【The script is complete, rewards are being calculated.】

【Experience gained: 500, Game Coins: 0】

【Items/Equipment obtained: None】

【Accepted tasks completed: 0】

【Special/Hidden tasks completed: 0, Worldview deciphered: 0】

【Fear value spike: 0 times, Maximum fear value: 0%, Average fear value: 0%】

【Your Fear Rating is Dauntless, there are no additional rewards in this mode.】

【Calculation complete, please continue.】

Here, I must explain some of the settings regarding the calculation in the multiplayer mode.

In Thriller Paradise, the number of monsters you personally kill does not affect the final experience gained. All experience is calculated after the script ends. Generally speaking, as long as you haven't created any serious obstacles or counter-effects for the script's progress, every survivor receives the same amount of experience, unless that player's performance truly qualifies as a "pig-like teammate," in which case the system will deduct some of their experience points during the calculation.

This is also to limit the issues of "monster stealing" and "excessive output." Some players, when playing games, will use extremely exaggerated means to attack in order to ensure the ownership of items and experience from a certain monster, feeling like they have to use a rocket launcher to kill a dog, just to deal more damage faster than their teammates. This is not only a personal act, but also a waste of team resources.

However, this setting seems to have created another problem: since the experience is the same, killing more monsters only wastes survival value and stamina value, leading to a decline in players' enthusiasm for combat. Actually, that's not the case. Players who are diligent in combat and skilled in combat will receive skill value rewards, which will be explained later.

In addition to not receiving extra experience for killing monsters, Thriller Paradise also lacks the concept of "item drops." For example, when a mummy dies, it is absolutely impossible for a knife, a shield, or even a gun to suddenly explode from its body. If you absolutely have to get something from its body, it would be rotten bandages or shriveled muscles, and even then... the player has to tear them off by hand. After tearing them off and holding them in their hand, the system will give you an item description. Please refer to 【Stone】 for how terrible it can be.

Obtaining equipment in this game is a very "interesting" thing. Apart from entering specific storage areas by solving puzzles, in most other cases, a large number of non-mainline essential items, including equipment, must be "found" by the players. For example, a Spider-Man suit displayed in a street-side display window may be completely useless, or it may be a high-quality piece of equipment with attributes. Or, for example, wandering around in a sewer might allow you to find a series of weapons such as double knives, Emei daggers, nunchucks, and long staffs...

In short, to obtain equipment in a script, you only need one of wisdom, luck, and diligence. The first two cannot be forced, and the third is simply spending more time searching. Of course, searching requires the support of combat strength. Generally speaking, the script will not allow players to have a lot of free time to move around, and players also need to have enough stamina value to move around.

As for the methods of obtaining equipment outside of the script, there are basically none during the closed beta, but when the exchange is opened during the open beta, you can rely on game coins and skill values to purchase them.

Game coins go without saying. Like most games, they can be used to buy "store goods" provided by the game, or to bid on items put out by other players in the auction house, or to conduct direct transactions.

Skill value is a relatively rare currency. Players cannot trade skill value with each other, and it is not circulated in the exchange. Skill value can only be used in one place – the "Scare Box." This is the name of the system's special store. No one knows why it is named that way. Maybe they think players will be "startled" when they see the items inside.

Skill value can be used to buy two types of goods in the Scare Box. The first type is game coins, which players can unilaterally exchange at a ratio of one to ten. The second type is items that cannot be taken out of the script, such as the 【Blood Corpse Must Die】 that Feng Bu Jue obtained in the tutorial. Obviously, the role of this sword in his tutorial is similar to a plot item, which is designed to allow him to defeat the blood corpse that he could not possibly defeat with the strength of the character at the time. Therefore, there were no level or specialization usage restrictions on the sword at that time, and it could not be taken out of the script.

Similar equipment, items, skills, etc... will not disappear from the system's database after the script ends. Although players cannot take these things out, they will enter a place similar to a recycle bin, and that place is the Scare Box. These things will be sold here as commodities, and can only be purchased with skill value. Their attributes will also change accordingly. For example, the usage conditions of equipment will be adjusted, some special effects that are only applicable to a certain script will be changed, and the card type of most skill cards will become permanent. Of course, the learning conditions will also increase.

The Scare Box was not opened during the closed beta, because the current "recycle bin" is still very empty. After the open beta starts, it is bound to welcome a large number of players, so it is necessary to accumulate a certain amount of goods reserves during this period. After this special store is officially opened, in order to control the total amount of goods so that it is not too large and affects browsing, items that have not been sold within seven days in real time since they were put on the shelves will be completely deleted by the system.

The level cap for the closed beta is level 20. As a game where you queue up to play scripts, levels are not much of an advantage, and game coins can be bought with money in the future. Therefore, the biggest advantage for closed beta players when the open beta starts is undoubtedly the skill value they have accumulated. The first batch of goods after the Scare Box is in operation can only be obtained by players who have skill value, which is a kind of priority selection right.

Speaking of this, the previous question about actively fighting is easier to explain – fighting for skill value.

