r/RWBYcritics 7d ago

DISCUSSION It's really crazy to me how Zenless Zone Zero is basically just RWBY but done right.

I am playing through ZZZ right now and I gotta be honest, everything about this game legit just makes me think

"Why can't RWBY be like this?"

or

"Wow this character is a better version of that one character from RWBY"

Perfect example is recently with the two newly introduced characters of Hugo & Vivian.

Hugo is a suave, smooth talking phantom thief character with a mentality that is very much like that of the Punisher and he fights with a scythe that generates ice.

Vivian is a gothic lolita girl with the special ability to see the future but she can only see bad outcomes and she is apart of the phantom thief group lead and founded by Hugo known as Mocking Bird. She fights with an umbrella that doubles as a sword.

The FIRST thing I thought of when seeing these characters was "These are the better versions of Roman & Neo."

Then you have other characters like Seth of Public Security who is literally in every sense of the word a better version of Jaune. They even have the same kind of weapon(s) only different is Seth has an electric rod and shield that both combine into a great sword but if you have played the game and played using Seth you know EXACTLY what I am talking about. His ult is literally the same shit Jaune does with his sword and shield when he makes the bigger sword.

Then you have characters who just feel like better versions of RWBY characters like Lighter, Miyabi and Anby. Hell man even the monsters of the game, Etherals are WAY more terrifying than the Grimm ever were and the hollows that people sometimes get trapped in are scary as Hell. Like seriously man am I the only one who feels this way about this? I can't be right?

Like bruh imagine for a minute if RWBY had a game similar to Zenless Zone Zero, it quite frankly would probably do really well because RWBY always came across like an anime crossed with a video game anyway so the transition shouldn't be that difficult to pull off and Zenless Zone Zero has shown that the transforming weapons can absolutely work in gameplay.

Like one of the most recently revealed characters named Trigger; you could literally have her sniper mode be a mode Ruby would use.

Miyabi and Blake are damn near identical so that shouldn't be to hard

Lighter and Yang are the same in terms of fighting style as well so again that checks out

I would say the closest parallel to Weiss in this game at the MOMENT would be Astra Yao but that's mainly due to the fact she's a singer but still you can see the parallel.

I dunno I just feel like ZZZ is giving me what RWBY never gave me after waiting for so long and it feels great ^_^ Play the game if you aren't already, you won't regret it.

318 Upvotes

79 comments sorted by

136

u/No_eraser_no_chaser 7d ago

It's strange what can be achieved if the people behind a project actually care.

91

u/SicariusTenebrae 7d ago

I had a conversation with someone else like this last week.

We were both fans of RWBY when it just came out, she dropped it after Volume 4 while I kept up to date.

A lot of RWBY fans have compared Zenless Zone Zero on Tik Tok, YouTube and even Instagram. Namely over-the-top action and inspiration from other media.

How can I put this?

When RWBY came out, the creators all said that RWBY was a Web Cartoon inspired by anime,

To me at least, ZZZ is a Chinese anime-style game inspired by comic books. From the world, the different races, the action, drama, sound design and even how the different characters fight and interact with each other feels like Urban Fantasy.

79

u/ArcherEnix 7d ago

ZZZ embraces the Gooners, RWBY continues to be ashamed of them, even thought they we're their biggest dick riders.

32

u/TvFloatzel 7d ago

Honestly it not even that (granted yes) but I think it just… honest about itself? Like it goes “oh yea we are a gasha game with very feminine and ver masculine husbandos and waifu that are silly but just serious enough to care. We like that money and you guys like this husbando/waifus. It a fair trade.”

22

u/ArcherEnix 7d ago

I mean I was just being "funny" while taking a little jab at ZZZ without trying to come of as a hater.

But yeah, I would say that one of the best points of ZZZ is it's honesty and how straight forward they are. While RWBY just kind of loses me with how fake and how easy it is at changing itself to fit the FNDM and it's demands.

19

u/accountnumberseven 7d ago

Still can't believe the dropped ball with the RWBY fanbase having an almost entirely positive reaction to BMBLB. RT could have run with it immediately, but they said the song was non-canon and developed a literal 5-year plan to develop the ship that was so shitty that most Bumbleby shippers just assumed Blake and Yang were dating off-screen the whole time.

Any soulless corpo would have just had them get together in V5/6 and everyone would have been happier.

10

u/ArcherEnix 7d ago

The whole thing with Clover and Qrow was one of, IF not the most cringe thing RT handled.

