[1.0 ZZZ] Prologue and Chapter 001 Story Breakdown - Zenless Zone Zero Lore

Welcome to New Eridu! In this episode of the ZZZ Story Rewind, we'll be going over the events of the Prologue and Chapter 1, highlighting all the important bits along the way because - this may surprise you - even the silly stuff matters.

**TIMESTAMPS**
00:00 Introduction
00:43 World Building Basics
03:15 Prologue
12:10 Chapter 1

[Ashikai]

**NOTES & CORRECTIONS**
- Around 9:50, it's supposed to say "Phaethon is the SON of the Greek solar deity Helios" and I accidentally cut a couple of words out when I was cutting out an awkward pause and missed it in the review. Sorry about that!

[Adser]

Little correction. The Cunning Hares didn't call public security and the press, the called Belobog industries who jumped at the chance to utterly screw up Vision (and do the right thing, Koleda is nice like that, but schadenfreude was definitely the strongest motivator). Nicole herself doesn't have the pull to get such a response by herself.

[Truck-kun]

Nicole refusing to hand Phaethon over to the authorities to save herself was the first moment the story really started to move me.

From then on I was 100% invested in the characters and the story as a whole.

[Ayayaaron]

I really love this game’s vibe. It feels like playing through an old Saturday morning cartoon. Happy to have our trustworthy lore master on the case

[tysej]

One thing to note from the "world building basics" part of the video, the term Proxy is specifically for the illegal guides.
Licensed "Proxies" are along with combat agents also called 'Investigators' if they're attached to HAND, PUBSEC or the HIA.

This can be noted when you are become a civilian contractor in the explorations and investigation of Hollow Zero. Not once are you refered to as proxy.

[nebulimes]

Ashikai using 18 as her persona for ZZZ vids is amazing

[Frazzled_Chameleon]

Billy's "Lubricantgate" conversation is the funniest. He's my favorite character so far. His English VA is doing a fantastic job.

[devilsadvocate]

I got into this game because of the Cunning Hares crew. I just really love the bunch of dummies with a heart of gold. I really like the story so far too. It comes across as a Saturday Morning Cartoon or a Sitcom with its chill comedic vibes, but you can tell there is deeper lore at play that will eventually come out and hit us like a freight train.

[vahallen]

I feel the Vision twist, what they were willing to do to cut cost, was quite dark

I was like “DAMN, they would go that far?”

[poliwb]

i really like how they're jumping around different factions while still delivering a tightly connected story.

[Quantumsaber]

Story is way more interesting than I expected. Even some of the character stories. Where are the vampires at

[Captain.Mystic]

One thing to note about illegally entering hollows is that in koledas story, she mentions how her company noticed a new hollow springing up in a nearby school while they were doing renovations on it. It was apparently small enough and in a remote enough part of the city that the HIA didnt actually notice it. The principal took notice of this and decided to allow an illegal mining operation for ether crystals(given theyre a power source, imagine if you tried doing a fracking operation in a residental district for a little extra cash).

The issue with doing this is apparently it raises ether activity and increases its chances of growing. You can reverse and even completely remove a hollow, but small enough hollows seem to have a problem of growing if too much noise or combat happens, which is probably why the HIA is so intent on ensuring everyone who goes into a hollow has a licence, because a few thugs trying to make a little cash can be responsible for dosens of deaths before the HIA even notices a hollow exists.

[kimyohbee]

This is the first gacha game where I’m reading everything and not skipping anything. I really vibe with ZZZ’s aesthetics, style, music and the story so far. Also love the combat and characters.

[soupyssoup]

About the siblings' ages, I noticed if you check the ice cream container at the convince store, Belle says "All I had to do was sulk when we were little, and Wise used to buy me one". Obviously little isn't the most exact and it might say something different when you pick play as Wise, but I'd say it's still something worth mentioning about Wise and Belle being very young when the old capital fell.

[CrossShade]

Using Eous as avatar for the ZZZ videos is simply too adorable.

[Driftwood-Cove]

I'm looking forward to hearing Billy's recap of the latest season of "Oh, Sweetie".

[Ali-cya]

Ashikai as an Ashiboo is such an adorable concept.

[klasztornik]

I went back to the game after seeing Burnice, I skipped through the entire story to unlock events and get the Polychromes, thank you for making this. Before watching this I am missing such crucial info as to why Proxies want Perlman.

[akixyl]

Yippee, a nice summary that was easy to digest and covered all important plot points without making it overwhelming. Thank you Ashikai! (Oh and here is my obligtory "hi!" as a budding scholar! 😂❤)

[TheMagickHat]

I've been enjoying the story a lot more than I thought I would. Yes, the game starts out slow as it eases you into its story and gameplay, but I'm in Chapter 2 now and it feels like I'm getting the pay off.

Love your insights into the story so far, especially the little details I missed.