How ZZZ's Success could lead to its own DOWNFALL | Zenless Zone Zero Version 1.4

[@IslandXD]

Do you agree or disagree with any of my thoughts or opinions? LET ME KNOW YOOOO~ AM I BEING STUPID? TELL ME YES~

[@eronosukekun7550]

Arent we all stoopid in our each and own ways

[@AceAyasaki]

Personally, I believe its wayyyyyyyyyy too early to see it through since we just finished the prologue

[@pallingtontheshrike6374]

I like the main story this patch. BUT (and it's a big gyatt) in terms of gameplay* execution (making use of the material available to it), I would definitely rate it as lower than, say, some of the agent stories. The last third really felt rushed... Imagine if there was a short (1 or 2 wave bit, each less than a minute) where you actually have to hold off ethereals as each of the subfactions (option to assign your own agents or pick from a trial set on a wave-by-wave basis) and then the proper lead into the climax. Instantly turns it from "oh fun cameo where they do stuff in the far background" to "OH MY GOD THIS IS A WHOLE BATTLE AND WE ARE LITERALLY THEM." Also a nice time to show-off that function that automatically buffs your agents levels up to par, so if you collected a decent set of agents you could still use your own in your own arrangement (so instead of having to pick only belobog on the belobog wave you can pick koleda + whomever). It doesn't have to be very long at all, again, a little less than 1 minute per squad at trial char level is plenty, just to get the feel, the ludonarrative implementation of "Everyone's here!" instead of one cutscene. Maybe they're saving this kinda bomb for a future chapter (mild copium), but when they teased the "Avengers Assemble" ahh sequence only to shuffle that away for an escape sequence, man did my heart hurt for the burned potential.

[@Soundwave1900]

People throw too much praises at hoyo writers so, while I liked the chapter much more than the previous one and infinitely more than Yanagi's bs fest of a character story, here are the plot holes that reduced my enjoyment of the chapter: - Bringer could find Perlman any time thanks to the tracking device yet he's done nothing across the entire ch4+. They even acknowledge he could've yet he didn't because "that's not his real goal". How is it not, if they've spent so much time trying to kidnap or set up a "happy accident" for Perlman? How does it not matter if he wins the elections when he was forced to run when it failed? - Miyabi is a literal superhuman. No other character in the game has superpowers except Yanagi who has oni blood (which is special for some reason but I'll let it slide since we know nothing about the onis) yet Miyabi somehow cosplays Vergil, bending space with nothing but raw talent, she even breaks the cuffs with raw power. Did I miss something? - The house search part. Where do I even start... Cops just randomly turn their house upside down with no order, the twins let them for no reason. Even if we say they live in a dystopia where that's allowed, our sibling works on the pc to do... something with Fairy instead of just shutting it down while the other sibling goofily tries to stop the cops from opening the door... which isn't locked for some reason, why on earth!? It was so avoidable. Just lock the door, tell the cops its a stockroom and when they ask to open it just pretend you're looking for the keys for as long as possible. Finally, before all that happened the cops messed with the house power which implies they knew exactly who they're targeting, why are they searching the house instead of just grabbing at least one sibling right then and there? And the final cherry on the cake: when they were explaining to Zhu and Qy what that all was about random Miyabi appears calling through the speakers of all things and just explains it all away. How convenient and nonsensical. It feels like that part was supposed to be longer but someone just cut half of the important details out. Wouldn't be the first time by the way, we have a proof how they've done it before with "save Belle from the hollow" quest. - Bringer leads them into an ambush but only brings, like, five dudes with assault rifles. What's the group's excuse to not apprehend him and his assistant right then and there? Even my usual excuse of "he brought much more power, the artists just couldn't draw them all" doesn't work as not only did he not bring any powerful agents to subdue Miyabi, its been shown bullets are not a threat for her just an hour ago at the quest's beginning! She practically surrenders for no reason. Just cuff him right there and go get the definitive proof with Perlman, ffs! - While Miyabi's cuffed and on her way to Bringer's speach, Sarah provokes her by unsheathing her family katana... that's locked by a fingerpring lock. Somehow. - Bringer brought her to his speach while making sure she goes berserk. For what? If winning the elections and getting power for the cult wasn't his goal but only the means then this achieves what? If winning the elections was his goal then this seemingly only ruins things for him. I figure he gave up on the elections halfway through once he realized he has a much faster way to achieve transformation into an etherial with the help of miyabi's taleless demon but surely that could've been done in a less crowded place? - In the avengers assemble part, cunning hares, NEPD and SoC being there is set up well but what are the maids doing there? - They fight well, then ultimately Bringer lucks out and is about to win before Miyabi appears and... somehow oneshots him while slashing through his strongest attack, the cargo barge, the ocean, and the hollow's wall. How? Was it just her raw superhuman power? Or was it taleless fulfilling its promise of giving her a glimpse of its power out of curiosity? Not a huge thing but I'd appreciate a more clear foreshadowing for such stuff. Especially when her being so strong was easily explainable before with "the sword demon fused with her body when she was just a child while the scabbath works like a portable hollow keeping him locked and functional" but they've managed to ruin this part by stating she's been doing all of her feats without the demon's help all this time. Not smart of them. The hightlights of the chapter outweight the plot holes for me but that's not a reason not to critisize bad writing. Perhaps one day we may get a chapter with all the highlights but little to no holes, like in Honkai's ark-city arc. Or Harumasa's character story.

