novelraw Chapter 198: This Is Called 'Adaptation'?
Chapter 198: This Is Called 'Adaptation'?
No wonder Jian Yinghua was so shocked.
Because... this prologue seemed identical to the manga's opening.
As a fan of the original manga,
and as someone who would play game adaptations because of the manga, he was extremely familiar with it. While he couldn't recite it backwards, he knew the story progression and each chapter inside out.
And clearly,
what appeared before him now... was the manga's prologue.
The familiar dialogue, the familiar character introductions, the familiar plot progression...
Exactly the same!
No!
Wait.Not exactly the same—parts of the plot had been altered.
Since the player's character was original and didn't exist in the manga... the game added an introduction for this role.
However, after seeing the butchered additions,
Jian Yinghua wasn't just shocked anymore—he was furious.
Seriously?
You made the player's character replace the protagonist? Demoted the actual protagonist to a background role, made the player the main character, inherited his storyline, and even butchered it?
His expression twisted gradually as he barely suppressed his anger and continued playing.
Then...
his face contorted even further.
The character art that didn't match the promotional material at all, the crude presentation with just a half-body portrait spouting endless text, the mangled manga plot...
As he played on,
only one thought remained in Jian Yinghua's mind:
I've been scammed!
Still,
he clung to a sliver of hope—maybe this was just the beginning? Maybe this was just to help players get familiar with the game quickly?
So despite his growing dissatisfaction, he patiently continued.
But...
it was even more unbearable than he'd imagined.
Because this plot! He'd seen it before! And while the manga was static, at least it had paneling! Thoughtful composition!
Here, there was just a half-body portrait and endless text!
Might as well reread the manga!
Most importantly! They fucking butchered it!!!
His expression grew increasingly distorted!
Finally, the battle sequence arrived.
His vision darkened... What the hell is this garbage?
The crude models! The boring turn-based combat! The ultimate skills were just slightly fancier attack animations... What kind of crap is this?
His rage meter began steadily rising.
After painfully enduring the prologue,
before he could recover, an onslaught of tutorials assaulted him.
This was the enhancement system, that was the card collection, here was the gacha, there was the 'equipment'...
He mindlessly clicked around, remembering nothing except that each gacha pull cost fifty.
But the heroine's portrait in the gacha pool...
Jian Yinghua thought it looked worse than the colored illustrations in the manga!
And you want me to pull for this?
Might as well rob me directly!
His rage was nearing its limit. After surviving the chaotic tutorial hell, he finally reached Chapter 1's story.
Then
his anger exploded!!!
Because... it was still butchered manga plot!
This game! Actually dared to copy the manga's original story and adapt it like this!
Even transferred the protagonist's storyline to the player character.
And had the audacity to push gacha pulls every few minutes!
So annoying!
So fucking annoying!!!
When he saw the heroine's first encounter changed to meeting the player character, when the game pushed another gacha pull—
Jian Yinghua threw his phone across the room!
Bam!
The phone hit the floor with a dull thud.
Jian Yinghua panted heavily from sheer fury.
What kind of 'adaptation' is this???
Seriously?
Is this really the game from the promotional materials?
Jian Yinghua even wondered if he'd downloaded the wrong game.
He normally didn't like games much and rarely played them.
But if even someone like him thought it was trash, would other players find it good?
Is this really the quality of mobile games today?
Sloppily made!
Even the plot was copied from the manga!
Bad character art! Terrible models! Awful combat!
Yet the desperation to squeeze money from players was painfully obvious!
A faithful adaptation?
Not even dogs would play this!
"...I must've been blind to think this wouldn't disappoint."
Jian Yinghua laughed bitterly in anger as he picked up his phone and force-quit the game.
The prologue and first chapter he'd just played told him everything he needed to know.
Setting aside everything else, just the plot alone... was unbearable!
What absolute garbage!
And this is called a faithful adaptation!? Were they trying to milk readers' wallets or drive them to an early grave?
He placed his phone beside his computer, woke the monitor, opened his browser, and immediately deleted his bookmarks for "Dark Night Decree" and FGO's official site!
Screw this!
He'd rather be a dog than touch another game! Might as well reread the manga!
