Vortex Gaming

The sequel to Girls' Frontline, 'Girls' Frontline 2', has been nicknamed 'Cute Girl XCOM' since its initial reveal. It features SRPG elements like cover and hit rates that vary depending on terrain, leading to '!God-saved-me' moments, and the tactical dolls from Girls' Frontline rendered in decent 3D cartoon style. Up until the 2nd CBT, it was combining elements familiar to users with 'Girls' Frontline' unique elements and systems to increase its completeness.

As such, the Girls' Frontline 3rd CBT, which ran from July 20th to August 3rd, was even more surprising to users who had been following its progress. It had already been foreshadowed during the Girls' Frontline 7th Anniversary broadcast in May, but from the perspective of someone who had directly tested it, there were significant changes that made it understandable why there had been no news for nearly 2 years.

Connecting the Threads Between Girls' Frontline and Reverse Collapse

The general outline of the story of 'Girls' Frontline 2' had already been revealed through two previous tests. Following the first game, the protagonist Commander is once again out of Grifon with a few tactical dolls for some reason, wandering as a bounty hunter and mercenary. While transporting a requested item through the Collapse Storm, they are attacked by the Varyagdan. Fortunately, the Groza squad, responding with a spare body, repels the Varyagdan and evacuates to a safe zone, but an unknown girl 'Helena' appears from the box, and another force seeking her emerges, plunging them back into a massive conspiracy.

In the previous two tests, the scenario only progressed to the point where they escaped the Varyagdan's pursuit and arrived at a safe zone, with the rest of the content only being revealed through stages. Therefore, the general content could only be guessed at. However, in this test, the story line and settings were further refined, much like the enhanced graphic details. Not only was there an explanation of the problems facing the Commander, but there was also a connection to the overall context of the Girls' Frontline series and the 'Reverse Collapse' story that would follow.

In particular, following the recent Girls' Frontline story frequently mentioning core materials of the post-apocalyptic world, such as Collapse Fluid and E.L.I.D., the 'Complete Immunity' which is one of the core keywords of Reverse Collapse, which recently finished testing, also appeared, giving the feeling that it was laying the foundation as an intermediate point in the story. It wasn't that there was no information about Helena in the previous test, but most of it was speculation by core fans of Girls' Frontline based on her brief appearance. The grounds to support those speculations are now gradually being built up, adjusting the flow leading to Girls' Frontline and Reverse Collapse.

In addition, elements that fans of 'Girls' Frontline' had been expecting were further enhanced. Although the time in the story is short, wouldn't it be the duty of a fan to wonder what the tactical dolls and Grifon characters, who have been through thick and thin for 7 years in real life, will be doing 10 years later? Of course, expectations were raised when UMP9, ST AR-15, and even Karina appeared in the PV during the 6th anniversary broadcast, but it was uncertain when they would appear.

However, in this test, Karina and UMP9 appear from area 4, explaining the story and current situation after the Commander left Grifon with full voice acting. There is also a scene comparing Karina's current appearance as a high-ranking official with her cheerful PMC supply officer days, so users who have enjoyed Girls' Frontline for a long time may feel a sense of nostalgia. In addition, many users familiar to Girls' Frontline players, such as Helian and Dandelion, appear, so it can be said that it has firmly established its identity as a sequel that Girls' Frontline users must play.

No more 'God-saved-me', a change from XCOM-like to classic SRPG

Since the first change discovered in this test was the very early tutorial stage, the story naturally had to be discussed. In the previous two CBTs, the final boss tried to steal the box from the Groza squad, and the Groza squad fought to stop them, which was introduced as a tutorial before immediately transitioning to the opening. And as the story progresses a bit more and you get to character pulls, you often see familiar faces from Girls' Frontline again, so the story naturally had to be discussed.

However, even though the story script is fully voiced, it is quite long, so it is easy to fall into the temptation of skipping it, and above all, 'Girls' Frontline 2' has been attracting attention since its initial reveal as a cute girl XCOM-like style. The key question is how that part has changed.

To put it bluntly, the 'God-saved-me' moments are gone. Of course, strictly speaking, 'Girls' Frontline 2' did not adopt a system completely identical to the 'God-saved-me' moments of XCOM. It's not that you can't even hit the enemy and turn the gun in the wrong direction, raising people's blood pressure, but it's a relatively friendly (?) system that allows you to shoot the enemy accurately but only deal a very small amount of damage.

In addition, in the 1st CBT, some characters in the Blade and 2nd CBT, classified as Vanguard, had skills that allowed them to cooperate when an ally attacked an enemy within their attack range, and even if a miss occurred, the condition was satisfied, so there was always a way to defeat the enemy even if they didn't hit. Still, the enemies were so strong that if you didn't defeat them decisively at once, you were likely to be counterattacked, so the taste expected from XCOM was fully felt even in a slightly milder form, which could be said to have its own charm.

However, now they have introduced a new system called Protection Value instead of hit rate and misses, and shields. When you attack an enemy, the Protection Value is deducted first, dealing much less damage than the actual attack power, and only when the Protection Value reaches 0 will you deal 100% full damage. The basic principle of having to move to a place without obstacles blocking the view in order to quickly defeat the enemy is maintained, as the Protection Value is deducted less when attacking an enemy from a direction blocked by cover. However, in the past, you had to carefully maneuver considering the number of cases due to misses, but now it is easier to calculate the numbers by hitting honestly according to the set values.

