I hate that we only get one Dainsleif quest a year. They are so far apart from one another that by the time the next Dain quest comes around I'll have already forgotten what happened in the last one.
I think it's much more harder to write a good story without killing off characters. A lot of stories in normal books these days (not even anime) have the killing off of characters to get you emotionally invested - heck even in HSR tried that with Tingyun and Firefly. Imo, it's a very cheap trick to make you feel emotional about them, but it should only be used well if you're extremely attached to the chars. Not a lot of people care for Xiao besides the Xiao fans, so his death would be a waste even if they did implement it. Plus, the whole purpose of his character is to live a good life in place of his dead fellow yakshas - that's literally his banner title: Invitation to Mundane Life. The whole chasm story was basically "you need to get over it about sacrificing yourself and learn to be optimistic and live a good life" instead of being emo all the time - that was his character development. So if it's not Xiao, then what would be an actual character's death that would resonate emotionally and very strongly with the audience? Easy. Klee. If Klee dies (since you spent so many good memories with her and she had a lot of screentime especially summer events, and that she's a cute kid) THEN that would work on an emotional level - but you and I know that would never happen. The purpose of the story isn't lost with exploring every nation. It was CORRECTED in the "We Will Be Reunited" quest when the sibling told the traveler to finish his journey to see for himself about the true nature of this world. So it gives you a purpose to be exploring not just the nation's cities, but going to Dragonspine, Enkanomiya, Tsurumi Island, etc. It gives you REASON to go explore every nook and cranny of the world because that's your new purpose. However, it has flaws, and let me present you an actual example where it actually detracted from the story. It was during the Fontaine archon quests when we were sent to the Foretress of Meropide to find clues about Childe. We had no stakes to go to jail to save Childe, but the game makes it like we are friends with Childe when it insinuated this whole time we are more like acquaintances. We risking our health and lives for Childe is out of character because THAT is LOST PURPOSE. It (1) doesn't bring us to discovering the nature of this world, and (2) doesn't help us find our sister. It's not like the reward was talking with Furina since the traveler wanted to talk to each archon because Neuv didn't offer that as a reward. Neuv offered us compensation "highest according to law", but most people think it's just mora. I thought it was extremely out of character for the traveler to go into the foretress of meropide to help in a political struggle since he wasn't offered anything that aligned to their purpose.
@@silverhawkscape2677 That's the point. Why does traveler even care? It has nothing to do with him or his goals. He's not responsible for childe's wellbeing; traveler is not his parent or works for the fatui. I think the funniest part of that jail arc in the Fontaine storyline is that they found out Childe is somewhere in the primordial sea, annnnd....nobody cares what happens to him afterwards. It's not consistent at all from a plot writing perspective. First, the traveler calls Childe their friend in one of their lines and that's why they're going to the foretress of meropide to find out what happened to him. Yes, canonically the traveler now thinks Childe is a friend is already weird. And next nobody gives af bout him floating somewhere in the primordial sea like that was just glossed over. If your friend is floating out in the middle of the ocean, you would think "hey! Lets get an emergency rescue plan to help him!". If Childe is now canonically a friend to the traveler, then it's inconsistent writing that the traveler didn't bring up wanting to rescue Childe after finding out he's in the sea or even asking what happened to him to Skirk after she threw him into a portal. Remember, traveler doesn't want to have anything to do with the fatui. Do you know how many times Paimon goes in the game "Ugh! Not the fatui again!". They don't want to be involved; traveler just wants to discover the truth of the world and find their sibling. For once, the traveler could CHOOSE to not be involved when Neuv asked traveler to go to jail to find out what happened to Childe. And yet they wrote it that traveler CHOOSES to go to jail for Childe is weird considering that Childe is NOT on your side, works in an organization that hates you, and has tried to kill you before.
@@SwanPrncss About Traveler being friends with Childe, I think since Childe's story quest, they sympathize with him with their love for his siblings, they also interact several times in limited time events I agree about his lack of care about Childe tho, I think this is also has something to do with story writers? Maybe they have different story writers for events and specific archon quest or something. Look how different Traveler act when Xiao in danger and when Childe in danger 🤣
@@Sarah-iq3sc I have good friends irl, but I wouldn't go to jail for them. If it's family then it's a different story. Even as a friend, I think it's out of character for the traveler to go to jail to help someone (considering Childe is NOT making a hard line to be on your side and is still working for the fatui). You can sympathize with people, but it's unrealistic to go to jail for many of them unless they did something life-changing for you that you feel indebted or appreciative of. Anyway, I see it out of character in writing that part of the fontaine archon quests because the traveler at one point cared enough to go to jail for Childe, but then didn't bother doing anything after learning Childe was in the primordial sea. It feels inconsistent to me. Honestly, this could be easily fixed as easily as just having Neuvillette say that part of the reward is being able to talk to Furina in private and letting traveler ask questions - that would align with the traveler's goals and motivations, and I could then be more convinced the traveler is willing to go so far as going to jail for that opportunity.
