Shortly after the release of "Beyonita 3" (commonly known as Sister Bei 3) last year, the news of "Beyonita Origins" came out.
When I first heard the news, I thought that Platinum Studio had finally changed the "rotten" style that had been widely ridiculed by everyone and began to produce in an assembly line.
But after reading the trailer, I was actually a little disappointed.
The picture book style of the gaiden work "Beyonita Origins" is completely different from the previous main story from the style to the gameplay side.
More importantly, everyone has been talking about it, and the most eye-catching protagonist Sister Bei has also become a little girl in this work, and naturally can no longer expect her to have a "welfare transformation" as before (it is too punishing to have any ideas).
But with the idea of "eating a full set", I still decided to try this gaiden work under the banner of "exploration and decryption"...
Looking back now, wasn't this a "solo trip"?!
Sister Bei is so weak, I like it so much
I think most ACT players should be similar to me, and care more about the construction of the character's combos and how gorgeous the combos are when playing. For the most important plots in other games, ACT games have never paid much attention, and everyone generally does not struggle with them.
But in "Beonita Origins", the character of plot experience is clearly at the center of the stage.
The story of "The Origin of Beyonita" begins with Sister Bei's mother being imprisoned when she was a child.
As a witch, "Seresa" is not so skilled in summoning, and the monster summoned on the night of the full moon accidentally attaches to the "Little Chai Cat" doll.
After being "seduced" many times in her dreams that she could gain the power to save her mother by going to the forest, Seresa embarked on her own adventure.
According to the instructions in the dream, Seresa only needs to open the 4 elemental cores to obtain the corresponding power, during which the "white wolf" will show her the way...
As Platinum Studio mentioned before, the plot of "Beonita Origins" is relatively independent, and even if you don't have the gameplay experience of the previous game, you can play completely unaffected, and this is indeed the case.
"Beonita Origins" shows players a rather immature and ostracized witch's growth path: from the very beginning, Warcraft summoning is not proficient, and even let Warcraft attach to their dolls, until they finally become real witches.
Even new players can understand the "Japanese" hot-blooded girl story displayed in "Beonita Origins" without hindrance.
Of course, since we are talking about Japanese style, partners are naturally indispensable.
In "The Origin of Beunita", although Seresa's companion only has one monster possessed on the doll, the whole process of the gradual development of friendship between the two in the adventure still makes me, a big man, "aunt laugh" in front of the screen many times.
Just this tsundere
According to the setting, the monster possessed by the little chai cat doll was summoned to this side shortly after the birth of the demon world. But the initiator Seresa is a "kill and bury" commodity - it cannot be sent back after the summoning.
If the "little chai cat" wants to go back, he must follow Seresa to get the "powerful power to save his mother". The two in the game have also changed from strange partners who are noisy at the beginning to partners who can give each other's backs in the later stage.
The development may be a bit corny, but I really like it.
Platinum made a decision that went against the "F**k Oscar"
As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, the gameplay experience of "Beyonita Origins" is more like a "solo trip" that can be completed by one person.
I remember that in addition to the most well-known "F**k Oscar", the grumpy old guy who made "Double Trip" also had another famous saying: Go to his * "repeatable play", why do you want to do so much to make games?
If this statement is taken as true, then "Beyonita Origins" is definitely one of the "deviant" ones.
At the end of the week, players will be able to unlock the "Joan of Arc Gaiden".
Control Joan of Arc to embark on another adventure, and feel the whole story again from another perspective, as well as the friendship between Sister Bess and Joan of Arc (of course, this part is much shorter than the main story).
Obviously, in order to explain the world view of the Bei Sister series clearly, this gaiden work really took a lot of effort - not only smoothed out the growth process of Sister Bei for everyone, but also gave old players a more comprehensive understanding of the "sister flower" of Sister Bei and Joan of Arc.
Rather than the setting that lets the player push the picture again as it is, I'd rather push the plot again from the perspective of a new character like "Beonita Origins", to see things that were not visible from the protagonist's perspective.
Old rule, lick the map first!
Now that there are puzzle elements, the explorable content on the map becomes an indispensable part.
In the game, the 4 elemental cores collected by Seresa can give elemental abilities such as Xiaochai Cat Wood, and Earth, and while switching elements, its attack method and "stunts" will also change.
