Let's Talk About the Genshin/Wuthering Waves Design Discourse
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- I don't usually talk about anything that would be considered "drama" on this channel, but being in one of the fandoms involved in some recent character design discourse that I'll be covering in this video, I felt the need to give my two cents. I'll be analyzing the character designs for both Genshin and Wuthering Waves from as neutral a standpoint as possible, commenting on their strengths and weaknesses as well as what makes them distinct. Join me for some interesting design comparisons! (Along with the usual spaghetti, but that's besides the point :P )
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(I'm not entirely sure if I need to put the fair use disclaimer, but I'm doing it for my own sanity hAHAFHDSHGDF)
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a cup of chamomile, speedpaint, speedpaint clip studio paint, speed painting, commentary art, speedpaint commentary, character design, character design process, time lapse art, time lapse drawing, small artists, artwork, wuthering waves, wuwa character design, genshin impact, genshin, genshin design analysis, genshin characters, genshin design, character design
Let me tell you they are both painful to draw
this comment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Realest comment
@@SuprcremeHoshi I don't agree on you with the unmemorable part.
But the lack of age diversity
Like 500 year old toddler really
All of them look 9, 18, and 30. Year olds
A real lack of anything outside of that age range
And with how rich they are they could definetely include more models
Alot of vision holders could look like 40 years olds
And don't get me started on the lack body types for different fighting styles
@@SuprcremeHoshi Brother, it's just difficult to draw both games' characters accurately. It's not even about shilling the game.
@@SuprcremeHoshi What are you even talking about at this point? What does drawing have to do with shilling the games at all? Why are you using this as a reference to gauge whether or not someone's a shill? Are you not that bright in the head and is simply incapable of comprehending any text that remotely sympathizes with someone else's plight? What is wrong with you, even?
the random ass picture of a grandma eating as a reference caught me off guard lmaooooo that was insane 😂
She does fit the european grandma style 😅
I mean it's canon lol
imo, the designs in genshin are definitely very eye catching and distinct, however in comparison to the game's npcs it just feels off putting and makes playable characters feel out of place. Though in wuwa, playable characters fit in with the npcs very well and it doesn't make them seem like some variable.
I also noticed how characters (wuwa) all share certain elements to their design that npcs also have, kind of are like fashion trends or clothing styles unique to the region. This actually does make characters less recognizable tho.
oh, you're right! While it's probably not the best for a gacha game, I love the immersion it provides.
I noticed that genshin's npcs have smaller head and eyes, while the npc kids are way more realistic than the playable children (Klee, sayu, qiqi, etc.)
While Wuwa's npcs share the exact same features as the playable characters, the detail on their accessories and clothing, and their proportions
That explains why some of the characters have very npc vibes
they're gacha company they want to sell playable character not NPCs
I've stopped so many times to look at how unique npc's are in Wuwa, especially ones like Maqi.
Genshin's character's having very distinct character silhouettes is a pretty important part to me. I just love when a character is just easily recognizable even when only a part of them is shown.
Kiddy design
@@piplonf8591Yes, Zhongli, Neuvillette and Alhaitham are very kiddie designs.
@@piplonf8591
Silhouette is very important to design. It's so important that it's even one of the most essential aspects of fashion as well.
@@piplonf8591can you elaborate?
@@Argenta_Rosa its just one aspect of tool that creator use unlink fundamental of things so, its not as important as ppl make it out to be. Its there but not be all and all
In my opinion both games have designs and design philosophy that people will like and dislike, for example i like wuwa more because of it simplicity(depending of the characterof course), maturity and as well the pos-apocalyptic motif(and because the men are to much hot as well), in contrast with genshin that i like the colors and each regional clothes as well but i hate it over detailment. So i all comes in question of people taste.
I hate to break it to you but, just look closely at WUWA designs, they are just as intricate as GI.
@@mikonyx7712 I agree, I should have put some are simpler than others ops.
Unfortunately, after getting used to looking at WuWa’s men, genshin’s men feel like teenagers trying to look as men. People who saw the changli and jinhsi leaks will know that WuWa’s characters will look better than genshin’s imo. But I will not delve deeper into that.
It’s not just about the color of the character’s outfit. It’s also how their designs fit into the world and story, their aura, their character model, the little details, how they interact with their world, and how said design ties into their personality, themes, and (possibly) their backstory. Are they expressive characters? How are their animations? You have no idea how far facial expressions and movement go into elevating a character’s look and appeal. Characters in wuwa like Scar and Chixia have a lot of expressions on their face that change frequently depending on the dialogue. You can make the prettiest character, but if you can’t make that pretty character come to life, it won’t appeal to many people. Someone also placed the eyes of all the characters side by side, and the amount of detail and distinctiveness was cool to see.
@@indomitable2566 Yep, you summarized pretty much well, what some people think about they(including me).
@@indomitable2566 WuWa characters have a lot of facial expressions because it has a lot more face rig than Genshin characters
Why compare designs of a bright and colourful fantasy word to a post-apocalyptic world? If anything wuwa should be compared to like arknights(?) and Genshin one of its own company’s (HSR, HI3)
Is because genshin and wuwa are of the genre of open world RPGs, so of course people will compare these 2 because of the genre.
And because wuwa is genshin only worthy competitor.
Then why you guys compare the gameplay of those 2 games? I'm not a fan of genshin or WuWa, but I just hate the title 'genshin killer'. I know that genshin fandom is pretty toxic but fandom of WuWa are no less. Yes I know WuWa got a lot of features which take inspiration from Hoyo's game and make it better but that does not mean Genshin is trash and WuWa fandom get that chance to send hate and criticised Genshin fandom. What for? Get more anti-fan for both games? Or make those who don't play both games see that these 2 fandom are toxic af
And I hate it when someone compares these 2 games' gameplay (which WuWa is kinda better although its giving me headache cuz a lot of elemental effect, but it's good some how) and then WuWa fandom get all over the comments talking about smth like lol wuwa wins no diff or lmao did you see that genshit players,.e.c.t but when smth that genshin do it better (design, story quest, less bug and lag when its first launch,...) wuwa fandom be like "oh why you compare a game that just got released to a game which released 4 yrs ago and comes from a huge company focus about anime games?" Like fr, is that the wuwa fandom's real IQ or smth. What is bad from the game got excused by "umm actually the game just released ☝️🤓" ????
Genshin fandom are no less in toxic category bcuz when every anime-like games with open world, it was their idea to give those title "genshin killer" and then compare that game to genshin although we all know that the game didn't stand a chance (for example: tower of fantasy) and that just kill the game bcuz it makes that game look like a coward like "the game which tried to gain attention by copying genshin but got karma" and make the game dead, no player. I hate both fandoms btw but to sum up, I just want to say that every games got their own pros and cons, good and bad so stop comparing this good feature of this game to that bad one from another. That just make both games got more antifan no less.
@@sskr5223
1. comparing outfits and gameplay mechanics are two different things, outfits can be good or bad depending on the context of the game and history, but gameplay... lest say that WW has better world mechanics whit almost infinite stamina compared to genshin
2. "oh why you compare a game that just got released to a game which released 4 yrs ago and comes from a huge company focus about anime games?"
i think is that valid criticism, ww doing things better than a much older professional game company is worth praising, but they have more of a pass in bugs and story like is a fresh-of-the-oven game.
im a new genshin player and i loved Mondstad story but everyone is just talking about how bad it is and that Fonataine is the best one so applying that logic maybe the current story in WW is their Mondstad and we need to hive they time to develop and expand the world and characters of the game.
In my opinion, there are no winners here, because both designs are good
Genshin touches with its brightness, color combination, and some people like it
wuwa touches with its monochrome, post-apocalyptic and, to some extent, its simplicity
I really like dark and monochrome colors, so wuwa is very attractive to me, and especially PGR - their designs are amazing!
I really hope WuWa's future design will be more similiar and have same quality to PGR. Taoqi, male rover, and 4* male characters design might be my most favourite because they're the most similiar to PGR designs lol
Same, that's is what got me in pgr and on wuwa to, though monochromatic color combinations can get pretty boring at some time, they designs as well the usage of saturated and accent colors for break the monotony of the blacks and white really helps get into they.
Yep. People forget that others just have a different preference. A lot of armchair designers are too quick to point which is better without considering the world they're in or the level of realism that the game is trying to go for.
@@m.raihanammarfachrezixpplg7898
Same here but as a PGR fan I do feel I’m quite biased. Sanhua is another character I am completely in love with the design for. Her design is very Kuro imo. White hair black clothes with accents and a few accessories to make it pop. It’s a classic for Kuro that I very much enjoy
@@eikonokitsuneI definitely hear you on that. In fact PGR was the first gacha to really make me want a character immediately. When I downloaded the game I scrolled through the character and immediately fell in love with Liv Empyrea Chrome Glory and Luna Laurel. I know have all but Empyrea. I also think Kuro makes the best Husbandos in gacha
There are certainly subjective aspects of character design, but there are objective aspects too. Speaking as someone who _subjectively_ prefers the style of WuWa's character designs...I think Genshin's character designs are _objectively_ better. For the simple reason that they _inform character_ -- something you touched on in your video but didn't discuss as much as I expected. For an easy comparison, look at Yangyang and Amber. What can you tell about either character just by looking at them?
