You Can Always Trust A Man In A Hamster Costume

Five hours into Wuthering Waves and I have a lot to say about the game. And to show. I've taken so many screenshots, some for the pure pleasure of looking at them, others to use in posts like this one.

It's a familiar process. Some new games just spark a huge desire in me to analyze, discuss and deconstruct. It's part of Bartle's Explorer archetype, which apparently covers much more ground than the merely geographical.

Let's start with the thorny question of sound quality, as discussed at some length in the comments by myself and Naithin, to whom, incidentally, many thanks for drawing my attention to this really rather good game in the first place, although how the heck I hadn't heard of it before, since it seems to be a Really Big Deal, I can't quite figure out.

By the way, did you know all the voice work was done in the UK? I didn't until I saw this video. It explains a lot!

I don't know if that's a factor in the less than perfect recording quality. Naithin's investigation into the Japanese original suggests not. I'm not bothered by it the way Naithin is anyway. Although, now I'm really making myself listen to it with recording fidelity in mind, I can hear the over-tuned top end, which does occasionally remind me of the sibilance and hiss of the cheap microphones my band used back in the 'eighties.

The aspect of the voice recording in Wuthering Waves that dominates my attention, however, isn't its quality but the sheer quantity of it. I can't readily recall the last game I played that had this much talking. Or, I should say, the last game I played that had this much and wasn't a visual novel.

Wuthering Waves calls itself an open world RPG and it certainly sits comfortably enough within that genre. It's very likely that after a few more hours gameplay will open out to reflect that description more closely. Thus far, though, it feels a lot more like a visual novel than anything else.

I don't think it would be much of an exaggeration to say that more than three-quarters of the time I've spent with the game so far has involved listening to NPCs talk. Of the remaining twenty-five per cent I'd estimate ten per cent has been devoted to traveling, ten per cent to making dialog choices and the final five per cent to hitting things with a stick. Okay, a sword.

Rover Speaks!

Every storyline NPC is fully voiced with the exception of the player character.  Who, by the way, no matter what the player might have wanted or chosen - absolutely is going to be called Rover forever after by everyone she ever meets until the end of the game and most likely the heat death of the universe. (Not that I'm bitter...). 

That doesn't mean the PC never talks out loud at all. I thought it meant that but I was wrong. When I posted yesterday, having played for a couple of hours, I was under the impression the PC (Or Rover, as we shall now call her, since why fight it?) was one of the genre's many Silent Protagonists. She'd shown a nifty line in nodding and head-shaking but up to that point hadn't made a sound.

Imagine my surprise then, when in the middle of a conversation she suddenly began to speak out loud in a husky, vaguely American-accented drawl. It made me jump. After that, she went back to being silent for long enough to make me think it was an isolated outburst until, once again for no particular reason and no warning, she suddenly found her voice again.

Now I never know whether she's going to speak or not. It's disconcerting but also quite exciting. And honestly it's a bit weird she doesn't talk all the time because even background characters not directly involved in the storyline sometimes have conversations out loud. Long ones, too.

I'll give you an example. When Rover and the gang (Did I mention she travels in a pack? And they all chip in with comments whenever they feel like it? It's like a road movie, sometimes.) went to see a big shot scientist, they found him already in conversation with two of his investors. 

You're asking for a slap, girl!

I think I could have interrupted them and got straight on with the plot but I wanted to see how long they'd go on without me. A long, long time is how long. Long enough to go through an entire sub-plot that told me quite a bit about the character of the guy I was about to do business with (Spoiler: he's a bit of a dick.) 

Someone had to write and record all of that dialog. There must have been several minutes of it. All for a bit of character-building that most players probably click straight past.

So far, the whole game is like that. There are plenty of NPCs out and about in the city and every one with a name talks. Not aloud. They haven't voiced every last one of them. But they all have dialog, some of it quite extensive. And often interesting. 

I have seen this sort of thing in other games but Wuthering Waves really goes for it. I think I'm noticing it more because of the quality of the translation, too. Five hours in, it remains well above average, although I have noticed the odd verbal infelicity now and again. It does make me wonder how good the stories in other imported games might have been in their original languages. 

Some rando wanted to talk about his dreams. You know how that goes.

I suspect many of them were much better than their terrible translations made them appear. I'd say I couldn't understand why companies are so willing to skimp on the translations except I think I know the reason: most players will just click straight through the talking to get to the fights anyway, so why bother spending money on getting the nuances right?

I'm not one of those players and I've paid for it time and again in games where I could barely work out what the plot was supposed to be, let alone extract any sense of characterization or world-building from the gibberish I had to plow through. It's a real pleasure to be able not just to follow the storyline but to gain some insights into the culture and circumstances in which the narrative takes place.

How much of what I'm hearing and reading has any meaning or significance beyond building ambience and atmosphere is a lot harder to say. Some of it seems quite surreal. 

I spoke to a young girl who wanted to tell me in considerable detail about "the hamster at Lollo Logistics". At first she seemed to be talking about a real hamster but she went on to describe how someone in a hamster suit "saved" her. She ended up proclaiming "People who wear hamster suits are always good people!"

