Text / Mobile Game That Little Thing Jimmy
Just before this May Day holiday, "Infinite Lost" and "JOJO's Bizarre Adventure: Sea of Stone" (hereinafter referred to as "Sea of Stone") finally landed.
In fact, the news of this linkage was released as early as the Spring Festival version trailer, but when the linkage between the two sides officially finalized the time and began to warm up, it soon ignited the curiosity and expectation of players again.
On the one hand, JOJO IP has now accumulated a lot of popularity in China, and this is the "first time" that the IP has been linked with a domestic game, so that players and fans are very curious about what kind of sparks the two will collide with. On the other hand, according to the consistent art and plot skills of "Infinite Lost", as well as the excitement of JOJO's original work, players are naturally looking forward to this "strong combination" between the two sides.
But if you have an in-depth understanding of these two IPs, you will find that there are too many similarities between these two works, so that the success of this linkage is not only a "mutual achievement" of both parties, but also more like an inevitable result of "it should be so".
01
Commonality, the achievement of "the most suitable in history" linkage
Judging whether an IP linkage is successful or not depends largely on the acceptance of IP fans and players. From this point of view, the linkage between "Infinite Lost" and "Sea of Stone" has already made a good start when it was first revealed. In late January this year, in the live broadcast trailer of the game's New Year version of "Worship the Sun", although only one KV picture appeared, the news of the upcoming linkage between the two sides still gave players and fans a lot of surprises.
When the time came to April, after the official announcement of the event and the warm-up stage began, "Infinite Lost" began to release more detailed information about this linkage. First of all, in the choice of linkage characters, this time I also lived up to expectations and chose the trio of the protagonist group of "Sea of Stone": Kujo Xu Lun, weather forecast, and F.F.
In addition to the protagonist group that appeared in the PV, well-known characters such as Father Pucci, Jotaro Kujo, and Shirokane Star will also appear in the plot of this crossover. Interestingly, in the plot of "Sea of Stone", Xu Lun was imprisoned because he was framed, which coincides with the setting of "Infinite Lost" in which the incarcers need to "enter the game".
From the point of view of artistic performance, although both the original JOJO and "Infinite Lost" have a very strong recognition in art, there is no "conflict" between the two distinct painting styles in this collaboration, and the vertical painting of the 3 linkage characters is not only high enough, but also integrates the characteristics of the original comic and the art of "Infinite Lost" itself.
Xu Lun's "licensed" comparison: "Indefinite Lost" on "Sea of Stones"
The stiff lines and recognizable standing postures of the characters are the same as the original JOJO series, but in terms of color and shade, they are more in line with the style of "Infinite Lost". As can be seen from the evaluation, most players and fans are very satisfied with the character design of this crossover.
Coincidentally, shortly after the launch of "Infinite Lost" in August 2022, the animation of "Sea of Stone" began to be broadcast and broadcast in China in September, and now the linkage between the two sides has evoked many memories of watching the animation and watching the plot again and again at that time.
But behind these recognitions and ridicules, they actually point to a more core reason, that is, there is an obvious "commonality" between these two IPs, and you can find that this commonality is not only in the launch date, theme and other elements, but even the more core "spiritual core", the two are also very compatible.
02
Don't draw faces, use "concreteness" to make the characters more complete
The author of the JOJO series, Hirohiko Araki, once mentioned in an interview that the inspiration for the setting of "stand-in" is actually to concretize the "invisible power" of the character, in other words, the "spiritual power" of the character, and the "madness" in the core setting of "Infinite Lost" also comes from the "spiritual power" of the character. The commonality between the two sides in the core direction of "concretizing the powerful that is invisible to the naked eye" is the deeper reason why this collaboration can be so compatible.
When this powerful spiritual power is concretized, each character's own ideals and ambitions, and even ambitions, have a reasonable explanation, so that their performance on the stage goes beyond the simple "face" of "good guy or bad guy", but becomes a vivid, complex but complete person. And this "completeness" is not supplemented by large paragraphs of character background story descriptions, but is broken and kneaded into every detail of the plot, allowing players to slowly explore and discover on their own as they progress through the story.
For example, the degenerate "black policeman" Apaki in JOJO, although he did not get the relief he wanted during his lifetime, he also tried his best to leave key clues for the protagonist group when he was dying, and finally got the understanding and affirmation of his predecessors. There may be many fans who will feel sad about his exit, but they will definitely not feel wronged for him, in other words: he died a well-deserved death.
This is also an important factor for the image of each character in JOJO to "stand up" in the minds of fans, and at this point, at least in the current mobile game market, "Infinite Lost" can undoubtedly be classified into the T0 echelon.
