What did WuWa do differently to make its latest story work so well?
2,305While many people lower their expectations the moment they load up a gacha game, I’ve always argued that there’s nothing stopping them from creating something memorable. The lore behind the scenes is often interesting enough that it could become a good foundation, and sometimes the stories themselves have some great ideas.
And the characters? The entire point of these games is to make you want to spend money on them, so surely it’s in their interests to make them feel compelling. If anything, gachas should have the most incentive to tell stories which really capture your heart and soul.
A few months ago I made a video talking about the storytelling in a different game, focusing on some general areas where I found it disappointing. Up until now, WuWa has had a lot of the same problems — after all, many games do.
But the latest chapter got almost all of them right.
00:00 Intro
00:50 Spoiler-free first
01:10 Story hooks
03:30 Presentation • Too many words
04:11 Presentation • Environmental storytelling
05:29 Presentation • Subtext & subtlety
07:00 Presentation • Cinematography
08:04 Depth & breadth • Characterisation
09:06 Depth & breadth • Lore & history
10:46 Depth & breadth • Themes
11:24 Depth & breadth • Consequences
11:57 Spoiler-free thoughts
12:58 Cantarella • Introduction
13:46 Cantarella • Subversion
15:26 Cartethyia • Introduction
16:41 Cartethyia • Growth
17:38 Cartethyia • Finale
19:34 Cartethyia • Looking forward
20:18 Other characters
21:17 Themes
23:36 Gameplay
24:44 Pacing & infodumps
26:27 Conclusion
Wuthering Waves is an open-world action/exploration game, available on PC, PS5 and mobile devices (iOS & Android).
I'm always happy to talk WuWa and other games, streams 3pm UK every Wed/Sat/Sun
https://www.twitch.tv/saurusness
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