[@choochoo3041]

Ur right demonstably.

[@lightborn3526]

people mistaking ZZZ cutscenes as anime is a testament to how good their animation is

[@IMRavnos]

To be fair, Hoyoverse cutscenes are better looking than 99% of Anime from a technical level. Art is subjective so some people prefer sloppy frantic looking animation like Trigger does. Others are cool with low fidelity stuff lime Reincarnated as a slime. China is going to make Japan look stuck in the 2010’s soon in both animation and games. If Wukong had less remedial combat and less Jank performance it would be worrying for the industry. Meanwhile Korea is stuck making gooner bait : )

[@tama5380]

@@IMRavnos insane comparison thats legit like comparing a movie animation to a full length TV series when its not even a movie its just few minutes long. I agree with you the cutscenes look pretty but the comparison is so disingenenous for no reason. If we are comparing PVs and cutscenes compare them to the bazillion ufotable or A1 pictures PVs they release for gachas and jrpgs you will see theyre on par if not better lmao

[@wagetoo2098]

Personally, I’d rather have more of the short yet effective story than the absolute yapfests going on in other hoyo games and I trust the zzz devs enough to do this so here’s to hoping

[@Nick-tz3ke]

Yea this is the best hoyo game in terms of storytelling. Imo, all of hoyo stories are great but the storytelling are kinda inconsistent. So good to see they could implemented various types of storytelling in zzz so that the viewer nowadays that have attention span of a rabbit could actually be interested in the story.

[@Rozherhn]

GI in Natlan is already applying ZZZ in his stories, the compact and in less time to give a better rhythm although of course the last one the first part was a knot and for that reason it felt slow, but if GI already made that change that already came from fontaine in Natlan it felt better and it is almost certain that the 5.3 will be a roller coaster of emotions with an equally good ending.

[@LuZErTX]

@@Rozherhn natlan doesnt feel any better, idk what are you talking about

[@Rozherhn]

@LuZErTX I have felt it much better, I loved the whole story until now, both characters A and world missions, the side missions are also like that.

[@freshspinach6460]

​@Rozherhn wouldn't call that applying, more like poorly attempting to lol

[@WazeAr]

Backstory and lore exist; just don't skip events. "Get Refine," "The Creator," "The Order," and "The Prophet": all lore details exist in the event and hidden quest. As for why Bringer suddenly is evil, you need to understand the context in 1.4. I might highlight that you might be overthinking due to playing the Honkai series a lot. Not saying it's bad since I'm a person who is heavily obsessed with Honkai lore. But the method to understand the lore is different. Here is how you interpret it: Bringer has been portrayed as a good guy. Why did he become evil? With this, you will come out with questionable thinking. But the story tells-Bringer is the villain in the first place; he is part of the cult. He pretended (seeing as a good guy) all this time. The question is not why he became Villian but what goal for the Cult. Because he did not become a villain, he is a villain. Once we know the goal, it will make sense why Bringer joined the Cult and part of Villian. Examples: I'm a corrupted politician, but to secure my position in New World Order, I have to be the Cop. You can't arrest me, because I'm the Cop. This what Bringer position in lore. Bringer and Perman are just puppets. But Bringer is above Perman. He knows about the cult. He knows about getting refined. Hope this helps.

[@Lokka-s2f]

Now that you mention it, maybe Bringer is the cop because of some corrupted person higher in the chain? I mean if that's the case, Bringer could easily terminate any evidence related to them, but on that same note, he was let go of way too easily, unless there's another one.

[@cracuss31n52]

Maybe overthinking but the way I see it, a possible motivation on why Bringer joins the cult is because the leader of his survivor group got abandoned after saving a lot of lives and that challenged his views and what leads him to the cult.

[@avihaygozlan8739]

So basiclly bringer is liker the villian from trigger's promare?

[@WazeAr]

@@avihaygozlan8739 well yeah, irony Bringer and Kray does has same vibes

[@avihaygozlan8739]

@@WazeAr yeah, they even had the backstory of saving a top officer as a child... the more I think of it, the more I want studio trigger to make zzz anime adaptation

[@erased5535]

The pacing of zzz is the most fastest pacing of all hyv games, its so compact, exactly like how they describe zzz in the ending song credit scene. I think its intentional that they make shorter story and make it compact, compressed story in that limited time frame as if its anime broadcast. Actually when in stream i see someone comment that 1.4 main gonna be around 2 to 3 hours im surprised, because they said its finale of season 1, i thought they will be more ambitious make it longest story in zzz so far, But after experiencing the 1.4 story, i think it can be called one of thing something to distinct zzz from other hyv games. That rather full 5 to 6 hours to peak moment story, they decide to make it super compact, so new player and returning player can be more at ease to play the game without being intimidated Just my opinion, its connected after all, that zzz response quite fast on what community said/feedback about the game

[@eddiephoenix9698]

it´s actually story telling 101: buildup => climax => epilogue. But people don´t necessarily realise this because games not always operate with that kind of structure, but Hoyoverse games do. thats why Hoyoverse games are so rewarding if you stick around, but after a climactic finale, people might get bored or burned out because they don´t get that dopamine intake they had with the previous finale. But if you play the games like it´s a movie, then you do know, what is that you´re waiting for and building up to.

[@chrono732]

I agree on this. I did feel this as I am stlll on Genshin since day 1, but as I am already committed to the story, like reading a book, I keep to it to make sure I get to the ending of the story.

