Thirteen years ago, the fantasy world of elves, technology and magic won the favor of many players with the fantasy world of elves, technology and magic, and became a memory symbol of their youth. Now, as a new mobile game derived from the IP of "Purcell", "Plan Purcell" naturally evoked the childhood memories cherished in the hearts of these players who have grown up after its first explosion in September last year.
With the game's recent "Consultant Recruitment", we were also fortunate enough to try out an early version of the game. After some experience, I found that while maintaining the core fun of "Purcell" genie cultivation and turn-based combat, the game made people feel a different world of Purcell through the new interpretation of IP.
Although Taomi indicated at the time of its official announcement last year that the story of this game takes place in a different world from "Purcell", to my surprise, "Plan Purcell" is set in a modern city with advanced technology, and a different adventure around "Guardian World".
The demo version reveals just the tip of the iceberg, in which players will play as a "tactical advisor" specially hired by the Xaar Academy to provide tactical command and combat strategies for the elves, together against naturally generated mutations and extremist organizations called "Broken Mirrors". The plot of this game is also centered on the daily training of elves in the academy, and players will grow up with these familiar partners to maintain the tranquility of the entire continent.
Comic-style cutscenes have a different flavor
Project Cell constructs a sandbox world in a cartoonish celluloid art style, where players need to complete the main story according to the mission guide and enter the levels between various points. In today's era when the pure level-style mainline design of RPG mobile games is popular, this process design that combines online game running maps with levels is somewhat "different". But it is worth affirming that compared with the former, the latter shows the effect of "1 + 1 is greater than 2", which not only makes the plot experience smoother and smoother, but also makes it easier for people to substitute into the characters.
Walls of air on the map that occasionally hinder the player's progress also suggest that the game is not yet developed.
In addition to the difference in worldview, in the "Plan Purcell", the elves in the original work with different forms have become humanoid. The developers have accurately controlled the characteristics of the elves in "Purcell" and designed a new character image. When I first saw these elves, the feeling of déjà vu came to mind, and most of the distinctive and comic design elements could make people sit in the right seat without a sense of abruptness. After the personification of the elves, not only the standing painting is more exquisite, but the dynamic standing painting and touch interaction also make these elves "live" in another form.
Familiar elven skills such as "Lightning Flash" and "Turbulent Dragon Strike" are also re-presented with more gorgeous animation effects, showing gorgeous visual effects.
Turbulent Dragon Strike
Also in line with the "turn-based combat" elements of the Purcell. Honestly, the logic of this game's combat gameplay is more like the PLUS version of the Purcell, full of the atmosphere of old acquaintances. For example, the battle formation can carry up to six characters, which is still the familiar "six-player" battle mode. In addition, familiar settings such as guessing boxing attribute restraint, strike speed, and status mechanism have also been continued.
At the same time, the "Plan Xaar" combat system has also undergone a certain innovation on the basis of the mature paradigm of the original work. For example, the addition of speed bars makes the character's move sequence more intuitive. At the same time, the three people on the field to meet the enemy, the other three people off the field of the big change, not only let the player in the strategic level have a broader space to play, but also produced a more diversified team configuration, greatly enriching the player's tactical choices. For the simplest example, in the mode where three people are present at the same time, the skill combo between different elves is possible, for example, after the fire elves such as the flame orangutan cause burns to the enemy, Rios's skills will get a series of buffs such as increasing damage and increasing the probability of hits.
In addition, the expansion of the lineup simplifies the relatively complex and cumbersome battle mode of the original game, allowing players to have more use in attribute restraint - when facing enemies with different attributes, especially restraint attributes, they can be treated without frequent role changes, achieving the effect of doubling the results with half the effort.
In terms of cultivation outside of combat, in addition to the "traditional arts" and derivative copies of a series of RPG mobile games such as character upgrades, upgrades, and skill enhancements, the "Xaar Plan" also adds some new tricks.
The most representative is that the game has added a similar "holy mark/consciousness" system (temporarily called "engraving" in this game) similar to the two-dimensional action mobile game, in order to expand the strategic nature of the game's gameplay. However, the game currently has only one engraving set, which is not obvious. With the opening of other engraving sets in the future, perhaps the depth of strategy developed by the characters in this game will be further advanced.
In terms of PVP, The Xaar Project is divided into two modes: arena and peak combat. In the arena, the game uses a semi-automatic PVP form, that is, the player challenges other players controlled by the AI to defeat the enemy to accumulate points and obtain ranking rewards.
Peak combat, on the other hand, is fought by matching players of the same rank. Compared with the arena mode, peak combat not only has a higher threshold, but also tests the training of the player's character, and also has the characteristics of strategic game. Players need to pass two rounds of ban selection among the 12 full-level elves selected in advance, while restricting the opponent's elf selection, select the powerful or counter opponent's elf, and flexibly form a lineup of 3 starts and 3 substitutes.
For now, the Battle of the Pinnacle is not a pure one-click numerical competition, but more focused on the player's choice of enemies and attribute restraint, careful consideration, through reasonable platooning and skill casting to defeat the enemy to win. In the future, after the cultivation mechanism such as engraving and the balance of the sprite are gradually improved, the impact of the numerical gap between players on PVP will be further narrowed, and the game will focus more on the confrontation of the strategic dimension.
All in all, the current "Consultant Recruitment" version of the "Purcell Project" is still a little immature, for example, the elf dubbing has not yet been completed, and many gameplay methods such as dormitories and clubs are still in the "not yet open" stage. But it is reassuring that today's game's combat system has a high degree of completion, and on the basis of retaining the old taste, it has greatly enriched the player's gaming experience with some innovations that conform to the times.
I hope that in the near future, more than 10 years after the voyage of the spaceship that carries countless people's childhood memories, Taomi can bring us a different world of Xaar.