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@@ladypmr7 I have actually installed Path to Nowhere in my emulator. I haven't got a chance to try it though. I'm very interested with its gameplay, since I do play Arknights. They seem to share the same concept, but different executions. Can't wait to delve into that world!

@@Superluigi881 Yeah! That's the biggest selling points for ZZZ: characters and the pacing. I don't think any gacha game can beat them in these two points. The world is built around these characters, not the other way around. So the world works to explain the character.

@@98062512 You can, but did you skip it? If so, why is that? What parts do you find boring?

@@IMRavnos Hmmm... Different preference is completely understandable. But that's an odd hate relationship you got there. Honestly, it surprised me. You don't enjoy the combat and you don't enjoy the story. So why did you still play? I think knowing our time is limited, we should focus more on games we like rather than those we don't. If there's a lull in your favorite gacha game, why not try another gacha game? Play it a bit and see if the game do better than ZZZ? Or maybe play some indie games if you're into single player.

@@FeyHunt I literally do not know haha. I mean… the combat is fun, until it’s not. I guess I just would prefer if you had more variety? Some of the animations are slick as hell and insanely stylish. However something just is not clicking if a fight goes on for more than a minute or so. Just feels like a whole lot of button mashing and timing dodges and swaps which while sort of cool, sort of help make the combat feel sort of shallow? I enjoy a few of the characters designs and VO… I think I just keep playing hoping something clicks. And since I am $0.00 invested, I am patient? I really dislike how you seem to get bombarded with systems that destroy the pacing. Example: text messages. I loath that system as it is lame, adds nothing to the game and is slow and kills pacing. Did anyone really enjoy the story? I mean, just look at chapter 2. Am I crazy for finding the chapter 2 storyline just braindead clich’ed garbage? Chasing 100 ton construction machines that are AI and then fighting them as one big one combined and using the POWER OF DEAD DADDY MEMORIES to win the day? This video makes it seem like the story is compelling. I do not comprehend how? Especially the flow. Story, menu menu menu menu board game, fight, boardgame fight fight boss fight, story story menu menu menu. I think I really just strongly dislike how often the flow is murdered by constantly interrupting you. For instance, when I go to the HIA to use my battery charge for mats, it will become the next day and the game decides, fuck pacing, time for a black screen, with text, so the game can go from night to morning, and force the player to have to click a bunch on these black screens with text. That is terrible game design. Especially forcing you to click? Why? Why not just a splash screen saying It’s now morning, wow time flies in VR! Then just put you back to where you were? Nope. GOTTA CLICK CLICK CLICK hahaha 😂😂😂 ignore me, I think I have gone insane

@@IMRavnos Ehhh, I mean most of your points here are just either nitpicky or something you'll get used to after a while. The game will grow on you once you give it more time. Just keep an open mind and try to see the game for what it is trying to do, not what you want it to do. That's an advice I should take to heart myself.

@@zombycookie1512 Yeah, that's why I try to engage with them to explain why they think so in good faith. So far, all I can see is the wrong expectations on ZZZ being a high-stake gacha game.

Oof... you do you. That's like saying you don't watch the movie and just look at the plot synopsis in Wikipedia. You're missing out on so many good things about it.

@@FeyHunt its basically the same thing without the game play. I dont have much time playing rather than watching.

@@SlashPockyFTW Ah, gotcha! 👍

Actually, the MC being playable in combat is a recent trend with the rise of 3D gacha games. Before that, it was always MC directing playable characters, especially in older gacha games where it's just a screen of buttons and menus. It seems we're going back to that era with ZZZ. Variations are always good 😄

@@FeyHunt really? That's news to me. Thanks for telling me

That's also my problem with Arknights. I love that game's gameplay, especially the roguelikes. But you can't expect me to have 60 hours of reading time... That's just absurd. Plus, from few events that I've read on... the story is far from what I say satisfactory.

Well, she's always in need of cash! With her leading the class-action lawsuit, she's gonna rack in a bunch of cash. Plus the PR goodwill she got will probably carry her group forward 😂😂

ZZZ is more a modern Honkai Impact 3rd, honestly. If HI3rd is made today, this will be it. Similar team switching mechanic, similar monsters and dangers. In the past, I have mixed feelings about Honkai franchise. They're known to be very slow in pace and overly bloated in storytelling. Some of those traits carry over to Star Rail, I'm afraid. ZZZ landed the first few chapters brilliantly, so let's hope they keep it up! If it's anything like HI3rd, the story will only get better once we hit Chapter 9.