@@SwanPrncss No, Traveler going to Meropide to investigate Childe's disappearance under Neuvillete's order. They mainly there to investigate rather than for Childe
ill admit that i'm still doing fontaine's quest rn so i may have a bit of a misconception but i feel like a lot of the quests revolve around npcs. i just got into star rail and i already enjoy the storytelling a lot more because there's virtually no npcs in those quests (atleast not majorly) and the characters actually have some development, whereas in genshin it feels like we're just being dragged along to do random things and no one really changes. the lack of development definitely adds to the feeling of there being no consequences too, since it doesn't make sense that these characters go through such life changing events but don't actually change lmao. i also think paimon is one of the biggest issues with genshin quests. she was helpful in the beginning of the game when the traveller didn't know anything but now that we have experience with the world she just retells everything the characters said as if we don't have brains to comprehend it. i genuinely think the story would be so much better simply by removing her (or just having her shut up sometimes). overall there's a lot of good ideas in the genshin story but the execution is just bad. it's a shame because i do like this game a lot and have been playing since 1.2, and i hate to see it fall short when it has the potential to be great. i'm glad someone mentioned this stuff cause the storytelling is honestly one of my biggest issues with genshin
I'm not sure killing off characters like Xiao and Freminet are exactly great. It may be okay for the development for others, but it would be a unexpected and unnecessary end to their own stories and possible future development. Xiao was a character who was willing to sacrifice himself but Zhongli saving him showed that it didn't need to happen and he could continue living. etc.
Freminet i agree could be harmful in the longterm, but Xiao i dont think so. Xiaos arc in chasm felt like it is completed, like it had everything it needed. Even now Xiao is doing literally nothing, he is just existing. Imagine if we had in Latern rite one small quest where we would honor his sacrifice that others could live. It would be just selfless sacrifice that could say, that the characters are mortal and not those super heroes as they seem at the moment
@@lorgorrIt would break the whole poont of his character. To live. You think he has nothing to do but honestly. Its clear his goal now is just to live. To live a good life. Xiao has officially entered his retirement let the guy enjoy it.
Thats fair, i considered him just as a character not as living breathing person, that was mostly reason why i thought that his death could be good for surrounding characters
@@lorgorr You don't understand Xiao's character. All his character arc is about appreciating normal life, his story is not complete yet, that's why his banner is "Invitation to Mundane Life", he's a person with PTSD from war and can't adapt to peaceful life and keeps coming back to a never ending war But this is also flaw in Genshin's storytelling, because a lot of his development hidden behind limited time events. After the chasm quest he starts trying normal daily people things, he starts to interact more with other people, starts trying poetry, and at the last Lantern Rite it's the first time he's trying to participate by his own volition, his development mostly hidden in events like this
Now I understand his character at least more than before. I never really dabbled into Xiao as to me he didn't appear interesting. I just viewed him as, "oh damn he could have died, that could help characters grow", but i never considered true purpose behind his saving. Which now I know is to have him retire and enjoy life in its beauty, without worries of having to deal with constant threats. Thank you, I really appreciate it for letting me know that.
agree with your first point, that also my biggest problem with genshin, the main story has no main direction, main character just walking aimlessly between nations that has no important impact to the main plot. Those nations story are just bunch of sidequests but have voice actor and bunch gacha characters, they serve no purpose to mc goal, they just drop some bit of the world lore after finish each nation. some will say but mc goal is not find his sister anymore, just replay we will be reunited quest, but imo that quest not justify mc journey to 7 nations. In that quest mc sister told him just go travel 7 nations to understand true nature of teyvat or something like that without any explanation and mc is like: "oh oke, i desperate want to find you but i gonna do what you asked and you go your way, i go mine after we accidentally met each other lol." But after that in each nations the first thing mc care and asked always where is his sister, who is the godness that seperate them. He never show any actual care to explore the secret of teyvat, his sister is always his first priority, but 4 nations by far has no abyss order involved, unknown god still asleep even after hydro throne destroyed, they are just nations own problem, why waste time to write those archon quest and labeled them as main quest if they are not push the story forward. Not to mention between each "explore teyvat quest" we again meet dain and with him we follow mc sister trace and uncover abyss order plan, these dain quests made nation archon quest even more irrelevance and so contradict with "uncover the truth of teyvat" goal. Imo dain quests are only where the main story actual happen, but some how we still have mc POV in those nation archon quest at the same timeline with dain quest make me think mc is some pepega dude who doesn't even know what his actual goal is. Genshin story remind me of witcher 3 story, that also the story of finding mc daughter in big open world, but in witcher 3 each regions arcs are actual direct involved in finding daughter plot, and they help the mc goal progess, uncover truth of the world and what is the sceret behind always the result of that journey, whereas in genshin nation quest more like for hyv selling more character, so in result we have 5 years with tons of archon quests but the main story no where near its first major plot point, just the same thing happen again and again. Although recent nation quests is better in writting but like i said they have so little impact to main story. Hope things change in natlan, based on recent story leaks its seem they plan to have big change compare to previous nations.
I have to agree with you somehow I do think its better for traveler to find other goal than finding their sibling if the story is not focusing on that and the story feels like no developement between traveler and their sibling
After reading "The lord of the rings" written by Tolkien I realized how much the movie trilogy put action scenes at the centre of the storytelling, while in the book most action happens but is not the focus of the story. The story of "The lord of the rings" shows every single detail about the setting of Arda, even those that are not relevant to the story, especially those that are not relevant to the story. Starting from this I would say that Genshin impact story have many things in common with it. When a character starts to talk about his everyday life people most of the times don't care about it, but that is what makes the difference. If a character only appear because the story requires him to be there, it's not a character, it's a plot device. Focusing on the everyday aspect of a character creates a type of depht that makes a character feel "alive". They are people, they have a life, a job, some hobbies, some skills and some flaws. I dislike when a character is part of the story but doesn't have anything outside of being strong in combat, or being so focused on his objective that you don't even know where he sleeps during the night. I prefer characters that are part of the world instead of character that are there only to fulfill their main objective (which is, for some reasons, always related to the main plot). The reason why many people don't like this type of storytelling is because they are used to stories with only action and character development that happen because of a major flaw in the character itself. But when the story uses a realistic approach to the storytelling, people don't like it, because fantasy should be different from reality and the main characters should always appear only when the plot needs them, but that is a mistake. That's also one of the reasons why i like Genshin impact story more than many other stories (like Penacony), it's different from the cliches that is the type of storytelling the audience is used to read and watch and play.
