|OT| Genshin Impact - Breath of the Elements

[Ascheroth]

Goddamn, Inazuma is so good, the new puzzles are really nice.

As expected, they delivered on the exploration front. It's super fun again, and also super pretty.
The intro was a massive let down though, but it looks like it's getting better.

Spoiler

• Cutscene with traveler and Beidou getting ready to sail.
• Black screen with white text saying it was difficult but they managed cause Beidou's badass
• Cutscene with traveler and Beidou setting foot on Inazuma

Like wtf, that middle part was the actual exciting part of the thing and they just... didn't bother at all. Not even a 2D cutscene. Just... nothing.

And then you immediately get to doing boring bureaucracy side quests where you talk to a bajillion NPCs that don't matter who tell you lots of useless information in the most dry manner possible.
Oh, and throw in a god awful "stealth" mission. Blergh.
What were they even thinking??
I honestly don't think it would be possible to make a worse first impression.

But as said, after that it seems to get better (I'm not that much further though)? And the exploration is definitely fantastic again.

 

[MaskedCircle]

Inazuma has me mesmerized. Oh, and I rolled for Ayaka, lost by getting qiqi but had saved for double pity for months so got the character I wanted since day 1.

 

[Ascheroth]

Inazuma has me mesmerized. Oh, and I rolled for Ayaka, lost by getting qiqi but had saved for double pity for months so got the character I wanted since day 1.

Congrats! Always need to be prepared for the worst in this game

Yeah, Inazuma is absurdly pretty and packed with stuff. Mihoyo still managing to make every new area better than the last. Music's great too.
I'm happy to report that the story also gets a lot more interesting soon after you leave Ritou. It's started getting me excited about what's to come.
Still a bit annoyed that they botched the intro section so badly but it is what it is.

 

[MaskedCircle]

Congrats! Always need to be prepared for the worst in this game

Yeah, Inazuma is absurdly pretty and packed with stuff. Mihoyo still managing to make every new area better than the last. Music's great too.
I'm happy to report that the story also gets a lot more interesting soon after you leave Ritou. It's started getting me excited about what's to come.
Still a bit annoyed that they botched the intro section so badly but it is what it is.

I've paused myself from progressing towards story even though I really want to, I'm enjoying the exploration so much I keep getting side tracked. I was really missing this feeling in GI, I just want to take my time and not rush things.

 

[Ascheroth]

Mihoyo be leaking before the leakers can leak the leaks again


This could mean that those 3 will be the banners for 2.1 (Sara is a 4*), since they did the same for Ayaka, Yoimiya and Sayu.

Though I hope Kokomi and Raiden are more spread out, since I want both and I can't guarantee both if they drop next update.

 

[Panda Pedinte]

 

[hersheyfan]

What...

WHAAAAAAAAAAT???

Oh my god!

Guess I'm going back to playing Genshin Impact!

 

[Ascheroth]

Yo what? Lol.

So seems like she'll be a free 5* for everyone, but Playstation users get her one patch early (2.1 for Playstation, 2.2 for everyone else).

 

[Panda Pedinte]

What...

WHAAAAAAAAAAT???

Oh my god!

Guess I'm going back to playing Genshin Impact!

I came back with the 2.0 update and I'm taking my time finishing some quests before moving to the new region but the general opinion is positive so far.

Yo what? Lol.

So seems like she'll be a free 5* for everyone, but Playstation users get her one patch early (2.1 for Playstation, 2.2 for everyone else).

that was my exact reaction and indeed PS users will get her first and everyone else will get with 2.2 in November

 

[hersheyfan]

I came back with the 2.0 update and I'm taking my time finishing some quests before moving to the new region but the general opinion is positive so far.

I have to figure out how that PS4 to PS5 progress transfer stuff works, my "main account" with a Diluc and a 2x Jean (no money spent) is stuck on Playstation... my separate PC account (which I bought a few Welkins on) has terrible rolls, and I apparently can no longer migrate the PS4 save to PC based on what I've been reading.

I stopped playing because the performance eventually tanked on PS4, and I only recently managed to secure a PS5... happy to hear that things are looking good gameplay wise. It'll be great to finally play this again!