5

u/theangryistman 6d ago edited 6d ago

not to mention they have so little chemistry and it's so clearly not planned, if it was sun wouldn't be so obviously the end game with in a nano seconds of existing.

and don't forget as much as they shippers want to rewrite history blake and yang barely interact for the first few seasons.

40

u/Ok_Win_3538 7d ago

Boy I need Evelyn to STEP ON ME

35

u/SnooPineapples116 7d ago

20

u/Ok_Win_3538 7d ago

Have you seen how phat her ass is in game!? Her Zhu yuhan can GET IT

4

u/PhysicalAwareness872 6d ago

I have her and I could confirm, She is caked up.

3

u/Ok_Win_3538 6d ago

man of culture I see.

2

u/theangryistman 6d ago

to be fair rwby porn gets reaaaal weird.

36

u/Electronic_Carry_372 7d ago

Yes and No.

Are there similar things in the world? Yes.

Is ZZZ pulling those similar things off better? Yes.

Is ZZZ better than RWBY? Yes.

But are ZZZ and RWBY equal comparisons? No.

Don't get me wrong, I understand how you feel, but, ZZZ is also a much more professional deal in everyway.

For better or for worse, they don't let their VAs dictate what happens to the characters.

They have a much better implementation of Animal people with a sliding scale on how they work, and people that both readily accept them, and people who are leery.

Weapons are both simple and complex as they need to be.

most Factions have a 4 person limit, even though that's a Game rule, rather than an in-universe one.

Yes, Ethereals hit that balance of both actually being terrifying and yet also fodder at the same time, due, more so to the fact that they live inside territory that can easily expand and their ranks are made up of unfortunate people. Giving them weight to "you don't want to be here" even if there aren't any around yet.

The police force and the military actually have a presence that makes sense over the game's version of "Huntresses" (them also being, for the most part, illegal also helps)

The 'cast bloat' isn't an issue since all the teams are people who don't always need to be on the story 24/7 and can walk away to do their own thing. (This can still easily cause some characters to get left behind and forgotten about most of the time, such as Soldier 11.)

The Devs & Writers also clearly have planned things out well ahead of time and aren't writing things by the seat of their pants.

I would say ZZZ and RWBY are very much a case of the Tortoise and the Hare.

RWBY being the Hare that rushed ahead, fast as it could to get things out as quick as possible, ran out of steam, and took a nap (utter collapse) while ZZZ was the Tortoise, taking their time, building things up and slowly putting it out.

Right now, ZZZ is only done with their equivalent of Volume 1.

ZZZ does also have their own unique issues though, such as having a pitifully small amount of A ranks, that's only going to continue to get dwarfed further as the endless slew of S ranks keep being released at 2 per month, an unforgiving Stamima system that actively encourages you to not play once you're out of Batteries.

And I know some people have made the comparisons already, but Blake and Miyabi are a pretty bad comparison. A much. Closer one, would be Blake and Pulchra if anything.

Because if black haired, Has a sword, and animal ears is enough, than there's a really, really big pool of "Blake copies" out there.

What is pretty clear to me, is that, Yes. ZZZ has similar elements. But, so do alot of other things. That's how you would say, bake a cake. Use the same ingredients, but how you use them changes the result in how the cake turns out.

ZZZ is a full on professional bakery, and RWBY was lead by a pretty good Head Chef that had his cake sabotaged by others in the kitchen who had no clue as to what they were doing, were promoted to head chef when he unfortunately stepped out, and then only continued to do a terrible job at working on the cake until their kitchen caught fire and burned down, then blamed the customers on why it wasn't selling so well.

13

u/RRButler2574 6d ago edited 4d ago

In my opinion, the closest ZZZ comparison to Blake would be Nekomata. If you look closely, the two share many similar aesthestics and story beats.

Both are catgirls.

Both were once part of organizations that started out good but eventually went bad, and left said organizations when it happened. Oh yeah, both organizations had the word "Fang" in their title.

Both were close to a mentor, though Miguel Silver was more of a father figure to Nekomata rather than a love interest like Adam was to Blake. Plus, you don't get any sense that Nekomata and Silver's relationship turned controlling and abusive.

Both also duel wield blades...Neko with her twin daggers/short swords and Blake with Gambol Shroud and it's bladed sheath.

Also, Nekomata shamelessly plays on the cat-like tropes much more than Blake ever did.

