I’m a loyal player. I’ve got the limited Ferrari, nearly every character, cleared the hardest content. I’ve spent money, time, and a piece of my soul. And I’m seriously considering quitting.
It’s not because the game is bad. It’s because the game treats my time like it’s infinite—and I’m not. The game isn’t bad. The problem is it treats my time like it’s infinite.
I run five live-service games in rotation: Genshin, Star Rail, ZZZ, Endfield, and this one. Excluding story and new content, just daily chores, this one takes more time than the other four combined. Four. Combined. I’m not exaggerating.
The monster density is a joke. You run across the map for three minutes to find one enemy, kill it, get a pathetic drop, then run another three minutes to the next. I tried farming for two days straight. I gave up. Now I’m limping along with material boxes, leaving characters half-built.
Version 1.2 dropped with a trailer full of new modes, events, a ‘999 Nights’ system. The developer calls it ‘high productivity.’ I call it a burden. They’re filling time instead of fixing the core loop. The main story is stalled. Character quests are scarce. Where did all that content capacity go? Into a mode that demands even more of my shrinking free time.
I’ve seen this pattern before. The industry is moving toward lighter engagement. Genshin’s daily routine now takes under five minutes. Hoyo knows that players age, get jobs, have families. The ‘dad gamer’ is real. But this game runs in the opposite direction—adding layers of friction, making every daily task a chore.
You’ve probably felt it too. The daily checklist that grows longer, the grind that never ends. You don’t quit a game because it’s bad. You quit because it stops respecting your time.
I spoke to a friend who quit last month. He said, ‘I don’t want to play a game that feels like a second job.’ That’s exactly it. The developer is proud of content volume, but volume without purpose is just noise. The ‘999 Nights’ isn’t a milestone—it’s a distraction from the fact that the main story is missing.
Some will argue that hardcore players love this. Maybe. But the data doesn’t lie. The live-service market is saturated. Players are burned out. The games that survive are the ones that reduce friction, not increase it. The real milestone isn’t how much content you ship. It’s how many players still want to play after a year.
I’ll watch this game’s numbers from the sidelines. If they stay strong, maybe I’m wrong. But I don’t think I am. I think the ‘more content’ trap is a slow poison, and this game just drank it.
FAQ
Q: Isn't more content always better for a live-service game?
A: No. More content only helps if it respects the player's time. Filler content that demands grinding without advancing the core loop actually drives players away. The goal should be quality and retention, not quantity.
Q: What's the practical takeaway for a game developer?
A: Measure your game's daily friction. If a player needs more than 10 minutes for core dailies, you're creating a barrier. Study how games like Genshin or Fortnite reduce time commitment over time, not increase it.
Q: Could the hardcore audience be enough to sustain this model?
A: Possible, but unlikely in a saturated market. The hardcore minority spends heavily but burns out faster. Casual players provide stability. Ignoring the time-poor majority is a risky bet, especially when competitors actively court them.