Honestly, you expressed the thoughts I had about genshin for a while. This is a very good analysis, and it deserves more attention. I've always said that the main thing that makes genshin player base so divided is that it has no clear identity. I came for combat, I enjoyed combat-centered events in the end of ver. 1.X and the beginning of 2.X, I loved the inazuma difficulty spike, yet they pulled bait and switch on me with making everything so much easier. Yet they left all the systems that were made to make your character stronger n combat. Thus, these systems seem utterly pointless
@@Hesperus_ I appreciate it. Thanks :) And yes, absolutely. The inazuma difficulty saga was crazy. I remember people complaining about the spike, but in my mind, I was thinking "we've been in monds and liyue for a year now, isn't it time to spike a little...?" Just goes to show how differently players were thinking even way back then. The spike seemed like a logical jump to me personally, but others felt it changed the game too much. Though I guess after a year of the same easy world difficulty, thus little incentive for those players to build stronger, I can see why they were caught off guard.
Genshin is a gacha rpg as it's core identity. I don't get how economy is related to combat focused game because it plays more into the gacha aspect of it. (For explanation: in gacha getting copies of "rare" just simplifies content you already can clear. In gacha titles it is very common to sell "time" like stamina/resign or recourses like gold/mora. Battle pass, resign refresh with primogems, forcing daily login (time) all these things play into the gacha identity of the game) If genshin would sell themself as a combat heavy game (like zzz which in disguise is just another gacha title) then i would get that point. A lot of "upgrades" are just QoL constellations. Yelans second dash, hu taos stamina, nilous timer extension just to name a few. Yes overall they improve the combat performance and there is a lot of talk about it but it clearly is more targeted to low skill player or people on phone. (And then we got Neuvelettes spin2win...) I do agree that genshins difficulty is all over the place. In defence of hoyo (albert very weak) after inazumas release hoyo got immense backlash that the difficulty was upped to much. They have even gone so far as to nerf the enemies and never introduced any "hard" puzzles again because of the backlash. Events got more hand-holdy as time goes on because they fear that backlash again. (Just comparing to zzz again but there they also said they don't want to up the difficulty to fast in fear of player responses.) About the time investment: It is all over the place, because it is a genre never attempted before it's development started. A rpg has a longer burst of time investment while gacha has a short but repeated time investment. It's like looking left and right at the same time, possible but it looks funny. However as it is right now genshin expects you to play about 1 hour daily and on some weekends to sit down and play for longer times. But that is demanding more then other games! About the target audience: "casuals" thats how they said it themself. The censorship is because of chinas regulations not so much about their audience. Kids are expected to invest their time and bond with the game, younger adults are expected to theorycraft your bloated text into one sentence and older people should invest the money to catch up. At least that is the dream scenery of hoyo. (And yes it is very classistic towards age (and race and gender) but thats "normal" for eastern countries like china and japan, were most of their audience is.) So the identity is clear, just not really in a good way. About the cultural inspiration: yeah i feel the same way. As someone from germany monstadt who is supposed to present medieval germany, it feels more like medieval england. Because medieval germany was so split and had a lot of expansion towards the south (which later became autria). It had a lot of different cultures in it (honestly didn't change much today) and lots of trading and cultural interchange happened (as well as colonization). Something like dark skinned people weren't that rare due to sun exposure from field work and migration and trips towards the south. If we include autrias history before the Preußen-Autria conflict then even marriages between landowners of white and dark skinned people weren't uncommon during that time. (For spice trades) Big lands of nothing where more rare because each landlord wanted to protect his borders. The state of monstadt is more the fairytale version of medieval germany which is inspired by medieval england. I mean we even have things like Arthur in monstadt. The only german things are the alcoholism and monstadts city (a big castle on a strategic point like a mountain or island with a church as one of the center buildings, the landlord living among the people because he is a smaller landlord and doesn't serve a king). About the narrative: genshins story is already prewritten and i do get to feel it, don't know about others though. The problem is that it is written as a rpg but executed as a gacha. The silent dialogue, the supposed linearity and references to limited event content just make it feel like a gacha storyline (and often times they aren't great). The story itself however feels impactful enough that it definitely shines as a rpg. Also the sidequests reacting with the world and adding lots of details to the narritive make a strong argument for an rpg. That you get no real choices however is something i can get behind with, because for such a big and long game with no replayability, creating multiple choices/endings is more devastating for the game especially if they target casuals.
@@soos.mpvier3187 This is super response. I've read through it and plan to respond later (at work right now), but I see some good points here. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, yo.
Really good and fair criticisms raised here! Traveler is such an interesting take on a main character. People who wanted a self-insert won't get that, as Traveler is treated as their own character with their own personality, opinions and motivations. I've seen plenty of moments where people were surprised or disagreed with Traveler, and if you're treating them as a self-insert this breaks the illusion. That being said Traveler is malleable enough that most of the time you can insert your own thoughts or headcanons onto them without much issue. It's really weird.
