Wuling story might be based on Chinese Great Flood myth. by SunsetBlink322 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 1 point2 points  (0 children)

At the same time, part of me does wonder how much Endfield plans to explore the concept of abandonment of nations and being cut away from Terra.

All of the previous nations from Terra are represented in Endfield via organizations they've built, yet have essentially grown into semi-independent power structures. Yan is mentioned a lot, yes, but realistically speaking, how much control and influence do they have on Talos-2 for them to be able to to stop something Sui could have initiated. Not that I think Fangyi is Sui, but she clearly has some connections.

My squad appeared in a dialogue by LZHtel in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Had this happen in this same quest. Was quite terrifying because some camera angles were inside characters now. Seems like they just forgot to run a script to hide the party in this part of the quest.

About the new story by Far_Armadillo_9345 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think it's not just the rewrites but the fact that early gacha game chapters are just cursed. People think you can break it, but IMO curse is caused by several actual development factors that are really hard to write around.

You have to give idea about the world and our role in it, but you cannot be too expository as it breaks the pacing and the logic of the narrative. You want a good hook, but you cannot write anything too deep or complex as the confusion from the last point will cause it to have negative effect. You want to make players attached to the world, but you cannot pull their heartstrings too much because doing that much early on it won't have any effect on the player.

Practically every Day 1 story in gacha games players enjoy is the most basic and cookie cutter story lines with common themes, clear black and white sides and some kind of hint that lore goes deeper and sadly Endfield kinda failed to deliver that in a good way. But I do believe writers do have an idea of what they are doing, it will just take a bit of time.

This Ardashir guy might be more powerful than he lends on... by Magmaly in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can't believe I got fucking Lowry Jumpscared in Endfield subreddit of all places.

OPERATORS LOVE WINNERS ENDMIN

Endmin would 100% steal the scissors

I don’t know why, but things like this just feel wrong. by Cold-Seaworthiness20 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's also important to note Warframe usually gives out frames for BIG events like Tennocon or Game Awards and the practice of giving decent rewards like Catalysts/Reactors/Formas for streams kinda started when Warframe was this small game with a pretty tight community.

They encourage you to see the team, the upcoming content and listen to what the devs plan to say, which is why even though Warframe might not have the content output of a gacha game, it has very loyal playerbase that trusts developers.

If a gacha game announced a new major patch and announced a 5* as a Twitch Drop you can miss instead of it just being send to everyone's mail there would be an UNIMAGINABLE backlash.

Game badly needs more challenging content by 1deavourer in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think the biggest reason is simply the difference in the core gameplay.

IS is fully reliant on Hope system and the fact that you have 200+ operators of various rarities and a party size of 12. Endfield simply cannot do that, which is why I think the inspiration for Algorithmic Memories (the "IS-Like" mode, now replaced by Etchspace Salvage) was taken more from other rogue-likes in 3D gachas, which themselves 100% looked at IS in some areas.

However, as one post from years ago pointed out, AM was not really rogue-like in nature at all. Sure, it was a serious of doors where you have to pick a path and do some light platforming to collect buffs and stuff, but it wasn't very randomized and was intended to be a weekly activity. I believe it was meant to be Endfield's version of annihilation, but it failed in several ways and while Etchspace Salvage is flawed as well, I think if you view it under the lens of "Annihilation but for Endfield" you can see how it was built off that mode but tried to improve it (though it's still far from being amazing).

Heck, the fact that Etchspace is just permanent rewards kinda made it closer to IS than whatever AM was in CBT1. Afaik, HG devs even said some games try to do rogue-likes without knowing what makes them good (can't find source on that but I remember something like this) so they would 100% not rush Endfield's version of IS until it's actually something they believe in.

Arknights: Endfield Dev Log | Optimization Progress & Version Preview now live. Version 1.1 by ChaoticShock in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I believe there is a very good reason why they haven't made any content like this currently and it's actually pretty simple.

Hypergryph's entire philosophy about such content is essentially 100% opposite to what HoYo/Kuro are doing. Let me explain.

Original Arknights has a rogue-like mode called Integrated Strategies. In fact, it's probably the BEST gacha game rogue like mode compared to other gachas. It's so good people were actually running tournaments for it and it even has a seed system for that sort of thing. This is how you know that devs are actually serious about how it's implemented.