I really like your comparison and i understand what you mean by that. I didnt ever consider that Genshin could ever try to make it look that way. I am used to seeing stories and developments that are pushing other characters forward so they change and improve. I never considered it being closer to living, breathing world with characters that are living their own lives. Thank you for sharing this, it showed me different look on certain things within the game.
@@lorgorr Glad you liked it, but I would like to point out that my explanation doesn't invalidate some of the points that you explained in the vid. For example the stories tied to old events that people can't play anymore is just bad and they need to fix it (I don't know how but they should) The archon quest related to the traveler being once in the entire year is also not that great, because while it builds some hype for the next chapter it makes it difficult to follow the story overall. Another point that I think is completely valid is the consequences of what is happening in the story, which most of the time feels like are not relevant. But to this I would say that everything that happened in the story up until now that seem to not have consequences is because it will be used later on. Genshin impact story is far from finished (it will move on for atleast another 2 years) so they have both time and build up for the final chapters of the story, which I expect to complete what they started. I think this is the reason why the story feels without consequences for the characters, because is not over and they are still building up to something else (maybe some major plot at the end, after the traveler finished exploring all 7 nations)
I would guess there is more issues than those i covered. I only mentioned things that came up from top of my head. But i would guess that there is a ton of issues hidden deeper. Maybe if I will find enough of them. I might make follow up video. Overall the story i would say is cool and nice, but it is badly told, which is kinda unfortunate. Having half of the patches fillers isnt also greatest strategy imo. I am also guessing we might get to khaenriah after snezhnaya, because in the teaser trailer in which they showcased all nations, they also mentioned 8th chapter being hidden behind question marks. My guess is that might be either our final chapter or beginning of something else
And people will call you a White knight for defending what they will objectively claim to be bad story telling. Now they are singing praises for Wuthering waves for making the MC an important character. We are talking literally the Chosen one or Lord Arbiter of The game explaining why everyone is trying to get in your pants. Why everyone looks up to you. Rover is basically a Power fantasy character and these people are eating it up because Rover actually feels like a Character in the story to them not like Traveller who is a glorified camera man.
I agree with a lot of your points (except about Xiao), but I think this is Genshin problem for trying to treat all the playable characters like main characters and Traveler is only an observer of their story I agree very much that the story Traveler witness should give more clearer hints why it is relevant to his journey, because IT IS relevant but Genshin always hide lore, making the importance of an event questionable, only truly observant people and who read all Genshin hidden lore in quest and book can understand the meaning behind it Like Mondstadt story actually reveals a bit about archon and dragons and catalysm, Zhongli story highlights bits about archon war, Inazuma is about what vision is actually is and what effect it has to a person, but all of that are nor clear because of bad storytelling and lore hiding starting Sumeru is start to get more clearer but not clear enough, Sumeru is about Teyvat Irminsul world system, Fontaine is also more about Teyvat system, Celestia, primordial water, outlander Then story quest and hangout quest are just their way to sell characters, this is a gacha game after all, waifu husbando fanservice, having fun with friends/character you like, it is made to show Traveler more about who is that character and if possible add some fanservice so they will pull for them
The lore in the game is interesting, and I mean Very interesting. However the storytelling really is trash. I don't pay any attention to the world quests because they aren't voiced, the story quests revolve around NPCs in need of help from the character and the archon quests feel very slow.
I personally hate how there is so much interesting lore in the game, but the developers never actually do anything with it and never actually involve the deeper lore in the major story, but instead lock it all behind walls of text and side quests
I love Genshins story but after taking a break to read Umineko and returning to Genshin I just can't help but feel disappointed. I know the story can be better, and I really want it to, but it just seems like the most interesting stuff is the lore and the actual presentation is just, well, kinda shallow. In my opinion, Genshin needs a more cohesive theme. I know that the overall theme is probably revolves around dreams (I mean come on visions, it's pretty obvious) but it just feels like that doesn't come through in the quests. They also need to take more risks and stop trying to play safe all the time. And like, sorry to repeat what everyone says but, I feel like Paimon could talk a little bit less. I'm not a Paimon hater but I have to say she makes the pacing drag soooooooo much. Also they need to do something about their villains. I barely care about the abyss order outside of our sibling and the Fatui could be so much more. Also what's going on with Celestia? At this point we're more than halfway through the story and we still don't have an idea of what we are trying to do besides travel to each nation and solve their issues. We need a more focused goal than find our sibling. Also maybe some character growth for the traveler and paimon. IDK the reason I bothered to waste my time to write this paragraph was because I care about the story and I want to see it become better. At this point though, I'm don't have the time to spend on something that seems like it only ends up disappointing me. (Plus I just read Umineko and now I'm spoiled).
People who say “genshin is a children’s game” (tectone) are the kids who pretend like they’re adults ,by saying something is for kids and avoid it in order to look “cool” and think that they’re real “adults”. If you’re an adult shouldn’t you have the reading comprehension and patience to learn all about the games hidden lore and not rely on the game to feed up all of it to you with cool cutscenes just to keep up with your goldfish attention span.
