How Hoyoverse Lies To You: A Raiden Shogun Character Study
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- A long look at The Raiden Shogun and Inazuma as a whole to see just how the devs at Hoyoverse play their cards.
As this is a long one, I've broken it up into chapters for easier viewing.
00:00 - Prologue: The Approaching Storm
2:10 - Chapter 1: Who is Raiden?
6:18 - Chapter 2: A Look at Inazuma
9:11 - Chapter 3: The Inazuma Archon Quest
13:57 - Chapter 4: The Anatomy of the Raiden Shogun
19:00 - Chapter 5: Doubt Everything
22:45 - Chapter 6: Raiden Story Quest I- Reflections of Mortality
26:27 - Chapter 7: Raiden Story Quest II- Transient Dreams, Irodori Festival
36:40 - Chapter 8: The Final Farewell
39:11 - Outro, Special Thanks
I do not own any of the source material, music, or news sources used in this video. I use and cite them to help illustrate my points and share my love of the game.
Wanna keep up with me? Come say hi at:
Twitter: @dragonhustled
Twitch: / dragonhustled
Thumbnail artwork/composition: Firestia
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Additional Artwork:
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To everyone who stopped by, watched the video, and left their thoughts here, thank you from the bottom of my heart! I'm beyond floored with the reception that this one has gotten, and I am beyond happy that people enjoyed it. This one took a really long time to research, record, write, and produce, so it means so much to me. Thank you again, everyone!
Can u do a review of the other raiden from Honkai Impact please?
Kazuah's friend didn't challenge Raiden Shogun out for his Vision. He challeneged to face her ultimate attack. He dueled Sara first lost and that meant he would be struck down like Signora did. He lost. This AMBITION of his got him killed. Something Ei wanted to stop by taking peoples Visions.
Kazuha didn't parry squat. his friend and his visions did. Ones ambition is to challenge the attack and the others is to be free. If it wasnt for the Traveler Kazuha and them would have been merced immediately after that parry.
Hey Dragon can you play Limbus Company please?😢
I am a little late to find this, but I‘ll leave my thoughts on your conclusion here regardless about „the highest highs“. I absolutely agree, I think that version 2 in its entirety, not just Inazumas spotlight, certainly had the highest highs in the game for me so far. I started playing as early as version 1.0, though half of 1.1 and whole 1.2 I was on a break, my real journey started with Xiaos release in 1.3. So I can only emphasize on how magical Inazumas reveal was with all the hype built up through hearsay and rumours in the playerbase. Next to the beautiful meaning and closure of Inazumas story (which would have benefited from 4+ chapters like sumeru imo to take time telling the tale) the perilious trail quest and 2.4 Lantern Rite with Shenhes introduction both were absolutely astounding. Version 2 has by far the most moments and cutscenes I wanna see for the first time again because the Shogun battle, Shenhes redemption and the opera plus Hoyo nearly killing off my favorite character while witnessing his past all had me crying badly and you can’t tell me that wasn’t the most epic stuff ever. I still get the chills watching signoras end and the aftermath… I hope they don’t tell us more about Fontaine so it’s revealing special program can be just as magical as Inazumas was -holy- almost two years ago
i am also late but i like this analysis of how we cannot simply trust what other people say in the game, since at the end of sumeru archon quest we are told by a mysterious voice that we should only trust what WE see, for that alone is true
imagine that you're in the raiden fight, and your elemental attacks are taken away, and then you go, "oh yeah, i built rosaria physical".
God I should get to it!
THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I DID LMAO i had 3 catalysts, phys rosaria, and a dream
LMAO i think that was my team at some point, electro traveler, zhongli, rosaria and jean, and ofc i made her physical (rosaria) so with food i kinda eased that fight when it came out (like the og puppet fight in the archon quest)
My Razor was chunking her shit I was just like "Yeah okay lets work" then the cutscene played.
i was a eula main at the time lol
“She would create a puppet to not just escape erosion, but also to govern inazuma and hold her gnosis. We love women in stem!” I love that line 😂
I think Alice does the Wanderers kit overview because she somehow is not connected to the Irminsul while Dain is.
She even comments on that with smth like "I could just pretend and act as though i've forgotten, but that's not my style." Paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it.
@Ryan Meytav i think its mainly just because she's a high level patron of dori's. not sure why specifically she did it instead of dain but i think its worth noting
@ryanmeytav Are we still talking about the character or the voice actress?
@Ryan Meytav She's a supplier for Dori, as said in Aloy's miscellany.
she narrates misc for people who aren't connected to irminsul, like aloy.
funny thing tho, during the first battle with riden, the part when she renders you characters powerless, it doesn't affect the travler... he doesn't have a vision after all so she cannot cut his usage of the elements... he was the only unit in my party that I could use at that point lool
Annoyingly she also cuts off Venti and Zhongli's powers too, when they really shouldn't be affected. Maybe she can cut off any being from Teyvat, or maybe they are just playing along.
The elemental effects of archers’ and witches’ AAs weren’t canceled.
@@dominicjannazo7144, I guess this is the case for newer players with playable Raiden, Nahida, and later archons.
Yes, perhaps she could cut through elemental powers any Teyvat people and Archon other than Descender.
I thought that was so cool, until i realized i was fighting her with Electro Traveler. The element she was immune to at the time. Their abilities might as well should have been locked.
a correction worth noting is that Ei did not actually fight Kazuha’s friend directly. He was defeated by Sara in a duel before the throne. After he was defeated by her, he faced the wrath of the Musou no Hitotachi. This is confirmed in Kazuha’s voiceline on Sara in his profile.
Musou no Hitotachi is Raidens sword right? So then… that implies that she is the one who gave the finishing blow… which means she *did* directly kill him.