I appreciate that so much, glad you enjoyed it. Took a while to organize the thoughts but I hope I articulated them well enough. There was more I wanted to say on some things, but I didn't want to be extra wordy and lose the plot haha. Thnx for watching 🙏🏽
So glad I found your channel. I've felt that this type of content has been lacking from the established gacha CCs. Wish you great success with whatever you decide to focus on!
@@NightLongroad Thanks so much. I try to do a mix of praise, criticism, short takes, and deep dives. It was mostly Genshin but I'm gonna branch out a lil too. What I don't want to do is all that drama stuff that happens in the big circles. There's so much of that. I want to talk about the actual games, you know? Hope you like future stuff I put out 🫶🏾. Thanks yo!
Wow. This has got to be your best video yet. Amazing production quality as well as well put together thoughts and structure. Seriously, this video is a masterpiece. It needs to be spread far and wide for the whole Genshin community to see! I honestly don't have anything to add to the discussion on this topic. You pretty much covered everything. I didn't realize how deep the uncertain identity crisis was until it was all put together in this video. It's clear as day, Hoyo doesn't know what they want Genshin to be. Actually maybe they do, they want it to be for EVERYONE. But as the age old saying goes: "A game made for everyone, is a game for no one." I guess my suggestion for Hoyo would be to hard focus one area with specific features in specific versions. For example my dream version that would appeal to me the most would include a new "endgame" area with higher level enemies than the rest of Teyvat. That area would feature an open plains with scattered ruins and remnants of battle and a ruined medieval castle/city. Then a little cozy settlement hidden away from the "apocalypses" outside. It would feature very normal people just trying to survive plus warriors who defend the settlement. This could be Khaenri'ah? The main archon quest would feature a band of heroes from the previous nations traversing the land, only barely surviving and some not surviving the journey. It would feature multiple boss fights that are unique to the quest and would have the mechanical challenge of a Fromsoft boss. I'm no writer so I can't say how it would end but at the end of the quest you would unlock a new permanent endgame combat mode. One that utilizes that area, rather than stuffs it into a domain. You'd only unlock it here as there would be no reason to unlock it earlier as it would be the hardest content meant for only the best players. That's the gist of what my dream version would entail. That was a bit of a tangent but you'll understand why in a sec. Next I'd suggest they add a version that would not appeal to me very much but appeal to many other people. A version focusing on the casual/chill side of the game. A version focusing on cute character interactions, and casual minigames. One that has no big story implications only small side stories. Maybe an expansion for the Teapot. More Teapot styles, new character interactions and dialogue in the Teapot, and more unique furnishings. Etc. Maybe this wouldn't appeal as much to me, but that would be okay because a different version already appeals to me. I got what I want, now they got what they want. Everyone is happy. It doesn't have to be exactly like this but basically I think they should pick and choose which audience they are trying to please and hard focus on them for a specific feature or even a whole version. Then pick another audience and do it again. Maybe this is expecting too much of Hoyo? It's most definitely a lot of work, but I think the payoff would be worth it. At the moment it feels like they are trying to make everything appeal to everyone. Simulanka is the perfect example of that. They have the casual minigames, the cutesy fairytale them, the lack of combat for those who don't care for it but also a combat minigame for those who do. The first area is classic kinda childish fairytale forest. The second area is big grand city. The third area is a ruined mine. All appeal to different types of people. The main quest has cute character interactions and low stakes plots, but also a overarching story and even eventually dips its toes into the deeper lore of the game. Also hidden world quests that dive deeper into the lore of Simulanka specifically. Some with voice acting feature a playable character, some without voice acting and a playable character. And in all honestly I think they did a pretty good job at appealing to as many people as possible. Me and my gf are very different people, but we both have been thoroughly enjoying it. If this is the direction they are going in, then maybe they can pull off pleasing everyone and what I was suggesting is kind of already in the works. Who knows?
Im glad somebody finally said it on video. I really dislike when people say genshin is an X- or Y-based video game when it's clearly trying to be a lot of things at once. It's very much an "everything" game that wants to reel in all types of players because at its core it's a gacha rpg that largely just wants people to pull for their characters and use them in all their different scenarios. I ofc still love playing the game regardless but I don't get how people see it as solely one thing or another.
