Too Much And Not Enough

This afternoon I played so much Wuthering Waves I got told to take a break. Not by Mrs.Bhagpuss, who hadn't even noticed I'd been missing for hours. By the game itself.

Apparently, if you don't get up and touch grass every three hours, the devs start to worry about legal action or something. A banner scrolls across the top of the screen, warning you to take more care of yourself. If you ignore it, which I did because I was at a really crucial point in the plot, it scrolls past a second time and then goes away, duty of care presumably... erm... taken care of.

It was only a couple of posts ago I was talking about two hours in Stars Reach representing something of a marathon session. Which it wasn't, really, but it was longer than I normally play these days. I can't remember the last time I did three hours without taking a break.

Actually, it's a slightly misleading figure this time, too. There was a short hiatus when I went to make a cup of tea and then I spent another ten minutes feeding the dog and I did leave the client running through al of that, so I guess it was only two hours and forty-five minutes and not all in one unbroken run either, but even so...

On the other hand, that was just this afternoon. I played yesterday and the day before. I've played a lot. I've done a lot. There's a lot to do.

Today I finished Encore's companion story, which came close to making me tear up a few times. I won't spoilerise it, particularly since Naithin is playing again and I know he may read this, but I will say there are a lot of orphans with unhappy childhoods in this game. There's something oddly Dickensian about the whole affair.

I was very pleased to hear Naithin had picked the game up again since he was the one who introduced me to it in the first place, albeit by saying he didn't think much of it. Just shows how even a failry negative review can be good publicity sometimes.

Naithin has changed his opinion somewhat on a second visit and I'd like to think one or two people might read his post and mine and think maybe it's worth giving the game a go. It is free, after all.

And it's good. Really good, in my opinion. Although you do have to like the anime-inflected style and have a fairly high twee threshold and be at least as interested in the kind of storylines you might get in a slice-of-life drama aimed at teens and twenty-somethings as you are in action and fighting and explosions, although there's no shortage of those...

As well as Encore's excellent tale I've also done the first chapter of the new season or chapter or whatever they call content drops in this game. That was a whole lot of fun, full of doors into nowhere, trans-dimensional trains, soaring skyscrapers, dreamscapes and talking cats. I do like a talking cat.

I met the first of two new Resonators, Lumi, who looks absolutely fantastic. I'd love to add her to my stable (Is that the word? Probably not.) especially since, if I was playing her rather than playing alongside her, I wouldn't have to listen to her talk so much. 

It's not that I don't like what she says. There's nothing wrong with her dialog. I like her characterization, too. No, it's that, for the first time in the game so far, I'm finding her voice acting slightly annoying. 

I'm not entirely sure why. I think it's a combination of minor things. The line readings seem a little stiff sometimes and I found the accent distracting. I couldn't figure out if it was from Scotland or the North of England, let alone which part. I need to listen to it more closely to figure it out or it'll keep bugging me.

It's entirely possible I'll get used to it, even come to love it. That has happened before. Sometimes the voice I'm hearing just doesn't marry with what I'm seeing and the disconnect puts me off but that friction usually smooths out over time. As for line readings and phrasing, there's always room for different interpretations and in this case there's no suggestion any of them are wrong, they're just not how I'm hearing the line in my head.

I haven't gotten far enough in that storyline yet to meet Camellya, the Resonator Naithin was lucky enough to pull in a gacha roll. He describes her as reportedly being "pretty good (if insane)", which sounds like she'll be good fun both to quest with and to have on my team, if I can get her.

My current line-up is Rover (Havoc) aka the player character, Sanhua and Verina. Based on some research I did a while back, Rover (Spectro) is quite weak and a bad choice but when you get the option to swap her damage-type to Havoc she becomes decent. 

I did have Encore in that slot before, just because I like her so much, but the build I copied, when I found I couldn't just wing it any more had those three so that's where I am at the moment. I love Verina, who's not just a real healer but a real healer I can play. Sanhua I don't really get on with. If I can find an alternate that fits I'll be happy to swap her out.

I've done a ton of work on upgrading stuff and put a much smaller effort in learning how to play and I'm happy to say I've finally managed to push past the fight that was roadblocking my progress in the Main Quest. When I complained about it again in a comment, Naithin pointed out the mob I was having trouble with was an Elite, which I hadn't noticed and that made a psychological difference that, along with some more upgrades, just about tipped me over the line.

From there on it was all fairly plain sailing to the final battle with Jue, the big dragon, that marks the end of the pre-Black Shores storyline. I was somewhat dreading it but happily the fight turns out to be partly scripted. 

I don't know if it's possible to fail it but I didn't and I had no clue what I was doing so even if it is, it can't be easy. My excuse is that you're thrown into playing as a character you have never played before but honestly it wouldn't have been any easier if I was playing Rover. I don't know what I'm doing there either!

By the time that was over it was well past the three-hour warning so I thought I'd better take that mandated break. I'm guessing there's going to be some debriefing and decompression with my various pals back in ZhengZhou before we move on the Black Shores proper. If so, I won't quite have made it there before the new season like I hoped but I'll have gotten there a lot sooner than I thought I would a few days ago.

The new EverQuest II expansion is due this Wednesday so I may get derailed again but I hope not. I'm really enjoying myself in Wuthering Waves and I feel like there's a lot I haven't seen yet. If I do manage to catch up, I'd just as soon not fall behind again.

So many games...