The arc of the neglected "villain" character has become a new direction for the game's narrative
Friends who often pay attention to the iOS best-selling list should find that under the wave of the game industry in recent years, the products at the top of the best-selling list do not seem to have undergone any major changes, and the status of the evergreens is still stable, and few products can have an impact on them.
Among them, NetEase's "Fantasy Journey to the West" mobile game deserves to be the representative of the MMO field.
In March last year, the mobile game "Fantasy Journey to the West" launched a new "Heaven and Earth Chess Game" board gameplay, which has been loved by a large number of players as soon as it was launched.
Not long ago, the new version of the Heaven and Earth Chess Game "Che Chi Pray for Rain" was officially launched, in this new copy inspired by Che Chi Guo in "Journey to the West", the "villain" in the traditional Journey to the West story has a new narrative, which is more in line with the current social context; The gameplay mechanism has also ushered in more changes, with new plots and chess pieces, which also further expands the depth of the gameplay of the "Heaven and Earth Chess Game".
Combined with some actions of the previous "Fantasy Journey to the West" mobile game, it is not difficult to find that a very important characteristic of NetEase's idea of making products is to seek innovation and change. Especially for the evergreen game "Fantasy Journey to the West", how to better integrate with the emerging new ideas and new ways of playing is a major secret of its longevity, and "Che Chi Praying for Rain" is a good case.
Anti-faced, formulaic, game characters are also "flesh and blood"
Character portrayal has always been a big problem in cultural works, whether it is film and television, novels, or video games, if you can create a few flesh-and-blood characters, in terms of the work level, more than half of it has been successful.
Because of this, a large number of entertainment works are full of face-painted and formulaic monotonous characters, and the "black and white" character portrayal makes the works lack some complex human arcs, and the public is tired of it.
Now on the Internet, the traditional narrative of "The Legend of Ruyi" has been subverted, and "Ruyi", who was originally considered to be upright, loyal, and upright, has now been criticized by a large number of viewers for "why not eat minced meat", and the lofty posture is uncomfortable; And the vicious female partner "Wei Yanwan", who has long been regarded as insidious and cunning and ambitious, also has a reversal of word-of-mouth, and the audience began to praise her tenacity and resilience as a low-level little person, as well as her extremely strong learning ability.
The exploration of the advantages of villains has become a current trend, such as An Lingrong in another court drama "The Legend of Zhen Huan", which has also received more and more sympathy from the audience.
An important reason for this change is the diversity of public evaluation perspectives. They no longer evaluate a character by simple good and evil, good or bad, but pay more attention to the environment and experience of the character, and see the character's growth process, inner struggles and the complexity of the character.
The mobile game version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" also observed such a trend, so in the version of "Heaven and Earth Chess Game - Che Chi Pray for Rain", they no longer just focus on the player protagonist group or the protagonists of the traditional Journey to the West story, but through such a copy, the stories of the important supporting characters in the story of Che Chi Guo are shown one by one, and at the same time put forward many questions worth thinking about.
In "Che Chi Praying for Rain", as the progress of the dungeon, players appeared one by one with a number of characters such as the Chinese division, the common people, and the princess of Che Chi Kingdom, showing players a "Che Chi Adventure" story that is different from the traditional Journey to the West narrative.
What did the national teachers of Che Chi go through to become national teachers? What was the real purpose of their coming to Chechi? How do the royal family and the people of Chechi view the national teachers? The problem of drought that the national teacher obviously solved for the country, must be killed just because of the identity of the monster?
A series of thoughts are mixed with the process of dungeon breakthroughs, and while enriching each character, the mobile game "Fantasy Journey to the West" not only enriches each character, but also allows players who have always looked at the world of Journey to the West from the perspective of "walkers" who learn from the experience of master and apprentice, and gradually open up the perspective of "locals" in a country. Playing games is no longer just about passing by and fighting monsters, but also about realizing a more delicate and rich emotion of the locals towards their hometown. The characters of these supporting characters of Journey to the West have also ushered in their own highlight moments, no longer just the background board of the protagonists, but the real flesh-and-blood vivid characters.
It is not surprising that these nuanced and speculative expressions appear in the mobile game "Fantasy Journey to the West", and it should be said that this is a foreseeable trend. As a classic representative work of domestic games, the mobile game "Fantasy Journey to the West" can be supported by players for a long time, which is inseparable from their iterative operation ideas that keep pace with the times. Especially with the rapid development of social thought, it is necessary to better perceive the mood of the times and make appropriate expressions in the game, so as to progress with players and retain players.
What's even more commendable is that with the help of the game as a carrier, every innovative expression of the mobile game version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" is also helping the classic Journey to the West IP to rejuvenate the machine, and for players, they also have more perspectives to look at classic works.
New mechanics, new chess pieces, a different war chess experience
In addition to the innovative experience in the story, as a new dungeon, updates and changes in the gameplay mechanics are also essential. Compared with the previous version of "Phantom of the Nine-Tails", "Che Chi Pray for Rain" has been updated in terms of chessboard mechanics, chess piece attributes, and the underlying operation and interaction experience.
Let's start with the core plot change.
"Che Chi Praying for Rain" brings a new board mechanic, which simply means that different colored tiles have different buffs, and players need to try to make their units occupy as many buffs as possible to gain an advantage.
Of course, all kinds of buffs can be said to be standard in war chess games, but more games limit the buff attribute to the skills of the chess pieces, and few are linked to the plot grid.