yo, banger video as always. even tho i'm a bit late hehe. (the dubstep between the sections rocks btw. oh, and next time if you would put text in the video, i think dark blue text with black outline may not be the best desicion - a bit hard to read). 1. Economy. they sell the option to be really overpowered with cons. and i'm fine with it 'cuz it's not a necessity. if they would lock other content behind the pay wall: maps, quests, skins (a hell lot more of them), tcg cards, teapot furnishing - that would just suck. 2. Difficulty. the open world isn't that difficult (even tho world lvl.9 got announced a few days ago) - that makes the game more accessible, esp for mobile. but you have the option to go beyond that and play theatre/abyss and, to some extent, local legends. (and even then - open world can be quite challenging. i say that as someone who in 2021 was fighting Kairagis for 2 minutes with an underleveled Razor). 3. Time Investment. imo simple: if there's content such as new map or quests, etc - you play that. if not - log in for dailies and events and log off. or don't log in at all if you're not a min-maxing player. (oh btw, that is not smth i, like, order you to do or anything - that is just how i'm saying it lol). 4. Target Audience. being a mobile game they chose to be as accessible as possible. i mean, so far it's worikng really well. 5. Cultural Inspiration. don't think i have enough, i don't even know what to be exact, to speak about it... but i can see you point as well. as someone who has been living in the far corner of post USSR country - i can appreciate that in game i can (sort of, of course) travel to europe, china, japan, france, etc. (especially with how cool the landspaces are in the game from those countries). and natlan persoanlly gives me Madagascar vibes - i loved that movie as a kid (i know that it's a country, too lol). excited for Snezhnaya next year, considering it's russia (and with post USSR countries it's all the same lol) - i'm curious how they gonna do the music and architecture. i think it's cool that my stuff that i grew up with can end up in the game. 6. Narrative Insert. i'm not that lore and quest heavy in this game (yet!). but Dain quests exist and that's definitely a good thing. that's it. off to catching up with your next videos
0:05 ER is action RPG, Mario game is a action (3D-)platformer. You guessed correctly from the jump, Genshin's genre is what's said on the tin - adventure. I think most of the points are a result of a confusion between the genre and the monetization model, and also between the two different genres of adventure and RPG. On your points: 1. Combat power selling is due to the monetization model being f2p gacha, that's it. It doesn't scream "combat-oriented" it's simply how eastern gachas are. They sell combat power instead of skins, and you're trying to find the hidden meaning in-between the lines too hard. "Uncertain identity" no, it's a simple, unhidden and straightforward gacha identity. 2. "Uncertain difficulty" is straight-up casual. Abyss and Theater are there simply to appease the whales and collectors. They're optional side content that isn't a part of the main game and most players do not engage in them or care to. They're not a core part of the game, they are a core part of it's monetization model (f2p gacha), the game is casual. 3. Time investment is not mysterious. The game itself requires long periods of time and attention just like any other adventure game. The monetization model requires smaller daily and bi-monthly logins. It's crystal clear. For the game itself - long playthrough, for primos and new characters - small frequent periods. 4. Spot on, except for the conclusion. You've already identified the audience but then went back to saying it's uncertain, for some reason. 5. Cultural inspirations are in public domain. This is insane to imply that old artistic styles belong to someone, let alone an abstract cultural group (how would that even work), they are a heritage of humanity. Such inspirations are used everywhere left and right all the time. It's one thing to feel unrepresented by race, that is valid, it's another thing to claim that race and ethnicity are anything more than just correlated, let alone inseparable. 6. The game is really about Teyvat, not the Traveler, and it's absolutely certain about where it goes - it slowly builds the world of Teyvat and eventually guides you to discover it's "truth". Absence of choice is logical due to the genre being adventure, if the choices were there it would be at least partly RPG, and KOTOR is an RPG not adventure that's why it had player agency. This game has zero RPG elements and doesn't claim to have them. Adventure genre implies that there's a story being told to you and you simply consume it like a book, the protagonist has a predetermined role.
jack of all trades master of none is what i feel genshin has become, i lost my love for the game seeing how bad they treat it for a casual game, it fails to hit the spot, no skip button or any sort of truly enticing enjoyable and well thought out executions on the explorations, it just feel like they rushed it and call it a day be it animation wise or just how cheap it feels in general for a "hard" game, its just dps check, hp sponges enemies with no real choreography for a card game, that tcg have to be the worst card game i ever tried not because of its mechanics but for how absolutely slow and unrewarding it is. for a story game, its atrocious no matter how good 4.2 was, the dialogues are still bloated for no reason, characters story quests rely on npcs for the majority of the time, main character lacks any sort of personality nor feels like a self insert because they have things they know which the player dont. 4.7's ending of the story missed on a hell of a character dev for the traveller by keeping in mind their interactions with the sibling, instead we got the "we will forget everything once this dream ends", paimon just keeps repeating dialogues like the reader is a baby but they complicate stuff at the same time. traveler doesnt even speak nor do we feel like there is any sort of "relation" or bonding with paimon through four years, it feels forced instead of a genuine companion For a daily game, although they tried to fix things with the new 4.8 it still feels way too tedious and long to do dailies and artifacts which are a problem they refuse to fix in the way the players want And lastly for a live service game, why the fck dont they take genuine helpful player feedbacks?
yep, the jack of all trades quote perfectly encapsulates the over all point of this video. Thing is, I do still play the game. I really do enjoy it, which is why I talk about it so often. But I'm able to be critical about things I like, and while Genshin's attempt to be an "everything" game is definitely a strength, I'm able to see how it works against itself as well. When you say it fails to hit the spot for you, that's exactly what I was getting at too, sadly. For some, not buckling down on particular identities can lead to not being satisfied. You can keep a lot of people sorta happy, but you barely keep anyone fully happy. I'm still playing the game though, I enjoy it so much despite its uncertainness. But I can understand why you feel the way you do at the same time, for sure.
