原作者： Matt Suckley 译者：Willow Wu

欢迎回到In-App Purchase Inspector，在这里我们会以消费者的视角，定期测评一些F2P游戏。

每期文章，我们都会考虑游戏中IAP的诱因、压力、它们的感知价值、IAP带来的扩展内容还有整个游戏体验的评估。

最终目的就是看看这游戏究竟值不值得我们砸钱，不花钱的游戏体验是否也能让玩家感到满足。

这次，我们来测评《最终幻想15：新帝国》，这是一款由2016年发行的主机游戏移植过来的F2P手游。开发团队是MZ，他们的游戏还有Game of War和Mobile Strike。

Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire（from pocketgamer.biz）

MZ版本的《最终幻想》

要以玩家的视角来研究MZ游戏的盈利方式算是挺难的一件事。

这家美国公司发行的F2P游戏让他们名声大噪，原因在于他们所采用的营销方案都非常具有侵略性，和行业内的那些优秀的营销案例背道而驰，这种粗暴的做法对于大部分西方玩家来说也是很少见的。

然而，MZ的强悍的吸金能力是大家不可置否的。

此专栏曾经把Mobile Strike总结为一个“在硬货币方面过于吝啬，喜欢用计时器折磨玩家”的游戏。

但是MZ似乎对这个游戏不怎么担心，还花大钱请了阿诺德·施瓦星格为游戏拍摄超级碗广告，把游戏打造成又一个收益榜冠军。

但事实并未改变：MZ的游戏要玩好实在是不怎么容易，甚至对于那些经常玩手游的玩家来说也是挺费力的。

《最终幻想》是业内最长寿、最受欢迎的游戏系列之一，MZ发行《最终幻想15：新帝国》，把它呈现给另一个平台的玩家，然而正如人们所预料的那样，《最终幻想》的老粉丝们对这个新手游一片差评。

MZ再次出击

为什么会这样？这其中的原因也不难想到。从游戏一开始你就能感觉到《最终幻想15：新帝国》和Mobile Strike的游戏构造、交互设计非常相似。

说实话，就第一印象来说，简直是糟糕得不能再糟糕了。如果你是第一次打开这个app，玩不到一分钟游戏就会给你提供一份特别折扣。

MZ应该是在一开始就想要鼓励玩家打开钱包，给游戏砸钱。

玩家甚至都还不怎么了解游戏，也还没搞懂游戏的经济体系，系统这么快给玩家提供折扣礼包，这就让人感觉到非常不爽。

游戏早期的折扣（显然这是iOS专属的）实际上是非常划算的，包含600金币,100VIP点数，一大堆丰富的资源还有加速道具，还有其他等等等等，只要4.99美元。

然而这个折扣礼包的有效期只有一天多，我很难想象玩家在F2P游戏中做的第一个互动就是砸钱给IAP。

等待游戏

《最终幻想15：新帝国》的玩法（如果你愿意称它为“玩法”的话）和Mobile Strike，Game of War的玩法非常相似。

意味着玩这个游戏就是建造和升级各种建筑、防御系统，它们各有不同的作用，管理不同的资源。还有就是等待，各种时间长短的等待。

游戏中的资源有石头、能源、金属、食物，还有Gil——这是游戏中难得一见受《最终幻想》粉丝肯定的东西。这些资源收集的方式比较被动，但是玩家也可以用金币买到大量的资源，金币属于游戏中的硬货币。