As for why he deleted FGO too...
He figured both companies were cut from the same cloth! If this so-called faithful adaptation was this terrible, how good could their collaboration event be? False advertising! All the same scam!
Fuming, Jian Yinghua cleared his bookmarks and logged into the largest domestic anime forum to vent.
...
At the same time, many manga readers like Jian Yinghua had started the game.
And Jian Yinghua was actually among the more restrained ones.
At least he made it to Chapter 1.
Many readers didn't even last that long before seeing red.
Within just one hour,
the largest anime forum was flooded with related posts.
No helping it.
"Dark Night Decree" had been aggressively competing with FGO in marketing lately. While many FGO players disapproved, the hype was undeniable.
Plenty had eagerly jumped in on launch day.
Most importantly... Rumi had many loyal readers.
So when "Dark Night Decree" launched, it was like poking a hornet's nest.
The backlash exploded instantly.
And not in a good way...
Even FGO suffered collateral damage in the outrage.
Meanwhile,
at Season Technology,
Ji Fuliang had returned to his office... browsing cars online.
He'd long wanted to buy an SUV but was too busy until now. He felt it was time.
Just as he was enthusiastically comparing a G-Class to a Land Cruiser—
Knock knock knock—
Urgent rapping interrupted him.
Ji Fuliang looked up, annoyed, but called out, "Come in."
An employee rushed in breathlessly.
Before he could speak,
Ji Fuliang preempted, "Well? How many players logged in at launch?"
"Uh..."
The employee faltered, then reflexively answered, "About 110,000..."
Ji Fuliang frowned. "Why so few?"
"Probably... the evening rush hour..."
The employee began explaining automatically,
then suddenly snapped back to reality and urgently interjected, "Boss! That's not the issue now! There's a crisis! Players are rioting! Check the forums!"
Ji Fuliang's eyes lit up. "Rioting? Great reception?"
The employee fell silent, his urgent expression freezing. He stared at Ji Fuliang and said flatly, "No... Just see for yourself."
He named the forum.
Still oblivious, Ji Fuliang excitedly grabbed his mouse, searched, and opened the forum.
The moment it loaded,
his excitement petrified.
His screen filled with phrases like "trash game," "insult," "Dark Night Decree is complete garbage."
Stunned, he clicked the most replied thread:
"What absolute trash!!! How dare they call this a faithful adaptation!!! Crudely drawn character art worse than manga color spreads! Boring as hell combat! And the worst part—this is how you 'adapt' the story!?"
"Damn it! I was so hyped for this! Saw the launch notice at noon and was overjoyed! Never expected such garbage! Stop disgracing 'Dark Night'! Rumi-sensei would die of anger if she played this!"
"Wow, just wow. First time getting scammed this hard. What a waste of time and emotions!"
"Faithful adaptation my ass! And FGO too! Stop disrespecting the original! All you game devs should just vanish!"
"I'm actually furious! Who thought this adaptation was okay? Did you think manga readers hate the protagonist? Just erased him?"
"I'll be a dog if I ever touch this mobile game again!"
"..."
Nothing but vitriol—not a single positive comment.
Even FGO was catching strays.
Seeing this,
Ji Fuliang jerked his head up, eyes bloodshot, voice panicked: "What's happening?"
The employee stayed silent.
What's happening?
Isn't it obvious?
Reading the employee's expression,
Ji Fuliang panicked further. He closed the thread and frantically browsed more.
But everywhere he looked—only hatred. Even seemingly positive posts were dripping with sarcasm.
Realizing this,
full-blown panic set in. He shot up and bolted from his office.
The employee turned to watch him leave, then shook his head quietly.
The game was doomed.
Honestly, it was doomed before launch.
This was just the official death sentence.
With that thought, he followed out.
Clearly,
Ji Fuliang had made two fatal mistakes:
First, games are fundamentally commercial ventures. Having pre-registration numbers means nothing if you can't monetize those players later. Pre-registrations ≠ valuable players.
Second, original fans aren't a group you can casually deceive. One misstep, and what could've been mutually beneficial becomes mutually destructive.
But he either hadn't realized yet,
or had realized—
too late.