Every member of the main cast in Tales of Berseria, without exception, had a rather unfortunate life, filled with tragedy and hardship.
As for the female protagonist, Velvet, there was no need to elaborate. Her sister had passed away along with her unborn child. After finally recovering from that grief, she lived with her younger brother and brother-in-law, training in martial arts. But unexpectedly, her brother-in-law had his own issues. In the end, not only was the entire village wiped out, her younger brother also died. She herself turned into a daemon, her right arm transformed into something inhuman, and she was imprisoned on an island for three years.
After watching this segment of the story, the livestream chat was filled with complaints about how cruel Ichin was for making the protagonist's life so miserable.
In response, Ichin calmly took a bite of chips, spread his hands, and said, "Is it really that bad? That's just the tone of the story. And over the years, there have been plenty of tragic characters in all kinds of games. You should be used to it by now. Anyway, the setting was decided long ago. You can't change it, so you might as well focus on experiencing the story and playing the game yourselves."
After finishing this part of the story, Ichin closed the stream and began looking for another livestream that was playing Tales of Berseria.
From the moment the game unlocked to when he ended his stream, Ichin had visited three different livestreams. Together with his audience, they watched about an hour and a half of the game's story and early gameplay.
At 1:40 AM, Ichin finally ended the night's stream. It was time to rest.
After brushing his teeth and washing his face in the bathroom, Ichin carefully opened the bedroom door.
Inside the bedroom, the bedside lamp was set to its lowest brightness, allowing him to see clearly without turning on the main lights.
Under the covers, Utaha and Yukino were already fast asleep. Lowering his movements, Ichin quietly lay down beside Yukino.
As soon as he lay down, Yukino woke up, rubbing her eyes. "Finished?"
"Yeah, it's over. Did I wake you?" Ichin smiled, pulling Yukino into his arms and gently nuzzling her hair. "Alright, go back to sleep. It's almost two."
Shaking her head, Yukino tugged on his arm. "Switch places. You sleep in the middle."
"Alright."
Ichin nodded and got up to switch positions with Yukino. But as soon as he moved over, he met Utaha's open eyes.
"Mm… you're awake too?"
Utaha smiled. "With the two of you making that much noise, it'd be hard not to wake up."
"Hey, don't say it like that. What noise?" Ichin lightly flicked her nose, then pulled both her and Yukino into his arms. "Alright, sleep time. I'm tired. I still have work tomorrow. Yukino, turn off the light."
After saying that, he closed his eyes.
Yukino and Utaha exchanged a glance. Yukino softly said, "Let's sleep."
Then she turned off the bedside lamp and held onto Ichin as she closed her eyes.
Utaha yawned, smiled, and softly added, "Good night, Ichin."
The night passed.
By the time Ichin woke up in the morning, had breakfast, and arrived at the company, the data for Tales of Berseria had already reached an impressive level.
The peak concurrent players on Steam last night hit 70,000, and that number held for nearly five hours, almost breaking 80,000.
Even during the daytime, the player count was still around 60,000.
And that was just Steam. Including the three major console platforms, the total player count reached over 200,000.
As for sales, the game had already surpassed four million copies across all platforms on its first day, pushing toward five million.
This performance once again boosted the company's reputation. Practically every major game they released had strong first-day sales, and player reviews had always been solid.
Looking at the data in front of him, Ichin smiled broadly. "Not bad, not bad. At this rate, first-week sales will definitely be strong. We've got a solid flagship title for this year, and the revenue is looking great too."
By December, when Monster Train released, they could aim to win a couple of awards at TGA, then announce Bloodborne and Salt and Sanctuary. That would wrap up the year perfectly.
Opening the work plan for the final three months on his computer, Ichin reviewed it while sending a message to Hazuki.
Five minutes later, Hazuki arrived at his office.
"You wanted to see me?"
Looking up, Ichin said, "Hazuki, we're in the last three months of the year. Before TGA, do you think we have enough time to produce PVs for both Bloodborne and Salt and Sanctuary?"
"Two games, huh? Looks like you really want to use TGA as a platform to announce new titles."
Ichin nodded, taking a sip of coffee. "Even though TGA's influence has dropped compared to before, it still draws a massive audience every year. Aside from the major game expos, TGA is undeniably a great opportunity for studios to reveal new projects. The exposure is huge. Even though we've built some reputation over the past couple of years, we shouldn't miss this chance."
Hazuki smiled. "That's true. But two PVs… Salt and Sanctuary is manageable. It's a side-scrolling action game, and we already have experience from Hollow Knight, so it's relatively easier. But Bloodborne… that project isn't simple. The characters, monsters, clothing, and architecture all have a completely different style from our previous games. Even though we've developed Dark Souls-type games before, I still don't feel confident. Unless… you're involved in the process the whole time."
As the producer of the project, Ichin undoubtedly understood Bloodborne best. If he were fully involved, efficiency would definitely increase.
"Join the dev team full-time?" Ichin rubbed his chin, then nodded. "Sure, no problem. My graduation thesis is already done, and my advisor has reviewed it. No revisions needed. The remaining courses aren't difficult either, I can just talk to my professors."
Unlike Garo and Dark Souls, Tales of Berseria didn't require post-launch DLC development. The base game content was already sufficient.
So next, the Berseria team could directly move on to developing Bloodborne.
Snapping his fingers, Ichin said, "Alright, let's do that. Hazuki, go inform everyone. At 1:30 this afternoon, have the Berseria team gather in the meeting room. We'll hold a meeting."
Hazuki nodded with a smile. "Got it, I'll notify them right away."
After she left, Ichin took out his phone and sent a message to Utaha and Yukino at college, letting them know he wouldn't be able to come see them that afternoon.
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