In my opinion, the Jack of All Trades, i.e, average is down playing it, Genshin isn't just average when it comes to the things it's trying to do, it's another average and at times even good, but not quite masterful enough to be playing for just one thing alone, the combat isn't as great as something like a Soulsbrone game, the minigames aren't very fun and the story has alot of issues even if the underlying narrative is well done, I think it makes the world feel large in a sense but if they really put their all in each and every thing the game has to offer, which they can with how much money they have, I think they would've made something truly great
I dunno bro. If things can be interpreted as either or and the devs themselves say its one of them I think you have to take the L on that one. Also when you brought up the Yelan thing the logical response would be to assume its a racing game (or an exploration game which is specifically the reason I got xiao yelan c1 and kazuha). Dashing twice isnt inherintly combat related there are a lot of assumptions you have to make to cme to that conclusion. At best it sounds like you bought the character to avoid combat. Perhaps my perspective is also skewed but yours definately is toward justifyinng non combat things as combat related.
While I see the angle you're coming from - that something like Yelan's c1 is less of a combat thing for you, and more of utility - I'm of the understanding that it's still combat related primarily, with any utility being secondary. It's not a conclusion I draw from thin air, though. While _some_ constellations have utility, such as being good for exploration, _all_ constellations have combat applications, even the ones with utility. There's a 100% rate for combat purpose in constellations - every constellation you can read in the game makes a character stronger or lets them do more damage in some way. But there's not a 100% utility rate - only _some_ constellations add a utility. And even if a constellation provides extra utility, and that utility is the sole motivator of why someone gets it, it still improves combat strength. Considering it as a non combat thing just because it also has utility isn't quite correct. Yelan C1 after all, still allows her to do another instance of damage. The extrapolation that constellations are combat first come from the following. When you screen constellations for what they provide, only one thing consistently shows up every time: Percent of constellations that provide combat power - 100% Percent of constellations that provide utility, stylishness, or something in addition to combat - Not 100%, but not 0% Percent of constellations that provide JUST combat power - Not 100%, but not 0% Percent of constellations that provide JUST utility, stylishness, or anything not combat - 0% And so that's the framing by which I extrapolate that constellations fall under combat primarily. Even ones with utility have combat applications. Some constellations _have_ utility, and it can even be your main motivator for getting it. But _all_ constellations improve your combat, and _no_ constellations solely provide utility. So if someone were to draw a conclusion that the constellation economy points to combat, I don't think they'd be stretching or making uninformed assumptions. There's a 100% rate of combat in constellations.
Bro this is just you’re opinion and keep it with yourself Edit:- if you think you’re right then majority of the points you said here is also applicable to HSR and WuWa but you can only complain about Genshin because you go by the narrative of anything Genshin does is bad and what ever other game does is good you complained about imaginarium theater but why didn’t you complain that apocalyptic shadow is mostly just moc with different buff and one small gimmick almost all the 3 “different” endgame in HSR is just dividing Genshin’s abyss in to 3 section abyss can go from AOE to Single target to boss by just resetting it which is literally what HSR endgame is also but with 3 different fancy name but people like you are just so delusional to complain about it plus HSR also has many repeated dialogues even in penacony “wHeN I wAs A cHiLD A HArMoNy DoVe jUst….” X 10 every 30 minutes
@@PsQueak2if you think you’re right then majority of the points you said here is also applicable to HSR and WuWa but you can only complain about Genshin because you go by the narrative of anything Genshin does is bad and what ever other game does is good you complained about imaginarium theater but why didn’t you complain that apocalyptic shadow is mostly just moc with different buff and one small gimmick almost all the 3 “different” endgame in HSR is just dividing Genshin’s abyss in to 3 section abyss can go from AOE to Single target to boss by just resetting it which is literally what HSR endgame is also but with 3 different fancy name but people like you are just so delusional to complain about it plus HSR also has many repeated dialogues even in penacony “wHeN I wAs A cHiLD A HArMoNy DoVe jUst….” X 10 every 30 minutes
I'll be honest, I couldn't take your first reply seriously after I read "You complained about Imaginarium Theater". That told me everything I need to know. That entire video is defending Imaginarium Theater LOL YO! That's literally the point of that video, that Theater is much better than I feel most people give it credit for. So I know you're reactionary without listening. And I've made videos defending everything from the Sumeru desert to the Potion Mixing event. Also it's a complete assumption that I don't have a topic like this video planned for one of those games... :). Some of these points are applicable to HSR and WuWa too though, while others aren't. But this essay is about Genshin. That simple, my man. I don't care about what-aboutisms. Those games can and will get their moments of criticism too, like when I complained about repetitive battle quotes in HSR. There's an entire video for it lol. Which is funny cause in that HSR essay I used Genshin as a _good_ example of having various battle quotes. In short, "my guy..." LOL.
Honestly, you expressed the thoughts I had about genshin for a while. This is a very good analysis, and it deserves more attention.
I've always said that the main thing that makes genshin player base so divided is that it has no clear identity.
