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[CentralScrutinizer]

Can I buy and play it for $60-$70 or do I have to play it for "free" and do all the stupid ass gatcha game timer and currency bullshit?

 

[jzbadblood]

F2P Anime slop

 

[Liopleurodon]

Can I buy and play it for $60-$70 or do I have to play it for "free" and do all the stupid ass gatcha game timer and currency bullshit?

It's not game for you.

 

[StereoVsn]

This is where the writing should be carrying. Creatives can work within boundaries to still make things feel dark and disturbing in theme regardless of the lack of blood or body horror.

It might be an odd example to bring up, but Courage the Cowardly Dog, a kid's show, left people of all ages highly disturbed at some of the episodes and themes presented throughout.

It's a game produced in China. Nobody is going to dive into very deep scenes as that can run afoul of the censors.

Which is why you see very bland stories and writing out of there once Xi tightened the censorship back in late 2010s.

 

[StereoVsn]

Do t care what anyone says, this game looks awesome. Its definitely the first of these style games that I actually want to play

I think Ananta is supposed to be mainly gatcha on cosmetics side of things so there are no stupid character grading and pulls.

This is kind of like "Where Winds Meet" that just released where you have a ton of content, all free, and the charges are mainly around cosmetics.

There is stamina for certain actions that can bring in currency, but questing is not governed by it.

So if Ananta takes the same route, it would be a lot better bet vs usual gatcha stuff.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Something to play on my iPhone. Genshin Impact is actually a decent time sink.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

where is the GTA STYLE?!

 

[MayauMiao]

Honestly I'm kinda disappointed in the gameplay. Seems too boring for a modern day HoYo game. I know they can do better than that. Also I don't like the uncanny valley character models, but it's still early, so there's a good chance they polish those.

I watched that whole thing and I was just waiting for the 'hook' that never actually came. Very derivative for a company that's pushed the envelope a lot in the past.

Shame that due to China regulations, there will be no blood or body horror or anything interesting despite the darker theme.

*edit*



This will 100% be censored for the release version. It's a classic HoYoVerse move to have these kind of designs in the Alpha/Beta and then change them on release. Happened for Genshin Impact, ZZZ, and Star Rail.

Eh, we'll see. Even if the covered up the characters, its still way better than what is given by the modern audience chasing western devs.

 

[Perrott]

This is where having money but no creative vision gets you...

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Some more info about Varsapura from DaWei's private WeChat/Weixin. The translation might be a bit rough around the edges since it went from CN to JP and then to EN.

Tagging you here Agent_4Seven as you might be interested in what's been said by MiHoYo's CEO.

[Translation]Dawei's comment and vision on Varsapura

We began challenging the urban open-world genre in 2020, which could be called the "crown jewel" of the gaming industry. We wanted to create an open-world work based on a real city, featuring high-quality story expression, a more unique art style, and new breakthroughs in gameplay. Its development codename was PJSH (Project SH).

However, our vision was too grand, and the team started out at full speed on a massive scale from the very beginning, going against the "How miHoYo makes games" principle we've always upheld of starting verification from the smallest prototype. The result was predictable: the PJSH project was disbanded at the end of 2022.

By the end of 2023, the vision for the urban open-world gradually became clearer in Cai (Haoyu)'s mind, and we finally organized not just "an amazing project," but what kind of work we truly wanted to create.

This time, we're returning to our original creative intent, enjoying the true fun of making games, and focusing on creating something we love. We hope you will like it too.

Source

 

[Pejo]

Also worth noting that the character models look like an evolution of the Lumi_N0va experimental virtual idol that HoYo has been messing around with for years now. Probably uses the same tech/modeling/engine.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Ahh yes GTA (Gooner Tits & Ass)

 

[Honey Bunny]

You had me fooled in the first half of that title ngl

 

[Danjin44]

The visuals looks someone modded anime character model to a realistic looking western game.

I don't think I would be interested in this game even if wasn't F2P gacha game.