[@chrono732]

Reason 1: You're not wrong, some people will set a high standard after seeing the story. And ZZZ is pretty much made based on manga style storytelling, so setting a standard for each arc is common. But ignore such standard, as the whole story has not been told yet, as the siblings interaction at the end of 1.3 and 1.4 is setting up for more story. I'm very sure the writers will keep up the standard. Reason 2: I think what you mean is plot holes. Bringer doesn't have a lot of backstory yet, but there were hints that he was directly/indirectly involved with the siblings past. It's likely these information, if injected to the 1.4 story, would have revealed a lot of history behind what happened to the siblings and their teacher in the past, and also exposing more info about the organization 'Sarah' is with. It's likely the omission of Bringer's backstory was intentional to cover up more things that Hoyo intends on adding later in the game. I do not believe this would be a big problem as long as the writers keep working on the story.

[@mirai7233]

I personally think you are overthinking the Bringer bit. From how I digested the story, Bringer's only purpose to the 1.4 story is to establish that there is a cult of people who "worships" some entity they call as the creator. Now finally knowing that Bringer was a member of the Cult, my mind instantly deduced that everything we knew about Bringer and his past are all orchestrated lies. Since the furthest backstory we know of Bringer is him saving Zhu Yuan and he is almost certainly already part of the cult back then, we should remove the variable of thinking that "Bringer was once a good guy. How did he turn bad?" If our only reason for formulating this thought was because he once saved Zhu Yuan. With this in mind, Bringer's past was never a plot hole but an introduction to an even bigger threat which the story will slowly delve into onwards. Bringer is nothing but a lackey, a pawn and a plot device to establish/introduce this said group so diving into how he joined the cult in the first place building up to the present would have just added unnecessary yapping

[@nkoonkukoo]

Don't think thats enough to remove that variable to be honest. There has to be a reason why he saved her.

[@BugCatLove]

Valid concerns i guess. But i trust this dev team a lot. 😳

[@IslandXD]

ME TOO

[@mharris1055]

Now that you mention it, ZZZ did a fantastic job of ending the first story arc. Whatever coming in 1.5, the beginning of the new arc, I think the players need to tone down expectations and go in with the mindset that the beginning on a new arc doesn't have to be a big and dramatic. I think that would help to manage expectations. I do feel like Bringer background do need more light. Tbh, I forgot all about him until recently when when some one spoiled his ethereal form after the pre-load downloads. I guess the devs don't want to cut down the agents screen time and just hope the players are too excited with the story/cutscene to care enough. That's all I could say right now. maybe I'll come back and add something later

[@anonymousfox5005]

To be more concise, Bringer had a basic story background. A survivor of a great hollow. There is new information though. Apart from having connections with Sarah and the Hand ethereal, Bringer is pretty much a pawn. Someone who would not be that important in the grand scheme of things. With him not having his backstory explained won’t be that necessary. However, his actions may appear as a flashback of sorts in the form of another’s memories.

[@kiana4237]

tbh for bringer it was a deliberate setup to make his past still a mystery because we have to learn about the the events at hollow zero, and what actually happened. Why was carole arna was framed and why did wise and belle called themselves "students of the guilty" it is all a mystery factor for the start of season 1 because of suddenly adding elements related to a cult who's targetting the hoshimi family, remember everything is tied together with the hoshimi's and how the mother was also called a "sacrifice" and bringers powers, also using the power of the sacrifce, unlike his power trip, the one sarah shot is what reacted the most and called "this is the same as the monument" scene meaning there was more to that scene that anything tbh. We actually need to wait a bit more before judging the entire story piece for now at least. The thing they sre doing good tho is keeping up yhe suspense.

[@lop90ful1]

Bro got Honkai impact part 2 ptsd

[@IslandXD]

LMFAO SO TRUE

[@Dwerynith]

If people like animes like demon slayer, with few very high highs and a lot of mediocre lows, I really have no fear for ZZZ

[@MeryKeit]

let's not jinx it, shall we? The writers did AMAIZINGLY well so far, they were able to create an awesome "avengers assemble" moment in the span of just half a year which is really hard to do, so let's have hope in them going forward. The only thing I'm hoping for is that this month's revenue will be a good reward for their efforts, so it's not the devs I'm worried about 🙃

[@IcyBryan02]

For a game that's developed by a "smaller" team, ZZZ has surprised my expectations for the game. Definitely have the world building material that's actually keep me interested in the story, not to mention the music that they use to fit it together with the scene. Definitely will be keeping my eyes on this game

[@ahmadabdelwahhab3863]

Nah... All games have ups and downs... Genshin had a few dead updates ... HSR had some boring stories ... Wuwa had some BS dialogues so... I think it's natural. But for ZZZ they will make it up with humerus and idiotic meme stories 😇😇

[@Insanity554]

I've said it time and time again, But I feel like the reason that the animations in the cutscenes are so good is because I feel like the main approach they have been going for is like that of arcane or spiderverse, where if you pause once at a frame, you literally could just take that as a comic or manga page. That't why I call this game as hoyoverse's comic book game!

