Recently, I saw a lot of people discussing the new game "Eight Desolations" in the forum. I also tried it for a few days. I just took this opportunity to talk to you about the scoring dimensions I usually use when evaluating games, so that everyone can have a reference when they see my reviews in the future, so that they won't think that my scores are high and low 😄
Let's talk about the picture first, this is the first impression. Personally, I don't really value extreme picture quality, but the picture must be clean and clear, the UI layout should be reasonable, and the skill special effects should not be blurry to the eyes. "Master of the Eight Desolations" adopts a classic magical style. The scenes and character modeling are quite satisfactory. The special effects of the soul and clones are very good. When fighting the BOSS, the screen is full of numbers, which is really refreshing. However, there are a lot of floating windows and red dot prompts in the game, and the obsessive-compulsive disorder will be a bit broken. I give the graphics a 7.5/10. It's not amazing, but it's in line with the average level of mobile games in this category.
In terms of gameplay, it is actually still the traditional MMO system of hanging up and killing monsters + increasing combat power. The highlight is the soul system and the unlocking of dual clones, which can indeed enrich the early development route and not just pile up equipment. The positioning of the three professions of Zhan Ming Dao is also classic, and the skill combos are feel-good and not too brainless. But the problem is also obvious - starting from the mid-term, it is an endless cycle of "insufficient combat power → brush materials → upgrade medals → continue grinding". It lacks in-depth copy mechanism or strategic gameplay, and it is easy to get bored after playing for a long time. In terms of gameplay, I give it 7 points. The victory lies in the completion level, but the defeat lies in the lack of innovation.
Next is krypton gold, which is what many players are most concerned about. At the beginning of the game, the game boasts about "killing monsters and exploding ingots", "recharging to get ten times the value" and "free VIP". The actual experience is: in the first two hours, you will be given a bunch of ingots and VIP experience cards, which makes you feel very happy without spending any money. But once the level reaches around level 50, a bottleneck in combat power appears. The drop rate of materials such as the Legendary Medal and Dragon Soul suddenly becomes very low. If you don't buy monthly cards or recharge gift packs, the breakthrough speed will drop sharply. The so-called "ten times recharge" is actually a rebate for the recharge level, which is better than nothing for zero-krypton players. But overall, this game is not too ugly. At least the daily tasks and activities can stably produce key materials. You can play it slowly even with zero krypton, but the progress will be about twice as slow as that of players who pay krypton. I give it 6.5 points for the krypton gold dimension. It is a typical medium-level krypton gold game, which falls into the category of "playing is more fun if you have money, but you can grind it if you don't have money".
In terms of social interaction, "The Lord of the Eight Desolations" does a pretty good job. Automatically match teams to fight BOSS, cross-server battles, and gang battles all have voice shortcut commands. Moreover, because of the promotion point of "calling good brothers", many players will bring real friends to play together, and the social atmosphere is relatively strong. I personally value the interaction between gang missions and world bosses. This game has no obvious social shortcomings, but it's not amazing enough to make people stay. I give it 7.5 points for the social dimension.
To put it all together, if the full score is 10 points, my current preliminary score for "Lord of the Eight Desolations" is 7.2/10. It is a qualified MMO mobile game, suitable for players who like traditional monster fighting and explosive equipment, have friends to play with, do not have extreme graphics requirements, and can accept appropriate krypton gold. But if you are pursuing a high degree of freedom, strong strategy, or a pure zero-krypton complete experience, you may have to lower your expectations.
Finally, I want to say that the scoring criteria are actually very personal. I prefer to look at "stress relief" and "long-term playability" separately. The first three days of "Eight Desolations Lord" are indeed very relaxing, but whether it can retain people after one month depends on operational activities and subsequent version updates. You can also try to rate your favorite games from these dimensions, and talk about your scoring benchmarks below ~ Discuss rationally, don't criticize me 😂