Yangyang:
1. She's got very long black hair and an outfit that resembles a formal dress, as well as a cap with a big bow. Is she some kind of heiress?
2. The feathers in her hair indicate she's got some supernatural element to her, but it's only on one side. Maybe it's a result of contact with a supernatural entity?
3. She's often depicted carrying a sword, so she's clearly a fighter.
Based on these traits, my assumption would be that she's a young noblewoman who became a fighter after some incident in the past resulted in her gaining powers from a greater supernatural entity.
Amber:
1. She has goggles around her neck. Maybe she's a pilot?
2. Her gloves, the pouches hanging from her belt, and the leather parts of her outfit all suggest that she's someone who spends a lot of time in the wilderness.
3. Her outfit has gold badges and emblems all over, suggesting she works for a state authority, perhaps a royal military. Her outfit is also very well-maintained, suggesting a pride or diligence in her work.
4. She has a bunny-ear-like ribbon on her head and a pair of feather hanging from a trinket on her belt, indicating a free-spirited attitude.
Based on these traits, my assumption would be that she's an explorer in the employ of the state, who relishes the freedom of the wilderness while also earnestly carrying out her duties. And also she might be a pilot or something.
But who are they in canon? Surprise! They're both Outriders of their respective nations' militaries. For Amber, this makes a lot of sense -- she _looks_ like an Outrider for a fantasy military force. She _looks_ like someone as free-spirited yet diligent as she's shown to be. She _looks_ like someone who fell in love with gliding on the wind from a young age. But Yangyang? Yangyang doesn't look like an Outrider _or_ military personnel. Now, she _is_ from a well-off family, so that aspect of her outfit does make sense, but that means Yangyang's design tells one part of her character at the expense of the others, as opposed to Amber's design which hints at many parts of her character.
And this extends to either game's playable 1.0 rosters overall. Most designs in Genshin's 1.0 roster inform a lot about each character at a glance -- Xingqiu the educated young heir with an interest in traditional swordfighting techniques, Barbara the sweet and gentle idol singer church girl, Bennett the young adventurer who gets into dangerous situations frequently but always manages to come out the other side with positive attitude no less intact, Sucrose the shy researcher who works for the same military force as Amber, etc. Whereas most designs in WuWa's 1.0 roster _don't_ inform much about them -- can you tell anything about Calcharo or Jiyan beyond "badass fighter men" just from looking at them? Can you tell that Baizhi and Mortefi are researchers at the same institution? Would you have guessed that Yuanwu is a boxing gym owner, as opposed to, say, a smooth criminal?
At the end of the day, for narrative works like Genshin and WuWa, character design is first and foremost a tool for worldbuilding and characterization. WuWa's 1.0 roster does great at the former, but leaves something to be desired for the latter. While Genshin's 1.0 roster does pretty good at both the former and latter. And that's why I think Genshin's character designs are _objectively_ better.
also great job on the Furina artwork, I love it :)
I think this is the main reason why I prefer GI's character designs. They all have so much personality that add to many parts of the characters and the world. It's so fun to dive deeper into a character's design to find the similarities with their personalities and positions into the world. Meanwhile, with wuwa, I like the way they look but there's not much i can tell just from looking at them. I think wuwa does much better than genshin in the npc department but, alas, they are not playable (still wish combat simulation training guy was playable tbh)
At the end of the day, some will love it, and some will hate it. It's a design choice from two different companies who are focusing on different aspects of the game. But it's so frustrating when people just want to criticize Genshin by complaining about things that never bothered them before, just because Wuwa is a new and shiny competitor or just to stir up drama. I can complain about many things when it comes to Genshin, but I'll never say that they don't put in any effort in terms of character design and world building, or that the combat sucks just because it doesn't have parry mechanics.
When I started playing, I found both games fascinating for entirely different reasons and i just know that new players, the kind that knows how to have fun, will enjoy them too.
This!!!
Thank you for putting into words something that was bothering me about WuWa's designs that I couldn't quite describe.
Though to be fair, I assume Yangyang's wearing a beret, which is pretty common military garb for many countries now, similar to Sanhua. But with that said, to me, they look like generic military / police. In fact, Sanhua and Yangyang have pretty much the exact same bottom half of uniform, so why is one a guard while the other is an outrider?
Chixia looks more like the outrider to me - she's not wearing tights, which would get ripped in the wilderness - as could be indicated by the torn edges of her skirt, and her boots look more heavy-duty.
@@IronGiant2790 that's a great point actually, Yangyang and Chixia look like their respective jobs should be switched
My main complaint about genshin characters is not about the design itself, but rather that sometimes characters in their trailers and on official arts look very different from what they're like in the game.
the attention to detail in changli is immaculate, like she burns her clothes off with every forte stack she gets
At the end of the day they're just different art styles/themes. Like how to compare *Death Note* vs *Code Geass* ?
Wuwa is a very clear copy of genshin though
@@white_tulip2189 Wasn't Genshin called a copy of breath of the wild?
@@marucic8967 Which was, itself, sometimes called The Elder Scrolls: Hyrule. It just keeps happening, and it will probably never stop happening.
@@white_tulip2189 yes while genshin is a copy
@@white_tulip2189your brain is just a blank copy
4:26 OK I KNOW YOU’RE NOT GETTING INTO LITTLE DETAILS BUT i love her sm so i just wanna point out some elements !!
- 5 ruffle things on the cape thingy IDK WHAT ITS CALLED? represents 5 centuries of suffering
- different coloured eyes shows the different archons
- justice symbol on the bottom of her shoes, showing disrespect towards it ?
idk that’s how i interpret it im done yapping now
There's also:
- the coat mimicking the silhouette of a fish tail
-the coat looking like a suit from the front and a dress at the back (furina has a good mix of masculine and feminine design features in her outfits)
- the healer oceanid she summons is her oceanid form, complete with the ahoge and the crown hat
@@butter4104 yess !!
Its a cute detail to notice
also the way her pnuema eye is uncovered by her hair but her ousia eye isn't
showing how she had to hide her true self from the people
Whoa that’s so right!!
I like Genshin's character design more, but the male body types look ridiculous. For example, Zhongli looks like a twig, and Itto and his arms
True but theyve been getting better more adult proportions in fontaine, such as wriothesley and clorinde
omg do nOT get me started on itto's noodle arms 😭💀
Itto should at least have alhaithams' arm design instead of that noodle arm holding a giant club!!
This is such an interesting analysis! I definitely prefer Genshin’s designs primarily because of my bias towards brighter color palettes but I definitely agree that there’s still some merit and room to grow on WuWa’s end. PS I love your art style 🪑
thank you! ✨🪑
I played both and playing WuWa after GI is so restfull to my eyes. WuWa subtle design and darker colors are so nice after being bombarded by GI colorful colors. All those colors and details in GI are tiring after a while.
In the opposite, playing GI after WuWa also felt very nice, I got explosion of colors EVERYWHERE that its a feast to my eyes. Playing GI after WuWa reminds me of my first time of playing and seeing GI world.
WuWa: darker, matured design, while GI: extravagant, colorful design. Both are good. I dunno bout more detail aspect of designs, tho, so take my opinion as from some layman, common players.
Tldr; for me both game are good.
For me, Genshin excels at the more Japanese design philosophy of maximalism, and each character feels like their own distinct set piece that stands out and makes the most of the colorful art style, by pushing it to max. It is also a kids game first and foremost. WuWa to me excels more with minimalism, and not necessarily making their character look like a setpiece but rather something more cohesive with the world itself. Their outfits are more functional yet preserve some individuality through different features and fashion. I think Genshin is far more iconic, but I personally am into the mature and more subtle styles of WuWa. Designs like Jianxin are the best to me.
Idk if I'd say genshin fallows more of a Japanese designe philosophy than WUWA I just think they are appealing to 2 different types of anime fans. To me genshin seems more like an anime with the designe style of madoka magica, sailor moon, MHA and maybe the earlier seasons of SAO, while WUWA seems to be more similar to anime like Bleach, JJK, Fate Stay Night and RE: Zero
japanese design is american
Child game ?
How cute. . .
What ? Anime is also kids only too?
Bruh
@@Moss_piglet13I really like this comparison as PGR(Kuro’s other game) was inspired by games like DMC and Nier and it really shows in their design. Same goes for Wuwa I fear many people will just have to get used to Kuro’s classic vibe
@@Sosuke0727 Oh boy! I sure love my alcoholism, genocide, civil wars, racial apartheid, existential threats, and cosmic horror in my kids game
My take of the subject is that Genshin is a king at putting context into designs. Even their enemies and bosses reflect the surrounding areas, this is what wuwa mainly lack. The character designs in wuwa works with monochrome (solid color +black/white) it's what they're focusing. That's why it's kinda weird to compare it to genshin that tries to fit as many culture as it can.
