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Tiempo Grande

Success doesn't happen overnight. It results from a complex equation involving no small amount of hard work, commitment, and talent. Success comes after pursuing excellence in a given area. It's the reward we earn for putting in the time and reaching our goals.

Big Time's success--and make no mistake, it is successful--did not happen overnight. It comes from years of hard work from talented, passionate individuals. It comes not as a fluke riding a wave of empty hype fueled by speculation and FOMO. Instead, it comes after years of dedication. It's a well-deserved achievement for a team of true pioneers in the web3 gaming space.

Let's break it down.

Visuals & Audio

Gamers often overlook a good gaming soundtrack--even sound effects. They only notice the soundtrack when it's bad or clashes with the gameplay. When it's good, it's barely noticed. Big Time's soundtrack won't be winning any awards, but it's a great tune. It fits the atmosphere of the setting and swells with combat. Same with the sound effects. Nothing stuck out as awkward or noticeable.

The visuals look great; smooth, clean, and vibrant. But only from afar. When you zoom in, details get lost. And every character looks exactly the same--bland features, lifeless eyes, pale skin tone. I wasn't sure if it was the art style, but the details don't stick out much, especially on NPCs. You'll not notice it unless you zoom in and are a stickler for details like me. But it made characters and NPCs all blend together and seem featureless.

That said, not many people are zooming into NPCs' outfits to examine the edges and details. Running through the overworld or various dungeons is a gorgeous experience. Combat is beautiful, the animations for abilities are downright sexy, and it's fun jogging around Water Town looking at everyone's NFT cosmetics. I would like to see more in the way of character and NPC visuals; I feel like they took an easy route by making the majority of NPCs the same robot. But all in all, it's a pretty game. That's undeniable.

Gameplay

Big Time is an MMORPG, and MMORPGs are meant to have a lot of gameplay. So, you might be asking yourself, does the preseason of Big Time have a lot of gameplay?

Yes. Yes, it does.

I spent almost two hours running around Time's End, learning skills, training with my subclass, and stacking gold. I did all the quests and dungeons, and I understood the game. Then I went to Water Town and realized I had only just completed the prologue.

The prologue.

The game opened up significantly in Water Town, with random dungeon portals popping up sporadically, special dungeons littering the map, and bounty boards full of tasks to complete. Daily quests, weekly quests, public events, and a plethora of bosses to kill bombarded me in Water Town. There's plenty to keep you occupied in Big Time preseason, which makes me believe there will only be more content as they continue to build.

Web3

Big Time has an amazing marketplace and a lot of NFTs to navigate. It also has premium in-game currencies and a token, $BIGTIME. You can earn $BIGTIME while playing Big Time, and you can earn NFTs and premium currencies just from grinding out dungeons. Which makes Big Time more than unique. There aren't many games out there that give every random adventurer a chance to find a $400 NFT in a regular loot chest. 

To earn in Big Time, you need an hourglass. To craft NFTs and cosmetic items, you'll need a Space and then either an Armory, a Forge, or a Time Warden. They'll allow you to craft your own NFT armor, weapons, and hourglasses, respectively. If you don't feel like purchasing the requisite pieces--as they can bear a hefty price tag--there's a robust rental market that allows gamers to rent the use of a crafting area for 30 days. 

Big Time also has an airdrop planned aimed at rewarding dedicated players and content creators. While their community has a lively leaderboard and actively trades, sells, and buys digital assets, it's unlikely Big Time will gain any meteoric financial growth. Analysts in the space have been wary of Big Time's token and its sustainability in the future. But that doesn't mean savvy gamers and traders can't take advantage of the action now.

Survey Says

We're not reviewing a fully released AAA MMORPG with a massive studio of hundreds of employees behind them. We're judging a preseason of a game that's very much in development--heck, you can't even play the game until you acknowledge that you're playing an early build with lots of bugs in it. 

So, we're judging an early access web3 game still actively developing. With that in mind, I think I have to give it a 9. Can I do that? Can I give out 9s on web3 games?

If I were judging a fully released game, that number would be significantly lower. Bugs, glitches, lack of detail, unclear tutorials, confusing vendors and marketplace--you get the point. But even the existing issues are relatively minor compared to other early-access games. Most bugs have fixes, and publications are working on guides and walkthroughs right now, not to mention many guilds have their proprietary how-tos.

But when it comes to an early build of a web3 game, Big Time kind of nails it. In the preseason, they already have a myriad of dungeons to raid, solo or party options, daily and weekly quests, in-depth skill trees, multiple subclasses, dozens of hours of gameplay, a thriving marketplace, play-to-earn features, NFT cosmetics, a token airdrop, and even leaderboard competitions. And that's not even everything they've got going on!

Many people hoped Big Time would be the World of Warcraft for web3. It's not there yet. But it's easy to see the similarities, and if the team keeps on the trajectory they've followed so far, I can see that becoming a reality in the not-so-distant future. 

So, I guess we have our first 9 in web3 gaming.

Can we start the bull run now?

Score: 9/10

There are still plenty of ways Big Time can fumble the lead they have. We all remember Gran Saga, don't we? Their playtest was fantastic, their community thriving, and player sentiment was highly positive. And where is Gran Saga now? In a cemetery along with all the other web3 games that died in the past year.

Big Time could mess up their economy beyond repair, they could nerf their NFTs into obscurity, or their CEO could come out as a greedy, employee-abusing jerk. It's all possible.

But I think Big Time has positioned itself too well to fail like its predecessors. Their creator community, their popularity on Twitch, and the extreme FOMO gamers have in missing out on gameplay tell me the game has built an excellent foundation. From this successful preseason, they can feel confident they're building in the right direction.

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