Text/Yan Jinyan
I have to say that the open world experience of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" has somewhat exceeded my expectations.
Last weekend, "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun", invested by NetEase and developed by Everstone Studio, held an offline trial meeting for players, and launched a live trial on Sunday night. Grape Jun was also invited to the scene.
In the live broadcast, the game showed some animal ecology, martial arts and large-scale puzzle levels, but many people still had some concerns after watching it. Yes, the combat part of the game does need to be strengthened, and the project team also said that the current game completion is still lacking, such as small scenes, character art effects, and interactive content of the big world need to be further improved.
However, in addition to the live content, as far as my personal experience of playing it, the biggest advantage of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" now may not be how hardcore and brilliant its combat is, or how innovative the gameplay is, but that its open world design is too right.
Without doing the main story, I spent an afternoon strolling around the initial Qinghe area, and its exploration was less than one-third, and I always remained in a state of curiosity. No way, the game's explorable content is really informative and interesting, even under the surface layer, there is a large underground area, which makes me marvel every time, "I lean, I actually hide so many things." ”
It can be said that after this trial, the open-world framework and direction shown by "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" directly dispelled my previous doubts about it. Perhaps it is really as it says, this will be a "domestic open world breakthrough".
01
An open world that comes alive
First of all, "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" wants to intuitively create a real sense of immersion through artistic expression.
In the Qinghe wild area where the live broadcast was shown, you can see a breeze blowing, and the reeds are overwhelmed and swaying with the wind; The surface of the water rippled, and the fog above was blown away. With the player's movement, wading through the roadside river, the river will ripple; Drawing the sword will bring up a drop of water, and the nearby grass and trees will also be cut by the sword blade and fly with the wind.
When adjusting the time, the map will also have a different atmosphere. This is not only reflected in the sunset, early morning, and night, the light will have different scattering, refraction, and reflection effects, and the weather will also change. For example, in the early morning, the map will be fogged and will gradually dissipate over time.
The production team has previously said that they believe that life lies in movement, and that they want players to feel the credibility of the open world, and they want to make the environment fully animated.
I think this vitality is still slightly thin if it is only reflected in the art, but soon the game further explains to the player through an animal ecosystem that this is a real world.
In the wild, we can see many animals, there are eagles and birds in the sky, bears, wolves, deer and sheep on the ground, and fish frogs in the water. If you look closely, you will find that each animal has its own living habits. Wolves will always appear in packs and patrol around the territory; Two bucks will have antler-to-antler duels; Grizzly bears fish in streams; Two puppies in the countryside may bark at each other without saying a word.
After a little experience, you'll see that this animal ecology is not a regular fixture, and the player can not only hunt animals, but also have more complex interactions that can occur.
We shoot birds and beasts that pass in the sky in the field, and the grizzly bear will take the initiative to pounce on it and grab food with the player after seeing it; Alternatively, players can annoy the grizzly bear and entice it to attack enemies. Even, when you encounter a hole sealed by stones, you can use the body technique of Tai Chi to smash the grizzly bear in four or two pounds and make a way.
It can be seen that unlike many common formulaic open worlds on the market, many emerging design ideas are actually used here. The game does not bring the hidden gameplay directly to you, but you have to explore and discover it yourself, and once you first see it, this sense of surprise and gameplay is believed to be a good way to mobilize flow.
In order to achieve this and make the whole world completely "live", "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" is also trying to encourage players to interact with "everything". This diversifies the way the game is explored, puzzled, and completed missions.
Like in the live demo, players need to clear the bandits here after entering the Northern Alliance ruins, and you can stand up to the archers on the watchtower and fight the enemy head-on, but the risk and difficulty of doing so are naturally the highest. If you observe carefully, you will find that the distribution of each enemy and scene object has hidden secrets: if you enter the door to get the rocket, you can first detonate the explosive barrel at the door and clear the guard; After the subsequent detour, you can first sneak assassinate and break the enemy one by one, or secretly carry the explosive barrel in the corner, move it to the enemy's patrol road, and detonate it.
The game also has a wealth of scene destruction, such as the player cutting down trees and bamboo, smashing down will also cause damage to enemies. In short, the various scene designs of "Yanyun Sixteen Voices" are like telling you that the ways players can tackle problems can actually emerge one after another.
Like the dots shown in last year's PV, this is a magic that can be unlocked in the early stage. Players are free to cast on each NPC, making it fit, laugh, itch, etc. Combined with what the production team revealed in an interview before, players may be able to click on the laughing hole of one enemy, attract the attention of other enemies, and sneak away.
For example, if a player wants to obtain an item, he can inquire about intelligence and convince NPCs through dialogue; or directly buy at a high price; It can even be "grabbed" by telescopic, but this will also anger the NPC and trigger a chase battle.