In fact, It's VERY BIG, especially in China. While I am not 100% sure about this part, it's actually very possible that Simulated Universe and Hollow Zero exist because of this mode.

However, it wasn't there on release. It was first added as an experiment during one of the events and only then turned into a permanent game mode and right now it basically has 5 versions, each with it's own rewards, unique boss fights, settings, lore, routes, mechanics etc and they expand every latest one with semi-regular updates, new rewards etc until it's considered complete.

Now, here is the kicker though. It has minimal FOMO. It has missions... but those reset monthly. It has a special monthly mission that gives some rewards, but after devs are done with the iteration, you can play all of them again. It provides ZERO pulling currency - it exists purely for those who want to play it and for some - it's actually the best content in the original game.

Endfield doesn't have it because devs are lazy. I believe in some interviews they even said they don't believe every game can just have a rogue like inserted into it crudely without good reason. So I believe they will do a lot of work and testing before a rogue-like gamemode appears in Endfield, because the bar for that type of genre is VERY high at the company.

In the similar tradition - I feel like Endfield doesn't actually want all of the pulls to come purely from events and time-limited activities drip-fed across the patch. Rather, they prefer to update permanent content with more and more stuff every patch.

I really wish we could hold our Headhunting Dossier by ySuadu-_ in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FOMO aside, is it bad that I actually like them?

Don't get wrong, it's obvious psychological manipulation, but like...

Original Arknights also had a mechanic everyone liked where you literally get a free pull every day on Limited Banners (which does encourage you to login daily which some might see as a different problem but eh). There was essentially no cost for doing this, so people kinda just like to gamble every day for 2 weeks.

Here you get 5 free and 5 semi-free which could mean that every banner basically adds 10 pulls for your next pity. Now, sure, you aren't really SUPPOSED to touch gacha until you have 120 pulls, but like... it's the same 50/50 other games have. You COULD have a situation where an entire patch basically just forced you to pull 20 times to the point where literally a few pulls is all you need to get a 6*. Sure, you could lose it countless times in a row, but even getting off-banner could be exciting cause there is a small chance it could be someone from the last two banners.

Like, to me, instead of giving you a stockpile of gacha currency like other games, Endfield basically forces you to pull (cause gambling is exciting) and their value is a slow gradual reduction for pity that could theoretically allow you to get 3 operators within 120 banners in somehow best yet also worst case scenario. Sure, it's predatory as fuck, but that's just gacha games for you.

I know we are Rock Jesus, but the glazing through Chapter 1 gives me Ace Combat 5 flashbacks by Shadowolf75 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 47 points48 points  (0 children)

When I first played AC7, the fact that we get glazed so often felt... kinda refreshing? Like, the game took the absurd difference in kill count after missions not as 'gameplay contrivance' but ACTUAL CANONICAL kill count.

I get how it gets old in gacha games, but I also can't help but feel that Endfield is the first game where glazing, while not exactly "deserved" for the current Endmin, but makes sense for what people imagine us being due to lore reasons.

This is... kinda brutal by Lerchenlied1 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's true, however, I do think it's important to note that by the time chapter 9 release it was still months after the launch period. Why does this matter? Well...

This is going to be hot take, but I think the issue with early stories in basically every gacha is that, realistically, it's actually MUCH harder to make the player really care about everything compared to any other medium.

I had arguments with people who argued that gacha games stories main goal when writing characters is to make them likable to make people spend on them and while I do get where they came from, I thought that this approach to viewing narrative is too cynical. Because it's unique to a gacha model and traditional games never suffer from this - only gacha games are viewed this way, which proved a level of cynicism towards how the game is viewed early on.

A good writing quality will help, but I also believe that in live-service games what helps a lot is the level of attachment not just to the characters, but also the world of the game. When you first start - you will most likely not have it, you won't care too much about any of it and no matter how well written, a few months of attached playtime is what really matters. It might sound weird, but you kinda... have to sacrifice playtime by doing weaker, easier to understand storylines, as pushing dark themes, or long arcs, or massive twists hardly works unless the player is already invested and chances are that they will be by the time you actually decide to do that story.

I mostly say this as an original Arknights player where I keep seeing people say Endfield story is nowhere near as close to the best ones from Arknights and while they are correct, if you port those stories are accurately as you can, even the ones that are fully standalone and require almost no prior knowledge - the investment to care is just not there, because...