If we're taking wuwa to it's home base that is monochromatic colours, comparing it to one who does it the best would make more sense, and that's arknights. They match outfit styles, world settings, region motifs and enemies.
Wuwa is more creative. Genshin just recycles stuff and designs from IRL. NPCs don't fit in the world and are an afterthought even the enemies designs are recycled with just another color.
@@SyLuX636 everything comes from irl...
@memegumin All of Genshin is just different countries like Europe, Japan, Middles East, and Filipines, just very anime. Even Star Tail just made anime New York. Like make actual fictional countries and cultures, but I guess that too hard for a multi-million company.
@@SyLuX636 yea, because that's what genshin focuses on, implementing irl culture into fiction. That's why the point of my comment was that it's weird to compare 2 things that focus on different things. It's more appropriate to compare wuwa with Arknights, they practically has the same focus and setting.
@@SyLuX636 ps. Wuwa also has a real world reference, jinzhou is china (I feel like it's very obvious) and the new federation lean in more western civilization. True real fictional settings are like outer wilds and halo
I personally prefer genshins character design, I feel like the designs in genshin tell you more about the character themselves than in Wuwa. The first 5* character to be released in wuwa 1.1 is meant ti be the prime minister of the region, and you look at her and she looks like a priestess
Jinhsi does not look like a damn priestess.
Ah yes. Jean totally looks like a knight as well.
@@snuffysnuff5140 Jean's outfit and colors strike me more as her being from a higher class family and being in a position of command with the large cloak with gold accents over top. Her hair is tied to show that she means business, and she also wears gauntlets and medieval boots. So yeah, she does look like a knight as well as a commander.
@@Beeeeeewwwww Nah it does make sense, she IS a vessel of a god after all
@zaboono noble yes but a knight no. If you see what all the other knights and compare her to them, you wouldn't think she is one. Hell Noelle looks more like a knight than Jean does. If you didn't play the game you would mostly think she was a princess of some sort rather than a knight.
The character models for wuwa are extremely well made and match exactly the characters art
I was surprised you didn't cover proportions a bit more, as it seemed you mostly focused on colors/vibrancy/design language. You got in to shaping a little bit with the face but I feel like there's a lot more to note here.
Child-like Genshin characters have grossly immersion-breaking proportions, their heads alone are basically bigger than the whole NPC child model, and if you stand them next to any random adult NPC they are nearly as big in volume, and you can't unsee it which just makes it feel super weird walking around as Klee or Nahida for example.
The male characters in Genshin are all super lanky and overly thin waistlines that results in a very "cartoony" result, where as looking at Jiyan or Calcharo, their body shapes are a lot more measured and "natural" and you actually feel you're looking at a male model and not a strange cartoon-esque version of a thin male. Having some of the muscle definition the WuWa males have also doesn't hurt.
I like WuWas characters more than genshins even tho I have been playing since 1.0 in GI.
I just love the monochromatic color palette A LOT. I like designs the most that are black and white with some specks of color in them like Wriothesley,Arlecchino, Diluc and Boothill(yeah I know HSR but it fits)
Maybe it's just my taste but I also like that they all look uniform in some type of way? Like u can clearly see they are from the same region and they also look like they all wear their combat clothes, always ready to fight so yeah.
Also you really compared a free 4 star character(yangyang) to a newer limited 5 star "archon" character? That's a little bit unfair tho
yangyang is our traveling companion so they put more effort to her design more than other 5 star on wuwa so yeah it's fair
@Dendyaryadi still not really, yangyang is still a FREE 4 star. Would make more sense to compare Jiyan,Yinlin, changli and Jinshi and only with venti,klee,zhongli and childe as these are the limited 5 stars that are from 1.0 and 1.1.
Hell look at Calcharo and Diluc that's like night and day.
Also the thing that wuwa exceeds more than genshin is their ability to actually give their characters different body types and facial features.
Genshin has almost none of them with the exception with Alhaitham and Wriothesley being more buff than the other guys.
I mean just look at calcharos nose, he got a crooked nose (it's very noticeable if u look at his side profile) while the other guys have slightly other noses and even side profiles.
The women also have all different body types
@@Kittysune12 Which 5* in WuWa have a lesser design than Yangyang?? I agree she has a very good design for a free 4*, but all of the current 5* are pretty unique in how everything pieces together to fit the characters personality.
Raiden Shogun is an archon and a huge character for Hoyo overall as she is Genshin's Raiden Mei, there is more effort in her design than 80% of the cast of Genshin lol
@@Kittysune12It would be more fair to compare Yang²'s design to Amber's imo.
The one thing I could say for both designs: IF someone plays to be a design critic (I DOESN'T MEAN YOU BTW but those who are blatantly hating on one or the other) one shouldn't just look at them with their png and just compare them to one another. Because design doesn't come from the other party (guys do not bring the "Jiyan is literally adult Xiao" here now) they're coming from their own worlds.
Yes Genshin's design is great it blends perfectly with Teyvat's atmosphere.
Yes WuWa's design is great because it blends perfectly with Solaris-3's atmosphere.
Interesting point some make when they're saying wuwa design is bad because they're using only a few colors... ISN'T THIS WHAT A MAIN CHARACTER DESIGN RULE IS??? And I find this the hardest rule when I'm designing a character besides the fact that I'm not creative enough xD
Genshin's characters in wuwa's world would look like a random ass mahou shoujo cosplayer marching into a warzone then wondering why aren't they fitting in. Or a worse comparison: they would look like uwu-beamed clowns.
Meanwhile wuwa's characters would look very "dull" and misfitting in genshin's world, they would get all the attention because how un-saturated they are.
The designs for both games are great since they're working perfectly for their respective worlds and its styles
Also no one bats an eye when Arlecchino has only gray, black, red and white in her color scheme? Yea yea sure, that's one character but we can name a few who are only working with half of the colors than other genshin characters, will this make them bad? NO
It makes them easily recognizable by colorpalette
Maybe you can hardly distinguish Jianxin and Baizhi based on colorpalette only, but what about Neuvillette and Furina based on COLOR PALETTE only, no shapes?
I love both games' desings btw so please know I didn't write any of this to attack one or the other, I just meant to bring up some of the perspectives for a fair play what many fans forget because they must hate which is honestly pretty tiring... you can just play the game you like and ignore the game you dislike. Or if you like both you can just play both
Jianxin and Baizhi look nothing alike if someone actually sees them more than one time randomly. Also both games have both good and total fail designs. Additonally, wuwa just started...
I am not an artist and this video provide me some insight..
On another note, a lot of artist disregard the "texture" of the WuWa character design. You can argue about colour variety all you want, but on cloth design, WuWa really edge..
If you zoom in, or pay more attention, you can literally see the different fabric of every pieces .
It make the WuWa design "clean", "sharp", and "mature" felt. While genshin (i actaully dislike a lot accesories attachment) to the point of overcrowded like you said, however, it does gave a "pretty", "vibrant", and attention grabing a lot morr then WuWa
I like genshin designs since most of them make them unique and pretty , but for wuthering waves i noticed almost all of the characters wearing black . I wanted some other colours too not only black and black . Like other than verina no one is wearing colours on their clothes. Or they just wearing to little colours. This detail makes their designs identical to me and doesn't feel unique like what genshin does.
Kuro likes to mainly use black and white but if you look at punishing gray ravens newer characters you can see them doing it amazingly just gotta hope they put the same quality into wuwa in the future
Good examples are wanshi: lucid dreamer
Luna: oblivion
Qu: shukra
Watanabe: epitaph
Alpha: crimson weave
I the colors in Genshin are very eye catching and WUWA is very dark BUT you also have to note that WUWA is a game that is post war which is why everyone has dark colors bc why would you wear bright happy colors after a war happens also their designs fit in with their abilities which is why I very much like the wuwa designs more (don’t attack me im not biased im an OG Genshin player AR 60 and WUWA player UL 52)
why wouldn't i wear bright happy colors after a war shouldn't it be a happy thing that a war ended lmao
@@schrodinger0808 it just doesn't flow with the vibe yk, it'll feel so wrong and outta place
I´ll say Genshin has better designs right now, but I personally like the WuWa character designs a bit more since they look more adult and their facial structures look different from one another.
While I prefer WuWa's variety on male character designs much more than Genshin's roster of skinny boys. My main problem with WuWa designs is, just like that this video said, a lot of the characters are difficult to distinguish them from each other.
For me, good character design should immediately tell you what is their background, personality, occupation, and region just from a glance despite not having any context.
People defend that WuWa takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting, yet, 90% of the female cast are wearing dresses as if they're going to a fancy event or party. If they don't wear a dress, they'd be wearing the usual skintight sci-fi suit that doesn't tell much other than being a fighter in a futuristic setting. The fact that a lot of characters share the same color schemes as well does not help from distinguishing them apart.
