One of Japan's most popular browser games, Kantai Collection held its Fall seasonal event over the past few weeks. Apparently it was quite emotional.
In Kantai Collection, players collect "fleet girls" – anthropomorphized WWII Japanese battleships – that they level up and take out on mission maps to defeat bosses and hopefully obtain other rare fleet girls.
As both a thank you and as a challenge to players, every few months, the creators of the game have limited seasonal events where players can attempt to navigate event-specific maps to obtain rare items and fleet girls that have not been officially added to the game yet. Traditionally, the event maps are of ascending difficulty, with the final maps being prepared for veteran users. These events often test the mettle of even the most seasoned players of the game, taking a toll on not just the in-game resources, but on the players' psyche as well.
This year's Fall event took place over 4 maps, each with a boss that had a special boss gauge. Damaging a boss depletes the boss gauge, however completely depleting a boss gauge required a boss be defeated multiple times – and only when a boss gauge was completely depleted and the boss sunk, then a player could move on to the next map.
Due to the game's automated battle system being in large part a game of chance, it is quite often for players to resort to prayer when playing. It is possible to skew the odds to one's favor through leveling and equipment and the right fleet formation, but even then, there's always the chance that an enemy will get a critical hit and force players to retreat rather than advance and risk having one of their fleet girls sink.
Twitch user BL2W recorded the highlights of his mission into the event areas, the final outcome resulting in him breaking down into literal tears of joy. By day 4 on the 4th and final map, (yes, he played the map on and off for 8 hours over a period of 4 day) his emotional state had reached one of complete apathy, trying again and again, only to be forced to turn back right before the boss because one of his fleet girls had been heavily damaged.
Then, a miracle happened. He finally managed to deplete the final boss gauge to the point where he only needs to defeat it one more time to complete the event. By this point, BL2W had gone from apathy to almost crazed euphoric.
Here, you can watch the highlights below:
The final battle begins in the above video at the 1 hour 33 minute mark (It's probably better to just start from there).
The contrast between the player's emotional high and the matter-of-fact manner in which the events unfold onscreen are absolutely hilarious.
The battle ends with the Kuma Class Torpedo Cruiser, Ooi, making an amazing last minute critical hit at 1 hour 36 minute and 39 second mark, sinking the boss and winning the entire event mission (Seriously, I've been playing the game for over a year and I've never seen a final boss go down in one shot like that). It's damn impressive considering how the rest of the battle plays out until that point.
The unexpected win results in BL2W's virtual orgasm of joy, and the whooping and hollering continues until he breaks down crying at the hour and 39 minute mark.
"Ooi! I wish I could hug you, but you're not real! You're just a 2D creation!" is one of the many outbursts made during the player's victory frenzy. It's kind of funny, but at the same time, as someone who has gotten very emotionally invested in video games – Kantai Collection included – I can relate.
Rarely have I seen such a response to a video game that's not a first-person shooter, action, or fighting game, but it's hard not to take joy in it. Epic crit, indeed.
Note: You can't hug her, but you CAN marry (virtual) her.
The Kantai Collection Fall event ended last Monday, so players have time to prepare and build up their fleets and equipment until the next seasonal even starts, which will likely be mid to late Winter. Host DMM.com blocks IP addresses accessing from outside Japan, but there is an unofficial way around the block.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
To contact the author of this post, write to cogitoergonihilATgmail.com or find him on Twitter @tnakamura8.