NTE is an open-world gacha game that makes simple but effective changes to improve upon its biggest competitor, Genshin Impact.
If there is anything to know about me, it is that I have a complicated relationship with gacha games. Not too long ago, what started as me writing a review for Arknights: Endfield ended up being a rant on how those types of games are ruining the gaming industry. I went on to play it for another 30 hours. I enjoyed it. And then I dropped it. After spending one thousand hours on Genshin Impact, I’ve simply learned to let live service games go. Now, I have just reviewed NTE, and it has become my new obsession.
What Are Gacha Games?
Live service games prey on people’s FOMO. Time-limited quests exist only within a six-week period. The famously egregious character banners run for only two weeks. They want you to splurge your hard-earned money right now. Because you don’t know when said characters may come back, this is an enticing prospect. After playing Genshin Impact for four years and a thousand hours, I know this song and dance all too well.
That is why I was adamant to try NTE: Neverness To Everness. The concept of an “anime GTA” intrigues me. I have tried just about every gacha game that has ever come out on PlayStation. I knew it was going to happen since Genshin Impact initially blew up. Zenless Zone Zero, Crystal of Atlan, Tower of Fantasy, Arknights: Endfield, Wuthering Waves. You name it, I have played it. Thankfully, I have dropped them all after a few hours. But I found a slew of little details that made NTE a truly special experience for me, and I wanted to expand on that.
Just because I haven’t been able to stop playing or thinking about it, here is a non-comprehensive list of reasons why NTE is better than Genshin Impact:
NTE Has A Friendlier Gacha System
Let’s get the big one out of the way, shall we? Gacha games’ monetization has always been a point of contention for many. Some people will proudly boast that they have never spent a dime and enjoyed the games for what they are. Others will spend irresponsible amounts of money on it just to feel something. Most will buy the cheap packs and call it a day. Whatever the case, Genshin’s success ensured everyone else copied that model. Sadly, no one had bothered to question it. Until NTE.
The predatory system works as follows: With a special currency that can be obtained by doing activities in-game or by spending real cash, players can pull for a minimal chance for an exclusive character they like. They cannot be obtained by any other means. And when I say minimal, I literally mean a 0.6% chance. A pity system ensures that after 80 pulls, the possibilities are higher, at 50%. Even then there is a 50/50 chance to get another five-star or S-tier character and not the one you want.
All in all, you are looking at 160 pulls (or $450 USD) to guarantee you get the character that you want. Most other gacha games replicate this system with little to no variation. NTE is different. At 70 pulls, it raises the possibility of getting the character you want drastically. Not only that, but in this early stage of the game, it even gifts TWO S-tier characters. In Genshin Impact’s defense, they started gifting one character on anniversaries several years into release after a massive outcry and begging of players.
NTE Doesn’t Have An Annoying Fairy
This one has been a long time coming. I hate Paimon. I hate her with all my heart. No shade to the voice actor, but her voice is grating. She is a stand-in for the main character, who talks a bit more often now, but for most of Genshin Impact’s quests, she is the one speaking.
Used as a guide since the beginning to become a more approachable game overall, it sins of leaning too much into the anime tropes it is inspired by. She loves eating, acts cute but is mischievous, and talks too much. While some of these complaints may feel more personal, it is utterly refreshing to see NTE go a different route.
Voiced by the spectacular Suzie Yeung (Yuffie in FF7R) and Hunter McCoy, the male or female main character called Esper Zero speaks for themselves in NTE. Unassuming and modest, the other characters chew on the scenery with wild animations, whereas our protagonist is measured in their approach. Granted, there is a small mascot called Taygedo that is a little annoying, but at least we know he will not speak for us for the entirety of the paranormal journey.
Better Animations
Genshin Impact has a lot of dialogues. Like, A LOT. Between expositional monologues and drawn-out arguments, it feels more often than not that they drag these situations to make players stay for longer periods. This is evident in the way the characters remain static for most of the time. Giving a small hand gesture to explain how strongly they feel about some situations feels like a minor fix of a bigger issue.
