Pushing the Limits of an 'Isekai' Game

 A New Wonder 

miHoYo's Genshin Impact, is one of the hottest games this year. Originally launched on the 28th of September, the game had reached over 12 million players around the day of the launch solely on PC- But also available on Mobile, the PlayStation, but sadly not the Xbox. Set in the mystical realm of 'Tevyat', Genshin Impact is clearly inspired by Nintendo EPD's Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; From the anime-esque art style, the open-world puzzles, or even the stamina based traversal (Gliding, Sprinting, or Swimming). While there is no denying the similarities, Genshin Impact is in a league of it's own- building on Breath of the Wild's flaws. Plus it's free (for the most part).    

Having played the game for over 350+ hours, making it one of my most played games, if not my most played- It is absolutely filled to the brim with content to say the least. Unlike most other games I've watched gameplay of, or played Genshin Impact adopts a "release by update" system, where new regions are released after a certain amount of updates; So far, we've been given the opportunity to explore the City of Freedom: Mondstadt, the City of Contracts: Liyue, and the City of Eternity: Inazuma. 

The Mystical Realm of Tevyat

Unlike quite a few other anime-based or anime-esque games that focus more on the Story, Genshin Impact balances one of the most rich open-worlds, with an intriguing story to say the least. As I've mentioned before, we get to explore 7 nations, each to their corresponding element; the City of Freedom: Mondstadt (Anemo), the City of Contracts: Liyue (Geo), the City of Eternity: Inazuma (Electro), the City of Wisdom: Sumeru (Dendro), the City of Justice: Fontaine (Hydro), the City of War: Natlan, and the City of: Snezhnaya (Cryo). And, so far we've unlocked 3 of the 7 regions: Mondstadt, Liyue, and most recently Inazuma. Tevyat seems large, exceptionally large, however the dimensions are absolutely fucked up, the canon distance between Liyue and Mondstadt (which are two separate nations), is only about ~5 kilometers apart, give or take. 

miHoYo had done a wonderful job, crafting the different nations of Tevyat, filled to the brim with scenic views, lively cities, and monsters. Although the open-world does have more flaws than I would've wished for it to have, missing out a certain aspect of "life", having left out an essential aspect we never get to see region specific creatures, passive or otherwise, only encountering various enemies that can be found all over. Even sadder, comparative to Inazuma (the newest nation), it is hard to get used to Liyue and Mondstadt, looking bleak in comparison, to the imperial architecture of Inazuma. 

Probably one of the greatest part of Genshin Impact is the beautiful array of soundtracks. I could listen to the soundtracks for hours on end and can't get enough of it. The amount of variety it has is astounding, different soundtracks for different characters, regions, places, battles, events, and more. HOYO-MiX's and Yu-Peng Chan's utilization of traditional instruments such as Liuqin or Erhu mixed in with trumpets, xylophones, flutes, and more! My personal favorite soundtrack is Liyue Harbor's OST titled "Liyue". 

Mysteries, & Events 

Genshin is like any other open-world game, with puzzles scattered around. With similar circumstances, albeit different solutions. For example, puzzles usually help you get different rewards (Either chests, or certain items that can only be unlocked that way), one such puzzle is an elemental pillar puzzle- where you need to activate them with a certain element, in a certain order, to finish it off. Some puzzles could be as minor as just lighting a couple rods on fire, to as large as unlocking a part of a region or a domain. 

With each update in Genshin Impact, we receive new events- divided into two phases, phase 1 (with the first character banner), and phase 2 (with the second character banner). Each event is a unique experience for the player. Though the game is known to bring back some fan-favorite events: From the "Theater Mechanicus", which is a tower defense simulator-esque event, to the "Lost Riches" event, which is a treasure hunt-esque event, although personally not one of my favorite. A permanent event in the game called the "Spiral Abyss", which is a series of floors, where you can fight hordes of enemies for different rewards, which constantly gets updated with new enemies to fight every 3 or so weeks. 

