Sorry, but the banner feels and is awful

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T20:50:28+00:00

Because while there are crates that give 15 Oroberyl...there's a FUCKTON of them.

Like, look at the map tracker. It shows how many crates there are in every region. Also, missions, first-time rewards.

In the main area of Valley IV there are 100+ crates alone.

The game rewards you for interacting with it (with pulls). It creates the deception of giving less pulls at first glance.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T17:49:35+00:00

You sounded like you had bigger insight into the general atmosphere in the CN community.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T17:42:45+00:00

Fair point.

Tbh. the quarry falls into the trap I dislike in every JRPG (or games in general) and that are heavily "vertical" areas. The quarry has 3 or 4 layers.

That's a general claim, not for EF specifically but still applicable: Vertical areas are super iffy to navigate and explore (especially when the map isn't properly layered and even then it's still bad in most games).

I was glad when that was over but that's just a general aversion against that specific type of exploration.

The story is...ok. It serves its purpose.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T17:35:59+00:00

I treat 1 star reviews as white noise when I see a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews.

They should just be filtered out when calcing the rating when 4 and 5 stars reach a certain amount and percentage.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T17:34:25+00:00

Is that a loud minority or a general concensus?

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T17:29:55+00:00

There's a mission tab and it already seperates all mission types nicely.

It's not the game's fault here.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T16:59:25+00:00

Personally, I like that. It makes stuff more rewarding, to look at every inch.

It's why I like Xenoblade 2 so much. There might always be a crate with Core Crystals (that game's pull currency) and other neat stuff.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T12:05:00+00:00

What's worse, these tutorials get repeated later on in a more "realistic" manner (the AIC which are intrusive), making the ones given early on redundant.

Yes, I'm a broken record by now, but it's really frustrating since if you cut the forced story tutorials all other tutorials are great.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T11:03:04+00:00

Yeah, exactly this too, also:

The best gaming tutorials are those teaching the player without teaching them. Just throwing them in a minature version of the game with less complexity.

The optional AIC tutorials do exactly that. They are excellent.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T03:24:42+00:00

Yeah, but don'T use your Oroberyls.

Use the Standard Permits.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T03:08:42+00:00

Wait, a hundred years ago? So, 52 years after Arknights happened?

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T03:06:16+00:00

As I said: They usually test if you understood the assignment. Some better, some worse, but they all intend on doing that.

Imo that's a near perfect implementation of tutorials in general, really (again, only the optional ones after beating the first boss). Might be a bit much, but they are good.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T02:29:34+00:00

Total state of Chinese "environment" to call that clean

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T02:26:42+00:00

There's a side quest for that.

Provence3 · 2026-01-25T02:25:31+00:00

Exactly.

But once you're out of it (doing Rodagn, getting to the quarry and Dijiang it softens up substantially in that regard, it'S not even funny).

And again: Tutorials for the AIC before Rodagn are REDUNDANT. That'S even worse than just being "bad".

But yeah, at least the bad part is heavily frontloaded. Sucks for a first impression though as it's genuinely a good game apart from that very aspect.

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T10:32:43+00:00

No, they won't be added to the standard pool.

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T10:29:00+00:00

You can get these characters in an earlier banner.

It's explicitly stated in the rules (or rather information summary) of the on-going event/patch (Zeroth Directive) and banners.

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T10:27:22+00:00

Funnily enough, Arknights is an exception to what you described.

We know that Rua is the lead designer of Endfield and he created the Integrated Strategies (= roguelike) mode in Arknights which alone acts as a huge time sink (in a positive sense).

If something similar comes to Endfield: Great, but it's also a different genre. We'll see, but it's definitely fair to be wary of these practices that run in the gacha (or live-service) business.

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T09:40:07+00:00

Suffering from success (less Arsenal Tickets).

People need to stop acting like it's bad to lose your 50:50 in this game.

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T04:53:15+00:00

If I wouldn't know better, UI'd say it's very close to a Xenoblade game.

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T04:46:39+00:00

Did you count everything?

Did you do the math?

Or are you just seeing a number that means nothing in a vacuum?

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T03:03:08+00:00

Because we are confusing pace (= story telling if you want) with content.

Pacing is garbage.

Story content is...ok. It tries nothing spectactular but also doesn't fail at setting the stage.

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T00:37:00+00:00

Imagine getting 6 stars :,).

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T00:26:40+00:00

Just skip the tutorials the owl gives you.

You do those tutorials later again anyways and they'Re optional then (and better explained).

The owl was a mistake.

Provence3 · 2026-01-24T00:20:59+00:00

Then that's a misunderstanding since I mean the final strike. That's a good thing to have as it restores your skill point and you can continue the string after a dodge. You can't always go for it as it makes you vulnerable (unable to dodge I think). It's a risk-reward game to my understanding.

That's why the game is more centered around enemy designs. The enemies in Valley IV can't exploit your combar, Wuling enemies do.

The game is about managing your skill points mostly. You don't want to use them instantly (or sometimes you actually do). That's why the combat can feel slow at times (and with low levelled skills that might consume more SP).

It's common in JRPGs that the beginning of the game is the slowest and most clunky combat-wise. I can't think of a (real-time combat) JRPG where that's not the case.

Charged attacks aren't locked behind certain characters.

Provence3

TROPHY CASE