General Gaming Zenless Zone Zero Came Out, You Can Be a Bear, You Should Play It

[Keyser_Soze]

 

 

 

As someone who's played a lot of Genshin it's pretty amazing to see how far they've come in terms of graphics and style. This game is stunning and oozing with style, I couldn't believe how good it looked.

 

If you perhaps bounced off of Genshin this one is more of a character action game like a DMC than it is an open world RPG. It does share some of the same DNA, however. Because you go in with a squad of three when you build up combos you eventually stun an enemy and then you switch your character that does a bigger attack and extends the combo and then you can switch after that. Then you build up an ultimate meter which ends everything with a flashy flourish.

 

The game and story is almost kind of Matrix-like. You play as a "Proxy" that hack into the "inter-knot" to go into a place that's called the hollows which is corrupted by monsters. The game isn't open world like Genshin but basically instance based, where you start on these computer monitors and then when you get into a battle you go to an open zone and fight a bunch of enemies.

 

In typical Hoyoverse fashion you choose a guy or a girl BUT there is no silent protagonist in this. The story is a mix of in game dialogue bits where you stand there, there are some in game cut scenes but also some very cool looking comic book style presentations (well cool to me anyway).

 

There's a casual (story) difficulty and a challenge mode difficulty | I played on the hard mode and it didn't seem too hard. It also has an unlocked frame rate option that never came to Genshin (at least not for the PC)

 

I think it's a fun game you could play in bursts. The nature of the game, at least so far, since it is so instance based you don't have to dedicate big portions of your time exploring a world and doing a bunch of RPG stuff like in Genshin or HSR. It's on PC, Mobile and PS5 (Sorry Xboners or Switchers)

[TheLeon]

Perfect timing. I saw this on the App Store this morning and thought “this is some @Keyser_Soze shit”. 

[stepee]

Gamepad support on ios?

[Keyser_Soze]

39 minutes ago, stepee said:

Gamepad support on ios?

 

I dunno, I've never tried any of their games on iOS

[stepee]

Just now, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I dunno, I've never tried any of their games on iOS

 

Well pooey

[Keyser_Soze]

3 minutes ago, stepee said:

Well pooey

 

Reviews are raging because it's 24 gigs on a phone.

 

But I was raging because it was like 90 gig download on PC! (60 gigs installed though)

[stepee]

3 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Reviews are raging because it's 24 gigs on a phone.

 

But I was raging because it was like 90 gig download on PC! (60 gigs installed though)

 

well shit actually no way am I getting that until I get back then!

[Keyser_Soze]

I got shark girl on the first try. #Blessed 😌

[Xbob42]

Is it shitty gacha for dumbass dipshits? I'll play it if it has no gacha.

[Keyser_Soze]

2 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

Is it shitty gacha for dumbass dipshits? I'll play it if it has no gacha.

 

Then you won't be playing it.

 

[Xbob42]

9 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Average Hoyoverse fan to their paycheck each week.

[stepee]

On 7/6/2024 at 2:27 PM, stepee said:

 

well shit actually no way am I getting that until I get back then!

 

I paid $5 for faster wifi tonight so I’m going to see if I can get this actually - wouldn’t mind a new game to try while on vacay.

[TheLeon]

28 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

I paid $5 for faster wifi tonight so I’m going to see if I can get this actually - wouldn’t mind a new game to try while on vacay.

Wow, micro transactions just to download the game. 

[stepee]

2 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

Wow, micro transactions just to download the game. 

 

To MAYBE download the game. The way they deploy these where you have to be like in the app to wait for it to download all of it is so annoying. Why can’t I just download the entire thing and let it run in the background like any other ios app?

[stepee]

The “fast” internet is giving me 3mb/s

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, stepee said:

The “fast” internet is giving me 3mb/s

 

Try hooking up to the employee wi-fi.

[stepee]

1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Try hooking up to the employee wi-fi.

 

wait do you know how to do that at hilton 

[Keyser_Soze]

7 minutes ago, stepee said:

wait do you know how to do that at hilton 

 

Sorry, I only know how to do it at a Mariott.

[stepee]

9 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Sorry, I only know how to do it at a Mariott.

 

Wait so if I stay at a Marriott you can get me into employee wifi

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, stepee said:

Wait so if I stay at a Marriott you can get me into employee wifi

 

I dunno how fancy your hotel is.

 

But here's the plan:

 

Spoiler

The first night we are going to do a dry run. Late at night the night auditor usually has an office near the front desk. Now you're going to wander in there and act like you thought it was the bathroom (honest mistake of course) but you're gathering intel. Do you see any sticky notes? The wi-fi password is probably written down on a sticky note.

Now on the second night you're going to pay an Irish vagrant to make a scene in the lobby. While he's distracting everyone you slip in the back, remember to wear a disguise because they usually have a camera back there, and then find the sticky note and get the wi-fi password.

 

If you have an incompetent night auditor, maybe they are sleeping and you can bypass all of this.

 

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[Phaseknox]

On 7/6/2024 at 11:18 AM, Keyser_Soze said:

You Should Play It

I would if it was on PS4. 

[Keyser_Soze]

I've put a but more time into this game over the past few weeks and I thought I'd do a longer tl;dr;dc (don't care) impressions post.

