QUOTE(MerryGoRound^2 @ Mar 31 2025, 12:57 PM)
My personal take on the game's exploration is it's semi-linear and the return value lies in the game's combat and endgame content. If you enjoy killing stuff and working toward character progression, this will resonate with you. Otherwise, this game is unlikely to speak to a large audience outside those elements. Plus, it does remind me of an HD version of Honkai Impact.
It's the reason the game has so much free chromes locked behind challenges that ensure you invest more time completing them, or players are unlikely to return following events and main storyline. I haven't burned out on the game, but probably because it's new and Yanagi > every female on-field DPS I've experienced in Genshin. Unfair comparison, but I said what I said.
The way I see it, ZZZ sacrifices exploration, player-environment interaction, attention to details in areas where it doesn't count, and storyline for all the fan service, combat, and graphics. TV mode so happens to fall in the former.
I have just restarted the game on TW/Macau server,
the CRT maze is really gone and replaced by platform based, Eous 18 can freely move and jump, like mario 3d now.
The difficulty significantly reduced with casual mode.
For story-rich games made by Hoyo, i really wish there's rewind-mode let user replay the game from beginning (with exp retained), instead of start from scratch on new server.
IT's sad to see it gone but it has to be done, i went through the CRT maze and i have to say again the maze is not for everyone, it's confusing and exhausting, i took break many time during the early stage of the game due to time constraint.