NOVEL NEXT Chapter 64
Reverse Arcadia Gallery.
Among the Reverse Arcadia communities, this one, which boasts the largest scale, was unexpectedly witnessing a debate over game difficulty.
Typically, discussions about difficulty within communities arise either when the difficulty is notoriously and unpleasantly high, or
when it’s blatant pay-to-win difficulty adjustment… Neither was the case this time.
The reason difficulty was being talked about at the Reverse Arcadia Gallery wasn’t due to the game being too hard, but rather because it was too easy.
[Nickname: Anon]
[Title: Honestly, isn’t Reverse Arcadia’s difficulty way too low?]
Level 2 characters are already overpowered at this point, so whether or not there’s a Level 2 veteran character, the contents can easily be completed, which feels like a pretty generous game, right?
But, being able to clear all the content just by properly raising and combining Level 1 to 2 main dealers is perhaps a bit much, don’t you think?
It’s not even hard to raise characters, and honestly, you can even push through stages without leveling up skills at all; there’s no problem whatsoever. lol
To be honest, whether it’s single gacha or 11 gacha, the game content is well-structured, and I’m not saying anything because I am enjoying it now,
but as soon as things calm down a bit, posts about “a lack of content” will definitely flood in.
[Comment List] [Registered Order]
– This guy’s too full of himself, lol. Try playing games where you can’t even taste the final content without pulling Level 1 cards to get a wake-up call.
– True, that. lol
– Honestly, aren’t you the type who doesn’t pay?
[Nickname: Merkbyu]
[Title: Honestly, it’s kind of frustrating that even after spending money, it doesn’t really show.]
【Reverse Arcadia Full Character Collection Certification】
After collecting all characters and consuming all the content, there’s literally nothing left to do.
Even spending more money would only allow slightly quicker stage clearing and character collection completion.
While it’s nice that the game is generous, it would be better if there were more entertaining content or difficulty levels that make paying players feel their money’s worth.
Anyway, I don’t expect big rewards from a mobile game.
[Comment List] [Registered Order]
– If it’s not too much trouble, could you buy me a Merona ice cream?
– Dude, slow down, lol.
– Honestly, it’s also a bit disappointing that even with subscription payers there seems to be little difference.
– Unless the reward differences are significant, honestly, it wouldn’t matter much if the difficulty increased.
[Nickname: Anon]
[Title: But, if a crazy difficulty content comes out later, what will happen? lol]
Watching the gallery, all the kids who whine about the difficulty being too low will soon have their heads broken and will be screaming, “What is this?” in the near future. Haha, I can already see it.
First, me.
[Comment List] [Registered Order]
– True, lol.
– Haha, indeed.
‘They sure fight enthusiastically against each other.’
This was what Jae-hyun felt most while browsing through the Reverse Arcadia Gallery.
From Jae-hyun’s perspective, he had absolutely no interest in the current difficulty debate.
Not only was he not a hardcore gamer,
but since he was managing side jobs while playing games, for Jae-hyun, Reverse Arcadia’s difficulty level was just about right.
Of course, if deliberately hard content were to be introduced, as someone mentioned in the last comment, he would probably groan and grind to clear it.
“Whatever the case, I just want to finish the side job quickly and get back to gaming….”
***
It all started with an incident.
Outrageous Rage, serving as the main event and the endgame content for Reverse Arcadia’s year-end celebrations,
was on a scale almost equal to the main storyline and they were struggling to find the right method to unveil it.
It was too large in scale to simply release it as a regular event,
but simultaneously, it was not suitable to inflate through live broadcasts like an anniversary event.
As they were pondering with nothing coming to mind, they decided to consult Yumi, and at that moment,
the phone rang on the smartphone laid on the desk.
There weren’t many people who would call at this time, so he checked, and it was Su-yeon.
‘What could it be at this hour?’
[Ho-jin? Are you available for a call right now?]
“Oh, yes. Of course.”
[By any chance, do you have any thoughts about participating in G-Star this year?]
“G-Star?”
[Yeah. I just received a call from Father. He asked me to check with you.]
Indeed, G-Star. It would undoubtedly be the ultimate solution to resolve his current predicament.
It could provide the same promotional effect as a live broadcast without the stress, and it would also be fitting to introduce Outrageous Rage.
“But, our company’s booth for new releases already has its participant list finalized, right?”
[That’s true. Our company’s booth is already set… ‘Our company’s booth’.]
“What do you mean…”
[Apparently, there are two booths allocated under Enson Korea for this G-Star. One of them, and it’s the larger one, was offered to us.]
“Well, if you’re passing it along, I’m very grateful, but why all of a sudden?”
[Well, it seems NDSoft is hosting a grand booth this year. It’s almost the size of a hundred seats.]