 

[Ascheroth]

Correction, it's 2.2 (October) for Playstation and 2.3 (November) for everyone else.

I have to figure out how that PS4 to PS5 progress transfer stuff works, my "main account" with a Diluc and a 2x Jean (no money spent) is stuck on Playstation... my separate PC account (which I bought a few Welkins on) has terrible rolls, and I apparently can no longer migrate the PS4 save to PC based on what I've been reading.

I stopped playing because the performance eventually tanked on PS4, and I only recently managed to secure a PS5... happy to hear that things are looking good gameplay wise. It'll be great to finally play this again!

I think it depends on whether you used the same email adress? I'm not sure tbh, but it seems way convoluted.

 

[Durante]

I am really tempted to get back into it for 2.0, but I have to consider whether I will have the mental fortitude to play it without getting back into the daily grind (which is just such a huge timesink).

 

[Ascheroth]

I am really tempted to get back into it for 2.0, but I have to consider whether I will have the mental fortitude to play it without getting back into the daily grind (which is just such a huge timesink).

I've been enjoying the game more when approaching those daily chores. Not in the mood for commisions? Ignore it. Don't feel like spending resin? Let it sit at cap. Haven't played at all during the lead up to Inazuma.
When you break it down, it becomes more apparent that it just doesn't matter.

There's zero worthwhile high difficulty "end-game" content. There's only Abyss, but it's fine enough if you have your 2 teams and if you dan't get all stars, who cares. And it's also only every 2 weeks.
The story and event stuff is significantly easier and if you have a team that works fine, there's absolutely no need to bother spending any more resin.

Commissions give you a grand 11 pulls per month. Which isn't "nothing", but it's also not much. Certainly not enough to waste time on them if you're not enjoying them anymore. The main income is still from new areas and events, and events are also fairly casual where getting the important stuff is easy and you don't even have to do them every day, it's fine to just do an event at the end.

I haven't pulled in almost 3 months now and it doesn't matter. Yeah I said I want Kokomi and Raiden because I like their designs, but there's a good chance that if I get them and then they sit on the bench for a long time, because my current team is just completely good enough for everything.


And I think that's the "healthy" way to approach it. Just engage with the good stuff and only do as many of the daily chores as you're in the mood for, because again, they don't matter in the grand scheme of things.
Really writing it out and realizing that made it much easier to enjoy the great parts of the game while staying away from the GAAS hamster wheel, maybe it works for you as well.

 

[Maedhross]

Dissapointed...

I hate collaborations. I said I would drop this game if it ever happened to see characters from other franchises... I wasn't expecting Aloy to be the one who did it, more like something from an anime or something.

 

[Line]

Aloy looks weird in anime style, but I like her.
Cool that she's free.

And finally Inazuma
But I find the electro puzzles suuuuper clunky, between the blocks that you just randomly hit until it works, to the grappling hook that barely functions, and the electro relays which are just
Still no idea what to do with my primos. Maybe I should roll the permanent fates I have at least...

 

[MaskedCircle]

Mihoyo be leaking before the leakers can leak the leaks again


This could mean that those 3 will be the banners for 2.1 (Sara is a 4*), since they did the same for Ayaka, Yoimiya and Sayu.

Though I hope Kokomi and Raiden are more spread out, since I want both and I can't guarantee both if they drop next update.

hyped af for those 3 hopefully I'll have enough.

 

[hersheyfan]

Correction, it's 2.2 (October) for Playstation and 2.3 (November) for everyone else.

I think it depends on whether you used the same email adress? I'm not sure tbh, but it seems way convoluted.

Yeah, basically, if i want to transfer progress from PC to PlayStation (or vice versa), I basically have to never have played the other version before with the same email address.

That's sadly no longer true, so I have no choice but to continue on console and abandon my PC save file.

 

[Ascheroth]

Aloy looks weird in anime style, but I like her.
Cool that she's free.

And finally Inazuma
But I find the electro puzzles suuuuper clunky, between the blocks that you just randomly hit until it works, to the grappling hook that barely functions, and the electro relays which are just
Still no idea what to do with my primos. Maybe I should roll the permanent fates I have at least...