I agreed with all of your points, I've been feeling like the Genshin writing is getting worse. My biggest pet peeve is Paimon narrating what you can clearly see on the screen, or characters listing off their character traits, instead of the quests taking their time to show us the character's traits. It really feels at some points like the dialogue is treating the player as if they are dumb and can't see what's in front of them. It's something that's bothered me for a long time and I don't see anyone else talking about it. Your video totally summarizes the current state of Genshin's writing, the low stakes and aimless wandering from place to place with a goal that is constantly forgotten about and pushed to the side is the writing in a nutshell. I especially liked when you touched on the characters not getting any development and being stuck in a time capsule, it's like one of those TV shows that goes out of their way to maintain the status quo without any real changes to the world. I think a lot of these story flaws are tied to the gacha system and the monetization of the game, which is really sad because it works exceptionally well. Great video, well put, liked all of your points. By the way, no offense, your accent is quite thick and I had to rewind a few bits to understand your words, maybe some subtitles at the bottom would help? Seriously loved the video, I'm surprised it doesn't have more views, it's very well thought out. :)
I was thinking about making segment just about Paimon as I view her not bringing anything to the table. She doesn't make anything easier to understand, but on the contrary, you could say she could complicate things that way. I scrapped it because i felt like the opening segment was long enough and i thought that i would mostly repeat myself. Also thank you for the feedback. I am aware of my strong R for example so I will consider it and maybe the subtitles will appear in the next video! :D
I hate it how the twins moment feels like theres no development No, actually I would appreciate it hoyo make traveler understanding their sibling because at this point I just feel like 'ok, traveler what are you gonna do if you actually found your sister, are you going to help, support her, or fight her'
We have less cutscene but on the other side I think the visual qualities of the cutscene improved. True that there's too much infodump and confusing dialogues, and things weirdly too straightforward. Genshin doesn't know what show don't tell mean. (As a French it's a bit our fault because we're known for talking too much and Fontaine really, really use that.) I have the feeling most of the story is supposed to unravel past snow country I can't type the name. Like once we reach it we got more substantial content. But it take its time. And that makes everything feels weird and slow-paced. I think it's also what's holding character from developing, it's probably all in pause for The Moment. The characters from the later nations seems more developed in general as helll. Mondstadt is being held back as hell. (We're all waiting its expansion and Venti second quest and Varka to come back with the milk someday.) I think a lot of characters could have interesting interactions but never have them and that ties to a lot of your points, like the lack of purpose or consequences in the quests. (I want to see Wanderer reveal the truth to Kazuha while provoking him to start a fight. Stuff like that. Come on.) We are told about some ties between a few characters or we can see parallels between them but they are never developed. Or will maybe be someday in a temporary event. Last thing I noticed character wise is that Traveler's mood followed the community's one. In Mondstadt and Liyue she was sort of a kind blank state helping people while looking for her brother. Then people start complaining about the lack of information about her brother, and from then Traveler clammed up and got really upset and refused to help people for free and stuff. Then after Inazuma I think a wave of new people came into the game and Traveler sort of reverted to their old self but only half. Traveler and Paimon in general aren't really consistent and that fits with the time bubble problem and lack of development. I disagree with the character's death because death doesn't necessarily means more depth into things. In the current state of things killing any characters would seem pretty plain. Like Signora's death was in some way (and I wanted her dead for personal reasons, but. Still) And that's already a lot
I believe that death in story can fuel further development, because of certain deaths in the story, the characters may grow and not stay stagnant. If Signora wasn't killed by Raiden Shogun, Raiden would feel much less threatening. For other characters it depends. I like using anime as example, because in many cases you can see how one simple death can start something more than just removing character out of the play.
@@lorgorr Sure, but it also cuts all potential developpement for the dead character. As much as I don't miss Signora I feel like they could have done more with her. Getting her just wiped out like that isn't even truly satisfying. Like yes, Ei killed her in one shot, but the fact that Ei could do that was already established anyway, with Kazuha's backstory. Showing it has its impact, sure but... I don't know, I just think it could have been handled better. (like most stuff in Inazuma's quest anyway) And sometimes I think the character should be allowed to just retreat in the background and live peacefully. I'm thinking of Xiao here. I've seen it said often, but the point of his character arc is to learn how to live and accept loss and to care of yourself. So doing nothing special in the beackground and learning to open up a little and just enjoy life is what Xiao deserves, even if it doesn't have much narrative impact. Also someone pointed out that the boy is carrying all the evil spirit cleaning of Liyue so if he dies the nation is screwed) That aside sure, they could kill some characters at some point. It's not a necessity to me but it could work. But doing it before they're all outide of their time bubble would feel like a waste to me.
... im sorry genshin is for kids? a gacha game that tempts you to use money? your joking right? the story telling is fine, a bit slow especially with dain's story quests but its still understandable because I'm pretty damn sure there ain't no kids playing this game. and if there are kids playing, they need to get off and get back to their studies.
Unfortunately there is too many things that suggest that is actually the case, such as very bright colors, very similar to fortnite which is also game primarily aimed for kids, or certain mini games, shooting balloons, hide and seek, catch and others. I agree that it is predatory to aim such game towards kids, but thats what we are dealing with.
I hate that we only get one Dainsleif quest a year. They are so far apart from one another that by the time the next Dain quest comes around I'll have already forgotten what happened in the last one.
