IS ZZZ OVERHATED? My Thoughts After 30+ Hours In Zenless Zone Zero

Zenless Zone Zero:

ZZZ BAD?

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Content
0:00 Context For Review
00:40 Is Combat Bad?
3:20 TV System Issues?
5:12 Yapstory?
6:13 General Gameplay Thoughts
6:52 Is It F2P Friendly?
7:55 Character Designs
8:57 Is The Game Polished?
9:40 General Progression
10:47 Closing Thoughts

#zzz

[hugochavez]

I'm enjoying Zenless Zone Zero on several levels. I have a background in fighting games and my opinion is the same as yours. It is a pretty easy game but it's just satisfying. The game has the perfect feedback cues to reward your perfect assists and follow-up combos.

As for the "TV system" I was initially confused on what to make of it but... I think it's somewhat genius with a lot of potential. It's perfect for a gacha game/game with a rolling content release system because it allows for a lot of freedom of game design.

I initially thought the point was just the game's way of inserting a roguelike system to substitute a real-world exploration. But... I see now that it allows for all sorts of silly things like simulating Bomberman or a tower defense game. The square grid allows for abstraction but the TV screen allows for definition.

And I agree with you on the inconveniently interspersed dialogue. I realize that a lot of it is simply describing the rules of the new "game" you're in. However... I think the UI is terrible If characters are talking, I want to see their lovely character models. And if there are complex rules being explained... I don't want it to be in a little text box in the top right corner. There's a lot about the UI I don't like as well.

It's a shame you're skipping trough the story though. The story is AMAZING. I've really grown to like it. The Belobog arc especially. There are so many lovable characters in this game. The game does a great job of interweaving a lot of anime and gaming pastiches.

[koelee]

As someone who's taken their time with the story aspects of the game, for anyone skipping the story, you're missing a MAJOR part of this game, and I'm not surprised if you're not enjoying it. I think it's a bit unfair to make criticisms of the story if you're just pushing skip every time there's a cutscene.
IMO ZZZ has probably the best story telling out of the Genshin Impact, HSR and Wuwa type gachas. It's an absolute breath of fresh air that the story is understandable right from the start after the disaster that was Wuwa's story introduction (seriously, Kuro constantly throwing random words together without ever explaining what any of it meant was ACTUAL bad story telling). The comic style cutscenes make the dialogue sections much more dynamic than the usual characters walking around and alternating through the same 5 poses and facial expressions.
Wise and Belle so far have both been great main characters. It's nice that the story establishes them as experts in their field with lots of past experience and a history of building their reputation, as opposed to the usual "this character has amnesia, but their backstory makes them the most important and powerful character in this universe". It's also really nice that both characters talk in the story regardless of who you pick since it makes them feel much more alive when compared to the blank slate self-inserts.

The game also introduces a lot of really interesting supporting cast, especially the Cunning Hares who each have interesting dynamics with the main characters and with one another.
It's very hard to understand the whole "the world building in this game sucks" argument when we see the lifestyles of so many different people throughout the story. Not to mention how alive the NPCs feel when exploring the overworld. There's also the inter-knot articles and threads that help expand on the world-building at the current point of the story that you _CAN_ read, but really don't have to to understand the world.

I went into this game not really expecting much out of the story since it's a Gacha game, but honestly, I feel like the story and the characters has been maybe 75% of my enjoyment of the game so far.

On the topic of the combat, it's definitely a lot more involved than the E-Q, Swap "gameplay" from Genshin, but also a lot more casual and button-mashy compared to Wuwa. The difficulty has been very easy so far, but that's fine because we haven't reached the end-game yet. I do think it's unreasonable to complain that the game isn't hard when players haven't yet experienced the hardest content the game has to offer. It's just like when players were saying "Wuwa bosses are too easy" when they hadn't fought the Holograms or ToA yet, and we're only basing it on the story-mode. Now I understand that the combat people talk about being easy in ZZZ isn't just from the story, but until we actually know what the hardest content in ZZZ looks like, I think it's best to hold off on making a concrete opinion on the difficulty of the game.

Yes I do think that the game deserves to be criticised; everything deserves criticism. But it's Day 3 and the amount of hate the game has gotten has been completely ridiculous, seriously, I've heard people saying things like "the animation is trying too hard!" and "they sexualise the drawing of the fully-clothed shark girl too much!". It's fine though, people are allowed to dislike things. For anyone who does dislike it, just don't play it I guess; no one is forcing you to. There's so many other Gacha games out there, this one's probably just not for you.

[reimondo]

Hey, been watching your videos on Reverse 1999 back previously, currently also playing ZZZ, really fun i would say as i did tried to watch all the story cutscene in ZZZ. Inter-Knot 34 now, F2P, not yet gotten Ellen ... Sad for me.
I personally think ZZZ has improvement space and as a new player, i did enjoyed it.
Oh yeah, recommend you get all Agent up to level 10 as each gives a free standard pull.