I'm enjoying the puzzles a lot, actually.
Well, the blocks are my least favorites ones though. I understand how they work (they're either "you hit one and a number of them rotate" where you want all of them to point into the same direction, or "you hit one and the number of lit up petals changes for a number of them" and you want all of them to have the same amount - so basically the same system), but I suck immensely at these. I dunno why, but I just can't turn that information into a proper order to solve the puzzle if it's getting more involved.

The grappling hook is fun!

Tip for the relays: you can also turn into a relay if you're affected by electro. Beidou actually works great for these puzzles because her parry stance does just that.

 

[Line]

I'm enjoying the puzzles a lot, actually.
Well, the blocks are my least favorites ones though. I understand how they work (they're either "you hit one and a number of them rotate" where you want all of them to point into the same direction, or "you hit one and the number of lit up petals changes for a number of them" and you want all of them to have the same amount - so basically the same system), but I suck immensely at these. I dunno why, but I just can't turn that information into a proper order to solve the puzzle if it's getting more involved.

The grappling hook is fun!

Tip for the relays: you can also turn into a relay if you're affected by electro. Beidou actually works great for these puzzles because her parry stance does just that.

Yeah the blocks are easy enough, but tend to be pretty far apart so you can't always see what you're doing when hitting one or the other.
For the relays, I started on the one below the temple. One where you randomly have to drop the relay in mid air and yes, make a junction yourself... except it's buggy as fuck and the electro flying thingy didn't work. Tried again and again, checked a guide, nope, just bugged and it worked today. I still got two other bugging on me, but reconnecting fixed it...
The electro hook, oof. Completed the first part of the event, it was super easy but it felt like the physics engine was going to break any moment. They really need to work on their gliding... a lot of side things feel very unpolished.

And I ended up rolling on Ayaka, I like her gameplay quite a bit more than I expected.
I was close to pity, so of course I got Keqing'd again. C2 now. Ok game, I know I like her but give me something else please.
But then like for Zhongli, got Ayaka in less than 20 rolls after, so, it's ok and I still have primos left.
Also got me Yanfei to C6 and Chongyun to C4, so that was very good beside getting trolled.

 

[TioChuck]

I did almost everything that is on Inazuma for now, need to do some more chest hunting, anyone knows when the rest of Inazuma will be available?

 

[Ascheroth]

For the relays, I started on the one below the temple. One where you randomly have to drop the relay in mid air and yes, make a junction yourself... except it's buggy as fuck and the electro flying thingy didn't work. Tried again and again, checked a guide, nope, just bugged and it worked today. I still got two other bugging on me, but reconnecting fixed it...
The electro hook, oof. Completed the first part of the event, it was super easy but it felt like the physics engine was going to break any moment. They really need to work on their gliding... a lot of side things feel very unpolished.

Oh yeah that one. I did that one earlier today and it completely crapped out as well. I managed to get the chest somehow, but it didn't seem to be the correct way.
Can't really agree regarding the hook though, it feels fine and fun. Only "complaint" I have is that T is a super awkward key for it, so I mapped it to one of my mouse side buttons with X-Mouse-Button (the other button is mapped to elemental vision because holding down the wheel is awkward as hell as well).
Congrats on the pulls. Hopefully I get lucky with Raiden and Kokomi.
Apparently Raiden comes first, then Kokomi + Sara. But who knows.


Also wow at being almost done with Inazuma already. I'm not even done with the first island
Don't plan to rush though, I'll take it slow over the next few weeks.

 

[MaskedCircle]

have you guys seen the leak? 2.1 seems even more content heavy. I dunno how long will it take me to do everything lmao

 

[Line]

It's not leaking, it's a faucet.
The new "free" polearm with massive burst damage upgrades and ER as main stat is fantastic, I desperately need one. The tuna claymore though

The new chars looks super cool, but now I'm torn, because Raiden is little more than super Fischl (and she will not play nice with pyro) and Kokomi looks amaaaazing, plus she's a healer with damage, and hydro is just so good in all teams.

