The developer of the open-world action animation “Neverness to Everness” (NTE) held a special preview live broadcast of version 1.4 called “For Whom I Mourn”. The broadcast was hosted by host Light and developers Baggy and Naomi, who provided massive story updates for both parts of the upcoming patch. We have collected all the information for you in a concise form.
- In the first half of the update, players will follow the story of Blackbird, who receives a mysterious letter asking for help. No location or details are specified, but she feels the pain of a tortured soul conveyed in the letter and asks an appraiser to accompany her on her journey. Blackbird is a typical otaku who likes small spaces to feel safe, is a fearless horror movie enthusiast, an avid antique collector who often pays exorbitant prices to the cunning shop owner Hotori, and is also a very accurate fortune teller and a local celebrity on the paranormal forum Bagel.
- Blackbird is an S-level ability user with mental attributes. Her basic attack “Sliding Shadow” can cause up to five mental damage through the chain cage. Press and hold the button to release the “Lair Call” attack, which greatly slows down the enemy. The redirection skill places a Forgotten Feather mark on the target, and other party members’ attacks against that target cause synergistic damage in the area, while the activation of the super power “Rest in Soul” turns Blackbird into the “Sorceress of Deliverance”, doubling the entire squad’s attacks and replacing her skills with powerful fire blasts and rapid dashes. In addition, in the open world, Blackbird can transform into a flying bird and increase the level of connection with her, which will open up joint travel, mahjong game, mobile functions, a new plot of “City Unity” and two new outfits, including casual home clothes.
- The second half of the 1.4 update will delight players with the continuation of the musical story from the side mission “To Our Past”, in which the newly formed band “Cats Concert!!!” prepares to perform at the Clement College Centennial Celebration. The center of the plot will be the new S-class heroine Akane – a reliable and sensitive vocalist and guitarist who works part-time at the Star Sign Club in her daily life and saves as much energy as possible outside of work. Japanese voice actor Ikumi Hasegawa recorded a special audio message for the live broadcast, confirming that the new story will detail the past secrets of Akane and her former music group “Lines”, and that in the open world, players will be able to play the electric guitar Akane carries with her at any time.
- Akane possesses the Lakshan attribute and uses her electric guitar to fire super-fast sonic blades, making her a deadly mid-range and long-range fighter. Her four basic attack combos will generate special “string energy”, and her redirection skills will attach a “sound” to the enemy, attracting subsequent attacks to cause additional damage, and can be detonated through enhanced skills to carry out large-scale fixed-point strikes. The sonic boom super power puts Akane into a special performance state, causing huge burst damage. In order to fully upgrade the character, players need to stock up on Morfix’s Good Boy Seal and the Headless Horseman’s Attack Knight Spark Plug in advance.
- Pukaland, a massive island amusement park, will open in an open world divided into four huge, uniquely themed areas filled with secrets, attractions, and mini-games. On their first visit to the park, players will receive a special “Miracle Diary” that will help them correctly plan their route around the island and will generously reward them for filling in the content. Participating in all park activities will earn you the exclusive event currency “Puka Stars”, which can be exchanged at local stores for “Park Cruiser” boats, “Chocolate” gliders, themed avatar frames, titles, personalized cards, rings, and a large number of valuable materials for upgrades.
- Pukaland’s first area is Puka Avenue, a central hub that’s home to shops and popular attractions like the Pendulum, the Spinning Octopus, and the Falling Tower, the latter of which hides a secret mini-game called Elf Waltz, where towers fly into the sky and first-person players launch candies into the air. On Cake Mountain on the left side of the park, there is the creepy abandoned haunted house attraction “Creepy Cookies”. Players need to use flashlights to find mechanisms and smash pumpkins to distract the shadow guests who are chasing them. Nearby is the Hedge Flower Maze, where you need to manage your physical strength and use X-ray vision lollipop goggles to find the exit and secret treasure within the time limit.
- To the right of the entertainment center is the Lavaton area, with a huge active volcano standing in the center, spewing out scalding hot chocolate instead of lava. Here, players will be able to ride Etro’s most extreme roller coaster and take part in the Gold Rush, where driving a tram requires switching between tracks at high speed, jumping over cliffs and collecting chocolate coins.
- The final location is the fairytale Pukatopia Castle, which hosts a massive fireworks show every night, best viewed from the Pukatopia Ferris Wheel, Dreamland Tea Party or Cloud Chasing Tour. The developers have prepared many additional hidden activities in the park, including eliminating anomalies in the Panchulum attraction and fighting Captain Octo’s tentacles on the Spin Cup, where the villain stole all the candy on the island. The park is also filled with classic arcade entertainment. Players must knock down the towers of the mischievous deviant mascot Pukabu or hunt them with a hammer, shoot revolvers in Plush Shootout, throw darts at the best moments, toss candies into bowls in Candy Carousel, and train their memory in Mystery Couple.