先不说折扣，金币的标准价格是4.99美元买600个，19.99美元买3000个，99.99美元买20000个。

金币的主要作用就是跳过等待时间，比如立刻完成一项任务或者是建造工作。

加速币

要跳过等待时间也可以使用加速币，它可以用来缩短一定的时间，从一分钟到三天都有，看你的进度条有多长了。

开始的时候游戏会送你一大堆1分钟、5分钟、10分钟的加速币，但是用完以后你就得花金币去买了。

有个方法可以免费挣金币，但是这个方法一开始也要花点金币，也要花些时间，这个方法就是寻宝（Treasury）。

投入金币，两个小时之后你就可以得到本金加上10%的利息。

提高寻宝等级就可以提升利率，但是首先你的最低消费要达到4.99美元。

这就证明了MZ游戏惯有的经济复杂性，手游开发团队很少能达到这个程度。

坚固的城墙

《最终幻想15：新帝国》绝对不是一个动态博弈，游戏流程没有先后顺序，而是由多个并行的短流程构成的。

开始的时候你手头上有200金币，这是一笔巨款，在游戏的早期阶段你可以轻松而又快速地完成任务。但是随着硬货币快速消耗，玩家掌握的技巧还不够，就很容易陷入僵局。

当你完成了所有的任务，手上也没有足够的资源进行升级，要嘛就是继续等着，看看会不会出现什么转机，要嘛你只能向游戏屈服，交出你的钱包。

现在的F2P游戏很少有看到对玩家这么无情的，对于很多人来说（也包括我自己）这样做感觉是很让人不舒服的强买强卖，它并不能鼓励玩家为游戏花钱，反而是让玩家删除游戏。
但是对于那些熬过来的玩家来说，公会的是一个非常具有吸引力的地方，它所具备的社交功能可以让部分玩家心甘情愿地为它花钱，而且是好几年。

为公会做贡献会得到一种游戏货币：忠诚（Loyalty），在特定的商店中可以用它为公会购买强化道具和资源。

一旦你陷进去了，发自内心地与公会荣辱与共，关心成员的情况，你就很容易明白为什么MZ的游戏可以吸引这么一批专注、愿意砸大钱的玩家。

分裂

人们对MZ游戏的议论声一直都难以平息，但这对他们来说似乎也不成问题。

玩家第一次进入游戏中就接触到的这种毫无保留游戏体验在一定程度上也能帮助开发者们区分出那些他们认为有价值的玩家和那些像我一样对游戏保持着坚定消极态度的人。

而《最终幻想15：新帝国》更谜的是它的合作方式。

《最终幻想》和MZ的玩家在我看来是两个八竿子都打不着的受众群体，而且这种强势的F2P游戏在《最终幻想》的老玩家眼中甚至可能成为Square Enix的名誉污点。

对于MZ来说，虽然《最终幻想》无疑是个响当当的系列招牌，但是没有阿诺德·施瓦星格或者是凯特·阿普顿这样的大牌明星代言，还是不足以吸引大众。

MZ拿之前的游戏套了个《最终幻想》的皮囊，本质上又跟《最终幻想》并没有多大关系，结果就是两边都不讨好，无论是MZ还是《最终幻想》的粉丝都很难对这个游戏产生兴趣。

它看起来就像是个只想赚钱的游戏。市场上还有那么多比它更好的F2P游戏，我实在不推荐大家去玩这个游戏。

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Welcome back to the In-App Purchase Inspector – our regular look at free-to-play games from the consumer’s perspective.

In each instalment, we consider the incentives or pressure applied to make in-app purchases, their perceived value, the expansion offered by IAPs and the overall value of the experience.

The end goal is to see whether the game makes a good enough case for us to part with our cash, or whether players are content – or engaged enough – to ‘freeload’.

This time we’re taking a look at Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire, a free-to-play mobile take on the long-awaited 2016 console title. The new mobile game comes from Game of War and Mobile Strike developer MZ.

FF by MZ

Any study of the monetisation of an MZ game from a player’s perspective is a difficult proposition.

The US firm has made its name by launching free-to-play mobile games that flagrantly disregard many best practices, with aggressive retailing of the kind that most Western gamers simply aren’t used to seeing.

And yet, its track record for monetising with incredible efficiency is indisputable.

This column described Mobile Strike as being “overly tight-fisted with its hard currency and reliant on wait timers to grind down players”.

But it’s unlikely MZ lost any sleep over that, as it happily bankrolled an Arnold Schwarzenegger-fronted Super Bowl ad and established the game as yet another top grossing stalwart.

The fact remains, however, that MZ’s games are often too much to handle even for regular mobile gamers.

Launching a game in one of gaming’s longest-running and best-loved franchises has exposed Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire to a different audience entirely, and the response from Final Fantasy fans has been as negative as one would expect.

