I would love to see the One ZZZ feature become a reality!
Which is Combat Co-op Multiplayer but why? I justify with PoCs.
Written in 30-01-2025/01-30-2025 9:30 PM UTC and Published in 11-04-2025/04-11-2025 07:46 PM UTC
Before we start with the topic, to be honest I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about my ZZZ (Zenless Zone Zero) pros and cons with it and if I wanted to see any other improvements, which I definitely have, but there is one that definitely boggles my mind and if you read the brief you would have already guessed it. However, I will go over the introduction of the game and what I love about it. But of course this is not a perfect game at all, keep that in mind. (Perfect by Hoyoverse standards, eh sure? but otherwise no)
What is Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ) [You can skip this part if you know]
Zenless Zone Zero is an Action RPG Game developed and published by MiHoYo or Hoyoverse.
As per Hoyoverse: The story takes place in the near future, where a mysterious natural disaster known as the "Hollows" has occurred. A new kind of city has emerged in this disaster-ridden world known as "New Eridu". This last "oasis" has mastered the technology to co-exist with the Hollows, and is home to a whole host of chaotic, boisterous, dangerous and very active factions. As a professional "Proxy", you will play a crucial role in linking the city with the Hollows.
This game consists of 2 game modes, one of which is called "TV Mode" and is basically as described: "TV Mode gameplay resembles a 2D dungeon crawler game, with the Proxy roaming around tiles that resemble television sets to find treasures, solve puzzles, and fight enemies."[1]. Combat mode is a 3D of what we call Hack and Slash Gameplay where you use characters called "Agents" and a companion called "Bangboo" to fight enemies.
Something important to note for the article is that the game has recently been focusing on delivering combat gameplay, getting rid of TV gameplay, or rather getting rid of TV mode in favor of combat.
What do I like/love about it.
Of course, since I am about to say so much about adding multiplayer co-op combat, going so far as to put admittedly little effort into the Proof of Concepts (PoCs), what is it that I like or love about it? Let's admit it and note that this is a purely personal and subjective opinion, and you are entitled to your own (and as I said, this game is not perfect, but then neither are all games, I just wanted to preface that). With that out of the way.
- Combat: Honestly this game has a perfect balance of "non-overwhelming" yet fun combat, well the combat was actually one of the most criticized part of the game and as I said while not perfect and I'm perfectly aware there are better games than this but the developers have put enough focus to actually make it more diverse especially with the newer characters from the 1.1 - 1.5 versions of the game.
- Story: I'm going to start with how No one starts their section. The storytelling of this part was not perfect, especially I'm looking at you devs and how you directed the 1.2 story. You had the perfect scene only to ruin it (that's all I can say without spoiling it) but that was the only problem I have with it, and of course the Rina Agent story problem, but other than that I like it quite a lot, it keeps you engaged in the game as it should be I guess.
- Gameplay: While I'm not a fan of this seperate like modes, like from City, Exploration and Combat all in 3 seperate things, Overall it's not something I would put as a con, People like it, People don't but I'm like neutral about it. Especially since while the game can get you to explore the map with the commisions. After that it's boring to go from Point A to Point B with the `M`(or `RB`) navigation button just to do tasks. Again funnily enough not the worst thing I've seen but I can't say much about it and perhaps that's a net positive. Fun Fact I intially dismiss this game as I was questioning "Why would anyone play this if Honkai Impact 3rd exists" due to what I've seen myself but with my friend introducing it to us and promising up it would have co-op combat. Some reminiscence of this remains but as I eventually experienced the game I've come to realize how different it is. And I guess now I'm desperate for a better multiplayer than what they delivered, which I'll delve into in the next one.
ZZZ Devs have already gave us some form of Multiplayer gameplay in "Grand Marcel Adventure" and "Godfinger" Arcades, Is that not enough?
While both are fun at first glance, they eventually became boring, Now Grand Marcel Adventure is a good alternative to playing Fall Guys, but that's pretty much what it stands out to. So the answer is no, it's not, especially as games like NTE(Neverness To Everness) and Ananta[which I've written about before] [We hope] are coming out with multiplayer co-op, Hoyoverse needs to start stepping up and this is why they are free to use my Proof of Concepts and iterate upon it for a better experience and of course if you at least take the time to think about it for a second, This wouldn't be the worst idea especially as Grand Marcel Adventure and of course the ability for characters to do actions at the same time (eg. Burnice Ultimate with a quick assist and then attacking with your third character, or Astra Yao staying on the field and attacking while you interact with the other characters). The basics are there, and developers could take their experience and make multiplayer combat.
Finally did I ever mention that there have been countless hints from the developers/producer towards making it true?[1][2][3] Of course, as a blog writer, I have to tell you that this doesn't mean that it is guaranteed which is why they're called hints. But in my personal opinion, it feels like damning evidence.
Okay hotshot, what is your pitch?
Here we go, to make it easy on the developers, even though I know they're more talented and can expand multiplayer combat beyond the Battle Trial I'm going to demonstrate, but I feel that Battle Trial is a good starting point for multiplayer combat. You might be asking, what is Battle Trial? It's not really that simple, so I'll leave you with the fandom link that explains it here.
