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GameLook reports/reviews the “sweet work” in the history of games. Some were won because of the phenomenal market performance, and some were made by the players because of the reputation of the players. The pioneering work of this category, “Diablo” is one of the leaders.
Red and blue bottles, dungeons, hack and slash, just a few words can outline the distinctive style of the word “darkness”. But it is these few abstract keywords that have attracted countless players and manufacturers in the past two decades, creating one after another “Dark Like” explosions.
Now, after the Korean social giant Kakao returns to the Korean mobile game market with “Odin: Rebel”, the Japanese social giant Line has also found a new force-early next year, it will be published by Line Games and Needs Games The developed multi-platform Dark Like game “UNDECEMBER” will officially land in South Korea. In the South Korean market, which has always been known for its heavy Krypton MMORPG, can this game known as “Krypton of Conscience” really rewrite the “co-governance” market pattern of “Odin: Rebellion” and “Paradise W”?
Promote PVDarkness is Diablo?Freedom is the soul
Although as early as 1996, Blizzard launched the first generation of “Dark”, but strictly speaking, this series is still a product standing on the shoulders of giants. In terms of setting and mechanism, “Darkness” still inherited the most classic TRPG masterpiece D&D (Dungeon and Dragon). The difference is that “Dark” subverts TRPG’s linear gameplay, and brings an unprecedented “swipe” experience with more freedom of equipment and talent system, and this is also the key to “Darkness”.
“UNDECEMBER” real machine demonstrationTraditional D&D games continue the logic of board games where the host guides the player to advance the plot. The numerical design in the game serves an established and correct route of clearance. The player is essentially “led by the nose” by the game developer. But in “Diablo”, the highly free talent and equipment system makes it possible to “all roads lead to Rome”. Blizzard even introduced the “affix” mechanism to make each equipment different in its subdivision attributes. In the same way, players must therefore consider what equipment is more suitable for the next stage of combat.
This kind of experience, which is now called “opening the blind box”, is the source of the players’ enjoyment. The ever-changing equipment and skills constitute countless permutations and combinations, which also makes a hack and slash ARPG game with rich possibilities that are not inferior to the current sandbox game.
However, whether it is a player or a later imitator, the deeper impression of “Diablo” is its artistic performance, which is particularly prominent in “Diablo 2”. The low-saturation color style creates a dark and cold and miserable atmosphere, even the blood of the monsters is dark red instead of bright red. The “red and blue bottles” representing health and mana have also become the most representative symbols of “Dark”, and the drop in the liquid level in the red and blue bottles has become the most anxious and panic picture for players.
This art style also greatly influenced the Korean game industry in the early years. Although Blizzard has joined the Battle.net system in “Diablo 2”, “Diablo” is ultimately developed with the idea of a stand-alone game, which also allows Korean manufacturers to see the possibility of profiting by turning this theme into online games.
In 2001, Wemade Korea launched “Legend of Hot Blood” (national service is represented by Shengqu Games), which combines the hacking experience of “Dark” with the krypton gold gameplay of Korean MMORPG, and the gothic magic theme and The classic red and blue bottles have also won the hearts of players. The number of registered users of “Legend of Warmth” in China is as high as 70 million.
In the same year, the “Miracle MU” developed by Webzen (national service is represented by Taren Network) was selected as the “best online game” by many official authoritative game organizations in South Korea. Compared with “Legend of Blood”, “Miracle MU” pays less direct “tribute” to “Dark”, providing a richer career, equipment, and skill system, but still adopts the classic “red and blue bottle” design. It can be seen that “Diablo 2” had a profound impact on Korean games that year.
Of course, whether it is “Legend of Blood” or “Miracle MU”, in order to enhance the experience of paying players, they have lost the soul of “high degree of freedom”, and it is difficult to obtain top-level equipment purely by drawing pictures. In contrast, at least from the current publicity, “UNDECEMBER” is closer to the “Dark” world in the minds of old players that “a sword at the start, all equipment depends on fighting”.
UE4 blessing, equipment really depends on fighting
“UNDECEMBER” is undoubtedly the heritage of the art style that impresses the old players of “Diablo 2” most. In fact, even Blizzard’s family chose “abandon the dark and cast the light” in “Diablo 3”, and adopted the “colorful black” that is more in line with the aesthetic preferences of the new generation of players. The increase in saturation brings a brighter picture, but It also makes old players miss the unique flavor of “Diablo 2” more and more.
