Zenless Zone Zero had its very own battle royale in Version 2.7 via the Hollow Champion contest. The prize: Porcelloy W-Engine, millions of Dennies, and other neat baubles. The catch: while some contestants focus their fire on the Ethereals, others use it as an opportunity to get rid of the competition. After all, who’d know in the Hollow?
And our very own Phaethon is right in the middle of it all, eyes set on the W-Engine since it promises a chance to fix their eyes… and more. How did we get here from safe and boring studies in Siubian Temple? Let’s discuss.
New Eridu is abuzz with excitement: TOPS’ Rusty Cliff Corp. is holding the newest, juiciest Hollow Champion competition, offering excellent rewards for the lucky winners. The announcement sweeps even through the Outer Ring, with faces both new and familiar clamoring to take part and earn treasures.
Initially, Belle and Wise did not intend to participate and treated the competition as a form of entertainment to keep an eye on via TV. But plans change when two new faces – Velina and Norma from Marcel Group – show up to find the details of the battle against the Creator’s Sarah-shaped sock puppet, instantly putting both siblings on high alert. After all, the events of the battle were kept secret and Phaethon didn’t emerge unscathed, with the Proxy’s eye implants causing them both distress and pain, and also limiting how they can interact with the HDD system.
The two newcomers reveal the existence of an incredibly rare material, Flint Porcelloy, that had been found around the Creator battleground. It is a composite formed from Porcelume that has special properties, allowing it to have an unusually strong stabilizing effect on Ether in internal and external environments, which also puts it under strict regulatory control. More importantly, its effects also help Phaethon with their eye implants that had been acting out as of late.
And so the siblings come up with a new goal: aid the Cunning Hares to win the competition, get the W-Engine, and closely study its properties to figure out how to fix whatever is affecting their eye implants. Sounds easy enough, right? Especially with Rusty Cliff Corp. not imposing too many restrictions to participants’ identities, allowing a wide variety of individuals to participate?
Of course everything goes awry almost right away. Nicole, the Proxies’ partner in crime, is unable to participate due to a variety of circumstances, from stabbing her toe to getting caught by debt collectors, and officer Cissia valiantly volunteers to take her place. With no agendas of her own, none at all.
Despite being the character of the second half, Cissia has gotten the lion’s share of narrative importance and character development, leaving Angels of Delusion’s Nangong Yu to pick up the scraps in the hotpot event. The snake thiren started off as a comedic relief cowardly character, but got a touching back story that explains her quirks and an impressive cutscene.
Since we left Waifei, older characters have been popping up more frequently outside of the events, too, including Lighter, Lucy and Billy. Players also got a chance to learn more about the Outer Ring and its gangs from the before Sons of Calydon’s time, including the story of Sweepers Romeul and Promeia.
Version 2.7 also officially began warming Proxies and their wallets up for the upcoming Season 3 and Roscaelifer. The story hooks are already there: Flint Porcelloy, Proxies’ Ether sensitivity, Marcel group, and seemingly two factions coming from Lady Sunbringer’s utopian flying island.
The first is represented by Velina and Norma, two new characters that have already made a few appearances. In their investigation of the Creator’s Porcelloy, they attempted to interrogate Ye Shunguang, but were swiftly turned away by Yixuan. Their second choice are the Proxies themselves, and they’re not beyond tricking the siblings into cooperation and using the mayor for connections.
The other is represented by Ramiel, a totally new mysterious character seemingly related to the leader of the Falkenhayne Mercenary Troupe, one of the OG Void Hunters. Pink hair, elf-like ears, wings, and unique up-till-now unseen ways to interact with Ether that left Ethereals in a stasis-like state – there are too many mysteries surrounding her. Those coming from HSR are clutching their pearls right now at the sight of another enigmatic pink-haired girl, promising a story like none before it~
Anyhow, Ramiel used said unique Ether abilities to “freeze” the Proxy and their friends in place to snatch the Porcelloy W-Engine straight from their hands, which means she’s our next target. Velina and Norma also plan to stop her before she returns to Roscaelifer, so chances are we will join forces to track Ramiel down and confront her.
