Time to raid some Hollows, Proxies! Zenless Zone Zero has dropped their final patch for Season 2 and the hype for Season 3 is ramping up! To celebrate the end of Season 2, here are some of the best story moments in the game so far as Belle and Wise leave Waifei and enter Roscaelifer! Warning that this will contain spoilers from the most recent patches!
5. Astra Yao Saves Everyone with her Song
The story of the 1.5 patch of Zenless Zone Zero centers on both pop star Astra Yao and her bodyguard and manager, Evelyn Chevalier, as they prepare for Astra’s biggest performance yet. However, trouble arises when a shady organization targets Astra and Evelyn’s past comes back to haunt her. In the climax of the story, Astra and Evelyn, along with help from Phaethon, manage to fight back against the enemy, led by Lady de Winter, a widow of a famous deceased musician driven insane by the circumstances of his death.
She destroys the propulsion system for Starloop, and as the arena comes crashing down, Astra knows what she needs to do. She begins singing her song in order for the Harmonic Core to reactivate and prevent Starloop from crashing. At first, it doesn’t work. But thanks to Belle, Wise and Evelyn, the crowd begins to sing along with Astra, and it powers the Harmonic Core enough to safely land Starloop back on Starloop Tower and prevents a potentially catastrophic event.
4. Von Lycaon and Hugo Vlad’s Rocky Reconciliation
Since the game was released, Lycaon has been one of the game’s most popular characters. During the Season 1 epilogue stories of patches 1.6 and 1.7, Lycaon’s past before becoming the head of Victoria Housekeeping was one of the forefronts. One key part of his past is his former friendship with Hugo Vlad and the reasons for their turn from friends to mortal enemies. For years, Lycaon has assumed Hugo broke their vows as phantom thieves and killed his own father for revenge, and this shattered the bond they had. Now, in the present, they put their extreme differences aside to defeat Hartman. They fake Hugo’s betrayal and allegiance to Hartman, as well as Lycaon’s dispatching of Hugo at the end of 1.6.
In 1.7, this is where their plan is ultimately revealed, and after a strenuous night of hallucinations, Hugo finally reveals the true circumstances of what happened the night their partnership dissolved. Hugo did not murder his father and was framed by Hartman, who wanted to take over the Ravenlocke family. As they look at the horizon of Port Elpis, they do their best to put their past behind them and fulfill the remainder of their plan to stop Hartman and TOPS.
3. Caesar’s Sacrifice
During 1.3, Phaethon’s journey takes them to the Outer Ring, New Eridu’s no man’s land where bikers and gangs run rampant and every year, they hold the Tour de Inferno, a contest where the leader of the winning gang becomes Overlord of the Outer Ring. However, things quickly go south and Caesar and her gang, the Sons of Calydon, have to work with Phaethon to save Pompey, the current Overlord. However, Caesar and two of her gang members, Lighter and Lucy, arrive just a little too late. Pompey has been lethally wounded and on the verge of corruption. Caesar sees that the Outer Ring’s main source of power and resource is nearly extinguished due to ether crystals.
Following a battle with a corrupted Pompey, Caesar prepares to make the sacrifice to use a sparkbox to reignite the pit responsible for keeping things going in the Outer Ring. She gets back on her bike and races towards the pit, while a distraught Lighter and Lucy chase her and pleading for her not to do it so they can find another way. But it’s too late. Caesar reaches the pit and the pit ignites in a massive explosion that seemingly incinerates Caesar. However, Phaethon says they sense a spatial anomaly, which puts Lighter and Lucy on edge. However, the rift opens above them and to their surprise, Caesar comes falling through and she lands in front of her team, and awkwardly greets them to their delight and becomes the new Overlord.
2. The Battle Against Bringer
Season 1 of Zenless Zone Zero’s main story ends with an epic showdown against NEPS senior officer, Bringer. After he is exposed as colluding with the Exaltists and planning to separate Hoshimi Miyabi from her Void Hunter weapon, Tailless, he is cornered by Miyabi’s teammates in Section 6 and Phaethon. However, Bringer drinks an elixir and immediately transforms into a Sacrifice, which is a special and dangerous type of Ethereal. Yanagi, Harumasa, and Soukaku hold him off as long as they can, but they are easily overwhelmed and can’t do any meaningful damage.
But thanks to the bonds Phaethon has made up to this point, they receive help from most factions up to this point. From Lycaon and Victoria Housekeeping to Nicole and the Cunning Hares. The final battle includes everyone in some capacity, and thanks to Caesar, Miyabi is able to join her team and deal the finishing blow against Bringer, ending him and his plan. Belle and Wise then come through a fissure while everyone is distracted with the celebration of their victory and confront a dying Bringer, but don’t get their answers. But it also revealed through Bringer’s kamikaze attack against them that there is more to Belle and Wise than meets the eye.
1. From Proxy to Ethereal
In the latest story patches, Phaethon is at the forefront of the story more than ever before. After suffering from a pain in their eyes, Phaethon teams up with Billy and a new ally, Cissia, to obtain a Porcellum W-Engine from a Hollow Raiding competition. The Porcellum helps dull the pain in their eyes and is needed to help figure out how to get rid of this weird sensation. They come into conflict with the stone-cold Promeia and the extremely enigmatic Ramiel. But just as Phaethon is about to retrieve the W-Engine, Ramiel uses her power to freeze the others and takes it, warning Phaethon not to let her get close ever again.
The next patch focuses on Phaethon, Billy, and Cissia teaming up with Promeia and searching for Ramiel, who reveals herself as Remielle Dan, one of the first seven Void Hunters. They track her down to a Hollow, and in the midst of their search, the group is attacked by a TOPS mech designed to eliminate Void Hunters. The group defeats it, but a weird case appears nearby, and Phaethon is drawn to it. As soon as they touch the case, a weapon comes out, and Phaethon is filled with etheric energy. They then merge with the destroyed mech, and Billy, Cissia and Promeia must try to free Phaethon from what they assume is just a shell.
However, Phaethon steps out of the mech, and it is revealed that they themselves are the Ethereal. Billy, Cissia and Promeia are easily defeated, and just before Promeia’s life is ended, they are saved by Remielle, who turns Phaethon back to human and apologizes for being less than clear in her intentions and tells them to go to Roscaelifer.
For those interested in seeing what New Eridu has to offer, Zenless Zone Zero is available on Playstation 5, Xbox Series and PC for free!
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