Yes, well said and perfectly summarized! Reusing established elements is definitely a way to save money and make the troubleshooting feels more natural. I agree with you, there are many gacha games where someone or something just popped up at the eleventh hour conveniently there to use. When that happens, I feel kinda cheated. It feels lazy, like the writers write themselves into a corner and come up with some kind of deus ex machina to solve their issues.

Huh... is that so? What part of the story you find boring? Can you point it out?

Yeah! I think it's some of kind shock to the genre and setting the wrong expectations. We've been used to gacha games where we have to save the world. ZZZ is more slice-of-life story. Of course, they won't like the story. There's little to no stake here beyond character developments.

Yep! And that's very refreshing in my opinion. We have so many RPGs and gacha games where you're the chosen one and try to fight a god in the end. ZZZ just said, "nahhh, let's take it slow and relax a bit". That thing will probably come later, but hey you need more friends! And I can respect that, truly!

Yeah! Because it does the initial story so well, people will start to look for more content. That's how you make good games! Don't just dump the yapping on us. Let us love the game first, then we'll look for those yapping ourselves. I love this game!

I did hear that the beta feedback was not great. I don't think I'm interested in looking at why. Heck, I thought I wouldn't like the game when it was first announced, but here we are! The game is brilliant! There are some parts I want them to fix though... like how the Agent story is dogcrap... Also, that autocorrect really failed you right there: "first" to "freeze" 😅

The story of this game is about making friendly relationship with those characters. Plus, there is that conspiracy plotline brewing in the background. It's definitely a different type of story. You're not saving the world (yet). You're just vibing with your friends, enjoying life.

Yeah! In general, Hoyoverse is a master at making unique characters. But they did pull extra for ZZZ. I hope a lot more gacha games taking notes on this.

Haha, thank you for the kind words! Let's hope those games are taking notes and improving their writing. That's what this channel is all about, after all!

That's the second time I've heard someone recommending Counter:Side in this comment section alone. I haven't looked into it yet, but I know it's not exactly the top-earning gacha game. Is the story really that good?

@@FeyHunt The gameplay isn't that interesting imo, but the story is very gripping. A lot of mysteries with just the right pacing, characters that dwell in interesting moral gray areas, and the worldbuilding slowly introduces new elements that really show this universe isn't as simple as you'd first believe. Also, this doesn't affect the story directly but I'm a big fan of the character designs

@@alexsanderivan6511 I see! I got a comment earlier saying that the gameplay is PvP-based, which is not great for a gacha game. But if the story is great enough, I will give it a try!

@@FeyHunt Definitely do. Personally, I watch playthroughs of the game, because the gameplay didn't really work for me. I recommend you try that if the game itself doesn't work for you

Oof, that's a shame. What part of the story you didn't like?

Yep! That's actually a genius way to keep the pacing on point and avoid any distractions. Your phone won't ring in the middle of the mission. If you decide to pause the story and then complain that the pacing is off, it's on you. Well done, Hoyo!

You've put into words what I've always thought of! What happened to the old trope of Hero's Journey in gacha games where every was handed to you on a silver platter? I get that gacha games are a form of escapism, but you have to make the players EARNED that. Work always makes the reward far sweeter. Thank you for the kind words! I'll keep making them!

Haha, yes! I definitely love when Visual Novels take unique POV from different characters. That sends two messages: one, the MCs are NOT the center of the universe. Two, the story have room to expand to cover more characters. It's great!

Good writing! You definitely summarized everything I felt about all those games based on my personal experience. I also did play Genshin, HSR, and Honkai 3rd, but bounced out for its writings. I'm really rooting for WuWa to get its writing as good at its combat. Wow, are you playing all of them at once? Insane... I can only stick to maximum 3 gacha games!

Oof... Can you explain why you did that? Is there any part of the story you don't like?

@@bankaimaster999 That's a fair criticism. I never claimed the game is perfect. There will always be some compromises in game writings. For example: there can no death to playable characters. The intervals are there as a live service game. And if we apply it fairly, it does apply to other live service games as well, like MMORPGs. Final Fantasy 14 or World of Warcraft won't be as good without those additions.

