Original Author: Cookie, Rhythm BlockBeats

Original Author: Cookie, Rhythm BlockBeats

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TL;DR

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NFT ambitions of gaming giants

Yosuke Matsuda, the current CEO of Square Enix, mentioned in a letter to shareholders earlier this year that the company is developing a number of blockchain games based on original IP. In fact, Square Enix has "planned for a long time" to enter the NFT industry.

In May 2020, in the medium-term business strategy announced by Square Enix, blockchain games have been identified as the company's new investment field. In November 2021, Square Enix discussed entering the field of NFT and blockchain games in a financial report. In 2022, CEO Yosuke Matsuda stated in his New Year's letter that he hopes to see the value of digital goods using NFT technology match the real value, so that NFT "becomes as familiar to the public as physical commodity transactions."

In addition to the SYMBIOGENESIS introduced in this article, Square Enix has many other actions in the blockchain field. They are the node operators of the Japanese game blockchain Oasys, have invested in Zebedee, an agreement that focuses on integrating Bitcoin and game ecology, and are selling physical "Final Fantasy 7" game character dolls with NFT versions...

Traditional game media (such as Kotaku) believe that Yosuke Matsuda is in crisis of resignation because of excessive promotion of NFT and blockchain games. However, there are some opposite views in the Web3 circle, who believe that Yosuke Matsuda is not dissatisfied with "excessive advancement", but "too slow". The basis for this contrary view is that, in addition to the reasons for the proposed changes mentioned in the proposed successor, Takashi Kiryu was the general manager of the Dentsu Innovation Initiative, a cross-group organization under the company XRX Studio that has focused on "integrating the metaverse" since 2021. solution". Blockchain and games, two fields that are constantly converging, give diametrically opposed screenshots, which is really interesting.

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Can Web2 and Web3 Coexist?

This is not only what Square Enix is ​​exploring in the real world, but also the theme of SYMBIOGENESIS. The ultimate fate of the world of SYMBIOGENESIS depends on the answer to this question.

Only 3 players will be able to complete the final SYMBIOGENESIS World Quest. To be eligible to participate in "World Quests", you must complete all main quests and collect a specified set of hidden items. However, achieving these goals is difficult, and players need to share information to overcome difficulties.

The game's ending is open-ended, and the outcome of World Quests will determine the ultimate fate of the world of SYMBIOGENESIS. What kind of answer will we see?

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The "information war" triggered by exploration

The core of the SYMBIOGENESIS game mechanics is "exploration".

- Complete the main storyline/quests to explore the stories behind the characters. This part of the game content is "Free to Play", the difficulty is relatively low, any player can participate, there will be a total of 6 chapters. By playing this part of the game, players can learn about the main story of the world of SYMBIOGENESIS.

- Complete treasure hunts to collect hidden items. This part of the game content is exclusive to "Character NFT" holders. Treasure hunting missions can be done independently of the main storyline, and new treasure hunting missions will be released every time a new chapter of the main storyline is unlocked. The difficulty of the treasure hunting task is relatively high, and players need to unlock the information contained in the "character NFT" to complete it cooperatively.

- Complete the final "World Quest". Only 3 players can participate in this part of the game, and the rest of the players can only watch. To be eligible to participate in "World Quests", you must complete all main quests and collect a specified set of hidden items. The results of the "World Quest" will determine the final fate of the world of SYMBIOGENESIS, and the 3 players who complete the "World Quest" will receive the highest level rewards. This setting is very reminiscent of BAYC's Dookey Dash game. In Dookey Dash games, the highest ranking player gets a 1/1 key prize.

All the information comes from the stories contained in the "Character NFT". The level of "character NFT" determines the richness of information, and the richness of information determines how much help can be provided for the task, and also affects the integrity of the player's experience of the game story.

"Character NFT" is divided into 4 levels:

- "Face" character: The appearance and occupation are the most common, with "memory slots" and "treasure hunting clue slots".

- "Net" character: The appearance and occupation are relatively ordinary, with "memory slots" and "subordinate story slots", and there is a small chance of getting more than one when successfully collecting hidden items.

- "Line" characters: unique in appearance and occupation, with "memory slots", "subordinate story slots" and "exclusive story slots".

- "Point" character: The appearance and occupation are the most unique, with all "slots".

The "Character NFT" of the above 4 levels can be purchased on the SYMBIOGENESIS official website at that time. The total number of "Character NFT" is 10,000, which will be fully released through 6 waves of sales. After the end of each chapter, a new batch of "Character NFT" available for purchase will be released. The first batch of "Character NFT" available for purchase is 500. The release date will be at the end of April, and the price is to be determined.

Unlock the "slot" to get the story contained in the "character NFT". In order to unlock "Sockets", players need to consume "Socket Points". "Character NFT" holders can get "slot points" by logging in to the game every day. The more "character NFT" you hold, the more "slot points" you get.

