After sharing the scenario following the characters of Final Fantasy 7,
There was one ‘incident’ and one ‘twist’ that shocked gamers in Final Fantasy 7.
Now, with so many masterpieces available, such ‘incidents’ and ‘twists’ seem old hat, but back then, they hit like a ton of bricks.
As I was reading my scenario, my Master suddenly shouted in full concentration.
“Wait! Is this kid really going to end up like this!? Disciple!”
My Master had a genuinely shocked expression.
I replied with a serious face.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“For this kid to end up like this… it’s just too sad. Disciple.”
The reason I spoke firmly was this.
My Master unleashed a stare attack on me.
Looking at me with eyes of pitiful sympathy, he demanded a change regarding that incident.
However, no matter how much my Master asked, I could not refuse this one.
“A masterpiece comes with sacrifice.”
In this world, there are characters whose stories are completed only because they died.
That kid was one of those characters, which is why I firmly rejected my Master’s request.
My Master looked gloomy.
…I’d better bring out the top-quality strawberry ice cream I was hiding for dinner.
Meanwhile, it seemed others had read up to the part with the twist.
Noirin was the first to react.
“No way! The protagonist had this kind of secret!?”
“What do you think? It’s a good twist, right?”
The protagonist of Final Fantasy 7 has a hidden secret.
Seeing this secret that flows through the entire game’s story, Noirin’s face turned pale as she said.
“Wow… I’m getting goosebumps. Yuren.”
“Uaaaah!! Was the protagonist really hiding this kind of secret!”
Julia, who arrived at that part a bit late, also started to shiver in surprise.
Seeing the shocked expressions of the others made me feel pleased.
This twist is a confirmation that even people from another world can be hooked.
“By the way, Yuren, I think revealing this story will be a big problem.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve all signed a secrecy contract that includes clauses about story leaks.”
“Huh? Was there such a clause?”
The confidentiality agreement indeed included a prohibition on leaking the story.
But Julia seemed not to have read it properly.
“Julia… you didn’t read the contract properly, did you?”
“Hahaha! But I thought I could trust you, Yuren, so I figured it was okay not to check!”
No matter how much she trusted me, contracts in this other world have magical enforcement, so one must be very careful when signing them.
For example, if you have a non-disclosure agreement, it would go like this if you try to spill the secret.
“Aerith was ■■■■ by ■■■ in the middle of the game!”
The voice gets censored automatically, sounding distorted as if noise was forcibly inserted, so that it’s inaudible to others who need to keep the secret.
So if someone tries to talk about such secretive matters using the confidentiality agreement, it ends up like this.
“Could it be that Aerith is ■■■ there? I thought I must have seen something wrong. What about you, Jiren?”
“I feel the same way; who would have guessed that ■■■■ would show up there?”
After lunch, Karen and Jiren talked about the story they had just seen at the cafe, but there was some mysterious noise happening.
And then Noirin started to chime in.
“As for me, I was really surprised to learn that the protagonist, Cloud, is ■■ of the ■■ family.”
“Exactly! I was shocked at that part too.”
“But now that I think about it, if Cloud is ■■ of the ■■, it all makes sense.”
When the three of them started talking, the noise tripled.
Annoyed by the unpleasant noise scratching at their nerves, a customer finally couldn’t take it anymore and complained to the cafe staff.
“Excuse me, customers, we’ve received complaints from other patrons, so could you please discuss the confidentiality agreement in the back room?”
“Got it! Sorry about that. We’ll move to another spot.”
Realizing she was not acting like herself, Karen asked for the staff’s understanding and got up.
Then Jiren addressed the cafe’s patrons.
“As an apology, we’ll cover all the food and drinks for everyone in this cafe!”
No matter how cheap the cafe was, covering the expenses for so many people was definitely not a small amount.
However, Jiren’s declaration gained cheers from the other customers.
“Wohoo!”
“Awesome! Irene School!!”