I came for combat, I enjoyed combat-centered events in the end of ver. 1.X and the beginning of 2.X, I loved the inazuma difficulty spike, yet they pulled bait and switch on me with making everything so much easier. Yet they left all the systems that were made to make your character stronger n combat. Thus, these systems seem utterly pointless
@@Hesperus_ I appreciate it. Thanks :)
And yes, absolutely. The inazuma difficulty saga was crazy. I remember people complaining about the spike, but in my mind, I was thinking "we've been in monds and liyue for a year now, isn't it time to spike a little...?"
Just goes to show how differently players were thinking even way back then. The spike seemed like a logical jump to me personally, but others felt it changed the game too much. Though I guess after a year of the same easy world difficulty, thus little incentive for those players to build stronger, I can see why they were caught off guard.
Genshin is a gacha rpg as it's core identity.
I don't get how economy is related to combat focused game because it plays more into the gacha aspect of it. (For explanation: in gacha getting copies of "rare" just simplifies content you already can clear. In gacha titles it is very common to sell "time" like stamina/resign or recourses like gold/mora. Battle pass, resign refresh with primogems, forcing daily login (time) all these things play into the gacha identity of the game) If genshin would sell themself as a combat heavy game (like zzz which in disguise is just another gacha title) then i would get that point.
A lot of "upgrades" are just QoL constellations. Yelans second dash, hu taos stamina, nilous timer extension just to name a few. Yes overall they improve the combat performance and there is a lot of talk about it but it clearly is more targeted to low skill player or people on phone. (And then we got Neuvelettes spin2win...)
I do agree that genshins difficulty is all over the place. In defence of hoyo (albert very weak) after inazumas release hoyo got immense backlash that the difficulty was upped to much. They have even gone so far as to nerf the enemies and never introduced any "hard" puzzles again because of the backlash. Events got more hand-holdy as time goes on because they fear that backlash again.
(Just comparing to zzz again but there they also said they don't want to up the difficulty to fast in fear of player responses.)
About the time investment: It is all over the place, because it is a genre never attempted before it's development started. A rpg has a longer burst of time investment while gacha has a short but repeated time investment. It's like looking left and right at the same time, possible but it looks funny. However as it is right now genshin expects you to play about 1 hour daily and on some weekends to sit down and play for longer times. But that is demanding more then other games!
About the target audience: "casuals" thats how they said it themself. The censorship is because of chinas regulations not so much about their audience. Kids are expected to invest their time and bond with the game, younger adults are expected to theorycraft your bloated text into one sentence and older people should invest the money to catch up. At least that is the dream scenery of hoyo. (And yes it is very classistic towards age (and race and gender) but thats "normal" for eastern countries like china and japan, were most of their audience is.) So the identity is clear, just not really in a good way.
About the cultural inspiration: yeah i feel the same way. As someone from germany monstadt who is supposed to present medieval germany, it feels more like medieval england. Because medieval germany was so split and had a lot of expansion towards the south (which later became autria). It had a lot of different cultures in it (honestly didn't change much today) and lots of trading and cultural interchange happened (as well as colonization). Something like dark skinned people weren't that rare due to sun exposure from field work and migration and trips towards the south. If we include autrias history before the Preußen-Autria conflict then even marriages between landowners of white and dark skinned people weren't uncommon during that time. (For spice trades) Big lands of nothing where more rare because each landlord wanted to protect his borders. The state of monstadt is more the fairytale version of medieval germany which is inspired by medieval england. I mean we even have things like Arthur in monstadt. The only german things are the alcoholism and monstadts city (a big castle on a strategic point like a mountain or island with a church as one of the center buildings, the landlord living among the people because he is a smaller landlord and doesn't serve a king).
About the narrative: genshins story is already prewritten and i do get to feel it, don't know about others though. The problem is that it is written as a rpg but executed as a gacha. The silent dialogue, the supposed linearity and references to limited event content just make it feel like a gacha storyline (and often times they aren't great). The story itself however feels impactful enough that it definitely shines as a rpg. Also the sidequests reacting with the world and adding lots of details to the narritive make a strong argument for an rpg.
That you get no real choices however is something i can get behind with, because for such a big and long game with no replayability, creating multiple choices/endings is more devastating for the game especially if they target casuals.
@@soos.mpvier3187 This is super response. I've read through it and plan to respond later (at work right now), but I see some good points here. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, yo.
Really good and fair criticisms raised here! Traveler is such an interesting take on a main character. People who wanted a self-insert won't get that, as Traveler is treated as their own character with their own personality, opinions and motivations. I've seen plenty of moments where people were surprised or disagreed with Traveler, and if you're treating them as a self-insert this breaks the illusion. That being said Traveler is malleable enough that most of the time you can insert your own thoughts or headcanons onto them without much issue. It's really weird.
This video desperately need way more views this is one of the best video essays for genshin I've watched great job
I appreciate that so much, glad you enjoyed it.
Took a while to organize the thoughts but I hope I articulated them well enough. There was more I wanted to say on some things, but I didn't want to be extra wordy and lose the plot haha.
Thnx for watching 🙏🏽
So glad I found your channel. I've felt that this type of content has been lacking from the established gacha CCs. Wish you great success with whatever you decide to focus on!
@@NightLongroad Thanks so much.
