Chapter 146: The First Major Update
First, there was the issue of cost.
At the time, there were many places where money had to go, so there were no spare funds. Expanding the servers for WET and TLF Online’s official service was already difficult enough, and securing separate funds and manpower to operate a test server was far too burdensome.
And first of all, there were not enough users.
The number of people obsessed enough with TLF Online to play on a test server would inevitably be small.
Since the test server was still for an MMORPG, there had to be a certain number of users for people to feel like playing on it, and since this game basically revolved around interaction, it fundamentally needed a certain user count.
In other words, the number of general server users, which could be called the overall user pool, had to reach a certain level. Immediately after release, he had expected it would not be easy to meet that condition.
‘Right after launch, people were already busy raising their main characters on the main server. I didn’t think there would be many people with enough spare time to play on a test server too.’
(Translator’s Notes: Main server — refers to the regular live server, while a main character is the primary character a player actively develops.)
More than anything, in the early launch period, they focused on improving stability and operations rather than adding content, so there had not been much to test. That was another reason.
But now that they were preparing and trying to release a major update like spirits, his anxiety made him desperately want a test server.
“The update has been applied to the server.”
No matter how anxious he was because he did not know what problems might occur, he could not postpone the update forever.
On Tuesday, April 1, 1997, the regular maintenance day, the TLF Online Business Division carried out the update under Insu’s instructions.
“The patch has been applied. It is currently operating normally.”
“Good. Please continue monitoring it.”
For now, the server operated without problems, just as it had during testing.
The development team also applied the update to the client and proceeded with testing while uploading the patch file to the game portal site.
He wanted to manage TLF Online through WGAME now too, but WGAME still had low recognition, and there was a chance gamers would be confused by a sudden change and fail to adapt. So instead of changing it abruptly, he decided to try it after WGAME had become sufficiently active.
This was their first major update, but it was not as if there had been no updates at all until now. Because of that, the team members were able to finish the work on time without much stumbling.
After all, since it was data, even if it was large-scale, there was nothing especially difficult about it aside from the upload taking a little longer.
‘No, testing was a bit annoying.’
In any case, after applying it, the team members continued testing until the maintenance period ended, and since there were no major issues, they were able to open normally.
The initial response after opening was not exactly explosive.
That was only natural, since this world did not have Pokémon, so gamers had no particular reason to get excited. But that did not mean they were indifferent either.
These “spirits” were TLF Online’s first attempt at a large-scale update.
Updates themselves were still unfamiliar to gamers right now, but they could at least understand that something new had been added.
It was inevitable that they would feel a certain amount of interest.
[Did they just add new monsters?]
[It does seem a little different, though.]
[Where do those things appear?]
Those who skimmed the update details simply thought that spirits were just new monsters. And even though the update had been applied, the places where spirits appeared were limited, and there was also a separate method for finding them. So players who were not particularly interested in the update could not feel it right away.
However, TLF Online had already been out for ten months, so there were quite a few veteran players who had already consumed almost everything there was to consume and were now looking around with their eyes wide open for anything else to enjoy.
Moreover, since Insu had introduced spirits as a means to strengthen broader appeal, he was worried that they might get buried due to poor accessibility. So he placed plenty of NPCs that gave related quests in cities and villages.
<Have you ever heard of spirits?>
‘Oh, there it is. There it is.’
Eric was curious about the newly released spirits, so after reading the update notice about the NPC, he went to find it.
And sure enough, he confirmed that an old man character wearing rags, who had not been there before, had been newly added.
<They are beings from another world, but they have been in contact with us since ancient times.>
The old man told him stories about the Spirit Realm, legends about spirits, and how they would lend their power if one became their friend.
And as the quest progressed, he gradually gave information on how to find, summon, and make spirits into allies.
In truth, even without doing this quest, if one knew where spirits appeared and prepared the necessary materials, it was possible to go there directly and capture them. However, this quest provided both information and a story to enjoy with it.
And many players, including Eric, actually found it interesting.
Eric had long since adapted to the world of TLF, where gamers created relationships and stories themselves, but that did not mean he disliked story-centered RPGs.
“It kind of feels more fantasy-like?”
Of course, TLF Online had already been fantasy before.
However, the targets of interaction were either other gamers or the system, so it had felt too realistic. But when an NPC appeared like this and talked about the past and legends, it created a kind of depth, like the feeling one got when learning history in the real world.
Since this was a different direction from before, Insu had worried that gamers might feel a sense of alienation. If he had known Eric’s impressions, he would have felt greatly relieved.
<Feeling the presence of spirits requires talent! But if you truly wish to meet them...>
Since Spirit Affinity was a character stat, due to TLF Online’s nature, it was not given equally to everyone.
Lower-grade spirits could usually be detected and made into companions by most people, but even that required a certain level and age. Someone with low Spirit Affinity who had just started the game might have difficulty detecting even lower-grade spirits.
So Insu made it possible to obtain an item called the “Spirit Compass” through the quest.
Even this did not necessarily have to be obtained through the quest, since it could also be bought or crafted by gathering the materials directly. But following the quest was convenient and free, so unless someone found it especially bothersome, and if they enjoyed this kind of story, they would naturally follow it.
Eric also hunted monsters and gathered materials as instructed.
Not all of them, though. He simply bought some from a shop. There were no particularly difficult monsters, but wandering around was annoying.
After following the quest like that, he finally came into contact with a spirit.
‘A Salamander?’
It was in one corner of a desert terrain near the city.
<The energy of a spirit can be felt.>
“Huh? I found it!”
The summoning materials were very simple. It was only at the level of needing to kill two or three low-level monsters, but since they still had to be prepared separately, it would at least serve as a threshold preventing people with no interest in spirits from casually capturing them at random.
Especially because, thanks to this game’s decay system, players could not carry miscellaneous items around indefinitely.
<Kyaaaak!!>
The creature that appeared looked like a red baby dinosaur with large round eyes and a plump, rounded shape. In truth, even Insu had thought, when he saw its design draft, that it might look too much like a copy.
However, Salamanders were often depicted in lizard form to begin with, and there were not many creatures associated with fire. When one thought of an animal with the ability to breathe fire, dragons naturally came to mind as well, so the motifs were limited and a similar form had emerged.
‘It is cute, though.’
Capturing it was not difficult either.
Since it was a beginner spirit from the start, after he hit it a few times, it immediately entered a near-death state. He threw the beginner spirit stone he had prepared and succeeded in capturing it right away.
<You have captured a Salamander!>
“Oh!”
When he immediately checked his item window, aside from the bundle of still-empty spirit stones, one more spirit stone with a lock mark had appeared. When he moved the mouse over it, the name “Salamander” was written there.
When he clicked it, there were commands for Use and Information, and through Information, he could check this spirit’s abilities.
‘It’s a combat type.’
It had a normal skill called “Spit Fireball” and a finishing move called “Flame Breath.”
He immediately wanted to try it, so he attacked a nearby monster.
Naturally, since its level was low, it was weak. However, it endured better than expected for its level, and its damage was not so low that it did nothing. It felt like it had a higher weight class than ordinary characters of the same level.
‘This would be good for beginners, wouldn’t it?’
However, only one spirit could be summoned, and skill cooldowns were long, so it seemed impossible to fight using only this spirit.
And since summoning consumed quite a lot of mana, it felt difficult to use continuously. It seemed like it should be used as a hidden card, something brought out only when necessary after careful thought.
‘In any case, it does seem like it can give players more choices and strengthen strategic depth.’
He would need to observe it more, but Eric, one of TLF Online’s veteran players, felt that for now, he should try collecting these spirits.
Eric stared at the Salamander’s status window for a while, then suddenly remembered something he had seen in the update details. After searching through the game menu here and there, he was able to find and open the “Book of Spirits.”
The Book of Spirits was a collection system. In other words, it could be called an encyclopedia.
It divided various spirits into several categories and allowed players to complete the collection by filling the empty slots in those categories.
And although Eric’s collection was currently mostly empty, the Salamander he had captured this time was now filling one of those slots.
Insu and the development team had agonized quite a lot over this collection.
They were not against the collection itself.
It was definitely a good idea, because it could stimulate the desire to collect without greatly affecting the game itself, helping to activate spirit content.
In truth, this idea was not particularly original either, as there had already been quite a few similar things before. Actually, one could say Pokémon was what established it.
In any case, it was a proven system.
However, they believed simply filling empty slots lacked enough incentive, so they tried to give it an effect. Opinions split there.
“If we give character stats, it will definitely have an incentive effect, but there’s a high chance it will feel too forced.”
That was Emily’s opinion.
She was certainly right.
When someone was deeply immersed in the game and full of interest, that might not matter, but when things became even slightly boring, forced content like this could immediately become irritating.
And no content could satisfy everyone.
But if they added a system where players felt they were losing out by not doing it, then even people who disliked it would feel forced to do it, which could make them lose interest in the game itself.
To begin with, it was also a method that did not match TLF Online’s concept of emphasizing freedom.
“Then how about giving it an effect, but making it very weak?”
This too was a method often used in later online games.
After all, the ones who scraped together even the tiniest effects were veteran players, and such players usually did almost all newly added content without missing much. Meanwhile, low-level players or new users had plenty of more efficient growth methods than going out of their way for a low-effect bonus, so it would naturally be pushed to lower priority.
It was a decent way to reduce side effects. But this also had problems.
Gamers did not all judge rationally or calculate deeply, so some might simply decide it was mandatory, rush into it first, and then become irritated. Most importantly, the purpose of this spirit content was also to attract a new user demographic and new users.
So after much consideration, the conclusion they reached was to give a collection effect, but only in areas related to spirit content.