Chapter 81: Down with Meta Soft! And Myth of Salvation 3

Of course, that was an overly exaggerated thought. But even after thinking about it calmly, if someone already owned a Hammer 1 Computer and liked side-scrolling action games, there really was a possibility they would choose not to buy Talados.

The difference in game quality was that large.

Epek Ras...

Most people evaluated him as a genius of the gaming industry, and Kokaton honestly acknowledged that as well. But he had not realized Ras was capable of instantly surpassing the accumulated efforts of countless developers on the Talados side and producing a masterpiece like this.

It was not simply creativity alone.

“No, but did they really have to make a side-scrolling action game too? They should’ve just made games suited for their own market!”

Ataros pounded his thick green chest muscles while venting his frustration. Normally, he appeared intellectual, but occasionally he revealed this kind of hidden savagery. Or perhaps people simply perceived raw muscles themselves as savagery.

But honestly, Joy Systems was not really in a position to complain about territorial infringement.

After all, they had already developed and sold numerous imitation games based on Meta Soft’s popular titles that suited their own system.

In particular, in the case of Tetris, they had simplified it further into a game called Toon Toon, where bars made of three connected blocks of different shapes fell downward, and matching shapes exploded when they connected horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. It had even become a modest hit.

And as for versus fighting games like Fighters’ Club, they had already released a clumsy imitation, while another partner studio was currently developing a rather promising title.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do. We just have to make games on our side that are no less impressive.”

After spending quite a while condemning Meta Soft’s lack of business ethics with Ataros, Kokaton finally calmed down enough to discuss realistic countermeasures. Earlier, he had even talked about lodging complaints, but in truth, it was not as though Meta Soft had patented the genre. There were no grounds to criticize someone simply for making a good game.

Moreover, the game had already been released. It was impossible to withdraw it now, and causing trouble over it would only make them look petty.

“R-Right. We have so many developers on our side. If we really put our minds to it, we should be able to make something even better.”

“That’s right.”

Honestly, Kokaton could not quite imagine creating something superior. But he was confident they could at least produce games capable of competing.

No matter how much of a genius Epek Ras was, as Ataros had said, there were truly many developers making Talados games. And among them were even so-called star developers.

If they invested properly, they would definitely be able to create something worthwhile.

“Please bring me the list of development teams that submitted side-scrolling action game proposals. And the proposals themselves as well.”

Kokaton judged this to be war. If they did not want to lose, they could no longer afford to hold back investments. Until now, as a businessman, he had inevitably suppressed development costs to increase profit margins.

But if games did not sell in the first place, cutting production costs would never increase profits. First, they needed to make something good, and only then could they think about the rest.

Before Ataros even finished organizing the list, Kokaton had already begun recalling developers one by one in his head. Thinking purely in terms of ability ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠brought several people to mind whom he normally disliked dealing with.

They were individuals with obvious flaws, such as demanding excessive development budgets or having terrible personalities. But Kokaton had not fired them because they were talented, and because as a businessman, he knew all too well that success was impossible if he only worked with people he personally liked.

This was exactly the sort of situation for which he had kept them around.

I hate looking at that gnome bastard’s face, but there’s no helping it.

A developer named Kodayo was the perfect example. His planning sense was incredible, but he was lazy and stubborn to an unbearable degree, making him disliked not only by Kokaton but by many people throughout the company.

Still, he had created the hit game Explosive Baseball, and his abilities were simply too valuable to throw away. Now seemed like the perfect time to make use of him.

And so Joy Systems entered an all-out mobilization phase under the slogan of “Down with Meta Soft.”

“I’m going to read a book now.”

Ella, who had come to hang out in Ras’s room and spent quite some time shoulder-to-shoulder with him on the same sofa while playing Tetris 2, stood up as though she had grown tired of it.

It was not as though she had been losing the whole time. The matches had actually been quite close. But perhaps that made it even more exhausting. To begin with, she was not nearly as fond of games as Ras was.

“Okay.”

Back then, Ras had always tried to keep playing with Ella somehow. But now that he roughly understood her personality, he stopped clinging to her insistently.

It was not that she disliked him approaching her. But neither did she feel lonely just because ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they were doing different things separately. Simply sharing the same space and occasionally exchanging light physical contact was enough for her.

However, if he paid too little attention to her, she would suddenly return to her own home before he noticed. So Ras occasionally got up, sat beside her, or engaged in light physical contact that would not annoy her.

At first, he had assumed it was because she was a cat Beastman and therefore cat-like. But after talking with her more, he realized it seemed closer to a personality trait formed through living in group environments since childhood.

Ella moved over to a single-seat sofa and, for some reason, curled herself sideways atop it while reading a book. Watching her, Ras smiled faintly before turning his gaze back toward the computer.

Still, he did not particularly want to keep playing Tetris 2 alone. While wondering what to do instead, he suddenly remembered a game he had bought earlier.

In the past, he had often bought games to understand industry trends and analyze competitors. But he had not really enjoyed them. By Ras’s standards, 8-bit games simply had graphics that were too primitive.