Comparing it to Genshin's 1.0 characters, Genshin has much more memorable designs where you can quickly guess each of their occupation, region, and the element they use just from looking at it. People say their designs are too vibrant or overdetailed, but those details and colors are helpful enough to let you visually identify their backgrounds and tell them apart.
funny thing technical test verina is wearing latex bodysuit dunno why they change it
@@Kittysune12lol I guess people didn’t like that design, totally understandable though😂
Genshin designs and art are childish that's why it appeals to a broader range of people
@@usus1086childish is a stretch. It’s more that it follows for popular design choices particularly in anime. Bright, sharp, extravagant when necessary. And even when trying to tone it down even simple design characters have a very recognizable flare and individuality. Ex w/ shinobu mask and revealing look, Kujo Sara’s mask and more monochromatic look, wriothesley and his coat.
I don't know about that cause I don't remember any of the characters from Mondstadt, but I remember all the characters in WuWa, even the npcs, (I started playing both at the same time)
I liked the character designs in Hoyo's other games more. In Genshin, the only character that really caught my attention was Beidou. No other character really appealed to me ever since (even Raiden Shogun and Yae Miko were disappointing to me).
I enjoy WuWa's character designs in general. It's fits the post-apocalyptic world the game is set in. I also like the general art style of WuWa since they feature a lot of mature looking characters both male and female. The more minimalist color palette also makes me focus on the other aspects of their designs. Using the Baizhi - Jianxin example, I can tell them apart because of the other aspects of their design: Jianxin's ahoge and Baizhi's hairstyle (aside from the more obvious summon/pokemon/stand she has with her) but that's just me.
I would like to say that wuwa characters have a part in their story akin to a doctor's note that evaluates their resonator ability. It is stated that just like their power, the traits they get from tacet marks differ from character to character. More traits they get from the tacet mark, more energy they use for their ability and are therefore at a higher risk of over clocking. Which is why encore barely has fluffier hair but yangyang has hair full of feathers
I'm amazed and I don't know how you were able to perfectly mimic the sounds I made when I saw Changli's design the first time!
As someone who plays both game, I'd say that all the characters in both games, I can recognize easily. However, if I am to identify them based on their silhouette, I'll probably recognize the characters in Genshin than in WuWa. Reason: familiarity of the characters. I have been playing Genshin since 1.1 so am more familiar with their design.
But as someone who prefers a more matured and realistic design(at least, in anime standards) I much prefer the simple design of WuWa. Also the reason why I like Zhongli and Hutao's design, is because it's simple. Furina, I just like her in general.
Zhongli and Hutao still differentiate themselves from anyone else in the cast and bare similarities as they come from the same culture while conveying that culture and place through clothing styles and patterns. When I look at WuWa and through my playthrough all I saw was high fashion chinese clothing with very sharp designs with a bunch of draconic theming only. Alot of them look like they re related when they re not. They fail to expand anywhere beyond that baseline and are scared to innovate, which might be an issue that will be solved in the future, but the current cast is very lacking in variety in my opinion at least.
At the end of the day it all comes to personal preferences :P
I personally like Wuwa's character design better bcs i like the dull colors and the variety of models
your linework is so incredible :0
11:57 - Looking at you, Tighnari. Bro has 3 shades of green; red, navy, cyan, aqua, magenta, and gold all fighting as accent colors.
Here is my takes. Genshin is like LoL and Fortnite.
WuWa is like DOTA 2 and PUBG.
Statistically, one theme is CLEARLY looks appealing than the others.
One thing about Genshin though, is that it got more fantasy ratio than WuWa. Which mean it provide more variety of designs.
Overall design
Genshin design:
More distinctive design for different region, elements.
Looks appealing for most eyes.
Cover a lot of cultures
Wuthering Wave design:
More realistic design.
Character design doesn’t fixate on their elements/type. Meaning Yinlin could wear red even though she use electro.
Hybrid between Futuristic and culture design.
not every genshin character's design fixates on their element too (example: wriothesley wears black and red but he uses cryo; kazuha wears red and orange but he uses anemo; yae miko wears red and white but she uses electro the list goes on)
Wuwas designs feel much more natural to me. Characters blending in with the world and npc feels to me so much more logical and comfortable than this weird way that only playable characters design can look good (do you remember those two adeptus pals of Xianyun for example?)
from back when i used to play genshin, i will say the playable characters felt very memorable/made to stand out, but on wuwa they dont stand out nearly as much. it comes down to liking these sorts of things or not, and personally i appreciate that the playable cast in wuwa dont feel nearly as detatched as playable characters did in genshin (back when i played) since a large part of my complaints about genshin back then was the world scaling and general balance of design overall.
individually its amazing but i always felt weird about the smaller things: like each inazuma island feeling like its own circle and detatched from the other islands..? or the distance between point a and point b in the areas, how it shouldnt realistically take more than 30 minutes for npcs/characters to walk from one end of an island to the other. and they upped the scaling for sumeru from what i remember, but next to liyue's stone forest, the stone forest felt far too small.
setting does change the context of character designs too, for wuwa the npc character designs are made to make sure the playable cast dont look jarringly different, while in genshin i felt like it stuggled more with it (except enjou i always loved enjou)
personally these aspects of design are something i look for, especially for immersion, but it really does come down to what a person wants in a game, so someone could value these less than what i do yk
oh yeah and bonus: i feel like the animations theselves play an important part! wuwa is very expressive with their models, especially in the story. the characters move often as well as the camera, making each scene feel like youre actually watching something happen instead of just reading (as i used to feel in genshin), and these characters have different expressions and add to the overall design
i'll compare the characters scar and chixia for now, scar's his maniacal expressions add to his design because he doesnt smile the way chixia does, chixia having a rounder face, eyes, freckles and a toothy goofy grin manages to make her model's design distinctly different from scar's...scarred face, sharpish eyes and especially his unsettling smile. and yes, theyre two different model type anyways, with scar being a tall male model and chixia being a medium female model, but i am talking about the expressions theyre able to make in a scene. i feel like genshin wasnt able to do well with these sorts of things due to their models being very similar and having to make up for it with a louder design, and thats perfectly fine.
genshin's designs are more immediately apparent than wuwa's, with louder colors and more distinct palettes. wuwa lacks in this department, yes, but i think they're making up for it with other things to balance it out, the same way i feel like genshin did but the other way around. and personally, i think i like having a more even playing field than 1 thing being superduper out there, yk?
...formal apology for yapping: i like designs :( thank you for reading this far if you did
oh and i used to play genshin from 2020-2022, i stopped around sumeru because i disliked the designs and found them more problematic than the trouble they were worth
It is art. Kuro Games stays true to there known design choices. It works better than simply coping another art style.
Well, they didn't mind copying lots of other things 🤭
@@SwieczkaNiweaniewierzeDarek And end up being better😂
@@Вова-ю3г7пbetter’s subjective in both games cases. They both got areas where they excel and severely fall flat.
I actually dont mind the fan service of female WuWa character at all. They're consistent on every design, and even some of the NPC that i just think its how female in Jinzhou dress like. Also they're willing to put ABS on female npc. Which is a sign we might see abs for once on a female playable character which GI isnt bold enough to make(they dont make abs in general). Dehya REALLY should have had abs, yet she doesnt
Just a few other female characters that deserve abs:
Jean
Noelle
Beidou
Raiden Ei
Shinobu
Candace
Chlorinde
@@violetcity2658 Half of these character have clothes covering their body thus abs or muscle wouldnt be visible. Also jean spend most of her time in an office, definitely not enough to justify abs
Beidou need better arm muscle
Raiden is a god, she can be with whatever
Candance and Shinobu is the only one that would benefit from muscle being added
@@DCminh-pe9wf the fact that a character is covered, doesn’t cross out the possibility of being buff. Muscles can be visible with clothes on, like in the case of Al-haitham. I agree on Raiden, but I still think she woul look cooler, if she looked like an actual warior. And I can’t agree on Jean. She only recently became the Grand Master, all her life she was a trained knight.
@@violetcity2658 in general female character, especially small lighter one has less room for abs without it being out of place. Usually there need to be stronger justification for it whereas you can throw any abs on male character that isnt a toddler or Baizu and it'd make sense. And alot of these character doesnt just have clothes covering them, they have lots of clothes covering them. Even Al-haitham wear a skin tight shirt for his muscle to show and he's bigger than all of mentioned character
Noelle/Chlorine/Beidou has too much clothes
Yeah...i..cant see Jean that way. She seem more like the "poke you with a sword" than the athletic type. Hell Amber feels more justified having muscle than Jean with how they're portrayed
@@DCminh-pe9wf Well, I kinda meant my initaial comment in a way: the characters who would have build body in lore, and I would like their model design and clothing to also show it, not certainly: plaster abs on their current design, if that makes sens.
