Let me make it clear first, this game is still an online game in essence, even if it is advertised as "OL", even if it now has an offline version with a strong stand-alone flavor. But today I'm not here to brag about how fun it is. I'm here to talk about what this game reminds me of, the most fundamental difference between stand-alone and online games.
When I played the original version of "Dream Westward Journey" on the 4399 website, it felt so pure. There is no recharge entrance, no world channel, no daily check-in, just one character and one weapon, cutting all the way from Nantianmen to Lingxiao Palace. If you die, you can start over. If your equipment explodes, you will be happy for a long time. There was no "OL" at that time, it was just a small game, but the single-player growth feedback - I became stronger because I had acquired enough materials, practiced my positioning, and figured out the BOSS's shooting patterns - was really solid.
What about this OL version now? There are more skills, dazzling equipment, and team dungeons, arenas, and guild battles are all included. The picture is more refined, but the sense of concentration of "going through the level alone" is gone. If you don't make money, you will have to worry about it. After that, you have to look at those V15 bosses on the rankings. A set of skills will knock you out, and then ask you, “Is this it?”
I understand, it is an online game and it has its own logic of survival. But I just can't help but think, how much fun would it be if "Dream Westward Journey" was made into a pure stand-alone game, removing social interaction, removing recharges, removing daily tasks, and retaining the core cycle of "selecting skills-equipping equipment-fighting BOSS"? Just like "Dead Cells", if you die, you have to start over. You have to explore on your own every time you build, and every time you pass a level, you will feel a real sense of accomplishment.
Unfortunately, there are too few manufacturers willing to make pure stand-alone products these days. It's even more impossible for 4399, which started out as a web game, because what they want is online rate and payment rate. Therefore, "Dream Westward Journey OL" has become a suture monster: it has the emotional skin of a stand-alone game, but at its core it is all about the calculations of online games. If you haven't played the original game, you may think it's okay when you enter it. After all, the combat feeling is good in mobile games. If you are an old player, you will know after two minutes of playing that the dream of winning by relying on operation is long gone.
No bragging, this game can be used as a lightweight nostalgic pastime, and the main story can be cleared with zero krypton, but you have to endure various red dots, first-time recharge pop-ups and limited-time gift packages. If you really want to experience a pure stand-alone Westward Journey, it is better to play the remake of "Diablo 2", or simply turn out the web version of the original "Dream Westward Journey", block the Internet, and play your own game.
The difference between stand-alone and online games, to put it bluntly, is the difference between "I want to become stronger for myself" and "I want to be stronger than others." One is to compete with yourself, and the other is to compare with others. The more you play with the former, the more you will feel at ease, while the more you play with the latter, the more you will feel empty.
"Dream Westward Journey OL" obviously belongs to the latter. It's not rubbish, but it doesn't break out of the clichés of domestic online games either. If you don't mind these things and just want to find a mobile game to play, then it passes the test; if you are like me and go for the original intention of playing a single-player game, then I suggest you lower your expectations, or simply don't touch the "OL" skin.
Anyway, I uninstalled the game, re-opened the web version, used modifiers to adjust the attributes to full, finished all the bosses quietly by myself, and then closed the web page, feeling comfortable. 😌