@@TheRevenant4585yes, Tomo died by her blade, but it was not her decision to make, it was a duel before the throne, and the instigator was Tomo not Sara. Similar to how executioners were doing their job and not commiting murder
@@niazu5735 "Tomo died by her blade, but it was not her decision to make" oh? Some unknown force led her hand? Listen, even the act of making a "law" or "custom" like the duel before the thrown is homicide. Doing the execution herself even more so. It is pure despotism of a theocratic ruler.
@@kazuhah1743 noone sugested riden wasnt an all encomasing ruler. just like furina is basicly the ruler of fontane. so from that perspective i dont see an issue. its not how i want to be ruled but i dont impose my opinion on another culture.
I'm also pretty sure that it was the robot that did this and not Ei herself, so she didn't even have enough respect to kill one of her citizens anyways
The thing is Ei might not even be wrong in pursuing the Sakoku decree, through out your journey you see the civilizations that were destroyed presumably for knowing too much/too advanced, it was just how extreme it was makes it problematic.
Vision Hunt Decree and the Sakoku Decree are two different Decrees. Sakoku Decree was the sealing of the borders of Inazuma the VHD was the taking of Visions. Yes She might not have been wrong. The idea of protecting her nation isn't wrong. The method is the problem considering the Idea wasn't even hers in the first place it makes sense that it doesn't hold any water when you think about it for more than a few minutes. Standing by your Principles seems to be a really big theme With all Archons no matter the cost to the people.
@@ViralwingX And the funniest thing is that every Archon idea, that they hold upon, is for the sake of theirs people. Venti, Zhongli, Ei or even Nahida believed that the way they're guiding people is correct and will benefit them. Where each of them actually at least once abused that idea. Venti wanted as much freedom for his people as he wanted it for himself. Had he put even minimum effort to watch over Mondstadt, many tragedy could have simply been avoided. Zhongli have done great job during his regin but he played "let's see if they're ready" in very a*shole way toward people of Liyue. And no, him watching over them and being ready to step in the last moment to save the day was quite reckless. If Fatui had gone back on theirs deal in that very moment, he might have not been able to save his people - after all 3 of them are capable to match a god AND they had an Archon. We all know about Ei. And even Nahida was willing to let the Sages do all those sh*ts up until Subzeru Festival just because she believed they know better how to rule the nation - and boy, Sumeru was as rotten as Inazuma - if not even more.
@@TheDarshes Yeah you put it together nicely each Archon is trying their best to help the nation but when each of them stand by their Principles it seems to be a toss up on weather or not it really Hurts the nation or benefits them and sometimes it's both at the same time. I find it very interesting that Ei's Principle is only one that has been challenged so far. It makes me wonder if going forward we'll have to confront other Archon's Ideals. I hope so it makes for much more interesting and complex characters.
@@TheDarshes Ok have to disagree with Nahida she was locked up by the sages the second she gained conciousness and couldn't do anything for a long time the reason she was in the Sabzeruz Festival was because it was a dream.
@@prashantsadoo7583 I mean how exactly do you lock the God of dreams in a dream sounds foolish when you say it out loud. And if she wanted to she could have taken over the Sages minds but she didn't. Or used other people in the nation to take out the Sages or even just confine them like she did in the Desert when we fell in the sinkhole. She chose not to until things got desperate enough. She didn't believe is was adequate enough to be an Archon. Like Dainsleif said the Gods of wisdoms enemy is wisdom itself.... and the God of wisdom makes no argument against it.
If you like Ei's backstory, I would also recommend "Dreams in Eternal Reminiscence"! Be ready to cry though lol
Why? And what is it?
@@kyewithay3132 It's a video from Hoyofair 2022 ruclips.net/video/NtKJSHW68p4/видео.html
@@patrickpiguing3353 ooo, thank you!
That video makes me cry every time
another interesting fact is that Makoto wore a fan head pin, and Ei used a golden horn like head pin (plus they both used different flowers), and when Makoto died, and Ei had to take the place of the electro archon, she started wearing her sisters head pin as well. so when you look at her from the front, she looks like Ei, but when you look at her from the back, she looks like Makoto.
To be honest, I like how the Genshin story unfolds. I don't mind that we're told something at one point, then it turns on its head later because what we learned before was a misconception or a lie. It's kinda like in real life. And the way it's given to us makes sense to me, it's not like Genshin storywriters have ever run into dead end and had to back up, something I have met in other stories.
And I really enjoyed Inazuma story, despite what others say how underwhelming it was. Sumeru totally overshadowed Inazuma and everything else, it was just too good. Way too good. But that does not make Inazuma bad. Every now and then, I really wish I could relive these moments in the game all the way since the beginning, the fascination with a new world, and the process of discovering it. But all these things are stored deep in my memory and there's no turning back, starting a new account does not cut it.
"once ei decided to pursue maternity"
scaramouche would like to have a word
I mean, she _did_ pursue that in a sense at that time. She didn't do so for very long and gave up pretty quickly, but it did happen.
"But if a person shows true strength of will at a desperate and fateful moment in their life, the gods will look upon them with favor."
Meanwhile, there's Lisa.
3:37 "His friend Tomo" people forget he doesn't actually have a name 😂
Yeah tomo is literally short for "tomodachi," the Japanese word for "friend"
@@Awesomeninja54 I personally call him Nanashi Tomo, basically "Nameless friend" just so his name matches all the other noble Inazuman names like Kadehara Kazuha.
His friend Friend
@@f4llenleaves "Chai TEA? You're calling it a tea TEA!"
@@Awesomeninja54 Tomo can be a name or a nickname tho'.
“Himawari looks a lot like Yae M-“
Another great watch, sir!
