Over there, Ben, who had just finished watching this CG and was incredibly excited but had nowhere to let it out, heard Zack's voice in the voice chat. He had just switched out to turn on his microphone, ready for a long chat to express his excitement, when he heard a 'ding-dong' sound in the voice chat.
This was the sound of a user leaving the channel. He stared at the voice channel with only himself left.
Thinking about the game CG he had just seen, Ben was completely stunned.
What kind of person is this!
This is too much!
You turned on your mic just to say one thing to me, and then you ran away!?
Looking at the game screen, Ben felt really uncomfortable, so he chose to take a picture of Zack and post it on social media.
'This RTS is awesome!'
After sending it, Ben felt a little better, turning back to continue the game in front of him.
In reality, it wasn't just Ben and Zack who were extremely excited.
Countless players following "Warcraft" were equally excited.
Because "Warcraft" used a free trial version upon release, players, no matter their intentions, basically downloaded it immediately, ready to try it out.
And with this try, both game players who liked RTS and those who didn't play RTS much were instantly captivated by the game.
For players who liked RTS, the various settings and innovations in "Warcraft" were like a hook grabbing their hearts.
Attack types, defense types, and the buildings, units, technologies, and hero settings in the story campaign.
It could be said that it completely changed the previous RTS gameplay. For many game players passionate about RTS, they could already sense that these unique settings would be an incredibly new experience for multiplayer battles.
But for ordinary players, they didn't really care much about the RTS gameplay itself.
They didn't know anything about hero designs or unit stats.
But the game's story and well-made CGs completely won them over.
It's generally accepted in the industry that it's hard to make a good story in RTS games.
Because there's a lack of connection, and RTS games basically have rough graphics, it's hard to create a sense of immersion for players through the story.
But "Warcraft" was completely different.
The story was not only tight and gripping, but also extremely generous!
There was a CG animation every other level to introduce the game's story and background to the players.
As an RTS game, it made the models so detailed, combined with dialogue and close-ups, that although it wasn't as good as RPG games, it was unmatched in the RTS world.
This made some players who didn't like playing RTS games fall in love with the story of "Warcraft".
And what surprised many players even more was that this trial version's content was really rich.
The trial version content of "Monster Hunter: World", from Jaggi to Great Jagras, was only about two hours long.
But the trial content of "Warcraft" made many players forget that they were just playing a trial version.
The trial version alone had already shown the tip of the iceberg of the game's huge world background.
The conflict between the Orcs and Humans, and the strange plague, the story content of the first chapter in this trial made players sink into it.
......
"Arthas seems to have really changed," Zack couldn't help but sigh.
The plague swept through Stratholme, and everyone was about to be turned into soldiers of the undead Scourge. Arthas made a decision to kill these ordinary civilians with his own hands, to prevent them from becoming the Scourge's pawns.
But Uther refused the order, and Jaina also expressed shock and disappointment and abandoned Arthas.
What Zack remembered most vividly was the scene of Arthas softly trying to keep Jaina beside him in the rain.
Faced with Arthas's plea, Jaina simply said, "I'm sorry, Arthas... I can't watch you do this."
This was the content that Zack had experienced so far, and it also made him feel that Arthas, the once proud prince, had become extremely stubborn.
Afterwards, a message came from the capital saying Uther, Arthas's teacher, had returned to Lordaeron and had convinced the king to have Arthas bring the expeditionary army back home.
But hatred occupied Arthas's heart. He vowed to make the Dreadlords and the Black Hand, who spread the plague, pay for their crimes, and even did things that went against the code of Paladins.
Arthas chased the Dreadlords all the way to Northrend, and hired local native mercenaries to secretly destroy the expeditionary army's ships, cutting off the only path back home, staging a Warcraft version of no turning back.
It was here that Zack finally realized that Prince Arthas had gradually lost his mind in hatred.
After arriving in Northrend, on this glacier-covered continent, Arthas and their expeditionary army had no room to retreat.
Snowflakes kept falling from the sky, and the melody of the game's BGM suddenly became somewhat depressing.
At this time, Arthas was still holding the Paladin's hammer in his hand.
But all that was in his eyes was the fire of hatred.
Even though his companion Muradin felt that Arthas had changed and questioned him loudly.
As a friend, he still decided to follow Arthas to find the legendary artifact 'Frostmourne'.
Finally, they found the place where Frostmourne was frozen deep in the glaciers of Northrend.
After entering the cave, Muradin also discovered that Frostmourne had a powerful evil curse attached to it, but Arthas, blinded by the fire of revenge, ignored his old friend's warnings and picked up Frostmourne.
As the ice broke, Muradin was stunned by magical ice shards, while Arthas, clutching Frostmourne tightly, ignored his old friend's life and death.
With a blank face, he left the cave with Frostmourne. Arthas's last trace of humanity was crushed here in the frozen wasteland of Northrend.
He successfully killed the Dreadlord Mal'Ganis.
The next moment, the screen went black briefly, followed by another CG animation, making Zack look forward to it.
First came the distant sound of bells.
In the sacred melody, the camera swept over the city of Lordaeron, overlooking Arthas's return.
Countless people of Lordaeron cheered and celebrated.
Pink petals fell from the sky, surrounding the royal city, welcoming Arthas back to Lordaeron as a hero.
However, at the instant Arthas entered the city, the black-robed Arthas reached out his right hand and caught a petal from the air. The grand and celebratory music instantly changed its tune, filled with mournful and cold background sounds.
Catching a petal falling from the sky, Arthas gently rubbed it with his thumb, then coldly threw it away, and looked up at the sky and the cheering people on the walls.
No one noticed that Arthas's once golden hair had now turned a deathly pale.
The hammer representing the Knights of the Silver Hand in his hand had also turned into Frostmourne.
The silver-blue armor of the Paladin was now undead armor inlaid with skulls.
In the glorious throne room, King Terenas was sitting on the throne, waiting for his son.
The next moment, the door was pushed open roughly, and Arthas entered the hall followed by his attendants.
Kneeling with his sword, Arthas greeted his father.
With surprise and some doubt, Terenas rose to greet his son.
"Oh, my child!"
However, Arthas, who was kneeling there, gave no response.
Because at this moment, only one voice remained in Arthas's consciousness.
At the same time, Frostmourne in front of him bloomed with a ghostly blue light.
'You no longer need to sacrifice yourself for your people.'
'You no longer need to bear the heavy burden of the crown.'
'I have arranged everything.'
As this voice echoed in his mind, Arthas suddenly stood up and walked straight towards his bewildered father with his sword in hand.
The camera switched to the reflection on the wall behind the throne, where Arthas had come before Terenas.
'What is this? My child, what are you doing?'
In the reflection, Arthas raised Frostmourne high and said without emotion, "Inheriting your throne, my father..."
With a scream, Frostmourne pierced through the king's chest.
In the reflection, the aged old king slumped in his seat, and the blood-stained crown rolled down the steps onto the floor.
The bells were still ringing, but also conveying Arthas's cold and ruthless words.
'This kingdom will fall...'
'A new ruling order will be born from the ruins...'
'It will shake the foundations of everything in this world...'
The CG ended, and Zack had not yet recovered from the shock.
But the prompt box that popped up on the screen made Zack speechless.
[The trial experience has ended. The official version will be released on November 15th]
Looking at the prompt, Zack was speechless.
It's cut off again!
He was having so much fun, and he was curious about what would happen to Arthas next.
Why did it suddenly end!?
(End of this chapter)
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