21: Chapter 21 Forgeries and Forgeries

One month after the launch of FGO, its terrifying ability to rake in money and its overwhelming word-of-mouth reputation completely changed the ecology of Youxing Network and even the entire Blue Star gaming circle.

Countless players were immersed every day in researching Low-star War Gods, challenging high-difficulty stages, and thirstily reading the background stories of Heroic Spirits in Da Vinci's Workshop.

Amidst this craze, the giant that occupied half of the Blue Star gaming market—Tianpeng Interactive Entertainment—finally revealed its long-premeditated fangs.

[Tianpeng Interactive Entertainment's Annual 3D Holographic Strategy Masterpiece—'gods and demons defense line', begins its shocking Open Beta today!]

[Log in to get a free ten-roll! First top-up of six yuan gets the out-of-print SSR 'Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady'!]

[Break the shackles of tradition! Say no to clunky mechanics! Experience the ultimate refreshing feeling of tower defense mowing!]

Overwhelming advertisements occupied almost every social platform and city billboard overnight.

Tianpeng Interactive Entertainment's marketing was extremely targeted, with every line subtly mocking FGO's strict Cost limits and its "extremely difficult early-game experience."

They attempted to use the most effective tactics of traditional online games—"high benefits" and "instant gratification"—to snatch away players who had been tormented by FGO's hardcore mechanics.

In the Shark Stream Room, PD raised an eyebrow as he watched the ads for 'gods and demons defense line' popping up all over the screen.

"Brothers, this big company Tianpeng Interactive Entertainment has finally stepped into the ring to make a tower defense game. Looking at these slogans, they're clearly aiming for Chaldea."

PD rubbed his chin. "Even though I'm a die-hard fan of FGO now, the benefits this big company is giving out are indeed plenty."

"Anyway, we've finished the story for the First Singularity. Let's go test the waters and see what this 'era-surpassing' tower defense is actually made of."

With a mindset of curiosity and comparison, PD put on his VR headset, downloaded, and entered 'gods and demons defense line'.

As soon as he entered, a very thick "traditional online game" formula hit him in the face.

The screen was filled with colorful pop-ups for "First Top-up Rebates," "Daily Special Gift Packs," and "VIP Exclusive Privileges," nearly blinding PD's titanium dog eyes.

Patiently closing a dozen pop-ups, PD entered the tutorial for the first stage.

The tactical grid, the high and low platform terrain, and even the mechanism requiring "Spiritual Power Points" to deploy characters were carved from the exact same mold as FGO.

"Oh, they even copied the UI interface? This reskin is quite direct."

PD curled his lip and casually dragged the SSR mage "Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady," which he got from the first top-up, onto the battlefield.

According to his experience of being beaten in FGO, the deployment cost for such a high-rarity grand mage would definitely be extremely high; they could never be placed at the start, and one would have to deploy a Vanguard first to generate points.

However, the moment he dropped the card, the system notification rang out cheerfully:

[Ding! Detected that you are a distinguished VIP 3 player!]

[VIP Privilege Active: Initial Spiritual Power Points increased by 50! Your SSR character has ignored deployment costs and descended directly onto the battlefield!]

"Pfft—!" The mouthful of water PD had just taken sprayed directly onto the holographic screen.

"Holy crap? What the hell?!" PD's eyes widened as he watched the "Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady," glowing with a cheap golden light and possessing giant wings that took up half the screen, land steadily on the high platform.

"VIP privileges directly add to starting costs?! You can ignore Cost limits if you pay?!"

PD felt completely numb.

"Then why the hell do I need Vanguards to work and generate points! What strategy is there to speak of? Can't I just slap a fully equipped five-star squad in the enemies' faces and steamroll them at the start?!"

After a brief moment of daze, the viewers in the stream room erupted with overwhelming mockery:

"Hahaha! What kind of god-tier VIP privilege adds to initial costs! These copycats didn't even understand tower defense at all!"

"They copied the 'Cost System', the core mechanism that limits stat bloat in FGO, and then used VIP privileges to render that mechanism useless? This operation is like taking off your pants to fart—completely redundant!"

"Too funny, is this the comprehension level of a big company? Everything can be VIP, huh!"

With a feeling of extreme absurdity and disgust, PD continued playing for a while.

But the more he played, the tighter his brow furrowed.