 

[Ascheroth]

have you guys seen the leak? 2.1 seems even more content heavy. I dunno how long will it take me to do everything lmao

Some of it. We feastin' in the near future from the looks of it
Skillsets and animations of the new chars are
I'm going to go for both Raiden and Kokomi for sure, which means I'll probably also get Sara along the way.
Including my current pity count I have 200 rolls right now saved up + 35 emergency rolls from Starglitter if worst comes to worst.
I just need to win a single 50/50 and I'm good.

Inazuma is so good, it's washing my annoyance about the state of the "end-game" away for now, and the leaks about the upcoming stuff are super promising as well.
Hopefully this means they got their ducks in a row now and there won't be such a draught like it between Dragonspine and the islands again for the foreseeable future.

 

[Durante]

I basically haven't played at all since the end of March and the amount of stuff to do before I even get to Inazuma is too much

I guess it doesn't help that I didn't even finish the main story up to the point it was available back then (because main and character stories always seem less "urgent" than events).

I started it back up yesterday, and am once again impressed at the quality of the main quest stuff in particular.

 

[Line]

So, fishing next patch it seems.
Always surprised at how fast they add new features, coming from the MMO world, if a developer takes five years to add something new you can consider yourself lucky.

 

[Ascheroth]

200 million/year budget putting in work.

I'm very curious if there will be copy-cats of Genshin in the future. It seems like a much riskier proposition then your "regular" gachas.

 

[Durante]

One somewhat annoying thing that got me again is the way they handle multiple active quests and NPCs which appear in both of them. You can be in the middle of a quest line and suddenly it simply doesn't progress (and you almost feel like it's bugging out) and then you find the notice that some random NPC is currently busy with another quest. I feel like just ignoring that would have been a much better choice.

As is, I suddenly had to do the Ganyu character quest in the middle of the chapter 2 prologue. Loved the 2D cutscene in that though.

Talking about Ganyu, I just saw that Aloy is also a Cryo archer -- I'm not particularly interested in using crossover characters anyway, but I feel like they could generally do a better job of more uniformly filling the roster in terms of element/weapon combinations.

 

[hankenta]

I had that happen as well recently with the Guild lady (Ana?) in chapter 2. I couldn't progress the main quest because she was "busy" in another quest I had. and now the next part of that quest is blocked by the story quest. It feels extra bizarre when the NPC in question isn't even taking part in quests, she's literally just standing in the same place in universe as well.

I'm currently trying to rush through the main quest so I can take part in some of the new events. It seems every time I boot up the game I'm locked out of all the interesting timed events because I haven't progressed far enough in the story. I've played the game very casually on and off since release and I've been exploring the open world more than focusing on progressing the story.

 

[jim2point0]

Popped back into the game to check out Inazuma. It really amazes me how they can make a quest with a COMBAT TOURNAMENT so dreadfully boring. I don't understand why their writers love their dialog so much. There's SO MUCH of it. It takes SO long just skipping it. Like why can't we skip it faster?

Anyways, Inazuma is pretty.

 

[Involution]

Popped back into the game to check out Inazuma. It really amazes me how they can make a quest with a COMBAT TOURNAMENT so dreadfully boring. I don't understand why their writers love their dialog so much. There's SO MUCH of it. It takes SO long just skipping it. Like why can't we skip it faster?

Anyways, Inazuma is pretty.

It's literally the worst tournament arc ever. I imagine it's a combination of : most characters involved are a bunch of nobodies, little enemy variety to represent said nobodies, and possibly the real kicker - accommodating a low tier protagonist that few people built.

Inazuma is great though, and my Ayaka needs a few more materials to ascend past 80 I think. Hopefully it can happen next week.

 

[TioChuck]

I'm farming Crystal Marrow for when Sayu drops, but... goddamn, I'm having Cor Lapis de javu, the 48hrs respawn time is just hell for a limited resource like this.

 

[Line]

I really need another Cryo to support Ayaka, I tried with Diona but her shields are so weak.. I really don't have many options here, no Qiqi or Rosaria... and Ganyu feels like a bit like overkill, though I guess I don't have much that would work. Maybe I should level up Kaeya...

 

[Ascheroth]

Yeah, Kaeya seems to be your best bet in that case. I know the starter characters have the stigma of not being good (poor Amber), but Kaeya is legit.