Genshin world quests: lets sacrifice kids
I think it's much more harder to write a good story without killing off characters. A lot of stories in normal books these days (not even anime) have the killing off of characters to get you emotionally invested - heck even in HSR tried that with Tingyun and Firefly. Imo, it's a very cheap trick to make you feel emotional about them, but it should only be used well if you're extremely attached to the chars. Not a lot of people care for Xiao besides the Xiao fans, so his death would be a waste even if they did implement it. Plus, the whole purpose of his character is to live a good life in place of his dead fellow yakshas - that's literally his banner title: Invitation to Mundane Life. The whole chasm story was basically "you need to get over it about sacrificing yourself and learn to be optimistic and live a good life" instead of being emo all the time - that was his character development. So if it's not Xiao, then what would be an actual character's death that would resonate emotionally and very strongly with the audience? Easy. Klee. If Klee dies (since you spent so many good memories with her and she had a lot of screentime especially summer events, and that she's a cute kid) THEN that would work on an emotional level - but you and I know that would never happen.
The purpose of the story isn't lost with exploring every nation. It was CORRECTED in the "We Will Be Reunited" quest when the sibling told the traveler to finish his journey to see for himself about the true nature of this world. So it gives you a purpose to be exploring not just the nation's cities, but going to Dragonspine, Enkanomiya, Tsurumi Island, etc. It gives you REASON to go explore every nook and cranny of the world because that's your new purpose.
However, it has flaws, and let me present you an actual example where it actually detracted from the story. It was during the Fontaine archon quests when we were sent to the Foretress of Meropide to find clues about Childe. We had no stakes to go to jail to save Childe, but the game makes it like we are friends with Childe when it insinuated this whole time we are more like acquaintances. We risking our health and lives for Childe is out of character because THAT is LOST PURPOSE. It (1) doesn't bring us to discovering the nature of this world, and (2) doesn't help us find our sister. It's not like the reward was talking with Furina since the traveler wanted to talk to each archon because Neuv didn't offer that as a reward. Neuv offered us compensation "highest according to law", but most people think it's just mora. I thought it was extremely out of character for the traveler to go into the foretress of meropide to help in a political struggle since he wasn't offered anything that aligned to their purpose.
I didn't really see that oit of character for traveller. Childe is still a Harbinger and him just vanishing will not be good no matter what.
@@silverhawkscape2677 That's the point. Why does traveler even care? It has nothing to do with him or his goals. He's not responsible for childe's wellbeing; traveler is not his parent or works for the fatui. I think the funniest part of that jail arc in the Fontaine storyline is that they found out Childe is somewhere in the primordial sea, annnnd....nobody cares what happens to him afterwards.
It's not consistent at all from a plot writing perspective. First, the traveler calls Childe their friend in one of their lines and that's why they're going to the foretress of meropide to find out what happened to him. Yes, canonically the traveler now thinks Childe is a friend is already weird. And next nobody gives af bout him floating somewhere in the primordial sea like that was just glossed over. If your friend is floating out in the middle of the ocean, you would think "hey! Lets get an emergency rescue plan to help him!". If Childe is now canonically a friend to the traveler, then it's inconsistent writing that the traveler didn't bring up wanting to rescue Childe after finding out he's in the sea or even asking what happened to him to Skirk after she threw him into a portal.
Remember, traveler doesn't want to have anything to do with the fatui. Do you know how many times Paimon goes in the game "Ugh! Not the fatui again!". They don't want to be involved; traveler just wants to discover the truth of the world and find their sibling. For once, the traveler could CHOOSE to not be involved when Neuv asked traveler to go to jail to find out what happened to Childe. And yet they wrote it that traveler CHOOSES to go to jail for Childe is weird considering that Childe is NOT on your side, works in an organization that hates you, and has tried to kill you before.
@@SwanPrncss
About Traveler being friends with Childe, I think since Childe's story quest, they sympathize with him with their love for his siblings, they also interact several times in limited time events
I agree about his lack of care about Childe tho, I think this is also has something to do with story writers? Maybe they have different story writers for events and specific archon quest or something. Look how different Traveler act when Xiao in danger and when Childe in danger 🤣
@@Sarah-iq3sc I have good friends irl, but I wouldn't go to jail for them. If it's family then it's a different story. Even as a friend, I think it's out of character for the traveler to go to jail to help someone (considering Childe is NOT making a hard line to be on your side and is still working for the fatui). You can sympathize with people, but it's unrealistic to go to jail for many of them unless they did something life-changing for you that you feel indebted or appreciative of.
Anyway, I see it out of character in writing that part of the fontaine archon quests because the traveler at one point cared enough to go to jail for Childe, but then didn't bother doing anything after learning Childe was in the primordial sea. It feels inconsistent to me. Honestly, this could be easily fixed as easily as just having Neuvillette say that part of the reward is being able to talk to Furina in private and letting traveler ask questions - that would align with the traveler's goals and motivations, and I could then be more convinced the traveler is willing to go so far as going to jail for that opportunity.