The grid buff mechanic of "Che Chi Praying for Rain" can be said to maximize the use of the terrain mechanic, not only maintaining the consistent fun of the war chess game, but even taking it to the next level in strategy, and this mechanism is simple and easy to understand, and players can quickly understand and get started.
The reason for this treatment is inseparable from the development of today's war chess category, which not only needs to attract core war chess players as the basic plate of its audience, but also to explore the popularization of war chess games, which is actually not an easy task for many products. Recently, there are many products on the market that have reached their peak at the beginning and then quickly disappeared, which shows the degree of tragedy.
The reason is also simple, core war chess players need enough game strategy depth to meet their game needs, and in today's mobile game era, the simplicity of learning and the experience are refreshing and straightforward to attract and convert players more quickly. These two points seem to be contradictory in war chess games, although too hardcore can attract core players, but there is a high probability that it will become a niche, which basically announces the death of commercial mobile games; If the gameplay is too shallow, it is easy for players to thoroughly study the game strategy skills, and after the game content is exhausted, the subsequent game experience is more like a numerical competition. No matter which side it is, it is an abyss for manufacturers.
However, the mobile game version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" has certain advantages in these aspects, one is that the game gameplay of "Heaven and Earth Chess Game" is only a part of the game itself, compared with other pure war chess games, the mobile game version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" also has an MMO part of the game experience that complements each other with war chess, buffering the player's fatigue for a long time in the "Heaven and Earth Chess Game"; Secondly, the mobile game version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" is backed by classic IP, and the content of the theme copies that can be discovered is indeed rich enough, so there is basically no need to worry about the inspiration of the follow-up content.
The mechanism update of "Che Chi Praying for Rain" in the core plot is actually an attempt to experience and balance the depth of strategy and the player's coolness, the mechanism is simple and easy to understand, but it does not lose the strategy, coupled with the characters and skills in the MMORPG, so that the player's experience of each game is sufficiently differentiated, bringing higher repeatability.
The other is the new chess pieces that the new dungeon will inevitably bring.
"Che Chi Praying for Rain" is based on Che Chi Guo in the Journey to the West story, and brings a large number of characters and chess pieces from Che Chi Guo's story, such as the classic Che Chi Guo Shi and Che Chi Princess. At the same time, these chess pieces with different attributes and characteristics are also used as a supplement to the background of Che Chiguo, further enriching the world view and gameplay of the entire dungeon.
For example, the boss Luli Daxian was set to grow a deformed 3 heads due to the erosion of dark forces, which visually conformed to the setting of its monster background and laid the groundwork for its character portrayal; In terms of gameplay, the 3 heads can be attacked separately, which is also in line with their image settings.
Finally, the details of the underlying operation experience are optimized.
In terms of the combat experience of the dungeon, along with the official update of "Che Chi Praying for Rain", the camera height and camera following function of the player's operation have been further optimized, so that players can click and select plots more clearly on mobile devices.
These attention to details is also the persistence of the mobile game version of "Fantasy Journey to the West", and it is precisely because of this persistence that the mobile game version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" has been able to operate for many years but still keep up with the times and accompany players to grow all the way.
The present and future of classic IP
In today's market, the voice of MMO is not small, and it is reflected in the market that the number of new MMO products is indeed inferior to other large categories.
But this does not mean that the competition in this category is small, on the contrary, because this category has a long history, and after a long period of precipitation, what can be left is a real boutique. And the IP of "Fantasy Journey to the West", if you want to make a chronicle of Chinese games, it is destined to have its place.
"Fantasy Journey to the West" has remained evergreen on the best-selling list for many years, and it is also a leader in the classic MMO, NetEase's careful operation and the high quality of the product itself have made this classic work.
It can also be seen from the update of "Heaven and Earth Chess Game" that the inclusiveness of the mobile game "Fantasy Journey to the West" and how strong the reinterpretation of the classic theme is.
At the beginning of last year, the "Fantasy Journey to the West" mobile game launched the "Heaven and Earth Chess Game", which is a game of chess, to be honest, the war chess is not new at the moment, relying on the advantages of the "Fantasy Journey to the West" mobile game version is the classic turn-based gameplay and NetEase's sophisticated production, "Heaven and Earth Chess Game" has still accumulated a lot of popularity. In the early days of the launch, NetEase also invited well-known actors Guo Xiaoting and Xu Haiqiao to appear in the TVC, the story of man and fox demon not only closely follows the plot of the gameplay, but also fits the label of the actor's work, and the strong chemical reaction has gained a lot of popularity outside the circle.
This update of the "Che Chi Pray for Rain" version not only expands the depth of the gameplay mechanism, but also excavates the "villains" and "non-protagonists" that have been ignored in traditional stories, making their images more three-dimensional and realistic, and also breaking the stereotype of black and white characters in the game, which can be said to be a new beginning for the characters and narrative experience that will appear in the future.
Of course, the rich product matrix of Fantasy Westward Journey over the years is also one of the important reasons for its success, from the earliest PC version, to the later web version, mobile game version and other platform versions, the multi-terminal parallel product matrix covers more and wider people, which is also the most valuable wealth of Fantasy Westward Journey.
As a product of the wave of mobile games, and thanks to NetEase's fine operation, the mobile game version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" has accumulated a large number of loyal players for a long time. The mobile version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" also continues to give feedback to players through wonderful content presentations, as mentioned above, seeking innovation and change are their consistent characteristics, and these characteristics are reflected in the game is a continuous fresh and progressive game experience.
Looking at it now, the mobile game version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" is a classic, and the future story is still exciting.
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