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This year's TGS, there are a lot of eye-catching new games. Grape Jun spent several days visiting the exhibition, and still didn't feel like he had fun.

The main reason is that they still can't grab those enthusiastic players. The long queues waiting to try games and pick up materials almost filled the venue, and it was already difficult to get close to the booths of some popular games.

And there was one booth that impressed me the most: I was far away from it, and I could see the long trial line, the huge mecha models, and the sound of sci-fi battles from time to time.

When I saw a mecha-themed game in Japan, I thought it was Consortium B that was renewing itself. But take a closer look, isn't this "Limit Relief Machine"!

At a glance, the most eye-catching thing about the booth of "Liberating the Limit" is the bust of the "Narugami" mecha they arranged. This industrial giant watches every player with a lot of charm.

In an interview with Guo Weiwei earlier this year, he said that his next goal is to stand on the international stage. If nothing else, at least the posture is really sufficient.

In fact, at the CJ exhibition in China and the Cologne exhibition in Germany, they also came up with the same style of decoration. However, previously, they exhibited the "Ryubuchi" mech from the game's manufacturer Flame Heavy Industries, and this time it was "Narukami" from the manufacturer Kamiya Heavy Industries. As you can see from the pronunciation of Narugami "Narukami", the mecha in "Limit Relief Machine" has specially prepared a local style style, which I think also shows how much care they put into TGS.

However, I was a little surprised that the Japan booth was so lively. As the birthplace of mecha culture, "Limit Relief Machine" is here, which is somewhat like kicking the hall. After these players try it out, can they really approve of the game?

01

The huge track, why is there no one?

"Unlimiting Machine" can get so much attention, I think it has something to do with their product display.

Their booth was designed with a lot of content and activities, in addition to the mecha model exhibition area just mentioned, they also arranged a storyboard introduction area, a mecha design sketch exhibition area, and so on. Even the original Gundam and the Demon Crab "Buddha" from the Gundam series came to take pictures with Narukami when they saw the booth.

But the most crucial part is, of course, the demo area. When Grape arrived at the booth of "Limit Relief Machine" on the afternoon of the 28th, he found that not only were the dozens of devices present already full, but even the length of the queue waiting for the trial was beyond imagination: judging from the sign held by the staff at the end of the team, it took 210 minutes to wait at the end of the team to play.

It is worth mentioning that this time "Unlimiting Machine" also provided PC and XBOX two devices for trial - XBOX seems to be trying to win "Unlimited" by thunder after losing the first battle for the launch of "Black Myth Wukong" in August: two months ago at the Cologne Game Show, XBOX President Phil · Spencer specially rushed to the "Unlimited" booth to meet with Guo Weiwei, and soon after, "Unlimited" was tested on XBOX. From this point of view, Microsoft's internal evaluation of the quality of the game "Limit Breaker" at this stage and future expectations is probably not low.

At Gamescom Cologne, Guo Weiwei took a group photo with XBOX President Phil · Spencer

This trial mainly shows two parts, one is mecha DIY, and the other is PVP battle.

The DIY part of the mecha opens up the function of custom livery of the mecha in the game for players to try, and if players make a painting they are satisfied with, they can also directly print it as a photo collection. Keiyuki Yanase, a well-known mechanic who participated in the original design of the "Limit Relief Machine", also experienced this link at the booth.

Japan aircraft designer Keiyuki Yanase and his painting of the delimiting plane

And PVP is the core of the game, and players have also shown their hardcore and serious attitude in this regard. A player who cosplayed Char, a famous character from the Gundam series, came to the trial to show off his "old credentials" in this area. There are also some Japan players who have participated in the previous test, wearing their own customized "Limiter" themed team uniforms to participate in the event, and you can see how much these local players are looking forward to "Limiting Machine".

I tried to talk to a few local players. Everyone basically praised the mecha design and graphic performance of "Limit Relief Machine". Some players believe that this game is "very suitable for Japan players" because the mecha theme has a wide base audience in Japan, and everyone is looking forward to playing such a game.

