalation and inhalation of the *qi* bar icon, the system will also play exhalation and inhalation sound effects, so that players can more clearly understand the protagonist's current *qi* state."

"Whether it is attacking or parrying, it is best to exert force in the state of exhalation. Of course, if the situation is urgent, it is okay to exert force in the state of inhalation, but the protagonist will automatically accelerate the adjustment of *qi*, quickly changing from inhalation to exhalation."

"But this situation cannot be too much. If you frequently exert force against the *qi*, the *qi* will gradually become disordered and need to be calmed down and adjusted slowly."

"On the other hand, if you can exert force at the right time every time, your breathing will become very smooth, and your attack power and damage value will be increased."

"The enemy will also have a *qi* bar setting. When the enemy's *qi* bar is in a disordered state, the protagonist can find a flaw in the enemy's moves, and no matter how much health he has, he can kill him with one hit and perform a finishing move!"

"In addition, the stamina bar setting is also different from before."

"The previous stamina bar was consumed quickly and recovered quickly, which is inconsistent with our understanding of the traditional meaning of 'stamina bar'."

"After the introduction of the '*qi* bar', the stamina bar setting will also change. The total stamina is very large, and actions such as attacking, parrying, and dodging will consume stamina, but the consumption is very slow, and the recovery is also slow."

"The *qi* bar will affect the consumption of the stamina bar. If the *qi* is smooth, the stamina consumption is slow and the recovery is fast; if the *qi* is disordered, the stamina consumption will increase significantly."

"After the stamina is reduced to a certain threshold, it means that there is a gap in stamina between the two sides. The side with the weaker stamina will have more demanding judgment conditions when parrying the opponent's attack. Once the stamina is close to exhaustion, it is easy to be attacked by the opponent and disrupt the *qi*, resulting in a finishing move."

"In addition, the specific combat skills must also be adjusted."

"The original combat was too boring, it was nothing more than rolling to avoid attacks and not being greedy for hits, slowly grinding the Boss to death by memorizing the patterns. This mode can be used on ordinary people, but since the protagonist of the DLC is a Martial God, he must not fight like this, it's too incongruous!"

"In the new combat system, in addition to the original attack actions, the main modification is the 'disarming' action."

"The enemy's attacks will be divided into upper attacks, middle attacks, and lower attacks, and there will also be left and right distinctions."

"Upper attacks are dodged by side-stepping and lowering the head, middle attacks are defended by parrying, and lower attacks are dodged by jumping."

"This is the basic operation, and the protagonist's identity is a Martial God, so in addition to these conventional handling methods, he can also use the Martial God's 'counter-attack' to deal with it."

"'Counter-attack' is also a parry, but it requires more demanding requirements. Not only does it require very precise timing, but it also requires a direction judgment with the right stick."

"After the player locks on the target, if the opponent's attack is coming from the upper left of the player, then the player needs to first push the right stick to the upper left, and then press the parry button at the moment the attack arrives. In this way, a perfect parry of 'counter-attack' can be formed. The player will not suffer any damage, but will disrupt the opponent's *qi*, causing the opponent to be stunned for a short time."

"Attacks from other directions such as directly above, lower right, and right side are the same. Pushing the right stick or mouse in the corresponding direction can trigger the perfect operation of 'counter-attack'. If you don't push the stick or the direction is not accurate, you can only trigger a normal parry, which can defend against the attack, but may cause injury or disrupt your own *qi*."

"Individual Bosses have super-charged attacks, which are best avoided. But there is also the possibility of breaking it with 'counter-attack', but the conditions are very demanding."

Hu Xianbin recorded while showing a shocked expression.

The changes to this combat system are too big and quite bold!

Not only does it divide the original enemy's attacks into six directions (upper, middle, lower + left and right), making it more complicated for players to deal with, but it also adds a *qi* bar setting.

For experts, if they want to fight a perfect Boss battle, they need to constantly counter-attack, watch the direction of the attack and parry, and also pay attention to their own *qi* bar at all times, preferably always maintaining the state of "smooth *qi*."

In this way, the combat experience will become a bit like a fighting game, requiring the control of the direction button to adjust the direction of the block. When you really fight, it will definitely become extremely fancy.

If expert players can master this set of combat skills and quickly disrupt the Boss's *qi*, then quick kills may be much faster than before.

But for ordinary players, the game experience may be another matter. It is very likely that they will disrupt their own *qi* while playing, and then be easily finished off by the Boss.

It can be said that this is a very bold change, but it is also quite risky!

Hu Xianbin said, "President Pei, the combat system has changed so much, does that mean the difficulty of the entire game has to be re-adjusted?"

Pei Qian nodded: "Of course."

It wasn't to think about the players so he adjusted the difficulty, it was mainly for himself to beat the game.

After all, Pei Qian was very self-aware. He designed such a perverted combat system, and he had to adjust the *qi* and push the right stick to parry like a fighting game. Based on his own clumsiness, he would definitely not be able to do it.

So, he had to find a way to open a back door so that he could successfully beat the game.