As for random items and enemies, the first and third Dark Souls actually had similar mods in the past.
They just had a lot of bugs.
For example, terrain restrictions—some bosses like Champion Neil that rely on specific environments can't appear in random spots.
Compared to that, item randomization is much easier to pull off.
You just leave certain key quest items unchanged so the player can complete both main and side quests.
As for the rest?
Let luck decide.
This kind of randomness has no balance at all—it's all luck.
If you're lucky, you might start the game with all kinds of god-tier gear.
If you're unlucky, you might not even make it out of Firelink Shrine.
Still, Lucas didn't plan to make this special mode a core feature of Dark Souls.
It's more like a little gift for the players, a small bit of fun.
Something to give them some new entertainment.
Of course, it definitely won't go live right now. At the very least, we'll wait until a batch of players have cleared the story of Dark Souls before thinking about it.
Even though Lucas had the idea, he didn't bring it up to Hector and the others right away.
Mainly because even if they developed this new mode later, it wouldn't take much effort.
After all, everything would be built on top of Dark Souls' existing content.
Besides, developing Dark Souls has already been a heavy workload lately, with everyone working overtime to meet deadlines.
So Lucas arranged rest days for the members of the dev team.
......
In Nebula Games' office, Lucas once again met with the head of Target Software.
They sat down to discuss matters related to the publishing agreement.
An hour later, Lucas shook hands with the other party's representative with a smile. "Looking forward to working together."
"Likewise, Lucas."
Regarding the few requests Lucas made a couple of days ago, Target Software had discussed them internally after returning and reached a unanimous agreement.
As for control over the game, Lucas would still be in charge, while they would only handle publishing.
Even the completed version for overseas markets would still require Lucas's input.
The publishing revenue split would remain unchanged.
However, Target Software brought up a new request: under the same publishing conditions in the future, they would have priority in signing Nebula Games' next three large-scale games.
In addition, they also wanted to publish some of Nebula Games' earlier indie titles overseas.
The terms for this would still be based on the Dark Souls publishing contract.
Lucas agreed to this.
After all, if Nebula Games handled everything alone, it would still be a big hassle.
......
Over the next few days, Lucas stayed busy.
The main work was finalizing the publishing contract with Target Software, but most of his focus was still on Dark Souls.
This included overseas promotion channels and translating the game's content. Lucas also set up a small team specifically to coordinate with Target Software on these tasks.
Meanwhile, in just a few days, most of the first batch of Dark Souls players—except for those who struggled badly—had already reached the late stages of the story.
Sitting at his computer, Zack had reached the final location in the game: the Kiln of the First Flame.
Beside him, his girlfriend Hannah was watching.
After the first day of playing, this save file had become his alone.
The previous "switch every time someone dies" rule had been way too much trouble.
You barely get your seat warm before it's the other person's turn.
Thinking back on his Dark Souls journey, Zack couldn't help but feel emotional.
It had been anything but easy.
From dying over and over to Iudex Gundyr at the start, to finally standing here, about to complete the great mission of linking the fire.
He stepped into the map known as the Kiln of the First Flame.
Here, he would face his final enemy.
At the far end of the vast chasm, under a sky thick with dark clouds, a blood-red sun hung low, its last light staining everything crimson.
Most of that sun was already swallowed by darkness, with only a thin sliver still shining.
Looking around, he saw the ruins of a fallen royal city, twisted giant trees, and countless strange buildings as if pulled from different times. The ground was littered with all kinds of weapons.
And of course, the place was covered in bloodstains.
Zack was already used to that sight.
After all, in Dark Souls, if there's a map without players' blood and tears left behind, that would actually be the strange thing.
Even in the seemingly safe Firelink Shrine, there are countless bloodstains from players who provoked Crestfallen Warrior.
Moving forward slowly, Zack finally saw the last boss.
His armor was almost burnt to charcoal, and in his hand was a flaming spiral sword, the very symbol of every fire linker's fate.
No need for words—time to fight.
The Soul of Cinder's skills were spectacular, and though he was the fire linker himself, he wielded abilities from all kinds of classes.
His weapon could also change depending on the situation, turning into a greatsword, straight sword, and many other types.
Throughout the game, Zack never bothered with "level holding" and just leveled up whenever he had souls.