Yes, in order to limit players from using martial arts magic to solve problems all the time, the game sets up a crime system. Although the player is a hero, he still has to abide by the basic law to break into the rivers and lakes. For example, as demonstrated in the live broadcast, when you see an NPC riding a horse on the road, the player can directly rob the horse, and the grumpy NPC will chase after it to try to snatch it back, and the player will accumulate crimes. Not only that, players misbehaving in various places may be rounded up and wanted.
To a certain extent, this actually proves that "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" wants to provide a sufficiently free open world, players can choose their own way of playing, and at the same time, the game through some restrictions, to ensure the immersion and gameplay of the entire open world. With such a degree of openness, I am under the impression that no product in China has ever done it.
02
Why does this open world taste right?
However, seeing this, you may feel that although these open-world design ideas are difficult to do, they are not difficult to reference, why say that it tastes right?
On the one hand, looking at the game products on the market, there are not many games that have been done from the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to the beginning of the Song Dynasty, and just looking at the Huai opera singing section of "Poppy" in the first exposure PV is enough to attract people's attention.
But on the other hand, before actually playing, I also worried that the cultural connotation carried by "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" would become its double-edged sword. Wuxia culture is an element that Chinese people are too familiar with, "where there are Chinese, there are martial arts novels", and martial arts-themed games can always arouse the interest of domestic players. How to combine these cultures with open-world gameplay is a difficult task, and if you are not careful, it will create a sense of fragmentation.
The first thing that reassures me is the puzzle solving mentioned above. Take the puzzle related to the point point as an example, you may meet a young man who is practicing martial arts, he wants to maintain a martial arts posture, but his endurance is not enough to last long, then you can use the point to fix his body and help him cultivate;
Then, you may meet three junior brothers who are practicing martial arts together, and when someone's movements are a few beats faster, you need to adjust the originally uneven movements to the same by fixing and observing;
Or, when you see an unrighteous person stealing chickens and dogs, you can see the unevenness of the road, immobilize him when he is ready to commit the crime, and come to the scene and get all the stolen goods. Aren't such scenarios enough to satisfy our previous imagination of the application of points?
The production team has said that if an open world can be established if it is casually replaced with the skin of martial arts, it will not have the characteristics of the open world of martial arts, so they hope to play the martial arts full of romance and fantasy in martial arts as a mechanism support for the open world.
In terms of open-world collection and exploration, players, as martial arts people, must master some more convenient means. Therefore, players can use a move to shake mountains and rivers to fry fish, or they can use the Buddha hand to collect medicine in the air, or use the cracking wind palm to split trees.
In terms of combat, players can use the art of summoning birds to attract birds and beasts to help kill enemies, or use lion roar to scare animals and beasts away. And the way of acquiring this magic is also more exquisite. For example, in the live broadcast, players need to try to train a sheep three times before they can comprehend the sheep riding technique "Dragon Spike", summon a unicorn beast that resembles a sheep, and ride it forward; If you want to learn the lion's roar, you need to strike different bells seven times; Even players can understand toad gong through interaction with frogs and toads.
If you know something about martial arts or martial arts culture, then this kind of back-to-basics way of learning magic can also make you smile.
And according to this idea, you will also find that "Yanyun Sixteen Voices" fills and packages this martial arts culture to a very high degree, and even affects the game's cultivation system.
Like the most basic martial arts combat system. In addition to ranged weapons, players can also equip two main and secondary melee weapons at the same time. Each weapon has its own martial arts school, corresponding to different fighting styles and skills. Players can switch main and secondary weapons at any time, and freely match skills to form specific skill combos or target enemies.
For example, when players face a large group of miscellaneous soldiers, they can use more control and group damage skills, and when facing a single enemy, they can choose to dodge in a roundabout way, or dominate the output of the body. In short, there are many schools on the rivers and lakes, and the richness of players' combat experience will naturally not be less.
Yes, "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" does not intend to be like regular martial arts MMOs, players must choose a certain sect class and develop a skill tree. There is a stealing master system in the game, and in the current demo version, players can come to the martial arts practice places of each major sect through a sneak journey, secretly follow the master of the sect to memorize the essentials, and master the skills of a certain sect. As a result, the vision of learning the world's martial arts has really come into reality.
Of course, the more advanced the martial arts, the more difficult it is to learn by stealing masters. Players can also follow the rules to enter the master's sect and learn the superb martial arts mastery, thus becoming a generation of grandmasters. In this process, if the player regrets it, he can also betray the division and switch to other doors, which in turn kicks back the authenticity of the open world mentioned above - the player will face the chase and kill order of the past division.
This kind of content presentation of flavor is also applied to the narrative level in combination with exploration, puzzle solving and other gameplay.
Take the "Northern Alliance Ruins" demonstrated in the live broadcast as an example. Before the player enters the city, he will meet NPCs at the city gate, and through dialogue, he will get clues and know that there is some kind of secret hidden in the city. After entering the city, through a series of battles and conversations, the player will be given a treasure map, and must follow the logo on the map to light the beacon smoke throughout the castle tower to trigger the mechanism.