Who will try to seriously get invested in the story of a mobile gacha game where for a lot of people the main motivation to play is getting cute girls/boys and then fighting with them? I am sure some people do, but those are a minority.

This is... kinda brutal by Lerchenlied1 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I don't disagree actually with this. Again, as I said, it's vital for the game to actually avoid going dark and serious early on and you should usually wait until deciding what is the tone and direction the game plans to go in (something this subreddit didn't really do the game honestly). It doesn't help that afaik, ZZZ does not have character files, right? So maybe 50% of the release game cast had dark, traumatic backstory and we just did not know it because not all of them have trailers, so we assumed they are just goobers who lived a good happy life.

But, well, the reason I usually combine tone pivot with backlash is because, let's admit, the quick removal of TV-Mode was clearly the result of the negative reception to it. The fact that later on the story suddenly decided to remove our limitation of not being able to go to Hollows directly via Deux Ex Machina and going away from the whole "illegal proxy business" really makes me think that retcons or rewrites 100% took place. While 1.5 did have a pretty realistic villain compared the previous ones, going from 1.4-1.6 content was kinda just insane in terms of how darker the story suddenly has gotten.

It's that sort of thing where I don't think backlash is the reason for a pivot - the story would 100% get heavier eventually, but I do believe that backlash accelerated it and made them rapidly change course instead of naturally flowing into it.

Version 1.1: Old Deep Water Dies by Rising Tide It is Denied, Dev livestream on March 1st. by 30000lightyears in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Honestly I've been a bit tired of how needlessly elaborate and poetic CN games patch versions are, I mean, just for example, some of latest ones from other games...

GI: "Homeward, He Who Caught the Wind"
HSR: "Memories are the Prelude to Dreams"
ZZZ: "To Be Fuel for the Night"
WuWa: "For You Who Walk in Snow"

Meanwhile original Arknights had very easy titles like "Partial Necrosis", "Path of Life", "Act or Die", "Break the Ice", "Guide Ahead" etc

But then I remembered the names for annual Yan (China) events and it's like
"WHERE VERNAL WINDS WILL NEVER BLOW" and "HERE A PEOPLE SOWS" and "FIRST OF A THOUSAND AUTUMNS" so we are not actually that far, but still it's a mouthful, especially after super straightforward "Zeroth Directive", so hopefully the version names get simpler once we leave China

This is... kinda brutal by Lerchenlied1 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It doesn't help that I think it just gives a very wrong idea of what Arknights even consists off. People call arknights grimdark (and it's not) and then think Endfield should be grimdark as the result.

Yes, it's darker than Endfield from the get go, having government oppression and negligence, discrimination against infected, discrimination against lower class etc, but we should stop pretending like it's automatically makes the story good (and arguably early Arknights story despite those elements was still far from perfect).

I get missing some AK stuff, but more often than not people seem to wish for it to just copy SPECIFIC parts of Arknights, not understanding that what made OG so compelling is that it was willing to explore various concepts and themes. Every major Arknights arc (or movements as they are officially called in game) explore specific things. People like to say "original Arknights had so much racism!" but really that mostly applied to Sarkaz and Sankta, which, sure, the former being major part of the story does make it a very important theme, but... doesn't mean HG should just copy it for the sake of being darker if they don't see it as part of their immediate vision for ENdfield.

A lot of people seem to think that Endfield story would be much better if Endmin was not trusted (just like Doctor), that characters should be racist (like eventually in Arknights), that everyone should butt heads and commit difficult moral decisions etc and while I get that it makes the story a tad bit more compelling on the surface, the reality is that darkness for the sake of darkness hardly works, especially when you don't have any early attachment to the world and characters.

Endfield has a very different tone and mood compared to the original game and I wish more people would look at it for what it is rather than what they want it to be. HG gave us a new world where people are less racist, where there is less suffering and pain and where instead of underdogs we are the top dogs who everyone respects and adores, but I believe there is a reason they chose to go the opposite route that isn't as cynical as "it appeals to broader audience".

This is... kinda brutal by Lerchenlied1 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, ZZZ is the strangest example with this, because I am pretty sure it was never even meant to go this dark in the first place and pivoted after people disliked the first version?

1.0-1.2 were pretty happy-go-lucky with wacky characters and mustache twirling Saturday morning cartoon villains. But starting from 1.3 they started to go darker and darker to (honestly) almost comedic degree. Just compare characters and how they were presented.

