Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 341

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 2 Episode 61
22. The Rise and Fall of Advertising (2)
Zombie School Garden.
My first impression was good.
‘Oh. It feels like there are more people.’
The post refresh rate had accelerated too. The number of posts had increased significantly.
Most importantly, the content of the posts was different.
‘It’s not just about Balloon Gum and me anymore. They’re posting strategy guides.’
Initially, Zombie School Garden was founded on the fans of Streamer Almond and Balloon Gum. In truth, it was less a community for the game and more a gathering place for these two streamers’ fans.
As a result, discussions about the two of them dominated rather than talk about the game itself.
If I had to estimate, about eighty percent.
But now it was different.
‘About half is strategy guides now.’
Pure game-related content had grown to roughly half. Strategy posts were receiving significant recommendations too.
‘The advertising must have worked.’
Could I really call this a successful advertisement campaign?
…The moment I thought that.
‘…?’
Sanghyeon was puzzled seeing the number one trending post.
1st) Gave Zombie School a 1-star review.
Every game has people who dislike it and people who love it. So there are people who give reviews 1 star and people who give 10 stars.
However, when a post like this receives the most recommendations and becomes the number one trending post, that’s a different story.
‘What did I do wrong?’
Let me click and read the post content.
==== ====
Mutant Zombies? When 3 more appeared, I thought the devs were insane. I knew Redhat makes games like a pervert.
But still, shouldn’t normal people have a chance to clear it too? What the hell, is this a game made just for Almond? How did someone like Balloon Gum even beat it?
The stuff that came before was whatever.
The game progresses fine even without dealing with Baek Jun-su and Wujung Kim.
But isn’t the way to see the final ending ridiculous?
You absolutely have to kill the Mutant Zombies to finish.
They die instantly from ranged attacks and use instant skills. And it’s not just one, three more appear~ and show up.
If it were me, I’d just quit the game right then.
==== ====
In short, the complaint was that the game was too difficult.
‘It doesn’t seem like they actually tried it.’
The funny part was that from what they were saying, it seemed they never actually reached that point and didn’t even encounter the Mutant Zombies.
‘How would they know without trying it.’
I checked the comments, assuming others would think the same way I did.
-For real, it’s so obvious they just wanted sensational advertising
└Gamers used to fall for that stuff back in the day, but nobody buys it anymore lol
└With balance like this, the official release is gonna be a disaster
-I’m going to give it a 1-star rating too
└Party recruitment (1/10000)
└222
-You nailed it. The part about having to kill the Mutant Zombie at the end is ridiculous.
└Yeah, weirdly there’s no other route there.
└Just accept it since it’s early access, you idiots
The top comment didn’t actually align with his thoughts.
‘Hmm… so what’s next.’
I scan downward through the comments.
-But are you sure? Maybe you don’t have to kill it.
There’s a comment that seems somewhat supportive of Sanghyeon(?)
In other words, the idea that killing the Mutant Zombie might not be the only route.
But the response was cold.
└If you don’t kill it there, you die lol
└Are you brain-dead? If you don’t kill it, you die, you idiot lol
The comments below were similar.
-This is actually brain-dead
-It’s like spicy food that emphasizes heat. No flavor, no taste, just mindlessly spicy with nothing else.
└Example) Death Pork Cutlet
└Good spicy example) Balloon Gum
.
.
.
“…Right.”
I realized that looking for hope in the comments was foolish.
“If public opinion were different, this wouldn’t be the number one issue post in the first place. Sang-hyun Yu.”
The fact that it rose with this many upvotes meant most people agreed with it.
Of course, there were some dissenting comments.
-Ugh. These influx newbies whining about Redhat’s game being hard
└Since Almond plays it, so many kids are flooding in
└Without Almond, this game would’ve completely tanked lol
-Why blame the game company for your lack of skill?
└Clear it and prove it, you idiot
But they weren’t significant enough to influence public opinion.
‘The public sentiment is this one-sided.’
When Community opinion becomes this polarized, it’s usually because people got swept up in a certain atmosphere.
I glanced through the titles of other issue posts.