I try to do a mix of praise, criticism, short takes, and deep dives. It was mostly Genshin but I'm gonna branch out a lil too. What I don't want to do is all that drama stuff that happens in the big circles. There's so much of that. I want to talk about the actual games, you know?
Hope you like future stuff I put out 🫶🏾. Thanks yo!
Wow. This has got to be your best video yet. Amazing production quality as well as well put together thoughts and structure. Seriously, this video is a masterpiece. It needs to be spread far and wide for the whole Genshin community to see!
I honestly don't have anything to add to the discussion on this topic. You pretty much covered everything. I didn't realize how deep the uncertain identity crisis was until it was all put together in this video. It's clear as day, Hoyo doesn't know what they want Genshin to be. Actually maybe they do, they want it to be for EVERYONE. But as the age old saying goes: "A game made for everyone, is a game for no one."
I guess my suggestion for Hoyo would be to hard focus one area with specific features in specific versions. For example my dream version that would appeal to me the most would include a new "endgame" area with higher level enemies than the rest of Teyvat. That area would feature an open plains with scattered ruins and remnants of battle and a ruined medieval castle/city. Then a little cozy settlement hidden away from the "apocalypses" outside. It would feature very normal people just trying to survive plus warriors who defend the settlement. This could be Khaenri'ah? The main archon quest would feature a band of heroes from the previous nations traversing the land, only barely surviving and some not surviving the journey. It would feature multiple boss fights that are unique to the quest and would have the mechanical challenge of a Fromsoft boss. I'm no writer so I can't say how it would end but at the end of the quest you would unlock a new permanent endgame combat mode. One that utilizes that area, rather than stuffs it into a domain. You'd only unlock it here as there would be no reason to unlock it earlier as it would be the hardest content meant for only the best players. That's the gist of what my dream version would entail.
That was a bit of a tangent but you'll understand why in a sec. Next I'd suggest they add a version that would not appeal to me very much but appeal to many other people. A version focusing on the casual/chill side of the game. A version focusing on cute character interactions, and casual minigames. One that has no big story implications only small side stories. Maybe an expansion for the Teapot. More Teapot styles, new character interactions and dialogue in the Teapot, and more unique furnishings. Etc. Maybe this wouldn't appeal as much to me, but that would be okay because a different version already appeals to me. I got what I want, now they got what they want. Everyone is happy. It doesn't have to be exactly like this but basically I think they should pick and choose which audience they are trying to please and hard focus on them for a specific feature or even a whole version. Then pick another audience and do it again. Maybe this is expecting too much of Hoyo? It's most definitely a lot of work, but I think the payoff would be worth it.
At the moment it feels like they are trying to make everything appeal to everyone. Simulanka is the perfect example of that. They have the casual minigames, the cutesy fairytale them, the lack of combat for those who don't care for it but also a combat minigame for those who do. The first area is classic kinda childish fairytale forest. The second area is big grand city. The third area is a ruined mine. All appeal to different types of people. The main quest has cute character interactions and low stakes plots, but also a overarching story and even eventually dips its toes into the deeper lore of the game. Also hidden world quests that dive deeper into the lore of Simulanka specifically. Some with voice acting feature a playable character, some without voice acting and a playable character. And in all honestly I think they did a pretty good job at appealing to as many people as possible. Me and my gf are very different people, but we both have been thoroughly enjoying it. If this is the direction they are going in, then maybe they can pull off pleasing everyone and what I was suggesting is kind of already in the works. Who knows?
Im glad somebody finally said it on video. I really dislike when people say genshin is an X- or Y-based video game when it's clearly trying to be a lot of things at once. It's very much an "everything" game that wants to reel in all types of players because at its core it's a gacha rpg that largely just wants people to pull for their characters and use them in all their different scenarios. I ofc still love playing the game regardless but I don't get how people see it as solely one thing or another.
yo, banger video as always. even tho i'm a bit late hehe.
(the dubstep between the sections rocks btw. oh, and next time if you would put text in the video, i think dark blue text with black outline may not be the best desicion - a bit hard to read).
1. Economy.
they sell the option to be really overpowered with cons. and i'm fine with it 'cuz it's not a necessity.
if they would lock other content behind the pay wall: maps, quests, skins (a hell lot more of them), tcg cards, teapot furnishing - that would just suck.
2. Difficulty.
the open world isn't that difficult (even tho world lvl.9 got announced a few days ago) - that makes the game more accessible, esp for mobile.
but you have the option to go beyond that and play theatre/abyss and, to some extent, local legends.
(and even then - open world can be quite challenging. i say that as someone who in 2021 was fighting Kairagis for 2 minutes with an underleveled Razor).
3. Time Investment.
imo simple: if there's content such as new map or quests, etc - you play that.
if not - log in for dailies and events and log off. or don't log in at all if you're not a min-maxing player.
(oh btw, that is not smth i, like, order you to do or anything - that is just how i'm saying it lol).
4. Target Audience.
being a mobile game they chose to be as accessible as possible.
i mean, so far it's worikng really well.