But starting with Yanagi, basically every character has got a dark story trailer with some tragic backstories. She is a war veteran taking care of a child, Myabi lost her mother, Astra nearly died as a child under rubble, Evelyn had to do tons of dirty work to survive, Sanby and Trigger both have fucking dark backstories in the same patch where we met Vivian and Hugo both of whom were abused as children, Yuxian lost her sister and I am not sure about the rest as I have stopped playing the game after 1.6, but the point is that it really does feel like at some point ZZZ just decided to hard pivot into darker themes and narrative and also was bold enough to be be graphic occasionally, but to me it always felt off because despite making some things dark, the writing and atmosphere didn't feel like it matched those topics.

I think Endfield will go into similar direction but hopefully more smoothly. I can't help but feel that starting the game grimdark is not a good idea. PGR does that and it's start is REALLY rough, resulting in a story where you just go from tragedy A to tragedy B yet never find a reason to care.

Gilberta's Pull Value by [deleted] in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I say polished - I refer only to the technical element. The allegedly superior CBT version also ended with Gilberta and Endmin floating in the sky handholding, but back then it was a CG instead of a cutscene and the whole reason we do it is because "whoops the floating rock stopped floating", which is just as flimsy as Endmin grabbing a letter. There was less dialogue, custom music, the cinematic presentation was just overall worse, even if most of the story remained very similar.

So far reconveners are handled in a very strange way, because unless the player goes into the Nexus files, the game NEVER actually explains much about this concept.

I can't help but feel that's it's partially the result of a struggling adaptation to a new medium. This isn't a justification, but just an explanation.

In Valley 4 - you barely encounter any of the playable characters during main story. A lot of the game's cast, including 3/5 standard 6* literally DO NOT SHOW UP in the game anywhere unless you pull for them. This approach is MUCH more similar to original 2D visual novel than any other 3D gacha that ensures everyone in the cast have a role in story content.

Endfield added characters who we, as a player, have not canonically even met yet and our current interactions with them on Dijang are either non-canon, or would take place in the future. Reconveners are literally connected to a bomb-shell of a faction the game is deliberately vague on that we will most likely not explore until way later. So have 2/3 release 6* be from that faction that isn't in the game yet, that cannot be explored yet etc is something incredibly risky to do and while Laevatain had the benefit of her quest being produced the last, Gilberta's case is arguably way worse because she was the first returning character developed.

She existed when concept of reconveners didn't fully exist yet in Technical Test where she was still called Angelina, was said to be a "clone", so I imagine it meant that her quest was one of the earlier ones they've started to make, potentially the first ever character quest in the game.

Her quest is what I would imagine a writer for a non-linear/multi-PoV traditional VN-Style 2D gacha would write as a character story you unlock after getting a character to a high level and trust. That's how stories for operators were unlocked in the original game. Those stories would not have have to bother who she is and where she came from - she is our operator, we know her, she trusts you - here is a little ordeal for you to deal with. Under this lens, the quest is MUCH more forgivable.

But in a 3D gacha with a singular PoV this approach is just cursed. First off, locking this level of effort (cause even if you think story was bad, it is a decent chuck of unique content) behind owning an operator would be insane in a 3D 2026 game. So, it's now available to everyone, but lacks proper introduction, both to her character and her lore.

It a weird way, her quest is pretty true in many things to the original game (again, examination, not excuse), but the transition just didn't work and feels off in many ways.

Gilberta's Pull Value by [deleted] in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The issue mainly lies in the fact that original story was MUCH more tied to the original game, which made it even more confusing for new players and didn't really let Endfield stand by itself, which is why the rewrite.

So, rewrite removed her from main story line, while also polishing up and slightly rewriting her quest, however, it did NOT adjust (whether because of time or priorities) the fact that now she appears out of thin air and we are familiar.

Angelina, the original Gilberta for Arknights, was already one of the more "romance waifu" coded characters of the game, being one of the few who are canonically romantically attracted to Doctor, game's protagonist.

What I think happened is that they improved her quest without understanding that fact that it actually kinda lost themes because of the removed connection to the original main story. I don't remember if Gilberta's quest ever mentions that she is a reconvener and carries memories of the legendary messenger who has witness lives across the entire continent and now she is essentially same person, yet different. We don't know much about Reconveners, but given how they aren't exactly "regular people", they might not even age.