MZ strikes again

It’s easy to see why. From the off, Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire is remarkably similar to Mobile Strike in terms of structure and UX.

In fact, as far as first impressions go, it could hardly be worse, greeting the player opening the app for the first time with a special offer splash screen before they have played a single minute.

MZ must have given this great thought and found that planting the seed with early retailing encourages players to spend cash down the line.
However, there’s something deeply unpleasant about the very premise of offering to take a player’s money before they have even had a chance to get to grips with the game and its economy.

The early-game offer – apparently an iOS exclusive – is actually pretty good value for money, offering 600 Gold, 100 VIP Points, a ton of various resources and Speed Up tokens, and plenty more for only $4.99.

And while it remains available for a day or so after that, it’s hard to imagine anyone making it their very first interaction in a free-to-play game to spend on an in-app purchase.

Waiting game

The actual gameplay of A New Empire – if you can call it that – is very much in the Mobile Strike and Game of War mould.

That means you’re constructing and upgrading various buildings and defences, each performing different roles, and managing various resources. And waiting. A lot.
In-game resources are Stone, Energy, Metal, Food and – one of the game’s few nods to actual Final Fantasy fans – Gil. All of these are generated passively, but greater quantities can also be bought using hard currency Gold.

Offers aside, standard prices for Gold are $4.99 for 600, $19.99 for 3,000 and $99.99 for 20,000.

Gold is used primarily to skip wait timers and instantly complete a quest or a building project, for example.

A token gesture

Wait timers can also be tackled using Speed Up tokens, which subtract a chunk of time – from one minute to three days – from a crawling progress bar.

A handful of one, five and 10-minute Speed Up tokens are given for free, but after that each costs Gold to buy.

One free way of getting Gold, although it requires some to start with and takes some time, is The Treasury.
Here, you can deposit your Gold and collect it back in full, with an added 10% interest, in two hours.

This percentage can be increased by levelling up The Treasury, but a minimum spend of $4.99 is required first.

This is a testament to the economic complexity offered by MZ’s games, which few other mobile developers can match.

Solid wall

Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire is by no means a dynamic game, then, and is built around multiple short sessions.

With a respectable lump sum of 200 Gold to start out with, it’s easy to accelerate through the early stages. But with hard currency quickly drying up, and very rarely gifted, it’s easy to hit a brick wall.

These are the moments when you’ve completed all your quests, lack the resources to make any upgrades and are simply left to either wait indefinitely until that situation changes, or give in and spend.

It’s actually quite rare for modern free-to-play games to give players such a blunt ultimatum, and for many – myself included – it’s an uncomfortably hard sell that pushes away more than it encourages spending.
But for those who do persevere, as with Game of War and Mobile Strike, there’s a compulsive social loop built around Guilds that will keep a certain kind of player happy and spending for years to come.

Contributions to your Guild are generated with a currency called Loyalty, which can be used in a specific store to buy boosts and resources for your entire Guild.

Once you’re hooked into this, and genuinely care about the advancement of your Guild and its members, it’s easy to see how MZ’s games have attracted such dedicated and high-spending players.

Divisive

But the majority will always bounce off MZ’s games, which it appears to be fine with.

In some ways, its no-holds-barred approach to first-time user experience may even serve to separate the players it considers worthwhile from those like me who are never going to convert.

What’s more puzzling about Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire, however, is the very conception of the partnership.

Final Fantasy and MZ’s audiences never struck me as having a great deal of crossover, and this kind of free-to-play aggression might even taint the reputation of Square Enix in the eyes of its traditional fanbase.
And for MZ’s side, while Final Fantasy is undoubtedly a massive franchise, it’s lacks the mainstream appeal of an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Kate Upton-fronted campaign.

The result is a game that has very little to do with Final Fantasy, a great deal in common with MZ’s previous games, and little reason for fans of either to be interested.

It’s a game seemingly about nothing but money, that wants you to do nothing but spend money. With so many more generous free-to-play games around, it’s impossible to recommend.（source：pocketgamer.biz）