“I see.”
He now had a rough idea of what was happening.
Upon discovering that NDSoft was sharpening their swords to participate in G-Star, the chairman seemed to want to prevent NDSoft from becoming the center of attention this G-Star.
This opportunity came to us thanks to that.
“I fully understand. Since I have no reason to turn down this opportunity, please pass my thanks to the Chairman.”
[Yeah, I’m sure Father will be pleased too.]
The moment the call ended, he rose from his seat and quietly cheered.
Several days of worry were resolved in one go.
Since an opportunity had arisen, they needed to start preparations swiftly, so he immediately gathered everyone for a meeting.
As a result, everyone ranked Director and above, including himself, gathered in the conference room, and Yerin was the first to ask the question.
“Senior Ho-jin, participating in G-Star is great and all, but don’t we lack something substantial to display at our booth?”
“I plan to make a grand reveal of Outrageous Rage.”
“Oh.”
“To be honest, though it’s called an event, given the storyline it’s more like the main episode. That should be enough.”
The team members nodded in understanding at his explanation.
“So, for this G-Star booth, we intend to set up an Experience Zone… Taeseon.”
“Yes.”
“Is the Outrageous Rage content fully implemented?”
“Yes. The implementation is complete, and all that remains is to activate the dummy data that’s already placed for the update day.”
“In that case, create an experience version for use in the G-Star Experience Zone based on that version.”
“What do you mean by ‘experience version’? To what extent…?”
“For the current Outrageous Rage content, only reveal up to Level 2 difficulty and remove a few patterns of middle and final bosses.”
At this, Taeseon seemed to think for a moment before nodding.
“It shouldn’t take long to implement at that level. The work itself is simple.”
“Good. And since I plan to conduct the final inspection personally this time, please let me know immediately once the experience version is done.”
“Understood.”
Upon Taeseon’s response, the meeting proceeded rapidly.
“Lastly… Yena?”
“Oh, me?”
Yena answered with a startled expression after being interrupted while quietly talking with Yerin.
“I’m planning to serialize a 4-cut story comic as a promotion for Outrageous Rage after G-Star is over. Would you be interested in taking it up?”
“If I say no….”
“Then we’ll have to find a new freelance writer.”
“Oh, hmm… Is this going to be like Girls’ Memorial, as an external contract?”
“Yes.”
At his reply, Yena thought for a moment before nodding.
“Well then, I’ll take it.”
“Good choice. It’s more convenient to handle media mix in one writer. So the next agenda is—”
The meeting continued after this and finally concluded after over 30 minutes.
***
About two weeks after the first G-Star meeting, Taeseon contacted him.
It was a notification that the experience version of the Outrageous Rage content for G-Star’s demonstration and experience was complete.
Under normal circumstances, it would’ve been handed over to the QA team for testing, but this time around it was unavoidable.
After all, Outrageous Rage, this new content, was a game-changer that could reverse the current public sentiment concerning difficulty.
I felt it was safer for me to manage every detail from start to finish.
Undoubtedly, it was better to prevent any unintended information leakage by handing it over to the QA team.
At any rate, after receiving Taeseon’s notification, he arrived at the development team and quickly received a brief explanation, then immediately began QA.
Sitting down at the desk and turning on the monitor, the familiar Reverse Arcadia main screen appeared right away.
Among the familiar UI, an eerie red icon labeled “Outrageous Rage” caught his eye.
Clicking the icon with anticipation, a haunting sound played, accompanied by a majestic OST that marked the beginning of the gameplay.
The gameplay of Outrageous Rage itself didn’t differ much from the existing style.
It was just a matter of swapping to a special event map and an event-specific boss in the final stages.
If you only consider this, there would likely be many who would ask, “What kind of final content is this?”
However, Outrageous Rage featured a system unlike any other content—a system called “Vow.”
It’s a system where vows placed on enemies grant them boosting buffs while vows placed on allies weaken them with various debuffs and initiate the game.
In the G-Star version, only some levels of this system would be disclosed.
Out of the maximum three levels, participants at G-Star would be able to experience only up to Level 2 effects.
Level 2 difficulty is definitely harder than currently available content, but it might feel slightly underwhelming to players seeking hardcore difficulty.
Therefore, it was clear that negative feedback might outweigh positive feedback, but I was ready to accept it.
Because revealing all the cards at once would surely not generate as much excitement as holding some back for surprise elements.
As I played through the experience version while thinking about this, the results were exactly as I expected.
It was slightly difficult but manageable without major hindrance.
Taeseon let out a sigh of relief, seemingly pleased with my satisfied expression.
With a month still to go until G-Star, I already began to look forward to the users’ feedback.
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