Personally I'm farming the new artifact domain right now for Beidou and I guess Raiden will want it as well.
I actually don't mind it!
It helps that the domain itself is supidly pretty, with killer music and has no annoying debuffs, just buffs.
And I also probably reached artifact nirvana and shit substat rolls no longer even faze me.

Beidou got this

and unless I get something better while collecting the other pieces it stays ¯\(ツ)/¯
Circlets will be Atk% unless I get a crit one. I just stopped caring.
(Whether or not this will be "viable" I have yet to see, because I don't have an abyss team with these chars yet and for regular play I need nobody other than Ganyu + Zhongli, but I also don't really care, lol).

 

[jim2point0]

Exploring Inazuma is a treat. Lots of puzzles. Lots of quests. Tons of little secrets. And its just gobsmacking gorgeous.

 

[Ascheroth]

Yes, yes it is
If this were a standalone game/expansion, it might very well have a shot at personal GOTY.
Some lows here and there, but overall fantastic (and still have only explored maybe half of the map with plenty of side quests and main story left).

 

[TioChuck]

Inazuma is visually stunning, but man... every story there is fucking depressing.

 

[jim2point0]

I wouldn't know. I gave up on this game's story ages ago. I just can not be bothered to read all the dialog. That's all the quests are. Fast traveling from all over the map to slowly skip through tons of pointless banter.

 

[TioChuck]

I wouldn't know. I gave up on this game's story ages ago. I just can not be bothered to read all the dialog. That's all the quests are. Fast traveling from all over the map to slowly skip through tons of pointless banter.

its not just the main story, is everything, notes and people you find all around.

 

[Ascheroth]

The main story has been of mixed quality in the game, but I generally enjoy all the side-story stuff and Inazuma has been very interesting in that regard as well.
It's gotten very wordy though. Very wordy.

 

[Line]

The world building is very solid, especially for Inazuma, but the main questline just feels shallow and underdeveloped despite having a lot of meandering dialogue.
The third island in particular is gone in minutes it feels like, while there are some really important things that deserved more screen time... but at least credit where it's due, they finally use the main cast for more than their little quest, having Kazuha and Beidou appear multiple times in cut scenes helps a lot. Even the side quests don(t forget about what happened in Liyue and we see familiar faces, that's a start... but it's nearly a year late though.


In gameplay news, my Ayaka is nearly built (though I'll grind some blizzard artefacts to keep both her and Ganyu up to par) and damn she's fun and strong. Also incredibly useful on water, she has enough uptime on ice platforms to never run out of stamina and is much, much faster than Kaeya.
What was a bit harder to parse and is probably her best feat for me is her range: where Keqing steps back mid combo and tends to miss a lot of charge attacks, Ayaka has a massive range with some autotracking, she can hit well outside of her sword length. It's incredibly useful and a huge, huge QOL thing against mobile ennemies.

Now I wonder if Kokomi will be a good pairing for her, Xingqiu is always strong but probably a bit less than for some others with how large her AoE attacks can be, little dude can't keep up the freeze against groups.

 

[MaskedCircle]

Screen shot spam, hope you all don't mind

The main story has been of mixed quality in the game, but I generally enjoy all the side-story stuff and Inazuma has been very interesting in that regard as well.
It's gotten very wordy though. Very wordy.

I think they've put more focus on the world-building than the basic story which you can see on the surface. honestly, a ton of things are here and I hope they can live up to the hype they're trying to make.
by the way, has anyone done the shrine cleansing quest? It's my fav quest in genshin impact so far.
Oh and also Ayaka's quest is also my fav story quest till now.

 

[SkyStarblaze]

Honestly I would love to get into the game again just to experience the story and locations but the combat is too hard and tedious for me with the level-up and equipment system at this point that I don't think I will ever see anything beyond Mondstadt and Liyue

I tried to fight the Wind Cube to level up my Jean and died without ever doing proper damage.

 

[MaskedCircle]

Honestly I would love to get into the game again just to experience the story and locations but the combat is too hard and tedious for me with the level-up and equipment system at this point that I don't think I will ever see anything beyond Mondstadt and Liyue

I tried to fight the Wind Cube to level up my Jean and died without ever doing proper damage.