[DesuKaXiang]

If early game was hard. Also will have ppl complaining one

[AnimeWineAuntie]

I have said it’s okay-ish, and the longer I play it the more firmly I believe this. It’s not trash, but it’s a long way from being great. If I gave it a grade I would say B- at best. The horrible out-lashing feels like a reaction to people having high expectations from Hoyo.

[skyMcWeeds]

remember all those cc's that trash the game now will be coming back once content for ZZZ comes out and rocks because they need the views. total hypocrites them haters.

[dianrriski]

I'm using macro for left click + E during combat (don't want to break my mouse left click). So in a fight, I just watch the screen and be waiting to press space for counter. Not the best damage output, but as long as the enemy is dead then all good 😂

[poyax.]

Installed it on iPad, same day I uninstalled it. Few days after I installed it on PC and now I love it.

Tip: Activate reverb effects, sound stage and sh* on your sound card if it has built in sound effects. It helps the game feel more arcade. Coz it is an arcade game.

[euge]

It's not really that good a game... it's just new.

[loushia]

I enjoy the combat, the cutscenes, the characters, and animations.
But all that gets killed every time I have to deal with the damn TV system. It's cute in moderation, but so frustrating when it's the entire foundation for exploration in this game.

[pierrotthefool]

i played honkai since release global and pgr since it release global, i think this game is 5 years too late :D

[kieragard]

i don't know about this game, it's like they took all the npc rejects and put them here.

[revitz]

For the story, yes it’s a big deal that the dome is around but they have forces that take care of it. Your character is supposed to be a normal person. Sure there’s wars that happen in real life but people still live their normal life.

[josephwong]

Its a B+/A- 6-7/10 so its a good game just not for everyone people got to accept that Gacha game or anything in life is not for everyone and not everyone has to play everything.

This community in gacha become so brainrot to a point.... its GG. before GENSHIN no one would care this much on gacha game but after it become so popular the LOUD people are so brain dead.

So this is a actual good review. Pros and cons all stated out a real critic.

Okay my only grip with this video... IF YOU SKIP THE STORY DONT COMMENT ON THE STORY.

The whole point is they a lot of HOLLOWS Zero current largest one that appears randomly destroyed the "old capital" which is Eridue now we are in new Eridue where life goes on and although they are many smaller sized hollow that appear randomly.

At the point of the game human has found ways to navigate through life with the hollow and uses the etheral as a energy source to power up things. Then us a proxy whom is illegal professional people that navigate through this hollows ofcourse we can take commission etc. it make more sense than even in GI and HSR where we are servants this is our job we help people find missing item in follow, rescue people out of smaller hollows. So we don't know how hollows came about, we have so many more to explore.

Like why a lot people who skip story can love Wuwa bsc wuwa you can skip everything and in the end the awesome cinematic come in that the whole point. Those whom read the story is actually losing out bsc it make the story seem so meh too even in 1.1 u skip everything that is skippable u still have the same knowledge as anyone whom never skip anything nth much really missed out hahaha. If people say that is good story telling then ok good for you imo that's bad story telling why even tell just do the cinematic why need waste that time. so comparing every story for me as everything now

[Bringthewinter]

My worry is that they will keep adding more and more “new” characters that play and look like the old/original characters just to keep players playing, creating redundancy to the point where the characters and their play styles no longer matter because everyone plays the same. Like what happened to Honkai Impact 3rd with all the variations and versions of the same characters.

[Anika]

As soon as i got Ellen i started enjoying it 😂😂😂
Its fun asf. I was shittinh of gane cause of salt.
I still hate auto switch

[TenHorizons]

5:30 Ukraine is at war with Russia, does that mean they can't have a normal life, go to school, have fun, etc? The hollow isn't going to go away anytime soon, so it's natural for people to find a sense of normalcy in times of crisis, otherwise people will go insane.
In contrast, I think it's actually quite realistic. You can see how the whole economy is configured towards fighting the hollow, or at the very least configured towards resolving issues caused by the hollow.

[hmmn]

At first I feel just okish with the game but as it progress I'm kindda liking it more and more. Playing wuwa and this game together. Maybe as age is catching up with me, I do prefer a lot more layback kindda styles of game where I can just relax and at the same time enjoy the fights and other things in the game. Rewards wise is a lot better compare to other hoyo games but the gatcha summonings on getting S rank chars is still very low. Need to save up a lot as f2p to pull on the char and their weps tho. Definitely, not as friendly to f2p as wuwa.

[twilightwolf]

Combat feels lifeless and bland, artstyle looks too colourful, and the fact that this game was purely made as furrybait.

[aaronchong]

The way they portrait the story is S tier, but the story is meh.