Vortex Gaming

On January 9th, The War of Genesis was released on mobile following its console release. While the console version somewhat overcame the shortcomings of the demo, it ultimately faced the setback of the development team's disbandment. All eyes are on whether The War of Genesis mobile, now the last bastion, will lead the IP in a compelling way.

Of course, we could roughly confirm the clues from the CBT held for two days from December 4th to 5th. It showed its basics by solving various elements of The War of Genesis according to the grammar of mobile classic SRPG, which has converged and evolved in various games. However, since only the process up to level 20 was shown, important points when dragging a live service game for a long time, such as nurturing and growth, and related BM, could only be speculated. However, one thing was certain at that time. Although it appeared somewhat abruptly, it was quite close to the model answer for the revival of The War of Genesis that I had been expecting.

In fact, there have been movements to revive The War of Genesis. However, after the hegemony shifted to mobile, rather than reviving it in the form of SRPG that fans remember, it went in the direction of trying something else based on the IP. I won't belittle the attempt itself, but since it was somewhat different from what the fans wanted, most of them achieved results below expectations and disappeared into the annals of history. That's why 'The War of Genesis: Remnants of Gray', which focused on the story and setting gaps and the main points of the original to revive the 'The War of Genesis' in memory, was able to gain some response even though it fell short of modern standards.

This War of Genesis mobile also tried to capture The War of Genesis that fans remember, specifically, The War of Genesis with more emphasis on elements as a 'classic SRPG'. The reason why I emphasize classic SRPG is that, strictly speaking, 'The War of Genesis: Remnants of Gray' focused more on capturing the catharsis of the original than refining the completeness as a classic SRPG.

In fact, if you look back at the original 'The War of Genesis', it was a series that was a bit different from the classic SRPG that you would normally think of. It's not that there aren't any tactics and strategies to solve with job changes and nurturing, character placement and linkage, but rather the one shot of a powerful super special move stood out more. It may be somewhat different from the direction of SRPG that gradually solves strategically, but the character narrative and dynamic directing to show that power were added, and it became a unique charm of 'The War of Genesis'. Even friends who hadn't played The War of Genesis at the time had heard of super special moves such as Asura Destruction Fist and Heaven and Earth Destruction Dance.

In Remnants of Gray, the directing of those super special moves was somewhat lacking, but at least the power was certain. No matter what, if you time Iolyn's Blizzard Storm in the early stages, Rashid's Snow Flower Dance in the mid stages, and Asura Destruction Fist after the return of the Black Prince well, you can solve it quite smoothly. Of course, the conditions are so strict that you can't fire it multiple times, and if you try to meet the conditions, there is a high risk that the characters will be hit hard and die. How to overcome this and insert a finishing blow is the strategic point that Remnants of Gray put forward.

The War of Genesis mobile was similar to this until CBT, but the direction has changed in the official release version. Because it was easier to use super special moves than Remnants of Gray, the power of super special moves was reduced in inverse proportion to that. In CBT, once a super special move was activated, most enemies would fall like fallen leaves at once, but now it only reduces about half of their health.

Unlike Remnants of Gray, where you have to think about how to attack without getting hit by the enemy as much as possible, it is a reasonable direction considering that you can use it when you fully collect up to 5 gauges that are recovered every turn. It's a bit disappointing that the thrill of saving skills and sweeping them away with super special moves has been reduced, but it's also fun to solve it with other strategies, such as considering linking other characters' skills to catch them with super special moves, or using multiple characters' super special moves to attack.

In fact, The War of Genesis mobile has significantly reduced its reliance on super special moves and added several other strategic elements to further enhance its completeness as a classic SRPG. It added various elements such as the affinity system based on the affinity system that comes to mind when you think of mobile collection RPG instead of the resistance of the original, the attack-defense type affinity reminiscent of strategic simulation, the characteristics that change depending on the weapon, the reduction of ranged damage depending on the placement of terrain and the direction of attack, and even the system of cooperating by surrounding from the front and back. So, there was a charm in arranging strategic moves such as matching up according to the attack-defense type affinity or minimizing damage by arranging using shelters, and quickly organizing by surrounding the enemy from the front and back with cooperation.

