In October, the information announced about the 'Throne of Heroes' project spread across the Japanese internet and sparked heated discussion. The entire project was connected to the currently popular anime 'Fate/Zero', manga being serialized by several well-known manga artists, and 'Gate of Mystery', a novel written by the famous novelist Kirigami Ruri. With so many different fields involved, the project's potential audience was extraordinarily broad. The resulting advertising effect meant that even people who had originally been uninterested in games became at least somewhat curious because of the manga, novel, or anime.
First was the game project 'Throne of Heroes'. The information released to the public made it clear that PvP would form the core of its gameplay, while its PvE functions existed entirely to serve PvP. However, the game itself also contained plenty of card-collection elements. For example, players who won PvP matches could obtain holy relics used to summon Heroic Spirits, or they could choose to acquire alternate outfits for different Heroic Spirits.
The PvE gameplay was based on a further optimized and upgraded version of the 'Warship Girls Collection' framework, but its focus was closely tied to PvP. The PvP system was similar to an upgraded version of 'Hearthstone' from Kamiyā Yuu's previous world.
According to the setting, players from different worlds were summoned into the Hall of Heroic Spirits, where they operated as coordinators for Heroic Spirits. In PvE, they would assist Heroic Spirits in traveling between the Earths of various parallel universes to eliminate incidents that threatened to bring disaster upon Earth or humanity. The more incidents players resolved, the greater the authority they would gain within the Hall of Heroic Spirits.
Besides obtaining special items from various incidents, players with greater authority in the Hall of Heroic Spirits could unlock more features and items. Alternate outfits, Noble Phantasms, affection systems—it had everything one could ask for. Even though the game primarily focused on PvP, players who preferred PvE would still find plenty to enjoy.
The PvP setting revolved around two major factions, representing the two great Counter Forces, Alaya and Gaia, and served to balance the authority of the two Counter Forces.
On an Earth in a parallel universe that had already been devastated by an unstoppable catastrophe, the two Counter Forces constructed the Greater Grail and established a detailed class and combat-power system. Players could enter this world as Masters commanding Heroic Spirits from seven different classes and participate in the Holy Grail War.
It was similar to the background setting of 'League of Legends'. Those who entered the Greater Grail to fight were merely manifestations of the Heroic Spirits, so the overall setting itself resembled a game.
Although players were divided into two major factions, the rules of the Greater Grail allowed players belonging to the same faction to duel one another as well.
The Greater Grail would reset every three months. Whichever faction accumulated the higher total score would receive greater rewards. At the same time, the next update released by [Mirror Flower Water Moon] Game Studio would primarily focus on that faction.
Overall, the gameplay resembled an enhanced version of the classic card game 'Hearthstone' from Kamiyā Yuu's previous world. Combined with the PvE system and its various construction and progression mechanics, however, the amount of fun it offered rose by more than just a single level.
The core of PvE gameplay was progression.
The core of PvP gameplay was competition.
And the most important foundation for balancing those two forms of gameplay was rewards.
Take 'League of Legends', the world's most famous PvP game in the MOBA genre in its previous world, as an example. The reason games of this type could remain popular for so long was that every match could provide players with a new experience. Players tirelessly pursued victory, while the rewards they earned could be used to purchase other champions. The enormous champion pool supported much of the game's overall appeal.
Another similar game, 'Overwatch', could be considered a bold experiment, but it was by no means a successful example. Blizzard had created the game using leftovers from the original 'Titan' project, resulting in the game itself having the nature of fast food. It might feel fresh and entertaining when someone first started playing, but after enough time, players would grow accustomed to its patterns. Moreover, because the hero pool was far too small, the range of enjoyable experiences the game could offer was severely restricted.
Regardless of whether the games succeeded or failed, the designers of both might have recognized the shortcomings inherent in their games.
Winning a match in 'League of Legends' naturally made players happy, but because of the characteristics of MOBA games, the enjoyment largely existed only within each match. There was a lack of lasting, effective gameplay incentives to keep players motivated.
Long ago, DOTA, the most popular MOBA game at the time, had already recognized this problem. Thus, the ladder system came into existence. Players could compete against one another to earn higher ratings and eventually compete on the same stage as high-level players.
'League of Legends' also had a ranked system, but that did not mean it had solved the problem.
To truly solve it, three important factors had to be considered: the game's profitability, the game's enjoyment, and the game's lifespan.
Generally speaking, these three elements were interconnected. Increase the benefits players could obtain, and the amount of enjoyment they experienced would rise. But increasing those benefits would inevitably affect both the game's lifespan and the operator's profits.
The lower the player's productivity, the longer the game's lifespan—and gameplay longevity.
Although this was a fundamental truth of RPGs, it was equally applicable to MOBAs.
The designers of 'League of Legends' had already recognized this problem, which was why the rather lackluster loot system had been created. After completing a match, players could receive additional rewards. Those rewards consisted of champion skins and the champions themselves, which would otherwise have to be purchased with in-game currency.
However, the game designers had clearly failed to properly balance the three factors. The loot collection cycle was too long, while the rewards were stingy. This conservative approach maximized the game operator's profits, but it also turned the loot system into something that was hardly satisfying yet still seemed a waste to completely ignore.
The popularity of 'League of Legends' was declining. To delay that process, its designers were not only adding new champions but also exploring new forms of gameplay, incorporating progression and collection mechanics into the game to provide enjoyment from collecting things beyond the matches themselves.
Thus, systems such as loot and badges came into existence.
This was also largely why Kamiyā Yuu judged 'Overwatch' to be a fast-food game. Its designers clearly hadn't properly designed the game's framework, instead completing its gameplay loop in an almost crude fashion.
Play a match, win or lose, gain experience, level up, receive a loot box, open the box, obtain a reward, then play another match.
Players endlessly repeated this process.
Even the most important ranked rewards were distributed in the form of Competitive Points, which players could directly spend to purchase the so-called Golden Weapons.
In Kamiyā Yuu's opinion, this was an enormous joke, even less interesting than the badge system in 'League of Legends'.
The game gave players no interesting methods for obtaining items and established no meaningful obstacles for acquiring them. Everything was far too simplistic and crude, to the point that the gameplay itself suffered considerably.
Therefore, it was hardly unreasonable to call 'Overwatch' one of Blizzard's least sincere games.