To be honest, when I saw the slogan for this game that said "Regain the original intention of gaming", my first reaction was to laugh. After all, from the Saipan era to now, there have been too many gimmicks about "feelings", "craftsmanship" and "original intention". Nine times out of ten, they are reskinned assembly line products. But I was idle, so I went in and tried it for three days with a critical attitude, and the result was a bit surprising.
Let me first talk about what makes me, a 30-year-old player, most comfortable - it is really carefree. I'm not saying that it doesn't have any krypton gold points, after all, it needs to be just right, but at least I have zero recharge in the past three days. I relied on setting up stalls to sell materials and catching mutant babies, changed into a usable blue outfit, and saved more than a thousand bound ingots. The experience given by the main mission is very sufficient, and the level is completely up to par. There is no need to get stuck in levels like some games and force you to recharge your monthly card. To be honest, this rhythm reminds me of when I played the PC game "Fantasy Westward Journey" ten years ago. Although the picture was simple, the sense of solidity of getting stronger step by step was still there.
The egg hatching system is one of the core gameplay features of this game. As soon as I entered, I was given a spirit beast egg. When it hatched, it was a purple-quality crane with average attributes, but quite cute in appearance. Later, I picked up a dozen eggs in the wild map, used a furnace to combine them to create two mutant babies, and after washing my hands, I developed five skills without spending a penny. Of course, if you want the best red game, you will definitely have to spend time saving materials or trading, but at least zero krypton players can continue to play and will not be persuaded to quit. This design reminds me of the joy of hatching green dragons when I played "Stone Age". I really miss it.
In terms of social interaction, the teaming system is well optimized and the automatic matching is very fast. There are not many advertisements and scoldings in the world channel. Everyone is talking about which pet has the most mutant pets and which pet has the best skills. I joined an active gang. The gang leader is a student gang member who is very enthusiastic. He leads the team to play dungeons and teaches newcomers how to match skills. This moved me, a veteran gang member, a little bit. It's rare to have this kind of atmosphere that doesn't involve forced social interaction or comparison of combat abilities, it's just a matter of just fighting monsters and chatting together.
Equipment creation is a test of luck. Three of my four-piece kits came out with top-quality attributes, but they were broken twice due to lack of power points. Later, I learned to use low-level materials to pad the knife. The stall trading system is indeed a selling point. Equipment, pets, and skill books can be freely priced. Although there is a certain tax, it is much better than some games that limit the number of transactions or can only be purchased with diamonds. Yesterday I typed a book about advanced combos, set up a stall and sold it for 50,000 gold coins, and bought a bunch of fruits for washing pets. I haven't experienced this sense of circulation in a long time.
Of course it's not without its shortcomings. The graphics are indeed a bit outdated, the UI design is in an early style, and some icons still have a mosaic texture. The AI in auto-battle is a bit stupid. It doesn't focus its fire when fighting control monsters and often overturns. In addition, the server occasionally gets stuck. I wonder if there are too many people. But overall, this game allows me to see what Diandian's turn-based mobile games should be like back then: not forced, strategic, social, and able to become stronger over time.
Finally, I would like to say something from the bottom of my heart. If you are like me and are an old player who is tired of the Krypton Gold Liver Emperor game and just want to find a game to kill time after get off work, chat about memories, and raise pets, then "Xianyu Romance" is worth a try. Don't expect it to have any earth-shattering innovations, but at least it respects the word "game" - not part-time work, not comparison, but pure happiness. 😌