The amount that was revealed during CBT was only a taste because the maps of the stages were not that big, but from the 4th chapter, the Ice Castle part, it feels like it's on track in earnest. The field is quite wide and there are quite a few enemies, and they often use troublesome debuffs or CC, so if you rush in mindlessly because it's annoying, you can see characters falling one by one or staggering in an incapacitated state. As a result, you naturally advance carefully considering the enemy's range and skills, and you have to think about several moves to deal with them without damage at once.

So, although the fatigue is a bit high, you can also taste the unique fun of SRPG as it is when it goes according to that number. And depending on the job change, the character's role changes, and accordingly, the strategy also changes, so there was a charm in nurturing and changing jobs according to your character pool. The original 'The War of Genesis' also had the fun of using sub characters by changing them into various jobs to break through story sections where well-raised main characters did not appear, and it was impressive that The War of Genesis mobile highlighted this part that was not fully examined in Remnants of Gray.

The basic structure of The War of Genesis mobile is literally following the routine of already standardized mobile games. The battle part is a classic SRPG composition as mentioned earlier, and the way to nurture the characters who will be active in it is the same way that comes to mind when you think of mobile games. Various resource dungeons and PVP, and content like the Tower of Infinity are solved by substituting them with elements corresponding to the world of The War of Genesis. At the same time, in order to compress the vast story of The War of Genesis into mobile, it was conducted in parallel not only with the story mode but also with the mission mode to farm class rank-up materials.

This strategy is theoretically the model answer, but as always, the actual battle felt a bit different. In particular, in the Imperial Army raid, the sweep that was in CBT was removed and replaced with an automatic repeat function, and I wondered why they made that choice. Of course, automatic repeat and sweep functions are just accessories for convenience, so it's a bit funny to argue about the presence or absence of these. However, it doesn't feel good to remove something that was in CBT or to present some sweep tickets as a billing model.

In fact, even without such measures, The War of Genesis mobile is a game with a considerable lack of activity, so it is difficult to make progress quickly. There is a lack of nurturing materials themselves to raise multiple characters, and naturally, selection and concentration become more and more important in the game. The content that was revealed during CBT was a bit light, but the chapters and Machina War content that were revealed after that are tiring if you make a mistake, so you will find more and more ways to reduce the burden. At this time, it is the charm of SRPG to find a breakthrough by devising several moves, but there is also a need to find a more convenient way due to the characteristics of the 'mobile' platform.

The classic mobile collection RPG supports this with BM of characters and equipment, and various growth elements, and The War of Genesis mobile follows that formula as it is. It's already a standardized pattern, so it's hard to talk about good or bad, but that's why the convenience is more lacking than other games of similar genres. Because there is no window to go directly to the breakthrough material box that most collection RPGs basically support, or you can't see the equipment by set options, etc., you can feel the inconvenience right away if you play it a few times. It is difficult to see UI/UX as determining the overall completeness, but when compared within a similar framework, these elements can only act as a minus.

And the character balance issue is also an unstable factor. In fact, looking back, The War of Genesis was a series with not very good character balance. The story of surpassing even divine beings centered on a few strong people stimulates catharsis, so it feels like it's okay, but there were many parts where the feeling was very different depending on whether that character was there or not. In particular, in the later stages, the utility was divided depending on whether there was a useful super special move or not. This time, the power of super special moves has been lowered and the reliance on basic skills has been increased, so it's not to that extent. However, there is a difference between having one more strategic means or not. Maybe it's to prevent that, but some characters were given super special moves that didn't exist in the original, but even if I understand the context, it was inevitable that I would be puzzled because it was not consistent. There are cases where characters who had their trademark super special moves in the original are not visible.