@@tsuaririndoku Haha 🤣🤣 Oh WuWa, my beloved child. I really want that game to have a story as good as its gameplay. I think I will need to make videos about them soon.

@@rizamboi2776 Haha, well branching side quests is not the only thing that ruined stories. Bloat in dialogues is also a problem when the characters are yapping. I have heard of Counterside, is it good? Gameplay and storywise?

@@FeyHunt let me be real with you then chief. Counterside is very heavy lean into pvp side of the game which is dogshit imbalance (to certain extent), BUT I can guarantee you will fall in love with all the cast for how they written or very least not skipping any story. It was a genuine good story cos the chara have their own mind and not some cardboard cut out for player (to certain extent)

@@FeyHunt oh right maybe you should put "real characterization" as plus too in story telling. Making self insert MC by default would make everything have to cater to everyone which mean.... well.... the lack of uniqueness

@@rizamboi2776 Huh... sounds like you have a weird love-hate relationship there. PvP in the gacha game is definitely a no-no for me. It's gonna always be pay to win. It's probably one of those leaderboard things, right? From playing Star Rail, I did learn that I can only tolerate bad gameplay so much before I gave up the game, even though the story is great. I'll put this on the list of games to try with lowered expectations. What else can I expect about the story? Any particular part that I should look deeper into it?

@@FeyHunt deeper? well counterside story is not that deep, the world is not so desperate for telling/explaining themselves, so there wouldnt be too much weird ass jargon and convoluted words thrown around every min you read the story. I guess the Korean really know how to tell a story? Cos Limbus also have a great story. But if what you mean is what part that it goes good? well just pick a chara you find cool and see if they have their own episode or arc. For me it's Shiyoon and Sigma. The story telling is pretty consistent (as I said at very least I could guarantee you wouldnt nodded off)

Well, there is a reason why they will try to use dialogues and Visual Novel first: because it's the cheapest, then comics, and then CG cutscenes in that order. For story-wise, I think reading the text is mandatory when you try to understand the story. It's something you have to get used to it, especially if you've never gone beyond visual mediums like movies or animes. Hope you enjoyed the Belobog crew! They are a bunch of oddballs!

Well it's an entirely different genre. Also, I'm pretty sure Blue Archive's lore two months in wouldn't be as impressive as it is right now. But those Agent stories? Yeah, I'm going to make a video exploding on that stupidity.

Huh... let's talk about it! What part of HSR do you like more than ZZZ?

@@FeyHunt everything except HSR's combat, it's too simplified, lacks tactical depth. Most fights are predetermined by your equipment and party composition even before start.

​@@FeyHunt you probably meant story, right? My bad, my main critique of the story is that it has almost no eye-catching moments and no high stakes: 1- I mean the game need some form of long Wow sequense to fully engage the player (like Cocolia's fight from HSR). Cutscenes are well made but they are not show stealers. 2- HSR and Genshin can use enviromental storytelling to build up the hype for confrontation. ZZZ uses Dragon Age 2 template of reusing maps, so I dont feel like I'm exploring Caverns at all it breaks imersion and affect story. 3- Siblings are professionals, even if they fail to save someone (be it their friends or civilians) I'm sure they'll get over it and find another way to acomplish their mysterious task. I am simply emotionally detached from the story like professional proxy, but it's boring (the only story I really liked was Kaleda's side mission where she infiltrated the school, it was wise desicion to show us children preparing for performance in a Plaza before giving us mission to save them).

@@UnclePunchalot Well in that case, I respectfully think this is a matter of taste and setting up the wrong expectations. ZZZ is more of a slice of life story than trying to save the world. For me, it is a refreshing take on RPGs where we don't kill a god in the end (maybe). This game is made for you to hangout and have fun in with the characters and the gameplay. Maybe it will become a high stake story later, but it's definitely not the focus of the game. Again, if you don't like it, it's totally okay. Different game caters to different audiences. As for the gameplay, I find HSR to be the exact opposite. In ZZZ, you at least have to dodge and break the enemy's stance faster to get damage multiplier. It's all down to execution. It's actually possible to beat any boss as long as you're good at dodging and comboing. In HSR, I don't feel good after finishing a combat encounter. There's no satisfaction that I did it, because I already know that my gear is strong enough. It's pure numbers game, and the auto-mode kind of proves my point. The caveat is that I never got past Belobog. I don't have the fancy 5* characters to play with beyond Himeko, and I don't think the motivation to grind for those characters is worth it. Note that I don't have turn-based game. It's just that HSR doesn't give you combos on the starting characters that made me feel engaged. I don't see any risk/reward mechanic either.