It’s cool to hear how invested you were with this region. I really didn’t know the depth of it. And you must have written the fuckin encyclopedia twice over for the script, damn
I can only imagine the time investment, so well done in getting this over the finish line. I especially really like how you’re organizing and structuring things (timestamps, captions) and your humor comes across pretty well I think. Thanks for making this, cheers
Thank you so much! Your feedback means so much :)
this is such an immaculate such precise analysis of her character and I'm baffled how people still miss the whole point to this day. Like even if u dgaf about ei how can you possibly invalidate her impact. I don't even have anything to add I'm just grateful someone captured her character so well AND EVERYBODY NEEDS TO WATCH THIS.
Yeah fr it's just pisses me off, pointing details about her character, far more developed and complex then any zhongli is next or equally imp in his ways, I've been pointing the fact that she lost everything in wars, wasn't fit to be leader, yet still continued, yet her entire reason for her story is learning from mistakes she made, her story quests are absolute 10/10
My favorite take of the Ei's side quest #2. Pointing out about her inability to cook, "notice how fast Furuyama just decided to move on, when she offered to make tea? That's THE proof that she can't cook."
Eis story is so phenomenal, she was really heart broken in story quest part two
I don't think that counts though. Cause we know Furuyama thought he was talking to Makoto, not Ei. We know Ei cant cook, but surely not Makoto either? Lmao.
I think he just didn't want to let royalty do the work a humble man like himself should.
What a blessing in finding this video on Ei's birthday.
Finally, someone who doesn't trash-talks Ei's story quests. I personally find them very insightful. Maybe a bit prolonged at some points but it was necessary to flesh out. I have grown too attached to this character that every bit of detail is essential to _flesh her out._ 💟
I love her! Still love her. Love this video. Best one so far I've seen about Ei. A nice recap. Now I just wish we get a continuation sometime in the future. A part 3. 🙏
I can’t lie, when I first saw the video on my home page the title and thumbnail made me *not* want to watch it, but I eventually did when it came on during auto play. And I’m so glad it did!
This was such a refreshing rehash and retrospective on Inazuma, Ei, and their stories. It feels like such a long time ago that that part of the story played out and with the game in the thick of Sumeru, it can sometimes even feel forgotten. Now it seems like when people mention Inazuma’s story, it’s to point out the bad parts of it’s telling. And there definitely are many. But I think fandom has forgotten the parts where it shined, and I appreciate this video for highlighting that.
Having your fresh and excited perspective on the story and character took me back to when I was in your shoes and made me remember what I loved about it. For that I thank you!
These are the type of videos that I love, so if you make more of these in the future, I will certainly watch.
It feels great to listen to a video from someone who you can tell is a true fan. You summed up my feelings on Ei and the Raiden Shogun so well, that I’ll probably use this video to convey my feelings over trying to explain them myself. Excellent work.
thank you for this video! Its interesting to listen to someome who appreciated the inazuma archon quest and Ei because I was someone who was disappointed by these... But i feel like most of the issues I had with it could have been avoided if it was given time to develop (it felt very rushed), I'm glad to see MHY learned to do this with the Sumeru quest and I have hope they'll keep delivering this way.
Also, Ei's second story quest was exactly was I was looking for in order to feel some closure, so I've been a bit more forgiving after it was released.
Inazuma archon quest is, by concept, a very good one. I actually love Raiden Ei whole story. But sadly, the pacing destroys it all.
3:10 except for Itto.
dude is so carefree his ambition is probably "playing TCG, kabuto fight, and hanging out with his gang in Ritou" when his vision was taken, he is still the same himbo we know.
Correction:
Tomo did not fight the Shogun. he fought Sara. doesn't make him any less dead since the whole duel in the throne deal but y'kno, important distinction.
everything else in your video, absolutely nice.
loved the pacing and writing.
Irrelevant comment cause he did get folded by Raiden
this video was amazingly written and edited! i hope that (as long as its something you want!) you continue to make genshin vids- deep dives into characters and their overall impact in the game world and lore are super interesting. congrats on stepping out of your comfort zone! you created an amazing video and im looking forward to watching whatever you come up with next
Thank you so much! I haven't decided on making any more Genshin videos yet; I felt like I went over all the topics I wanted to in this one, but it's not completely off the table in the future! Thank you for the kind words, they mean so much :)
I think my favorite thing abt ei is her idgaf attitude. like she just casually killed off orobashi permanently shaping inazumas landscape. she destroys her body and goes to meditate in a sword for a few centuries and when Yae Miko, who she hasn't seen in centuries, pops in it barely throws her off. ei goes into town and give everyone around her a panic attack cuz their god is casually walking around and she's like "yeah whatever." idk it's really enduring and despite that you can still tell she cares for her country deeply
idgaf attitude is what's best for a leader of a nation
Casually? Orobashi's rebellion was not a joke, one of her friends died in the battle and made Yashiori Island a mess
That, and the fact her jp va is Sawashiro Miyuki were the main selling points for me.
There's also the fact I'm o a crusade to get all of the electro ladies on the game as long as I play... But the first two reasons are more important to me
Nah the proper term is muscle head
Like if you take notice Ei answer to everything is basically brute forcing it... literally.
Dango milk not selling? buy it wholesale and distribute it door to door for free
Looking for new leader in Kanjou commission? fite me!
Losing at shogi? do it over and over and over and over and over again
resetting Raiden Shogun protocol? A deity equivalent of basically slapping the CRT TV till it bent it's knee and obey you as it's rightful master.
For her it's all or nothing in the most straightforward manners like a lightning. To put it nicely she's a woman of focus, commitment and sheer fucking will... to put it badly she's a muscle head with tunnel vision. Either way she's incomplete without Makoto her balancing counterpart.
In that regard giving her role to Raiden Shogun assisted by tri-commission is a good move. She's like Venti, by nature are extremely unsuited as bureaucrat and leader.