[@CelesNihility]

conclusion: people who dislike mihoyo's storytelling style (episodic) with varying amount of reading (from hi3rd amount of complete to zzz amount of compact) will not like their games people who find their enjoyment in any one of the mihoyo's games may not be satisfied with the content of every patch because it's a hit or miss. in the end, mihoyo will not cater to everyone. it's up to the individual to find the game they enjoy, and decide for themselves which patch they enjoy. i think it's normal for people to just have several gacha games that they follow and just jumps around to whatever they are feeling at the moment. i personally play wuwa, genshin, hsr, hi3rd, ZZZ, azur lane, aether gazer, and gf2:exilum on rotation.

[@Markeveli237]

I agree with u Bringer's stories wasn't really fleshed out. However it teased what is to come for zzz. Unlike other hoyoverse titles I believe zzz would not be leaving new Eridu anytime soon and the incident with Bringer will stir the higher ups of the city and we are also introduced to this mysterious cult. This is not the last we will hear of Bringer as I believe most of the future stories will be linked to past incidents in the game. As a writer myself I belief this is good because it gives the writer enough material to build a good story without boring it's audience with too much information at a time. So I am hopeful that zzz has set itself for great success if they make good use of their writing style

[@riavella]

Im pretty sure Sara and Bringer are part of a faction that worship Hollow? Or at least want Humanity to embrace Hollow. ZZZ mention this faction (maybe cult) during that one event where you need to clean a lot of data from old computer Nicole found inside Hollow. The guy who write the entry is part of Defense Force and he call them heretic and part of Order. And he noted that they keep mumbling about becoming refined and stuff. At the end tho, it looks like he got brainwashed by the Order and decided to spread the Order way of teaching. Also, maybe its just me... But i never see Bringer as a good guy. If anything, his potrayal in chapter 1 is more like someone who pretend to be a good guy. He is obsess with keeping his public image clean, but you can see crack in his mask here and there. The chapter 5 just make it clear that Bringer actually more calculated than whatever chapter 1 potrayal gave you. Since through chapter 1 to 4, you never see the event from anyone else perspective but the proxies. Maybe he does have a good intention when he first join PubSec. But just like the guy i mention above, he got brainwashed and join the Order. Who knows really...

[@naminode]

I really scared of the future of zzz story after 1.4. Hope it doesnt suffer the same fate like hsr after belabog arc.

[@ShizukiShirano]

Giving MiHoyoverse past record its actually a valid concern.

[@yannlee7821]

For Bringer: i didnt see anyone mention Spacebar's Journal, it is a massive lore that no one talks about imo. Basically, Spacebar got lost in a hollow and stayed there for a long time thanks to anti corruption. Close to the end, he started to think of the order and the chant. This is probably what happened to bringer after he got lost in the hollow. The hollow changes people if stayed to long.

[@reveriesend4668]

As for ZZZ next patch, prediction from a non-player, just watcher of your content: I think next patch is still going to be good. Astra feels like a very good lead by herself, as opposed to Miyabi who had to be provided some sad background story first to make people's pov about her change first, before we start her story. My concern about the story-telling will be seen in, say, 1 year time, or 2 years time. But not now. Now you are still enjoying the honeymoon period, and hoyo has proven time and time again that they are really good at extending honeymoon period.

[@Jackal43]

I think season 2 start from 2.0 and now these patches most likely gonna be filler one

[@josephwong5859]

Totally agree people will quit at 1.5 onward until the end of next arc again but rather than only quitting they will BASH the game again as usual. ZZZ always get bash for real rather than like Wuwa all the glazing and victim minded community but I am happy very happy 2.0 Wuwa looking absolutely amazing. That said as someone who love ZZZ the most now whatever It is I know the next arc will also be setting up and also coming to a very wonderful end for me the game will only get better but of course its a company they will 100% lose revenue and players so I just hope the devs stay through to themselves and the goal for the game as well. To me ZZZ is just a fun gacha game short and sweet, story is told well not the most dept of story but its told so well. Dailies is easy, I am from day 1 I do really nth at this point all my char is maxed out (monthly and pass) clear all endgame but never bother to get higher score just get it done and dusted then out. its a very fun game but yeah for CC its hard to stream bsc I dont really watch CC for ZZZ I love enjoying it myself that game is pure enjoyment to play on my own rather than game like HSR, GI and Wuwa i prefer watching people play bsc its just boring to play imo as much as its AMAIZING all around 2.0, 5.4, and 3.0 soon coming but i play them but minimal at best like a routine chore. So i get why CC are not covering as much ZZZ bsc its just does not bring in views as the game so good to play on our own imo.

[@MGPAMVs]

Since 1.1 We already knew that Bringer was not a good guy dude(no hate just a reminder)

[@x-y-n-h]

agree, it happened to Genshin and HSR too. I remember I started genshin in 1.3/1.4 and when I started consuming content on youtube a few weeks in, so many cc were complaining about no content, filler patches etc. as a new player back then it was kinda sad because I was still excited with a lot of new content. But what can you do, devs need some time to cook to keep up the quality!

[@junjiyang9521]

There was a part during the conversation between Bringer and Sarah implies that Bringer might not be the real "Bringer" who helped Zhuyuan. He might be just using Bringer's name to get in to the Security Bureau.