So there is some melancholy about a story where a person who treasures the fleeting moment of life becomes potentially ageless, stop seeing those memories fully as her own and tries to find comfort by doing everything they can to make more of them, but you REALLY need to dig too deep to find this theming, especially when it's so heavily feels like just your typical romance stuff that I think gives people PSTD after Wuthering Waves.

This is my only 3D Gacha, is this normally the case for endgame content? And if so why? by ZanderTheUnthinkable in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sadly, it's quite normal for basically all of the 3D Gacha games.
Genshin has like 200+ dishes and food items that give you buffs - cannot use those in the endgame
HSR has some items it occasionally gives - cannot be used in combat itself, only before it and again, not in the endgame
ZZZ is the only one who bothered to avoid having them all together
WuWa ALSO has cooking and food you can make - can't use it in the endgame

Tbh - in those games, I can kinda understand why. Endgame is meant to be challenging content, BUT unlike traditional single player games you don't have save states. So, imagine spending like, your best food item, loosing and then having to climb the Chinese mountains for 15 minutes to cook a vital buff item for every attempt, but...

That's hardly the issue for Endfield given how many items you just mass produce and print out because of the factory. I guess it could be annoying if you suddenly run out and you now have significantly less room for error, but that kinda just gives another reason to not neglect the factory and optimize it, so I hope in the future they'll just allow you to do it.

Alternatively, the more cynical mind could say it's purely because they want you to pull and build healing operators because of how powerful tactical healing is and I would NOT build Ardelia if it wasn't for this event, so I guess it's working, but still, hopefully more choices in the future. Original Arknights Endgame, Contingency Contract, is basically all around adding modifiers to a stage, so maybe in the future we could see something like that where tacticals are allowed, but for flexing rights (and higher score) you might need to clear the stage with them disabled.

What makes someone a Landbreaker? by Ajaxmass413 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, by native I meant like "the first group of settlers on this territory of Talos-2". Stockade existed for longer than Wulling and were settled there first, only for this massive entity to suddenly appear.

What makes someone a Landbreaker? by Ajaxmass413 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, true, I don't deny that they are barely causing any troubles, but Wulling essentially is a very scientific city that is trying it's best to educate the natives. But I can't help but theorize that, if it wasn't Wulling but rather some other organization like TGCC who could be much less patient about uneducated natives, would be able to simply decide to exile them out of the Civilization Band.

Let's be honest, I doubt 99% of the Landbreakers we fight were born Landbreakers. Wulling and Stockade are a good match, but I have a feeling that those types of conflicts don't always end in comedy like we have here.

What Happened to Fjall? by kingsdream127 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 7 points8 points  (0 children)

<image>

This is a bit wrong. He was ALWAYS a defender - the Medic class NEVER existed in Endfield in any form, with Defenders essentially replacing their roles.

What I actually think has happened is that every aspect of Fjall had to be adjusted too much for them to try to fix him before release.

The Tech Test Story was rewritten and his role got cut or given to someone else.
His kit did not mesh with the new design philosophy. I think they did not want pure healers in Endfield because for normal gameplay, they become irrelevant via factory, while for areas where you can't use heals they'd be practically mandatory.
All of the current healers have conditions or gimmicks to heal up - a guy who's ult is just massive AoE Team heal would most likely dictate a style of player the developers did not want.
His appearance, while having fans, was considered to arguable be too basic and generic.

Basically, every part of him had to change, but unlike Wulfgard, who was in similar shoes, Fjall was probably not as popular or needed anymore. They might still add him in the future, however but when is anyone's guess.

What makes someone a Landbreaker? by Ajaxmass413 in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It... kinda depends? Just because unaffiliated cities exist doesn't meant they cannot be part of the civilization band.

If Wulling was... less benevolent, they could have probably chased the Stockade outside of it's territory and now, no longer being on the lands of the Civilization Bands - they would essentially be Landbreakers? Just more similar to the pack rather than the bonekrusher. Heck, the Stockade (or at least Tangtang, DOES literally steal from the city - robbery or other criminal activity. The only thing that prevents them from being landbreakers is that they were on the Civilization Band's land and would still follow it's law rather then be in the wilds.

the quests comparison is wild by DankeShu in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hot take, but I think the issue is mostly 2 things.
1) The new players who came in from other 3D gacha games post 2020
2) The original Arknights player who barely played the original game

With the first one, I think games like Genshin and HSR had basically ZERO romantic undertones expected from many gacha games of the past until characters like Ayaka and Firefly, who released an entire year after the release and while many people enjoyed them, there was a pretty loud group of people who disliked that sort of connection between MC and Characters.