@@insertcoolnamelater9334 What? Did Orobashi actually kill someone?. I thought he agreed with celestia to be slain for reading sun and moon. Why would he kill someone on EI's side if he accepted his death. Or i guess maybe he accepted it and changed his mind later? Tho that would mean that his people of Enkanomiya/Watatsumi could perhaps face punishment. I feel like im missing something, cause this shit ain't making sense.
I hadn't even thought of it until you mentioned it. But the sakura tree worked incredibly as a foreshadowing for the tree of knowledge twist in Nahida's story. At first, I thought it was just weird writing and didn't think much of it, but now I'm like... Woah...
I realised a lot of people seems to have missed the subtext during the "date".
More than fan-service it's an exposition of Ei's relationship with her people and the Shogun
For example, the photograph part : it's litterally Ei describing what the Shogun is to her -> a representation of herself fixed in time that is her and not her at the same time !!
And well, Hoyoverse is quite known for using subtext in Honkai ! The thing in Genshin is that we have Paimon exposing everything constantly. Which, imo, tend to make people less alert of subtext in Genshin while it's quite important in the story. I'd say Paimon is not your lighthouse, she's your distraction haha !
People whi call it a date are cringe worthy, they cause a barrage of unnecessary and unjustified hate to her story quests which are simply meant to show her grieving naive human side and subject of change , it seriously pisses me off why are people having opinions that are completely untrue, like it doesn't make sense how am I supposed to respect non truths lol.
Yeah, when a dictator who's to blame for many people becoming shallow husks or dying and for the national economic crisis comes out and not even a single soul scuffs at her and we who fought her to death just recently go degustating deserts with her... Its a date for the sake of a date. Nothing more. Whatever shallow things she reflects on later doesn't concern me. She's yet to face consequences or show any remorse for what she did, to this day. Fuck her.
You have to understand that the most vocal people who hated that quest are people who had just that story quest as closure to Inazuma archon quest. The second story quest hasn't come out yet. Because the ending in Inazuma archon quest doesn't feel like a proper closure. Ei's actions shouldn't be forgiven that easily. Sure, it's not unbelievable for people to forgive her that easily, but as a story, it just doesn't hold up. It felt unearned. And people were seeking proper closure. So when this date of a story quest was dropped, it felt like nothing but a wet noodle slap to the face of everybody's dissatisfaction. There's also the argument that you can't just punish a god and that's true but that's not what I'm saying. Because in that story quest, it felt like her convictions were shaken by just dangos, light novels and stuff like that. The very conviction that made people suffer for centuries are now challenged by dango. It felt cheap. Sure, it's not unrealistic, but again, as a story, it's not satisfying.
That was achieved by her second story quest. That oomph that the first story quest couldn't pack was in that quest. I honestly think her second story quest should be her first story quest. Firstly, to give proper, satisfying closure to the dumpsterfire that is Inazuma's archon quest and also to make Ei's conviction not feel cheap and her forgiveness earned. We shouldn't be immediately buddy-buddy with this person who's tried to kill us just a few weeks prior and we tried to kill in turn. That date just felt out of place and we couldn't appreciate that. The problem is, people had already lost confidence in Genshin's writing by the time Ei's second story quest came about so it didn't stir up people as much as it should have at the time of release.
@@Rex_Nichts not only that, but the second quest doesn't change much either. She still doesn't even look like she feels sorry for all the people who died in the meaningless civil war or became empty husks without their visions or fell to powerty because of the closed borders or got stuck in a hostile country that strips them off any valuables they have. Not a single group of those who suffered from her "i know but it doesn't stop my eternity from happening so i don't care" attitude has been addressed. And probably never will at this point, knowing hoyo writing.
"More than fan-service it's an exposition of Ei's relationship with her people and the Shogun" - Yes, but the tone in which it was presented it wasn't the right now at that moment. Coming right off a very dark story filled with wars, death and famine, the sudden change in tone to a slice of life esque dating sim (akin to Lisa, Yoimiya and Ayaka) was a tonal whiplash that made it seem like they were trying too hard to make her seem cute and quirky while handwaving everything that has happened or has been indirectly caused by her as nonexistent. You could literally pinpoint every single issue people have with Ei to this quest. Yes it can be argued that the people of Inazuma wouldn't exactly hate her that much but that only intensifies that notion that she can do whatever she wants and get away with it, which isn't going to endear her, because we as the audience aren't the people of Inazuma, aren't in the thumb of a god. Audience want consequences, and to be devoid of that is to leave a very, VERY bad first impression.
And it's not some one off issue of people failing to understand subtleties either. The second story quest takes every cricticism levied against the first and addresses it, and even the Sumero quest for Wanderer takes cues from this first quest on how NOT to begin a redemption arc.
TLDR: If you want a write a tragic, misguided figure under a redemption arc, make sure you don't start with a shopping date.
ei was a character that disappoints me when i first played genshin. I got her on her first banner and was hype for her, but inazuma as a whole, i was def part of the crowd that felt heavily let down by it. It was only when her second story quest was released that i gain more appreciation for her character and i accidentally pulled her c1 and not kokomi because duo banners were still kinda new back then and accidents happen (wanted her c2 but my primos were drained during wanderer's banner lol). Ei is an incredibly emotional character, almost all of her actions are emotionally driven instead of logical. the creation of the raiden puppet, the sukoku degree, the vision hunt degree, they all started because of her incredibly emotionally driven character of not being able to process grief. it's actually an interesting parallel to scaramouche and his way of processing grief. both of them kinda see emotions as a bad thing, more so scara's anti emotions mindset was inherited thanks to ei's whether anyone wanna argue directly or not, but both of them are incredibly emotional. some people see ei as a whiny crybaby, and i did too, but quite frankly, now, i'd factor that into her very emotional character that isn''t really brought up a lot because i believe people, including ei herself, tend to believe that emotions are more so makoto's thing and undermines her own emotional tendencies
I still hate raiden, she should honestly stop being the archon, she's selfish and never cares for what consequences the people face from her stupidly childish decisions, because of her literally countless people died, I'll admit she's an emotional character but that doesn't excuse her misuse of authority
I like your comment as it perfectly encapsulated Hoyoverse's imaginary regarding Raiden in the Hoyo universe, and that is of an *emotional character*
However, in my opinion
Writing an emotional character is no easy feat and Ei is a prime example of how NOT to do it
The Raiden Meis from Honkai Impact are examples of better written emotional characters
Still respect your opinion though
@@nknown3982 selfishness is not a bad thing, it could have been used to make a really compelling villain... too bad that Hoyoverse chose the waifu route
@@nknown3982 Honestly, that's the problem. hyvrs doesn't show her further consequences of her action.