You can call me lazy, but simply put: Battle Trial is a mode in Zenless Zone Zero where you bring your agents and bangboos to beat monsters in floors, the higher the floor the harder it gets, but you also can also store more agents too at once.
Of course the reason Battle Trial is chosen is because of the gameplay: because on the lower floors you can choose from 3 all the way up to 9 characters on the higher floors with the standard 3 bangboos, now split that into 3 and make it 1-3 characters per player with 1 bangboo per player. You'll see what I mean below.
The full idea
Before I start, I want to say that all the pictures you see are called proof of concept for a reason. They are images for what I was able to do with my basic Photoshop skills, and I'm sure Hoyoverse will do better than this! With that out of the way.
The way to enter the Battle Trial is as usual: Visit the HIA, enter the room with the Simulated Battle Trial, interact with it, and click "Challenge Now" (again, as usual).
You will now be presented with an additional mode:
By the way the idea here is that this would fit horizontally, not like this where the multiplayer one is pointing to the left.
This is a proof of concept, so I did what I could within the constraints, but ideally I would want it to be horizontal like this in text form:
- Simulated Battle Trial
- Multiplayer Battle Trial
- Battle Trial (...)
And the different font you will see it quite a bit, think of it as a way to be obviously photoshopped so that I do not get accused of modifying the game which I think is fair.
Now a change when it comes to ranking on it: Players of ZZZ will not get a rank on that mode like Master or Bronze, etc. Instead, they will show/get the highest floor record they've had on that mode. The rewards are the same as in the other modes, but if the player has already completed all floors before, then they basically got all the rewards even though they'll always start from floor 1.
After that you can do 3 things:
- Matchmake with 2 other fellow ZZZ Players
- Invite a friend with you and matchmake alongside one more ZZZ Player (or if hoyoverse so chooses, it can be a private lobby option as not to be matched by other players and only 2)
- Invite your 2 other friends
When this is done, you will start on floor 1 (and future matchmakings will start there, e.g. you lose your first game on floor 15 and the next Multiplayer Battle Trial you'll start on floor 1 again). Everyone starts with at least 1 Agent and a Bangboo (since it's floor 1 with at least say 4 floors left before picking another Agent).
My initial ideas were with color looking like this:
But while not the best form of polling and I totally get that [besides I'm not popular enough to poll other people I guess and nowadays I have none other than my friends due to me deleting discord which is another topic], I did get insights from my friends and in the end they chose the avatars (avatars are basically the pfp of a profile in ZZZ) [Fun Fact: the avatar choices were based on my friend's current avatars] one that looks like this:
However, if you like the color idea, I would appreciate you expressing that where you can actually comment like Bluesky or Twitter or my contact method. Anyway, the avatar method was the easiest to iterate on than the color one, especially for demonstrating the bangboo selection, and with my friends also endorsing that idea, overtime I just iterated from there.
The combat gameplay itself should go as expected with each player controlling their own Agents attacking the enemy and if an enemy is stunned they're able to use their Bangboo on the chain attack (if available for the Bangboo) and of course the Bangboos attack as per usual. Optionally, Hoyoverse can add the option to parry with only one character, but otherwise limiting to dodge should be fine, but maybe to avoid complaints, having that option would be great.
Now back to the Battle Trial concept, as players progress through the floors, this could go in several ways:
- As in permanent mode or otherwise, every 5 floors starting from the first or 10th in this case grant 1 more agent slot, meaning it becomes 2-1-1 from the 5th to 15th floor where the first player chooses 2 agents, until the 30th to 40th floor where all players choose 3 agents (each of their own) to control with. So here I suggest 25-50 floors.
- For each floor ending in 5, starting with the 5th floor, you get 1 more Agent slot, the same 2-1-1 where the first player controls 2 Agents all the way up to the 55th floor where all 3 players get to choose 3 Agents (each of their own to control with). So here I suggest 60 floors
With that, when players start to have multiple selections, from 2-1-1 to 3-3-3, there are 2 ways this can go: First, players can only choose the ones they placed for, which would be practical, but also if Hoyoverse so chooses: Second, players can choose other players' agents if they want. The system can make it so that if say player 3 wants to use player 1's agent, the system will ask player 1 first and vice versa.
Then each individual player switches and character chain attack with the multiple characters they chose (but only the ones each player chose, unless it's 2-1-1, where then players 2 and 3 can't switch and character chain attack, or 2-2-1, where only player 3 can't switch and character chain attack). (In my proof of concept prior, the limitation is that players would have to remember what they deployed in what order: e.g. You select 1. Burnice 2. Lucy 3. Nekomata, you would have to remember that, I'm sure hoyoverse can address this by changing the HUD you see from your POV, but yeah.)
Closing Note
Ultimately, it's up to the developers to make this happen and like I said, I am desperate, but more than that, I'm tired. Honestly it has gotten to the point where I am waiting for Ananta or NTE then Ananta down the line or even getting friends to play WuWa (Wuthering Waves) Co-op or other games like that as a temporary measure until Hoyoverse does this, and this is not really a position any player should be in in their favorite game, especially one like this.