But after the release of the Hammer Computer, games had finally reached a level he could genuinely enjoy. There still were not many software titles yet, but among them were some he truly wanted to play.

<Myth of Salvation 3>

That was the name written on the package Ras pulled from the display shelf. It was a masterpiece RPG in this world, often mentioned as the rival of Meta Soft’s Land of Adventure.

As mentioned before, it felt similar to The Legend of Zelda. But unlike Ras, the development company called Kanbuta Soft had no way of knowing about The Legend of Zelda. So while it resembled it in some ways, there were still many differences.

At the same time, its fun did not lose to The Legend of Zelda at all. Ras might not have played many other games, but he had played every entry of Myth of Salvation since the first one. The magic system in particular was especially fun.

Not only did elemental affinities matter when fighting monsters, but there were also fascinating applications like revealing secret passages hidden behind tree vines with fire magic, or freezing lakes to walk across them.

And now that masterpiece had released a new installment designed for next-generation graphics. There was no way Ras could avoid playing it. He might have become a businessman after coming to this world, but he was still a gamer who loved games.

“Ooh...”

It seemed this company had dramatically expanded its graphics team as well. The moment the game began, the quality of the green fields and blue skies displayed on-screen was incredible. It gave him the strong feeling of adventure and anticipation swelling in his chest.

The story structure seemed similar to the previous games. A crisis threatened the world, and the protagonist traveled across the land searching for angels of salvation.

Ras admired the prologue as it played. It lacked the intense impact of his own Fighters’ Club, but the quiet, atmospheric illustrations appearing throughout the story undeniably enhanced immersion.

And not long afterward, he entered actual gameplay, where the graphics were genuinely impressive.

Cute?

The world was compactly designed with bright colors, and the characters fully utilized the Hammer Computer’s graphical capabilities. Even though they were made of pixels, they felt colorful and adorable.

The movement was not bad either. Honestly, it could not compare to his own Metallic Jumper, but that was a pure action game. Besides, he had poured in countless techniques from the future, so the comparison itself was unfair.

Maintaining distance, Ras advanced by approaching monsters, attacking them, then hurriedly pressing the directional keys to dodge.

He accepted quests from villages, defeated powerful monsters, searched for items, and adventured throughout the game world.

It’s definitely simple, which makes it fun.

Compared to Land of Adventure, which contained numerous stats, many skills, and complicated systems for learning and mastering them, Myth of Salvation was astonishingly simple.

You just attacked with whatever weapon you were holding. The combat was straightforward like an action game, yet somehow that simplicity gave it a sense of realism. Of course, that was an oversimplification. You could still switch weapons to fire bows or use magic.

And there were still things to calculate, such as monster movement patterns and trap activations. But compared to Land of Adventure, it was undeniably more intuitive.

“Ras! Dinner!”

During the Volcano Episode, Ras had explored nearby villages after receiving a quest and eventually heard about an Ice Shield from a Ratman he encountered in an underground dungeon. He then spent a long time wandering around searching for it before Ella’s voice finally snapped him back to reality.

“Huh? Ah...”

Ras almost said, “Just a moment,” but then realized how much time had already passed and awkwardly smiled toward her instead. Thankfully, judging by her small chuckle, she did not seem angry.

Actually, Ella sometimes felt a slight sense of distance from Ras because he always seemed so incredible despite being around her age. But seeing him become completely absorbed in a game like this made her realize he really was just a boy around her own age after all, which made him feel more approachable.

“Was it really that fun?”

“Mhm...”

While inhaling the delicious aroma of the meal laid out on the table, Ras nodded. Ella had been studying cooking diligently during that time, so her skills had improved greatly.

On Earth, she probably would have given up long ago and simply bought food instead. But this world still strongly distinguished the roles of men and women. Of course, Ras came from Earth and had no intention of expecting meals from Ella, but Ella herself still cared about such things.

The menu was simple: stew with meat and turnips, baked wheat bread, and scrambled eggs. But to Ras, it tasted absolutely delicious. Perhaps someone like him, who ate expensive meals every day, had actually been craving this kind of home cooking instead.

“Wow, this is seriously delicious.”

Ras raised a thumbs-up. He deliberately avoided saying things like how much her cooking had improved compared to before.

At that, Ella looked unable to hide her pride and smiled brightly while lifting her spoon herself.

Watching her made Ras happy, but at the same time, he remembered the game he had just played. It was not that he wanted to keep playing it. Rather, the game itself had made him feel a slight sense of crisis.

The game was already positioned as a rival in the RPG genre. And now they had released a sequel compatible with the new-generation computer first, and it was this fun as well. Ras felt that if Meta Soft did not release an RPG soon too, the company’s position in the market might begin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to shake.

After enjoying dinner, Ras went for a walk together with Ella.

They merely walked through ordinary nearby streets, yet both of them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were happy.

After spending some time like that, they returned to the apartment together and climbed the stairs.

“Then I’m heading in.”

Ella waved her hand before walking down the hallway toward her room. Ras watched as she opened the door, turned back with a bright smile, then stepped inside and closed it.

Only after seeing the door shut did he let out a regretful sigh and head toward his own room.