As for how to specifically implement this official escape method?
That required careful consideration.
Previously, Pei Qian had created an official escape weapon for himself called “Salvation,” which only appeared in the first playthrough with the Six Paths of Reincarnation ending, and he had gone to great lengths to hide it.
But unexpectedly, despite hiding it so deeply—requiring players to die seven times to a weak little monster to trigger it—players still managed to find it.
He could only say that he had underestimated how bored players could be!
“Turn Back Ashore” already had a large player base, and these players were particularly fond of delving into the game’s content. So no matter how deeply something was hidden, it wasn’t safe. As long as the item existed in the game, players might find it.
And with “Eternal Damnation,” the situation was even more pessimistic.
After two years of accumulation, “Turn Back Ashore’s” player community had far exceeded what it was when the game was first released, and the vast majority were veteran players who had turned the game inside out.
Once the DLC was released, these veteran players would, just like they did with “Salvation,” stop at nothing to find this new official cheat.
Just like in “Diablo,” where after the cow level appeared in the first game, players would go to great lengths to find the cow level in every subsequent sequel. Even if players were told there was no cow level, they wouldn’t believe it and would continue searching tirelessly.
So, the method of hiding “Salvation” definitely wouldn’t work anymore; he needed a different approach.
Moreover, Pei Qian felt that with the current modifications to the game’s combat mechanics, merely hiding a powerful weapon might not be enough to save someone with his poor reflexes.
Because the previous combat system was relatively simple—dodge the monsters’ attacks, strike once, and as long as you weren’t greedy for hits and figured out the enemy’s attack patterns, you could basically clear the level.
And the “Salvation” weapon had a long attack range and quick attack animation, allowing it to easily slaughter most enemies under this combat model.
But now the situation was different. He had to pay attention to his breathing rhythm value, and simply relying on dodging wouldn’t work—it wouldn’t deplete the boss’s health. He had to find ways to disrupt the boss’s breathing and trigger execution moves.
If he tried to chip away at the boss’s health bit by bit, it would take forever with the current boss health pools, and he could easily fail along the way.
But to continuously execute many perfect parries?
Pei Qian was very self-aware—he knew he definitely couldn’t do it.
In this situation, what good would having another “Salvation” do?
After all, even official weapon cheats had their limits. They could be overpowered, but not excessively so. One-shotting bosses was impossible; the system wouldn’t allow it.
That meant the new escape method had to meet two conditions.
First, the hiding method had to be different from “Salvation”—it needed to be hidden with originality, making it as difficult as possible for players to find.
Second, it had to work through the game mechanics. The damage didn’t necessarily need to be overpowered, but it had to help someone with poor reflexes like Pei Qian successfully defeat bosses under the new combat mechanics.
With a specific direction in mind, it became much easier. Pei Qian quickly thought of a good solution.
“The game’s difficulty does indeed need to be adjusted.”
“Since we’ve introduced the breathing rhythm value setting, we can’t use the original method to fight bosses anymore. If a boss’s breathing rhythm value is full and stamina is full, but the player slowly grinds them down, that would be too unreasonable.”
“So we should set it up so that when a boss’s breathing rhythm value and stamina are in good condition, even if a player hits the boss, they won’t do much damage.”
“And when a boss is at their peak state, the player’s attacks are more likely to be parried by the boss. Whether it’s a perfect parry, a normal parry, or a mistake, and how much health and breathing rhythm value is lost, we’ll use an AI system to randomize it, giving players a slightly different combat experience each time.”
Hu Xianbin: “Uh…”
He was momentarily at a loss for words.
Earlier when he asked if the difficulty needed to be adjusted, he was actually asking if it needed to be lowered.
Because the current combat system was clearly more complex and challenging than the previous one. If it remained at the same difficulty level as before, it would likely be even harder to clear.
But instead, Boss Pei had actually increased the difficulty!
According to Boss Pei’s design, players would completely lose the option to slowly grind down bosses. They could only go head-to-head, clashing blades. Win the clash and you could quickly kill the boss; lose and the boss would quickly kill you.
This would save time—each battle wouldn’t drag on endlessly—but the vast majority of players would likely be the ones quickly killed by the boss…
What would be the result of this change?
It was likely that as soon as the DLC was released, there would be widespread complaints, and even veteran players would be reduced to tears by the difficulty.
Because these veteran players were already very accustomed to the main game’s combat mode. When facing bosses, they would first observe the movements and play it safe. As long as they weren’t greedy for hits and tried a few times, they could steadily progress.
But in “Eternal Damnation,” they would find that the more they observed the boss, the more intensely they fought, the more disordered their breathing rhythm value would become, and the smoother the boss’s breathing rhythm value would get…
As they continued to fight, they would eventually be executed by the boss.
Although it was known that “Turn Back Ashore” players enjoyed suffering, this seemed too cruel. It was uncertain if they could handle it.
Li Yada, who hadn’t spoken much until now, suddenly said, “Then… Boss Pei, should we arrange a weapon similar to ‘Salvation’ in the game?”
“We can’t abandon the tradition of mercy.”
“Turn Back Ashore” was developed when Li Yada was the lead designer, so her understanding of the game was much deeper than Hu Xianbin’s.
