>>1195506
I don't think you read what I wrote that closely.
>The nature of gacha liveservice game writing imposes limits that apply to every kind of narrative
Absolutely, no stakes and limited interaction are only two issues on a long list of writing problems. I'm not saying fixing those fixes everything about the writing, just that they're valid complaints.
>so even if they started adding character-character romance (playable, because NPC already have romantic storylines in quests), the problem of flavor of the patch shilling wouldn't go away and it instead of MC pandering you would just read a AO3 fanfic between two characters that will never be relevant again for a year. Considering we are talking about gacha writing I can't really see this criticism in any way other than "ok but give me more shipping because it's realistic".
Bro what are you talking about, who was asking for romance? I went out of my way to explain that completely non-romantic interactions are possible and desirable.
Unless... by quoting my post to disagree with me, and thus interacting with me... does that mean... you love me??? Because no other form of interaction with human beings is possible? Geez anon, you should stop shipping yourself with me so hard.
>In a similar vein the "stakes" criticism sounds like it's coming from one of those those postmodern "GOT fantasy" fans that thinks that stories have stakes only when people die in meanigless ways because "its realistic", heroes don't exist and everything has to be gritty and grey because again, "it's realistic".
This is a strawman. At its core the problem is one of trust between author and audience. Moments of tension and emotional investment, like a character being on the verge of death, become devalued when the writers keep using cheap asspulls to happily resolve the situation with no real consequences. It's the writing equivalent of the boy who cried wolf.
No one is saying everything needs to be gritty and dark and realistic, just that writers shouldn't bullshit their audience. Winnie the Pooh doesn't need to be grimdark to be good; it doesn't have this problem because it doesn't present itself as a serious, high-stakes story. Wuwa very much does. In fact, wuwa has explicitly told the audience multiple times that X playable character MUST die in this situation, the laws of the universe itself demand their death, gorillions are prophesied to die, X character already IS dead, only to pull the football away at the last second for the umpteenth time.
Stories don't need to kill characters to be good. But if your story isn't going to actually kill anyone, don't expect the audience to take you seriously or get invested when you pretend you are. It's less about
high stakes and more about
genuine stakes. Wuwa's story could also be improved if it lowered its stakes to less fatal consequences it was actually willing to deliver on. Iuno's quest has examples of both. It was really painfully obvious that she was not actually going to die or be erased from existence. But she was erased from people's memories, which can be a meaningful consequence if the story gives it the right focus. It was underexplored, but there's potential there. Instead of pretending Phrolova's dead, have some of her villagers disappear and show us how she reacts. The melancholy little epilogue about cartethyia watching her fake parents from afar hit way harder than her supposed deaths in 2.2 or 2.7, because those were fake as shit and got undone almost instantly, whereas the pain about her parents is actually real and something she'll have to live with.
>Also "strip away the presentation" is insane because it discounts a completely valid storytelling method.
I only meant my critique was focused on writing, not cinematography (which wuwa's very good at).
>falling for the allure of a contrived and complex narrative
Oh, Wuwa's narrative is very contrived. A lot of things are clearly forced to happen to meet the demands of the marketing department, release schedule, or fanboys. It's not complex in the sense of being thematically deep, or morally nuanced, or with a cohesively planned and detailed setting. You're right, it doesn't have to be. Simple stories can be great if handled well. But simple stories are good when they're authentic and truly heartfelt, and wuwa's writing too often isn't. It does fake, safe shit because that's what the other popular stories are doing, or because the writers are afraid, or because that's what makes money.