[@DemonicAsura]

Personally I’m on the side that feels the stories are too short but for now I’m seeing this season 1 as world building to introduce factions, how some characters are connected to each other, and the personalities of characters through their actions and habits

[@negspirito]

I can let Bringer's back story not being explained (for now) slide, but the whole deal with the elixir he used to transform needed more explaining. Like how they produced and got it to him so fast. Also, it felt like they went out of their way to antagonize Miyabi way more than was necessary to get her out of their hair

[@eronosukekun7550]

yeah... I felt in the dark on why bringer is doing all that stuff why he arrived to that point all that stuff, only thing I know is probably what happened to him before new eridu still vague af

[@hanabatik717]

Idm about the quality being down in the next patch, for me the characters they created alone have some uniqueness in their personalities that made me hooked to the game.

[@EternaLaw00]

More and more in gacha the gameplay is really, how should i say... "inconsequential"?. There is a lot of fluff, a lot of time wasted. Zenless felt like a series of short anime film. It was sooo good. This is a thing i always say. The story can be god-like, but if you cannot sell it, if you cannot tell that story well IT WILL fall flat to a lot of players. Genshin, Arknights, HSR they all have really good story and lore that is not always told very well ( I'm looking especially at you Arknights ) ZZZ felt like an anime. End. Some can argue that the story is worse than the others, but the storytelling was 100% better than the rest and so the story felt better to watch. That and sorry guys, no matter how you put it, ZZZ animation > everything else's animation, it really cannot be argued anymore.

[@thegamingfiend5443]

the reason we don't know everything about bringer and the cult of the creator is beacuse it will be future stories i bet the creator is a very powerful ethereal and the arms are just small parts of it

[@batperson3532]

5:21, no way! You're worried the intro and set up of a brand new arc would not surpass the climax of the previous arc? I'm worried about that too.

[@acuilnos]

As much as I enjoyed 1.4's story, and prefer how it doesn't pad for time, I do hope there is at least some more emphasis on build-up in the future. I especially felt that there was a lack of buildup towards Miyabi's vision and the subsequent Bringer chase sequence.

[@DemonLord16]

What is a current size of the game? More cut scenes = Bigger game size!

[@reveriesend4668]

This is the thing they did in HSR, too, with Belobog and Luofu. But eventually once you want to go deeper with story like a book, then you are going to be limited with how many of them can be covered with cutscenes or comic-like storytelling like ZZZ did here. That's what happened in Penacony. Packaging is, in the end, just packaging. I think hoyo has learned very well that 2-3 hours is the best time span to simply provide a story that goes well with what they like to do. They first learned this... I think in Yoimiya Storyquest Act 2 (Still best SQ in Genshin so far! Before this you had the yapfest that was almost every HI3rd content ever!), and from there they have totally tried to get better. But the main charm of Yoimiya Storyquest was that the real conflict was never told (as Yoimiya is that kind of character. She chats a lot about everything, she barely hints her real distress since she is so good at white-lieing she white-lied herself unconsciously!) so they don't have that problem with her. With ZZZ it's a whole story, not just 1 whiteboard character representing a whole world with words you need to 5-head to get what she really hinted about. So if you don't take your time once in a while, it will bite you back eventually. aka there will be time when ZZZ will turn into a yapfest, too. Like example: the first part of the story, which was kinda a yapfest but ok they were saved by the fact that the game was new and the presentation was novel. And if you notice: they actually took the time with the whole Jane side-story and the Sons of Calydon arc, to slowly progress things that.. otherwise you would have to chug them out into "8 hours but still feels trimmed down" Archon Quest style presentation. So yes, they did take the time to slowly build things, too. And yes, they are also concerned with this problem you pointed out.

[@inokori7146]

youre overthinking Bringer for sure, he was most definitely a sacrificial pawn to the creator since the start, him being "good" at times was just a way to blend in until his moment to show his true colors comparing it to HSR, which did an awful, awful job of linking Penacony's story with Amphoreus, ZZZ did really well to link the finale with the second arc, we know Yao is involved in something since a long while ago (my bet is, someone in the entertainment world is also linked to the cult, and is planning some sort of control of the masses through their recognition) and is trying to prevent it, she had encountered the proxies through Snap, and after meeting them she can finally put her plans in motion im sure 1.5 story wont be as hype as MIYABI SLICING A FCKING HOLLOW, but the payoff, at the end of the arc or even in later arcs, is just gonna keep on being bigger if this feels like an anime, its an anime that has confirmed a 4th season already

[@tsuaririndoku]

I think it will be fine. I mean we do have people who loves Manga and wait for months in each chapters. But for Anime watchers might have to adapt. New players will eating good in season 1. I prefer this story set up because it makes you feel like you watch Anime. Which I think (hot take) how gacha games should be operates. A build up to the moments feels great. But I also do understand your take because people will have to either wait each month for an episode. Average kid wouldn’t have that attention span for that long. Which is why Genshin still a popular game because it have story on its own. Now ZZZ try to compensate this by having a side story and fun gamemodes while we’re waiting. But tbh, if someone want to watch ZZZ story, you have to wait each month to see an episode. Season 1 ZZZ literally takes 5 months for it to end. That’s hell of a long time. And I don’t want Hoyo to rush the story either. Maybe Season per Year would be enough. Maximum 2 Seasons if they can manage.

[@xrosslegends1279]

I mean, if they come to play they still gotta go through the beginning, and the TVs are already removed so they wont have to deal with the dilemma of whether they like it or not.

[@nkoonkukoo]

1.5 is about the idol faction, so they will definitely be a drop off there after 1.4

[@lagrangewei]

is this not the case with genshin and HSR? if ZZZ actually have a 4-5 patch season instead of a yearly season, like genshin and HSR, it would be a winner.

