Chapter 75. I'm Just a Guy Who Carries Equipment
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"President, Miss Katayama from Goraku Tsushin has arrived." Ayase Akane reminded him.
Only then did Kiyoshi Yuuma lift his head from the Famitsu magazine.
"Alright, please have them come to my office."
...
This was Katayama Reiko's second time coming to Pokeni Corporation.
Compared to her first visit, this place was clearly much livelier.
Originally Pokeni only had about 20 people, but now it had directly expanded to over 30, with a trend of continued growth.
Katayama had very sharp eyes. As soon as she entered, she saw art staff in the distance drawing characters with very obvious Western fantasy characteristics.
Not only were the designs exaggerated, but they also had a strong sense of power.
Katayama just didn't know which Pokeni project this was.
Considering that Pokeni mainly made galgames, she couldn't help but be taken aback.
Could such demonic imagery also become romanceable girls?
No, not necessarily.
After all, the heroine of Mermaid's Heart is also non-human.
More precisely, starting from Onmyoji, hasn't there been a single purely human heroine among Pokeni's female leads?
Now that Pokeni can create heroines with Western fantasy characteristics, she's no longer that surprised.
Thinking this, Katayama and the photographer she brought were invited into the President's office.
Her main purpose this time was to collect some exclusive materials about Mermaid's Heart.
After some pleasantries, Katayama Reiko asked about some production details of Mermaid's Heart.
...
They chatted for about an hour or so.
"Eh, being able to come up with such a story is really quite surprising."
At the same time, Katayama couldn't help but sigh—Tsubaki Furuhara and Urobuchi Gen were simply two psychopaths.
To actually combine eerie elements with romance—
This has already departed from the scope of what human brains can conceive, hasn't it?
"Katayama-san, I have a small suggestion." Kiyoshi Yuuma said earnestly.
"If possible, when your publication reports on Mermaid's Heart, could you provide some other perspectives for consideration?"
"Hmm?"
...
After Kiyoshi Yuuma's explanation, she finally gained a much deeper understanding of Mermaid's Heart.
This was no longer just a galgame game—it carried many elements of humanity and social commentary.
It was just that because its plot was too impactful, and the cross-species love was so eye-catching, other magazine companies had overlooked this point.
That Kiyoshi Yuuma could point this out clearly showed he was intentionally giving Goraku Tsushin special treatment.
For this, she was very grateful.
Katayama Reiko nodded. She already knew how to write this report.
"By the way, President Kiyoshi, does your company have any other game plans?"
Katayama Reiko raised her hand and put her palms together. "Excuse my rudeness, please forgive me. To be honest, when I came in earlier, I saw some very interesting artwork with obvious Western-style characteristics.
I'm very sorry—I didn't mean to see it."
Katayama closed her eyes and bowed slightly, making a [I'm truly very sorry] gesture.
"Mm, we're already working on that."
Kiyoshi Yuuma brought his hands together in front of his chest and showed a charming, handsome smile. The photographer beside him quickly snapped a photo.
Speaking of which, it was quite interesting—when Goraku Game Tsushin published the January Week 3 issue at the beginning of the year, the magazine's sales suddenly jumped by 5 percentage points.
Later, the magazine company investigated and discovered that a large portion of female high school students had purchased it.
The reason for purchase was actually because the cover looked good.
And on the cover, that issue didn't feature game advertisements but rather a photo of President Kiyoshi.
Kiyoshi Yuuma was very satisfied with their work.
In this era when traffic stars hadn't yet become mainstream in advertising, he himself was the spokesperson.
In the future, there would be a man named Chen Ou who would use [I speak for myself] as a gimmick. Kiyoshi Yuuma felt he could do it too.
Not only could he attract fans, but he could also save money.
"We're developing a Western fantasy-themed game."
Hearing the definite answer from Kiyoshi Yuuma's mouth, Katayama Reiko's eyes lit up.
