Claustra

Someone didn't played Amphoreaus

The story is one of its weakest parts, especially in the writing department. Extremely disconnected Acts that seem to function more like banner ads, and entire subplots, casts etc. that are abandoned to chase a new plotline from patch to patch.

After taking some time to think over the Quest for some time I am honestly kinda disappointed. It’s good, a massive step up from 3.0, but the glaze on Twt in the opening hours of 3.1 honestly set my expectations a bit too high. Generational patch, changing Gacha landscape etc. made me expect like 1.7 or 1.9 Reverse 1999 tier writing and it just wasn’t. Firstly I’d like to go over the positives tho. I like Aemeath as a character, her relationship with Rover being sorta Master and Apprentice was refreshing from the pseudo-romantic gathering wives slop the game is usually known for. And Past Rover wanting to go home is a good idea that finally FINALLY gives at least past Rover some sort of characterisation and conflict. Granted it’s past Rover, present Rover no memories so the homeland stuff isn’t really a conflict they are currently struggling with. The presentation is also top notch. The 2D animations, the sheer scale of the exo-striders and Aleph-1’s look. Gotta love cosmic horror shit. And that’s really it, once again I feel like the game’s story structure has failed its premise. Confining characters and their plotlines into a single Act/Quest over and over again means Aemeath’s story instead of being told over the course of 3 acts alongside the other characters, has to be told in just the 3 hours of Act 3. As a result it feels exceedingly rushed. Her bonds and ties to the academy? Not developed. We are mostly shown it in abstract or told about it. Instead of a climax to a mystery or arc that’s been unfolding since Act 1 the Act has to do the exposition and rising action phases all over again(courtesy of episodic storytelling) where we spend too much time being frontloaded exposition rather than building tension or expanding upon bonds with the character. The pacing of the plot just feels choppy at this point, losing and gaining momentum constantly, and Rover’s bond with Aemeath didn’t get nearly enough time imo. And don’t get me started on how nothing the Academy’s authorities are. It’s rather reflective of how thoroughly nothing I felt at the time travel plot twists. Bcs there’s only really one major moment in 3.0’s Act 1 that ties into it at all. Which is Aemeath booping our nose which doesn’t even make sense why we’re reliving that moment in Act 3 anyway but neither here nor there. Most of the time travel pre-destination moments are moments introduced in Act 3. Like did they seriously expect me to be mind blown that Rover lifted up kid Aemeath? You just set up that moment like an hour ago. And the Rover is Sigillum twist again was a total nothing, this monster was introduced in 3.1, it had near zero presence in Act 1 or 2 and the twist that it was Rover’s frequencies really didn’t feel like much of a twist at all. I will say this is probably bcs I got this spoiled for me on YT shorts(TQ YT shorts) and I expected some insane twist that ties into Rover’s homeland or time travel shit but nah. It was fine as a plotpoint but the way people glazed this reveal was…..premature. On that note, last negative isn’t really a negative of the quest but moreso a dicussion on how WuWa writes character drama. Bcs they are very afraid to assign any guilt to Rover. Like Rover basically got this girl killed and there’s neither any self-reflection on Rover’s part nor is Aemeath ever bitter to Rover in anyway for leaving or wanting to abandon her basically daughter.. The story doesn’t seem interested in framing Rover negatively or asking those hard questions. Like Aemeath’s whole thing is she’s angry on Rover’s behalf even after Rover went to get milk on her. Once again, they needed to integrate the Lynae, Mornye and Aemeath characters quests together. Let the plotlines flow naturally and organically build up from Act 1 to 2 to 3. But they just didn’t. It’s pretty much what I expected going into it.

Making the worst gacha ever