DD# 291 The Price We Pay for Someone Important to Us

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another week's developer's diary.
This week, the focus is on ending the final confrontation on the North Peak and thus bringing an end to Chapter 3. It is only partially done. There is still more polish to do, more branches to complete, and more consequences to bring forth, and a last part of the mission brief in the Safehouse to kick-start Chapter 4.

But here is what we get so far.
The first part of the final confrontation is about Zhang Yin.
After a long chase from Egypt to the deep mountains of the Nise Federation, you finally caught him.

This is the person who shot you first and confirmed your identity later in the prologue. Thus, naturally, he decided to remove a variable first. The mystery man who keeps helping him.
And then, a fight starts.

It's a three-stage boss fight. You can either overcome him via brutal force or cover your eyes to be immune to his books, which will make the fight relatively easier. The only surprise here is that he will summon some drones with machine guns to shoot you. Because he was an engineer before he got turned into an Aten cultist.
Once this is over, you can get his staff as an additional reward.

However, Zhang Yin's paranoia is right this time. He was merely a pawn in someone else's grand plan.

The truth is far more sinister. The situation will escalate quickly.

You may have realized what is going on from those screenshots.

Tanya will get hit by some missiles. Her clothes will get torn apart. And she will be really pissed and turn into her demon form. That's far more than just some fan service. As she starts to shoot down missiles, other secret organizations on this side of the world have to use ground forces to launch a desperate final attack.

Unfortunately, the real threat continues to rewrite reality.

But why?

The true motivation will be revealed here.

Have you heard the trolley problem?
A runaway trolley is heading toward five people. You can pull a lever to divert it onto another track where it will kill one person instead. Should you pull the lever?
Nope, we are not talking about that here.
Instead, imagine a situation like this:
One person is on the track the trolley is heading toward; that's someone important to you, maybe your wife, your girlfriend, your daughter, your mother, your sister. The trolley already passed her. She is already dead. For a long time, you are in grief. You prayed so hard. You can't bring her back.
Until one day..
On that day, you learned that by pulling a lever, you could rewrite the timeline and reset everything. At the cost of the rest of the world. Will you pull that lever? Sell the entire world just to bring her back. I know I will if you hand me that lever. Thus, this becomes the story of this villain. (There is another darker twist here if you start to remember the story of your main character.)
But that's the price he pays.
What about you?
He does not hate you, even though you left him more than 20 years ago after that adventure.
He wants understanding. Thus, he put you into a similar situation here.
You can...

Save the world or save Zhang Yin.
(OK, this is a game with a lot of freedom. So, let's be creative; you can also do both or neither.)
That's four branches from here.
Your teammates will voice their own opinions.

This week, only the "neither" path has been completed. Because that's the easiest to implement.
But that's not as easy as just walking away after learning the truth.
Harold will try to save Zhang Yin anyway, even if all on his own. Unfortunately, he is not able to pull through everything on his own. So, he will die on this path.
Even the mastermind will comment with deep disappointment. Maybe you have never cared about this world. Maybe you have never cared about anyone. After all, he knows who you are. The new you is not so different from the old you.

Even on this most grimdark path, the world is not ending just yet.

Eve finally arrived. The Illuminati always bring their fancy big toys. After all, they are the puppet masters behind various military companies around the world. Just as they brought Himas in Egypt, they now came with an Earthquake Generator to contain the threat.
However, at the last moment, there is another plot twist.
If you have a good relationship with Eve, once she knows you are still inside, she will make a very irrational decision.

You get 10 minutes to evacuate instead of 5 minutes.
But at what cost?
That's another 5 minutes that the Black Signal will spread. More people will get infected.
But that's the price she is willing to pay... for you.
During the testing, I think 5 minutes is enough for you to escape if you run directly to the exit.
However, the thing on her mind is that if you die, she may regret it for her entire life for not giving you more time to escape.
Thus, screw the world; we all pay a price for those whom we hold dear.

After the event, even though the world at large will know little about even such a world-ending event thanks to all the cover-ups, it will have impacts globally. That's something I am still working on.

Thus, that's for this week. Next week, the path is quite clear; the remaining three branches will be finished, including another boss fight if you decide to stop the mastermind in any way. The lasting consequences of all your choices will also be addressed. The update frequency will likely be similar to this week's, with a focus on larger updates. After that, Chapter 4 will start. But before we really jump into Chapter 4, it's likely that I am going to do some side quests to fill in more parts of the world. Chapter 4 will also mean the game's price will increase. But for everyone who has already got this game, it will cost nothing more.