For example, Elsie, the deputy of the Legion organization in "Infinite Lost". Originally debuted, he was a complete villain: the design captured the player and planted a "bomb" in the player's body to threaten the player. But at a critical juncture, he sacrificed himself to buy valuable time for the player, and even more details in his sister Herro's review plot further complemented Elsey's image. So even if his exit is very regrettable, no one will feel aggrieved for this role who gave his life for his ideals.
It can be found that although the worldview of both is related to "prison" and "containment", the "evil" or "suffering" made by the characters is actually the key to promoting the characters to make every action choice and the source of the growth of "spiritual power".
03
In the world of "rotation", every character is indispensable
When each character in the story is complete enough, then it is only fitting that the development of the world will be driven by the characters. Each part of JOJO contains a large number of positive and negative characters, but whether it is the Joestar family with a golden spirit, or the extremely evil DIO, Kaz and other villains, each character is deeply loved by fans, and each character has his own in the story.
In "Infinite Lost", it seems to have found something in common with the JOJO series: it does not focus the perspective of the story development to a simple "single character". The most obvious example is that in the latest chapter of the main story, "The Black Ring of the Tower", when the governor "goes offline", each character is still acting according to their own will, and each character is doing their best to make the homeless village finally go to the ending they want.
And the anniversary celebration "Rain" and "Flowers", two large-scale events comparable to the main story, include the things done by various forces during the absence of the director. And it can be found that they are actually wrestling and acting more around the "homeless village" rather than just the "chief", so even if the player retreats into the background, each character still has their own "highlight" moments, whether it is the villain or even the passerby characters who also shine their own light on this stage.
For example, Yu Lian, the leader of the homeless village with a disability in both legs, once believed that the player could lead them out of the predicament, but still made the "what he should do" when the player went offline: he used the player as a "bait" or "chip". After the player wakes up and rejoins the battlefield, although Yu Lian has been devoured by the skeleton, he still adheres to his ideal of being an "architect" who wants to shelter more people, and builds a tower to trap the skeleton in mid-air away from the ground and the crowd, winning the final victory for the player and the homeless village.
Or to put it this way: in this chapter, each character has his own mission and consciousness, and each character is the protagonist of his own story, which makes the final rebirth of the homeless village particularly valuable. Because this is not only the result of the efforts of the director or anyone alone, but the long-cherished wish of countless people who have worked hard and even sacrificed for it one after another.
This is also the biggest charm of "Infinite Lost" in terms of plot performance: compared with the epic of individual heroism, this is more like a group portrait story, which is more moving and worth recalling.
04
From "036" to "5732"
I believe that many players of "Infinite Lost" will think of the unknown soldier "036" who died to protect the director at the beginning of the plot from time to time, and it is because of his sacrifice that there is a later story. The three numbers "036" have thus become a memory echo that many players will never forget. Later, because of the Chinese "5" and "7", the No. 3 note "Mi" and even the homonym of the English 2 "two", "Infinite Lost" has the "nickname" of "5732" in the core player base.
Before leaving, 036 struggles to give the player his pollution shield
And there is actually an interesting little easter egg hidden in this nickname: the appearance of the No. 3 note "Mi" is largely due to the fact that the OST launched by the game at each event is not only changeable in style, but also completely inferior in quality to pop music singles.
Just like the style of the OST, they don't even follow a fixed "routine" to plan their own event theme, in fact, in addition to this collaboration with "Sea of Stone" is the "first" of both parties, the previous activities of "Infinite Lost" may also contract many "firsts" for players.
For example, there may be many players who first come into contact with the DND running game in the event "Dragon and Sky Island", the first time they feel that the story of the event can also have so much "stamina", and the first time they experience a musical in its entirety, "Ukiyo Theater......
In addition to these impressive firsts, there are many creative elements that can be found in reality, such as "Flying Disca", "V50 King", "Shadow of Fog Alley", "Ritual Sun", ...... The variety of themes and the excellent quality of the content give the game stage a strong inclusiveness and plasticity. Under this premise, this JOJO linkage seems very "logical".
There is no doubt that "Infinite Lost", which has no "replacement" like JOJO, has developed so far and has occupied an important corner in the mobile game market and even in the minds of players. So you might as well say this: this linkage is a real "win-win", the two IPs have achieved a wave of mutual expansion based on everyone's commonality, and even with the help of this opportunity, both parties can make a greater noise in the market.
Looking back now, in the almost two years since its launch, "Infinite Lost" has given the market and players a lot of surprises. Their outlining of the characters and the handling of the plot also make players and the market full of expectations and confidence in the direction of their subsequent stories. And this linkage with "Sea of Stone" may be a new starting point for them to open the next stage.