Different types of "slots" contain different types of stories:

- "Memory Slot": The story of the character. Such stories do not affect game competition and can be read by all players after unlocking.

- "Treasure Hunt Clue Slot": A story with clues for treasure hunt quests. Only "Character NFT" holders can read it after unlocking (including "Dungeon" characters).

- "Subordinate Story Slot": The character's current story. Only the holder himself and the "net", "line" and "point" character holders of the same profession can read after unlocking (including "dungeon" characters).

- "Open Story Slot": The character's current story. Such stories do not affect game competition and can be read by all players after unlocking.

- "Exclusive Story Slot": The character's current story. Only the holder himself can read it after unlocking (including "Dungeon" characters).

- "Main Story Quest Slot": A story containing clues to complete the main storyline missions. This type of story only helps with the simpler main quests and can be read by all players after unlocking.

The information that different stories can provide may be similar, or more likely to be very different. Players need to exchange information and cooperate to piece together clear clues. If you are interested in the story behind a certain character, or to obtain other information to decipher puzzles, players can choose to purchase "dungeon" characters. When purchasing a "Character NFT", the purchaser can get 5 "Dungeon" characters. With a "Dungeon" character, you can view the unlocked story of the "Character NFT" (but you cannot enjoy other rights of the "Character NFT"). As the game progresses, we should see interesting transactions happen - you want to get the information we have? Then use the money to buy our "dungeon" character. By the way, before selling it to you, we have already sold it to them. Do you want to be separated by them? Then you'll have to pay more...

In addition to exchanging information and cooperating to piece together clear clues to find hidden objects, players also need to click on any suspicious places on the game map to discover them. Players who really cannot complete the treasure hunting task can purchase it in the secondary market. The hidden items obtained in the game can be sold on the secondary market after being converted into NFT, and the hidden items purchased on the secondary market can also be converted into in-game props again. SYMBIOGENESIS will provide Gas fees for a certain number of NFT conversion operations.

The competition results of the game are reflected according to the ranking. Players can accumulate experience and improve their level and ranking through the following channels:

- Complete treasure hunt quests.

- Complete the main mission.

- Unlock "Socket".

- Daily login: Exclusive to holders of "Character NFT" or "Community Membership Card".

It should be noted that the “Community Membership Card” is currently drawn in the SYMBIOGENESIS official Discord, and it is not known whether there will be a whitelist mechanism for the first batch of “Character NFT” sales. At present, the "Community Membership Card" officially only revealed that one function is the above-mentioned daily login to gain experience. Depending on the level of the card, the amount of experience gained is different.

- Ordinary cards: red, blue, yellow, green, etc. Membership cards of the same color have multiple effects that do not stack. If the colors are different, only one card of each color can work. For example, holding 2 ordinary red cards only plays the effect of 1 red card. If you hold 2 ordinary red cards and 2 ordinary blue cards, it will have the effect of 1 red card + 1 blue card.

- Silver Card: The effects of holding multiple cards can be superimposed.

- Gold Card: The effects of holding multiple cards can be superimposed.

- Mystery Card: The effects of holding multiple cards can be superimposed.

Each season lasts about 2 months, and the rewards will be issued according to the ranking at the end of the season, and the ranking will be cleared and reset at the beginning of the next season. The ranking rewards are as follows:

- Discount purchase rights for the next chapter "Character NFT".

- NFTs of backgrounds used in story chapters.

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epilogue

epilogue

At the end of this article, I would like to talk about two observations about SYMBIOGENESIS. One is good but not that good, one is bad but not that bad.

On the good side, Square Enix's division of player groups is relatively clear. There are three types of player groups they expect, pure entertainment zero-consumption experience players, money-making players who focus on making gold, and in-depth players for honor. The boundaries of these three types of players are actually not so obvious, and they can be transformed into each other if they overlap. This part reflects that Square Enix's understanding of chain games is still possible.

On the bad side, Square Enix’s official tweet has zero interaction with SYMBIOGENESIS’s official tweet so far, and SYMBIOGENESIS’s official tweet doesn’t even pay attention to Square Enix’s official tweet. The cut in the announcement is not a good thing for SYMBIOGENESIS, the official fans so far are only about 26,000. Moreover, such a cut will also make people wonder whether Square Enix treats SYMBIOGENESIS as a "biological child". In the case that SYMBIOGENESIS has not released any trailers and beta versions, it is hard to say what the final quality of this game will be. According to the official roadmap, "Character NFT" holders will not be able to enjoy the rights in the game until mid-May, and the release will be at the end of April. If the quality of the final product cannot satisfy the appetite raised during the "empty window period" in the middle, the subsequent market performance may be less optimistic.