- In the city of Etro itself, new standing missions from the Bureau of Anomalies will appear, providing players with a unique research experience that will be permanently integrated into the game. One of the boxes will pull the appraiser into a mysterious pocket dimension in the middle of the park, where everything around him will suddenly become gigantic. Other investigations will force players to wait in the dead of night for a mysterious ghost bus carrying extremely suspicious passengers at the station, and enter the dreams of others to track anomalous connections while evading creepy monsters patrolling the subconscious.
- The update will introduce several new game modes, including a thousand-level temporary battle tower where every ten levels players must undergo special tests and select special power-ups that radically change combat conditions. PvP fans will enjoy “Crunch! Golden Double Crunch,” in which players take on the role of animated cowboy Cookie in one-on-one battles, taking turns taking on the roles of a shooter and a hiker, with the former tracking victims through the cracks in the shelter and the hiker needing to dodge shots in time. A PvE tower defense mode, Treasure Cole Lamp, has also been added, in which appraisers must defend blocks of coal from endless monster attacks, collecting the currency they drop to use in the gacha machine on the battlefield, allowing you to pull items such as frozen maps, and defeating bosses will bring randomly stacked buffs, turning the player into a one-man army.
- The custom system will be updated globally and a new “Attachment” label will be added. This feature not only allows players to hide certain elements of their current costume, but also to freely combine new details and embellishments with different costumes and any character, opening up almost unlimited possibilities for creating unique styles and internet memes. You have to obtain these accessories in a variety of ways in the open world.
- The second phase of the massive partnership with the Porsche brand is about to begin, and players will be able to eliminate the new Porsche 911 Turbo (930) and Taycan Turbo GT race cars with the Weissach set from the mystery box to earn rewards or cancel, guaranteeing the full set 15 times. Especially for those who missed the first part of the event, the box containing the Porsche 918 Spyder will return with the progress of the previous attempts intact. Players who collect all three cars will receive access to the exclusive Porsche Club, which will allow them to customize their cars and apply special paint jobs for free, as well as great gifts such as themed furniture, titles, personalized cards, mobile wallpapers and phone cases.
- To celebrate six months of the game’s launch and the opening of Puka Park, the developers have prepared a lot of free gifts. As part of the “Circle Gift” event, players will receive 10 hard cubes within 7 days of logging into the system, and the other 10 cubes will be sent to everyone via in-game mail. As a supporter of the “Cat Concert!!!!” group, the creator will provide each player with 2,000,000 yen as performance preparation funds. Akane’s “Signature Cocktail” costume can be obtained completely free of charge after opening her exclusive banner.
- Big changes are coming to the City Tycoon program. When the tycoon reaches level 16, an additional sponsorship line “Puka Membership Program” will be opened and independent missions will be launched, rewarding players with two boxes to choose a standard S character, one box to choose an S-class arc, exclusive costumes for Saqiri, Bai Kang and Hanil, and the opportunity to enter the “training camp” where you can earn funds through statistics. At the same time, the old branch of the program will not be removed, but will receive a built-in money multiplier to speed up progress, as well as access to the new charity event “Sweet Dreams”, where donated items will be converted into Tycoon Points. The players themselves will be able to switch which of the two plans to spend their earnings on.
- The Hunter Supply Battle Pass will be expanded to level 80 after level 50, and rewards will also be improved. The base version will be rewarded with 100,000 Beetle Coins, and the Elite version will be replenished with 240,000 Beetle Coins, 250,000 Fons, 360 Golden Carrot Coins and an updated Arc Box that now allows you to choose 2,000,000 Fons instead of a weapon.
- They promise a number of useful quality-of-life improvements, including: added multiplayer in the Volleyball Stars mini-game, a trail camera for drone photo mode, and Blackbird acting as an auctioneer in “One, Two, Sold!” Events, friend recommendation system, one-click gift giving, the introduction of handwritten letters, maximum communication with companions in real time, and unique animations played when hovering over the hero menu for a long time.
- The live broadcast ended with an interesting trailer. In anticipation of version 1.4, developers will hide mysterious letters from witches in the real world and inside the game (near landmarks or in mailboxes). The discovery of these letters will bring unexpected surprises and gifts to players. Additionally, there is a new collaborative song from the group “Cat Concert!!!” which according to the creators should attract aliens, time travelers and guests from other dimensions.
- At the end of the broadcast, the British voice actors (Hunter McCoy, Susie Young, Brianna Knickerbocker, Christina Wee, Stephanie Wong, Xanthe Huynh, and Amber Lee Connors) sent out a series of warm audio messages in which they congratulated the community on the upcoming holidays, expressed their hope for further reconciliation between players and their characters, and wished everyone a fun adventure in Etero.
Promotional code in broadcast: “Witch House”, “THOOTS”, “PUKALANDGOGO”.