Jiren impressively finished the bill at the cafe and exited dramatically without looking back.
Then he began to get scolded by Karen.
“Jiren, don’t waste too much.”
“But isn’t this not a big deal?”
“A little waste adds up to a lot of waste.”
Jiren often treated the village youths or the kids in gaming halls this way.
And every time, Karen would give him a hard time about his reckless spending.
But Jiren had his own arguments.
“We won’t get to spend time on stuff like this otherwise.”
“That’s… true.”
Although the Irene School had become wealthy, they remained frugal.
The reason was simple: they didn’t have time to indulge while making games.
If it were Yuren, he would probably stay up all night working on content saying everyone should do what they want.
The priests returned to the school to work, recalling their superior’s appearance.
*
Thanks to the priests’ commitment, the production of Eternal Fantasy was steadily progressing when news of a new game release arrived.
Screenshots of crude 3D characters fighting appeared on Zers Gamer, and I thought to myself as I saw the news there.
The time has finally come.
The game’s name was [Unreal Fighter],
The world’s first 3D fighting game created by Saga in a previous life.
Reportedly, Saga’s ‘Unreal Fighter’ was made under pressure due to the massive success of Street Fighter II.
To be precise, a few games had come out before Unreal Fighter, but none had achieved the level of success that Street Fighter II did.
Meanwhile, the era of 3D was approaching.
Saga had been conducting research into 3D, and during this time, such an idea emerged.
As it wasn’t possible to create a game with many characters with the current calculation power, why not create a fighting game with only 2 characters?
Thus, the legendary 3D fighting game, ‘Unreal Fighter’, was born.
Unreal Fighter became a historic game that showcased the potential of 3D fighting games.
Not only did it utilize revolutionary graphics featuring polygon characters, but it also showcased realistic movements with a sense of weight that could only be achieved in 3D, and introduced the concept of lateral movement, making it truly a masterpiece of a fighting game.
However, unexpectedly, the company’s management opposed the development during its creation.
It’s understandable that those accustomed to 2D might find a crude 3D game somewhat strange.
So, in the end, they hurriedly released the game at a high price, hoping to just break even.
Yet, mocking such concerns, Unreal Fighter became a hit that ignited the year 1994 through word of mouth.
I also saw this game in arcades during that time.
In an arcade typically charging 100 or 200 won, Unreal Fighter stood tall, demanding 500 won, showcasing the quality deserving of that price and capturing the attention of onlookers.
Not only me but gamers at that time felt a shock as if the future had suddenly collided with them.
Such a shock was rarely felt, aside from Final Fantasy 7 and the folk game from a previous life.
News arrived that such a game was being developed and released in another world.
Of course, I had to buy it, so I squeezed out some time amidst my busy schedule and rushed to Zephia to purchase the game.
Harmon Game Store was, as expected, in a frenzy over Unreal Fighter.
It seemed like Gilbert’s bunch was seriously committed to supplying the game, as Unreal Fighter was everywhere.
The situation was exactly as they say, “When the tiger isn’t around, the fox becomes king.”
I’ll forgive these guys for not making me wait to buy the game; please keep up the good work in the gaming industry while I’m gone.
This time, I specially bought 20 Unreal Fighter crystal balls for the priests in the Southern Region and played the game.
Hoo! Ha! Hah!
←→→P+K, Akira’s iron mountain strike activated with this command still displayed its insane power.
Overall, I was very pleased with how Unreal Fighter had been nicely adapted for this other world.
But…
Why did it feel a little off while playing the game?
“Jiren, do you think Unreal Fighter is okay?”
“It’s fun! Why do you ask, Master?”
“It is fun, but… how should I say this? The game feels a little flat…”
“Hey, it’s probably just in your head.”
“Is that so?”
It seemed like something subtle was bothering me.
But there’s not much time, so I hurriedly focused back on the game.
Yes, as Jiren said, it must be just my feelings.
