HOYOVERSE’s latest game, the action RPG Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ), just got released! Different from its older siblings, Genshin Impact’s fantasy madness and Honkai Star Rail’s (HSR) science fiction chaos, ZZZ is set to take you through New Eridu and its dystopian-like urban setting, with dynamic gameplay, and a satisfying parry and combo system to boot.
It is without a doubt that the Hoyoverse games are popular in the Filipino gaming community. It may not be as fierce and loud as the online competitive gaming community, but it is just as active and enthusiastic about their own games, especially in discussions about gacha!
With dynamic gameplay similar to Honkai Impact 3rd, requiring quick reaction times, memorization of combos, and a satisfying parry and follow-up attack system, ZZZ may be the next gacha Hoyo game addiction.
Gacha, a term used for Japanese toys which you get randomly when you insert a coin into a machine, has become a genre of its own. In gaming terminology, it refers to when the chances of getting a character or a certain material is based on a Random Number Generator (RNG), where you spend in-game currencies to roll or pull a number. Simply put, if the game’s character acquisition is dependent on luck: it’s gacha.
Hoyoverse is well-known for releasing stylized gacha games with engaging gameplay, beautiful stories, and high quality visually pleasing environments and characters.
Screenshot of Video Courtesy: Kiming | YouTube
Now, what do players from the community have to say about the game?
Active gacha player since 2017, 20-year old Lee Russell Chua has played several gacha games and remains active in their communities. He enjoys a mix of genres including strategy and rhythm, and usually reaches around three hours for each game doing his daily activities. Some games’ dailies are faster to clear, according to him due to either how the “fluidity of the gameplay cycle [is], or how smooth playing the game is.”
“I enjoy the grind to get the currency to roll the units the game has, as well as the characters that the game has to offer,” he said, also mentioning how satisfying it feels when he enhances the high-rarity units he gets.
Third year college student Julian Clyde Quiben started playing gacha games around 2020 when a close friend introduced him to the newly released Genshin Impact at the time, and then started playing Star Rail when it came out in 2023. He said he was hooked to the games’ storyline, character designs, and famous Japanese voice actors/actresses.
19-year old Johannes Lalicon and 21-year old Francis Lepaña are both players of the recently released Wuthering Waves, with Lalicon also enjoying Project Sekai and Blue Archive. They both enjoy the dailies of the gacha games they play, and the process of “farming” for good materials and equipment for their characters.
The key features to a game that makes it pop with the gamers is that they must be fun, free, and interesting (either through a design or storytelling perspective!). With the fulfillment provided by previous Hoyo games, and Genshin and Star Rail’s current track record with how much the players enjoyed the recent Fontaine and Penacony updates, ZZZ is sure to dish out more enjoyment on top of those for the communities.
Advice for incoming players!
The interviewees all stated that they find ZZZ’s aesthetic style to be different from the usual Hoyo games archetype. “I would describe it as if cyberpunk was less realistic and more leaned towards anime,” Chua said.
They are all likely to recommend the games to their friends and known players of the community, with Lalicon stating that “ZZZ seems like a new experience with unique mechanics so it will be a great experience for people who click with that style of gameplay.”
Lepaña recommends that it is “best to start playing at soonest so to have the full experience of seeing the game grow, from story progression to events and everything. I think that that’s a cool experience to have.
Chua and Lalicon both advise players to explore the game to the fullest first, and not to rely on the community too much as it may ruin firsthand perceptions. “Let your own experiences guide you,” Lalicon added.
Quiben, on the other hand, encourages players to figure out the game first and decide later on if they should spend on it to support the developers and their gameplay. The game can be expensive if you do not pace yourself.
What’s different in ZZZ?
Genshin players are known as “Travelers”, while Star Rail players are called “Trailblazers”. In ZZZ, players will be taking on the role of “Proxies” as either “Wise” or “Belle” as their starting male or female character for their journeys as they go around helping people from alternate dimensions.
Unfortunately, unlike the previous Hoyo games, your chosen Proxy cannot be used for combat! This is more than likely a compromise since the player character this time around is said to be completely voiced, and is more involved in the story’s progression as opposed to needing a companion to do the exposition for us.
Does this mean that we won’t have a Paimon or March 7th character for ZZZ?! Worry not, though, as with a new game comes a new system, a new set of meta characters (the best ones to use objectively!), and new combos and strategies to discover. If you are curious, and you want to experience a new adventure with a fresh cast of characters with their own stories and personalities, then now is the best time to know Zenless Zone Zero!
Also, the best time to start a game is when it’s only fresh out of the oven! Hoyoverse is treating its new players to a treat of over 100 free attempts to get characters right after you finish the tutorials.
With reports from Prince Bryan J. M. Marquez