Fortunately, it's not that you can't use super special moves if you don't have a dedicated weapon like in the original, and the gap is slightly reduced by adjusting so that even if other characters catch the special ability of the dedicated weapon, it can be applied to some extent. The performance difference between hero-grade weapons and legendary-grade weapons is relatively small compared to other games, and you can exchange the character's dedicated weapon or breakthrough materials with the goods accumulated while drawing, so the burden is lower than in CBT. PVP is also relatively less stressful because it is currently asynchronous and the rewards are not very high. However, that is what the current The War of Genesis mobile is like, and there is a potential risk that it will become unstable depending on how the content is built up in the future.

These anxieties are risks that all collection RPGs potentially have. One of the risk management methods of collection RPGs is to do it with not only content but also the charm of characters and stories. In this part, The War of Genesis mobile is relying on the power of the IP, and there is nothing more to say in the story. As we have already seen in Remnants of Gray, the story of 'The War of Genesis' has proven to be too big to just bury in memories.

However, this is only a story limited to users who know 'The War of Genesis'. If you haven't tried it, but you've heard the name before, you'll be interested, but I wondered if you would come into contact with it by looking at the character design, character acting, or graphics in a state where it's not. And The War of Genesis mobile also shares this problem to some extent. Because even though the graphic style is different from the console version, the design is unified. So it's generally classic and clumsy. Furthermore, the development speed is compressed to fit the mobile, so the shouts come out more often before or during the battle, but the character's emotional acting is very dry like in Remnants of Gray, so it's even more difficult to immerse yourself in the story than in Remnants of Gray.

Old doesn't necessarily mean bad, but the story is a bit different when viewed as a 'collection RPG' genre that focuses on each collected character, unlike console package games. If you had focused on pushing one story and seeing the ending in the classic package game method, you would have thought so, but it becomes a 'product' that you invest some real money in and draw, so you can't just pass it over.

Anyway, since 'The War of Genesis: Remnants of Gray' development team has been disbanded, The War of Genesis mobile is currently the only hope for cultivating the IP in the direction that fans of 'The War of Genesis' remember. If you look at the in-game play, there is a possibility. It has increased the completeness as a classic SRPG by putting in various strategic elements in an organized way, and it is compressing and solving the story that flows in parallel in the way of a mobile collection RPG. And it's not difficult to adapt because it fits the typical mobile game routine well with the elements of The War of Genesis.

However, the convenience and details for users who enjoy collection RPGs are lacking, and there are also designs that deviate from the trend to some extent, so there is a sense of unease. In fact, this part is not a big problem once it gets on track and becomes familiar, but it is an obstacle before getting on that track.

It's also a bad thing that they drew two swords, a temporary inspection and an emergency inspection, due to the issue of the Knights content before they could even fix the obstacles, but the bigger bad thing is that this unstable situation is prolonged and the timing of announcing something to solve in the long term is delayed and trust in stability is lost.

Currently, The War of Genesis mobile does not have any killer content other than reading the main story again. In fact, the story shares a considerable part of the framework with Remnants of Gray, so the strength as 'The War of Genesis' is a bit lacking except for more strategic stage attacks. The War of Genesis mobile is superior as a classic SRPG, but ironically, that's why it has become a double-edged sword that hasn't captured the catharsis of the original. If you want to revive the catharsis of the original, there is room to go to an irreversible situation if the balance is broken in the PVP, and if you take out that catharsis, the taste of the main character of The War of Genesis becomes bland, which is a dilemma.

So, since we chose the latter, the remaining thing is how to persuasively lead the story of The War of Genesis with the somewhat weakened The War of Genesis character and how to build up the killer content that will appeal to its unique strategy. In addition, I think stable operation and content composition are necessary until that build-up is built. If it were a console package game, I wouldn't know, but in a free-to-play live service that has to sell products steadily, operation is one of the basics in addition to in-game content. As much as the outside is clumsy but the inside contains considerable depth, I hope that the cracks that have occurred now can be well sealed and that not only the contents of The War of Genesis 2 but also the Rhapsody of Zephyr, 3, Part 2, and the rest of the story can be released to the users in that earthenware jar.

웹진 인벤윤서호 기자
2024-01-12