Although Lin Lixin has the advantage in strategy and character development, his own save file has only reached Chapter 8.
Faced with Steve's overwhelming numerical superiority, although they initially gained a slight advantage, their army collapsed after casualties began.
Steve is, after all, a veteran who makes a living from gaming.
Even though he had gained the upper hand, he managed to stay calm and steadily win in the end.
"Haha, you flatter me, Mr. Lin."
"This is such an unprofessional way of playing." Lin Lixin scoffed, thinking he should have just used Sam's save file.
"Alright, alright, anyway, this is just a little surprise we prepared for everyone. What do you think?"
"That's amazing!"
Steve gave it the highest praise he could think of without hesitation.
Even before he encountered the new mechanics he hadn't noticed before, the editorial team unanimously gave Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade a perfect score.
The most interesting part of strategy games is probably the battles.
The enemy logic in this game is indeed extremely clever and tricky, coupled with the ever-changing map structure, each chapter is enough to immerse you in it for several or even dozens of hours.
But while you're competing with games, you're also competing with people.
The joy of battling with others is boundless!
The design of this Link Arena perfectly completes the final piece of the game's puzzle.
Bringing your carefully nurtured team to the arena to compete against other equally skilled players—that's the endless fun. But the finite game map will eventually be exhausted by the end.
No matter how deep the strategy, there will eventually be a day when the optimal solution is discovered.
But the only way to maintain enjoyment is to compete against other players who are also constantly improving.
Perhaps this is the charm of Street Fighter, an early title, that allows it to maintain its dominance in arcades despite the onslaught of AAA titles from Gamenova today.
"Oh, by the way, Mr. Lin, you just mentioned that there are different modes of combat?"
"That's right, but the second type of battle can only be experienced in arcades that are affiliated with GAMENOVA."
"Hey, Miyazaki, I heard you won a whole NovaBo PC? You really got a great deal."
The bookstore owner, watching Miyazaki sitting in the corner reading as usual, made a teasing remark.
To my surprise, the raffle ticket I casually handed him actually won him the grand prize.
"Now I'm starting to regret it a bit. That's a high-end game console from United States, I heard it's even better than the Famicom."
He leaned closer, looked at the book in Miyazaki's hand, and suddenly paused, " Introduction to 6502 Assembly?? What's gotten into you reading this kind of book?"
The store manager then noticed that Miyazaki was acting out of character; instead of reading those foreign fantasy works that even he couldn't understand, he was engrossed in a programming book.
Recalling his previous experience of winning NovaBo, the store manager immediately guessed what had happened.
" Miyazaki, do you want to make games when you grow up?"
Upon hearing this, Miyazaki reluctantly pulled his attention away from a bunch of obscure terms like registers and accumulators, and replied in a low voice, somewhat embarrassed.
"Hmm----I really like Fire Emblem ----"
" Fire Emblem? Ah, that's the newly released strategy game, isn't it? Too bad I couldn't get a turn yesterday; there are so many articles raving about it lately."
The store manager nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly remembered something. "Speaking of which, that store on the shopping street seems to have gotten a new machine. I heard it can play a two-player mode. Why don't you go try it? The prize is an MSX home computer!"
"Battle?"
Hidetaka Miyazaki blinked his still-untainted eyes a few times, then slowly closed the book in his hands. "Thank you, shopkeeper. I'll go take a look later."
Having your own PC would definitely make things clearer than just reading these dry, text-based gibberish.
He had just stepped out of the bookstore when the store manager suddenly called him back.
"Hey, Miyazaki, this is for you."
"Splash!"
Miyazaki only heard the sound of pages turning, and before he could see clearly, he quickly reached out and grabbed it.
At first glance, the cover features classic images from GAMENOVA's game IPs, making it look like a comic book.
But its title stunned Miyazaki.
Nova Language - From Beginner to Expert
[ NovaComic Publishing House ]
[Compiled by Lin Lixin and Carmack ]
"This is?"
"A programming tutorial published by GAMENOVA—don't you like their games? This might be more suitable for you."
The store manager waved his hand, signaling Miyazaki to leave quickly.
This set of books is much thinner than the previous textbook on assembly language, but naturally, it is also less in-depth.
It's like a language specifically designed for NovaBo and NovaPocket, making it a natural choice for game development.
Miyazaki casually flipped through a few pages, his eyes showing a strange expression.
Its content is filled with quirky and funny illustrations, along with accompanying screen displays, and each chapter is packaged as a series of interesting little stories.
Rather than a programming textbook, it's more like an entertaining and educational comic book.
Satoshi: [Oh no, the screen isn't moving! If this keeps up, Shigeru will beat me to the Pokédex!]
Clefairy: [You idiot, hurry up and write out a scroll image!]
Satoshi: [Scroll image? What's that?]
Clefairy: [Silly, you just need to write ---- in the compiler]
Its content is basically a hodgepodge of GAMENOVA's IPs.
One minute Satoshi and Shigeru are fighting, the next Guile needs readers' help to design a powerful missile move.
But it must be said that for Miyazaki, who is still quite young, it was far more interesting than that huge pile of incomprehensible gibberish from before.
When Miyazaki arrived at the game store, the legendary fighter jet was already surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.
"Don't just stand there! If the shopkeeper and the Pegasus Knight come down from the mountain and ambush you, you're done for!"
"Damn it, why didn't you say so earlier!"
"It's ruined, it's ruined----"
When Miyazaki finally managed to squeeze through the crowd, he saw two television sets facing each other in front of him.
The store manager and a challenger sat facing each other, with their game disks plugged into the machine.
It seems that's what they call a fighter jet.
He glanced at the screen on the store manager's side and immediately noticed something was wrong.
The entire battlefield map was shrouded in a strange gray fog, with only the area around the shopkeeper's unit having a clear view.
Even in areas within the field of vision of both sides, all that can be seen is a hazy, generic unit model, unlike normally where the opponent's configuration can be clearly discerned.
"This fog of war is really troublesome; it's too difficult to fight without intelligence."
"That's right, the shopkeeper has won several times already using the Pegasus Knight sneak attack tactic."
"It's my turn next. I completely understand now."
Listening to their discussion, Miyazaki caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar term—"fog of war."
This mechanism, while present in some castle and fortress levels in the main storyline, has never been used on such a large scale.