@@SwanPrncss No, Traveler going to Meropide to investigate Childe's disappearance under Neuvillete's order. They mainly there to investigate rather than for Childe
ill admit that i'm still doing fontaine's quest rn so i may have a bit of a misconception but i feel like a lot of the quests revolve around npcs. i just got into star rail and i already enjoy the storytelling a lot more because there's virtually no npcs in those quests (atleast not majorly) and the characters actually have some development, whereas in genshin it feels like we're just being dragged along to do random things and no one really changes. the lack of development definitely adds to the feeling of there being no consequences too, since it doesn't make sense that these characters go through such life changing events but don't actually change lmao.
i also think paimon is one of the biggest issues with genshin quests. she was helpful in the beginning of the game when the traveller didn't know anything but now that we have experience with the world she just retells everything the characters said as if we don't have brains to comprehend it. i genuinely think the story would be so much better simply by removing her (or just having her shut up sometimes).
overall there's a lot of good ideas in the genshin story but the execution is just bad. it's a shame because i do like this game a lot and have been playing since 1.2, and i hate to see it fall short when it has the potential to be great. i'm glad someone mentioned this stuff cause the storytelling is honestly one of my biggest issues with genshin
Full agree and Heavy on paimon. Unfortunately hoyo seems to really not care about improving genshin. It's been going stagnant or downhill
I'm not sure killing off characters like Xiao and Freminet are exactly great. It may be okay for the development for others, but it would be a unexpected and unnecessary end to their own stories and possible future development. Xiao was a character who was willing to sacrifice himself but Zhongli saving him showed that it didn't need to happen and he could continue living. etc.
Freminet i agree could be harmful in the longterm, but Xiao i dont think so. Xiaos arc in chasm felt like it is completed, like it had everything it needed. Even now Xiao is doing literally nothing, he is just existing. Imagine if we had in Latern rite one small quest where we would honor his sacrifice that others could live. It would be just selfless sacrifice that could say, that the characters are mortal and not those super heroes as they seem at the moment
@@lorgorrIt would break the whole poont of his character. To live. You think he has nothing to do but honestly. Its clear his goal now is just to live. To live a good life. Xiao has officially entered his retirement let the guy enjoy it.
Thats fair, i considered him just as a character not as living breathing person, that was mostly reason why i thought that his death could be good for surrounding characters
@@lorgorr You don't understand Xiao's character. All his character arc is about appreciating normal life, his story is not complete yet, that's why his banner is "Invitation to Mundane Life", he's a person with PTSD from war and can't adapt to peaceful life and keeps coming back to a never ending war
But this is also flaw in Genshin's storytelling, because a lot of his development hidden behind limited time events. After the chasm quest he starts trying normal daily people things, he starts to interact more with other people, starts trying poetry, and at the last Lantern Rite it's the first time he's trying to participate by his own volition, his development mostly hidden in events like this
Now I understand his character at least more than before. I never really dabbled into Xiao as to me he didn't appear interesting. I just viewed him as, "oh damn he could have died, that could help characters grow", but i never considered true purpose behind his saving. Which now I know is to have him retire and enjoy life in its beauty, without worries of having to deal with constant threats. Thank you, I really appreciate it for letting me know that.
agree with your first point, that also my biggest problem with genshin, the main story has no main direction, main character just walking aimlessly between nations that has no important impact to the main plot. Those nations story are just bunch of sidequests but have voice actor and bunch gacha characters, they serve no purpose to mc goal, they just drop some bit of the world lore after finish each nation.
some will say but mc goal is not find his sister anymore, just replay we will be reunited quest, but imo that quest not justify mc journey to 7 nations. In that quest mc sister told him just go travel 7 nations to understand true nature of teyvat or something like that without any explanation and mc is like: "oh oke, i desperate want to find you but i gonna do what you asked and you go your way, i go mine after we accidentally met each other lol." But after that in each nations the first thing mc care and asked always where is his sister, who is the godness that seperate them. He never show any actual care to explore the secret of teyvat, his sister is always his first priority, but 4 nations by far has no abyss order involved, unknown god still asleep even after hydro throne destroyed, they are just nations own problem, why waste time to write those archon quest and labeled them as main quest if they are not push the story forward. Not to mention between each "explore teyvat quest" we again meet dain and with him we follow mc sister trace and uncover abyss order plan, these dain quests made nation archon quest even more irrelevance and so contradict with "uncover the truth of teyvat" goal. Imo dain quests are only where the main story actual happen, but some how we still have mc POV in those nation archon quest at the same timeline with dain quest make me think mc is some pepega dude who doesn't even know what his actual goal is.
Genshin story remind me of witcher 3 story, that also the story of finding mc daughter in big open world, but in witcher 3 each regions arcs are actual direct involved in finding daughter plot, and they help the mc goal progess, uncover truth of the world and what is the sceret behind always the result of that journey, whereas in genshin nation quest more like for hyv selling more character, so in result we have 5 years with tons of archon quests but the main story no where near its first major plot point, just the same thing happen again and again. Although recent nation quests is better in writting but like i said they have so little impact to main story. Hope things change in natlan, based on recent story leaks its seem they plan to have big change compare to previous nations.
I have to agree with you somehow I do think its better for traveler to find other goal than finding their sibling if the story is not focusing on that and the story feels like no developement between traveler and their sibling
After reading "The lord of the rings" written by Tolkien I realized how much the movie trilogy put action scenes at the centre of the storytelling, while in the book most action happens but is not the focus of the story. The story of "The lord of the rings" shows every single detail about the setting of Arda, even those that are not relevant to the story, especially those that are not relevant to the story. Starting from this I would say that Genshin impact story have many things in common with it. When a character starts to talk about his everyday life people most of the times don't care about it, but that is what makes the difference. If a character only appear because the story requires him to be there, it's not a character, it's a plot device. Focusing on the everyday aspect of a character creates a type of depht that makes a character feel "alive". They are people, they have a life, a job, some hobbies, some skills and some flaws. I dislike when a character is part of the story but doesn't have anything outside of being strong in combat, or being so focused on his objective that you don't even know where he sleeps during the night. I prefer characters that are part of the world instead of character that are there only to fulfill their main objective (which is, for some reasons, always related to the main plot). The reason why many people don't like this type of storytelling is because they are used to stories with only action and character development that happen because of a major flaw in the character itself. But when the story uses a realistic approach to the storytelling, people don't like it, because fantasy should be different from reality and the main characters should always appear only when the plot needs them, but that is a mistake. That's also one of the reasons why i like Genshin impact story more than many other stories (like Penacony), it's different from the cliches that is the type of storytelling the audience is used to read and watch and play.