But how are Silly (S-rank Billy) and Promeia related to it? Or are we having a bit of a filler patch before it’s time to venture into the new season? Or could the Championship be a bait to vet out a possible new Void Hunter for TOPS to use? Stay tuned to find out.
Together, Versions 2.6 and 2.7 are enough to tentatively reignite my trust in Zenless Zone Zero that had been somewhat shaken by the Waifei Peninsula/Lemnian Hollow storyline. The two address some of the things that players, myself included, had been critical about.
For once, we’re not stuck in just one location – namely, Failume Heights – and the older characters arrive during the main story much more frequently, even if their participation is limited or treated like a cameo. In 2.6 we had Jane and Seth, in 2.7 it was Billy, Lighter and Lucy, with plenty more participating in the hotpot event. It makes the world feel much more alive.
The whole participation in the local Hollow Championship also comes as a consequence of facing the Creator and abusing the eye implants to the point that it backfired. Building on which the team also comes up with an actual reason for the Proxy to be there, and to be there in person: the sibling had dismantled their part of HDD, there is no time to waste, the Proxy’s participation is a must to have a chance to snatch that W-Engine, and Phathon has to avoid using their eyes as much as possible.
The game is also taking its time to introduce players to the upcoming heroes, be it Cissia, Promeia or the next season’s Norma, Velina and Ramiel. Not only do we have something – someone – to look forward to, but there are already connections forming not only between the Proxies and the new characters, but also among themselves. Cissia’s and Promeia’s shared past in the Outer Ring, Velina and Norma deciding to stop Ramiel and prevent her from returning to Roscaelifer, and so on.
The last point that I personally enjoyed was lowering the amount of mysticism/borderline magic. Everything goes back to Ether regardless, but the characters’ explanations sound much more science-like. For example, using the device that prevents space distortion vs the random Yunkui Summit technique that lets you manipulate objects like no big deal. Or Ramiel freezing Ether – which acts just like freezing time for the purposes of the plot. It also allows the Proxy to flex their intellect – their main weapon as super hackers from before Fairy’s involvement.
Was it perfect? Of course not, and Version 2.7 continues some of its previous approaches to story. One is killing or dispatching ZZZ’s villains right away.
Romeul, the black wolf Sweeper, was hyped up as an impressive adversary – only to be defeated and jailed within the patch he was introduced. If you look back at previous villains, this is a long-standing Zenless tradition already. Some of them, like Null_Face or even Romeul himself, have a chance to return. Others, like Pompey, Isolde or Sarah, are done for good.
Still, it doesn’t change the fact that there isn’t really an interesting antagonist that you look forward to facing at some point. The closest that come to mind are Youkai, the TOPS Alliance and the Creator, but all three are not quite there yet. The Youkai taunted Proxies and Fairy, and has the shared past with the other great AI, so he has a great potential, but it still requires time.
The TOPS have been acting from shadows since before Season 1 – just look at the “Consultant” in Miyabi’s animated video. However, while we know that they are a trouble and have certainly had some shady dealings (just remember Anby’s quest in 1.7), they are simply not an exciting villain. KRAMPUS could have been – but now we already know more than half of the organization personally, even the cold as ice Executioner.
And the Creator is too vague – we don’t even know what it is. Is it an Ethereal? Something else? It’s certainly powerful, but at the moment it is lacking both presence and substance, being just some random Big Bad to defeat at some very distant point in the future.
So far, the most interesting character in an antagonistic role is Ramiel herself. There are personal stakes and reasons to go after her, there’s an unexplored connection between her and the Proxy (like when she had leaned in to learn about the Proxy’s nightmares, and the Proxy managing to regain enough control over their body to catch a glimpse at her stealing the W-Engine), and she has ties to the new region.
I hope the team continues to work on their antagonists, as it is an area that Zenless is severely lacking in compared to other HoYo gachas. Another drawback is the length of the story and the balance between dialogues and combat, which is non-existent. The entirety of V2.7 can be leisurely played through in 2.5 – 3 hours, including optional dialogues and what little exploration there is.
This version also had a higher than usual number of errors when it comes to the text: typos, extra words, and more.