People like development, the problem is Ei gets it way too late and her quest 1 doesn't do her much.
@@mitacestalia7532 People constantly talk about Her facing consequences sound like broken records. She's a God She doesn't have to face the consequences like a mortal does. Zhongli doesn't face any consequences for his years of slaughtering other gods yet so many of you want something that no being in Teyvat can grant. Her fight against the puppet was her punishment 500 years of torture is what she describes it as. Stop looking at her like she's human because she isn't you can't just punish her like you can people irl that's not how this works. People also need to remember that the events of the Archon Quest aren't all her fault just partially her fault. The very people she trusted to run Inazuma lied to her and gave her false reports thus clouding the Puppet's judgment of the affairs within the nation, if she was given all the info the events of the archon quest wouldn't even have happened in the first place. Ayaka tells us this as does Yae Miko. Her first story quest backs this up too. Adding to that She does quite a lot of things after the Archon Quest to help the people of Inazuma move forward towards a better future with Yae Miko's help. Her second story quest even has her acknowledge how she had failed her people and that she has to own those mistakes to better herself and Inazuma. The only problem I have is that the Devs didn't shows us enough of what she does after the quest to help Inazuma they told us what happened. But they didn't show us what happened, they messed up the show don't tell part. Sumeru suffers from this too. Although both Kokomi's and Ayato's story quest both showcase what Raiden and her government are dealing with after everything that's happened if you missed that I'm sorry but that's a pretty important thing that the Devs did take the time to show us.
Hold up a hot minute, the end of Inazuma’s story was told in a FUCKING LIMITED TIME EVENT?!?!
Welcome to Genshin
Loved the analysis and this video format, please do more
This was so much better than I was expecting I would absolutely love to keep getting videos like these!
Finally someone else who agrees that Shogun's first story quest was necessary and important
And to elaborate on my opinion: Makoto's death plunged Ei into a huge amount of grief. And she acted in a selfish yet understandable manner that hurt herself. Ei decided to seal herself in, ignore her people, let her nation do whatever while she holed herself up and grieve for eternity.
While understandable, avoiding the problem and dwelling on it forever is not a healthy coping mechanism. You can't spend your entire life mulling over past regrets.
The first story quest was unravelling part of this: getting Ei to accept responsibility. Bringing the Shogun around Inazuma not only showed Ei that there was still beauty around her that she had never looked at before, but also finally reconnected the god with _her_ people. She finally connected with her people's hopes and dreams and the lives they lived every day. She realised the importance of taking care of Inazuma.
And the political side of the story is a continuation of this. By intervening in the factional infighting within Inazuma, Ei is finally accepting her responsibility and governing her nation. She probably never even realised this was what she needed to do, and probably thought this was just one isolated incident. But this was an important and crucial step to moving on.
And the second story quest resolves the main catalyst for her behaviour. Getting over the death of her sister and move on. Ei gets one last talk with her sister, while we learn more about Ei's backstory, and Ei finally moves on from eternity. At the same time, this second act also offers a new meaning for eternity that Ei can adopt, in memory of her sister and to help her move on.
Accepting the fact that Makoto is now gone, accepting the responsibility that she now bears, finding a new purpose for her life and a way to honour her sister's memory. These two story arcs combined display a healthy way to overcome tragedy and grief. Both parts are vitally important to each other.
Was the first story quest perhaps handled incompetently by not directly addressing the reason for its existence? I won't deny that. Raiden's first story quest and Kokomi's story quest both have a deeper meaning that they did not directly address and are as a result viewed as bad. This could be regarded as a flaw of Inazuma's writing.
Ei's journey isn't complete, of course. A lot of people are still complaining how there hasn't been a resolution for her story with Ei choosing something else to focus on or governing Inazuma in-person more. I believe there's plenty more time for character growth to take place however. It's a similar situation with Xiao imo, where Xiao has been shown that his behaviour actually isn't necessary and he can stop. There's just one more step he needs to take to resolve his arc which hasn't been taken yet but easily can be.
We've been shown that Ei repealed the Sakoku Decree slightly before the Irodori Festival. This is probably a sign that Ei is finally moving on and (maybe?) embracing her sister Makoto's idea of eternity, to honor her memory and make Inazuma a better place. This is a good step forward. The final part of Ei's story, of truly cherishing, improving and honouring the memory of her sister, will hopefully come in the future.
Hope I didn't sound too confusing here
correct me if im wrong but that quest is available before the war is completed. Imagine a captain go on a date with the opposite side's god. Its not the story of inazuma is bad, far from it as i like enkanomiya the most as its what i considered the start of genshin's story telling ( putting alot more stuff in the world/exploration), but the pacing is just dog poop.
Just like us who do the contents as it come out, we do nahida quest, aranara, then nahida part 2 and so on. For some that rushed through nahida's quest without doing aranara cant appreciate how much attention to details hoyoverse put into the game, which is sad but hey, we have Ashikai to do a recap so im fine with it.