I really like your comparison and i understand what you mean by that. I didnt ever consider that Genshin could ever try to make it look that way. I am used to seeing stories and developments that are pushing other characters forward so they change and improve. I never considered it being closer to living, breathing world with characters that are living their own lives. Thank you for sharing this, it showed me different look on certain things within the game.
@@lorgorr Glad you liked it, but I would like to point out that my explanation doesn't invalidate some of the points that you explained in the vid.
For example the stories tied to old events that people can't play anymore is just bad and they need to fix it (I don't know how but they should)
The archon quest related to the traveler being once in the entire year is also not that great, because while it builds some hype for the next chapter it makes it difficult to follow the story overall.
Another point that I think is completely valid is the consequences of what is happening in the story, which most of the time feels like are not relevant. But to this I would say that everything that happened in the story up until now that seem to not have consequences is because it will be used later on. Genshin impact story is far from finished (it will move on for atleast another 2 years) so they have both time and build up for the final chapters of the story, which I expect to complete what they started. I think this is the reason why the story feels without consequences for the characters, because is not over and they are still building up to something else (maybe some major plot at the end, after the traveler finished exploring all 7 nations)
I would guess there is more issues than those i covered. I only mentioned things that came up from top of my head. But i would guess that there is a ton of issues hidden deeper. Maybe if I will find enough of them. I might make follow up video. Overall the story i would say is cool and nice, but it is badly told, which is kinda unfortunate. Having half of the patches fillers isnt also greatest strategy imo.
I am also guessing we might get to khaenriah after snezhnaya, because in the teaser trailer in which they showcased all nations, they also mentioned 8th chapter being hidden behind question marks. My guess is that might be either our final chapter or beginning of something else
And people will call you a White knight for defending what they will objectively claim to be bad story telling.
Now they are singing praises for Wuthering waves for making the MC an important character. We are talking literally the Chosen one or Lord Arbiter of The game explaining why everyone is trying to get in your pants.
Why everyone looks up to you.
Rover is basically a Power fantasy character and these people are eating it up because Rover actually feels like a Character in the story to them not like Traveller who is a glorified camera man.
What's wrong with Penacony?
Good to see someone addressing the issues rather than showing character builds
ur just watching the wrong creators i think
I agree with a lot of your points (except about Xiao), but I think this is Genshin problem for trying to treat all the playable characters like main characters and Traveler is only an observer of their story
I agree very much that the story Traveler witness should give more clearer hints why it is relevant to his journey, because IT IS relevant but Genshin always hide lore, making the importance of an event questionable, only truly observant people and who read all Genshin hidden lore in quest and book can understand the meaning behind it
Like Mondstadt story actually reveals a bit about archon and dragons and catalysm, Zhongli story highlights bits about archon war, Inazuma is about what vision is actually is and what effect it has to a person, but all of that are nor clear because of bad storytelling and lore hiding
starting Sumeru is start to get more clearer but not clear enough, Sumeru is about Teyvat Irminsul world system, Fontaine is also more about Teyvat system, Celestia, primordial water, outlander
Then story quest and hangout quest are just their way to sell characters, this is a gacha game after all, waifu husbando fanservice, having fun with friends/character you like, it is made to show Traveler more about who is that character and if possible add some fanservice so they will pull for them
The lore in the game is interesting, and I mean Very interesting. However the storytelling really is trash. I don't pay any attention to the world quests because they aren't voiced, the story quests revolve around NPCs in need of help from the character and the archon quests feel very slow.
I personally hate how there is so much interesting lore in the game, but the developers never actually do anything with it and never actually involve the deeper lore in the major story, but instead lock it all behind walls of text and side quests
I love Genshins story but after taking a break to read Umineko and returning to Genshin I just can't help but feel disappointed. I know the story can be better, and I really want it to, but it just seems like the most interesting stuff is the lore and the actual presentation is just, well, kinda shallow. In my opinion, Genshin needs a more cohesive theme. I know that the overall theme is probably revolves around dreams (I mean come on visions, it's pretty obvious) but it just feels like that doesn't come through in the quests. They also need to take more risks and stop trying to play safe all the time. And like, sorry to repeat what everyone says but, I feel like Paimon could talk a little bit less. I'm not a Paimon hater but I have to say she makes the pacing drag soooooooo much. Also they need to do something about their villains. I barely care about the abyss order outside of our sibling and the Fatui could be so much more. Also what's going on with Celestia? At this point we're more than halfway through the story and we still don't have an idea of what we are trying to do besides travel to each nation and solve their issues. We need a more focused goal than find our sibling. Also maybe some character growth for the traveler and paimon. IDK the reason I bothered to waste my time to write this paragraph was because I care about the story and I want to see it become better. At this point though, I'm don't have the time to spend on something that seems like it only ends up disappointing me. (Plus I just read Umineko and now I'm spoiled).
People who say “genshin is a children’s game” (tectone) are the kids who pretend like they’re adults ,by saying something is for kids and avoid it in order to look “cool” and think that they’re real “adults”.