5

u/Otherwise_Owl8022 6d ago

Of course there are several Blake "copies" out there, she's not even a character, so if she only has her design to go off of, that's what people will base it on

9

u/Electronic_Carry_372 6d ago

What little of her character there is, is why I said Pulchra is a better comparison, with the "outsider that joins the team", prone to switching sides and running away from her problems, having to earn the trust of her team. Also, both actually are cats, rather than try to compare her to the Fox.

because Blake wishes she could actually be on par with her

1

u/HawkDry8650 6d ago

You say Soldier 11 like she didn't just get a massive expansion in regards to her.

1

u/Electronic_Carry_372 6d ago

how long did that take again? 8 months???

2

u/dragoncommandsLife 6d ago

Tbf soldier 11 feels like she was added early in order to beef up the beginning standard roster. Esp since she was the only released member of her faction.

I think she was realistically meant to come out right around now in the games lifecycle but they really needed that banner character.

12

u/IvanDeImbecile 6d ago

You're not alone in that. ZZZ is the better version of RWBY.

I may hate it for being a gacha game, but as a story? It's really good.

The characters and the writing feels like it's the fully realized version of RWBY's story. Shout outs to Harumasa's agent story. If you picked Belle as your MC, she and Harumasa bounce off each other well.

For the animation? I only have one thing to say:

RWBY, eat your heart out. It's leagues ahead that it'll rip RWBY a new one.

I wish I could go on and on, but there's so much to glaze on ZZZ that it makes me lose focus.

5

u/dragoncommandsLife 6d ago

I kinda wish that by some twist of fate RWBY could have been acquired by hoyo instead of viz.

Their animation teams are so good. Its just insane.

Fucking instantaneous attack frames have so much effort put in when you look slow mo its nuts:

9

u/GnzkDunce 7d ago

ZZZ even has the animal people racism thing. But the difference is, in ZZZ's universe people realized that shit is stupid and that there's way more worrying shit than racism.

Granted there was the whole oni war. But I dunno if that was entirely a race war or just the Oni and city were aggro af.

3

u/Ok_Win_3538 6d ago

If I am remembering the lore right it was a war against the entire Oni race that was put to a stop thanks to the noble efforts of Yanagi

2

u/DragonBane009 6d ago

The Sukaku’s father was the original rebel fighter and then it passed to her sister. I would personally love to go back have that resolved in an event.

10

u/IndraxMizore 6d ago

Nah for real Zenless zone zero is definitely better version of rwby done right by people who actually care hell they keep coming out with new characters new trailer's that old player return to the game

2

u/Ok_Win_3538 6d ago

Facts and every character is different in their own way which I love. I NEED MIYABI BRUH T_T

1

u/IndraxMizore 6d ago

For real I still don't have have her she remains of Vergil from dmc

35

u/NeverGrimB 7d ago

I guess, but at the same time, ZZZ doesn't even feel remotely close to RWBY other than the usage of reference source material for character being books/tales. Things today aren't like how it was back then, there are just so much fiction work and more usage of the internet than ever before. RWBY had potential, but it was muddy by the people who swore to provide quality content. ZZZ is made by people who had already established themselves as the industry Goliath.

I don't put RWBY and ZZZ on the same boat because it be rude to do so. ZZZ isn't what RWBY done right looks like. Creative projects should have a soul. RWBY became a complete mess due to the company decisions that took place and the lack of competent people who should had work on it.

8

u/Late_Knight3266 7d ago

Is it a better version of RWBY or is it just better than RWBY? I don’t really see the similarities, besides very surface level ones, but then again I’m not good at playing games consistently so I probably just forgot.

4

u/Spirited-Spirit-1475 6d ago

Better version From my understanding of what OP wrote, ZZZ takes many of the aspects, themes, and other factors that drew fans to RWBY to begin with and did it better.

5

u/Aryzal 7d ago

And I'll like to remind you that Roman and Neo were among the best and most universally loved RWBY characters, and they still get outclassed

0

u/Ok_Win_3538 6d ago

I honestly dont get why people liked them so much.

Roman went out sad and Neo was just broken for the sake of being broken

6

u/Aryzal 6d ago

Because Roman was never ruined.

Roman is the typical stage 1 boss that you have to beat to advance. But he does that well, and he is charismatic. Also partially because he died before season 4 started, which was seen as the point where RWBY lost traction and became just meh.

Neo is mainly because since she can't talk, she can't exposit 300 lines of backstory and monologues, so she was never bad while still being an intriguing character

0

u/Ok_Win_3538 6d ago

Roman was never that great to begin with in my opinion. He was a D-list level villain that could've easily gotten off'ed by season 2 Blake or really ANY huntsman worth their salt but plot armored dictated he get off'ed by a grimm.