Man... In my opinion to say that Ei was selfish its kinda... I don't know. This happens because anyone who suffers from PTSD and depression, or any mental health issue, has thoughts with logical and rational limitations, acting more on emotion and recklessness, so for me it is understandable. All she needed was a little light and hope from her people, which brought her back to reality.
@@wolvessantus1129 mhm, it's a very natural and understandable reaction. But she does have a responsibility to her people and nation to lead them out of this trying time and rebuild. Raiden does not do this and avoids responsibility to mourn and grieve. Is this selfish? Yes. Is this also understandable and forgivable? Absolutely. I don't blame her for the actions she chose.
@@MefoWho Actually. The quest is available after the war ends
@@ShadowmanX1989 Oh it was. I always had the impression that i gave Ei milk n dango before the later half of the story. Maybe inazuma's pacing isnt as bad as i remember it was
Amazing video ! Quite a long time passed since I last played those quests, and it was very nice to have them revisited and "explained" in a way. Thanks for the awesome work ! ^^
My 2 main complaints whilst experiencing the content when current was:
1)the rebellion was too short, there should have been more battles the traveler took part in between joining the resistance and the delusion factory, such as spawning in some naval ships of both sides and the traveler fights across them, maybe even where for part of it the traveler is using the waverider against inazuma navy.
2) the Ei date. Ei has made several puppets by this point, she should not be mystified by the camera. Her first solution to how it works could be wrong, ie a miniature puppet inside making a painting really fast. but none of the real life early mysticism surrounding cameras and stealing souls or the like. the minor letdown is that after doing the quest, as the traveler, you don't really hear as much gossip as you should about the traveler having a date with the archon....
My biggest problem was the lack of voice over in important story quests.
As well as, limited time event content. I lost so much.
1) in war, resources get spent. we arrive late into the conflict and that's why we easily ascend as a valuable asset/threat. We survive a direct confrontation with the shogun and establish diplomatic relations with all parties involved in the conflict.
2) curiosity towards the camera has been shared by most people in teyvat.we should assume that a goddess of eternity whom only reads light novels and meditates would be on guard against a known evil spirit. known for trapping peoples souls in it.
I feel your second complaint isn't entirely grounded. Making a puppet move through elemental power, ie magic, is not the same as the prospect of a photograph. Even in our own world, the invention of pictures and film was far beyond what people could imagine despite the numerous technological advances that had been going on at the time. In Teyvat, its because its straight up technology and not based on existing and widely used energy sources that Fontaine's Kameras are seen as a confusing marvel by many people outside of their region, especially to a god who never really left her homeland.
As for gossip around the Shogun, you have to understand that the relationship between her and her people is similar to a historical Shogun and their people. Honor and loyalty was the foundation of that respect for a Shogun. Menial gossip would be seen as fully disrespectful and if that sounds like headcanon, just think about the fact of who was fighting who in the war. Watatsumi started the resistance while most of the rest of Inazuma simply complied with the Shogun's wishes. Watatsumi already had a bad history with the Shogun and her people because she struck down their god. That's all they really know about her and the Sakoku and Vision Hunt Decrees simply made it easier to start a war and garner support for it. Many people were completely fine with what the Shogun was doing because they believed in her leadership wholeheartedly. Not to mention that the population of Vision wielders are small so most wouldn't really care as it's not their problem.
I believe a lot of people overblown Ei's story quest as a "date" when it's more or akin to a readjustment to society. The people respect the Shogun and treat her as a respected leader, not a celebrity. I think a majority of players misunderstood what kind of place Inazuma was and thought one thing without considering the other
@@Soulferno There is this mass murdering dictator and then it’s just like ‘nah all good’ and you go and get dango.
@@Soulferno Seriously, the fact that people call it a date makes it very clear that these people would never be able to help rehabilitate someone who was out of touch, because it would require too much kindness than could be given to a person without it being for the sake of romance. The Seven Archons were the last seven Gods standing in a Battle Royale. None of them made it to their seats of power without blood on their hands. However, they are Gods, and it's much better to help a well-meaning, powerful God see a better path to doing good than punishing and attempting (and probably failing, due to that whole powerful God thing, but let's assume it's possible for a second) to replace her when it's clear that two-thirds of the Government had just previously been operating in a self-serving capacity, and who were also perfectly happy to actively maintain and enforce the VHD. This makes them just as bad as her in action, and even WORSE in intention.
The players who would not have helped Ei would have absolutely made Inazuma worse than it already was, all for the sake of punitive thinking.
@@rokishi Ah yes, I remember when Abraham Lincoln was considered a dictator for fighting the south. I'm surprised more people don't talk about such an important aspect of history.
Look, maybe don't throw around words you don't actually know the meaning of to make a point because what you just said was a little dumb, no offense. The Shogun fighting a CIVIL WAR wouldn't make her a dictator by any stretch of the imagination. If it was a genuine revolution with the Inazuman citizens going against the rule of the Shogun and general government then yes, Ei would be a dictator but because that's not what happened, I kindly would ask you to reexamine what you just said and understand why it makes no sense
Great video! It's so nice to see some positivity towards Raiden as a character
Well done, a thoroughly enjoyable watch
Yoimiya is best girl.
Also:
The part that made me choke up the hardest was Ei's monologue (around the time of the Tea Master, either before or after) when she realized Makoto was right in her reasoning. Ei's VA absolutely broke me and you can hear the unintended breaking in her voice as she's overcome with regret from pushing her sister's ideas out since taking over.
Right there, she went from my most hated character to one of my most loved and understood.
Then Genshin went back to making terrible NPC archon quests.
great video!! you put into words all my thoughts and then some. even though the archon quests and first story quest fall flat in a few places, i’ve always thought ei was depicted really well, and i’m elated to see such an in-depth video about her. spread the ei appreciation!