“Salvation” not only gave players a method to escape, but it was also an important part of the game’s setting. It could be said that it had become a tradition of “Turn Back Ashore.”
With such significant changes to the DLC, shouldn’t there be a new escape weapon?
Hu Xianbin’s eyes lit up.
Yes, there was still “Salvation”!
Boss Pei had great mercy for players. The previous arrangement of “Salvation” was for fear that players with poor reflexes would suffer too much and be unable to complete the game, so he deliberately hid it in the game for players to discover.
Now that the difficulty had been further increased, surely they should continue to show mercy?
Pei Qian laughed inwardly.
Show mercy to players?
Why would I show mercy to players?
I’m showing mercy to myself, okay?!
Without an escape weapon, could I clear this damned game?
But thinking about it, it wasn’t bad that everyone thought it was for showing mercy to players. “Boss Pei creates escape weapons for his own escape” wasn’t something that sounded good if spoken aloud—it would damage his glorious image.
Pei Qian cleared his throat and said, “This time, we won’t make a weapon like ‘Salvation.'”
“The protagonist in the original ‘Turn Back Ashore’ is set as an ordinary person, so using ‘Salvation’ to escape makes sense. But the protagonist in ‘Eternal Damnation’ is a martial god—does it make sense for such a character to use this kind of weapon to escape?”
“A martial god should be able to destroy everything with any weapon.”
Everyone looked at each other.
Hu Xianbin said, “Boss Pei, what you say is right. According to the plot setting, that’s indeed the case, but not all players are martial gods…”
Pei Qian smiled, “I know, don’t worry.”
“If we don’t make a weapon like ‘Salvation,’ there are other approaches.”
“From the plot setting, I see that the martial god protagonist, in his later years, exhausted a lifetime of collected wealth and treasures to have skilled craftsmen forge a demonic sword that could extinguish souls, and had it soaked in the blood of enlightened monks.”
“Afterward, the protagonist had shamans create a pill that could place him at the brink of death, floating between the realms of yin and yang, and used the demonic sword to slay the Black and White Impermanence, eventually entering the endless hell.”
“According to the original setting, the power of the demonic sword is limited. The more souls it slays, the weaker its power gradually becomes.”
“At the same time, to highlight the protagonist’s identity as a martial god, we also encourage players to use various weapons in combination. Different main and off-hand weapon combinations can have different battle skill effects and attack animations.”
“So the final design becomes: the demonic sword is a special item for execution. Players normally use various other weapons in battle, and when triggering an execution move, they use the demonic sword to execute.”
“And as the plot progresses, the power of the demonic sword will continue to weaken.”
Everyone nodded; this was the consensus among the development team’s designers.
If players only used the demonic sword, the entire game’s gameplay and progression would be too monotonous. So setting it as “normal weapons for fighting, demonic sword for executing” would both encourage players to use multiple weapons and maximize the restoration of the plot.
At this point, Yu Fei, the original author of “Eternal Damnation,” said, “Boss Pei, actually, the setting that the demonic sword gets weaker with use was something I just came up with off the top of my head. I simply thought this setting would help highlight the tragic effect of the entire story.”
“Also, the demonic sword becoming weaker is why the protagonist’s mind becomes clear, realizing he has made a grave mistake, and ultimately becoming the first Jailer. This makes more sense logically.”
“But the plot certainly serves the gameplay.”
“If necessary, it could be changed to the demonic sword becoming stronger with use…”
Pei Qian raised his hand, “No! The current setting is perfect and cannot be changed!”
“I just think we can make some derivatives based on this.”
“According to the current design, the demonic sword has completely become a plot item that cannot be held in hand.”
“But I think it can be made into an item that can be held in battle.”
“However, its initial damage, attack range, and other attributes would be weaker than other equipment.”
“Not only that, as the plot progresses and the protagonist slays more bosses, the attributes of the demonic sword will become lower and weaker.”
“By the late game, it might barely hurt anyone.”
“But, add a special effect to the demonic sword.”
“When the player only holds the demonic sword without dual-wielding any other weapon, each time they die, they gain a point of demonic possession effect.”
“And when accumulated to a certain level of demonic possession, the protagonist will automatically make parrying moves under the control of the AI system.”
“The deeper the demonic possession, the more frequent the automatic parrying.”
“Of course, the demonic sword’s damage value would still be very low, but through frequent automatic parrying and counter moves, even with very low damage, it could still disrupt the opponent’s breathing rhythm value and achieve execution conditions.”
“At different stages of the game, demonic possession has limit values.”
“At the beginning when the demonic sword’s power is strong, even if you keep dying many times, the effect of demonic possession won’t be very noticeable. It will only turn some of the player’s normal parries into perfect parries, almost imperceptible.”
“As the plot progresses and the demonic sword’s power weakens, you need to continue dying to further increase the demonic possession effect.”
“By the late game, after dying enough times, you can achieve a fully automatic parrying effect.”
“But this way, players won’t get the original ending. Instead, they’ll get an ‘Eternal Damnation’ ending where the protagonist ultimately becomes a hell demon, completely losing himself, and the entire world becomes a living hell.”
“Only if the player’s demonic possession value is not high, clearing the game with their own strength, can they enter the normal Jailer ending.”