Episode 14: Fun While the Parents Are Away
“Alright, keep pressing forward! Here, next is this one!”
“Okay! But Ayano, you’re really used to this, huh? I’m surprised.”
“I told you, I play quite a bit even alone. When I get hooked, I play until midnight.”
“Ooh, you can hit that distance… If you’re this good, you could definitely play online.”
“Playing with strangers is annoying because I have to be careful.”
“Then, you don’t play with Mizuhara? It seemed like she was into it.”
“I can’t invite anyone to play games as ‘me at school.’ Besides, I only started playing games seriously in middle school.”
“…So, this skill was cultivated in solitude? Sorry… I made you a solo player because of me.”
“Don’t call me a solo player! And don’t apologize so seriously!?”
“From now on, let’s play various games together, okay?”
“I’m happy, but still!”
Game consoles are broadly divided into ‘stationary types’ that connect to a monitor and ‘portable types’ that can be carried around.
Both have their advantages, and it’s hard to say one is better than the other.
However, when playing directly with friends, portable types are preferred due to their characteristics.
Recently, game consoles that combine the features of both stationary and portable types have become popular.
A popular title is “Hunting Monster.”
It’s an action game where you fight various monsters using different jobs, weapons, skills, and items.
The real thrill is strengthening your character by creating equipment from the materials obtained from defeated monsters or in the field, but the biggest selling point is cooperative play.
Kamijou Yuuto and Ichinose Ayano, leaning against the bed and snuggling close, were also users of this game.
Yuuto wields a large lance as a ‘Buster Lancer,’ specializing in assaults with high defense from heavy armor and high mobility from boosters and wire actions.
Ayano is a ‘Multi Archer’ who shoots various types of arrows with a magic bow blessed by spirits.
They each had the player skills and character performance to clear the story mode and enjoy it as end content.
After defeating a group of small fry monsters in the field, the two aimlessly ran their characters around and finished checking the camera sensitivity.
“Well, whatever. The warm-up is over, so let’s go hunt the ‘real deal’ soon.”
“Sounds good. I still haven’t collected the materials I need, so that helps.”
As Yuuto checked his menu screen, he sighed inwardly.
He never imagined that his childhood friend, now his girlfriend, had always wanted to play cooperative games.
When the game series was first released, it was popular mainly among adult men due to its unique features and high difficulty, but as the series progressed, the difficulty was adjusted, the graphics were improved, and many popular voice actors were used, so it became more popular among a wider age range.
Especially this time, a handsome actor is posting play videos on video sites, so the number of female users is rapidly increasing.
It wasn’t strange that she was playing the same game.
His flustered feelings, expectations, and guilt were a letdown, but… well, this was probably good in its own way.
Since he didn’t bring his game console, he contacted his older sister and had her pass it to him through the window, but she glared at him with cold eyes, saying, “You brat… die.” But that’s another story.
Anyway, he switched gears and decided to enjoy the monster subjugation that was added in the large update.
Honestly, Yuuto was also looking forward to playing this game with Ayano.
“Alright, let’s go!”
“Yeah!”
◇
“–So, when is this thing going to die?”
“Hmm… the motion has changed, so I should have shaved off a lot, but…”
In a mountain field divided into several areas, Yuuto and Ayano were chasing a “female Dragonewt with a human-like upper body and a snake-like lower body.”
In this game, each quest has a main subjugation target monster and a time limit.
If you look at the strategy site, it seems that if you use equipment with appropriate performance, it will end in about twenty minutes at most, but they have been playing the same quest for over thirty minutes.
“It was easier when I did it alone the other day. Isn’t your equipment weak? In this game, the enemy’s health increases in cooperative play, right?”
“Well, it does get harder, but… my equipment is still being upgraded, but it’s pretty strong.”
“Even though it’s inhuman, it’s making its magnificent things jiggle… it’s annoying!”
“Enchanting arrows with personal grudges…”
Yuuto frowned as he watched Ayano’s character launch a fierce attack.
“–Hey, is your equipment by any chance the story’s last boss equipment?”
“That’s right. I’ve been farming it to get the whole set and upgraded it, so there’s no way it’s weak.”
Ah, I see. He understood.
“What?”
“Ayano-san, are you perhaps someone who doesn’t look at announcements from the management?”
“Eh? Ah… that’s right. I don’t really look at them. They’re mostly for people who play online, right?”
“Hmm, what about play videos on video sites?”
Watching the Dragonewt’s flame breath attack, while dodging,
“Phew! …Because watching other people play isn’t fun since it’s an action game, right? If I see the monster’s motion patterns beforehand, it’ll be boring.”
“That’s true, but still?”
Yuuto used a recovery item to regain his composure.
“Geez! So, what is it!?”
“Well, this large update included balance adjustments for the entire game in addition to adding new monsters and skills.”
“Yeah.”
“Before the update, the manners of online players were bad.”
“Hee?”
“Players with strong equipment would enter quests where beginners gather and defeat the monsters right away.”
“Ugh, what’s that? Annoying.”
“That’s right. And the equipment of those harmful players is the same equipment that Ayano has.”
“Huh?”
“That equipment has high stats, but with the combination of skills that have been added in the past, it has become stronger than the management expected. It can even defeat the last boss in one shot.”
“–Ehh… I see the punchline coming.”
“Yeah. Videos like ‘I tried joining a beginner’s quest with the strongest equipment’ and ‘Fastest subjugation’ were popular for a while. Recently, the number of users playing online properly has decreased.”
In other words,
“In this nerf, it was decided to ‘reduce the effect of some skills in cooperative play.’ Frankly, they’re targeting the equipment that Ayano is using and making it weaker. They’re weakening the weapon’s unique skills.”
“Waaah! My equipment has become weaker because of some unknown guy!?”
Evading the Dragonewt’s breath attack again,
“Well, the performance is the same in solo play, so you can use it as before. If you’re going to play cooperative again, you’ll have to prepare something else… damn it!”
Yuuto unleashed a powerful counterattack with an assault that took advantage of his character’s characteristics.
But the Dragonewt showed no signs of falling.
“This isn’t good,” Yuuto frowned.
“…At this rate, it looks like we’ll be cutting it close with the time. Should we go back to the lobby and change equipment?”
“…Impossible.”
“Impossible?”
Guarding against an attack, Yuuto furrowed his brow even more.
Ayano, who shot an arrow imbued with magic at the Dragonewt’s side, looked embarrassed.
“I sold or dismantled the others to strengthen my current equipment, so I don’t have any equipment that I can use right away.”
–He was speechless.
“You have a more manly play style than a man.”
“Shut up! I wanted to strengthen one since I’m going to use the same one anyway! Besides, I can’t give up after fighting this far. I’m going to hunt it down no matter what, so you come with me!”
“Ehh… but isn’t this impossible~”
“I’m not mad that you were staring at my legs earlier!”
“What are you talking about? Let’s go, you bastard!!”