Zenless Zone Zero | First Impressions Review

Zenless Zone Zero is miHoYo's latest gacha entry. Released just a week ago, I'm going to be sharing my first impression thoughts on the game: Both the personal highs and lows. I have no doubt this game will be very successful in the long term, but in due time, I will also compare the similarities between miHoYo's other games and how ZZZ has a simple, but addicting gameplay loop.

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Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro
0:53 – Overview
7:08 – Gacha
10:11 – Gameplay
13:03 – Final words

Music used:

Outro music:

References:

Missed Chain attack lines footage:

Mihoyo's bi-weekly update schedules:

#gacha #gachagame #zenlesszonezero #zzz

v1.0

[HB_]

Thanks for giving me a heart attack with that thumbnail, I appreciate it

[phanron]

The combat really clicked with me after I realized that
a) each character has their own combat gimmick like Anby's alternative attack after three strikes
b) you don't need to always parry. Dodge instead.
c) you can abuse the zero swap time for quick buff refreshes or canceling animations
d) building anomaly and daze is really important
I've played both HI3 and PGR, but ZZZ puts me into that flow state like no other game.

[arzog]

2:01 that's quite common for pc games, it does NOT take 110Gb of space, it just needs the space during the installation to unpack the files then delete the installer afterwards

[adityawidarma]

"Unless Kiana shows up in the Hollow"
Hoyo uploaded lore video showing a person that looks like Kiana as the Inventor of Bangboo

[Otherface]

0:36 "Now i, myself, am someome with refine taste"

*Shows Billy's dummy thicc dumpster truck*

Me too, man. Me too.

[Someone-zndh]

1:24 everyone Really forgot about Tears of Thermis 😅

[_mako]

a new patch every 2 weeks on all three of HYV games is kinda nuts from the player perspective. they've also made both HSR and genshin less demanding over time to make room for each other. they really want you to play all three games and nothing else lol

[reisen]

Finally. someone actually compared ZZZ to HI3, the game that actually shares the same genre. I'm glad you made the comparison because a lot of people, for some reason, compare ZZZ to HSR or to WuWa, two games who are from different genres, so of course there will be pros and cons. so thank you for the fair comparison.

Imho, if we make HI3 the base, HSR will technically be the sequel to its story and ZZZ the sequel to its game mechanics with its overall smoother QTE battle mechanics.

not to mention, the stage by stage selection, 3 member teams + a pet like support, option to play hard mode stages, 3d visual novel interactions and QTE system are all things they took from HI3 and you can clearly see how much they improved on that in ZZZ.


as for the whole not being in the Honkai universe thing, it is still too early to tell but it wouldn't surprise me if we see familiar characters (i.e. multiple bronyas), names (Fu Hua being mentioned in a material quest in Luofu in HSR) being referenced or just plain 'ol easter eggs (HSR's Pela's Tears of Themis phone case).

and even if ZZZ is also in the same Honkaiverse, that doesn't mean they have to interact with the rest of the earlier games. existing is enough.

[Sonnance]

Regarding combat complexity, it’s worth remembering that gacha games (and miHoYo games in particular) have a tendency to start simple and get increasingly complex with time.

That said, yeah this does seem to be starting on the simpler end for their titles. Though I’m not in that deep yet, so I might just not be seeing the big picture yet.

[Truck-kun]

These Thumbnails never fail to make me laugh, that alone is worth the like

[dandytron]

Very-very valid critiques. I feel like ZZZ suffers from being released at the wrong time to the wrong audience. For me personally it's The game I've been looking for my whole time of trying out gacha games and an isntant pick for my main game. I hope more people could appreciate it for what it is instead of comparing it to the other gacha they happen to play at the moment.

[jeffcarrier]

HI3 was SUPER simple when it launched. Just consider the 3-4 starting characters.

[twt]

Surprised you didnt mention anything about attribute anomaly/disorder, the quick assist feature and how supports interact with that, and the unique mechanics characters have like nicoles full circle hold skill having 3 different potential animations, stuff like billy/zhu yuan's triggerable repositions during attacks, soldier 11's "exceed" like timing mechanic etc.

