Even after experiencing the recent "Yellow Bell Second Test" of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun", I still can't understand why NetEase would invest in such a "crazy" online product.
"Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" has neither the needs of martial arts MMO strong social networking, nor the deliberate design driven by values, focusing on the single-player game experience, with free exploration as the core, if it is only a domestic stand-alone game, I feel no surprise, but as an online game that NetEase invests in commercialization, after giving up the mature MMO experience that has been verified by the market many times, "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" Every change made means exploring and trying the unknown, although it is accompanied by a lot of risks, of course, it is accompanied by huge benefits.
For any mature domestic game company, this may be a slightly risky decision, but for NetEase, which has always been good at polishing large-scale games, for domestic gamers, breaking the shackles of perennial traditional terms and integrating with international mainstream standards in a real sense, a new domestic game born from this may be something that both parties want to try.
Because there is only one way to succeed in a domestic game that is made by this standard, it must be to impress players with high quality, conquer players with gameplay, and it must be really fun to satisfy players' discerning appetites. I can't be sure right now that "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" will eventually reach such heights, but judging from my personal experience and player feedback from the first and second tests, it is at least making great strides towards this goal, and the future is really promising.
01
What world to save, it's not as fun as catching insects and playing chess
"Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" is a free single-player + multiplayer online martial arts open world game.
Why do I emphasize this at the beginning? Because even after the end of the first test, many players still think that this game must be an MMO, because this game has various genes such as domestic + martial arts + open world + online, and when the Debuff is full, only MMO can save a hand.
In fact, this also more or less reflects the anxiety of domestic games, and domestic developers can't make good open-world games. In my shallow opinion, it's not that I can't do it well, but I don't dare to do it at all.
The first issue of the "Ruibin Test" "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" shows the traditional large-map gameplay of the open world, with many explorations, decryptions, dungeons, adventures, and mini-games. It can be seen that for the open world, the development team has a lot of its own unique ideas, with the exploration level of the region as the core of the experience, which replaces the traditional demand for level and equipment strength to a certain extent, and the overall experience of the game is no longer a one-on-one handover task, playing elite dungeons, but many more gameplay options with exploration as the pre-demand.
The main quest of the game is more to promote the development of the plot and the novice task guide in the early stage, and too few restrictions often add more irrelevant "difficulties and obstacles" in the process of the main quest that I should have saved people, which may be to catch insects, fish, compete in chess, or even just to see the scenery, which is quite like the sense of "The Witcher 3" "What daughter to save, or to play cards and fun".
You can clearly feel that most of the design of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" is driven by free exploration, and the way players understand the world is to use various explorations to discover the secrets hidden behind it, and it is this curiosity that makes me truly feel the charm of the open world.
However, when it came to the second test of the Yellow Bell test, "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" made me see a greater "ambition", that is, to be "secret".
It is not difficult to make the open world bigger, but it is rare to make a more dense and interesting experience in a limited area space. In traditional open-world games, because the player's exploration area is relatively wide and the running time is long and frequent, it can delay the player's boredom with a longer pace of gameplay experience. However, once placed in a restricted compact area, this model is no longer applicable.
In Huang Zhong's second test, the size of Kaifeng City, a new area, may be less than one-tenth of the original open area, (there are still a large number of unopened areas), but when I first arrived and just stepped into Kaifeng City, I was staggered by the hustle and bustle and the density of the scene.
From the decaying slum "Jiaomenli", the houses are low and dilapidated, and the ears are full of wailing and begging, to the lively main street avenue "Goolan Tile", the crowd is bustling with high-rise buildings, a song and dance, and then to the solemn Daxiangguo Temple, quiet and comfortable, and the strong visual contrast makes Kaifeng City appear clear from the regional design.
And under this seemingly prosperous Kaifeng City, there is a mixed and terrifying underground world "Ghost Market", which hides many secrets that will never see the light of day. This Kaifeng City is obviously a bit like the regional design of the upper and lower floors of "Old Man's Ring", which gives me a unique and fresh experience.
Thanks to the mesh design of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun", even in the gameplay experience of such a dense area, through the effective linkage between systems, players can still enjoy playing in the process of free exploration.
For example, the newly added "disguise" gameplay requires players to claim exclusive items on the target character by dressing up in disguise. Players need to inquire about the close people of the target person, and then find the corresponding NPC to "change faces" by copying the portrait, and contact and ask for the target person, thus involving the linkage between a series of systems. Just like what to see, where to find, and how to steal, there is no clear designation in the game, and everything depends on how and how much the player explores.
In general, in the exploration process of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun", all kinds of strange gameplay rewards are no longer limited to money and equipment, but directly change the player's gameplay mode to a certain extent. For example, after the area exploration level is upgraded to level 4, you can use the great light skill to travel the world, or find all kinds of rare insects to exchange for the light skill of flying eaves and walls, or even a chivalrous dungeon, a simple luck hit the bell, and a ruin exploration may unlock a thaumaturgy or obtain a mysterious internal skill, so as to have an additional way to deal with or attack in battle.
In the game, exploration is no longer a utilitarian mechanical repetition, but more reflected in the fun of gaining gameplay and experience. Maybe you've gone to great lengths to climb a mountain just to see if there's a hidden treasure chest, or to find an interesting adventure with someone out of the world, or even just to see the best views of the mountains. The advantage of no limit is that all the fun is discovered by the player, and what the game wants to provide is rich and free content.
