Hi everyone, I'm Dr. X.
From "breathing rivers and lakes" to "Jin Yong universe that can rotate", on the eye-catching concept of martial arts, you have to look at NetEase?
Recently, NetEase's new martial arts adventure game "Condor "Jin Yong Rotating Universe" finally ended its eighteen-day iron-blooded pill heart closed beta tour. Motivated by various Common Beta & Adventure rewards and leaderboards, the players who participated in the test really did their best to experience the game content of "Condor ".
This test is still mainly based on the PC side, the original intention is also to allow players to experience the game as deeply as possible, digging the lack of gameplay and content at this stage, the previous official promised that there is no leaderboard after the public test, so you can temporarily do not have to worry about the problem of too much liver caused by the progress of the game.
During this period, Dr. X also worked hard for dozens of hours, reaching the stage of the third realm and reaching the stage of completion, and he had a deeper understanding of this new domestic open world work with a completely different temperament.
Today, let's talk to you about what kind of game "Condor " is after half a year of overhaul and precipitation.
(Old rule, group photo of Dr. X (tea))
Focus 1: Da Song Simulator? "Condor Shooting" with the utmost respect for cultural atmosphere
In a previous interview with Xiao Guan, the producer of "Condor ", Dr. X told us that "Condor "wants to tell the classic old IP of Condor in a newer way".
This "new" represents that Condor wants to take a completely different path from traditional MMOs.
Whether it is the fresh and vivid new national style in the painting style, it is different from our common realistic martial arts in the past; Or the persistent pursuit of "time" and "agreement" in the gameplay, telling players that it is urgent to experience "Condor "; Or immerse yourself in the cultural atmosphere of all aspects of the game, as if the player really traveled to the dynasty of the Southern Song Dynasty.
(The achievement system "Menghualu" like the National Style Scroll
And this "new", almost at the moment the player just stepped on the land of Jinzhongdu, it fiercely surrounded the player, "Condor " can be said to be a game I have seen, the strongest willingness to restore the style of the Great Song Dynasty and popular science traditional culture, the Song Dynasty's respect for literati to the extreme.
However, this atmosphere of "everything is inferior, only reading is high" is not based on copying knowledge points and then feeding them wildly, according to them, "We don't want to teach historical allusions to players, but in a better way for players to subtly accept and adapt." ”
So we can see that the aboriginal NPCs in "Condor " are transformed into "cultural people" with a history and a story, and they can tell a piece of history or past events at will.
This person may also be a person who has experienced some famous allusions at home and abroad, such as the Southern Song Dynasty version of "Ponzi Scheme" and "Mengmu Three Migrations".
A snack or a fashionable toy has a lot to offer, not only can be given to the chivalrous to increase the favorability, but also the use, source, paragraphs that appear in "Condor " and other multiple footnotes and meanings, it can be said that NetEase has put great care into tracing the origin brick by brick and tile.
Dr. X really likes to guess "what gift is in his or her heart" when giving gifts to a warrior. The puzzle design of the project team is very grounded, and it can basically be guessed according to the literal meaning, such as the following text prompt, the five words before and after are reminded in place, a guess is accurate, and the sense of achievement is not small.
If you really can't guess, go to the "material" column in the package and rummage through it, and you can always find a direction that is not bad. It also made me get into the habit of passing by a vendor and buying his stuff empty (when I had money in my pocket after a few days of playing, of course).
No matter how bad it is, you can also shout a sentence in the world channel, and there are always players who are precious to the condor to answer.
This design also allows me to understand a little more about ordinary props that I usually don't read the text introduction carefully, and deepen my impression in a simpler and more interesting way.
(The protagonist and accompanying junior disciples will come to an "encyclopedia lecture hall" from time to time)
(The rivers and lakes are full of chanting platforms, and after the chanting, there will be a beautiful scene reappearing)
If there are players who are not sensitive to this kind of word game, they can also experience this river and lake from an audio-visual point of view, there are three places where people play in Wudingfang alone, and the forest villages will also hear melodious light songs and ditties, and the beautiful words and rhythms of the song words are enough to make people listen repeatedly for an afternoon without getting tired.
In fact, not only the infiltration of Song Dynasty culture such as clothing, food, housing and transportation, the game "Condor " also follows many rules that the Song people abide by, such as slowing down when indoors, not running and sprinting, so as not to collide with others; When riding a horse, you need to dismount before you can talk to people. There are also various Song Dynasty etiquette gestures such as forked hand salutes, bowing and respecting, and players can also use them against other players or warriors on the rivers and lakes, but it is quite a gesture of a warrior in the rivers and lakes.
All of the above is actually to better shape the era atmosphere of a Condor game IP and lay the foundation for its core gameplay.
Focus 2: Parallel worlds that can rotate? The time system challenges the player's go-live time
At first glance at the concept of "Jin Yong's self-rotating universe", Dr. X feels quite poignant, a parallel world that can operate consistently and endlessly, wouldn't it be wonderful if the game rivers and lakes had this look?
To this end, "Condor " also sets core concepts such as "game time and reality synchronization", and most of the mission gameplay adheres to the agreement of one session and one meeting.