(And like you said, Jean doesn't look like a general, and that's why I think her entire design isn't good)
personally, i prefer wuwa's designs more. while there are some genshin designs i enjoy, i like wuwa's less saturated color palettes and more minimalist style over genshin's very bright colors and over-detailed designs. idk, they just feel more stylish to me. there being noticable in-world fashion trends, for example the belts which can also be seen on npcs, (although it might just be a kuro thing bc lots of pgr characters have many belts also) definitely contribute to that. but i like how certain motifs are more subtle, for example on first glance, you might miss aalto's blake bloom, or that sanhua's necklace is meant to be mala beads, which have a spiritual significance. i really like how these themes not only tie into the character's stories, but aren't thrown in your face. and again this is personal preference, but i also like that a character's personality is displayed more by their body language and actions than by their clothing choice alone. the clothing is a part of it, but not as big a part as it is in genshin. idk, it just feels like... boiling down a character to their most basic attributes? probably could word this better, but i enjoy learning more about a character as the story moves along than simply going "oh, this is what their design is communicating to me, and it fits with their personality." tldr i simply prefer wuwa's fashion and style of character design over genshin's.
also jiyan is soooo fine, oh my god HE'S SO FINE. it's the tight black turtleneck like oh my god OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS.
WuWa follow PGR footsteps where their characters have their own roles like soldiers, agents, officers, goddess or some ordinary person with magic. Its not just about the design its about how the the design tells the character.
For a character on a game where you see them every second of gameplay, obviously Genshin will become more eye-catching.
But thats what i have a problem with. I agree with your "Passing the silhouette test", which is meh to me. Some Genshin characters has TOO much accessories for the sake of being "Unique", to the point where they start to look like a My Gacha OC.
If I'm spending this many wishes for a 5* character they better look unique. Like, how's that a problem?
@@SwieczkaNiweaniewierzeDarek I don’t understand that part… for me, all Genshin models are the same. Adult woman design, teenager design, adult man design, loli design. All with the same height, same proportions. For me, adding so many flourishes on top of a model does not make it unique. The last character I got was Arlecchino and when I saw his base model moving just like Jean, with the same height as Jean and the same proportions as Jean, I knew I was not going to save any more primogems. I better stopped playing.
@@afra4664developers are not going to make an entirely new model for a new character,that would be stupid
@@SwieczkaNiweaniewierzeDarekI would agree if Genshin’s models were better and not the same 5 total models recycled with little added to them. Again y’all can like whatever you want but just because you like something doesn’t make it superior
@@pitechantropuserectus8307Kuro does actually. You would be stunned if you saw the jump in quality between frames in PGR
Maybe this is because I'm an adult, but despite my preference of pastel and bright colour, I prefer the Waves' character. It's more harmonious and "mature", if that makes sense? And since you don't play the game, I think it might be hard to see how detailed the design interacts with the surrounding _in-game_.
I also remember someone saying, "I can play WuWa for a long time without my eyes getting hurt" and we talked about how the colour in WuWa is less saturated and you can make it even less so from the visual setting.
You should know that Kuro Games devs love Nier Automata, and it's part of the reason you see lots of black and white. Nothing to do with the setting of the game. Also, have you seen Changli? And do note that some characters design and color schemes have something to do with the beasts of the 4 cardinal directions like Jiyan (Teal Dragon of the East), Changli (Vermillion Bird bird of the South), and 2 others we haven't seen yet (maybe Ling Yang is the White Tiger of the West I'm not sure)
Edit: I totally forgot Ling Yang is a Lion not a tiger
well nier and dmc are heavy inspiration in a lot of aspects, the world, the enemies, the character designs, the moveset, the weapons. Wuwa feels cool in a lot of aspect alike those games.
They definitely just love the colors black and white in general. Their logo is rendered in black and white, and even the name Kuro is just the word for black in japanese.
I can see they also inspired by death stranding game ( discords, phantoms, world, even raining ) that have not very colorfoul palette.
10:44 another thing to note is that Calcharo and the male rover have different noses compared to the other male characters that i have on my account. (wuwa please add a character gallery)
Cool topic, cool video :D.
I was in love with Aaltos Design and his teased Personality from the trailer, but only by playing the story i realised why, his design was so different to the initial Cast.
Genshin did that too and it’s a smart thing to do.
- breaking up Designes to their respective Region / Organisation :D.
It did felt weird to me at first, understanding the Design of Character only after getting the context as to why they wear what they wear ^^.
Like Jiyan being a Military General and therefore wearing skin tight clothing (mostly), to kinda maybe move around better in Combat?
Calcharo (i dont know much about his background yet), seems to have the same Combat attire. :)
Calcharo’s clothes are given by Jiyan (mentioned when increase Calcharo intimacy). Calcharo is mercenary from different region hired by Jiyan. He normally wears mercenary uniform, but Jiyan told him that will scare the people in the city if walking around with mercenary uniform. Then Jiyan gave him the military attire.
@@doanmai4555 uhh thx for the lore :D that’s pretty cool, i’m sure we’ll see more of Calcharo :D
@@TRemIk42hopefully sooner rather than later. I won’t spoil it but his lore is super interesting
A piece of information I may find interesting between both games is that the clothes that characters wear in wuwa is similar to something I can wear in real life while genshin is straight up cosplaying. The clothes in wuwa are cute and quite flexible in everyday usage, which surprise me a lot given that character design in game clothes are usually focus on (like you said in the video) the fantasy aspect of it.
Genshin has better designs imo but wuwa's character models at a baseline are much better than genshin. Its better proportioned, looks really sharp and does complex movement animations very well. For example In g game when you grapple the character just turns into a ball but wuwa has animation for it
Very insightful and good research you had done.
Analyzing the designs between the two.
Most of my thoughts are already shared were already said by the commenters here.
Simply, Hoyo's focus on character design is heavily on the clothes majorly.
and I think it has insidious dark tones that the higher up on the dev side that made them stick to a particular style.
WuWa's focus were inspirations from big great games such as DMC, Bayonetta, Nier/Drankengard, Metal Gear series, Final Fantasy series (ya know the belts?), Atelier Series {Tia inspired Verina} and the other non-gacha games as well.
That PGR also was based on and share the styles to Wuthering Waves.
As an artist myself, as well that delved into those topics on social media.
---------------------------------------
The Kuro Game dev team also highlights the character models:
Personality from idle animations/gestures when they move/attack/stand still.
Attack animations and sound effects.
Color of their attacks to distinguish from the environment.
Their voices and subtle non-language voice acting.
I like a lot of Genshin's designs but sometimes they fall really flat. Dori , Emilie, and Chiori as examples that don't wow me. Wuwa has gorgeous character designs when looked at individually, but as an overall cast I feel a bit underwhelmed by the monotones. My favorite designs in the game so far are Verina, Jiyan, Encore, Danjin and Yuanwu, all of which stand put and look somewhat unique. I don't really see the monotone colors as a problem though with the one caveat that they want to sell these characters. It's just my personal taste in question here, but I am unlikely to swipe for a character that doesn't look interesting to me. If they will be on my map for a long duration, I want them to have aesthetic appeal.
never forget that Venti's name means "winds" in italian, that's why he's named like that.
Italian references are a bit spread across regions as like Mondstadt and Fontaine (and the Fatui Harbingers) until know.
I’d say an underutilized aspect to character design is their combat and since Wuthering gives you a LOTTT more to do in combat, characters can absolutely stand out beautifully in a fight and you can easily know who’s who by their flashy moves. I’ll say it is a bit hard to guess their element by appearance but once you know what they do, it’s easy af
Irl, i wear simple/minimalistic style clothing. I don't usually wear clothes that has a lot of brands (I'm not getting payed to endorse them).
As someone who plays a diverse game, and played one of Kuro's games named PGR. I noticed the similarity of how they use monochromatic palette to style characters to make them look more modern/sci-fi. For instance, the Luna Oblivion & Alpha CW.
Compared to WuWa, GI doesn't only stick to vibrant colors alone, the aesthetic of characters have historical context like in Fontaine which is based on 19th to 20th century France.
That being said, the setting plays a role as each game world has their cultures that the devs have to think it through. A post-apocalyptic world and a magical fantasy one both stands on the opposite of the spectrum.
But it doesn't entirely make dull colors less appealing than vibrant ones, cause i love the design of 2B from Nier, and Malenia from Elden Ring.
I'm trying to be unbias, don't attack me.
13:35 I found a comment on pinterest saying that calcharo and aalto were first written to be father-son (if I'm not wrong, or at least closely related) but the idea was scrapped when beta ended, they kept the same design though !!
That has the possibility of being such a cool character story what 😭
@@xraeynex dude have a chance to be a dilf😭
Not sure that’s accurate more so people reading too deeply into Aalto and Calcharo’s relationship. Which is strictly business from what we can tell. Calcharo runs a mercenary guild and Aalto is an information broker. I’m sure you can see why a relationship like this would exist
@@cynthiahembree3957 yaw either way 'twas a beta possible concept if the comments were right so it doesn't matter any more into the released game as we haven't got to meet calcharo yet nor have we seen them together （；´д｀）ゞ
fun fact the design of Wuwa characters in JinZhou are depends on what federation they're in. Like Aato Encore, they're based on Blackshore.
