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Developed by Square Enix and ACQUIRE, Bandai Namco's agent "Divergent Traveler 2" is about to be launched next week, and the editor will play the official version in advance, and talk about the game in a way that is about 50 hours and has not yet been fully cleared.
The journey of the new eight protagonists begins
THE "DIVERGENT TRAVELER" SERIES CAN BE SAID TO INHERIT THE CONCEPT OF SE'S EARLIER WORK "LIVE ALIVE", WITH SEEMINGLY UNRELATED MULTIPLE PROTAGONISTS UNFOLDING THEIR OWN STORIES, AND FINALLY SEEMINGLY 8 UNRELATED PLOTS WILL END TO THE REAL MAIN LINE.
In this "Divergent Traveler 2", players will play as the swordsman "Light", the medicine master "Casti", the hunter "Osithea", the thief "Solone", the priest "Temenos", the scholar "Ozbad", the dancer "Agnya" and the merchant "Paltheo", a total of eight characters, the class part is the same as the previous game, but the characters and story are completely different, and have nothing to do with the generation, so new players can play directly.
At the beginning of the game, the player chooses a character from the above 8 characters, which is crucial, because like the first generation, there will be a very long period of time and this character cannot be replaced. This also means that the first character you choose is bound to become the main player of the highest-level team.
After that, players can start looking for other characters, and when they arrive in other characters' towns, most of them can quickly see them or trigger the plot, you can choose whether to experience the first chapter of the character's plot first, or continue to go down first and then return to play when you have time, but it is basically recommended to play the first chapter first, so that the level can be increased first and some basic equipment can be obtained.
In order to understand many people's criticism of the previous work, the characters this time have obviously put more effort into it, the character personality design is more full and distinct, the scholar full of vengeance, the priest who explores the case, the prince who staged the Revenge, etc., there are several characters whose stories are indeed good.
However, since the story progression is left to the player's choice, all eight stories are independent until the final end. Therefore, the point that was criticized by many people in the previous game is that although the eight travelers have teamed up, the entire game process is almost like strangers, which has been improved in the second generation, and two new systems have been added.
One is the "team dialogue" between the two people that will occur in some main paragraphs, which is basically a dialogue between the character of the main line and another character in response to the previous main story. The other is the "Co-op Story", which is an exclusive story between two characters that appears during their journey, which is triggered according to the character's main progress. The plot content is a separate event and has a certain length of weight.
It's a pity that after 50 hours of playing, only the story of two people is encountered (unless there are new combinations later), and not every combination is available, which also means that all the character interactions this time are one-on-one, and I have not seen more than 3 people talking together.
But after all, as mentioned above, the free choice of story cannot guarantee the interaction between the characters, and this time the characters have more distinct personalities, so it is hard to say that there will still be some times when I feel a little out of place.
Another problem with the freedom to choose stories is that because of the hierarchy, it is almost impossible to complete one person's journey at a time and then change people. Instead, all the characters go through the first chapter first, and then start the second chapter one after another, and the coherence of each character's story will be interrupted, but this seems inevitable, and can only be said to be a necessary sacrifice in exchange for freedom.
More complex map instructions
The biggest change in the system this time is that each of the eight characters has day and night map instructions. For example, a swordsman can find someone to duel and learn skills during the day, and at night he can pay to get information about the opponent's NPC. Day and night can be controlled by the player.
It seems that the 16 instructions seem a little complicated, but instead of looking at the difference between these 16 skills, it is better to understand what the NPC has first, basically these 16 skills look at the NPC's "intelligence", "location", "holding items", and "strength and skills (related to whether to hire)".
"Intelligence" can obtain information about hidden items, more content in stores, discounts in hotels, and many side quests also rely on inquiring about information. "Location" is a skill that can stun some NPCs that stand in the way, so as to enter places or areas that would otherwise be inaccessible. "Holding items" is to find a way to scavenge the things on NPCs, which is an important means of growth, and "strength and skills" are related to hiring, hiring strong fighters, who can make up for the original lack of attributes in battle, and even deal powerful damage beyond the protagonist's group.
This is actually the same example in the previous game, for example, if you want to get items on NPCs in the "Divergent Traveler" generation, you can get them by "stealing" from thieves or "buying" from merchants.
In "Divergent Traveler 2", wanting to take the things on NPCs has become 4 means, which are the "stealing" of thieves during the day, the "purchase" of merchants, and the "begging" of dancers at night and the "robbery" of scholars. And each requirement is different, "stealing" has a probability problem, "buying" costs money, "asking" requires a specified level, and "snatching" requires enough combat power to win the NPC.
The interesting point is here, maybe an NPC has a weapon that is very strong at the moment, but the chance of stealing it is too low, it is too expensive, and the current level is not enough to please, but maybe the NPC has poor combat power, so it can be snatched directly with scholars.
Some people may wonder if it would be too troublesome to check all four skills? But because some NPCs in Divergent Traveler 2 will only haunt during the day/night, not every NPC can actually watch a round with four skills. In addition, some late-stage divine weapons will also design all four conditions so that you can't get them in the early stage.
But I have to say that maybe there are more things to do, and the actual play begins to have a sense of homework in the back, every time you come to a new town, it is first cut into the day, replaced by a team suitable for exploration and looting during the day, and then cut into the night, and then replaced with a team suitable for night to walk around, and meet a guy who will have peerless martial arts skills on the way, and then specially recruit to use.
Incidentally, since there are more classes that allow residents to travel with them this time (dancer, merchant, priest, hunter), if the team happens to be these classes, it will become a long human dragon on the map.
New combat system: potential
Like the previous game, this encounter with enemies is still randomly triggered on the map, in terms of combat, this time "Divergent Traveler 2" follows the system of the previous game and "Courage Doomsday", which is also turn-based, focusing on the weak "BREAK combat system" with "BP instructions".