Yep! They all exist in a small area, so they tend to bump into one another, especially when going into the Hollows. I'm just waiting for that Avengers team up that we're all been waiting for!

Oh heck yes! The Camillia Golden Week event has showed a glimpse of it already and I can’t wait for more ✨

@@GrieferBeyond21 Just finished it yesterday! And I'm kinda sad we don't get a new photo for the ending with all playable characters. It's just white text, black background... The ending is still kinda cute though...

Huh... you mean in Chinese dialogues? That's surprising, since this game is originally made by Chinese devs. If so, I think we should give the English localization team some credits then.

Hahaha, I haven't found this one yet! Is it in Chapter 3?

Yeah! That story was somewhat special where it uses the TV as a storytelling device. My only gripe is that it's not exactly Rina's story. It's that grandma's story.

Oh, I totally agree. That's what we call NPC Story Quest, and I'm going to make a video about it and explode in anger. This has been going a while since Genshin, to Star Rail, and now it infects ZZZ.

I don't quite understand what you mean by "prose". As far as I know, the phrasing they chose is pretty down to earth. Can you give me an example where it's confusing or weird?

@FeyHunt Thanks for replying! "Prose" to me means style of writing, which is to say the art of making your writing feel and sound nice. Some of Zenless's writing feels a little excessive and could use a bit of trimming down so it'd feel more elegant. Other times, I feel the dialogue doesn't land well for me because it sounds weird. So in hindsight, I think a lot of my complaints feel more subjective and just a matter of taste. The first thing that comes to mind was at the beginning of Undercover R&B - when Seth was captured by the gang and talked about how much he despises Jane and how he "can still see some goodness in her." I can definitely see Seth being such a goody two shoes (and being so hung up with the ideal sense of justice that he'd end up jeopardizing himself and/or his mission), but both his delivery and the dialogue sounds very cheesy, as if the direction was intentionally to be as exaggerated as possible. I also remember during the intro animation of the Cunning Hares picking a fight against Dead-End Butcher - where Billy says the line: "Don't tell me he's a fan of Starlight Knights too!?" That didn't felt right to me. This one's a matter of taste, to be honest, haha. Speaking of Cunning Hares, I personally find Nekomata's revenge plan so convoluted and forced. It seemed like she was just trying to find as many excuses as possible to lead the Cunning Hares farther and farther only to end up having one of her excuse being true (i.e. there's a girl lost in the Hollow, leading them into the abandoned town) felt drawn-out and way too convenient. I feel like it'd be more interesting if Nekomata was a constant menace to the Cunning Hares. Always making things difficult and even becoming an enemy that you have to deal with; which then allows us to understand _why_ she had this beef with the Cunning Hares in the first place (because finding her heirloom inside of a train at the climax of the story feels way too convenient, imo). One last example (sorry for making this too long) was during the conversation between Zhu Yuan and Qingyi in Chapter 2, that revealed Zhu Yuan's respect towards Inspector Bringer and worries that failing to get a bunch of people into the seminar would disappoint him, thus making _her_ feel equally worse. A lot of these important information felt like they were an afterthought because it's placed at the end of the conversation rather than being a _part_ of the conversation itself. It feels extra weird because a lot of these information came up when Qingyi said, "But then I remember..." So personally, I'd prefer if it went something a bit like: ZY: "We've gone up and down Sixth Street and we barely even got ten people." QY: "We've done our best. How about we take a break?" ZY: "Easy for you to say! The conference hall can fit 300 people! *I'm not coming back to Inspector Bringer with _less_ than half of that! I'd make a fool out of him!*" QY: "It's a shame that *many residents here are from the same precinct that he was*. Perhaps he sent us here because there were more people compared to others." ZY: "*Or he wants to win their favor back*. I just don't get how could someone who'd given up his Anti-Corruption gear to a child be such a bad guy? *Not that they'll know*." QY: "*You owe him too much*. Worshipping an undeserving deity is sycophancy-" TL;DR: Some of Zenless's writing feel either too lengthy or didn't quite land well for me. Being able to insert exposition into conversations could make Zenless's dialogues more brief and elegant. Sorry for the long text!

