Zenless Zone Zero - The Final Callback: Yixuan & Pan Yinhu

Yeah, I'm still playing this... (Click here to skip this. TL:DR company is a company and fans of this game piss me off.)

Yeah I'm still playing this...sorta. It's actually hard to get back into. There's just so many other interesting games out there and this one has done things that disappointed me. Not entirely enough to make me straight up quit. But it has caused me to cut back. So for there 1 year anniversary celebration. They did a bunch of things that don't exactly add up to a typical ftp anniversary I'm used to. Basically this just introduced a new character type, the start of the next story, and UI changes that I don't like. 

The UI changes 

    First thing I've noticed is that they changed how you navigate on the map. It actually looked a lot prettier before. Now it looks like a bunch of menus for a tablet app. Quick jumping between areas feels so much more tedious now than before. And the game no longer tells you what's in these areas quest wise. Until you actually visit the area. Before, you could highlight the area and note that there's X number of people waiting around the area with a quest. Now you have to actually load in there.

    They added a map to help you navigate but honestly these areas are so small there's no need for a map. It's "Kingdom Hearts" Olympus Colosseum all over again. Why do we need a map? 

    Along with this UI change the button mapping changed. What I used to pressing to get to switch maps and what not is now on a completely different button. In fact most of my button mapping changed in general and I can't change it back to how I had it. I tried but when I change it that affects something else forcing me to change it again. So it's just a no win scenario for me in regards to button layouts. It's like this game is letting me know it's meant to be a mobile game. (Even though the massive data downloads speak otherwise.)

    There's a new battle mechanic that is honestly negligible. I don't know the exact name but it's something to do with Miasma. Basically the enemy gains a shield you have to break through. There's characters that ignore this entirely. But this shield doesn't do anything but drag the fights out longer than it should. I honestly thought it was a poison mechanic or a go KH Desperation Attack Mode. But no it's just a shield with fancy lighting. You still use the same strat. Hit it till it's dead. 

    To explain the characters (or at the time of this post character in singular). We have what's called Rupture type class. Basically they hit hard and have a lot of HP supposedly. The HP part means nothing to me in a game like this as there's always going to be a boss or a mode that doesn't care how much HP you have you die in 1-2 hits. The hit hard part doesn't mean much unless you like that. They're meant for the enemies that sports shields so you can just deal raw damage without dealing with the shield. 

    It seems commissions where you go into the TV mode are gone now. Honestly I liked this bit especially the commentary that came from characters and the many things that you could spot in what's supposed to be the Hollow. But the game opted for less talk, more action type of vibe. There's also far less side quests to do. The ones that are available feel like they don't contribute the overall world building or story. This just feels like busy work. The story tries to explain that this is all for the main character's training. But again this just feels like busy work. Nobody really shares anything interesting unless you're a major character. There isn't an NPC that's suffering behind the scenes cause some organization screwed them over. We don't have a guy that happens to be the father of a major enemy you fight like before. I don't get to help NPCs that tried to enter Hollow Zero and barely made it out alive ages ago. Even post on internot and news is slacking as it repeats the same things I've already read. I enjoyed this. And now it's kinda just...gone. 

The SAG-AFTRA thing 

    This was a major part that caused me to cut back on this game. I know that  a majority people don't care. There's a ton I can talk about but that would fill this entire blog post alone. I'll just say I did not like the way Hoyo handled this and the fans response to essentially going off of what is misinformation from some random youtuber who heard a rumor really pissed me off. At least at this point the dust settled and things ended on a rather good note. Which is encouraging cause I was about to just give up on becoming a voice actor.

Fanbases Suck (Well some fans suck)

    This is one thing I hate about this game. Many of the fans, essentially are gatekeeping this game. I haven't heard it this bad since "Marvel Future Fight" or Smash Bros. Seriously, many of them have told me to quit playing this game cause I don't like a certain mode or certain characters. Telling me to play other games. Or they demand I get certain characters cause supposedly they are the meta or break the meta trying to explain stats to me like I'm 7 years old. What they don't realize is that this is a free to play game with paid aspects. What's meta won't matter in less than a week.

    It's like they're afraid of someone having a different opinion than they do. And when I have a difference of opinion I apparently have to write a 10-page essay on why opinion is different. Which they don't listen anyway. Your precious game will live on whether or not I like the game. Stop with the gatekeeping. 

    In reference to ZZZ I don't really care for stats or pulling for the latest and greatest ultra triple secret meta breaking character by saving all my resources + giving the game my a portion of my blood and soul for. If you have a problem with that, then why are you here? 

The Part You Care About

The Final Callback Yixuan & Pan Yinhu

Eh....lackluster characters imo. They look pretty. But nothing that really wow's me. Is this what these FtP RPGs are like? Aside from that I'm amazed how the fanbase will talk damage numbers like it's the end all. Saying I should get these characters up to M6 and all that. I'm not wasting money or time like that on characters in a FtP game. 

Yixuan

She honestly looks like a Pokémon Trainer

Yixuan

Rupture Type

Element: Ink (It's really just fancy Ether element he game counts it as.) 

This simply tells me that to keep the game from being boring we introduce a new class type. And then make it feel like you have to get this character or the game's content will be hard for you. So crash course. Rupture Type characters sport HP and damage. They have the ability to ignore defense of enemies. If this was an MMO, I'd imagine people flocking to make a character of this type. Kinda reminds me of PSP2: Infinity when the Deuman race dropped. Except this isn't that. 

So Yixuan uses ink (which counts as Ether damage) so her ink is just fancy Ether element. But she doesn't do anything special with it like Vivian who has her own unique status effect with it. The main thing is that she can take on the new content enemies with ease cause the new enemies sport a sort of shield. 

As for her moves they look great she can charge up an Adrenaline meter to launch her own specials/ultimates  along with a normal one. The problem would obviously be finding a proper opening to use this in most cases. She also packs a fancy dodge that lets her fly across the map with her ink bird (that's kinda cool for avoidance). 

*IMO like with Pan Yinhu he moves have a lot of flair but doesn't feel great to hit enemies with. 

Pan Yinhu

So we filled the Panda Quota

Pan Yinhu

Guard Type (why?)

Physical Element

In one aspect it feels like this is another game jumping on the trope of having a Panda that knows kung fu as a character. But honestly he looks somewhat cool but looks is all he has. His gimmick is more of a support role than defense. His special adding stacks that increase the damage of the next character that assist/tags in. There's nothing really "Guard" about him like the other characters have in his class have. Unless you want to count healing. Which is new for a character to have. But honestly this feels completely useless given how this game flows. Or at least the vibe the game gives off which is to not get hit in the first place. 

As a another disappointing side note his passives seem to mainly affect only those in his faction or if he's partner'd with the new Rupture type class characters. At the time of this blog post. Only one Rupture Class character exist. -_- 

*I would think that if you have move names like Pressure-Point Strike, Touch of Death, or Mountainous Pulse Strike would give a better impact when hitting something. 

**It's rather gross to me that he cooks, fights, with the same wok he's wearing. I don't care how much he supposedly cleans it. It's never going to be clean. 

Overall good graphics wise. Meh on feeling for me.