2nd) Real skill game = Reel // Just trash = Zombie School
3rd) The reason they think making something brutally difficult makes it a masterpiece.
4th place) That bastard who got backstabbed in the 8.1 patch during the Manatee Sword era – I’m recommending him out of spite lol
5th place) Almond catching the last 3 bosses lol Is this even a game?
.
.
.
The atmosphere was already one of cursing out Zombie School.
“Hmm. Maybe I should count the hate as advertising too…?”
Hate is attention, and attention is advertising value if you think about it.
But what would the Production Company think about Almond’s “advertising effect”?
‘…’
I couldn’t just run on happiness circuits forever.
Sigh.
“This is tough. Really tough.”
“What’s tough about it?”
Thunk.
White steam rose hazily from the earthenware pot Juhyeok set down.
It was dried pollack soup.
“Oh…”
I swallowed hard, peering into the pot.
The clear broth looked refreshingly sharp and clean just at a glance. Simply looking at it made the hangover fog in my head retreat a step.
“Here.”
Juhyeok handed me a bowl.
He was telling me to serve myself.
“Oh. Nice.”
I ladled out some broth and took a careful taste.
“But. What’s tough about it?”
“Ah. That’s…”
I explained the whole situation from start to finish.
Zombie School was currently causing controversy in the Community for being too difficult. I couldn’t understand why this was even controversial.
The difficulty wasn’t low, but from my perspective, it wasn’t high enough to warrant the abuse it was getting.
“Hmm.”
Juhyeok scrolled through the Community posts and then spoke.
“Is a game being difficult something worthy of abuse?”
“No. Not really.”
Juhyeok shook his head.
“Whether it’s worthy of abuse or not doesn’t really matter. These days, if people want to curse, they just gather and pour it out. But…”
Juhyeok scrolled further while observing, then spoke.
“This looks like there’s some mob mentality stirring things up?”
“Right?”
“Yeah. There probably aren’t many people being sincere about it.”
“But they’re actually giving it a 1-star rating?”
Sanghyeon tapped the top issue post to show me.
Then Juhyeok burst out laughing.
“Hey. That’s just one person’s rating.”
Juhyeok entered the game review website and showed me the actual score.
[8.7]
[Mostly Positive]
8.7 out of 10 points.
Considering this website’s harshness, that’s a high score.
“Isn’t it a bit odd to call that a review bombing attack?”
Juhyeok was right.
It’s not exceptionally high, but it’s ambiguous to call it review bombing.
“Yeah. But why….”
Then why are people saying they gave it a 1-star or will give it one?
“First. Only people who actually purchased this game can write reviews.”
“Ah….”
In reality, the actual buyers weren’t rating it harshly at all.
“Second, everything on the Community gets exaggerated when written. To get on an issue post, you have to write at least 2 to 3 times more provocatively than what you actually think.”
“Ah….”
Sanghyeon just kept exclaiming in realization. Juhyeok had become a Community expert before I knew it.
“But there must be a reason this agitation started.”
Juhyeok scrolled through the Community posts for a moment.
“…Found it.”
He showed me a certain post.
The video that became the root cause of all this.
“Whether you look at the timeline or the upvotes, this was definitely the spark.”
[Almond taking down 3 final bosses lol]
The video uploaded in this post ignited all the controversy—or rather, the non-controversy.
Almond’s gameplay taking down the 3 bosses that appeared at the very end.
It was certainly not an easy battle.
I had to dodge 3 needle-like tongues shooting out like instant projectiles while driving arrows into the enemy’s pinhole-sized vital points.
Even then, one arrow was recycled from a previous shot.
The difficulty was twice that of Zombie School originally.
No, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say five times.
-Is that even human?
-Looks like you only die if you hit the inside of the tongue.
Haha, that’s seriously awesome.
At first, most comments were praising Almond’s gameplay.
But then….
-Isn’t this way too difficult though…?
-What? How is a regular person supposed to beat that?
-The Production Company screwed up again.
└For real lol
That’s what I’m saying.
└Redhat style “I’m a masterpiece” lol
“…This comment right here.”
The Production Company had lost their minds again.
The comment implied that Redhat was a company known for making games unnecessarily difficult.