5. Cultural Inspiration.
don't think i have enough, i don't even know what to be exact, to speak about it...
but i can see you point as well.
as someone who has been living in the far corner of post USSR country - i can appreciate that in game i can (sort of, of course) travel to europe, china, japan, france, etc. (especially with how cool the landspaces are in the game from those countries).
and natlan persoanlly gives me Madagascar vibes - i loved that movie as a kid (i know that it's a country, too lol).
excited for Snezhnaya next year, considering it's russia (and with post USSR countries it's all the same lol) - i'm curious how they gonna do the music and architecture. i think it's cool that my stuff that i grew up with can end up in the game.
6. Narrative Insert.
i'm not that lore and quest heavy in this game (yet!).
but Dain quests exist and that's definitely a good thing.
that's it.
off to catching up with your next videos
Excuse me? Immersion? Like it does it so freaking well, it makes you feel like anime
also keep up the good work man, your videos are underrated❤
I appreciate that yo. Thanks!
Been trying to put stuff out there, I'm glad when anyone enjoys.
The thing about self- Insert is not only a problem in this game but in many other games like this.
0:05 ER is action RPG, Mario game is a action (3D-)platformer. You guessed correctly from the jump, Genshin's genre is what's said on the tin - adventure. I think most of the points are a result of a confusion between the genre and the monetization model, and also between the two different genres of adventure and RPG.
On your points:
1. Combat power selling is due to the monetization model being f2p gacha, that's it. It doesn't scream "combat-oriented" it's simply how eastern gachas are. They sell combat power instead of skins, and you're trying to find the hidden meaning in-between the lines too hard. "Uncertain identity" no, it's a simple, unhidden and straightforward gacha identity.
2. "Uncertain difficulty" is straight-up casual. Abyss and Theater are there simply to appease the whales and collectors. They're optional side content that isn't a part of the main game and most players do not engage in them or care to. They're not a core part of the game, they are a core part of it's monetization model (f2p gacha), the game is casual.
3. Time investment is not mysterious. The game itself requires long periods of time and attention just like any other adventure game. The monetization model requires smaller daily and bi-monthly logins. It's crystal clear. For the game itself - long playthrough, for primos and new characters - small frequent periods.
4. Spot on, except for the conclusion. You've already identified the audience but then went back to saying it's uncertain, for some reason.
5. Cultural inspirations are in public domain. This is insane to imply that old artistic styles belong to someone, let alone an abstract cultural group (how would that even work), they are a heritage of humanity. Such inspirations are used everywhere left and right all the time. It's one thing to feel unrepresented by race, that is valid, it's another thing to claim that race and ethnicity are anything more than just correlated, let alone inseparable.
6. The game is really about Teyvat, not the Traveler, and it's absolutely certain about where it goes - it slowly builds the world of Teyvat and eventually guides you to discover it's "truth". Absence of choice is logical due to the genre being adventure, if the choices were there it would be at least partly RPG, and KOTOR is an RPG not adventure that's why it had player agency. This game has zero RPG elements and doesn't claim to have them. Adventure genre implies that there's a story being told to you and you simply consume it like a book, the protagonist has a predetermined role.
jack of all trades master of none is what i feel genshin has become, i lost my love for the game seeing how bad they treat it
for a casual game, it fails to hit the spot, no skip button or any sort of truly enticing enjoyable and well thought out executions on the explorations, it just feel like they rushed it and call it a day be it animation wise or just how cheap it feels in general
for a "hard" game, its just dps check, hp sponges enemies with no real choreography
for a card game, that tcg have to be the worst card game i ever tried not because of its mechanics but for how absolutely slow and unrewarding it is.
for a story game, its atrocious no matter how good 4.2 was, the dialogues are still bloated for no reason, characters story quests rely on npcs for the majority of the time, main character lacks any sort of personality nor feels like a self insert because they have things they know which the player dont. 4.7's ending of the story missed on a hell of a character dev for the traveller by keeping in mind their interactions with the sibling, instead we got the "we will forget everything once this dream ends", paimon just keeps repeating dialogues like the reader is a baby but they complicate stuff at the same time. traveler doesnt even speak nor do we feel like there is any sort of "relation" or bonding with paimon through four years, it feels forced instead of a genuine companion
For a daily game, although they tried to fix things with the new 4.8 it still feels way too tedious and long to do dailies and artifacts which are a problem they refuse to fix in the way the players want
And lastly for a live service game, why the fck dont they take genuine helpful player feedbacks?
yep, the jack of all trades quote perfectly encapsulates the over all point of this video.
Thing is, I do still play the game. I really do enjoy it, which is why I talk about it so often.
But I'm able to be critical about things I like, and while Genshin's attempt to be an "everything" game is definitely a strength, I'm able to see how it works against itself as well.
When you say it fails to hit the spot for you, that's exactly what I was getting at too, sadly. For some, not buckling down on particular identities can lead to not being satisfied. You can keep a lot of people sorta happy, but you barely keep anyone fully happy.
I'm still playing the game though, I enjoy it so much despite its uncertainness. But I can understand why you feel the way you do at the same time, for sure.