[@FaiGal]

Imma be honest, I think this playthrough of the quest was great cuz there was no tv mode in sight and there was more cutscenes

[@hunter-yb7zk]

Isn’t this just every game that is extremely successful

[@hoanghuy612]

Remember the first arc of Genshin and HSR, they are good enough for new players while ZZZ is actually peak. People expect too much on a gacha game because so many gacha out there right now. A "good enough" like GI and HSR is not enough anymore. I'm so happy for ZZZ is doing so good if not the best. The downside is telling story by many cutscenes becomes a new standard for other games. People these days do not want to see so many text

[@ilhamsyahprimadi4067]

It was PEAK absolute cinema

[@DavidHoang1113]

Let's address things one by one. First, your point about some more particular details in the story are very valid (Bringer's character specifically). I feel like ZZZ's story has always been trying to leave open endings, as in giving crumbs for the players (personally this is one of the things that makes me very interested in this game even though I dropped mid way through 1.1 and only got back now). However, comparatively to other mhy's products (I'm looking at you Genshin), these crumbs are picked up and paid off much faster (this patch). And as you said, 1.4 is very climatic, everything just came together, it was tense all throughout and although there are people who loved that roller coaster like I and I'm assuming you did as well, there are others who would slow down and question details. 1.4 is the big big pay off of almost everything that has happened before in the main story, as such it takes time and resources before another banger like this drops again. Thus, i understand your concern of how players entering this game can feel disappointed if subsequent following contents after 1.4 does not live up to the hype. However, I do not think that this will lead to it's downfall. The thing is that ZZZ is objectively a quality and good game. It is just that there's also a lot of competitors in the market right now and thus people might want to try other games and drop ZZZ, or a thousands other scenarios for thousands more reasons. I don't think ZZZ's player retention will plummet after 1.4 or half way through 1.5, it will drop, I reckon, a little bit substantially though. Rather, I think 1.4 is a testament to the developer's ability and resource. This peak is happening for the first time, as long as there will be another (which I am positive about), ZZZ will have multiple peaks from now on. Besides, the 1.4 story also revealed and opened up more about the lore of the ZZZ world, which were all interesting and also gave us clear sense of purpose imo - we're starting to see who's evil and starting to feel where the siblings' stances and positions are. ZZZ's story so far has been pretty on point and direct, so I trust and am hopeful they can do much better. After all, games are meant to be enjoyed, and in continuance to your video before this - FOMO definitely hurts, but we can also be smart about it. In this version's case, Miyabi's damn busted, ain't no way she's getting outed for at least 6 months, invest in her now and have lots of fun playing this game, and in the case the next patch sucks, we can drop with more peace of mind that the next time we pick it up in whenever, we'll have a powerful agent to rely on. However, should HYV pull the HSR's power inflation shit, that's a different story, and we'll have to consider that as well. In brief, 1.4 is peak, next patches might not be as good, but that's alright - we have lives and other games also have great waifus. In any case, ZZZ's a fundamental good and solid game and I don't think Hoyo's letting their IP dying anytime soon, not at one that's targetting as big a demographic as ZZZ.

[@DonPancho1]

Hopefully they did not jump the shark with this one. Are you being stupid? No, I do not think so

[@fintzwaltstein5484]

Hey, if the dev team puts brain rot and cringe-y stuff like the Jane rizz, im putting a little bit of trust on that. But not too much so that i won't be disappointed if they did flop.

[@choochoo3041]

Statistically speaking, ZZZ/Genshiit/HSR teams make so much that they can literally make story of every patch have the same quality of v1.4. It is a QUESTION of whether they respect players' love/support and push out the CORRESPONDING level of quality in terms of content or make contents with the most minimum mediocre quality, milk tf out of players and get away with it like HSR and Genshiit always did bcs they know their fans will eat that trash up and call it PEAK everytime.

[@bozzbyako7163]

Yes u restarted

[@neokai]