“Newcomers who don’t know much about Redhat will see this and roughly figure out what kind of company they are. That rough understanding is what’s scary.”
Juhyeok was right.
Lol masterpiece syndrome lol
└Just make it difficult mindlessly and it’s a masterpiece lol
└Ugh, in the end….
Countless comments of agreement and anger poured in below that post.
“But think about it. How many people have actually played a Redhat game? And would people who played games like Kingdom complain about something like this?”
I spotted a comment that seemed to be directly quoting Juhyeok’s words.
└Kingdom players right? They wouldn’t complain about this.
└They’re just newcomers
Those complaining now were users who had never experienced Redhat games like Kingdom.
“Most of the people complaining right now are just people who tried it because you’re playing it. Or people who tried it because Balloon Gum is playing it.”
These weren’t people who had been fans since Kingdom—they were casual gamers who suddenly encountered Redhat’s game.
“They don’t know what kind of company Redhat is. But with just a few comments like that, the company’s image got locked in. Just another Production Company that makes everything impossibly hard to piss me off.”
“…Wow.”
I couldn’t help but admire him.
This guy was genuinely invested in the community.
And he was sharp too.
On a completely different level from the random named users floating around the community.
“So, what then?”
“…What then?”
“That’s the root of the problem. What should we do about it?”
Juhyeok shrugged as if to say, what kind of question is that.
“If you hate the temple, the monk should leave.”
“What? We can’t have everyone leave. It’s an advertisement!”
At my urgent expression, Juhyeok let out a snort of laughter.
What else could make Sang-hyun Yu make a face like that if not an advertisement.
“Hey. Don’t worry. The fact that complaints like this are coming in means you did a good job advertising. It means you’ve even drawn in gamers who don’t fit this kind of game.”
“Oh.”
Now that he put it that way, it actually made sense.
“Right. Let’s tell them that when they call.”
“Hmm. But will they accept that?”
Juhyeok found it amusing how Sanghyeon’s expression kept shifting, so he deliberately made it sound impossible again.
“…What? No, you just said it would work.”
Sanghyeon looked ready to grab him by the collar.
Juhyeok burst out laughing.
“Puhahahaha!”
“?”
Juhyeok decided to stop teasing and reveal the truth.
“Hey. Don’t worry. You’ve already won this fight.”
Sanghyeon’s face turned into a question mark.
Back and forth, back and forth.
I knew he was messing with me.
But what was he even saying?
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone thinks the ending only comes when you kill the Mutant Zombie. That’s the basic premise, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But that premise itself is wrong.”
“?”
“Dying to the Mutant Zombie is actually the original route.”
“…!?”
What.
Dying is the actual ending?
Sanghyeon looked shocked.
“You’re supposed to die for the ending to occur. An email came in early this morning.”
Juhyeok turned the screen around to show the email.
“Well, technically it came to you.”
It was an email sent to Streamer Almond’s official address.
[Hello. This is the WePlug Promotion Team.]
==== ====
First, thank you so much for playing our game to completion. We were truly amazed by the unexpected and creative way you cleared Zombie School, Almond.
Zombie School always supports players’ unique and individualistic routes.
However, there was one aspect that was closer to an ‘error’ than ‘individuality.’ That is our shortcoming.
To confess shamefully, the final Mutant Zombies were actually an ending device designed to prevent gamers from progressing any further.
We intended to heighten anticipation for the official release by having the protagonist die to those zombies…
==== ====
In summary, just as Juhyeok said, dying to the zombies was the original ending.
“Wow.”
Sanghyeon was impressed.
If that was the case, everything they were claiming was completely pointless.
How could anyone fault him for making something difficult when it was designed to be failed?
“This should do the trick. I’ll post it on our notice board.”
“What about the Community?”
“Once it’s on the notice board, someone will share it.”
Juhyeok didn’t bother specifying who that “someone” was.
Likely, Juhyeok himself would move it at an opportune moment.
By lunchtime, perhaps?
The trending post rankings updated.
1st) Breaking News) Zombie School Revives Like Crazy lololol
Public sentiment had reversed once again.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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