NTE understands this, and its extremely animated characters and camera angles do not extend only to the lively cutscenes. Even in the moment-to-moment sequences of exposition, characters move around, show their emotions, and generally move more fluidly than pretty much anything that came before it. This attention to detail paired with the stellar voice acting helps sell the intricate storyline these quirky characters are in better.
Finer Traversal
At this point, Genshin Impact has six nations and even more smaller regions to explore. While it has changed its approach to climbing over time, the very beginning is grueling. Moving at a snail’s pace, its obvious inspiration of Breath of the Wild’s stamina system ends up making players climb through plenty of mountains. These moments end up being tedious and dull. You also need to collect a certain currency to increase your stamina slowly.
NTE skips this grinding from the get-go. You have a copious set amount of stamina as soon as you start the game. In the rare instances you need to climb some buildings in its urban setting, the character does a little sprint when going up. This massively reduces the time spent doing an activity that does not feel engaging in the slightest. It also saves time to spend playing the many other activities available in the game, from a Crazy Taxi-type game to fishing.
Faster Domains
To level up, what Genshin Impact and its cohorts do is make players go on a scavenger hunt for a slew of resources. Domains are areas where you fight enemies for resources several times in a row in what is known as “farming” for items. These domains extend for as long as 3 to 5 minutes per combat encounter, resulting in dragged-out farming sessions that are not enjoyable.
NTE, to my surprise, is not interested in making players go through boring, repetitious gameplay sequences to no end. The domains in Neverness to Everness are easily completed in less than 30 seconds, making it a nimble option to wrap up and get what you need quick and easy. Although there are more complex boss fights that do require preparation and time investment, it is more reasonable in what it asks of the player overall.
More Generous Rewards
Showering players with rewards is par for the course for new gacha games. After all, they require a strong hook to build their community. None of these rewards truly end up feeling all that generous, though. Twenty free pulls only get you so far, as we have discussed their value recently. Gifting a character of your choice is a solid option. Finally, stacking the open world with meaningful incentives is imperative. NTE has all three.
You can find items called Oculus through Genshin Impact’s areas. In the first one, there were 66 to collect. In the latter ones, up to 271 Oculus can be found. This means that as the grinding to find all of these floating orbs has increased, the prize for exploring has dwindled. At least the activities in NTE seem to respect the player’s time the more players invest in it. That’s without considering the minigame that generates passive income to buy skins, properties, and useful resources.
Clearer Usage Of Generative AI
Generative AI in video games is a contentious topic. Just last year, Larian Studios’ CEO Swen Vincke destroyed all the company’s goodwill by doubling down on genAI’s usage. Defending it to no avail, he conceded that generative AI is being used for certain creative processes in their upcoming Divinity game. Similarly, Genshin Impact developer Hoyoverse has gone all in on generative AI. For instance, a voice actor was almost tricked into signing paperwork that would relinquish use of his voice work to potentially train their AI models and replicate it.
NTE is no saint. After mounting pressure regarding some posters found on the open world, Hotta Studio admitted they used generative AI on some art assets. Swiftly removing said artwork once an official statement was published, it appears that they are willing to listen and improve based on player feedback. No studio is perfect, and in today’s world, where more companies want to cut corners, it is refreshing that they look remorseful and eager to change for the better.
It is still early days for NTE. Working on a live service game means they might falter along the way. I may even need to amend this list. But for now, I can assuredly say that things are looking good for this open-world adventure. They recently updated and addressed some issues raised by the fanbase and gifted more rewards for the server downtime. Its latest banner changed to its newest character, Hotori, which is quickly becoming a favorite for her time-stopping abilities. At time of writing, it also included more events to keep players busy. In the end, it’s a mix of activities to keep the player base happy and healthy. We’ll see how it fares as time goes by.
