Once work resumed after the New Year, everyone quickly got back into rhythm. By the second day, their efficiency had completely returned to what it had been before the holiday.
After confirming the development progress on Salt and Sanctuary, Ichin shifted all of his attention to Bloodborne.
As for Bloodborne's development, Ichin had originally considered integrating its DLC, The Old Hunters, directly into the base game. But after thinking it over carefully, he ultimately decided to make it a separate expansion instead.
And in The Old Hunters, there was also a weapon Ichin was particularly fond of.
The Moonlight Greatsword.
That weapon was naturally also included in Dark Souls, which Ichin had developed, and it was far from being just a novelty weapon. Although it required Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence to use, with a relatively high Intelligence requirement, it was not merely a gimmick weapon.
Ichin had made a number of adjustments to the Moonlight Greatsword, whether in its moveset, stats, or skills. It could be said that it was a weapon well-suited for both clearing areas and PvP, though the point at which players could obtain it in a first playthrough was relatively late.
Of course, it was also possible to get it early by killing the old woman, defeating the Dancer ahead of schedule, then going to the Consumed King and exchanging his soul for it. But the difficulty of doing that in the early game was not something just anyone could accept and overcome easily.
Because of that, the Moonlight Greatsword was still seen more often in later playthroughs and in PvP among endgame players.
This time, in Bloodborne, Ichin naturally intended to keep the Moonlight Greatsword in the game as well. He might make some very slight adjustments to its appearance, but anyone who had played Dark Souls would be able to tell at a glance that the two weapons were essentially identical.
And besides the Moonlight Greatsword, the legendary NPC Patches would also be included in Bloodborne. In fact, Ichin intended for him to appear in Elden Ring later on as well, and in every Soulslike title that followed.
There were certainly no shortage of iconic NPCs in the Souls series. Whether it was the various Fire Keepers across the series, the Doll, Gehrman and Maria from Bloodborne, or characters like Siegward and Crestfallen, countless names came to mind immediately.
But if one were to talk about the most unforgettable ones, Patches would absolutely deserve a place among them.
The classic Patches crouch, luring players into traps, kicking them from behind, acting as a shady merchant, begging for mercy after getting beaten up, he had no shortage of famous scenes.
Even when players got tricked by Patches, the moment they saw him again in a later title, they would still smile knowingly and happily let him scam them again, just to see what new stunt he would pull this time.
The same was true in this version of Dark Souls. Ichin had even gone out of his way to give Patches a bit more story. Besides disguising himself as Siegward and locking the protagonist in the Firelink Shrine tower, Ichin had added several more appearances for him and even gave him the chance to appear as a summonable NPC for solo combat.
Of course, Ichin did not make Patches especially strong in boss battles. Instead, he added some snarky dialogue for him during combat.
As a result, in Dark Souls, aside from loving the Fire Keeper and Siegward, players also had a relationship with Patches that was equal parts annoyance and affection.
The annoyance went without saying, since every player had been tricked by him. But they also liked him because he sold plenty of useful items. Of course, as a shady merchant, Patches charged outrageous prices, but players still had to buy from him, because those items could not be found anywhere else.
But in Bloodborne, Patches' appearance underwent some "minor" changes.
Looking at the concept art for Patches in front of her, Kō frowned and leaned back. "And you're calling this a minor change? He's not even human anymore, is he? Do you actually like Patches as a character, or do you hate him? You won't even let him stay human?"
The others curiously gathered around, and their expressions turned almost exactly the same as Kō's.
In the concept art, Patches still had his same head, but his body had turned into that of a giant black spider.
A creature with a human face and a spider's body looked creepy no matter how you looked at it.
Ichin, however, just smiled. "Well, it has to fit Bloodborne's worldbuilding, doesn't it? There aren't many normal humans in this setting, and even Patches can't escape that. Of course, this is only his first form. In the later DLC, Patches will still appear in a normal human form as well."
Only after hearing that did everyone relax.
After all, he was a classic character in one of their games. If he stayed like that for the entire game, it really would not be much fun.
After handing Patches' modeling work over to Kō, Ichin headed to the programming team to continue Bloodborne's programming development. That side of the work had only just begun, and there was still a lot left to do.
Once today's workday ended, the new college term would begin. But for fourth-year university students, after their graduation defense, there were basically no more classes to attend. All that remained was to focus on job hunting and wait for graduation.
Of course, people like Ichin and Utaha had no need to go through things like job hunting. Aside from occasionally showing up at college, they spent most of their time busy with their own work.
As for Yukino, she was already preparing for graduate college admission. She would soon continue her studies, and would likely become even busier.
At the end of January, Ichin brought Utaha, her parents, and also Haruno and Yukino back to China to celebrate the Spring Festival, and during the holiday they successfully finalized the timing and process of this year's wedding.
The wedding was set for November. There would be two ceremonies, one on each side. The first would be held on Ichin's side, and the second would be held on Utaha's side.
As for the relatives from both families, aside from the closest group, everyone else only needed to attend the ceremony on their own side. There was no need for everyone to go through the trouble of attending both, and in any case, they could all watch the recordings later.
As for the best men and bridesmaids, the best men would naturally be the friends from the Shanghai studio. The bridesmaids were even easier to choose. With Yukino, Haruno, Eriri, Kō Yagami, and the others, they could simply pick a few from among them. When the time came, the quality of that bridesmaid group would definitely be astonishing.
As for the wedding planning company, they found a reliable one through an introduction from someone Ichin's father knew. Ichin and Utaha personally went to check them out, and only finalized it after confirming there were no issues.
Because all these matters had to be settled, they stayed home for four extra days after the Spring Festival before finally leaving and flying back to Tokyo.
These next two months would still be manageable, but once Ichin and Utaha's graduation ceremony was over, they would truly have to keep traveling back and forth from time to time to handle wedding-related matters.
The moment he came back and resumed work, the gossip-loving Hazuki and the others surrounded Ichin.
Kō, eyes shining, asked, "So? Have the wedding plans been finalized?"
Ichin replied with a helpless look, "Why are you in such a hurry? It's not like I wasn't going to tell you."
...