Not everyone is good at solving puzzles, but everyone can participate in combat. The setting for skill value is that "all behaviors that improve game efficiency will be rewarded with skill value." This can not only be reflected in puzzle solving, but there are often opportunities to get skill value in combat, such as high-return, low-loss kills, multi-kills, group kills, using scene conditions to complete special kills, and so on...

A good example is still Feng Bu Jue's tutorial. If he hadn't looked for the key in that square room and chose to kick the door, he could have still obtained skill value. The key is how he kicks. Most people will face the door and kick it hard with the soles of their feet, which is what many characters in movies do. In fact, this is the most laborious method. It is much easier to kick with a side kick or a roundhouse kick. If Feng Bu Jue had kicked the door in a more efficient way at the time, he would have gotten skill value, but maybe not as much as solving the puzzle, but it would still be around 10 points.

These are two ways to play, two different paths to growth. Players who like reasoning can obtain a large amount of skill value at once by solving puzzles, deciphering the worldview, and so on; while players who like combat can continuously hone their combat skills and also obtain skill value through force. In general, players who take the combat route actually get more. Even if a puzzle solver has reasoned to the last step, they will not get any skill value if they fail to decipher it. Force-type players can accumulate it bit by bit.

But no matter how you play, the most taboo thing in this game is "brain-dead" behavior. The setting of various horror elements is nothing more than to make people lose their composure and take actions like killing a dog with a rocket launcher. In Thriller Paradise, the most reasonable combat method can obtain the most benefits. With a rocket launcher, you will only get a pile of scum, but if you use the Dog Beating Stick Technique (Da Gou Bang Fa), you can get a homemade fur and a pot of stewed meat.

…………

After Feng Bu Jue returned to the login space, looked at the calculation data, and then opened the menu, he found that he had directly leveled up to level 4, his stamina value had increased to 400/400, and his current experience was 0/400. It seems that the experience required for leveling up in this game is not exaggerated. At least for now, it is still increasing by 100 per level, which is consistent with the increase in stamina value. However, the official website does not provide the specific game data for how much experience is required for each level, and those who write strategy guides have not mentioned this either, so it cannot be ruled out that the experience required for leveling up will become more and more exaggerated at higher levels.

"Jue-ge, I directly leveled up to level 3, hey! And I'm only 30 experience points away from level 4!" Wang Tan Zhi's voice rang out from the communication channel.

"I know." In fact, Feng Bu Jue had already calculated Xiao Tan's experience. Compared with him, the difference was nothing more than the 30 skill value bonus in the beginner's tutorial. "If we play another multiplayer training, we should both level up to level 5. But... this mode is indeed not very cost-effective. When we reach level 5, we will naturally play the team survival mode, which is the core content of this game. But now we are seriously lacking equipment, not to mention good equipment, we don't even have average equipment, so entering the team may drag others down..."

"Ah? Team? Drag others down? Who?" Wang Tan Zhi asked in a daze.

"You kid really don't read the game instructions at all..." Feng Bu Jue explained, "The number of people in the team survival mode is random from two to six people. It doesn't enter directly into the script after it's opened, but enters in the form of a queue. If we fill a team with six people, it doesn't matter. But we are a team of two people, and as long as we encounter a script that is not for two people, we will need to cooperate with others in three, four, five, or six-person scripts.

If our strength is too weak, we may die during the script's progress. Even if others successfully complete the script in the end, we can only get the corresponding experience points based on our contributions before we over, and we won't get the calculation rewards after the clearance.

Moreover, in that mode, there is also the issue of dividing spoils. Players who are not in a team relationship with each other will naturally keep the equipment and skills they find. Unless there is something that cannot be taken out of the script and they cannot use themselves, no one will easily share the equipment or skills they search for.

That's just how people think... Even if some people pick up a useless thing that they can't sell at the exchange at all, and can only earn dozens of game coins by selling it to the system, they won't be willing to give it to other players in the script for free. You must give them something in exchange to make them feel like they've earned something."

Wang Tan Zhi picked up on this and said, "In short... you're saying that if we don't take advantage of the present to improve the character's hard strength, it will be very difficult after level 5. If the specialization level hasn't been opened, even if people want to give us replaced equipment or useless skills as a favor, we won't be able to use them."

Feng Bu Jue said, "It's good that you understand. So, let's disband the team first and start the single survival mode."

"You're saying all this just to ditch me and go solo, hey!"

Feng Bu Jue laughed and replied, "We should have considered that the multiplayer training mode was unusually complete. In theory, we shouldn't have gotten as much as 500 experience points. I'm thinking... this Boss wasn't meant for us to kill at all. The probability of playing this script to a killing clearance is extremely small. Normally, clearing the script by escaping the ending would probably only get you around 300 points.

But since the level has been raised faster than expected, it's best for us to each reach level 5 by completing a single survival mode. After that's done, our strength should be significantly improved. At the very least, we can open one or two specializations and get one or two more pieces of equipment or skills."

"Okay, then I'll solo first. You can see my game status on the friends list, right?" Wang Tan Zhi said.

"Yeah, I can," Feng Bu Jue replied. "Anyway, whoever finishes first will wait for the other. If nothing goes wrong, we can both clear the script and reach level 5 within an hour at most, and then we can go try the legendary team survival mode..."