In my opinion, the Jack of All Trades, i.e, average is down playing it, Genshin isn't just average when it comes to the things it's trying to do, it's another average and at times even good, but not quite masterful enough to be playing for just one thing alone, the combat isn't as great as something like a Soulsbrone game, the minigames aren't very fun and the story has alot of issues even if the underlying narrative is well done, I think it makes the world feel large in a sense but if they really put their all in each and every thing the game has to offer, which they can with how much money they have, I think they would've made something truly great
For the paimon repeating the same thing 4 times could you give me an example?
I dunno bro. If things can be interpreted as either or and the devs themselves say its one of them I think you have to take the L on that one. Also when you brought up the Yelan thing the logical response would be to assume its a racing game (or an exploration game which is specifically the reason I got xiao yelan c1 and kazuha). Dashing twice isnt inherintly combat related there are a lot of assumptions you have to make to cme to that conclusion. At best it sounds like you bought the character to avoid combat.
Perhaps my perspective is also skewed but yours definately is toward justifyinng non combat things as combat related.
While I see the angle you're coming from - that something like Yelan's c1 is less of a combat thing for you, and more of utility - I'm of the understanding that it's still combat related primarily, with any utility being secondary.
It's not a conclusion I draw from thin air, though. While _some_ constellations have utility, such as being good for exploration, _all_ constellations have combat applications, even the ones with utility. There's a 100% rate for combat purpose in constellations - every constellation you can read in the game makes a character stronger or lets them do more damage in some way. But there's not a 100% utility rate - only _some_ constellations add a utility. And even if a constellation provides extra utility, and that utility is the sole motivator of why someone gets it, it still improves combat strength. Considering it as a non combat thing just because it also has utility isn't quite correct. Yelan C1 after all, still allows her to do another instance of damage.
The extrapolation that constellations are combat first come from the following. When you screen constellations for what they provide, only one thing consistently shows up every time:
Percent of constellations that provide combat power - 100%
Percent of constellations that provide utility, stylishness, or something in addition to combat - Not 100%, but not 0%
Percent of constellations that provide JUST combat power - Not 100%, but not 0%
Percent of constellations that provide JUST utility, stylishness, or anything not combat - 0%
And so that's the framing by which I extrapolate that constellations fall under combat primarily. Even ones with utility have combat applications. Some constellations _have_ utility, and it can even be your main motivator for getting it. But _all_ constellations improve your combat, and _no_ constellations solely provide utility. So if someone were to draw a conclusion that the constellation economy points to combat, I don't think they'd be stretching or making uninformed assumptions. There's a 100% rate of combat in constellations.
There's no need to categorize everything. Genshin is Genshin, other games are other games. Some games stand out in certain genres, some do not
Bro this is just you’re opinion and keep it with yourself
Edit:- if you think you’re right then majority of the points you said here is also applicable to HSR and WuWa but you can only complain about Genshin because you go by the narrative of anything Genshin does is bad and what ever other game does is good you complained about imaginarium theater but why didn’t you complain that apocalyptic shadow is mostly just moc with different buff and one small gimmick almost all the 3 “different” endgame in HSR is just dividing Genshin’s abyss in to 3 section abyss can go from AOE to Single target to boss by just resetting it which is literally what HSR endgame is also but with 3 different fancy name but people like you are just so delusional to complain about it plus HSR also has many repeated dialogues even in penacony “wHeN I wAs A cHiLD A HArMoNy DoVe jUst….” X 10 every 30 minutes
LOL, pinning this comment.
@@PsQueak2if you think you’re right then majority of the points you said here is also applicable to HSR and WuWa but you can only complain about Genshin because you go by the narrative of anything Genshin does is bad and what ever other game does is good you complained about imaginarium theater but why didn’t you complain that apocalyptic shadow is mostly just moc with different buff and one small gimmick almost all the 3 “different” endgame in HSR is just dividing Genshin’s abyss in to 3 section abyss can go from AOE to Single target to boss by just resetting it which is literally what HSR endgame is also but with 3 different fancy name but people like you are just so delusional to complain about it plus HSR also has many repeated dialogues even in penacony “wHeN I wAs A cHiLD A HArMoNy DoVe jUst….” X 10 every 30 minutes
I'll be honest, I couldn't take your first reply seriously after I read "You complained about Imaginarium Theater". That told me everything I need to know. That entire video is defending Imaginarium Theater LOL YO! That's literally the point of that video, that Theater is much better than I feel most people give it credit for. So I know you're reactionary without listening. And I've made videos defending everything from the Sumeru desert to the Potion Mixing event.
Also it's a complete assumption that I don't have a topic like this video planned for one of those games... :).
Some of these points are applicable to HSR and WuWa too though, while others aren't. But this essay is about Genshin. That simple, my man. I don't care about what-aboutisms. Those games can and will get their moments of criticism too, like when I complained about repetitive battle quotes in HSR. There's an entire video for it lol. Which is funny cause in that HSR essay I used Genshin as a _good_ example of having various battle quotes.
In short, "my guy..."
LOL.
@@PsQueak2 okay I feel like I’m in the wrong sorry should I delete the comment?