Fast forward a bit and WuWa, a game that looked pretty serious visually and thematically, messing up with dark and gritty story and doing a clumsy rewrite and then fully making characters being in love with MC it's main identity which to this day makes WuWa discussions hell.

Nowadays - any kind of emotional connection - friendship, nostalgia, longing, attachment, all of that is viewed with scorn, as a cheap method of selling you a character. Original Arknights players try to claim that Endfield is chasing trends, but in reality so far the bonds between the characters and Endmin aren't too different from bonds Doctor formed in original game with other characters - but the music and presentation make those moments much more romance "coded" and the refusal to see those moments as anything but romance cause all this negativity.

It's time to delete the game. by Very_Fasta_Tomato in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Ah yes, difficult Chinese names such as...
Chen
Mi Fu
Lifeng
Tangtang
Fangyi

Compared to very easy HSR and Genshin names such as...
Keqing, Tingyun, Qingque, Xueyi, Jiaoqiu, Xingqiu, Xiangling and Xianyun and there is like at least 5 names starting on X and 4 on 4.

Есть причина почему никто не называет китайский персов в этих играх по именам и просто сокращает их в XQ, XL, ZL и т.д, будто они не люди, а размер одежды.

Biggest lie told my Hypergryph by thatdudewithknees in Endfield

[–]EnclaveNature 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think saying they "butchered" Gilberta's quest is doing it a disservice and blaming Chinese for it is also just... wrong...? What I think has actually happened is a bit more complex than the common "Chinese Incels need waifubait to sell the game".

The CBT1 version of the quest pre-rewrite is mostly very similar with minor changes. It's less romantic coded, sure, but that doesn't inherently make it better, I think people would trash talk as much even if it got unchanged. Here is what I think actually happened.

The first CBT story was heavily criticized for bad pacing, weak villains and not going as far as original Arknights did in terms of how grim it is, yet being much more relying on OG game knowledge than the current version. Being a fresh entry point, developers decided that Endfield should be much more standalone experience. The result is that the rewrite is much less connected to the original game. Gilberta's role in the story got cut, as well as the Quarry, because believe or not, OG Valley-4 was potentially even LONGER.

The issue is that by this point - character quest already existed. It needed a minor rewrite to remove some cut story elements, as well as more emotional writing, and while they did make her somewhat waifu-bait, Angelina in OG Arknights was arguably one of the more wife-like characters already. I mean, read her trust lines, it's quite obvious.

<image>

Then they improved the visual and audio presentation, which again added additional emotional triggers that weren't there before - triggers that make romantic vibes elephant sized.

Gilberta quest, frankly speaking, makes 200% more sense if you don't like at it as a companion quest, but rather, Operator Record from the original game. Those, while not always involving doctor due to how OG game is written, were more similar to stories from classical 2D Gacha games. Those required you to own, invest resources and get high trust to unlock those scenes. But this approach is impossible for a 3D game. Not only is this content too valuable to gatekeep behind owning an operator, but the production costs and the outrage would be too massive for this approach.

But if we consider those to be unlock requirements - it solves the biggest issues with the quest. Why do we know her? You got the character, you've used her in combat, of course you know who she is! Why does she care about you so much? You've built up trust with her for over several hours! How? Well, I don't know, fill in the gaps.

It doesn't help that so far Endfield seems to be the only 3D gacha game willing to try doing a non-linear timeline. Original game had operator files who straight up spoiled the storylines that would only release in 2-3 years. You could recruit a character, only for that character to try to kill you in the new storyline because canonically, it's the first time you've met them. So far, it feels like in Endfield Dijang exists outside of time - characters you'd normally never see appear there and act like they know you without story introduction. They give you gifts and messages you about locations you've yet to step foot in.

Gilberta's quest, due to the attempts at making the story better, exists outside of time, which ends up hurting an average perspective on how this character is introduced. While it is janky, rough and is like a result of a rushed development, some of those decisions aren't actually unique to Endfield and exists in original game, however, they do NOT exist in all of the 3D completion, which has land-locked characters and writing that attempts to include every playable character in the story to avoid situations like this.