The complete update log for this week:
20260812
English
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【North Peak - The Seal】Before the final confrontation, an auto-save shall be triggered.
【North Peak - The Seal】The last void island now possesseth its own battle background.
【The Anomalous Nation】The main story continueth. Zhang Yin’s three-stage boss fight. If Harold be in the group, additional dialogs shall be given.
【Weapon】A new Weapon hath been revealed: Aten High Priest Staff (The reward for defeating Zhang Yin.)
【The Anomalous Nation】The main story continueth. Two cutscenes of Tanya may now be unlocked.
【The Anomalous Nation】The main story continueth. Thou hast a question to answer. An additional option is unlocked if thou hast finished the Dark Elf King’s storyline thus far.
【The Anomalous Nation】The main story continueth. Thou must make a choice. All thy teammates shall voice their opinions.
【Wiki】The page of 【The Anomalous Nation】 hath been updated.
简体中文
##########Content###############
【北方之顶 - 封印】最终决战前会有自动存档触发。
【北方之顶 - 封印】最终决战的浮空岛有自己的战斗背景。
【异常国度】主线剧情继续。张银的三段Boss战。如果哈罗德在队伍中，有额外的对话内容。
【武器】新武器：阿腾大祭司法杖 （击败张银的奖励。）
【异常国度】主线剧情继续。两个谭雅的过场动画可以被解锁。
【异常国度】主线剧情继续。你要回答一个问题的答案。如果你已经完成了当前阶段的黑暗精灵王剧情，会解锁一个额外的选项。
【异常国度】主线剧情继续。你有一个选择需要做出。所有你的队友都会发表意见。
【维基】更新了【异常国度】页面。

20260814
English
##########Content###############
【The Anomalous Nation】Four possible choices have been added to continue the story. One of them requireth Harold to be in the group to appear.
【North Peak - The Seal】The Dissolved may now appear upon the last void island.
【The Anomalous Nation】The story continueth. The “Turn Around and Just Leave” path is finished. On this branch, if Harold be in thy group, he shall make a desperate attempt to save Zhang Yin. And he shall die. It also reduceth 500 points of thy relationship with him. But since he is dead, it is not likely to have any impact for now.
【The Anomalous Nation】The story continueth. Eventually the Illuminati shall arrive. Eve shall give thee five minutes to evacuate. Or ten minutes, if she liketh thee enough. But at what cost?
【North Peak 3F】If Eve successfully useth the Earthquake Generator, a large part of the 3F shall collapse, blocking the path unto the 4F.
【The Anomalous Nation】Consequence: After the story in the Seal, the first part of Sir Malric Osgarrow’s story shall be skipped if it hath not happened before.
【The Anomalous Nation】Consequence: Adamson’s dialogs shall change after the Seal.
【The Anomalous Nation】Consequence: Diana’s dialogs shall change after the Seal.
【The Anomalous Nation】Consequence: Harold shall no longer appear in the safehouse if he is dead.
【The Anomalous Nation】Consequence: If Harold is dead, thou canst no longer call him upon phones.
【The Anomalous Nation】Consequence: Eve shall leave Hottle. But she shall leave her laptop behind.
【The House near the Paddy Field】The exit is now more mouse-friendly.
【Wiki】The page of 【The Anomalous Nation】 hath been updated. A consequence section hath been added.
【BGM】A new BGM hath been revealed: The Lost Stone Age Dungeon
【Boombox】Thou canst now hearken unto <<The Lost Stone Age Dungeon>> within thy Boombox.
##########System################
【Countdown】The timer now useth a fixed framerate no matter the system setting. Thus it is no longer possible to change the system setting to gain more time from the countdown.
简体中文
##########Content###############
【异常国度】加入了四个继续剧情的选项。其中一个需要有哈罗德在队伍中才会出现。
【北方之顶 - 封印】溶堕者可能出现在最后一座虚空岛上。
【异常国度】主线剧情继续。【转身离开】分支完成。该分支上，如果哈罗德在队伍中，他会常识独自去救张银。然后，他会死。同时会降低500点关系度，不过反正他死了，目前也没什么影响。
【异常国度】主线剧情继续。光照派的人员会在之后抵达，伊芙会给你5分钟进行撤离。如果她足够喜欢你的话，她会给你10分钟。不过，代价是什么？
【北方之顶3F】如果伊芙成功触发地震，整个三楼的多个区域会塌陷，封锁前往4楼的道路。
【异常国度】影响：在封印的剧情后，如果马尔里克·奥斯加罗爵士的第一部分剧情还没有发生，那么该部分会被跳过。
【异常国度】影响：亚当逊的对话会在北方之顶封印的剧情后变化。
【异常国度】影响：戴安娜的对话会在北方之顶封印的剧情后变化。
【异常国度】影响：如果哈罗德死了，他不会再出现在安全屋。
【异常国度】影响：如果哈罗德死了，你无法再给他打电话。
【异常国度】影响：伊芙会离开霍特尔。但是，会留下她的笔记本。
【水田近家】出口对鼠标更友好。
【维基】更新了【异常国度】页面。加入了一个关于影响的条目。
【BGM】新BGM：失落的石器时代地下城
【音乐播放器】你现在可以从音乐播放器中听《失落的石器时代地下城》
##########System################
【倒计时】计时器现在使用固定的刷新率。无法通过修改游戏系统设置中的刷新率来获得更多的时间。