On April 20, the open-world action game "Ming Tide" developed by Kulo Games opened a limited number of deleted files "resonance test".
For this "resonance test", the combat system that is currently the most impressive to Jiujiu has the smell of the arcade era, not only the means to complete the task, but the battle itself has a cool point. Although the plot of the first test has exposed some problems, just for this combat system, the public test after "Ming Tide" will definitely support it!
Without further ado, let Jiujiu share with you the actual feelings of this "Ming Tide" test.
01. Combat system with a refreshing feeling
This time the "Ming Tide" test implemented the role of "Ji Yan", the leader of the night return group. From the character design, it is obvious that the image of the green dragon in the "Four Holy Beasts" is used, and the weapon is also a spear full of national flavor. The next introduction to the character skills, Jiujiu will use him as the main case.
▲ Normal attacks
Like other characters, in the official character introduction, "Ji Yan" only includes the three skills of "Normal Attack - Lone Gun Stopping", "Resonance Skill - Gun Sweeping Wind Determination" and "Resonance Liberation - Eight Desolations", but specific to the actual combat of "Ming Tide", the moves used are more than these.
▲ Normal attack + tap to hit hard
▲ Normal attack + long press heavy hit
First of all, since "Ming Tide" supports Z-axis attacks, it can pick up enemies after long pressing, and opening the heavy blow of the floating segment is a very important part of the "Ji Yan" combo. Naturally, in addition to being able to be released on the ground, his skills also have an aerial version.
▲Resonance skill "gun sweeping wind determination"
▲Resonance skill "Gun Sweeping Wind Determination" (Air Version)
▲Resonance liberates the "eight wastes"
▲Resonance liberates "Eight Desolations" (aerial version)
Being able to float attacks, the corresponding drop attack becomes an option for regular combos, rather than limited terrain triggers. In particular, the hook lock of "Ming Tide" can be pulled up in place for a distance, and it is not difficult to trigger the falling attack.
▲Hook rope
▲Long press heavy hit + drop attack 1
▲Long press heavy hit + drop attack 2
But that's not enough, the kinetic energy bar on the health of the characters in "Ming Tide" is the key to connecting the battles.
The energy accumulated by the kinetic energy bar of "Ji Yan" is called "Formation Breaking Value", which is accumulated through normal attacks and casting combo skills.
This makes "Ji Yan" pay great attention to the smoothness of combos, and breaking the connection greatly affects the outbreak of damage. Therefore, Jiujiu currently uses "taboo" more often to start with the "light attack" of normal attack, and then burst out the damage through skills after touching the enemy, and rarely directly skills naked.
It is this pattern of combos matching damage rewards that connects the entire battle.
This combat experience reminds Jiujiu of the classic work "Three Kingdoms War Chronicle" in the arcade era, and through the damage reward mechanism, playing combos itself becomes a kind of fun, and the purpose of the game is no longer just to clear the level.
Diverse skills bring a wealth of tactical choices and sufficient combat depth, combined with short and neat moves, high mobility positioning, the whole fighting process is silky and smooth, and the effect presented is the "high-speed ACT" effect in the previous "Sound Tide" real video .
It should be added here that different characters in "Ming Tide" have different combat characteristics and output techniques, and the kinetic energy bar effect of the characters is also different. For example, the kinetic energy bar of the double gunner "Blazing Xia" is actually an indicator slot for special bullets. When she long-presses the resonance skill, the special "hot pressure bomb" is fired, and the kinetic energy bar is also reduced.
In addition to the unique skills of these characters, the combat system at the bottom of "Naruto " is also rich enough.
▲ Bullet knife
▲Extreme dodge
▲ Vocal skeleton skills
▲Concerto system
Of course, the combat system of "Ming Tide" also exposed two obvious problems in this test: the screen is too flashy + the screen shakes too much.
The screen is too flashy and related to the style of "Ming Tide", the overall saturation of the picture is low, and the sudden enhancement of the light effect when releasing the skill is particularly obvious.
And the problem of excessive screen shake in "Ming Tide" may not be prominent if placed on other games. Screen vibration when characters hit hard and release skills to enhance expressiveness and feedback, which is not excessive.
However, the combat rate of "Ming Tide" is very high, and the cooling of cutting people is short, even if the character skills have cooldown, players can cut people and continue to put skills, and the shaking naturally continues.
02. It is urgent to complete the perfect plot
If it is rated out of 10, the combat system of "Ming Tide" can give 8 points, and it is expected that it will continue to improve, but this time to test its plot in Jiujiu, which can only score 5 points. It can be said that "Ming Tide" is a very typical partial student.
Although the current combat system is very good, the plot has relatively obvious hard injuries. Therefore, there will be famous scenes such as "K-head" and "good people have to be pointed at guns" that resonate negatively with players.
"Good guys have to be pointed at gunpoint" takes place at the beginning of the game, and the protagonist group encounters the first boss, "The Crownless".
After the three families of the royal family started the war, they lay down in seconds (Kanban girl Yang Yang was to save the protagonist from being injured), and the pressure came to the protagonist's side.
After a hard battle, the protagonist eliminated the "Crownless One" and absorbed it into his body.
Although the enemy was destroyed, it also aroused the suspicion and distrust of "White Lotus" and "Blazing Xia".
