Square Enix released a new trailer on Youtube showing the environments of its upcoming NFT project Symbiogensis, with the description mentioning that the game will feature 10,000 NFT characters and a six-chapter story, but the trailer was met with heavy criticism from fans about the nature of the project, the lackluster designs, and the monetization system. An official website for the game will also launch on the 17th of this month.
The criticisms mainly revolve around the fact that Symbiogensis is not a game per se, but a market for regulating the control of non-fungible tokens, and that the progression of the game is locked behind convoluted paywalls, as detailed below.
The Japanese NFT guild LCA released a “Project Evaluation Report” a week ago to explain the 10,000 character point, saying that the genre of the game is “Narrative Unlocking NFT Entertainment.” Simply put, the project will have an “Unlocking Stories” phase and a “World Mission” phase, and both phases will involve players in a kind of information war using these characters.
In the first phase, NFT owners will be able to access each character’s unique story and gain information not available to those who don’t own the NFT. By gathering items, and participating in the buying and selling of characters, players will gain information and clues needed to complete the missions/quests.
Ultimately, only three select players will earn the right to participate in the “World Mission,” and it is said that those who reach this level will decide the fate of the game and the future of the six-chapter story.
This seems to be in line with the Square Enix president’s plans for 2023, as he emphasized the need to create an experience that encourages players to participate even if the value of their digital assets declines, or if the in-game economy collapses due to players monopolizing rare assets.
Symbiogensis does not have this problem (as said in the report) because there are multiple categories of NFT characters and purposes for enjoying the game, and there are daily missions that require daily interactions and information sharing to complete, thus encouraging constant exchange and a healthy economy where there are no useless NFTs.
Players who do not wish to purchase NFTs will be able to enjoy the main story and complete missions for free, or rather, they will have to, as the number of NFTs is limited (and will instead have to choose to gather information through guilds and social media as explained in this guide). Those who wish to earn money from NFT sales or complete a world mission will need to complete high-difficulty missions (and acquire specific character NFTs).
Symbiogenesis NFTs will reportedly be available on the Open Sea market.