It's so well written and informative, i loved it!! Thank you, keep up the good work
it’s such a relief to hear praise for this archon quest holy shit
I love Raidens character since like Vergil she kicked out her son and refuses to pay child support. Jokes aside, this was a really good character analysis and the fact you used Bury the Light just made it better, for me at least. Keep up the good work.
ohhhhhh you my friend deserve the Title of Based.
normally mgr and dmc fans love shitting on her for no reason outher than "haha genshit impact bad me game goooood"
@@nunocampea2395 personally i pity them since they are unable of seeing the beauty of a game like genshin. yes, it started as a BOTW clone but over the years it became so much more. also the fact hoyo took inspiration from botw and even devil may cry (a lot of abilities look similar to vergils) is even better since they took the good aspects and implemented them into their own game.
@@NahIdSword ive heard something like "good gameplay systems should be copyed" and i couldnt agree more
Jokes aside, i think she's just the most hateable character in all of genshin, people shit on wanderer even though his actions were much more justified compared to raiden shit Shogun, i can't remember a single thing she's done that was likeable, people simp for her just cuz she's hot
@@nknown3982 well im not gonna deffend her and say that what she did was justifiable (quite the opposite really) but what i CAN say is that she has plenty of reason to act like that.
she had no experience rulling a nation because that was her sister's job, she was just the blade, so when Makoto and her friends died she had to carry on all the responsabilitys and sisnce she was kind of not ready and very emotional, she hadnt been thinking straight and did LOTS of bad decisions over the past years, thankfully we (the traveller) putted her in the right path.
This was insanely well presented!
Also Ei literally sacrificed herself so that makoto can become the electro archon
Aside from this being a remarkably detailed and in depth analyzation, I love how you left in the maternity blooper, it's even better because it is actually true, too.
This video was incredible 👏🏻 when I initially played the Inazuma quest, I had such a knee-jerk reaction to Ei (the autocratic rule of the Shogun was painful to watch and experience through the characters and it hit me very hard) and I had to take my time dissecting the characters and story as a whole for a while. And by the time I did the 2nd Ei Story Quest, everything just clicked. All the details you talked about and the character development, and all the little bits of that sprinkled throughout made sense and Ei became one of my absolute favorite characters. Kudos to your brilliant video essay game analysis skills 👏🏻 def gotta check out some of your other vids and I hope someday we both can conquer that backlog despite Genshin being such a banger for story, characters, and lore 💗
i love how you summarized the story and give a different view about it. ❤
ei is one of my favorites and im glad someone actually understands her character after so long, would love to see more of these types of videos!
Such a beautiful video, thank you!
Nice video, one part you didn't touch on which fits perfectly with what you said about Mihoyo setting expectations is from Raiden's demo. At the end she quotes a Buddhist poems from a well known anthology. It reads "Waking world you seem, Woven from the stuff of dream, All shall fade away."
To make it short, it's about the Buddhist philosophy that the real world is as fleeting and illusionary as a dream, and that to escape that is to reach the Nirvana, the stillness of the mind. What it shows is the flaw of her ideals, she wants to reach that stillness of mind so that the nation would ascend through her (another buddhist concept that's shown through the Thousand eyes statue), but since the world is already fleeting it is an unobtainable goal.
my jaw DROPPED when i saw you "only" had 600 subs! The quality of the video is AMAZING and i really enjoyed listing to it the whole time :D Love the editing and the background music was always fitting so well. Really great work from an amazing person for an amazing character 💕
21:00 you mean
The Great Adventurer of the Realms, Dodo-King, Defender of Old Mondstadt, Friend of Adults Who Yet Harbor Hope, Author of the Teyvat Travel Guide, Originator of the Kujirai Art - Temari Jutsu, Supplier to the Renowned Lord Sangemah Bay, Elder of the Hexenzirkel, Codename "A," Mother of the Most Adorable Klee - Alice?
Raiden Ei is by far my favourite character. I love her story and that she had found out what Eternity truly means, the OST for her demo, her Japanese VA (Miyuki Sawashiro), her ideal as an archon, and lastly her kit and gameplay in the open world. She is a character that I do not regret pulling for (was really happy when I got her). There just too much beauty in the Raiden Shogun.
Fr her story quest part Two made me cry for her losses, the tea part, thr soldiers thanking jee and she thanking them, learning from her mistakes is legit peak development, it pisses me of how a bunch of kids who don't understand ei and Raiden just hate her because "she's evil, she's caused wars" seriously like it drives me mald lol
@@negaro9113 mhm mhm
I mean, Raiden really was supposed to be a big character. And everything in the game design succeeded in doing this... Except the Archon quest and Her story quest 1.
The lack of proper writing directly affected her image for me and no matter whatever happens after, the damage was already done.
Sumeru is where I actually felt the impact of Inazuma... And especially Scaramouche. For me , Nahida and Scaramouche did soo much more than Raiden and are BIG characters... Raiden never is. The Inazuma Archon quest almost failed to make me believe that Raiden is this big character who cut a huge island. The philosophies of Sumeru is what made me realise the problems and weaknesses in Ei's decisions and philosophies. Scaramouche slowly DESTROYING the idea of eternity itself was soo cool. How the things we know and things that we thought are there forever could be manipulated... Inazuma's Archon quest was a great idea. It had many valuable philosophies that influence a lot of ideas we hear later in the story. But IT WAS A BAD QUEST LINE. They failed to make us feel the impact of everything they mentioned. The civil war felt like non-existence even though we spent so much pointless time doing chores . The only fun part was upto our first meeting of Raiden. Game took it's time.
They should have taken more and more time on civil war and all. It was painfully slow yet rushed through anything.
such a great video thank you for making it 💗
If Ei’s second story quest is the finale of the inazuma arc, then the irodori festival was like a limited time epilogue to the arc.
