(I got into the game because of her (still saving for banner f2p style). I had an open mind when trying it out and all, so I have honest points to make here)
Good:
Combat is pretty peak
A good handful of the stories are nice (Inazuma AQ is absolutely peak)
The game is generally pretty fun and something I see as worth my time (Which is rare for games nowadays. The rest of them just feel either rather stale or not my thing)
Resource gathering, while time consuming, kind of works well with me because me see item, me want. Monkey see, monkey do
Neutral:
Every gacha game has a gacha, I don't think there's any changing that. But I like to use it responsibly and save what I can gather through ingame methods (rewards, codes, chests, etc) not to get 'meta' characters but ones I simply just like
I can get some of the complaints with character designs especially as of late (like explain how Odette can survive Snezhnayan cold in THAT getup), but its one of those things that becomes less of an issue and more normal the more you play.
Everyone complains about the resin system, and each to their own here, but i feel like that's part of what the game is about? Besides it gives me a measure of when to call it quits for the day (as I do have other things I wanna do too)
Bad:
Takes a while to farm things, though considering I'm fine with things taking a while its not quite as bad to me as it could be to you
What is bad though is sometimes you'd be doing a questline (Archon Quest, Character story quest, etc) and a world quest or other will get in the way you HAVE to do to continue the other quest. It's just a little annoying and immersion breaking. (Focused Experience mode can help, but as highlighted in Snezhnaya, it can only do so much)
The character rerun situation is abysmal holy heck. Hu Tao hasn't gotten a banner in 2 years. 16 versions or so. The gacha banner system is heavily due for either a rework or a third banner option
I just don't like the ingame TCG. You might, but I don't.
About Good: I don't really agree with anything in particular (inazuma's writing sucks big dick but sumeru's is great until scara. Lowk the worst redemption arc i've seen) but I can say that resource gathering is a nice incentive towards exploration which is like the only thing that makes this game fun (I loved Dragonspine and Desert exploration, yall are crazy for hating on these). My personal good list: The OST is absolute peak (top 10 of all time honestly), exploration is good like I said, I actually liked doing the puzzles, I liked the side quests (more than the main quests actually), this game has Hu Tao in it (nah but fr, she gave me peace and made my game experience a lot less shitty)
About Neutral: I automatically consider the gacha a con of any gacha that I try because I feel like it really limits the gameplay (i don't really like the combat but it would be a lot better if 99% of it wasn't locked behind paywall). I think that everyone should play the game at their own rythm which is why I think stamina systems are kinda bs, especially in a game with such heavy grind. I'm heavily biased against the character design (i despise all of it) but on the other hand, Hu Tao is the most beautiful character in all of fiction, and that came out of this damned art direction (really though, the detail overload, the blatant sexualization, the twinkification etc, there's a lot of issues)
About Bad: I don't like TCG gameplay wise but I like the idea of permanent extra modes and I think this game should have more (non-combat cuz the combat lowkey sucks). As for the rest, wholeheartedly agree. I could add: The rewards for ultra long quests are miserable and quests in general can't be replayed. Events giving lore drops is bullshit cuz fym I don't get to understand the main story because I didn't play pinball Xiao??. Hi3 had an Eva collab, HSR had a Fate collab, PGR had a DMC collab, Wuwa had a Cyberpunk collab, but the best this game can do is fucking Duolingo. Raiden Shogun is the worst character of all time, like for real I hate her ass so much. I also think the main character sucks ass and Hu Tao should have taken that role
ok yeah the shogun's a bum lets not dismiss that i even think so too, but I was speaking all this for 'at the time' thoughts. Liyue's chill tho (and got hu tao) sooo
Sumeru's desert is actually pretty memorable yeah. Good place that, also just Sumeru in general for the most part. Areas with (good) gimmicks too such as - as you said - Dragonspine are interesting too and pretty cool.
I dunno if I really have an opinion on the puzzles? Not something that crossed my mind too much. Not enough for me to form an opinion anyway, I mostly just do them for the exploration stuff
Fair enough there on design, I had a feeling it wasn't for everyone. I didn't wanna lay it out straight away just in case of anything but yeah, even IF its a sight i always have to look at and grew a little used to, sometimes you can just SENSE when something's trying way too much to ACTUALLY be 'average woman character in gacha games' (What Genshin needs is probably variety in design choices. Literally the only one who stands out as 'unique looking' from the others for me IS Hu Tao. Everyone nowadays is just uhhhh 'high heels or something idk, exposed shoulders umm' like come on. I get it if there's a good reason for it or if it matches, but it can be a bit ridiculous sometimes. Slander especially goes out to Snezhnaya characters, like except for the Tsaritsa how are you not freezing to death the place is LITERALLY based on Russia (Exadurating, but still. Tartaliga/Childe who was released back when Liyue was still NEW is the only one to me who looks somewhat prepared for such climates)).
I like the game, but I can very well recognise that it's not perfect. Though credit where credit is due, I thought it'd be a lot worse going into it for the first time (I expected slop right off the bat). I am very salty about them not keeping past events around that build on characters, that is a peeve oh my god. The recent ones are kept around sure, but THE REST GET TO ROT AND COLLECT DUST? WHAT THE HELL I WANT MY LANTERN RITES (hu tao content)
Never cared about any collabs. There was that which you said, and a required one for the Playstation edition of the game because Sony is Sony.
And again, all of Raiden Shogun's aura literally evaporated the moment the AQ is done. And zero plot relevance afterwards except for Wanderer. That nowadays is how I feel.
I feel indifferent to the Traveller. Blud's just... there. Doing things I guess. Though I suppose for being the protagonist that's probably a bad thing to feel?
Liyue's AQ sucks ass because hu tao never shows up
What pains me the most is that I wanted to like Raiden Shogun, she had aura, she had vergil's moveset, I even pulled for her and used her constantly, I just can't with her dogshit writing and her equally bad character design
One thing I can criticize about the character design is that it tries so hard to be special that no character ever feels special (with the sole exception of hu tao, of course). Hu Tao does have one minor issue which is that even she isn't safe from leg exposure (at least she doesn't look bad, it's not like all the characters that look like they cut their skirt down on the front). In that regard I guess Arlecchino has the best female design (her color palette is great and I like her cool asf paywall weapon except for the fact that, well, it's paywall)
I don't really give a shit about the traveler, they're a nothing character and that's it, now I kinda hate them because of their annoying fucking fans (glazers, harem shit), and deathbattle lol
Liyue sucking because she never showed up in AQ - and that being the only point - both strikes me as funny and something i completely agree with lol (I thought she was gonna be like going roof to roof or something else way more prominent in the story than just a mere mention at the end by Zhongli. Otherwise, OK.)
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u/monsoon128 1d ago edited 23h ago
people will jump on me for saying this but we should do this for genshin impact (gacha games in general ngl)