Although the game's art had plenty of lighting effects, with all sorts of giant wings and golden special effects flying everywhere, a closer look revealed they were all soulless industrial assembly-line products.

The so-called five-star SSR characters didn't even have a decent line of dialogue, only three extremely boring voice lines like "Take this," "Die," and "Oh my" looping over and over.

Not to mention any mythological research or hidden tags; aside from the dry numbers for "Attack Power" and "Defense Power" on the attribute panel, these cards were just a pile of cold code.

The most despair-inducing part was the game's "anti-air mechanism."

When a group of flying monsters looking like bats appeared in the sky, PD habitually tried to look for a "Sniper" or an "Archer" for anti-air.

As a result, a golden top-up page popped up arrogantly in the center of the screen:

[Ding! Encountered troublesome flying monsters?]

[Limited Time Offer: Top up 648 yuan to purchase the 'Peerless Anti-Air Divine Artifact', and all your melee heavy-armor characters will gain 'Full-Screen Taunt + Anti-Air Attack' abilities! One-shot kills, say no to getting stuck!]

"I'll screw your ancestors..."

PD couldn't take it anymore. He ripped off his VR helmet and looked at the screen as if looking at a pile of indescribable excrement.

"This is what you call a strategy tower defense? This is still just using money to smash through with stats!"

"No wonder this game is called 'gods and demons defense line'. This defense line is built with money, isn't it!"

Not just PD, but countless players on Youxing Network who had tried it out of curiosity were all disgusted to the point of vomiting by this extremely idiotic greed.

This was the arrogance and stupidity of the big companies. They thought that by copying the "grids" and "high and low platforms" of tower defense, they could replicate FGO's success.

They didn't understand at all that what truly made players go crazy was that seamless "Divine Balance" that required mental sparring; it was that abyss of mechanics where critical stars and special attack multipliers intertwined.

And even more, it was that grand and profound "Type-Moon Soul" where every Servant had flesh and blood!

An extremely violent backlash of public opinion completely erupted on the Blue Star network!

After experiencing the gilded pile of garbage that was 'gods and demons defense line', countless players were not only not lured away by the so-called benefits, but instead flooded back to FGO's official forums like crazy.

"Father Gu! I was wrong! I'll never complain about you restricting my Cost again!"

"Only Chaldea is my home in this world! I'd rather be slaughtered by Jeanne d'Arc's wyverns in France and burn my brain solving puzzles in Historical Retrospection than play that kind of idiotic trash where you can pay to let heavy-armor units attack air!"

"Hurry up and start a new event! I want to throw all my money at FGO! We absolutely cannot let copycat dogs like Tianpeng Interactive Entertainment drive out the good with the bad!"

Facing this sudden, almost fanatical "vengeful support," Gu Yi, who had been observing from the sidelines, knew the timing was completely ripe.

"Using a soulless shell to imitate my game?"

"Since you've made such a disgusting 'counterfeit', I'll show you what the true value of a [Counterfeit] is!"

Gu Yi's fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard.

[Large-scale limited-time event script, new art assets, and special class code have been loaded.]

Ten minutes later.

While the officials of 'gods and demons defense line' were still hiring internet trolls to frantically damage control, the official Chaldea account posted a giant poster announcement with a blood-red flame border in an extremely high-profile manner.

[FGO's first large-scale limited-time event: 'Da Vinci and the Seven Counterfeit Heroic Spirits' is about to begin!]

"To all dear Masters: Do you still remember the witch who blocked your path with hellfire and dragon breath on the scorched earth of France?"

"The true Saint dissipated in glory, while the 'Counterfeit' condensed from infinite hatred and obsession is watching you.

[New Mechanics and Servant Unlocked]:]

New independent class opened: [Avenger]!

This class does not exist in the regular seven-class advantage system; they are vengeful ghosts abandoned by the world.

Event-limited summoning banner opened:]

[Dragon Witch · Descent of Blackening]!]

★5 SSR Avenger—Jeanne d'Arc [Alter] (Jeanne d'Arc) officially joins the Chaldea summoning system!

'Mongrels of France, are you ready to welcome the flames of revenge?'"

As soon as this announcement came out, the entire Blue Star gaming circle felt as if a ten-thousand-ton nuclear bomb had been dropped!