@@albert_wa Ah, I totally get ya! This video was more about the premises and the structures which I think have done well. Yes, if we want to talk about the execution part of the story writing, there are a lot of things I find... wanting. I'm not sure where I should discuss those small flaws, though. I sincerely doubt that a micro zoom-in nitpicking video will do well. I have to gain more authority on this channel if I want to have people listen to that kind of stuff. To be specific, Nekomata is just dumb on so many levels. If she really wants to kill the Cunning Hares, she could just kill Nicole first at the start when she's alone. I think the story failed to showcase her "to be or not to be" moment. And the Cunning Hares are also dumb to be tricked by a simple cat. The rest is just a Marvel quipping problem. Part of making a criticism is to always provide feedback on how to fix it. I'm not sure how to give feedback for this one though... It's really down to the writing style.

@@FeyHunt It's all good! I understood, after watching the video, that you were focusing on how well Zenless structured its narrative plot, which I also agree with. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts regarding its story - especially its little details - but I understand where you're coming from. Criticizing a story is tough because you don't want to come off as nitpicky. After all, plenty of factors are at play in making a good story: such as structure, writing style, and even voice acting direction. Alas, these things come down to personal taste, but I believe that so long as you clearly understand _why_ you disagree on something, then I'd say you're good to go. I even had a bit of a hard time trying to make my thoughts coherent in a reply, lmao. I think saying that Nekomata could have killed Nicole in the beginning seems like hasty judgment, in my opinion. Stories are built around conveniences and inconveniences, which is why it becomes a matter of how good you are as a writer in suspending the audience's disbelief - or how willing the audiences are to suspend their disbelief. How convenient that Corin's chainsaw broke when Lycaon threatened the Cunning Hares! How inconvenient that the reporter somehow encouraged the helicopter to shoot a missile at the building instead of demanding the Red Fangs to surrender! These little moments get a pass (to me) because they serve some purpose: like being comedic, driving the plot forward, or showcasing a character's features. I cannot say the same for Nekomata's subplot because it all feels _way_ too inconvenient to execute and _way_ too convenient to resolve. You're telling me that she had to lure the Cunning Hares so deep in a Hollow, only for one of her excuses to become real, drawing them back into a different subplot to make her change her mind, ONLY to then discover that her trinket has always been inside a train this whole time? At this point, I'm starting to doubt the writing! That's why I proposed the idea of Nekomata being a direct enemy towards the Cunning Hares, frequently harassing them with obstacles and even becoming a boss fight. While this is overly simple, I believe that it's much more capable of delivering Nekomata's important character traits: 1. Her beef with Cunning Hares is motivated by her loyalty to Silver. 2. Maybe her failure to even defeat the Cunning Hares stems from her relying on a leader. She may be resourceful and self-reliant, but there are implications that Nekomata is more comfortable working and living under someone rather than being alone. 3. The previous point could be further emphasized when the Cunning Hares took her in as a new member. In fact, it would also become an important characterization for Nekomata's Trust Events. Two birds one stone! Credit where it's due, one thing that I like about Zenless is that they've done a good job in making every character interesting even when inside a vacuum. That's why I find the Trust Events to be the most fun in terms of its writing. We get to learn more about the characters, their values, opinions, flaws, and a good deal of information that serves as deeper implications (good stories and characters always make the audience curious and thinking!) Plus, it's a gacha game - you _need_ to make every character appealing enough to make players pull and spend money on them somehow!