I personally found the pacing of 1.4 to be really, really bad. It’s likely because each player’s subjective experience is colored by all the other things they can do in the game that can color their subjective experience of “pacing”. I for the most part played the story quests straight through over several days, so neither binging upon release nor nibbled over an entire patch length and, as much as the cutscenes were technically well executed, I just personally didn’t feel engaged with the story beats. There wasn’t adequate build up for how the plot unfolded for me, or I wasn’t able to emotionally follow along. Perlman went from villain to victim. Bringer kinda sorta came out of nowhere. I could understand the Cunning Hares and NEPS rallying with our protagonists at the end but wasn’t really sure why Victoria Housekeeping or Belabog was, nor Section 6. Each faction’s stories were too disparate with the central plot line they suddenly came together for. At best, I was forced to assume they came out based on their relationship with the protagonists, which is fine but weaker than if they were shown to have been directly affected by what we now have to conclude was the central plot. Instead, I have more investment in each faction’s own stories and next to little understanding of their investment in the Vision, Perlman, Bringer conspiracy. I have to think too hard to find the possible connections for why they care. I guess Belabog because they inherited the project, Victoria because of their ties to Ballet Twins(?), and the Sons of Calydon because… uh, Perlman happened to be dropped off there for babysitting? Section 6? Uh, why? Cuz Bringer was connected with Sarah and they were connected to Null-Face and Null-Faced fucked with Section 6’s VR? I can see it if I squint, but I’m thinking I shouldn’t have to squint. The narrative from a pacing standpoint was disjointed, the background and side stories so interesting that they end up becoming the “slow” points of the central plot so that when the central plot advances, the advances feel like spurts that cause whiplash leaving an audience like me wondering “huh, how did we get here all of a sudden?” The cutscenes felt more like “rule of cool” than good storytelling in 1.4. They might be great vignettes, but I don’t think they came together to form a “cinematic” finale. Or maybe the storytelling through the interactive gameplay between the cutscenes didn’t stitch them together well enough. I dunno. Story-wise, this was the weakest version of those that have come so far. Off the top of my head, Bringer represents some cult that is ostensibly experimenting with transforming humans into Ethereals… and this ties into Vision not caring about sacrificing an underclass of citizens for the redevelopment of Eridu because… of what? The only tie between those two “episodes” is that there’s a shady corporation or organization behind or involved in both, so evil will just evil? What was the point of Vision doing that and how does it contribute to the goal of targeting miyabi and the power of her cursed sword? I guess there’s some yarn on the pinboard between Belabog and the Hoshimi family involving Koleda’s dad and Miyabi’s mom and the sacrifice or something? Dunno, ZZZ is a lot of fun, but I actually don’t think 1.4 integrated these characters and possible plot threads together as epically as they were shown to come together visually. I can easily imagine members of each faction seeing the others and be like “uh, who are you guys and why’re you guys here?” I do like the MC, Zhu Yuan, and Miyabi trust thing though. That was cute. But the background connection between Zhu Yuan and Miyabi seemed pretty out of left field for me. Like, oh, I guess that’s convenient.

[@jyuu6650]

I feel like ZZZ had the best 1.0-1.4 story than any other gacha. HSR had Luofu, GI had Mondstadt, and WuWa… well it still has a horrible story. Don’t get me wrong, WuWa does have the best combat out of any other gacha, but the story REALLY holds it back.

[@constabrielbell4523]

ZZZ is gonna be fine imo, doesn’t have deus ex machina mc like traveler and trailblazer, mostly gonna be filler and world building again until 2.0.

[@Elven_Red]

Reason 1 should be common to a lot of other games. Star Rail next story will be held to the same standard of Penacony which got a lot of attention. I trust the ZZZ team to come up with something cool next, but I fully expect the next couple versions to be the more relaxing filler episodes between seasons. Reason 2 not gonna comment. Long and bloated storytelling usually irritates me (arknights), but I can tolerate them just fine. Now, I will talk about something that actually does have a potential to hurt the game as a business. And a lot of people will be unhappy about it: the benefits. So far, this game has been giving more free currency than even Star Rail which has always been the bludgeon used to attack Genshin's low per-patch rewards... while at the same time, all characters feel complete without vertical investment, you mostly get higher damage ceiling from giving them mindscape or signature w-engine. Genshin has some bait cases but usually characters feel fine from the get go, and most of the time there is only one new character per patch, so the lower rewards ends up being more of a psychological thing. Honkai releases two characters per patch and they usually have issues on their base kit which very evidently get fixed by early eidolons or the signature cone, it's not like they are unplayable without anything but sometimes it feels like shit using their base form. ZZZ is the easiest modern hoyo game to remain F2P (no comment on HI3, I have zero interest in starting a gacha 6 years late). If you keep up with the revenue charts people share around, ZZZ had a strong start then dropped below it's two brothers and stayed there. Considering the production cost is probably higher than those two, given the amount of animations and unique NPCs... it might not be as financially attractive to develop compared to others. It's still one of the top earning gachas of all, mind you, and the revenue charts exclude the non-mobile platforms the game also exists in, so I don't think it's in any risk of closing down.

[@Elven_Red]

All of that can change with time, of course. Changes in design philosophy happen, and the lower revenue could be a trigger for that, or it could even be the plan to reel us in with a generous first year then enslave us in the gacha mines with balans, more characters per patch or a reduction in average rewards

[@ShadowCero]

The pacing was absolutely fucked this patch not gonna lie. So much shit is off screened in this version with the most egregious being at the end of Act 2 we're on the back foot after falling into Bringer and Sarah's plan but Miyabi manages to fight off her demons and not rampage. Then Act 3 starts and Bringer has ran and is on the back foot, this entire dynamic change is done off screen and exposited to us between the Immersive Storytelling parts. This was just awful, and Bringer is barely a character, he had a total of 3 scenes this entire patch and he was supposed to be the big bad. And the fact that this is a section 6 patch means we have to completely glaze over and toss aside the character drama of Zhu Yuan going against Bringer since he had supposedly "saved" her before. But we don't get to go into any of that since Section has to be focus and get the kill in the end. And the engine of the game really hampered the finale of the chapter for me. The other teams coming in to just move some rubble and drive in Miyabi was kinda lame in the end. Imagine if they made like a 4 phase fight where we switch between the faction teams and end on Section 6 killing the boss, that would be so peak. Hell the 3 teammate system means we couldn't even include Soukaku is the final battle lmao.