I think you should understand the elements a bit, the game's pretty straight forward unless you're doing abyss (which I finish every reset)
you definitely won't do anything against wind cube as it'll be nullified because Jean's element is also the same.

 

[Ascheroth]

Honestly I would love to get into the game again just to experience the story and locations but the combat is too hard and tedious for me with the level-up and equipment system at this point that I don't think I will ever see anything beyond Mondstadt and Liyue

I tried to fight the Wind Cube to level up my Jean and died without ever doing proper damage.

In general you want don't want to fight the bosses with the same element, since they're going to be immune to that element. So Jean isn't going to be that much help against the Wind cube (Geo is kinda sorta the exception)..
It's now also possible to lower your world level starting at World Level 5 or something I think, which can be helpful if you feel you still need to get your characters up to speed.

Also, there's always co-op. Nothing wrong with having someone carry you through some of the tedium until your team is up to speed. I'm sure folks here would help out if we're on the same server
Which one are you on?

 

[SkyStarblaze]

I think you should understand the elements a bit, the game's pretty straight forward unless you're doing abyss (which I finish every reset)
you definitely won't do anything against wind cube as it'll be nullified because Jean's element is also the same.

In general you want don't want to fight the bosses with the same element, since they're going to be immune to that element. So Jean isn't going to be that much help against the Wind cube (Geo is kinda sorta the exception)..
It's now also possible to lower your world level starting at World Level 5 or something I think, which can be helpful if you feel you still need to get your characters up to speed.

Also, there's always co-op. Nothing wrong with having someone carry you through some of the tedium until your team is up to speed. I'm sure folks here would help out if we're on the same server
Which one are you on?

Oh no no you two misunderstood me, I wasn't fighting it with Jean but for Jean since she needs the ascension material. I fought with Xiangling. I am at WL 5 so I can't drop to 4 but honestly I feel World Level is one of the worst features in the game, I hate it in games when the environment levels with me as it feels it somewhat negates progress in the name of difficulty.

I might have to turn to coop yeah, it's just I feel the game also should have done a better job at teaching me how to properly level and equip my characters in terms of artifacts, weapons and grinding. Or maybe it did and I forgot about it all since it's been so long since I started the game.

I'm on the EU server, thanks for the offer, I'll see when I have some time for coop if it comes to that

 

[MaskedCircle]

Oh no no you two misunderstood me, I wasn't fighting it with Jean but for Jean since she needs the ascension material. I fought with Xiangling. I am at WL 5 so I can't drop to 4 but honestly I feel World Level is one of the worst features in the game, I hate it in games when the environment levels with me as it feels it somewhat negates progress in the name of difficulty.

I might have to turn to coop yeah, it's just I feel the game also should have done a better job at teaching me how to properly level and equip my characters in terms of artifacts, weapons and grinding. Or maybe it did and I forgot about it all since it's been so long since I started the game.

I'm on the EU server, thanks for the offer, I'll see when I have some time for coop if it comes to that

ah I understand, if I was in EU I would have loved to help out, and I can understand the concern you have towards the progression.

 

[SkyStarblaze]

ah I understand, if I was in EU I would have loved to help out, and I can understand the concern you have towards the progression.

Thank you, I'll see what I can do

 

[Ascheroth]

Thank you, I'll see what I can do

I'm EU, feel free to add me:

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[Ascheroth]

With Abyss reset soon I went through it yesterday and was trying something new.
I basically went through all of it with this setup:

I've been casually working on my Fischl/Beidou/Xingqiu/Sucrose team for a while now and wanted to know how far I could get this time.
Last time they had an easy time with floor 9 but started struggling at floor 10. This time they brought me all the way up to 12-2 with a total of 33 stars, but couldn't handle 12-3.
There's neither a proper healer nor a proper shielder on that team, so once they don't output enough damage to just curbstomp things, it gets rough. (Xingqiu thankfully alleviates some of it, but not enough). Still not finished with that team, so there's room for improvement, the biggest being getting C6 Fischl.
Some other observations: The ice cube was rough as well, enemies with only short windows of vulnerability aren't that great with this team. The small vishaps are annoying as hell.
I'm happy though that I can now run Abyss without Diluc. Get benched
...Hopefully it will still work after reset