First of all, for players who have not played the previous game, in the game, each monster has a certain defense value, which must be reduced by hitting with weak weapons or attributes, and entering the Break state after zeroing will make the enemy's turn pause and the defense value will be greatly reduced, which is also the best opportunity to attack.
The BP system is that each character can accumulate 1 BP per turn, up to a maximum of 5 points, and players can release up to 3 points in a round of attack, which can increase the number of combos of general attacks, or enhance the damage or effect of skills.
In other words, players can choose to consume BP as soon as possible to break the defense with a quick attack, so that the enemy will faint before they have time to touch you, or accumulate BP to break the defense to get a big burst of damage, which is quite deep at the strategic level.
Since the weapon types, attributes, and even some skills are the same as its predecessor, the combat system of Divergent Traveler 2 is also 87% similar to its predecessor. The biggest difference is the introduction of the "potential" system, which can be seen as a special move for each character, only the scale that accumulates when playing defense breaking and being attacked, these skills are quite unique, such as the thief's "afterimage" can act twice a turn, and the merchant's "motivation" can completely return to BP.
And the potential can also be enhanced with the BP system, so some characters' big moves can deal instant huge damage, or have the ability to reverse the crisis. When to use it is also more testing the player's strategy.
In addition to potential, you can also learn special "EX skills" through the hidden altar of the map and special conditions, each class has two EX skills, which make up for the original lack of some of these skills, which are worth looking for players.
In the previous game, there are still hidden elements such as free choice of sub-classes, hidden inheritance classes, and hidden elements after clearing the level. Among them, the sub-profession can get more licenses through the tasks of the guild, for example, the license of the merchant guild is bought with money, the first is to find the location of the guild and will be sent, the second one will cost 100,000 to buy, and the third is 300,000.
Each class can have up to three licenses, and if you get them all, you can let three people choose merchants as secondary classes at the same time, plus the original merchants, you can put together a whole team of merchants to rob monsters for money.
The combat system of "Divergent Traveler" has been well received in previous games, but it is not vegetarian in terms of game difficulty. This time in the combat system can be said to play the safety card, if you like the system of the previous game, in "Divergent Traveler 2" not only does not have a problem of getting started, but even because the class, weapons, skills and previous game are similar, there will be a strong sense of familiarity.
Still fascinating art and music
Since the appearance of HD-2D pixel style art in "Divergent Road Traveler", it immediately attracted the attention of most players in the market, old players are full of emotion, new players also look quite cute, with the launch of the first generation five years ago, this time "Divergent Traveler 2" graphics have been significantly improved compared to the first generation, the scene details are the same as "Triangle Strategy", and the number of objects is more.
In addition, this time the second generation simultaneously increased the proportions of the head and body of the characters, and there was more detail in the presentation of some actions, and at the same time, the whole voice, the performance of the voice actors is also quite good, really want to say that there is something a pity in the picture, probably for grading, so when it comes to receiving a bento, it is not as real as "Triangle Strategy".
Officially, it has been mentioned in the past that HD-2D-style games are not built with an old engine, but a presentation method, which is actually made with a modern engine such as Unreal. Therefore, if you think that pixel wind does not eat hardware resources, it is a big mistake, with this time in the case of pixel resolution, light and shadow effects are better than the previous generation, if you want to fully render, you must also need better hardware.
This time I played the PS5 version, which sometimes triggers a bug that the voice cannot be broadcast (all the main main lines in the game have voice), and you need to restart the game. In addition, when browsing the map, some places with rich close-up scenes, FPS will be unstable (dropped frames) when switching depth of field, these depend on whether the official will launch a correction file later.
The music of the previous generation has received quite a lot of praise, and this time "Divergent Traveler 2" is the same creative lineup, and the same intoxicating symphonic style runs through the whole process. And as the day and night switch, each town's theme song is presented with different instruments and arrangements. The music of the battle is also very memorable, and I believe that it will be a work that will make people talk about music in recent years.
The inconvenience of the system also remains
Of course, there are also many inconveniences in the game that inherit the previous game, such as changing team members must go to the tavern, and teammates waiting in the tavern will not gain experience points, and the equipment and weapons lack a sorting mechanism. In recent interviews with producers, it seems that the producers have said that these are deliberate. At best, this preserves the atmosphere of the Japanese RPG of the past, and at worst, it is a bit of a deliberately time-dragging design to extend the player's gameplay time.
The need to level up was extended in the previous game to use the incredible dance leveling game, and this skill is still built in the second generation, so even how to level up to be efficient, it seems to be learned.
summary
Finally, to summarize this "Divergent Traveler 2", first of all, in terms of story, the interaction between the eight people in the previous work has been criticized for too little, which does improve in this part, but whether the degree of improvement can satisfy everyone may be a matter of opinion. Then there are some of the necessary sacrifices mentioned earlier.
The combat and cultivation aspects are similar to the previous game, so on the system, this second generation is more like an "augmented" version of the first generation, so if you like the first generation and do not exclude the same gameplay again, then it is no problem to start the second generation steadily.
As for new players, it is also recommended to try, HD-2D's style with full voice is a further sublimation of the old RPG of the past, and for those who will be curious about the past JRPGs but are always uninteresting, it is also suitable to try it from "Divergent Traveler 2".
The only thing to consider is that the battle of "Divergent Traveler 2" is not simple, and without looking at the strategy, you need to visit more maps to liver level, as long as you can accept these points, then "Divergent Traveler 2" is recommended to all players. Last year, SE launched a lot of residual works, and the first work of this year's spring is still quite good.
Qiji Traveler 2 is expected to be available on PS4, PS5, Switch on February 24, 2023, and Steam on the 25th, and is now available for inheritable trial downloads.