In my interviews, I also found that mecha, which many people stereotypically "male" themes, actually has a large female audience in Japan. Not only do they have a mature understanding of mecha design, but they also have a high level of operation. Mecha Battle in Japan can indeed be regarded as a game type that is close to the whole people.

Some respondents said that although everyone wants to play such games, in the past, Japan's PC/console mecha games were either stand-alone or small productions with backward graphics, and they could not play such PVP works with excellent machine design and graphic performance, especially this 6v6 confrontation gameplay. This is also the reason why they have been looking forward to "Unrestricted Machine".

After interviewing these players, I also realized that although Japan is always said to be the birthplace of mecha culture, it is a good "mecha battle game", which is really a long time for local players.

In recent years, Japan mecha PVP battle games, it seems that only "Gundam Bad Breaker 4" is worth paying attention to, but it is more like "mecha model battle" than real mecha battle, and the overall reputation is relatively ordinary. To mention the most influential mecha battle game in Japan, only the arcade platform Gundam EXVS series remains, but it is also in danger - some time ago, it was reported that a large number of Japan players, including e-sports champions, had to find Chinese meal replacement mobile games because they could not stand the only backward version on PC.

Mobile Suit Gundam EXVS2

In this way, we come to a very strange fact - Japan is not without good works in the field of mecha themes, but due to technical and production specifications, or conservative attitudes towards the mainstream mode, etc., it makes the PC/console mecha battle field seem empty. On both sides of the avenue, players are stretching their necks to watch, hoping that a product will come forward.

Even Guo Weiwei himself said that the reason why he made this game was because he, as a senior mecha fan, had always wanted to play such a game, but there was no one on the market, so he had to shoot it himself. Looking at it this way, it is no wonder that Japan players are so enthusiastic about "Unlimiting Machine".

In August this year, as soon as the test news of "Unlimited" was announced on Twitter, a large number of Japan players left messages below, and even made the game topic a trend of the day. While these Japan players lamented the game screen, some players said that as long as "Unlocking Machine" can be released, other meal replacements may be abandoned immediately. There are even APEX players who have never played mecha before, saying that they want to try such a new mecha game.

And on some live streaming platforms, there are also a large number of streamers who broadcast the game live during the beta period. When the well-known anchor "Dong Yunhai" in the mecha model circle played "Limit Solving Machine" live, the highest number of simultaneous online viewers also exceeded 2,300; There are also Japan players who "help the official work" on their own, organize a community competition with hundreds of people, and even set up a special event preparation team and commentary live broadcast team.

The live broadcast data of "East Cloud Sea"'s "Unlocking Machine".

Players organize contests through Discord

02

Mecha culture, can it still be popular?

Some people may say that the era of mecha mania that we are familiar with is already a matter of the last century. It's normal that no one is doing such an outdated theme now.

But as the old saying goes, the trend is a circle, and the mecha craze seems to have turned back in the past few years:

As far as China is concerned, in recent years, with the popularity of Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" and the remake of "The Wandering Earth", science fiction works with Chinese flavor have become more and more popular among young people, and the popularity of mecha themes has also risen. It is biased towards grand narratives, epic experiences, and has even become the first choice for many young people to enter the sci-fi genre.

And now that we already have Chinese science fiction novels and movies, making Chinese science fiction games is a matter of course. In recent years, many games have tried the mecha theme, including war chess and SOC, which once attracted a lot of attention.

In the overseas market represented by Japan, not only does it have a certain user base, but the anime "Mobile Suit Gundam Mercury's Witch" broadcast in 2022 has also attracted many new users to pay attention to this theme.

Now that users exist, it seems that there may be a lot of opportunities as long as they make a mecha battle game that meets their expectations. But why is this leak only picked up by "Limit Solving Machine"?

As a small half of mecha enthusiasts, in my opinion, the core problem is that it is too difficult for mecha games to "taste" right.

There is a saying that mecha fans often say, "Flying a Gundam is a man's romance." Let's not discuss the gender of the audience first, let's talk about it, how is the mecha romantic?

In my opinion, the first is the design of the body itself. This fantasy product of the taste of "the crystallization of human wisdom" exudes a kind of industrial charm. In a way, mecha design is like the baroque art of the industrial age. Players will love either the flashy industrial details or the more incredible ultra-fantasy feel.