As a HI3 veteran who was frequently in exalted Red Lotus/Nirvana I will say in my opinion that ZZZ has far more freedom and depth than HI3's combat system. Very rarely do you have to engage with HI3's enemies (at most some bosses require certain status application or parries) and you pretty much do very set rotations with a very stiff meta team. Here in ZZZ we have more build variety with the anomaly system and enemy engagement in the form of resource management (managing EX bars for specials, assist bars used for parries, and a shared ult). The way the stun system works also triggers different amounts of chain attacks depending on the enemy class which is something you'll want to take note during stages in Shiyu Defences as you can even continue what would be a short chain by dazing surrounding enemies.

The anomaly system here is also a breath of fresh air and could be seen as a unique blend between genshin's elemental reactions and HSR's DoT. Hell you can even detonate anomaly DoT's via disorder when you apply a 2nd element over an existing one. Another thing maybe you could have covered under gameplay was the ability to swap characters mid animation and have them complete their actions off field (a bit like WW's Calcharo/Yinlin swap teams), you'll notice this particularly with Soukaku whos rather long animation allows you swap via quick assist. All these in my opinion make for more freedom of combat expression and potentially build variety (not just crit fishing gear)

Maybe all this might not seem very useful in the story but in Shiyu Defence you'll really appreciate interacting with all available mechanics. In my experience with Wuthering Waves (who most ppl hail as one of the more mechanically in depth action gacha) having cleared all holograms and 27/30 starred ToA as a f2p. I would still say that ZZZ has comparable depth than you may see at first glance.

Whew sorry for spewing all of that, just wanted to share my thoughts. And also just realized this was a first impression video LOL so I guess it would make sense you'd only cover the bases.

Oh and also you can swap to the character behind with C since you mentioned you could only swap with one button forward.

[LazeRiT]

ZZZ would be near perfect if it was a pay-to-play singleplayer game. I hope Hoyo someday will make AAA singleplayer banger, just like Shift Up did with Stellar Blade

[BakaOppaii]

you cycle through the dailies of mihoyo 4 gachas and then ask yourself "what am I doing with my life?"
then start doing the weeklies of the same 4 gachas

[Selaziam]

I've found your channel with the HI3rd video, watched all of your vids in like three days, and now watching them on release, nice work pseychie.

[Azure_Iolite]

A couple of things regarding the game's combat that you're missing

1) switching characters is NOT a single button thing, and the the order is NOT predetermined, I don't know the buttons on keyboard, but with a controller you can choose to switch to either off-field character at any time using the left and right bumpers

2) when switching characters mid-combo, the last character you were using will finish whatever attack you input before fully tagging out, meaning you can have 2 characters on the field at the same time attacking the same enemy at the same time, it's a small detail, but really adds to the combat and the combo potential you can pull off, and makes you think a bit more about team building and which characters' movesets compliment each the best and enable the best combos

You also completely forgot to mention perfect dodges and dodge counters, as well as the fact that parrying requires assist points that you have to keep topped up on so you can't just spam the ability, as well as unblockable attacks have to be dodged, and general enemy variety and behaviors that require to stay on your toes and carefully concentrate on the battle

[RareTruffle]

3:33 there is a way to swap to the previous character in your line up. On controller swapping is done with both of the bumpers and for Keyboard its C and Space.

[abdulzaelani]

Finally someone that did the right comparison, im tired to see a bunch of content creator just compare this game with wuthering waves just for drama and views.

Honkai impact 3rd is indeed the best gauge for this game, its brawler style, QTE focused combat game. Now regarding the game simplicity keep in mind that this is still v1.0 so all the character having simple mechanic are understandable, its actually the same with HI3rd at the beginning, and with time their combo will become more and more complex as well. That being said, i just hope ZZZ dont make the same mistake HI3rd did in the past, like making too much game mode which lead to too much farmable currency, which is the biggest hurdle new player need to overcome. But considering mihoyo now has better resources and experience, ZZZ will have better chance to be better game unlike HI3rd which at the time they still dont know what they were doing since it is like the first of its kind

[firefist_majid]

I just finished the main story and ngl the final boss is actually really difficult, that was the first time i actually cared about my HP playing the game