But against the final boss, the Soul of Cinder, he still died quite a few times.
After nearly a hundred hours of Dark Souls training, though, he was completely used to it.
In fact, at this point, he felt that if he didn't die at least twice a day in Dark Souls, something was wrong.
"NICE! Finally cleared it!"
Wiping out the final boss's health bar, Zack knew many top players had already beaten the game long ago, but he still felt a little excited at this moment.
In the game, Zack's character stood by the First Flame, lit it so the fire spread across his body, then slowly sat down beside it. The camera gradually zoomed in on the sun in the distance, as if it was about to be swallowed completely by darkness.
The screen then faded to black, and the Dark Souls title appeared in the center.
The first playthrough had come to an end.
"This game, seriously, it's brutal at the start—makes your scalp tingle—but the more you play, the better it feels!" Sitting at his desk and looking at the main menu, Zack turned to Hannah and spoke with lingering excitement.
He wasn't bragging—he meant it.
When he first started Dark Souls, he never imagined a game could be this punishing.
But after dying over and over, he suddenly realized it was actually pretty fun.
And the further he played, the more addictive it became.
At first, all the different classes seemed the same—just hacking away at enemies.
But the variety in weapons and stat builds opened up so many different playstyles for him to explore.
The rush and sense of achievement after beating a boss was something he'd only ever felt in Dark Souls.
"The only thing I kind of regret is that I still don't really understand the story—just that I had to link the fire," Zack said, scratching his head.
The biggest feature of Dark Souls is its fragmented storytelling.
And since Lucas had made the third game's story the priority, even though the game dropped a lot of hints, it still left many loose ends about the first game's story.
It let players catch a glimpse of the glory of the Dark Souls world in the past.
But for most players who didn't dig into the lore—just hacking away and linking the fire—many didn't even know the conditions for the other endings, and still had lots of questions.
Like, where did the First Flame come from? Who exactly was Gwyn, the first Lord of Cinder? Who was the Nameless King atop Archdragon Peak? What was Pontiff Sulyvahn's background? And what was the Age of Fire like at its height?
Before beating the game, players mainly focused on fighting. But after clearing it, they started getting curious about the story—though most were still clueless, only knowing the surface.
Like why the fire needed to be linked, and why the Lords of Cinder didn't want to do it.
But the vast lore of the Dark Souls world? They had no idea.
Seeing Zack's confused look, Hannah snorted. "That's what you get for only caring about killing bosses—you never pay attention to the story."
"Then tell me about the story," Zack said.
"I haven't finished it yet, have I? But from what I've seen online, besides the 'link the fire' ending, there's also an 'extinguish the fire' ending. And there's a good chance Dark Souls will get a sequel," Hannah said with a light cough.
As for what the story of Dark Souls actually is, most players aren't really sure.
Whether it's the difficulty, the gameplay design, or the plot, Dark Souls is not a game you can judge using the usual ARPG experience.
The only thing players can be certain about is that, from the items, tools, and bits of legend left behind, this is the end of an era.
But what was the world like at the very start of that era?
Clearly, Lucas probably hasn't even created the folder for it yet!
"So you don't even know yourself, yet you're lecturing me!" Zack said, curling his lip at Hannah's words.
At least he had actually finished the game!
"That's because Dark Souls' story and world-building are huge!" Hannah argued. "And all you do is slash away until you clear it. Do you know the thief's ending? Do you know the onion knight's side story? What about Crestfallen Guy and the fire keeper's quests? I bet you didn't do any of them!"
Hearing this, Zack scratched his head. "What! This game has side quests?"
Of course, that was just a joke. As one of the first players to try Dark Souls, it's not like Zack really didn't know there were side quests.
But knowing is one thing—Zack had honestly never done a single side quest during his playthrough.
And that's also the experience of most players.
Because in Dark Souls, unlike other ARPGs that practically force you to finish side quests before moving on to the main story…
In Dark Souls, every quest, including the main one, has no clear instructions.
Everything depends on the player figuring it out themselves.
If you don't figure out the main story, you simply can't progress.
But side quests? If you miss them, they're just gone.
That's why many players finish their first run without even knowing what side quests exist in the game.
And when they finally learn the stories behind those quests, they come to see Dark Souls in a completely new light.
(End of The Chapter)
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