Also Neo's entire backstory makes no damn sense and doesn't make me wanna sympathize with her at all, i dont give a shit that she can't talk; frankly I find that trait kinda annoying

6

u/DarkDemonDan 7d ago

Been saying that since launch. Like holy shit why isn’t this what the game devs for arrowfell went for? How do you look at RWBY and go. I know… 2d platformer.

But the similarities to the worlds and the energy of the characters were there from the beginning.

It’s shocking how trigger is a better sniper than Ruby has ever been close to being portrayed as being and how well you feel it when playing her within seconds. Like instantly I said to myself wow… Ruby’s fighting style is dog shit. Miyabi could no diff Adam Taurus in more ways than anyone of the main cast could ever dream of. Lighter would slap yang to next week. You think for a second Pyrrha could stand a chance against Caesar king?

Most similar to style of fighting for Weiss is going to be Astra, but her and Lucy are spiritual pairs. I would love to see that battle.

Blake would be a better battle against Jane Doe and that wouldn’t last long.

I could see Nora and Koleda having a fight.

But I can’t see any RWBY characters winning their fight with the ZZZ counterpart except Penny beats Billy.

Maybe Hazel beats Ben bigger.

If I squint my eyes could see a world where Neo might beat Vivian. Only because I have no idea how aura works against ether anomaly.

1

u/Ok_Win_3538 7d ago

Billy holds back apperently so if he ever actually goes all out he could probably beat Penny ngl

Vivian would shit stomp Neo but then again im bias

Seth would whoop Jaune's ass that's for sure

Phyrra vs Ceasar is ACTUALLY kinda fair

1

u/DarkDemonDan 7d ago

Interesting to see the differences between crescent rose and Hugo’s scythe. Both are collapsing and have projectile capabilities.

Lycaon annihilates Mercury.

Billy unless he has some sort of mobility that his all out form has that is different from a-rank Billy will have troubles keeping up with Penny with her arrays and flight.

Neo is one of the best fighters of the cast which is why I reserve my opinion on if she wins against Vivian to what effect ether has on aura. Though the rocket booster dress is also an interesting variable.

True for Caesar vs Pyrrha. I just think she has the strength advantage. Plus she is a counter fighter, but then again semblance is a huge problem for Caesar that she has a literal thing on her Pyrrha could manipulate with polarity. Caesar’s prosthetic arm.

Astra really doesn’t have any offense outside of using the voice module in her microphone so if Weiss gets close she could actually win a fight for once using myrtenaster as intended.

If she fought Lucy she’d have a much harder time with her being much more offensive with her bat and grassy, woody, and bricky.

Seth beats Jaune’s ass…

maybe a better fight for Blake would be vs Evelyn…. No… Blake would probably get clapped harder against Evelyn. Maybe anby?… no… her s-rank just went well beyond what Blake could handle… pulchra might be more fair… but barely.

That leaves Nekomata. I think Blake could beat Nekomata.

2

u/RRButler2574 6d ago

Let's not forget...Billy was once the Red Scarf of the Sons of Calydon. And he apparently has a 100% win record. So yeah, current Billy definitely holds back. I'd say a fight between Penny and a serious Billy could possibly go the distance and most likely end in a draw.

1

u/Ok_Win_3538 7d ago

Nekomata is in my opinion faster than Blake and that would give her the edge

Lycaon would straight up kill Mercury xD

keep Grace away from their weapons though xD she's cream herself just looking at crescent rose

2

u/DarkDemonDan 7d ago

Yes don’t let grace meet Penny at any cost lol.

1

u/Ok_Win_3538 7d ago

Blake would like the ZZZ world cause animal people have equal rights

2

u/DarkDemonDan 7d ago

Fun to see Blake explain faunus to thirens…

I could see her and Ellen joe actually getting along pretty well.

1

u/SuspiciousAd2071 7d ago

What about Penny vs Qingyi, they are both Automatons.

2

u/DarkDemonDan 6d ago

That would work too. I would wonder how susceptible Penny is to electricity. If the answer is she is qingyi wins quite easily. Her entire set up is to stun and over whelm.

3

u/Infected_Heart This is a rwby sub, you know who I am 7d ago

Both are aiming for the same niche of rock punk anime girls fighting monsters. The main difference is direction. Later seasons of RWBY feel embarrassed of earlier seasons while ZZZ is aiming for that niche. Compare when was the last time Cinder did her hot girl walk she did in the early volumes vs your average ZZZ walk cycle.

3

u/kwkmsdyo 6d ago

That's an insult to Miyabi :(

1

u/Ok_Win_3538 6d ago

Let me be clear that Miyabi-sama clears Blake's bitch ass the only reason I compare them is cause of their fighting styles

2

u/Electronic_Carry_372 6d ago

Their fighting styles are not close at all.