Also, the Guide Index that all units shared is now applied individually, and the number of active skills per character, which used to be at most two, has been expanded to two or three by default. To explain the previous system in more detail, in order to use skills, you had to carefully calculate the consumption and acquisition of each Guide Index, warm up, and then build up skills while looking at the overall situation to see whose skills to use in the next turn. However, now it is easier to check each character's skill cooldown or Guide Index and use them in the right place. Also, the number of skills that require warm-up has been greatly reduced, making it easier to clear out a large number of enemies with a strong attack from the beginning and then focus on attacking difficult individuals.

Looking at the direction of these changes, it is closer to the feeling of a classic SRPG that reliably defeats enemies each turn by counting skill cooldowns or conditions, rather than an XCOM-like game that carefully progresses by calculating hit rates and the number of cases one by one. Of course, existing elements such as the Protection Gauge being deducted less depending on the terrain remain. Still, the fun of SRPG, which is to carefully calculate and solve each number, has been enhanced, such as reliably cutting off one enemy with skill combos, or wiping out enemies by concentrating area skills on them. Conversely, since enemies can also reliably defeat allies, the basic principle of not going out recklessly while considering this has not been forgotten.

'Girls' Frontline 2' Changes Direction Again, Still Has Tasks to Solve

Like other Girls' Frontline series, 'Girls' Frontline 2' is not a game that shows a completely new path. In fact, the Girls' Frontline series has been gaining popularity by mixing various game styles that users are familiar with in the Girls' Frontline world and increasing the completeness. Girls' Frontline 2 initially gained attention by mixing the XCOM style, but in this CBT, it seems that they decided that it was difficult to make use of the skills of various characters, so they removed that part.

And it was noticeable that they tried to increase accessibility by filling that void with lighter elements. From the 5-attribute system that was introduced in the 1st CBT to the multiple weakness attribute system that is often used in recent turn-based RPGs, and even various stat upgrade research, they made it easy for users familiar with mobile collection RPGs to approach.

The item farming method also felt like it was following this trend in a broad sense. Not only are there daily dungeons to farm materials to break through each class of character, experience, and weapon nurturing materials, but also a unique mode called 'Exploration' where you can obtain various weapon attachments can be farmed by skipping without separate resources after clearing it once. However, 'Exploration' had tactical fun in minimizing combat and focusing on attacking somewhat challenging enemy bosses to finish them off, or avoiding strict surveillance. There aren't any games that mix real-time quarter-view stealth action with SRPG, but it can be said that they have captured two birds with one stone by taking advantage of the strengths of both and supporting skipping after clearing, which eliminates the fun and the hassle of repetitive farming.

However, there were some unsettling elements. First of all, the addition of PVP was the most noticeable. Of course, it's not strange since there are quite a few SRPGs that provide live service with PVP. However, it's somewhat unfamiliar since Girls' Frontline and Neural Cloud have never promoted PVP and competitive content as permanent content. There's nothing better than PVP to enjoy while doing various research during rest periods when you've cleared all the events and stories, but that means that balance and combination issues are bound to arise. Stress also increases, which could lead to some users leaving, so this part needed to be viewed more carefully. It is currently difficult to grasp its importance because the BM is not complete, but it is a part that will inevitably be concerned about when it is officially released.

Although it has become easier to check the enemy's attack range compared to before, there are still some shortcomings in UI/UX convenience. In particular, due to the characteristics of Girls' Frontline 2, which has terrain elevation differences and various covers, you have to rotate the map camera frequently, but it was difficult to adjust the options related to this in detail. In addition, it was questionable why you had to go to the navigation section in one corner of the map to access major menus such as mail, user information, and item storage.

Looking at the overall structure, I could feel the intention to present a UI design for a single-player game like Reverse Collapse, but 'Girls' Frontline 2' is a live service game and a game that continues to receive rewards through mail and various channels. In that respect, the current 'Girls' Frontline 2' is transplanting the convenience of mobile games, but it can be said that it is in a transitional situation where it is not completely harmoniously blending with the single-player game sensibility that was initially intended.

Despite such transitional aspects, 'Girls' Frontline 2' is definitely a work that Girls' Frontline fans and SRPG fans should look forward to. The fun of seeing the Girls' Frontline characters in action with more enhanced directing, modeling, and story lines is more than 100% to 120% even at this stage. Although they abandoned the XCOM style, they maintained the fun of carefully making moves by adjusting the reduction rate according to the Protection Gauge and the degree of cover so that even the lowest-level enemies cannot be easily killed in one shot.

At the same time, the fun of pushing away the low-level enemies with a flashy skill combo while utilizing various combinations has been added, as definitive kills are now possible and many unique skills have been secured for each character. Furthermore, depending on the enemy class, if you hit them from the rear or side in a state where there is no cover, it feels like defense-ignoring damage is applied without the influence of the Protection Gauge, so there was also the fun of taking risks and sweeping them away aggressively. Of course, there are some unsettling elements such as the choice to add PVP to the BM that is often seen in Chinese subculture games after Genshin Impact, and the inconvenience of the UI/UX. Still, since there is still time until the release and 'Girls' Frontline 2' has shown a developing appearance while changing several times, I am looking forward to seeing what it will look like in the next test or official release.

웹진 인벤윤서호 기자
2023-08-03