If you’re an adult shouldn’t you have the reading comprehension and patience to learn all about the games hidden lore and not rely on the game to feed up all of it to you with cool cutscenes just to keep up with your goldfish attention span.
I agreed with all of your points, I've been feeling like the Genshin writing is getting worse. My biggest pet peeve is Paimon narrating what you can clearly see on the screen, or characters listing off their character traits, instead of the quests taking their time to show us the character's traits. It really feels at some points like the dialogue is treating the player as if they are dumb and can't see what's in front of them. It's something that's bothered me for a long time and I don't see anyone else talking about it. Your video totally summarizes the current state of Genshin's writing, the low stakes and aimless wandering from place to place with a goal that is constantly forgotten about and pushed to the side is the writing in a nutshell. I especially liked when you touched on the characters not getting any development and being stuck in a time capsule, it's like one of those TV shows that goes out of their way to maintain the status quo without any real changes to the world. I think a lot of these story flaws are tied to the gacha system and the monetization of the game, which is really sad because it works exceptionally well. Great video, well put, liked all of your points.
By the way, no offense, your accent is quite thick and I had to rewind a few bits to understand your words, maybe some subtitles at the bottom would help? Seriously loved the video, I'm surprised it doesn't have more views, it's very well thought out. :)
I was thinking about making segment just about Paimon as I view her not bringing anything to the table. She doesn't make anything easier to understand, but on the contrary, you could say she could complicate things that way. I scrapped it because i felt like the opening segment was long enough and i thought that i would mostly repeat myself.
Also thank you for the feedback. I am aware of my strong R for example so I will consider it and maybe the subtitles will appear in the next video! :D
I hate it how the twins moment feels like theres no development No, actually I would appreciate it hoyo make traveler understanding their sibling because at this point I just feel like 'ok, traveler what are you gonna do if you actually found your sister, are you going to help, support her, or fight her'
We have less cutscene but on the other side I think the visual qualities of the cutscene improved.
True that there's too much infodump and confusing dialogues, and things weirdly too straightforward. Genshin doesn't know what show don't tell mean. (As a French it's a bit our fault because we're known for talking too much and Fontaine really, really use that.)
I have the feeling most of the story is supposed to unravel past snow country I can't type the name.
Like once we reach it we got more substantial content. But it take its time. And that makes everything feels weird and slow-paced. I think it's also what's holding character from developing, it's probably all in pause for The Moment.
The characters from the later nations seems more developed in general as helll. Mondstadt is being held back as hell. (We're all waiting its expansion and Venti second quest and Varka to come back with the milk someday.)
I think a lot of characters could have interesting interactions but never have them and that ties to a lot of your points, like the lack of purpose or consequences in the quests. (I want to see Wanderer reveal the truth to Kazuha while provoking him to start a fight. Stuff like that. Come on.) We are told about some ties between a few characters or we can see parallels between them but they are never developed. Or will maybe be someday in a temporary event.
Last thing I noticed character wise is that Traveler's mood followed the community's one. In Mondstadt and Liyue she was sort of a kind blank state helping people while looking for her brother. Then people start complaining about the lack of information about her brother, and from then Traveler clammed up and got really upset and refused to help people for free and stuff. Then after Inazuma I think a wave of new people came into the game and Traveler sort of reverted to their old self but only half. Traveler and Paimon in general aren't really consistent and that fits with the time bubble problem and lack of development.
I disagree with the character's death because death doesn't necessarily means more depth into things. In the current state of things killing any characters would seem pretty plain. Like Signora's death was in some way (and I wanted her dead for personal reasons, but. Still)
And that's already a lot
I believe that death in story can fuel further development, because of certain deaths in the story, the characters may grow and not stay stagnant. If Signora wasn't killed by Raiden Shogun, Raiden would feel much less threatening. For other characters it depends. I like using anime as example, because in many cases you can see how one simple death can start something more than just removing character out of the play.
@@lorgorr Sure, but it also cuts all potential developpement for the dead character. As much as I don't miss Signora I feel like they could have done more with her. Getting her just wiped out like that isn't even truly satisfying. Like yes, Ei killed her in one shot, but the fact that Ei could do that was already established anyway, with Kazuha's backstory. Showing it has its impact, sure but... I don't know, I just think it could have been handled better. (like most stuff in Inazuma's quest anyway)
And sometimes I think the character should be allowed to just retreat in the background and live peacefully. I'm thinking of Xiao here. I've seen it said often, but the point of his character arc is to learn how to live and accept loss and to care of yourself. So doing nothing special in the beackground and learning to open up a little and just enjoy life is what Xiao deserves, even if it doesn't have much narrative impact.
Also someone pointed out that the boy is carrying all the evil spirit cleaning of Liyue so if he dies the nation is screwed)
That aside sure, they could kill some characters at some point. It's not a necessity to me but it could work. But doing it before they're all outide of their time bubble would feel like a waste to me.
... im sorry genshin is for kids? a gacha game that tempts you to use money? your joking right? the story telling is fine, a bit slow especially with dain's story quests but its still understandable because I'm pretty damn sure there ain't no kids playing this game. and if there are kids playing, they need to get off and get back to their studies.
Unfortunately there is too many things that suggest that is actually the case, such as very bright colors, very similar to fortnite which is also game primarily aimed for kids, or certain mini games, shooting balloons, hide and seek, catch and others. I agree that it is predatory to aim such game towards kids, but thats what we are dealing with.