"Eh? What kind of game is it? I'm very curious."
"A milestone game." Kiyoshi Yuuma said bluntly. "This game—let's tentatively call it [Devil X]—will absolutely be an unprecedented legendary work.
It will redefine ARPG."
"ARPG?"
Katayama Reiko was amused by the expression of pure idealism on Kiyoshi Yuuma's face.
President Kiyoshi is really quite arrogant.
The game hasn't even been made yet, and he can definitively say it's a [legendary work].
"Mm." Kiyoshi Yuuma nodded. "Not just its gameplay, but its complexity, especially the numerical formulas—it can be said it will become a textbook for the entire gaming industry. Many future games' numerical frameworks will be expanded based on Devil X."
Diablo could be said to be a game developer's bible, something every game creator entering the industry must understand. Kiyoshi Yuuma could say he had played it for decades, and even in 2021 was still enjoying it tirelessly.
"How so?" Katayama Reiko didn't quite understand.
"[Devil X] defines many attributes, using a design primarily based on multiplication formulas, with fixed damage added together.
For example, damage calculation is very complex: (Base damage x1.5 {only applies to ethereal items}) (1 + weapon ED value/100) + direct min/max damage increase) multiplied by (1 + Strength or Dexterity/100 + non-weapon ED value/100 + skill ED value%/100)) + (1 - skill damage penalty/100) x2 {only takes effect during critical hit or deadly strike} + elemental damage... After that, damage reduction must be calculated based on the opponent's blocking, defense... etc. Damage can never be completely zero, and at the same time, many attributes won't become particularly overpowered no matter how much you stack them.
The advantage of this numerical system is that all your attributes are useful; it's just that differences in value arise based on weighting ratios, with certain attributes having higher value...
It can be said to be the originator of ARPG and also a paradigm for future RPG games. As long as combat is involved, it's difficult to avoid [Devil X]'s numerical system design.
In a sense, it's simply too beautiful."
More precisely, before Diablo, almost all game combat was based on subtraction formulas.
For example, the simplest attack-defense-HP system: damage dealt to enemies equals your attack minus their defense, then calculating the HP deducted.
Simple and brutal, but it also brought many problems—
Diminishing marginal returns was a very serious issue.
Once your defense stacking exceeded the opponent's attack, it would result in attacks being nullified, making the expandable space for numerical values very limited.
But multiplication formulas wouldn't have such problems.
Kiyoshi Yuuma gestured in the air with his hands. Although there was a pile of numerical formulas before him, it seemed as if these things were more attractive than women.
Katayama Reiko listened dumbfounded, having an illusion of her brain exploding like in high school math class.
Kiyoshi Yuuma was speaking way too professionally.
If there was anything imperfect about it... probably the creators didn't initially think players would exploit bugs to cheese bosses, resulting in over-leveling and experience overflow.
Kiyoshi Yuuma stroked his chin, thinking carefully. That's why Blizzard later added a level restriction to the experience formula—within a certain absolute level range, you could get normal experience; otherwise, it would decay based on level difference.
This was a piecewise function.
It was hand-filled and corrected after data verification, so mathematically it wasn't that perfect.
But if Pokeni made it, they would definitely consider various issues from the start.
It is called Diablo 1, but in reality it had already iterated many times in Kiyoshi Yuuma's brain.
"..."
Katayama Reiko had a completely blank expression, feeling like she'd heard nothing.
"In short, this game's numerical design will definitely be an epoch-making product. The complexity and variability of combat is also a very important feature of the game. We're very confident in making [Devil X] into a world-class game." Kiyoshi Yuuma concluded.
"Alright, President Kiyoshi, let's end today's interview here. Thank you for taking precious time out of your busy schedule."
...
Taking the elevator downstairs, Katayama Reiko asked the photographer, "Could you understand what President Kiyoshi just said?"
"Me...?" The photographer looked at her with a blank expression. "I'm just a guy who carries equipment—you're asking me?"