Speaking of "Eternal Era", old players should still have the impression that this MMO was heavily advertised back then and was known as "the choice of 70 million players." Looking back now, this game can be regarded as a typical representative of "it gets popular, but it cools down quickly". Today I'm not going to brag about it, let's just talk about why it became so popular from several dimensions, and why it gradually lost its voice.
Let's talk about the picture first. At that time, it promoted the banner of "movie-level 3D", which was indeed amazing among mobile games of the same period. Character modeling, skill special effects, scene lighting and shadow, when put on the mobile phone screen at that time, the visual impact was very strong. This helped it attract the first batch of players who "watched the scenery" and "watched the special effects". But looking at it now, the picture quality has lagged far behind, which is no wonder, after all, times are progressing.
In terms of gameplay, its biggest highlights are actually "smart hang-up" and "full map PK explosive equipment". These two settings accurately capture those players who “don't have much time but want to experience the thrill of hunting treasures”. Hanging up at work, collecting equipment after get off work, and occasionally participating in outdoor PKs. This kind of light participation was very popular at the time. Coupled with "free trading" and "conversion to servers at will", theoretically it provides players with a high degree of freedom, and it also leaves many brick-and-mortar and individual players behind. But here's the problem, the value inflation is very serious in the later stage of the game. If you don't spend money, the magical equipment that comes out after hanging up may not be as good as the weapons that others give away in the first rush. The explosion rate is also getting lower and lower, and the gap between ordinary players and krypton gold masters is like a chasm, causing the experience of ordinary players to drop off a cliff, and more people are quitting the game.
In terms of monetization, this is where this game was criticized the most. It is advertised as "free" on the surface, but the payment points inside are so dense that you can't even hide away. Strengthening, gems, wings, mounts, pets, and VIP levels all cost money. Moreover, mobile games of that era generally did not have the concept of "guaranteed". You might not even see splashes after spending several thousand dollars. Kryptonians who have tasted the sweetness may also choose to stop their losses and leave because the subsequent krypton gold activities will become more brutal. In the end, it became that if you don't spend money to play, you will feel frustrated, and if you spend money, you may not have fun. People on both sides are losing people.
On the social level, it does quite well. Originally, “full-map PK” and “server transfer” could generate grievances and promote social interaction. It is true that a group of players stayed because of brotherhood, but in the later period, with large-scale server mergers and server rollouts, the original server ecology was completely disrupted. Coupled with the declining popularity of the game, there are fewer and fewer new players, and one less old player has left. The entire server has become lifeless, and social interaction has naturally become impossible.
Generally speaking, the popularity of "Eternal Era" is the result of the right time, place and people, and it reaped the dividends of the blue ocean period of mobile games. And its coolness is not a unilateral problem, but the result of the combination of factors such as excessive depth of krypton gold, value collapse, and lack of gameplay updates. It has indeed brought happiness to many players, but it has also told the industry with naked reality that advertising bombardment and emotional packaging alone cannot support a game going very far.
My rating would be a moderate 6.5. The sentiment is worth this score, but to say that it is a good game worth returning to is really hard to say. 😌