02
Why bother with your next "Old Man's Ring......
Among the keywords of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun", another important one is "martial arts". Many times, we define martial arts as the fighting, killing, grievances and hatred of the rivers and lakes, but we forget that martial arts is also a symbol of culture and an exclusive culture belonging to China.
A black man, armed with a sword and dressed in a samurai outfit, fights with a group of ninjas in the dark of night, if this is martial arts, you may be spraying ZZZQ across the screen. However, a chivalrous man is dressed in plain clothes, holding a Tang knife, stepping on the eaves as if he is walking on the ground, and he comes and goes freely with light skills, and you may have a sense of the picture in an instant.
It may not be accurate to say this, but in my opinion, a good martial arts game necessarily requires a great sense of immersion, and it is the Chinese culture that we are most familiar with that can provide this atmosphere.
It can be said that in "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun", this kind of Chinese culture has penetrated into all aspects, and even integrated into one very naturally. For example, the names of various small games such as shooting, throwing pots, leaf plays, silk and bamboo are quite exquisite, such as the sculpture in front of the abandoned temple, the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion that seems to have a thousand Buddhas, and the carved fence murals in Kaifeng City are all relatively intuitive Chinese vision, and then for example, an adventure task in the Thousand Buddha Village, which requires players to carry lanterns to guide lonely souls and wild ghosts, but their wishes are all from folk Xi customs.
Even at the beginning of entering the ghost market, looking at the bright lights and a red color, a desolate and piercing soundtrack suddenly came to my ears, and I suddenly felt goosebumps, and the atmosphere was instantly full, and this special "psychological shadow" can only be understood by domestic players.
In the game, the naturalist records 16 categories about humanities and people's livelihood, from food, calligraphy and painting to medical skills, from poetry and entertainment to celestial phenomena. The information that players explore in the game will be included, and each piece will be accompanied by a detailed description or source.
Whether it's the art style, the character design, or the way of speaking and behavior, out of the context of Chinese culture, everything in martial arts will become plausible. In addition to the visual and auditory levels, in terms of experience, "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" is also trying its best to move closer to the purest Chinese-style martial arts.
You can feel that many aspects of this game have been deliberately crafted, and the overall experience is no longer as impetuous and fast food as online games, but requires players to calm down and savor slowly.
On the one hand, the abundance of plots and performances highlights the quality of single-player games. The only chivalrous trace in Kaifeng City staged a good scene of chasing battles, stepping on the wind under the night sky, stepping on the lanterns and climbing all the way, perfectly replicating the drama of the imperial city chase in PV, and the martial arts atmosphere was spontaneously born.
And the new town guard dungeon "Sanssouci Cave", from the ghost city decisive battle when I first arrived, to the gloomy and desolate city after entering the city, the maze of the sewers of the palace comparable to "Old Man Ring" made me really feel the deep "malice" from the production team, and the treacherous and terrifying atmosphere design is not inferior to the mainstream games of the first-tier manufacturers.
Even a certain beast boss in the novice area will present a wonderful shadow puppet show at the beginning of his debut, but looking at the dense street signs next to it, and the "big tree guard" affectionately called Yanyun version by many players, I know that the development team must be deeply influenced by the "true legend" of Miyazaki's old thief.
On the other hand, attention to detail allows players to be improvised. To give a very simple example, during the battle, you can not only use the golden jade hand to preemptively seal or fix the enemy, but also use the star to take the moon to seize the enemy's weapon, and even use the Qiankun to resolve the enemy's flying crisis, this kind of combat method greatly enhances the player's immersion in the world of martial arts.
And when it comes to free exploration, these thaumaturgy have become a weapon for deciphering secrets, using the stars to take the moon to retrieve objects in the air, or using the Qiankun to move to open the hidden area, "Yanyun Sixteen Voices" has specially designed many use scenarios that require players to pay attention to details, which has raised the fun of fighting and exploring from the martial arts world to a new level.
epilogue
Many times, we all have preconceived notions that it is difficult for domestic teams to make a fun open-world game, because of the high pursuit of game quality, and the single-player and multiplayer gameplay mode of "Yanyun Sixteen Voices" will undoubtedly greatly increase the difficulty.
But fortunately, judging from the current second test, we can see some thoughts of the development team on the combination of single-player and multiplayer gameplay. For example, street signs allow players to "interact" with other players in single-player mode, and even recruit them as "thugs", which will not only share the interesting experience of the game, but also provide very useful help for various puzzles and difficult battles in the game. Another example is the game's prison visit system, which allows players to visit other players who are being imprisoned, and is believed to provide unexpected gameplay in role-playing. In addition, the mode of seamless switching at any time does not make there a strong sense of separation between the two.
As for the future, the new area Kaifeng gives a very good example. Imagine that in such a bustling big city, it is not impossible to stage a live-action werewolf killing or martial arts role-playing drama. The core of "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" is a free martial arts world, which also means that it can provide players with more possibilities.
It is true that there is still a certain gap between the current "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" and the top open-world games in the world. But considering that the Chinese-themed "Old Man's Ring" or "Assassin's Creed" is still far away, compared to "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun", which is based on Chinese martial arts, it brings me more confidence in culture and quality.