Bab 60: Fatal blow?
"Have you played Dragon Quest? How do you defeat the dragon that holds the princess captive?"
"It's quite simple, just get the Lake Sword from the well in the town, and you can easily defeat the dragon."
"Huh? Can it really be done like that? How did you know?"
"Hehe, have you read the latest issue of Haruhi Manga Magazine?"
"Not yet, I just play games casually, not really interested in manga."
"Then you better buy a few copies. Now Haruhi Manga Magazine has started a game strategy column on the last page, updating Dragon Quest game strategies every issue to help you play the game more easily."
"Really? But if there are strategies, won't playing the game be less fun?"
"Not at all. You can play the game yourself first, and then use the strategy to fill in the missing parts. Think about it, if you miss a legendary weapon, wouldn't it be frustrating? It's not just about clearing the game."
"That makes sense. I'll go buy a manga book then."
"Not just one, you should buy several, and now Dragon Quest's manga adaptation is also serialized, which is equally interesting. You might want to check it out."
"Is that so? I'll consider it."
Similar conversations have been happening in many places over the past few days.
On the internet, among friends, at school, among colleagues.
The topic of Dragon Quest seems to have rapidly gained momentum in just a few days.
First, among manga readers.
Initially, they only played the game because they wanted to see the continuation of the story.
Later, after patiently playing for an hour, they found themselves getting more and more immersed.
Role-playing games may not match the visual effects of games like Contra.
But once you delve into it, it's easy to get hooked.
They immerse themselves in the story until the end, and even stare blankly at the scrolling credits.
As for Contra, it's basically set aside once it's completed. The truly interested players might play it a couple more times, but it's just for fun and doesn't hold much significance.
But Dragon Quest can keep people engrossed.
Even if you already know the story's development, you can't help but start over and relive the hero's journey.
Every new start seems like a fresh experience, making people want to replay it.
Perhaps that's the charm of role-playing games.
With that, manga sales have also slowly increased.
The reasons behind these data are quite complex and cannot be accurately investigated without complete statistical channels.
Currently, only Gamestar Entertainment fully grasps detailed data and will not disclose it to the public for now.
As for Suirui Electronics and other companies' investigation data, it's basically unreliable, or they haven't really paid much attention to Takayuki, this emerging small company, and their investigations are not thorough.
With the release of the ninth game, the development of the tenth game is also on the agenda.
That would be Red Fortress, and the development work has been entrusted to the second game development team that previously produced Rocket Car.
Their experience has gradually accumulated, and under Takayuki's guidance, game production has been fast. By now, the framework for Red Fortress has been set up, and all that's left is to fill in the content.
Releasing one classic game per month has sustained sales of the Nintendo Entertainment System for about three to four years. With around forty games released, they've reaped the profits and are now entering the next generation, which is Takayuki's overall plan.
He doesn't intend to rely solely on one game console for profits. Since the technology in this world is already advanced, not speeding up game development would be a disservice to this world.
Takayuki stands up from his seat; today he plans to check on the hardware development of the first engineering team.
Gamestar Electronic Entertainment currently has three development teams: the first engineering team, the first game development team, and the second game development team.
The first engineering team is responsible for optimizing game console hardware and developing new game consoles, while also researching expansion hardware for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
For example, the light gun and external disk drive system that appeared on the NES.
They might not necessarily be useful, but they still need to be researched to increase employees' relevant research experience, lay a foundation for the future, and preemptively register a few important patents to prevent others from taking the lead.
The first game development team is currently working on a long-term project, the development of Dragon Quest 2, which is scheduled for one year.
In fact, with Takayuki's guidance, they could definitely produce it in a month of urgent work.
But Takayuki has his own ambitions.
He's not satisfied with the game quality of Dragon Quest 2 in the previous life.
He wants to expand upon the original version of Dragon Quest 2, just as he did with the optimizations and improvements in Dragon Quest 1, adding more playability and also cultivating employees' game production capabilities.
And a year's pace is just right; one Dragon Quest game per year until the third installment ends the NES era, paving the way for the second game console.
The second game development team is responsible for short-term, quick development of popular games from the previous world. Of course, it's not necessary to limit releasing a game within a month.
For games like Castlevania, the development time can be extended to also tease players' appetites and increase their anticipation.
In addition to these three development teams, the number of company employees has been slowly increasing over the past month or two, and now there are about eighty people. Takayuki plans to expand with two more teams, adding an engineering development team and a game development team.
And Takayuki has finally recruited three suitable artists.
They were originally animators in the animation industry, but due to some conflicts with their employers, they were blacklisted in the industry and couldn't find work elsewhere. Desperate, they were introduced to Takayuki by Daigo Ikeda and became professional game concept artists in this world.
Their painting skills are very high, but they just had some unfortunate circumstances.
Passing through the offices of the two game development teams on the second floor, Takayuki arrived at the office of the engineering research and development team on the third floor.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw Sayuri's back. She was wearing work clothes and seemed to be concentrating on testing a newly produced game hardware.
As Takayuki approached, Sayuri didn't seem to notice, and continued to test with concentration.
Some employees nearby wanted to greet Takayuki as soon as they saw him come in, but when they noticed Takayuki approaching their team leader Sayuri from behind, they immediately broke into a cold sweat.
"President Takayuki! Be careful!!"
Slap.
Takayuki gently placed his hand on Sayuri's shoulder and asked, "What are you working on now?"
Sayuri was startled for a moment, then turned around with a happy smile, "Oh, President Takayuchi, you're here. I'm researching the third batch of experimental samples of the light gun. This batch feels like it should be successful."
"Is that so? Can I try it now?"
Upon hearing that the research on the light gun seemed to be nearing completion, Takayuki also became interested.
Meanwhile, the employees nearby, witnessing the conversation between Takayuki and their team leader, widened their eyes in astonishment.
What's going on?
President Takayuki, approaching their team leader Sayuri from behind, didn't get counterattacked?
In the past, many people in the team had accidentally approached the team leader from behind.
Then their team leader, Sayuri, seemed to have some reflex reaction, and anyone approaching from behind would get a fatal karate chop.
The most serious case passed out on the spot and was carried to the hospital for a day and night of recuperation.
Later, the team members reached a consensus: absolutely never approach their team leader from behind, it's too dangerous.
So far, it seems that no one has been able to approach Team Leader Sayuri from behind and come out unscathed.
And today, this rule has been broken.
Their president, Takayuki, can easily approach the team leader from behind without being counterattacked.
This is really bizarre!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone