Horrible! Actually playing this kind of game!

Time is the greatest weapon and medicine in this world.

It can take away everything, including life and pain.

It can also change everything and make many things that were not accepted by everyone slowly become accepted.

For example:

Qing Jiyuan is Gu Yuan Chunqiu.

Day 1: "A monster like Qing Zhiyuan who fell into the dirt of money can never be the master Gu Yuan Chunqiu whom I admire."

The next day: "How can a devil combine with an angel? Qing Zhiyuan cannot become Gu Yuan Chunqiu no matter what."

Day 3: "Perhaps Qing Zhiyuan has made great achievements in some game fields, but the difference between him and the great master Gu Yuan Chunqiu is still huge."

Day 4: "Qing Zhiyuan..."

Day 5: “…”

Day 6: "The combination of His Majesty Qing Zhiyuan and Furuhara Chunqiu is completely the combination of the God of Games. We look forward to the last work given to us by the God of Games."

Over time, people gradually accepted that Qing Zhiyuan was Furuhara Chunqiu, and compared the games they had led before, and finally came to a conclusion:

Qing Zhiyuan is a god in every other game field except for being bad at business simulation games.

It is precisely because of such geniuses that pokeni is what it is today.

No wonder this small company has been able to overcome all obstacles after Qing Zhiyuan took over, and today it has become the No. 1 company in the gaming industry.

Although everyone couldn’t believe it, they couldn’t help but think——

"This may really be Chunqiu Furuhara's last work."

"Yes, originally, the identity could not be disclosed, and Chunqiu Gu Yuan could come back, but judging from Qing Zhiyuan's words, it seems that this person is determined not to be in the front line of game production.

In this way, "Tears of the Mermaid" is probably the last game of Chunqiu Furuhara or Qing Jiyuan's career as a producer. "

"Ah... Originally I was still angry about the fact that Qing Zhiyuan was Gu Yuan Chunqiu, but when you said it...

Why is it that I suddenly feel reluctant to part with Gu Yuan Lao Thief’s last work? "

"After all, he is a game production master who has been with us for so many years. He will definitely feel regretful if he finally leaves the game industry."

"But this guy Qing Zhiyuan is real. You are not even 40 years old, why are you in such a hurry to retire?"

"It was Gu Yuan Chunqiu who retired, not Qing Zhiyuan. Qing Zhiyuan will devote himself to being his chairman and doing management work from now on."

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuori

"Who knows, I now hope that one day in the future Qing Zhiyuan can pick up Gu Yuan Chunqiu's vest and give us some more surprises."

"But judging from the current results, it should be very slim, right?"

"Well... cherish it. When Qing Zhiyuan was still Chunqiu Furuhara, "Tears of the Mermaid" would most likely be his last work."

…

No matter how you look at it, this does look like Gu Yuan Chunqiu’s swan song.

First of all, Qing Zhiyuan publicly stated that after the release of Tears of the Mermaid, Furuhara Chunqiu will officially retire, and he will also focus all his work on the management level.

In addition, you can tell just from the name "Tears of the Mermaid":

It has a strong hint of completion.

From the beginning of "Onmyoji" as Pokeni's first galgame, Mermaid Tears has been an important setting in P Club's galgame throughout.

Although every galgame has its own complete main line and closed loop, you can still feel the shadow of Mermaid Tears in it.

It is everywhere and is the cause of so many magical games from P Club. However, even now, players can only piece together some general information about Mermaid Tears that appears in different games.

There used to be many players who thought——

The Tears of the Mermaid series may last forever.

Just like Doraemon.

Unless the truth about Mermaid Tears is revealed one day, pokeni can continue to follow the setting.

However, this day came so quickly that everyone was caught off guard.

"The biggest suspense of Mermaid Tears is about to be revealed, right? I saw the official trailer and the information revealed. This game should be the outline of all the stories."

"You can tell just by looking at the name, Tears of the Mermaid, it must be about facing the final mystery.

I have been looking forward to this day for a long time, because the old thief Gu Yuan has dug too many holes, and the endings of many games cannot actually answer the truth in the end.

However, when I saw that Mermaid Tears was actually going to be released, I was actually quite panicked.

Really, it came earlier than I thought.

And what I fear most is——

Once you play Mermaid Tears, it is equivalent to the end of the entire series. "

"Actually, whether you play it or not, the release of Tears of the Mermaid means that this series is coming to an end, or in other words, Chunqiu Furuhara is really going to leave us."

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…No, don’t…”

…

This feeling is very complicated.

Tears of the Mermaid is the main setting of the galgame that runs through pokeni. Many people want to see the ending, but when it actually comes, they are extremely sad and reluctant to let go.

It's a big dream, but I'm about to wake up. This is probably how it feels.

Sometimes, I hope not to wake up.

Just like Conan, which has been broadcast since 1996 until now, although everyone thinks that this cartoon is too long and endless, when can we see Conan restore to Kudo Shinichi.

But if it really ends, many people will probably feel sad.

Once something is constantly brewing and fermenting through time, and finally integrated into life, when it leaves or ends, you will feel--

as if an important period of life has ended.

Just like everyone's youth, you feel its departure, not necessarily because of your age change, appearance decline, it may just be the end of an event.

