by theygamesAs of Zenless Zone Zero 1.2, HoYoverse is completely removing the much-maligned TV mode from the narrative. In a brand-new presentation, the team addresses player complaints about the game mode, like how it’s sluggish, interrupts combat, and happens far too often in the early game. This means all players won’t have to deal with the TV mode in the main story going forward, even though HoYoverse has plans to reintroduce the mechanic at some point.
With the Zenless Zone Zero 1.2 release date right around the corner, plenty of new content and quality-of-life adjustments are coming to the anime game. So many in fact, that HoYoverse just dropped a 34-minute video addressing some of the biggest changes and improvements. In the video the team talks about changes to the TV mode (officially called Monitor Array). Keep in mind that YouTube has translated the conversation into English captions, I’ve cleaned them up a little.
“To be honest we all think the TV mode had many issues at release,” Zenless Zone Zero game designer ‘Y’ says. “We have tried lots of different avenues in terms of gameplay. So, looking at it now, it just didn’t give players something that would satisfy everyone. As a result, we took the time to review a lot of negative feedback thoroughly and collect a large amount of survey data.
“The first issue is how long [the TV mode] takes. The second issue is that the gameplay and combat mechanics are intertwined and this interrupts the flow of the player’s experience. The third issue arises during the early gameplay experience where the proportion of the TV mode gameplay might be a bit excessive. The last is quite specific: the animations in the TV mode can be a bit sluggish.”
Y then explains how HoYoverse has already addressed some of the problems in TV mode, and what the team will be doing in the future. With Zenless Zone Zero 1.1 you could complete the main story without touching the TV mode, and the same is happening going forward. The Phaethon story chapters in 1.2 will remove it, “to allow everyone to experience more complete combat stages without TV mode.”
Yes, this means that the main story segments added in future updates, as well as events, will not use the TV mode in its approach. “We will take into account not to use TV mode as a means of presentation, and strive for as much consistency as possible to convey it through a stage-based approach,” Y adds.
That said, HoYoverse assures that it’ll keep optimizing the TV mode experience for players who do use it. It was already sped up in 1.1, and more changes to the fluidity of the game mode are on the way.
“For the future, this doesn’t mean that we will completely let go of this TV mode,” Y continues. “We will still iterate based on previous ideas that have generated high praise from everyone.”
If you’re one of the players who likes the TV mode, Hoyoverse doesn’t want to implement a “one-size-fits-all” solution and upset part of the fanbase. So while it’s being removed from main story content for now, it doesn’t mean we won’t ever see it on the same scale again.
I do like the TV mode in concept, but I’m incredibly grateful for this change. The pacing of it brings narrative beats to a halt, and when I was playing religiously at launch I’d often stare at my phone while the overlong animations played out. The TV mode was giving major mobile game vibes, and while there’s nothing wrong with that in concept, in practice it was unengaging and prolonged.
What does all of this mean for previously explored TV mode segments where you didn’t get all the observation data and rewards? Well, HoYoverse is adding a Fairy Auto Explore mode in update 1.2. So you can send the Fairy program into previously explored segments and have them collect any missing rewards, which will be added to your account after a short period of time.
There are even more changes coming to Zenless Zone Zero as well, as outlined by Hoyoverse in the YouTube video’s pinned comment. You can expect agent control in the city, a Hollow Zero mode that skips the TV gameplay, alongside an agent accompany mode as well.
Make sure you keep up to date with all the Zenless Zone Zero codes for some free rewards, alongside who’s available in the current and upcoming Zenless Zone Zero banners.
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