A striking example of this is that in the Gundam Moldage Circle, "putting the models together" is only the first step. Experienced players will carve more details into the GUNPLA with a knife and bleed lines with ink to enhance the complexity of the mecha components. Some players will further spray paint and paint the model to make it more metallic, and even make rust or deliberately damage some parts to create a battle-hardened atmosphere.

Left: Assembled model; Right: The player's model after it has been transformed

And from the stage, the real charm of the mecha is also different from other works. In a series of animation works represented by the Gundam series, the vast alien battlefield and the vast interstellar nation form part of the mecha romance.

These two things, for the game, to perform well, are really a huge challenge: just to express the delicacy of the various components on the huge mecha, you have to fill out the artistic details, and then to show that this complex mecha is moving around on the grand battlefield, which is even more frustrating.

Therefore, I think that the reason for the popularity of "Limit Solving Machine" may also be because they have reached the psychological standards of players in terms of expressiveness and feel on the premise that the basic elements are not lacking, and they have become the most flavorful product at present.

For example, at the design level, "Limiting Machine" chooses a more industrial body design from the perspective of world view. They also created their own family design language for these mes, as well as generational distinctions, based on the differences between different manufacturers in the game's worldview. For example, there is an obvious design inheritance relationship between the third-generation machine operated by the player and some second-generation machine NPCs.

In terms of picture expression, "Limit Relief Machine" is even more detailed. The gaps and welding wires between each steel plate, as well as the differences in the processes of different metal surfaces, are completely expressed.

What makes mech lovers even more ecstatic is the way they move. These components are not purely decorative, and a considerable number of them have strong mobility. When the mecha moves, we can see that the various hinges and connecting rods on their bodies are skillfully coordinated, with a kind of industrial automation aesthetic.

"Breaking the Limit" can have such expressiveness, which is also their goal from the beginning. Guo Weiwei once said that he required the modeling accuracy seen in the battle to be at least at the level of MG in the mecha model (a model series with more detailed parts), and in the hangar, it was necessary to achieve details far beyond MG.

At the scene level, the game can express various real-time dynamic effects such as large-scale scene destruction, body wading in water and sand, etc. The game is even capable of depicting what anime enthusiasts call the "Itano Circus", which is the performance of the mech shuttling through a large number of missiles and artillery fire. The "taste" of the mecha is expressed in these contents.

Itano circus-style battle performances

03

It is not the old man who creates the new era

After chatting for a long time, I'm sure you've discovered one thing: in the mecha genre, no matter what, you can't avoid the IP of Gundam.

The influence of Gundam IP is certainly respectable. But if you want to pass on the mecha culture as a special aesthetic, Gundam alone is definitely not enough. No matter from the perspective of user volume or user willingness, everyone hopes to see some more novel mecha IPs appear. For example, "Pacific Rim", which appeared ten years ago, is still talked about by many enthusiasts after so long.

For the Chinese market, there are also many people who are eagerly looking forward to the emergence of a representative domestic mecha IP. In addition to the audience of players who have repeatedly appealed on the forum, there are also a large number of model manufacturers and corresponding brands in China, and they are also anxious to find a more influential IP - although there are many Chinese-style fantasy fan mecha in China, there is always a lack of a universal IP that has both complete design elements and international influence, and this IP is the type that players are more willing to consume.

Therefore, before the launch of "Unlimiting Machine", there are already two national model manufacturers who will cooperate with them to produce 3 mecha-related models, including both the model body model and the derivative machine girl model.

Swipe to view

Guo Weiwei once said that he wanted to use "Unlimiting Machine" to plant a flag in the field of sci-fi mechas. Even if it's not as good as they thought it would be, they will continue to do it because it makes sense for the whole Chinese sci-fi game.

Looking at the bustling crowd in the trial area, I could feel that the flag was ready. But in the end, can "Unlimiting Machine" "stand tall on the earth"? I want to end with a sentence from the mecha circle: It will not be the old man who creates a new era.

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