[@schlorts]

I was also expecting the teams to be swapped between factions but oh well, it is what it is Im still okay with the end product, just wished they fleshed out the characters more (like bringer as u said)

[@ivangalv]

Ir was good but the ending was a little rush

[@Darkwindyeti06]

Hello Disclaimer (this is just my opinion and some of my wording may go wrong😅) Worry reason 2:hmmm.... I think it will be explained some story about Bringer in the future plus on the Sarah and Bringer conversation after the speech was maybe already explained Maybe for revenge🤔 Sarah:.....that leader of yours, the hero who led you to new Eridu when you where a kid, what happened to him? Bringer:...The night before we reached the city,he became corrupted, and was abandoned by the very survivors he'd been protecting. And still no Zhu yuan agent story strange🤔 Worry reason 1: hmmm.... expectation...It will depend ALL on the producer of ZZZ Zhenyu aka ZYL Like making content on KZbin The More you post a videos the more expectation on your videos I could be wrong But at the end of the day it's just the beginning So..... Yeah Plus ZYL is an OG content creator in bilibili that makes MAD content(MAD is like AMV videos on KZbin but on bilibili more info in the internet) I think there is more things to see in the future with ZZZ

[@megamcee]

What are the chances that they have Miyabi for the entire patch because they want to make alllll the money now, before people "leave" due to filler patches?

[@shinigamyshinigamy4877]

Adorei o vídeo. Concordo com cada palavra, pois penso da mesma forma sobre esses pontos do jogo. Gosto muito do zzz, por isso fico preocupado.

[@kingcapricornio1193]

👍🐥👍🫶🫀🐥

[@kyori75]

You seems to be going through some kind of... period at the moment(?)

[@kkj_-ry4kt]

Pls zzz dev extent the fight scene show some more choreography 😌🙏

[@shadowx1069]

Oh no, this game is going to fail because it's so good! Oh no.

[@DemonLord16]

Thank you for your opinion! I love animations but i am afraid game size will increase exponentially! I just hope that will not happen! Bye the way i was thinking to suggest you new gatcha game Solo leveling Arise it is good game!❤ It's story animations are not good as zzz but it's combact is good please try!✌️

[@ramenloverSoySoy]

great video btw. more people like that strive for be better compare to horny bad youtubers 😂

[@jwnwiwhebwoeb]

Exactly, no body asked

[@mic0w0]

Live service games have ups and downs, it's natural and it doesn't automatically mean the game will fail as soon as the hype dies down before the next big patch. Honestly kind of a clickbait video and a bit doomposty imo.

[@eruchou8951]

I am not even sure what it is but something really demotivates me to continue the story. I am currently only on chapter 2 with the Belobog Industries and I just don't feel like doing the story anymore. I had no problem going through the story once I was actually doing it but I suppose the start is the hardest threshold. Even though I like the story of HI3rd, HSR, and Genshin something just hasn't clicked for me when it comes to ZZZ. The beginning chapters of HI3rd Part 2 had a similar effect but it was due to the exposition that didn't quite go anywhere. And I doubt this is because I am only near the beginning of ZZZ, since unlike with many other players I managed to enjoy the beginning parts of the story of the other three Hoyo games without issue, wanting to continue with the stories.

[@fidotcsm82]

I do have the same worry like you, they did well in 1.4 and of course we going to expect it is getting better in the future. I m afraid Hoyoverse going to do same thing like HSR, we have a really good story and Belobog or at Jarilo 6. After that when we go to Loufu the story still ok but it is a downfall from Belabog story, and things getting worse in Penacony. Story was getting worse when we have filler path before going to 3.0. Before we go to 2.0 which is after we finish story at Loufu there also got filler patch but the story still ok. I hope hoyoverse doesn't repeat same mistake in HSR for ZZZ. What I'm saying is just for the story part and I m not saying HSR whole game is bad. I do love both games ZZZ and HSR.

[@muhammadhanry7907]

ZZZ is on their peak/golden era..... But i think ZZZ can not face a Storm that will come in the future... The Storm : Wuwa (New Region), NTE, Ananta, Enfield, and other games...

[@astrea4231]

The problem I had with ZZZ is the lack of impact. The story itself is not too mind blowing or ground breaking either. It's just something you have seen before in other media but with better quality. Season 1 climax is kinda suck since it's more of Miyabi arc rather than all factions joining in the fight. I don't really see any meaning in that. Bringer is just something you have to fight and nothing more, nothing less. I literally feel nothing for this guy. It's like a plot device for the story to move forwards. It was until the end where sibiling cutscenes happen. They could solve all of these problems by implanting more lores and mind blowing deep lore within zzz to main story often more. Now, it's like MCU movies where you can only see mind blowing credit scenes at the end of the movie. We love HSR and genshin stories because we know what is going overall. It was established well since the start and it keep appearing in every patches giving you pieces of information about world building. I hope they would do better with story in later patches.

[@quangthaitruong7960]

Huh? I have a complete opposite view about ZZZ’s story. To me, it’s the HSR and genshin lores are way too dragged out and overly complicated. I prefer ZZZ’s story way better because it’s simple to understand, no hidden details that requires you chew down walls of texts to understand. And most importantly, the dialogues are funny, straight to the point. No constant yapfest.

[@kraigdiovcrisostomo1506]

This is one of those comments, that makes you question. Did you even read the dialogues or just skipped it. Cuz throughout the playthrough of the story, the dialogue readingss arent boring, its really fun, and funny. And its very intriguing. Thats my observation on Peoples so far. Idk bout you

[@rollandibrahim4277]

I prefer ZZZ specifically because every patch is much more compact than other mihoyo games. Genshin is OK since the lore is interesting and it works with exploration. HSR is just unnecessarily long and poor paced. Good thing about HSR is the daily is short.