Beautiful video ❤
Holy shit!! this was such a good study of raiden, ive like analyzed her character to death because shes also my fave,, and this is so fresh and so good... gosh i love ei so much, and i love how you can see your passion for good character writing in this
Thank you for the video!
And the fact that a lot of people say she is the worst written Genshin character is so sad
Raiden's story quest(s) was the first to make me cry, it was the first moment I realised this game is so much more beautiful that I thought, the stories, the world and the characters are all breathtaking
Fr it's the part two you are talking about ik it's such peak quest it's the only quest I played fully on both accounts, it makes me hurt as well if you play with English VA her voice literally has pain in it jeez
This was a great character study! She's also my favorite character and your analysis covers most of the points why I like her too. Also many great points on Genshin storytelling overall.
i stumbled upon your video by pure coincidence, honestly
but by god its a great video!!
what makes me laugh so hard is that your little bit about Alice made me wonder "wouldn't it be funny if she was the pyro archon?"
Glad to see you're putting those Yakuza sfx I datamined for you to good use
This video was perfect, thanks for this
Tbh when I fought her for the first time, I put on ‘Bury the Light’ for that extra motivation.
This was a very very very very good video :D
Ei is pursuing maternity in my serenitea pot. Its the truth
The casual day with Raiden was my FAVOURITE part of her hangout quest. I adore her
Really amazing video. It made me remember again why I loved inazuma and it's impeccable story design
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC VIDEO! I cant believe I got here 3 weeks late but glad I made it here regardless.
I love love love Ei!! Seeing her arc in the game was actually one of the best for me. There's this bit in the description of her burst that really just hits after doing her second quest.
"This is the Raiden Shogun's new secret technique. Abandoning the void-like "Musou," she now shoulders a new "Musou" - the dreams and ambitions of all. Just as "shinsetsu," "the truth," also means "the new," so too has Inazuma entered a new chapter."
The traveler has brought to her the dreams of her people - something that she has lost sight of in her grief - during the Inazuma archon quest. Now, she gladly holds onto them as she fights! That's so cool and I'm proud of her.
Oh wow, this video was sooo enjoyable, 40 minutes just flew away, if you plan to make other genshin analysis I'll subscribe right away!
Great analysis
amazing video :)
your really underrated!! i hope more people see your Chanell
Amazing video, You made me cry at the part with Makoto again man, its just beautiful, something that i find really important in this quest is that Ei actually got the closes to her concept of eternity in that moment, her planting Makoto's seed in the now, that has existed for 500 years has only a real explanation if you know a bit of eternalist theory where the past and the futere both live at the same time in the now, along with multiple realities.
Such a great video ❤
I must say that your storytelling skills are immaculate.
a little late, but this was incredibly well-made!! thank you!!
really good vid 👍
I LOVE THIS VIDEO
omg why are you so underrated I taught you had at least 10k subs!!!!!give this man a raise!!!
My god i loved every second of this video, din't even knew it was 40 minutes long untill i reached the end
I too am one of the few who had an unpopular opinion about the first story quest. I think the "date" was really necessary, not because I am a simp, but because it was the only time we get to actually hang out with her. With Venti, Zhongli and Nahida, we had the ENTIRE ARCHON QUEST being with them, but with Ei, we had the entire archon quest being away and against her.
Its always great to see the genshin fandom find a small channel that makes good content and blow it up. I see it constantly with many different types of channels, from basic lets plays and reacts, to big video essay channels with a ton of editing and work. Great job on the vid, i agree with most if not all of it. And its great to have another video essayist delve into the story and lore, and there is a lot to dig into there. Hope to see some other vids on different topics!
Great Video! Immediate subscribe, I loved this I hope you make more. I wish more youtbers were positive about the game in general but especially about inuzuma becuase it was such a great region with amazing storylines and characters
Didn’t realized this was your first video about Genshin, this felt so professional. Please keep doing these
This is incredible. Earned a very deserved sub from both my accounts.
Ever since that one Raiden clip I saw, I've been captivated by her in many ways. I've been curious before about Genshin, and have a friend who used to play it a lot, but it was always "that game I heard about." Ei/Raiden Shogun changed that because I felt more personally invested in getting to know more. She's similar in design to a character I made in another game, filling-in spaces that I couldn't, and as such became an extension of that character that I felt I always wanted. Somehow my introduction to Ei marked an evolution of both for me. Now, I'm always glad to click a random Genshin clip or video that might give me another glimpse of that world, another view point.
However, your video is more than a glimpse. It's a mediation on an experience. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it; you did a great job.
dude your taste in video game music is insane i lost it when i got to chapter 3. i was not expecting that song.
I hope you make a character study on wanderer and kazuha, I thoroughly and enjoyed this one and would like to see more!
I'm so happy people understand Eis depth of characters, she's literally just as complex and capable as zhongli, people misrepresented her character for so long in Twitter because " she's evil eeeee", Mf hate whne an archon isn't handed on a platter, I'm so happy people here know how imp Raiden or ei is
SMT IV's Tokyo in the background is such a good fit for Inazuma and Raiden Shogun!
You have to create more Genshin content! I was amazed on how good this video was! So damn good!!!
Great perspective. Appreciate use of the yakuza/judgment soundtravks 🔥
your joke with the visions at 3:00 was the most relatable thing i heared in months.
amazing video :D
More than meets the Ei. Well played.
Having more or less put genshin on hold with the End of the Inazuma story, this was an amazing video and great way to refresh my memories/relive the brilliant story of Raiden Shogun before getting back into it to tacke Sumeru, which I've been meaning to do for quite a while now.
Thank you!
Masterpiece video
yo really enjoyed listening to this, would love to see more :d
also would love to hear your thoughts on wanderer
RUclips recommended me this video. I think it knows that I am still PAINFULLY waiting for Raiden Shogun's next banner.