The First Descendant only launched at the end of June but one player has already unlocked every Ultimate Descendant currently available in the game without paying money.
Nexon’s free-to-play co-op focused looter shooter has enjoyed enormous popularity with over 10 million players in just 10 days. But it has been heavily criticized for its ultra aggressive monetization, which includes the cost of Ultimate versions of its playable characters, called Descendants.
The grind associated with unlocking Ultimate Descendants without paying money is immense, as players face some extreme drop rates for essential items, but that hasn’t stopped players from giving it a good go. One player, however, has taken the grind to extreme levels, putting in 200 hours over the course of just a few weeks to unlock all the Ultimate Descendants. That is, on average, 14 hours of playtime a day.
Redditor chicha112 showcased their eye-opening achievement with a number of screenshots and an impromptu ‘ask me anything’ of sorts as The First Descendant players reacted in disbelief.
Chicha112, who plays on PC, explained that they are a veteran of Warframe, a looter shooter from which The First Descendant takes inspiration, as well as Korean MMOs in general (Nexon is a Korean developer). Then it was just a matter of “raw grinding.”
“There’s a lot of questions in the whole thread that I have tried to answer, but honestly when it comes to tips, it just comes down to making sure you’re strong enough to tackle the content efficiently and then grinding it out,” Chicha112 said. “No special tricks or super tips to get ahead as far as I know.”
“A lot of these systems aren’t surprising and I like to do things efficiently,” Chicha112 explained. “I also do just have a lot of free time ATM so I am lucky to be able to grind so much.”
“My playtime is 200 hours, I’m pretty sure I have some AFK time because of the maintenance day two and leaving the game on. I’m sure it’s a bit late for others, but a good tip to keep in mind is having a good foundation to grind these characters is very important. Having a strong weapon and a decently built character lowers the farming time by a lot! For example, I used my first energy capacitor and a couple crystallization catalysts on my base non-Ultimate Bunny while I was going through the game very early on to minimize my time spent.”
Chicha112 did admit they had to buy character slots (yet another part of The First Descendant that is sold for real-world money) to house the Ultimate Descendants they’d unlocked. “Hoping they add a way to obtain them for free,” they added.
Some players have recommended Chicha112 now take a break from the game, which it sounds like they intend to do. “I’m all tapped out of sanity,” they said. “Yes it’s time to touch some grass.”
What does this tell us about The First Descendant and its grind? Nothing we didn’t already know. This is a free-to-play game from Nexon, and so the grind to unlock coveted virtual items for the game’s characters was always going to be punishing. But at least now the community knows the true time value of the money they’re spending, should they choose to splash out on all the Ultimate Descendants in the game.
Somewhat related, this week Nexon asked The First Descendant community to stop AFK farming, or going AFK during co-op missions, after it became a big problem soon after launch. Nexon was also accused of copying Destiny 2 icons for the icons used in The First Descendant, something the company has now said it will address in-game.
Last week, Nexon released a significant update for The First Descendant that makes some big changes to the game, but leaves some aspects that had become a topic of discussion within the community well alone.
IGN’s The First Descendant review returned a 5/10. We said: “The First Descendant has all the building blocks of a fantastic looter shooter, but they’re buried under a pile of monotonous quests, a terrible story, and an infuriating free-to-play model that has influenced its game design in the worst possible way.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.