This is what we saw just now, "Blaze Xia" pointing a gun at us.
Later, "White Lotus" also questioned the protagonist with a "mouth cannon", suspecting that the protagonist was lying.
The points of player dissatisfaction in this plot, Jiujiu mainly have two points:
1. Their suspicion and rejection make players feel that their previous efforts have been trampled
As soon as the player defeated the "Crownless" to save them, they were pointed at a gun, which is a very strong negative feedback. In particular, "Blazing Xia" and "White Lotus" are still the card pool characters of "Ming Tide", and the players themselves have relatively high expectations for them.
Even if the designer wants to depict a situation where the player is initially guarded and suspected, and then slowly recognized and accepted by everyone, he can also give the task of the suspecting protagonist to non-critical NPCs such as "Guards of the City Gate" (it is not necessary that the boss immediately questioned after the battle).
By assigning this suspicious "task" to other NPCs, "Blazing Kasumi" can act as supporters of the protagonist and defend the protagonist. In this way, the complex interpersonal relationships after the disaster are depicted, and the friendship between the protagonist and the character is also established.
2. Their methods are simple and rude, and they appear very reckless
In fact, Jiujiu can understand that the plan wants to portray a post-disaster world, and everyone's suspicion and vigilance against strangers and abnormal situations. But the guardedness of depicting characters does not need to be so blatant to point a gun directly at others.
"Blazing Xia" their combat effectiveness is the weaker side than the protagonist, and in the face of people whose combat effectiveness is stronger than their own, talking yin and yang strangely, and directly raising guns to threaten are all methods that intensify contradictions. In reality, everyone found bad guys, and if they couldn't deal with it, they would also call the police, rather than directly going on themselves.
In fact, the role of "Blazing Xia", Jiujiu originally wanted to boast. The "blazing light" shown in this "resonance test" is more recognizable than the mediocrity of the "technical test".
With a flame-like braid, a short whip with red and blue hair embellishments, at a glance, I feel that the character should be a warm and generous vitality girl. The half-batch jacket at the shoulders, the shorts with a sense of design, and the waistcoat line at the waist further highlight her sunny and lively character.
In the plot, the designer may want to get her closer to the classic "tsundere" character, but there is obviously a lack of foreshadowing. As the guide of the early plot, "Blaze Xia" is still comforting the protagonist who has an abnormal registration on the front foot. The hind foot is worried about Qin Yang's accident, and the protagonist is intimidated.
At the beginning of the plot, the player has no feelings for the characters, and suddenly loses his temper with the protagonist, which is difficult for the player to have a good impression of her.
You know, it's not ten years ago, and everyone doesn't accept the character's "tsundere" attribute as much as before. It is also not so tolerant of the plot characters, and it is easy to have the thought of "this is not my fault, why should I get used to you".
But unfortunately, the current protagonist is a bit like a wooden person, and the Kanban girl who is more towards us is a more decent character. Encountering the suspected situation of the picture above, the protagonist has nowhere to explain, but he is limited by the plot and cannot walk away, which makes people look particularly high-blooded.
The subsequent "Woo" K-head incident is also a typical manifestation of this situation, which takes place in the story line related to the player's defeat of "Burning Horse".
"Woo" is an admirer of General Shihui, so he wants to destroy the "Burning Horse" like an idol. However, on the way to eliminate the "Ride of Flame", "Woo" received a call for help and left halfway, giving us the task of defeating the "Horse of Flame".
It is we, the protagonist, who have a fierce battle with the "Burning Horse". What is outrageous is that when the "Burning Ride" was bloody, the "Woo" who had left before arrived immediately, and a powerful punch was accurate K-headed.
But inexplicably, "Ah Wu" knows that he is picking people's heads to "catch the final blow", but feels that he has "defeated the "Burning Horse". Kanban Niang Qin also thinks that "Ah Woo" "personally defeated" it. Jiujiu can only say that after watching this plot, I know that "hands" is this definition.
A friend gave a very vivid example with MOBA games:
In fact, if "Ah Woo" and this "Riding of Flames" have any blood and sea feud, it is logical for the protagonist as an insider to help coax the big child.
But as we mentioned earlier, this is nothing more than an imitation of "aaaaa It's not that there are reasons to do things like "revenge or keep ordinary people safe"!
But even if there is no particularly tenable reason, if this crusade is "Ah Woo" joining our team as a trial character and crusading together, this result is not outrageous, and now it is how strange it is.
In fact, if "Ming Tide" is useless, it must be an exaggeration. At present, the problem of the plot is that some foreshadowing and details are not done well, resulting in a poor substitution experience for the protagonist. The plot has become a way to obtain negative feedback, and it has been pressured by the plot characters, which naturally causes player dissatisfaction.
Although the completion of the plot is not too high, on the whole, looking at the test of "Ming Tide" this time, the combat system has enough depth, and the foundation is quite solid. Follow-up optimization and adjustment of the problem of shaking screen and light pollution, the combat experience is definitely guaranteed.
As for the issue of copywriting, for an open-world game, the structure and immersion of the overall worldview are actually more important. At present, it is only a test, and the follow-up only needs to adjust the plot related to the protagonist, and the player's experience should have a significant improvement, or the future can be expected!