Keeping up with the Genshin-ians

 Just when I thought I was out-

It has been a hot minute since I've covered anything to do with Anime Zeld- well, I guess that would be, more Anime Zelda; Genshin Impact. But that hasn't been because of a lack of stuff going on altogether. I've just been terrified of falling into the hypnotic trance state where I cannot bring myself to pick up any other game because I'm stuck inside the cycle of doing dailies and spending resin and chipping away at sidequests and basically just living my life in Genshin. It's a very easy pattern to fall into for games such as this one, and it can really suck up your free time if you're not careful. But I've had some time, taken some breaks, and realised that Genshin literally jumped 5 versions whilst I had my back turned. How the heck did that happen? I mean, wow; for a game that's free-to-play MiHoYo are cranking out content like their lives are on the line; it's a wonder how such a blatant financial success of a game can get so excitable with it's updates, such that I'm starting to seriously wonder whether or not the staff over there are actually made up of sentient Androids. (Surely only beings requiring neither sleep nor sustenance can keep things running like this.)

But the whole '5 versions' thing is actually a bit of misnomer- actually it's more like a straight lie. The Genshin team got bored around Update 1.6 and decided to skip ahead to 2.0 because, hey, this is their game and they make the rules. Certainly a strange way to handle content numbers there team, but still more comprehensive than the Minecraft system of doing things so I guess you're still on a good track, huh. (I think Mojang are confused about how decimals work) But that isn't to say that those other updates, 1.5 and 1.6, were slackers in any way either. 1.5, which I missed, contained an entire housing system built in. Yeah, you know those things that most other games of this type wait until year 3 to start implementing? Genshin did that already. And it's already pretty developed, although it does suffer from simply egregious time gating. (13 real-time hours to build a bookshelf? We're working with the power of demi-god Adeptus here, can't you use that power to hop down to IKEA for an easy assembly kit?) And 1.6 introduced the concept of player outfits (which is yet to be properly developed) and a brand new boat mechanic which was introduced in a limited time playspace and has since been ported to the larger Genshin world.

"So if that's just what the 0.1 increments were holding, then what exactly warrants a full jump to the next total integer?" you might wonder. Or more likely you do not, because it's hard to avoid all the excitement over the first new region that got added to the world of Teyvat, the Japanese inspired archipelago of Inazuma. 2.0 has introduced a land of Samurai, lightning storms and scary Shogun Waifus, and you can bet I wasn't going to take the time to miss a single second of it. Heck, the very day this update launched I logged on and cleared every single main character side quest I had left so that I could enter this update clean. (Which included me meeting Eula for the first time, to which I can say thus: I understand the discrimination she endured for a family name she happens to share, but my god is she annoying. I fully understand why Amber is her only friend) So how was my time in the land of Eternity?

I think that more than any other Teyvat-ian region before it, I'm totally fascinated by the story of Inazuma's land, because it contains much more presence and personal drive than the Genshin storytellers have pulled off before. Mondstadt is more just your prototypical fantastical vaguely European fantasy setting lacking any genuine character to it, and Liyue was at the exact opposite end of the spectrum; dripping with lore about Adepti, the land of Contracts, and Ningguang: The Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing. Yeah, needless to say I tuned out at almost every paragraph of text I was force fed during the Liyue campaign, unless it was being delivered by Zhongli. (I've always got time for my main man.) Immediately Inazuma is presented as this land of contention and challenge; heck, getting there in itself is a headache because the border is closed and visitors are frowned upon, and the way they chose to expand on this has proven to be very intriguing and easy to follow; a great recipe for making the audience want to care more.

As The Land of Eternity, Inazuma is gripped by this determination to keep everything that way that is was without any remote change for a long as possible, 'so that the land can pass to the end of time undisturbed' or something like that. It reminds me of a shade upon the wild desperation of Gwyn Lord of Cinder from Dark Souls, the man who defied the flow of nature to feed his selfish greed to preserve the world he had made, unwilling to accept that all things must die. I will say that Inazuma's Archon, Baal, is certainly easier on the eyes than old desiccated Gwyn was. Her desires to keep the land static is made very real by her decree to hunt the visions, (the magical orbs that everyone who can manipulate elements needs to party except for our protagonist) a tyrannical measure that has spread fear across the islands.

See, this is the sort of plot that I can get aboard with! A enigmatic and mysterious godly dictator hellbent on defying personal freedoms in order to enforce her idea of what makes for a perfect world, a resistance both inside and outside her spheres of influence lending to clandestine actions for the player, and a natural way to really delve into the lore about what exactly a vision is, and why being deprived of one is something you really don't want happening. Some might say it's a bit of a slow note to pick up on considering the end of Chapter 1 had us confronting our Sibling for the first time, only for them to disappear and the protagonist to sulk about, acting like they don't even remember that. (It's still "I'm looking for my brother" rather than "I'm trying to understand why my Brother's a total dick now") I, however, think there's plenty of time to drip feed the overarching narrative; in the meantime this intimate, contained struggle of warring ideologies for life is much more entertaining for me.

But the story is just a part, Inazuma itself is a whole new face for the Genshin franchise and her bounties are somewhat different from the rest of the game up until now. Or 'most' the rest of the game, because you can tell very clearly that much of Inazuma's design decisions took direct inspiration from Dragonspine mountain; from the region-exclusive elemental effect that has multiple utility and combat applications, to the 'upgrade tree' providing another progression path for the curious and even the general philosophy of a smaller landscape that's more densely packed with things to find and do. The basic breadth of the land disappointed me at first glance, but since then I've been picking through surprise caves, tucked in outcrops and dangerous wild lightning zones, all of which has really bought me to grips with the more nuanced approach to world design this time around. Building up instead of around, it's a different look to be sure.

I've only just finished the story content of 2.0, as such I'm still coming to grips with what the update really has to offer in terms of exploration. (There's two whole off-islands that I've only grazed so far.) The boss fight against Baal was refreshingly tough as nails though, I'm slightly dreading how badly she's going to string me out in the inevitable follow-up for upcoming months. And so once more, I've been knocked for a loop by Genshin Impact and it's ability to flood us with things to do that are actually fun to engage with. I almost feel guilty enjoying myself, like this sort of content isn't right for a Free-to-play game, but as long as no one tells MiHoYO how none of their contemporaries tries even a fraction this hard to make their mobile games, I think we're in the tentative clear. For sheer atmosphere, however, I still personally think that Dragonspine is my favourite location, but the season of Inazuma has but only begun and who knows what crazy surprises the team might have cooking up for us in the months to come. (Like Fishing. That's been confirmed to be coming already. So yay for fishing.) Ah Teyvat, it's good to be back...