 

Is this relevant? Do I need to know it so I can react appropriately when I meet someone dressed as a hamster somewhere down the line or is she just rambling on about some TV show she likes? Maybe it's special pleading from a writer who likes to dress up as a hamster on weekends. I mean, I'm fine with that, if so. I'd just like to know.

I only heard all that hamster stuff because I randomly chose to go up to that girl and press F. And I only did that because I happened to land next to her when I jumped down off of a giant statue of a temple dog that had had its head replaced with a security camera. And I was only on top of the statue because I'd climbed up there to take a selfie next to a white cat that was up there already.

Of course, I'd only done that because I was taking selfies next to all the cats and dogs I passed. The cats roll over or stretch or skitter around chasing something only they can see. The dogs you can pet or tell to sit. You can feed them if you happen to be carrying a hambone, which so far I have not been.

I might one day, though, because I found the cooking station and the food vendor. I said yesterday the game has crafting and now I know what one of the crafts is: cookery. You can make food that gives various buffs to Rover and her pals. Since I've also seen ore nodes and wood I'm guessing there are more crafts than just cooking but so far I can't prove it from personal experience.

Changing topic, because why even pretend there's any through-line here, another thing I like very much about Wuthering Waves is the way it contextualizes routine RPG behaviors and thereby makes them feel less insane than usual. I alluded yesterday to the Magistrate's extreme youth for someone holding the position she occupies. I just took it for granted it was a genre trope but apparently it seems as strange to some of the citizens of the city as it would to us:

La La La ! Not listening!

What's more, if you take the middle dialog option, the one that puts the best possible slant on the Magistrate's position, Yanyyang comes back at you, suggesting you may be overly invested in not hearing anything bad about the town's senior administrator.

Administration is something of a theme here, too. The city is under military protection, if not direct control, and the need for documentation, permits and authorization comes up repeatedly. 

When you get to talk to the Magistrate, the most helpful thing she does is to give you a Pass that authorizes you to visit all parts of the region, many of which are currently off-limits due to the ongoing war. That explains how you can travel freely wherever you need to go but a later conversation with two gate guards, the first time you present your authorization, goes further, explaining the restrictions in place and the reasons for them, as well as the limitations on your own authorized movements (Spoiler: there are none!)

Cultural and societal explanations for game mechanics crop up repeatedly. I've seen that in other games but this goes further than most, sometimes subverting or over-turning expectations. For example, I can't remember seeing another companion NPC who not only can't always go adventuring with you because she has a job but who leaves in the middle of an adventure because she needs to start her shift. 

It didn't happen just once, either. It's almost like these people have lives that don't involve being at your beck and call 24/7.

I'm standing right here, guys...

I'm not suggesting Wuthering Waves is unique in any of these respects or even all that unusual but it does seem to be willing to go the extra mile and then some in making everything feel... I want to say realistic but I think the word I'm searching for is convincing.

It often surprises me just how much background detail games developers feel worth putting into their work. I wonder who they think sees it all and why they do it? 

My guess it's partly because it's expected of them but mostly because they get so caught up in their creations they find them endlessly fascinating. Whatever the reasons, this kind of world-building does contribute hugely to the sense of investment I feel in so many games when they're fresh and new. If they're there, I find myself getting drawn into the complexities but if  they're missing I feel loose, untethered, disconnected. Sometimes I end up wondering why I'm there at all and that's the kiss of death for engagement.

Good world-building is likely why I end up writing far more about games at their beginnings than through the middle or, especially, the end. The interesting stuff, to me, is often heavily front-loaded, not just in all the systems and mechanics that need to be understood but in the wealth of cultural cruft that collects around the big, starting cities and the opening stages of the storyline, the time in the game when all the main players need to be introduced and the stakes made clear.

Peace and quiet at last!

Later, things tend to thin. The storyline condenses, the narrative threads cohere. Regions and cities begin feel less vital, less complete. Things in general seem to be there more because they serve a purpose than that they simply exist. It's no longer a world but a gameworld.

At least, that's how it goes in the games that don't take off commercially. Three to five years of development and resources go into the base game, especially the opening stages, the sales window as it often needs to be, making those aspects feel so much more finished than what comes later, especially when diminishing funds and resources mitigate against maintaining the same level of effort after launch.

It does make starting new games a more appealing prospect than sticking with them, something that's often raised as a problem for the industry. Not so much for me, though. If they keep making games like this, I'll keep trying them, getting excited about them, writing about them, then dropping them when I've seen as much as I want. 

I've only been playing Wuthering Waves for a couple of days. I think I'll carry on for a while but for how long I wouldn't like to say. It's hard to predict. I only lasted about a month in Genshin Impact but I played Noah's Heart for over a year. Clearly quality isn't the only factor in play.

Thus far, though, the indications suggest I'll be sticking around for a while. And posting about what I find, no doubt. Always a bonus!