For example, after harvesting the "Wood Spirit", the "stunt" of the little chai cat becomes something similar to a remote hook lock, which can be used to pull the wall that is about to collapse, or pull the floating platform to send Seresa to a place that would otherwise be out of reach.
Some of the mechanisms that you have just discovered after entering the game need to obtain these new abilities in the late game before they can be successfully unlocked.
"Why do I have to go around and get the opening stuff in the late stages? Isn't this torturous? ”
This setting may feel like "relying on defense" at first hearing.
In fact, on the contrary, this part of the design of "Beonita Origins" is very outstanding.
The main story of "Beonita Origins" itself is quite smooth. Because of the need to "write reviews", there are relatively few branch agencies that I explore on my own.
But even so, I was able to complete the whole process with almost no hindrance. But for some players who are not well adapted to the gameplay of "Beonita Origins" to control two characters by one person, and from time to time there are still some places to get stuck, you can consider going around and getting the things in the side mechanisms in front.
These places are often hidden with special fruits used to learn "powerful skills".
With the unlocking of new skills, the difficulty of the levels also drops significantly.
When I was stuck, I also took the initiative to take a fruit and upgrade Seressa's single binding skill to "group bondage".
Even if it is still a bit busy to control the two characters with my left and right hands, I am still very good at driving wooden stakes after full control!
Can you adapt? Go all the way and experience the plot of "Beonita Origins" smoothly.
Semi-intermediate jam? Then go back to those places where you used to explore, get something to improve your character's abilities, and hit the road.
In other words, the content of "Beonita Origins" for players to explore does not appear in the "defense" setting of putting the essentials in the side story, but puts the "goldfinger" like an additional boost into this part of the content.
Since I "cooked", it would be okay to spend more time to clear the level, you say?
Like, but definitely not "solo trip"
The reason why "Beonita Origins" is ridiculed as a "solo trip" is mainly because in addition to running the map, the player has to control the two characters of Seresa and Little Chai Cat at the same time during the battle.
But it's definitely not "solo travel", because even such a game that looks very "young", its action elements make me an ACT enthusiast feel quite satisfied, which is obviously impossible for "solo travel".
In my opinion, Beonita Origins is a perfect combination of puzzle and action.
Seriously, when I first saw the superposition of BUFFs such as picture book style and one person manipulating two characters, I was mentally prepared: this fight content is estimated to be like a child's house, playing games should be purely watching the plot...
However, relying on the "Little Shiba Cat Switch Form" and the attack method changed due to the change of timing, Platinum Studio still made the combat content good enough under the premise of being limited by the style of gameplay.
As a Warcraft doll, the little Shiba cat can fight by switching between different elements to obtain corresponding abilities.
And Seressa, the underage witch, can only fight on the side during the battle link, control the monster, or help the little chai cat to displace.
You know, because of the control of two characters at the same time, the keys are quite compact. In the game, there is only one button to attack. But just like that, "Beonita Origins" still plays the battle link out of flower.
After Seresa takes control of the monster, the little Shiba cat can launch a powerful charge attack, and the short storage "tear bite" with the execution effect.
The ordinary form of the little chai cat "bounces", the stone element state of "breaking defense", and the wood element form can "capture the shield".
Through the two characters cooperating with each other and switching forms to play perfect combos again and again, the refreshing feeling is no lower than when you won an "SSS" evaluation in "Devil May Cry".
Deficiencies as well as summary
Although I'm completely satisfied with Beonita Origins, some of the flaws in it still make my whole game experience less enjoyable.
The obvious problem is that "Beyonita Origins" focuses on "puzzle solving", and the design of the mechanism is not as good as the action elements.
Perhaps because considering the incongruity of one person controlling two characters, many organs of "Beonita Origins" do not emphasize the timing and the cooperation of the characters, and while the difficulty drops, it is difficult for me to gain much sense of achievement in this part of the content.
In layman's terms: the difficulty is too low to torture me, and the "Shake M Soul" is not satisfied.
Moreover, the operation method of left and right hand game, many players, including me, should need a while to get used to.
Of course, even so, it's still good enough in my heart.
Compared with the "Beyonita" series of main works, "Beyonata Origin" is a little less refreshing. But while telling the story of "Young Sister Bei", it combines puzzle solving and action well, which still gives me a good game experience.
In my opinion, that's enough.