Being a fan of original AK, I'd say endfield doesn't capture the charm of the original at all. Surely the 3d and 2d, different genre would make difference, but from the story telling to the content it doesn't really make me stick for long, compared to Genshin or Wwm
I felt like its bit more complicated than that now.
Large portion of OG AK fans to Endfield now is like Kal'tsit to Doktah in a way that they heavily disappointed on what the game (mostly story) turns out but they still have some hope and stick it until maybe when they got tired off for some reason.
Like they know 1.4 was actually a huge improvement but its still pretty much the start of something and who knows what the future holds. And i would bet large chunk of the playerbase left is them who still have interest.
Edit: Most OG AK fandom didn't really care or get angry for Endfield anymore as its not really disturb the OG sales and development. They lowkey glad some aspects finally improved thanks to Endfield, as well as people coming or even returning to the OG.
The way it tells its story is completely antithetical to how Arknights tells its story.
Arknights story and world is conveyed to you mainly via the people who actually live there with most event stories not including the amnesiac "MC" at all, while Endfield takes a more standard 3d gacha approach with the only interface with this world being through the eyes of the amnesiac MC.
This plus some pacing and plot issues makes Endfield largely uninteresting to me
There's also the part of Endfields story just being shit and completely contradictory to the lore of Arknights. I'll never forgive the "The Murder Rock is good, actually" garbage. And it's absolutely fundamental to the story of Endfield, so they can't even bullshit their way out of it.
Ah yes, the rock cancer that is responsible for the suffering of millions, the very thing that caused the breakdown of world order & the violent deaths or prolonged suffering of innocents... GOOD!
Also, Doctor is just a wayyyyyyy cooler & more compelling character than Endministrator. One of the best MCs in gacha, since they not only have their own agency in the story, they are actively the cause of many world-changing events. The world literally built itself around their historical actions.
That's the thing... "fanservice" (for the lack of a better word) and a good story are mutually exclusive. Eye candy is great, but dumbing down characters in favor of glazing the MC is the standard in 3D gachas, unfortunately.
Arknights had the best designs, including sexy designs, but they didn't do this braindead "ML stuff" where the main character is getting praised for building a pipe or opening a door and no one can accomplish anything without the endmin pressing a button or whatever.
And there's the male character's problem, of course. Arknights has a lot of female players and beloved male characters, and they just threw that entire half of the game out of the window, on top of everything else.
Its a completely different game catering to a completely different market. Arknights is a 2D tower defense game that's easy to play in the background, Endfield is a sprawling 3D world with real-time combat that demands full attention.
People, rightly, mention the story a lot but gameplay is another big issue. If you like Arknights for the slow paced strategic tower-defense gameplay from the OG there's pretty much nothing to like about the high pace 3D combo action style of Endfield. It is a completely different style for a completely different audience. The most you get for strategy in Endfield is team building, but with the elemental system, small team size and tiny overall roster you're incredibly restricted anyway.
Frankly if I wanted to play 3D action combo slop there's a million games that do it better than Endfield, and while I thought the factory was fairly fun, slogging through 10 hours of bad story and worse combat to get to tinker with the factory for an hour or 2 just isn't worth it.
To top it all off, as someone who doesn't like fanservice-y or horny character designs, Endfield also does significantly worse in this category than OG imo.
I have to disagree with the high pace combat part. Endfield is actually on the slower side. There's a very MMO feel to it. The only issue is that the only place where the combat truly shines is Umbral Monument. That's when stuff like SP management and elemental system interacts with the well design boss fights to create something really fun.
Because it's not a good game, directly makes Arknights worse by existing as its direct sequel, and has nothing else going on for it besides good graphics and the occasional decent piece of music.
Some are, some aren't. There's definitely overlap between both games, but the gameplay is completely different so it's not necessarily aiming for the exact same people.
I do play Endfield, but i like it a lot less than Arknights. Endfield feels like it gave up a lot of what made OG Arknights good to appeal to a wider audience (wich ironically doesent seem to care about Endfield).
Apparently there is a trend in Japan where Endfield players went to try the OG game out of curiosity...and they stayed there never to return to their factory.
My friend which is AK player hardcore not playing endfield for some reason lol. Usually i asked him whenever we play together at moba asking him every time why he is not play AE and his answer still same every time.
It would have been more fair to call it Endfield Impact and make it separate IP at this point.
They failed to capture the tone and complexity of the world of Arknights, the characters feel dumbed down, the MC is wish fulfillment power fantasy and the gameplay lacks tactical depth.
Most of AK players are content with just playing AK instead. Hell if anything people who started with Endfield often migrate to AK instead, lmao.
37
u/Reenans 7h ago
Are Arknight players not playing Endfield?