The colors in GI are very important given that you want since you want the characters to enter the view.
And at the level of lore or history, it shows us that the dark and dull colors are liable with evil to defeat.
For example, the dark embroidery color palette, deep blue, black and dark gray, is related to the abyss/Honkai, so they normally avoid using their characters.
I know you're trying to convey both pros and cons evenly, but because you haven't play wuwa yet, it still comes out as bias, and that's fine. But then imo some design elements that would compliment wuwa the same way they compliment genshin were gone unnoticed.
While I understand the concern for how easy to recognize the characters off their silhouette can be. WuWa doesn't need to concern itself much with that when the animations for each character are so varied, from their character menu stance to the actual combat it's easy to recognize which character you're playing as off their animations.
As an example, if you decided to play a team with Calcharo, Jiyan and Aalto it would be very hard to confuse the slow, powerful blows of Calcharo with the flowy movement of Jiyan; or either of them for the showman Aalto. Meanwhile Genshin shares a lot of animations between gender/size models, with the worst offenders being the release characters.
Both player of Genshin and Wuwa here. I feel like Genshin's design complexity looks great... on 2D.
On 3D, every part of their complexity,dynamic, muscles, and silhouette gets dumped down into unnecessary assets, and bad design translations that is still a problem from Genshin 1.0 until the present day that I'll probably never stop bitching about.
Examples: Diluc, Xingqiu, Jean, Beidou -> Al Haitam,Clorinde, Wriothesley,Gaming,
IMO half of the Genshin rosters looks constipated even when they're amazing on 2D, but their design all seemed like they do not have 3D in mind 😔
🪑
u should really give wuwa a try if u have spare time to check the ingame models and the lores, purposes of some designs like Jiyan and Calcharo case u mentioned. Besides, i bet u'd love the combat design and parkour (if ur device can run wuwa smoothly)
Very good and succinct comparison of design philosophies!
However it mainly helped me formulate specifically why I immediately thought Genshin's approach was the superior one. As a gacha game that makes it's money off selling lots of characters first and foremost, Genshin works better since it focuses on recognizable unique designs that still follow faction and form design language. WuWa would work well as a typical RPG but being a gacha makes its more uniform designs a mess for the viewer. You mentioned how you thought Yuanwu and Yangyang were associated in some way because of their colorways, but there's a much more egregious example of this that is absolutely impossible to justify and that's Camellya. Every part of her design screams "Fracsidus" from the rooftops. In fact I even mistook her for Phrolova at first because both characters are only encountered briefly and have the same colors. Camellya even uses weird biomancy tentacles and has the same nihilistic outlook as the Fracsidus and yet is part of the Black Shores, a faction that directly and diametrically opposes Fracsidus. And directly before you meet her, you fight the Fracsidus to make things even more confusing. Is she a Fracsidus infiltrator in the black shores? Then why is she so lacking in subtlety? Is she ex-Fracsidus? Then why doesn't the design language reflect that ex status?
This problem will only get much worse for WuWa as it gets to 80 playable characters like Genshin. It will only face even more criticism for sameyness as well as lack of character identity reflecting in how they look.
Black Shores consist of members across different region. They arent really supposed to look like eachother
She does give off heavy Fracsidus vibe yes, and her voiceline towards them seem to hint at somewhat of a bitter relationship.
Id say her color scheme is Fracsidus but inverted, with white/black being the domminant color and red being secondary, i think thats supposed to tell you the ex status part
Mind you her lore isnt released, if she was an ex Fracsidus most of your complaint would of been significantly lessen here
I prefer Genshin's designs, but I like brighter colors in general. But as a cosplayer who like to make my own stuff, I feel your pain regarding the amount of detail. I've been working on Ayaka's alternate outfit for a year now, and I have only finished her hat and boots. Some of the pieces will require me to use techniques I've never touched before, and that's before I get into the possibility of making any props.
So in the end both are good and it's 100% subjective. Genshin fandom can keep coping. Also genshin has repeating elements on different characters similarly to wuwa, so it's not like only one game does that
Plus Genshin copies a lot of Honkai's homework and some characters are suspiciously similar to already existing characters, like Sucrose=Pandoria (Xenoblade 2), Amber=Kizuna Ai, Ayato=Shigure (Fire Emblem if) and I bet there are more
i find that with wuwa, i tend to get characters confused because they look so similar. the example that was used in the video, baizhi and jianshin, are a pair i've consistently gotten confused about. i've never had a problem like this in genshin.
(just to say, i do like both games and i think the fighting is kinda unnecessary, please dont hurt me-)
@@innocentcoffeelover6638 Never ever was a problem for me, they look different enough. And if it's the case then you would confuse Kazuha and Male traveler as well
@@setarg5126 i actually haven't confused traveler and kazuha as, while their faces and hair have similarities, their colour palettes are very different. the main reason why i confuse baizhi and jianshin is the similar colour palettes
@@nvrmlticeI mean character designs beings similar or the same to honkai is intentional as their meant as character expys as kinda Easter eggs or references as honkai and genshin are connected as their in the same multiverse
Well some.
Yinlin for me, hands down the best design i have ever seen in wuwa she captures the vibe of "terror in beauty"
Genshin character design are more colorful compare to wuwa but it defines on the vibe of the game settings.
What people seem to be forgetting is that character design itself is also the sum of all parts combined. It's already thoroughly unfair for both games to only be compared by using splash arts instead of in-game footages, and it's even more disingenuous if you don't do prior research on why they are the way they are before making specific remarks about them. I could think of a million occupation or backstory for Diluc in the occasion that I'm seeing him for the first time, and this also applies to any other character that's displayed afterward if it's relying on my first impressions and only through external media related to them outside of story.
Within the timespan of a few hours I already connected several dots regarding WuWa's character designs, and they're simply going for a more subdued approach where they would not look too out of place when put within the confines of a room with people of the same occupation as theirs. Mortefi and Baizhi for instance, with Yinlin explicitly being able to pull off proper disguises to blend in with the populace while she's not acting as a vigilante (instances where she's wearing her default, playable uniform). Jiyan and Calcharo's design quirks immediately show that they're part of the top brass in Jinzhou's military regiment, while Jinhsi and Changli emphasizes divinity and opulence respectively due to their aesthetics. Rover's outfits look more or less like outliers to the rest of the group with Female Rover having prominent elements from Jinzhou's side while Male Rover possesses more of New Federation's style when put side by side with Aalto and Encore.
Not to mention the microdesigns of the gourds too which is something people often overlook or completely ignore. That thing also shows who belongs to what faction right and proper, and can more or less orient you towards similar characters in the far future when designs start to blend in together.
Forgot to add that emotional expression IS also part of character design, and arguably one that also can be a driving factor to the character's story. Having characters that can convey their emotions well is a boon for promoting "show, don't tell" approaches which are regarded as the more palatable form of storytelling. Remember to look at your favorite character's faces and expressions alone to see if they're able to convey an aura you're meant to feel from them.
Play the games and connect the dots yourself. Remember to view each game as its own thing first and foremost before any comparisons are made, as comparison is the thief of joy.
I don’t understand how people infer that a similar color scheme means characters are related. Every game has characters with similar color scheme. Heck geo characters in genshin for example have similar color schemes. It doesn’t mean they’re related. Like what are people thinking? The only thing that would get me to think two characters are related is if they wore the same uniform or had similar emblems. On the flip side, we can make the argument that Topaz and Aventurine are members of IPC in HSR, but I would never have known that from their designs only. However, people will not tell you that’s a bad thing for some reason.
I agree it’s disingenuous to take a splash art of baizhi and jianxin and say they look similar. Like play the game or see other official art. Even then, they’re like literally not that similar outside of similar color, and the more serious expression VS the energetic expression, different outfit style, and green accents with yin and yang theme already differentiates them from each other. I feel crazy when I hear people saying they can’t differentiate when I can easily do that. Like can people see?
One thing that I do wish was MORE distinct between characters were their gourds. It's nice that Aalto and Encore have unique ones, but I think that each one could be just a bit more personalized (imo Encore would totally deck hers out in any sticker she could find).
Verina's also strikes me as odd since she's originally from the New Federation, and I would assume she got her gourd there. So hers being differently colored would be a nice touch, too. Calcharo as well now that I think about it.
@@xraeynex Yeah, Verina and Calcharo tend to be points of contention with Calcharo being the only one with a proper reasoning; he got his gourd from Jiyan as part of his current attire while working as a mercenary within Huanglong, and this is revealed in his Lv. 5 Intimacy document. Verina however has no mentions yet regarding why she owns a Huanglong gourd as opposed to a New Federation one.
The idea of personalized gourds are pretty cute if anything, and I do wish they would implement that kind of thing down the line with future characters.
@@JKTonshi I just learned earlier today that Calcharo got his outfit from Jiyan! I don't have him, so I didn't realize he also got the gourd from him too, but that's definitely a cool detail. Maybe when he gets a skin, he'll have a more unique gourd. 🤞
This is the best comment so far
When I look at the character from both games I don’t really care about the details of the clothes, just how cool, cute or hot a character looks in them but that too comes down to preference. Example: I do not like the frilly dress style of Fontaine but it does fit certain characters like Navia whereas from what I’ve seen of the recent trailer, Nathlan character designs are right up my alley of preference.