​@@FeyHuntI don't think Nekomata is dumb per se, when she encounters Nicole at first she has only heard rumors about The Cunning Hares DIRECTLY killing Silver, you don't exactly go on a killing spree just based on rumors now do ya? You can even see this when she prompts them to "confess" by praising them for it, which btw Billy was about to clear the misunderstanding but Nicole didn't want Nekomata to think they were frauds since she had a commission and was offering to pay really well for it, and just said "Yeah no we totally killed the guy". Also the Cunning Hares weren't tricked AT ALL, Anby picks up on Nekomata and doesn't trust her (With Nicole also picking up on it later but deciding to keep it at bay while being cautious since Neko knows the whereabouts of the Red Fang bases, a place of interest to them since they are investigating about the strongbox). Anby also only starts "trusting" Nekomata due to one key point: She puts a child (fake at this point) over her family heirloom and we know The Cunning Hares just can't help but to offer aid to children (A trait they share with Neko) which funny enough is also the point where Neko starts to doubt her vengeance since she sees that our loveable trio aren't just greedy people who care only about money and themselves, after all they threw themselves at the Dead End Butcher's territory to save a child that they aren't even sure actually exists, but the 0.1% chance is enough to prompt them to act. All this to conclude that Neko had no real evidence to kill Nicole when she met her, she's also not the kind of person to just commit bloody cold murder, hence going for the "Imma just lead you here so you die" and having a sloppy approach to it, she has never done it before and thus makes mistakes along the way, also she's a cat, cats play with their food KEKW

Yeah! The recent event does also emphasize that Phaethon being a proxy is just a public secret in this community. They can even ask each other to take care of the Bangboos like pets. We already know that Qingyi and Zhu Yuan have some ideas that Phaethon is the siblings. But I doubt they'll do anything rash. I do hope that the incoming confrontation will be engaging and tense though. That has to be a turning point in the story.

Oh wow! Thank you so much for the super thanks! I hope you enjoy your stay here on this channel!

@FeyHunt yout welcome. I appreciated your video and would like to see more.

Yep! That is a big part of it. It also helps that the NPCs are all acting like a big family. Everyone knows each other well. I was actually going to include this point in the video, discussing how the NPCs have certain routines and style, but I kinda cut it out at the last moment, since my explanation was not good enough.

Haha, then we can fall into this trap together! This is a pretty comfy trap to fall in, not gonna lie!

That's what I'm leaning to believe too. There's no other way around it. They just decided to use VCR tapes to watch movies and only movies. This digital tech gets corrupted more easily theory has been having me scratching my head. Where did you find it in the game?

Haha, yes! Which is quite interesting that a mostly Visual Novel media is more like anime than 3D open-world games like Genshin. That's saying something.

I think I have already clearly implied that I will spoil the entire story with a title like: "What makes Zenless Zone Zero STORY feel so GREAT?!". How else am I going to support that statement without giving any direct proof? Please let me know. Also, the first second in this video shows Jane, a character that you haven't met yet if you haven't played the recent chapter. You can easily pause this video and watch it later.

Haha, you jest... but that's actually the case for other gacha games. They rarely speak English. They speak in jargon word soup.

Thank you for the kind words! I hope future gacha games will follow ZZZ's examples!

what gacha game u play rn? or u not play any?

@@sssocker For now only ZZZ, but as I said. I used to play Genshin and I dropped it. Again, maybe they changed how they approached narrative later on, but personally grew quite bored of Genshin and it took ZZZ to give mihoyo games another try

There's a term for that in Hollywood. It's called "puzzle box" storytelling first used by JJ Abrams. They keep referencing "this thing is gonna be important", but never reveal it. They are acting coy, teasing you with it, and setting up unrealistic expectations about how great it will be once It's opened. But what usually happens is the reveal is either meh and/or stupid, or they never reveal it at all. Remember that "sky is a lie" line from v1.1? Yep. It's not discussed again. That Khaen'riah thing? It's gonna be disappointing once we learn the truth. Because the truth is... I doubt that Genshin writers can pull off this kind of story. And I did lose interest from Sumeru's last chapter.

If you feel like it, the Fontaine chapter really took off. There’s one… really iffy part, that you’ll like if you enjoy repetition (which we know you do because you’re playing a HoYoverse game /j), but overall Fontaine actually had a good story. It had me crying a bit by the end, and for good reason. Although Natlan is looking like it’s gonna fall into that trap of “Oh no! Our beloved homeland, (insert nation here) is in grave danger, and there’s nothing we can do! *Traveler wanders onto scene* Oh my god it’s the Traveler! We’re saved!”

@@morkman Glad to hear the story improves. However I do t know if I can bear through inazuma and I the dentro country just to get there. I guess it's simply not my cup of team. Zenless neing much newer does make it easier for me to catch up

Well... baby steps. I am also upset that they didn't figure this out sooner, but I'll take small victories when I can. Hopefully, other gacha games will take notes.