Combat & Characters

Almost everything in Genshin Impact revolves around the utilization of the 6 elements: Pyro, Hydro, Cryo, Anemo, Geo, and Electro, sadly we don't have any character than can utilize Dendro. So far, we have 37 playable characters, each with their own vision (A vision is the element they can utilize)- Divided into two categories, 4 stars, and 5 stars. To obtain characters you need to wish on "Banners" using an in-game currency called primogems, to obtain them- There are 3 different banners. The featured banner (which is a limited time opportunity to obtain a certain character), the weapon banner (as the name implies its a limited time opportunity to obtain a certain weapon), and the standard banner (which is the default banner to obtain weapons or characters- that weren't on the featured/weapon banner); The banners use a "pity system", where after every 10 wishes you're guaranteed to get at least 1 four star character, after 75 wishes your chances to obtain a five star character drastically increases, and at the 90th pull you're guaranteed to get a five star. In other words, Genshin Impact adopts a "Gatcha" system. 

As for the combat, there are 5 different weapon classes: Swords, Polearms, Bows, Catalysts, and my personal favorite Claymores. Each character is divided into one of the weapon classes, with a corresponding element of their own. Damage in Genshin is divided into two categories, physical damage, and elemental damage- It is worth noting that different enemies, have different resistances to damage. Sword, and Polearms deal a mediocre amount of damage, albeit in fast successions; Bows deal ranged damage, simply tapping the attack key will deal physical damage, while holding up for a charged shot will deal elemental damage; Catalysts will always deal elemental damage; and finally Claymores will deal massive amounts of physical damage, although slowly. 

Characters have two specialty moves, called their elemental skills, and elemental burst, both of which are unique to the character. The aforementioned skills, and bursts have their own jobs relevant to the character- Characters are categorized as either healers, supports, sub-dps, and dps' (DPS= Damage Per Second), and sometimes can play multiple jobs at once; Technically any character can do any job, but it's a matter of utility. The skills, and burst help create a category of damage called "Elemental Reactions", which is the way the various elements synergize with each other (Melt, Vaporize, Swirl, Crystallize, Shatter, Freeze, Overload, and Electroconduct). Eventually, the combat does get repetitive and boring- Which is an aspect, miHoYo does need to work upon.

An Unbreakable Bond

Genshin Impact, is quite frankly, if 'isekai' (warped to another world) was a game. We play as a "Traveler" from another world, or Aether/Lumine (His/Her canon name), who came across the world of Tevyat in their travels only to be attacked by an "Unknown God", resulting in your twin getting captured, and you being hurled down to the ground only to awake on a beach... And like any other isekai anime, we start off with absolutely nothing, and begin to explore the realm of Tevyat, in search of your lost sibling. Your journey as you progress throughout the story can be somewhat tedious, involving a large amount of grinding to level up your AR (Which is the leveling system) to unlock new quests, clearing domains to get materials and artifacts to boost your strength, helping companions you come across, and battling actual fucking gods and monsters. Surprisingly, miHoYo created a 'manhua' (the Chinese term for comics), accounting for events preceding to the events in the game- character backstories, and more. 

Free-2-Play or Forced-2-Pay?

As I've mentioned before the game has it's own in-game currency (Primogems), which allows you to wish on banners for certain characters. The game offers in-game purchases that provide you with Genesis Crystals, which you can then convert to Primogems to pull. It is worth mentioning the main reason people buy primogems, is to get multiple copies of their favorite character- providing the player with "Constellations", which allow the players to boost their characters utility (once again varying according to the character). Personally, I don't recommend investing in primogems for the sole reason that the game is fairly fun and you're able to beat it without having to pay to win, and the fact that new characters will constantly be released which could be more fun than the character you invested into. That said, it all falls back down to you, if you truly believe you're going to spend a majority of the time you play with them. 

Should you play it? Yep. 
My Favorite Quote: "Ah, Paimon's Emergency Food",- Traveler.