I feel Genshin does have an upper hand in colors and clothes but in terms of overall visuals, I do prefer WuWa characters. Even if we throw star rail in the mix, I think jiyan is the coolest looking male character in all 3 games. And although the older looking female characters like yelan, Navia, Kafka, Himeko etc are my favorite in genshin and star rail (for obvious reasons 😌), in wuwa jinhsi has been my favorite since she first appeared. I love everything about her visual design even more than changli.
Conclusion: I think both games have banger design (all 3 if I include hsr) and I would definitely put WuWa on the same lvl as genshin however it all comes down to preference of the consumer
Imo u are so right that it's subjective cuz they are both good and bad in their own ways.
Genshin puts a lot of detail and character in their designs but the designs do sometimes come off costume-y cuz they are just so elaborate. It's hard to take them seriously when like next to hoyo ugly npcs or make characters like Fischl or Xinyan feel less unique like their story's say they are since everyone looks crazy . Also when u look through the model enough u start to see repeated elements that u won't ever be able to unsee like how tons of the female characters have disconnected sleeve and that small flap of fabric in front of their pelvis especially in the early models. Genshin has gotten a lot better over the years with this and has pumped out some remarkable designs especially in 4.0 tho.
WuWa does a great job making their characters feel part of the world and like they are just people living in this post apocalyptic world. The gap in quality between npcs and player isn't as huge and with Wuwa designs I appreciate that there are design elements like visible pockets and pouches as well as a large variety of shoe designs on the female characters. While the designs are simpler they feel more attainable while also being just that little bit extravagant to be a good game character design to look at. But they do have an issue with their color pallete and I do hope they make strides to go passed it.
For me, I wouldn't really compare Wuwa and Genshin Designs due to the fact that they have very different design philosophies and setting. I'd rather compare Wuwa to Arknights and Genshin to Dragalia Lost (RIP).
Whoever started the trend of comparing designs of these two games just wants to add fuel to the fire and immature af.
Genshin focuses on fantasy, while Wuwa is sci-fi/post apocalyptic.
The issue I had with Genshin's design is that its starting to suffer from characters looking the same.
Another issue is the censorship, because somehow some people are dedicated to report the designs to their govt to the point that the designs of characters has to be heavily regulated to the point that they're starting to have limited options when it comes to designs especially on female characters.
The issue that I had on Wuwa's design despite that its fitting to the setting and theme is that too much characters have a monochromatic coloring scheme which ends up making the characters look similar in a sense, and somehow makes their silhouettes indistinguishable.
Video is solid overall, but funny thing how you didn't cover on one of the most heated aspects of discussion - differences between Genshin's MC and WuWa's MC. It's crazy big, tbo 💁♂
Wuwa characters looks way more mature and have more expression on faces
Genshin = cartoony
Wuthering= realistic
That it
Can you compare Wuthering Waves and Punishing: Gray Raven (they are in the same company Kuro Games). I want to every see their progress about the Characters.
NGL i really like Wuwa and hate genshin but genshin character deisgn is actually so good but i like Wuwa character design because they really fit in with the NPC character design and not looking so much like a main character of an anime you can try to stand beside you character/ Rover with some NPC and they will looked like in the same world and i really like that
The only issue I have with wuwa is the graphics it has on my phone is a little bit too faded/crunchy compare to genshin & hsr from the same device. (Hsr even has the independent character resolution preset).
I just don’t care for genshin childish designs. They have a few cool characters but I prefer a more gritty looking game.
that's valid tbh
That’ll be funny if PGR’s character designs is added to WUWA bc I have not seen a cybernetic enhancement in WUWA yet
Xiangli Yao who will inevitably become playing has a prosthetic arm
the newer and upcoming WuWa characters are looking way much better now, I feel like we will soon be able to fairly compare WuWa and Genshin designs altogether.
For anyone doubting Kuro's ability to design or have trash designers, take a look at Punishing Gray Raven's character designs and outfit skins. It's actually sooo good for the themes they are going (sci-fi). This basically means that Kuro is experimenting with a completely new style albeit some of the color palates are reused but that's just Kuro's iconic color choice since they are a company that loves gritty games like Nier, DMC, and etc.
One thing that always stood out to me about genshin's designs is that they feel a bit excessive about how they convey each character's motif. They have a tendency of taking a symbol related to the character's theme and kind of just putting it everywhere on their design. With wuwa, most of the characters are significantly more subtle about their motif, but they still convey it fairly well imo. I think it also has a lot to do with how wuwa is intended to have a significantly more grounded feel to it, which is why their designs tend to feel quite similar in some cases, because they actually want to make to make the characters feel like they genuinely all fit together in the world. It also helps make it not feel quite as jarring when comparing the characters to npcs in the world, especially since many npcs actually have pretty high effort designs. At the end of the day though I appreciate genshin's designs as well because they fit the very cartoony world of genshin and many just look very visually appealing.
honestly I think Genshin is slowly going into a good direction with the slight difference in the new characters' models (males only sadly). Also I'd like to point out that the details can seem crumped on such lean models. Once I saw video of Neuvillete standing next to Zhongli I noticed it. Red Lapis seemed REALLY thin next to the hydro dragon lol.
Now imagine how much better it would look like if Ningguang had model like Himeko? Or Diluc would be built more like Jing Yuan (both examples from Honkai Star Rail)
tbf I think the fairest thing that many should do when comparing the two games is to compare this first WuWa update with the first Genshin update, that is, just Mondstadt and Liyue, regardless of what you compare
Honestly, I feel like Genshin's designs suffer a lot from samey character design.
Almost every single character has a cape or some sort of "cape-like" thing on their back that has to move when you walk around, for instance. I can't even think of the last character that didn't have some sort of cape or cape-like thing on their design.
Genshin's design these days really reminded me a lot to vtubers. vtubers these days so overdesigned with all the bells and whistles, sometimes quite literally, just to fight for your attention. The logic is the more things that might draw your eyes to a specific vtuber, the better it is, because it might bring more views and clicks. For example, an angel with a halo, UFO, and shiny things above its head is definitely more eye catching than a dude with black glasses. It doesn't matter if it gets too cluttered or not, if gets more eyeballs to the thing, then it's good.
But idk, it might be it's just fontaine's thing. But I feel like the 1.0 and 2.0 characters are usually simpler in nature design-wise.
Also, no matter how good your design is, it's all pointless when the resolution of the damned thing is so low res even in cutscenes it shows jaggy lines. That just throws all the hard work the designers done out of the window.
I think we also need to keep in mind that genshin released with 2 regions, while wuwa only has one currently. The reason Verina's design sticks out from the rest is becuse she isnt from Huanglong! ALSO! Both Aalto and Encore are a part of the Black Shores, so they each have their symbol (a black flower) hidden in their design!
For me, it comes down to inspiration. WuWa characters feel uninspired or like they're not embodying their trope well enough, like you have to look a bit harder to guess. Their outfits just don't tell a particular story in most cases. Genshin on the other hand, you could make a distinct moodboard for every single character, even the more lackluster ones like Bennett or Xinyan or Amber.
I LOVE genshins charecter designs. ALL of them, or course some less than others (except emlie idk what they were tryna do with her, also baizhu but i dont particularly hate his design). Ive only seen bits of wuwa and its characters and came into the video expecting to be fully choosing genshin designs over wuwa based on my first impressions (basically comparing my very initial reaction to genshin characters upon seeing then first time and wuwa charecters). Genuinely got suprised by how good the wuwa designs are. I dont think i could choose which i like better comparing individually. However as mentioned when you look on a whole the colour pallete lack diversity and it seems more difficult to differentiate between characters and what grps they are from. Also the silhouettes are lacking without their dynamic arts. I barely ever saw new players mistake genshin character for another and each charecter is very recognisable without needing much thinking to identify. Where as for wuwa as a new player id definitely struggle a bit more with remembering them and and getting familiar with the designs. Individually and subjectively i cant choose one over the other or even compare as they are set in a very different world with a different vibe. But objectively in regards to character designing and games that have a ton of charecters, genshin ticks all the boxes for good designs individually and overall. Except the same face thing (but id say its less of a charecter design problem and more of a limited model issue but it addsinto the overall comparison) and maybe being overly detailed but I dont consider that as a negative since the details work well with each other and dont overcrowd except for maybe a couple charecters. And "over saturated" isnt even something to consider it fits the world and just considered an art style. In a world where theres atleast 10 different kind of magic/power systems where it seems anything is possible and inspired by several different cultures why be boring and dull. If you can make it work why add any less details. When we spend hrs playing and looking at (and some even paying for) the same characters isnt it better to have more nice little things to look at.
I could write pages on why genshins designs are brilliant especially for a game where theres going to be like prolly more than 100 characters in the near future and all need to be fairly distinct.