It's worth noting that players often don't get a clear guide to where to go and what to do next. Clues are often a cryptic description or dialogue that requires the player to truly comprehend it themselves.
The best embodiment is the anagram mechanism after entering the underground secret room. The player needs to make the expression of "Yanyun Oath" in front of the statue according to the previous clues, at which time the protagonist will read a paragraph in his mouth, and if the player carefully remembers this paragraph, then he will master the key to cracking the next anagram mechanism.
Through this, you should be able to see that the game's exploration and puzzle gameplay is heavily combined with the plot and culture, and the player is not easy to feel the drama in this process.
And until the end of the entire "Northern Alliance Ruins" level, no NPC or narrator told you what happened here. You can only guess the general plot from the blood characters left on the wall, as well as the statues and layouts in the environment.
This is also another attempt made by "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" at the narrative level. In order to minimize the player's free exploration experience in the open world, they did not follow the traditional linear narrative and mission-based narrative, but told the story through various scenes spread throughout the world.
For example, when I first arrived at Shenxiandu, I learned through conversations with vendors at the entrance of the village that it is now the summer month, which is the period when people from all over the world come to Shenxiandu to taste wine, and recently there have been many suspicious people, busy looking for someone in a certain place. For example, in the process of exploration, I discovered secret passages to the underground in many places, and after many adventures, the past story of this area gradually became clear through dark lines. In this way, whether it is a plot party or a gameplay party, you can get your own fun in the process of exploration.
For the open world, some people want to be "face", and some people strive to be "lizi", and there are few who can truly achieve harmony and unity from the surface to the inside. Of course, the road of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" is not easy to follow, but fortunately, a relatively clear framework can be seen so far, which may be why it is not yet complete, but it feels right to play it.
03
Domestic open world wants to break the formation,
How hard is it?
In recent years, the wave of open world in the domestic game industry has been "rolled" for a while. Many game companies have put down their rhetoric, want to explore the most advanced game engines, technologies, pipelines, recruit more big bulls and 3A talents, invest resources regardless of cost, and want to smash the open world category. But after the environment deteriorated and the tide receded, most of these projects died or remained silent.
A producer who makes innovative products in a major factory once talked to me that he thought the open world of Genshin was really difficult to replicate. The most obvious point is that Mihayou's unique two-dimensional content control and technology accumulation make their open world ideas extremely clear, and they can run through the gameplay and commercialization design on a large scale just by focusing on characters and content.
And these are especially difficult for open-world games of other themes, especially domestic martial arts open world. Wuxia games pursue a sense of immersion and substitution, it is difficult for games to design the commercial selling point of multiple characters, if it is a sales value and strong social, it returns to traditional MMOs, and the sense of quality and gameplay has declined.
In this case, the design framework and direction of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" are actually full of imagination. Although the bottom layer of its various systems is not difficult to understand, many 3A or stand-alone products on the market already have a set of mature ideas. But its rarity lies in the fact that it combines the cultural and historical background of martial arts in terms of gameplay and content, and makes enough interesting and solid packaging and micro-innovation, which is in line with our imagination of the open world of martial arts - at least through it, I finally saw the gameplay and core fun that this genre should have.
In the future, they will also have an independent multiplayer mode, and the gameplay is more focused on social, which should solve the player's long-term problem.
Of course, "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" still has many challenges to face. For example, in the long-term content production of single-player mode, there is a lot of pressure. Looking at the current Qinghe area alone, hundreds of large, medium and small puzzle solving scenes have been laid. These puzzles occupy an extremely important place in open-world exploration, and it is important that the average design level can be maintained at a certain height and reduce repetition.
At the same time, according to different regional background settings, the behavior logic of NPCs must also be self-consistent. For example, the village Shenxiandu is famous for its wine, where players can see the process of making koji, fermentation, distillation and other wine-making, and can also play the mini-game of fighting wine pitcher. Many NPCs' routines also revolve around brewing, and some important NPCs have their own life stories and have a deep favorability system with players, which should increase the pressure of content production.
There are 16 categories in the "Natural History" collection system, echoing the "sixteen tones" in the "Law Standard" written by Wang Pu, a famous minister of the Later Zhou, and when clicking on the 16 pages, there will also be sound effects corresponding to the rhythm in the ancient music score, from which you should be able to feel their dedication to the details of the content. Under the 16 major categories, various small items have been derived, which may be the architectural style of the early Song Dynasty, may be the process of winemaking, in short, each article needs to be fully historical research. This also places demands on the content capabilities of the production team.
Therefore, how to ensure the production capacity and quality of open-world content in the future, and how to do a good job in combat experience and cultivation depth, will be the problems that "Yanyun Sixteen Voices" needs to solve.
But anyway, through this demo and live broadcast, I think the production team has firmly determined the framework of the game, overcome some underlying problems, and entered a stable mass production stage. If "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" can overcome the challenges mentioned above, by the time it is really launched, I believe that the domestic martial arts open world may usher in new changes.