The First Descendantis set to launch fully on July 2, and the upcoming looter shooter promises “endless” endgame content, less grinding in its looting systems, and even a trading mechanic down the line. Between this, continual community involvement, and a lot of trailer highlights, it’s no wonder that many players are looking forward toThe First Descendant’s launch.
At Summer Game Fest, Game Rant spoke withThe First Descendantdirector Minseok Joo about the game’s unique characters, mechanics, and player expectations. Ultimately, the team wants to prioritize the fans' enjoyment above all else by making farming necessary items less of a chore, encouraging players to play as their favorites, and implementing tons of fan feedback ahead of launch.This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
How The First Descendant Tackles Progression and Balancing
Q: As a looter shooter game, how doesThe First Descendantkeep people chasing those rewards?
A: Regarding looting, we actually don’t want the players to spend too much time, just spending a reasonable amount of time on some aspects, and we design it so that you get a reasonable amount of rewards through that. That way, with what you have acquired, you can choose different strategies and different approaches for how you want to continue the game.
You can get your loot and then try to do certain things this way one day. Then the next day, you can loot another way and then try another different strategy, a different method, and so on and so forth.
Q: What do you see the progression being like for those who play each and every day?
A:WithThe First Descendant,individual character progression is not that deep, but when we get to the official launch, we’ll have about 19 different characters. There are a lot of weapons, as well; we do have 22 different weapons. Ultimate weapons, too.
Technically,The First Descendantis about farming and collecting. With what you have collected, you’re creating your own power fantasy.
Q: When it comes to balancing the 19 Descendants, can you talk about that or also give examples of a Descendant you felt was too strong?
A: That’s a very good question because before the launch, that’s the main topic we continuously think about and try to edit and advise each other on. There might be a slight imbalance between the characters because of what players feel toward each character. Their power fantasies are different. We’re hoping all players get enjoyment from bringing the power fantasy out of each individual character.
We’re putting a lot of time and effort into what you were saying with one character outclassing everybody. We’re trying not to make that happen, so we’re putting a lot of time and effort into it for our updates and our launch.
Q: The other thing that I’m really curious about is how the team has sort of accounted for players with different hours put into the game. Let’s say I have a friend who just wants to play a couple of hours a week, but I play 20 hours a week. What considerations are there for that?
A: You’re talkingabout teamwork play, right?
Yeah, like if I’m well ahead of them, I can still have a friend play with me who doesn’t play as frequently, right?
A: Let’s say you’re playing 20 hours a week, and since you’re playing more than your friend, you can acquire a lot of different characters and also a lot of materials for you to grow those characters. To use your example, your friend who’s only playing two hours a week, that person can only focus on a certain character that they like.
Q: You’ve mentioned before that there will be a trading system. Are there any sort of considerations so it doesn’t get abused?
A:We’re working on the trading system and how to give things away as well. We’re planning on implementing it once the service stabilizes to the point where we can add it.
Q: One of the things that made me curious during the presentation is that you have a game that can be played single-player and multiplayer. How is that balanced? Can I beat the entire game on solo or are there moments where I need to have a couple of friends online?
A: Our ideal with that is that looting can be done by yourself in single-player. Something that’s very challenging will have to be overcome by teamwork and cooperation. The content for that will be updated soon. We’ll also be updating content that can be enjoyed by a single person only.
Q: I’ve followed a lot of looter games. There are a lot of successes, but some have not been so successful. Did the development team pay attention to those successes and those failures?
A:As a development team that’s making a looter shooter game for the first time, we do look toDestinyfor reference,Warframe,and so on. What caught our attention was thatWarframevery actively serves and communicateswith its players. That’s something we feel we are good at, especially with an MMORPG.
As a gaming company, we’re especially certain we’re experts in the field of communicating with the players. We’re putting a lot of time and effort into implementing our experience and our techniques to better service and better communicate with our players.
Q: Everybody asks aboutDestiny, one of your inspirations, and there’s been talk of howDestinyalways had a 10-year plan. Do you have some sort of timeline for where you want to be with the game at a certain point?