In summary:
Genshin: Cutesy, very demure, Stands out more around the environment
WuWa: Immersive, represents their origin
Genshin's style is more lively and lighter in comparison to Wuwa's more mature and darker color pallette, Basically Marvel vs DC lol
I personally like WuWa more as the characters look more mature and there’s less twinks 💀but which game you like more depends on your personal preference. Also shout out to Punishing Gray Raven for give male and female characters equal fan service
i love jiyan but the jiyan thirsters WOULD NOT survive camu he would be too much for them 😭
@@delia1902yeah, especially in his new skin demon king camu, he looks damn cool
@@delia1902FUCK YEAH CAMU MENTIONED, i love my balls boi enjoyer
@@delia1902 still reminded of the fact that they added bulge on Camu
As a player of wuwa and a former genshin player, I think they both have their own unique designs.Although genshin’s designs are much more flashy and pretty, you have to consider the fact that it has a lot of experience and player preferences, but the npc’s are kind of plain.Wuwa on the other hand makes their characters fit in more to the fashion of the regions which makes the characters fit in more with the npc’s, you also have to consider the fact that it’s a newly released game and they need time to develop their designs and take players opinions. In short, both of them gave flaws and perfections.
Thank you for the last part. The amount of people comparing 4.7 Genshin to 1.0 WuWa in a lot of aspects without taking that into account is wild. Story wise for example. Of course, Genshin will have a better story when it has been ongoing for almost 4 years vs less than 1 month of WuWa.
I'd say people give it some time and if you don't like it currently, just wait some time and come back.
16:15 Venti also has the little origami windmill on his thigh which caters to his motif, along with the wings on the side of his "vision." His main color is also a really light teal/aquamarine, which is the color associated with Anemo (wind), so I'd argue his motif isn't really that subtle.
tbh the only reason i started playing wuwa is the design of the character it doesn’t feel repetitive yet
I have played WuWa and Genshin and to me I much prefer genshin’s designs.
There’s just more variety and they feel like they’re more connected to the characters.
Scar narratively has a playing card motif, and a black sheep motif, and yet you’d never guess that by his design.
I feel like in WuWa too many of them look too similar to each other and don’t look like their designs reflect as much of their character as Genshin’s do.
So even if on a technical level they’re fine, they look more generic and very similar to each other.
It doesn’t help their case for me that a number of them just look like different characters from other things.
Any genshin character would look like a clown in the world of wuwa, which is more serious and realistic than genshin's. With that said, it fits genshin designs to be that way, the overall game is colorful and bubbly, but that doesn't make it better as you are trying to argument. Scar would look ridiculous and unserious if he dresses as mr. cards with a sheep and horns over his clothes. Idk how you can say wuwa's characters looks generic when there are literally 5 models repeated in genshin, a lot of them with the same skills with differents skins. Every wuwa characters feels different in a lot of aspects, and the simplicity just adds to their design. Idk what to say on the last point, you said they looks similar ._.
@@yamilcid9823 Honestly I really disagree with you there.
I mean Genshin characters wear on average brighter clothes but not nonsensical clothes with only a few exceptions to that, and you’re saying that like there’s not WuWa characters in silly outfits like Yinlin or the lion dancer (I forget his name.)
They’d look out of place due to their clothing being more fantasy than sci-fi, that’s not the same as looking like clowns. They don’t start looking like clowns next to WuWa characters, because they just… don’t look like clowns.
I guess the guys would be more noticeably skinny.
And no I don’t actually think WuWa’s designs are really more grounded than Genshin’s, Genshin designs are based on real clothing, even if sometimes the inspiration is a bit loose, a lot of characters wear something that reflects their profession and/or personality, and that makes it feel like it was more thought out, like the characters are wearing clothes that reflects them in some way. WuWa character designs don’t look particularly more practical, and also have less to do with the characters wearing them, they look like they were designed for either coolness or attractiveness.
It’s debatable whether they succeed on that front, in a vacuum I wouldn’t say any of them look *bad* except for a few (I actually don’t like scar’s design he looks like a piece of Bacon, and the lion dancer kid looks like he got ketchup on his shirt and mud all over his pants, there’s also the crazy flower girl who’s design and colors just seem odd to me.) just I don’t think the lot of them succeed in standing out in any real way especially next to each other.
Scar could actually have black as a significant part of his color scheme, and he could be dressed like someone who actually deals with cards, as is he’s still silly looking, but his motifs just seem more random.
Mind you, WuWa seems to only have 4 model types, (it’s to be seen if we’ll have shorter girls, or just tall girls and children) and the lion dancer is the only guy who uses the shorter boy model, they have simpler designs than genshin, but not simple designs. Just in spite of that they have design similarities. And characters with the same models do reuse animations from each other. Not that I personally think that’s a significant issue. It’s just true.
I'm not arguing wuwa is not generic, there's 5 models as well as in genshin, it's just I'm not saying wuwa looks generic but genshin doesnt, as you do. Wuwas designs aren't eye catching at first, but you grow liking them if you get used to that style, that in my case I prefer it over genshin. I'm not saying wuwa is better than genshin but your arguments about what wuwas lacks in terms of design compared to genshin are just too biased. If it's your opinion try saying "I don't like wuwa because I prefer this" instead of "wawa lacks" or "wuwa is bad bc etc", and saying wuwa is generic as bad thing compared to genshin is a bad take imo
@@yamilcid9823 of course I’m biased, there’s no such thing as an unbiased argument when it comes to subjectivity. I think another thing genshin has going for them is better writing, so characters have actual character and personalities for their designs to represent.
It being my opinion is a given. And there were multiple times I made it clear that my statements were opinions.
Also I don’t see how saying WuWa looks more generic next to genshin is a bad take at all. It’s entirely a subjective one.
@@samkeiser9776 yes, unbiased arguments exists, when you are speaking facts to try proving something. Your argument is genshin characters are less generic, when both are not generic at all. What you should is "wuwa's characters are bland to me", not state that they are generic bc they aren't, as well as genshin.
To me I can't compare them because of the different art style choices. It's like comparing manga and manhwa, genshin being manga and Wuwa being manhwa. Both having their strengths and weaknesses.
12:24 yep I had a really confusing time recognizing these two😂 and was like "eh is she supposed to be 4 star or 5 star"
i like both of the games designs, and honestly id go for wuwa, since its more my cup of tea, i love the monochromatic designs and how simple they are, since it's 100% better for cosplayers!
while genshins over complex designs make it kinda hard to look and admire every single tiny aspect of it
Nice video, i agree with most of your points! I love fantasy genre so I prefer Genshin design more and how distinct they are (I can tell Genshin characters from which region, like when i first met Xiangling i know that shes not from Monstadt but ngl i still cant tell with most of Wuwa characters, i thought all of them from Jinzhou lol)
But I like how they design the mutation (if im not wrong) on characters in Wuwa like the feathers on Yangyang hair or Mortefi scales (its a crime they remove his tail >:c), how unique their npc are (like the souvenire pink girl shes so cutee :") and the big guy in simulation training), and more variety models in Wuwa, they dont share same face syndrom like in Genshin but ngl this made me afraid how big Wuwa will be in the future 🥲 this is also why i dont mind the limited models on Genshin 🥲 lol
as a genshin veteran(active) and a wuwa enjoyer, i lean towards wuwa design... and also they dont look alike, sure the game loves to use same colors more often but no they dont look alike.. plus men doesnt have noodle arms 😂
As a player of both I find both of them wonderfully unique in their own rights. The color palette of WuWa fits its genre as a dystopian apocalyptic world, where saturated color and dyes would be probably considered frivolous and attention getting. Which could be deadly since attracting TD attention is not a good thing, most people are soldiers of some sort so uniforms are easy to manufacture in large numbers. Same face syndrome can be applied to people in uniform it's a blanket perception.
Genshin character design fits its own world building but it's need to make everyone unique makes none of them unique after everything is said and done. I honestly just group people in genshin by the icon of national general design. Mostly at this point it comes down to gameplay to me and at this point even though I've played Genshin for years I prefer the gameplay of WuWa. It's faster paced and I love just parkouring around the world.😅
After playing wuwa a lot, i can't stand looking at all my genshin chars, wuwa is like kyoani where body proportional is top and consistent, meanwhile genshin... Look at my klee, nahida, diona, qiqi.. damn their heads are BEEG😂
Ngl Hoyo had me so messed up that I wasn't expecting Encore to be a KID kid 💀 like her model looks like some medium models from Hoyo (I initially thought she looked about the same age as Lynx, so like young but not like Hook young). But she's my favorite design by far and I love her character so I truly was in for a delightful surprise.
emilie's design reveal pissed me off the most because the lavender colour palette would've been lovely for dendro (because, hello??? lavender is a plant) but they just HAD to stick to dendro = green. also a criticism i have of genshin designs you didn't mention is their allergy to symmetry cause why the hell does chasca have two different pant length, i understand the appeal of asymmetrical designs but every single one??