However, one Takanashi Kiara is a huge fan of same and has been looking forward to Endfield for her entire existence*, played the brief beta a few months ago, and started playing the game For Reals pretty much the instant it dropped. And it looked fun, so I picked it up.

I'm not very far into it and have acquired nothing/no one of note yet, but yeah, it's pretty fun so far. The main game plays a bit like ZZZ, but with different enough combat mechanics that I'm pretty sure I'm going to fumble a lot switching between them, but hopefully my high-function-button-masher approach will see me through either way. Also, unlike ZZZ the main character can actually fight and is therefore eligible to be part of the squad, which is an interesting difference.

Mind you, the Endministrator (what a strange title) is more of a cipher than Wise/Belle, and that's on purpose, since they played the "your character can't remember anything" card to explain why you don't know anything about the gameplay or lore going in. This is a common tactic, and adjacent to the way every Elder Scrolls game starts with the PC in some kind of penal situation to explain why you start with no equipment. It annoys me a little, but at the same time, I get why they do it.

One thing that is very different is what appears to be the main gameplay mechanic that isn't on-foot exploration/tactical combat. It appears that Hypergryph (no relation) looked at the feedback from Arknights and said, "We hear you! Some of you aren't really fond of tower defense. In that case, how about Satisfactory?" When you're not out stabbing bad guys, your main job seems to be building an automated factory to build... well, I'm not clear yet on what it builds, having just reached the tutorial phase of that part. Maybe everything? The characters keep talking about how the new automatic factory machine they've developed will enable them to rebuild the world. I guess that's what Endfield Industries is actually for, and the fighting-snurglies part is just because they keep getting in your way and/or breaking stuff you're trying to fix.

Pretty neat so far. Confusingly complicated substructure, like all gacha games, but I'm sure I'll get used to it in time. It took me a couple of months to really get a handle on what the hell all the currencies and stuff do in ZZZ.

The first six-star character banner is for Laevatain (I Can't Believe It's Not Surtr), and I cannot afford to seek her. Sadness.

--G.
* seriously, they started hyping the game in 2020, so...
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.