 

As you know Hoyoverse are the developers who made this game and also Genshin Impact. It shares a lot of DNA with that game to the point that I feel like this feels like a streamlined Genshin with very fun combat. This part you might not be interested in but here are the ways that is is similar:

Right up top in Genshin to do the gotcha rolls you earn something called Primogems, in ZZZ you earn Polychromes. Similar to Genshin you use the polychrome to use in two different wish machines, one that uses something called master tapes in this game.

But in terms of leveling up your character, weapons, skills, etc you collect various items that correspond to the things you're leveling up. Weapons in this game are W-engines instead of an actual weapon you change, and the equivalent of antiques in this game are discs.

However, unlike in Genshin where you had to travel to a specific dungeon in a specific area to get the particular item you needed, in ZZZ you go to one location, the HIA. There they have all the challenges you can choose from to get the item you need. You can even go a step further and customize a challenge to put all the items you need on it. Like I said, streamlined.

But here are the things that set it apart:

 

Like I mentioned, it's not open world. But there are open zones to explore. Not only will you find commissions but there are other various side quests and locations to visit. Almost in Monster Hunter fashion you can go to a noodle shop and buy a meal that boosts your stats for three battles. The food looks so good too, so they also nailed that part. There's also a coffee shop to boost your "battery" (The battery is the charge you use to do the HIA battles) but also gives you a drop rate increase for some items. There's a daily scratch card you can visit every day to earn dennys (which is like the basic currency) and sometimes you can earn some polychrome too.

There's an arcade with a snake game and a knock off Mr. Driller game. The game gives you an incentive to play it because you can earn goodies from playing with other people in special events. Then of course you can take your oddly named, "business car," to visit other areas too. I haven't all the areas yet, they seem to continually unlock as you progress.

 

I mentioned earlier about the story. You're basically a brother and sister that run a video store as a front (though you can rent out movies daily to earn denny) because you're secretly a proxy, which are people who guide people through the hollow. I stated before the hollow is like the Matrix. I was mistaken. The Hollow is more like the movie Annihilation. There's a big bubble of corruption that overtook part of the city and if normal people go inside they mutate. Some people have a resistance to the corruption so they are the characters you play as who enter the hollow for various reasons. You guide them with your bangboo and the majority of the game is battling with the agents (although your bangboo gets in on the action too).

There are different modes of going through the hollow but usually it is navigating on a bunch of TV screens, this is kind of almost like a puzzle like mode and also referred to as "explore" and then some screens send you into a battle. When you take commissions there are three types, one is a battle which is just battling, one is exploring which is just the TVs, and the story missions are a combination of both. Later on you unlock something called rally missions which is like almost like a longer battle section where you get to explore. There is also a mode later on called Hollow Zero which is kind of like a rogue like mode. You go through the TVs and battles and get cards that buff you.

If you haven't figured it out already combat is a big focus of the game and it's actually deeper than it seems at first. It plays like a character action game like a DMC or something like that (not quite as deep) and you can mash away and feel pretty good. But all the characters have some sort of combat gimmick to them which deepens the combat further. One of the characters you get at the start, Amby, for instance requires you to do a 3 hit combo, then push Y to do an electric uppercut, then you go back to x to follow it up with two other strikes that end with an electric finish. If you just mash away you don't get this. There's a dude named Anton that has like a drill arm and after so many hits you hold down the button and he just drills for longer. Some have synergy moves with combos as well like Koleda and Ben (the bear) where a specific combo has him coming in and her jumping off of his giant piece of rebar. The whole idea is to ramp the enemies up into a stun state where you cycle through the agents who do an attack and you build up to an ultimate attack. There are also parries and assists and such. In any case, what I mean, this is all very fun and glad the combat is as good as it is.

The style of the game is so, hard to describe. It is so stylish and flashy it's hard to believe that a human mind could have come up with what is going on in almost very facet of the game. During combat, after combat flourishes, the character design is wild. You've got a shark girl that uses a giant lopper (you know the kind you use to cut branches off trees?) - and on that subject the weapon designs are out there as well (other than the guns) - and some maid girl that has almost like a pizza cutter buzz-saw. To top it off the animation is so insane it would make @Greatoneshere shit his pants (gross I know but what can you do about it?) - Just catch a glimpse of this cutscene below:

 

 

 

I know the biggest turn off for a lot of people are the gotcha mechanics which I don't think are very intrusive in this game. In fact the base characters are so fun you may not even roll for anyone. The game seems very generous in giving out it's polycarbons so if you weren't interested, or were, you could get something without spending anything. I got the shark girl on my first roll so lucky I suppose but also don't feel like I need anything else. Though that new character Zhu Yuan seems pretty fun. Also, on top of the three characters you start with (Amby, Nicole, and Billy) you get the buzz-saw girl I mentioned earlier (Corin) for free. And you get @stepee's boy, Ben Bigger, for free once you reach chapter 2. I haven't used Billy much but I think every character is fun to use.

The story so far is interesting. As I said in the first post there are a couple ways it presents itself, an in game cut scene, or just a character model face to face dialogue or a comic book style presentation where I gotta say the artwork is just outstanding there too. I think it's written well enough, chapter 2 gets you right in the feels a bit.

In any case I don't think this will change anyone's mind but I just felt like sharing. It's worth giving a look at the very least to see how far these guys have come. I probably didn't mention some things but check it out and be pleasantly surprised.

 

(Another bear just for fun)

 

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[DPCyric]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

 

You are really tempting me to try to free up some space on my phone to check it out.

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[Keyser_Soze]

 

Lemon party yall!

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[Keyser_Soze]

 

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

@Commissar SFLUFAN We got fallout now