(Time and scenery change in Condor all the time)
When you look out the window from the game world in the evening, you may see the same sunset as the game; The happy forest lights at night, a bustling scene of lively songs, different light source technologies illuminate the dark night of all parties have another beauty, which is the cotonic pleasure of the parallel world brought by "time and reality synchronization", and the success of this gameplay has been confirmed by "Animal Crossing" before.
(The lotus pond is lit up with stone lamps at night)
The warriors in "Condor " have their own behavior trajectories, and even the daily "diary" is different, and the favorability tasks triggered by chance encounters in each time period are different. To seek the guidance and challenge of the warrior, you also need to pick the time and place, and show the utmost respect for the other party.
If you get up early and go to the Lingshui Temple to ring the bell, you can get a Menghualu achievement; Side quests are like serials, and after completing a stage, you have to meet another day; To collect a particular spring water, you have to collect it at the hour; Bounty challenges depend on the date and time, and at the beginning of the game, it seems that all gameplay will give you a time frame.
Some players may think that "NetEase is afraid that it is not crazy", "Originally, there was not much time for workers to play games, and they still limited time so much, this is not what is going to work?" ”
When Dr. X first started playing, he did encounter a lot of gameplay with a harsh schedule, so he had to mark on the map and come back at another time. During the closed beta period, the project team urgently adjusted a number of time gameplay restrictions, such as "Chanting" was released to the full time period.
It can only be said that time gameplay is a double-edged sword, which can bring players a unique sense of substitution, but it will also put forward higher requirements for players' online time.
As a core concept of "Condor Shooting" to build Jin Yong's rotating universe, Dr. X learned that time gameplay is basically impossible to abandon, but the project team frankly stated that many gameplay content was not properly designed during the closed beta period, and will continue to optimize in the future, trying to adjust the pace of the game.
In terms of main features, "Condor " is also an RPG game with open world exploration, single-player story experience, light social and light online pressure.
In this test, Dr. X spent almost 80% of his time wandering in the wild, and he was successfully promoted to the stage of nearing the perfection of the realm. The greatest motivation for exploration comes from the treasure chests and adventures that can be found everywhere, and every land in the big world must be swept past to not miss a single hidden treasure.
(Meditation meditation can also gain experience growth)
In addition, cultivating chivalry attendants, improving equipment, challenges, taking panaceas, etc. can obtain experience props, hanging up gameplay such as listening to music and meditation can also quickly improve the realm, and the protagonist's martial arts skills are all obtained by consulting warriors and traveling in rivers and lakes, it can be said that in terms of "playability", the open world of "Condor " is enough to provide freshness for a long time.
(Broken mirrors will fail)
Even the gameplay of the quests under the team such as "Bai Lian" is relatively late to open, and these replica gameplay not only supports the teaming between players, but also supports players and warriors to break through the level to challenge.
(Yang Kang card drawing animation)
The gameplay of this chivalrous is a bit similar to the mode of Genshin, but the chivalry is not controllable.
In the challenge or PVP, players can bring three heroes to appear, and the battle of the heroes is all automatic, and only the amplification move requires manual operation by the player; In the process of exploring the big world, players can only bring one chivalrous to play together, this chivalrous warrior is somewhat childish, Dr. X hopes to choose an adult chivalrous in the future.
It is foreseeable that the warrior system of "Condor Shooting" will be a major card draw payment point in the future, and it is also the key to the long-term cultivation of the game and the improvement of combat power. NetEase's efforts in this area can not be described as much, and even a little reference to the two-dimensional game "pay for love" model, a chivalrous attendant not only has the original background, adult, young and other vertical painting and modeling, during the test NetEase also released the "Dragon War in the Wild" single-player theme song for Guo Jing, which has the posture of composing music for each original character to make PV.
The big world can carry a chivalrous attendant to appear, and there is also the feeling that the original characters accompany the player to the rivers and lakes.
(Yang Kang and the little junior brother will follow the protagonist when exploring the big world)
However, at present, the interaction between players and the baby chivalry they carry is still relatively limited, the chivalrous can only help fight, other exploration puzzle levels are not involved, Dr. X feels that there is still a bit of room for digging in this aspect, such as the "resonance concerto" that now requires multiple people to team up, will there be a chance to cooperate with the chivalry in the future?
(Solving puzzles about gold, wood, water, fire and earth)
In short, different from NetEase's traditional MMORPG, "Condor " is more like a new game that strictly abides by the conventional rules of the rivers and lakes and takes the restoration of the culture of the orthodox era as its own responsibility, whether it is big world exploration or other challenging gameplay, it emphasizes the sense of coordination with the era, rather than forcibly sewing the gameplay in. However, due to the problem of research and development progress, the playability of the puzzle levels, challenges and other gameplay currently revealed needs to be improved.
(Word measurement)
After "Condor " is really launched, players can slow down and slowly experience it, playing it as a light social, light MMO game, when there will be no stimulation and urging of these leaderboards during the closed beta period, coupled with the official promise of the goal of "refusing to clock in to work", the experience may go to a higher level.
Let's talk about this for the time being, tomorrow Dr. X will also share with you his views on the Condor IP and combat system, so stay tuned!