A:I can’t talk about everything about that right now, but in my brain, there’s a whole roadmap. For part of that plan, I’ve already spoken with the development team. to meet that goal, they’re doing little by little to approach what I have planned. We are trying to constantly update the content, whether it is, for example, on a yearly basis or we’re trying to give the players something like a new twist to the game. These changes could help it go on longer, go on for a while.
We’re going to havea storyline for each Descendantper season, whether it be how they gained their experience, their trauma, or their background history.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about what feedback you’ve received and how that has informed the changing of the game over time and its evolution?
A: We’ve run three public tests already, and we are having conversations with our players regarding feedback. Just honest feedback, back and forth. We’ve been doing this incommunity spaces such as YouTubeor our Discord server. On one hand, we make it a point to showcase our game at such a big event like this, but on the other hand, we also like to have a small AMA session with users online.
We’ve run technical tests, and in those tests, we’ve haddiscussions about microtransactions. We’ve received a lot of feedback especially regarding microtransactions, and we’ve decided to terminate the microtransactions that players are not satisfied with. We made sure to share that information within our community almost instantly.
The First Descendant Fans Can Experience the Characters and Lore in Their Own Time
Q: Yeah, that’s one of the things that the presentation before we played kind of talked about.The First Descendent’s not trying to be pay-to-win or overly focused on cosmetics, things like that. Can you talk a little bit about the progression of the Battle Pass?
A: It doesn’t go away, so you may always come back. Wherever you left, it’s going to stay. Even if you come back after a couple of months, it’s going to be there for you. We’re very well aware that thematerials that players acquire from looting is very important, and we don’t want to take it away.
Q: What’s something that you feel makes the game unique or makes it different from other looter shooters? What’s your selling point that your game does differently?
A:The most important thing is the attractive characters. A lot of players out there love our characters so much, and we are also continuously trying to create new characters that players will like as well. Within the game, there’s the grappling hook, we have the Intercept Battles, and this all adds up to something that’s difficult to experience in other looter shooter games.
Q: Whether it’s the difficulty or reasons to keep doing the Void Intercepts or doing the dungeons, what reasons have you put in the game that encourage players to do this continuously?
A:You can complete your power fantasy throughdifferent character buildswith different weapons. You can picture yourself trying different strategies and builds, and then eventually, reaching 100%, reaching that level of completing the missions. There’s a modifier where you can change the difficulty level of dungeons. Let’s say you choose the most difficult level, and then you complete that. You’ll get a higher reward.
Q: You have so many exciting and interesting characters. Have there already been thoughts of using these characters outside the game? Or are you more focused on the game itself?
A:I hope for future projects like that [Laughs]
But right now, we’re focusing on the game. We’re focusing on this IP getting loved by everyone around the world, so we hope for where that’ll take us in the future. We’re currently hoping to make the game successful first, then use our IP to maybe have acollaboration with different companies, different games, or with different characters.
Q: Do you have a favorite Descendant and why?
A:My favorite character is Ajax. I like masculine builds. I like those kinds of characters, big and manly. His hidden background and experience is very interesting, and I hope to show that to the players who are playing the character.
Q: Are there ways to learn about the other characters while playing a different character? If I find other characters interesting while playing as a different Descendant, are there ways to learn about them anyway? Or is it required to play as them to learn about them?
A:Even though you play one character, you meet them as an NPC eventually, so that the storyline unfolds. You get to know them a little bit as the story moves. You’ll get to know the character’s history, background, their trauma, even. That way, if there’s a character that interests you, you can choose that character when you want to pick a different one later.
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The First Descendant
WHERE TO PLAY
The First Descendant is a next-generation third-person co-op action RPG looter shooter featuring high-quality graphics created in Unreal Engine 5.Players become a Descendant whose mission is to combat alien invaders – The Vulgus who crossed dimensions over 100 years ago and brought with them the devastating Colossi and destruction – for the survival of humanity and to protect Albion and the continent of Ingris. Players will encounter spectacular stories of forces fighting over the Iron Heart as they grow stronger through various missions and raids.Encounter features that make The First Descendant’s gameplay unique: a variety of characters with unique concepts and combat styles, massive boss battles with up to four player co-op, free movement and coordinated action with grappling hooks, a variety of weapons and compelling customization options.