…

In any case, under the promotion of various factors, the popularity of "Tears of Mermaid" has soared.

In February 2003, Qing Zhiyuan released a new product display of "Tears of Mermaid" and announced that he was Tsubaki Furuhara, and Tsubaki Furuhara would retire after the release of the work.

This news directly set off an uproar.

Then Paradox struck while the iron was hot and began the promotion and preheating of "Tears of Mermaid".

The whole month of February was the promotion period of "Tears of Mermaid", and various promotional videos, posters, and advertisements were everywhere, especially the slogan "The last work of Tsubaki Furuhara" was quite shocking.

No matter how everyone viewed Tsubaki Furuhara and Aoki Ji-won before, when it really came to this time, everyone actually felt reluctant to part with it.

Moreover, the game quality of "Tears of Mermaid" is very strong. From the part shown by Paradox and the actual machine demonstration in the press conference, the picture quality is unique, and the quality of two-dimensional games has been improved a lot in this world.

In addition to the freshness, the PV shown also incorporates many previous game memes, which inevitably evokes the memories of countless people.

So under such circumstances, the popularity of "Tears of Mermaid" soared like a rocket, and it couldn't be suppressed.

A galgame has become the most anticipated game masterpiece at the moment.

Other games, even the upcoming blockbuster Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, and other blockbuster games from big-name manufacturers, have been suppressed.

Mainly because it is Furuhara Tsubaki's last game, which is too popular.

…

"It's a trap, it must be a trap!!!"

At Sony, President Kutaragi Ken doesn't believe Furuhara Tsubaki's retirement nonsense at all.

He knows Qing Zhiyuan too well.

This guy's marketing methods, various business tricks emerge in an endless stream, and he is too good at bluffing and then creating effects.

For things like Furuhara Tsubaki's retirement, as long as it works, Kutaragi Ken is convinced that Qing Zhiyuan can do it for a lifetime.

Now that Qing Zhiyuan and Furuhara Tsubaki are tied together, it won't be a matter of minutes to return to the front line of game production in the future?

Not only Kutaragi Ken thinks so, but even other bigwigs in the industry have the same idea.

The only thing that puzzled everyone was——

"Damn, why does Qing Zhiyuan's trick always work?

Can't everyone see that this is just a marketing strategy?"

"Maybe it's too sincere? Who would doubt the authenticity of Miyazaki's retirement every time?"

"Miyazaki was originally planning to retire, but he couldn't resist so many fans who loved him, and he also had the desire to create, so he came back.

What is Qing Zhiyuan?"

"Tsk tsk, who knows? The same statement can be applied to Qing Zhiyuan."

"Ah this..."

...

"I'm a little confused now."

At the pokeni headquarters, Ishino Mika was preparing for the battle, constantly confirming and converging bugs, while thinking about what happened recently.

The more she thought about it, the weirder it felt.

After a while, she put down the keyboard in her hand and looked up at Maeda Jun who was sitting opposite her.

"Is the president really going to retire by exposing his vest, or is it just a gimmick to build momentum for "Tears of Mermaid"?"

"Huh?"

Jun Maeda was concentrating on playing the game, and took off his headphones after hearing what Ishino said.

His eyes rolled around, and after a long time he realized:

"Well... it's really hard to say.

Look at the master Hayao Miyazaki, whom the president likes, didn't he also come back after retiring?"

The main reason is that the president has a previous record.

It's not the first time that Tsubaki Furuhara has retired.

The last time, Tsubaki Furuhara's final work "Your Name" was so popular, it was almost the same as the current situation.

And the president has always been cunning, with all kinds of marketing methods emerging one after another, and it seems that it doesn't matter if he uses the good ones a few more times.

From the current public opinion and player feedback, "Tears of Mermaid" is simply too good.

How many people are still looking forward to the launch of this game.

Even the dealers have hurriedly added a lot of orders.

President Hattori directly raised the number of orders from the original 300,000 copies to 500,000.

Before the game was officially released, distributors had already ordered more than 2 million copies from Paradox.

In other words, even if we don’t see the final number of players buying the game, now “Tears of Mermaid” has not only recovered the cost for Pokeni, but also created history.

But from a side perspective, it also reflects how optimistic the market is about this game.

In other words, people are more optimistic about the great god [Guyuan Chunqiu].

After thinking about it for a while, Ma Zhi felt that the CPU was almost dry.

…

Ma Zhizhun shuddered and shook his head.

"I don't understand. It's possible that it's a marketing ploy, or it's possible that the president is sincere."

In short, Ma Zhijun felt that he would never be a president like Qing Zhiyuan in this life, and he still thought that the game plot would be more suitable for him.

Ishino Mika also raised her head and thought for two seconds, and finally gave up.

"Forget it, we are not the president, so why are we thinking so much? If we can make the game well and sell it, everyone will be happy."

"Uh-huh."

…

…

As public opinion continues to ferment, time is like a running giant, vigorous and vigorous, trampling on the ground, but it stumbles towards February 14, 2003.

On this day, pokeni’s new game, Furuhara Chunqiu’s last game——

"Tears of the Mermaid" is officially released.

…

...(End of chapter)