Diablo 3
Because of the advanced Unreal 4 engine, “UNDECEMBER” naturally continues the excellent quality of Korean games in terms of picture quality and details. In terms of art style, not only the classic red and blue bottles are still followed, but the color saturation is relatively low. Even the attack special effects that have always been the source of “light pollution” are relatively bleak.
In order to make up for the natural disadvantage of mobile games in the sense of strike, the developer chose to display the damage number to enhance the player’s visual experience. It is worth mentioning that the colors and fonts of these numbers are not as exaggerated as many MMORPG games on the market, and the UI design also maintains the very distinctive “Diablo 2” features like the screen.
In addition to the tribute on the “skin”, on the “soul”, this game is also re-enacting the “high degree of freedom” gameplay. Different from “Legend 2” and “Miracle MU”, “UNDECEMBER” does not have an initial career mechanism. Players can flexibly change their actual career through later adjustments in equipment and skills, and can also switch weapons at any time to use specific skills.
In the current official statement, “UNDECEMBER” has a payment mechanism design that is extremely friendly to non-krypton players. Even the common rune system, talent plus point reset and other krypton gold points in RPG games are all available in the game. Way instead. According to the official introduction, the main payment points in the game are only focused on pets and clothing. Pets can automatically pick up items dropped by monsters, and they also have certain attribute gains, but the impact is very limited, while clothing has no attribute bonuses at all.
Even so, you don’t have to worry about paid fashions that no one cares about, because “UNDECEMBER” still retains the biggest selling point of Korean MMORPG-the appearance of the characters. This game still prepares a face-squeezing system for players. Although there are ugly monsters everywhere in the game, the official still encourages players to squeeze the image of a “goddess” with white, beautiful and long legs. This is a bit of a sense of fragmentation. The design is undoubtedly a compromise to the needs of current mainstream RPG players.
On the whole, apart from the Korean-style pinching system, “UNDECEMBER” has a remarkable performance in “smooth cutting and brushing”, especially the mechanism of “heavy liver and light krypton” is for those who like to brush pictures. “Dark” veteran players are undoubtedly very friendly. However, in the context of the official sequel of “Dark” being released one after another, it seems that it is not easy for “UNDECEMBER” to break through.
“Dark” is coming, it is not easy to break through
As a multi-platform product that landed on PCs and mobile phones at the same time, “UNDECEMBER” is not only facing a larger market space, but also more competitors. On the mobile game side, “Diablo: Immortal”, an orthodox mobile game jointly developed by Blizzard and NetEase, has entered the final sprint stage. Not surprisingly, it will officially meet with players next year. On Tap Tap, the number of reservations for this game has exceeded 1.7 million. This number not only confirms the market potential of the “Dark Like” game, but also makes “UNDECEMBER” more competitive.
On the PC side, “Road of Exile” is a more difficult opponent than the orthodox sequel to “Dark”. This MMOARPG online game, developed by enthusiast Diablo fans over a decade of development, has as many as 1,325 talent points, which has raised the high degree of freedom and high strategy of “Dark” to a new level, and has therefore become even more advanced than “Diablo 3”. An online game popular with old players.
“Road of Exile” Talent Tree
At the same time, Blizzard’s orthodox sequel “Diablo 4” is also under intense development. This game debuted at Blizzard Carnival in November 2019. The release date has not yet been announced, but as one of Blizzard’s most vital IPs, the potential market appeal of “Diablo 4” is self-evident.
If you look more broadly, in addition to the gothic fantasy MMORPG and “Dark Like”, the more difficult “Soul Like” is also a derivative product of the “Dark” series, which also brings the diversion of the player community.
In contrast, “UNDECEMBER” wants to “harvest” the feelings of old “Dark” players, and still has a lot of room for improvement, such as reducing the “tribute” to the classics. In the current game content, there is a battle scene in which two dragons are backed by a giant ship, which is also reminiscent of the science fiction adventure movie “Predatory City” released in 2018.
The border dispute between “borrowing” and “stitching” has always been a problem in Korean games. This is also an important reason why Korean games are rarely recognized in the global market. Now, facing Blizzard’s own orthodox sequel, whether “UNDECEMBER” can gain a foothold in the Korean market or even go overseas will also be a major challenge for Line Games.
For players who really love the “Dark Like” game, the next two years will undoubtedly be another small climax of the “Dark” IP. Compared with becoming a “divine work” that is praised by future generations, it can maintain its vitality and continue to innovate. This is the “small luck” that “dark fans” really want.
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