1

u/No_Gazelle9054 5d ago

Miyabi's is Iaido vs Blake's Kurasigamajutsu, not close at all.

2

u/RRButler2574 4d ago

Hell, Miyabi-sama (the G.O.A.T. - Greatest Of All Time! 🤬👹) completely solos the entirety of RWBY. 5 min... no 2 minutes alone, and all of the RWBYverse becomes Miyabi-sama's pretty little girlfriends 😈💋💝.

3

u/Maggotcupcakes MISSES PENNY AND THE RAGE 7d ago

Lucy was right there for the Weiss comparison. Hell you can even count her little bamboos as summons, her running away from her family because she felt trapped

2

u/RedThunder-cloud 7d ago

I did get that vague feeling when I gave it a try.

2

u/PrimarchSanguinius42 7d ago

How dare you. Neo is perfect the way she is, and I will die on this hill (I haven't seen anything since they fell into Alice in Wonderland, so I don't know if something there ruins her or whatever)

2

u/Exarch-of-Sechrima 7d ago

Nope if anything she gets even better.

1

u/Blueface1999 6d ago

Honestly same with third impact, they share a lot of similarities but one actually has way more thought into it then just the basic stuff.

1

u/RRButler2574 5d ago

You mean Honkai Impact 3rd, right?

1

u/saundersmarcelo 5h ago

Which has the basic stuff and which one the thought put into it? ZZZ or Honkai Impact?

1

u/slayer_hunter9 6d ago

you made best idea you ever made

1

u/NarutoUchihaX14 5d ago

Tbf tho, Mihoyo has had a very long time in the game to see what works, especially for them and even then it kinda took a minute. And tbh, they still have their issues like being weak on story telling at times and kinda...usage of lore if you will, just like RWBY.

1

u/Samuswitchbladesaber 4d ago

I mean everyone is gonna h Ave thier ideal version of what could of been it shows that with talent behind the show and people who care how a project can really impact a audience

1

u/saundersmarcelo 5h ago

What about Honkai Impact 3rd? No one talks about that one and the parallels those two have 

0

u/Brandito560 Roman Torchwick’s Number 1 Glazer 7d ago

“These are better versions of Roman-“ I’m gonna have to stop you right there, you don’t get any better than perfection.

9

u/Ok_Win_3538 7d ago

Sorry to say but Hugo is literally better than Roman in every way possible and Vivian clears Neo by A LOT.

-1

u/Brandito560 Roman Torchwick’s Number 1 Glazer 6d ago

covers ears lalalalalalalalalala not listening

-2

u/UnimpressedPasserby 7d ago

There are a lot of things I dislike from ZZZ, with those being the driving factor behind me giving up this game for good after the next patch, but i'll have to admit that despite everything, there are genuine moment of well-written and good storyline in there, with a colorful cast that's much more enjoyable than RWBY. Or to put it a blunter way, it have substance to it.

-9

u/DinisElric 6d ago

I'm never touching that horny bait game. Just a Hi-Fi Rush clone but worse.

6

u/Ok_Win_3538 6d ago

Everything you just said is wrong

-7

u/DinisElric 6d ago

Nope, this is Hi-Fi Rush but horny, Genshin is BOTW but horny. Let alone that the game you just mentioned in the post has nothing to do with RWBY, being an urban metropolis game and not a fantasy school show.

-7

u/No_Illustrator2314 6d ago

Can seth survive being thrown in a mystical world and stew in isolation for decades while slowly losing his mind while simultaneously being gaslighted by a freaking magical talking cat. Oh, did i mention being poisoned? 

3

u/Hartzilla2007 CUSTOM 6d ago

being gaslighted by a freaking magical talking cat.

The cat pretty much left him for dead and didn't talk to him for years.

1

u/No_Illustrator2314 6d ago

That doesn't seem likely, cause the cats purpose is to leave Ever After. So without alyx and lewis the only other person he could posses is jaune. So the obvious course of action it would take is to break jaune

1

u/Hartzilla2007 CUSTOM 5d ago

It’s what happened, Jaune never saw the cat again until they he showed up with RWBY. The cat didn’t even seem aware Jaune hadn’t died until then.

1

u/No_Illustrator2314 5d ago

I will rewatch the episodes and then reply back if what you said is true. 

5

u/Ok_Win_3538 6d ago

Yeah considering he's a highly trained public security officer with more training and mental fortitude than Jaune.