prettybbychim

[prettybbychim]

he really is hoyo’s dress up doll

[prettybbychim]

lovely character. i need him to finally break down sobbing clutching his chest like it'll stop the pain crumpling to the floor begging God to either help him or let him die

[prettybbychim]

do you have any more genshin meta rants? i love the ones that you have

awh, thank you anon! I do have a few to pick from (apart from whining about regional specialties or boss mats every so often), but they might be, ah... less popular due to involving significantly more fandom wank. So I'll do a few of these, and if people have questions/expansions feel free to reblog to send asks about them!

Long post under the read more, but in short:

Arlecchino's evil deeds were retconned/given to Crucabena to make her more marketable

Dottore is being set up as the 'evilness scapegoat' for a majority of relevant characters

Genshin is putting down more loose threads than it can tie up

1 - Arlecchino's evil deeds were retconned/given to Crucabena to make her more marketable

Obviously this sounds very combative right out the gate, so let me justify this by citing my arguments.

The mere existence of Crucabena seems to be the perfect scapegoat for historical crimes we learn that have been done to and perpetuated by orphans of House of the Hearth. We've known since Version 2.4 that the title of the Knave changed hands and that the evils of most of the WQs involving the House (Lyudochka, Trofin) are a result of either the previous Knave or Dottore, and crucially, not current Arlecchino. You can argue that just means Arlecchino is a better person than the two of them, but the thing is that Arlecchino isn't significantly different from Crucabena— apart from not running the literal Hunger Games. Arlecchino also says this:

"I hope you understand, the difference between Crucabena and myself lies in our formulation of the rules, not our policy for enforcing them. Upholding the rules without question is a trait we both share, because that is how a household should be run."

My original opinion on this topic was that Genshin did a face-heel turn on the evils of the House to make Arlecchino marketable. But then I remembered the previous Knave stuff was foreshadowed, so I think my actual opinion now is that Genshin has been setting up for a non-evil Arlecchino far in advance by attributing the evils of her organisation to literally anyone but her, even though she also perpetuates them.

This is also why I feel like the memory-wipe during Arlecchino's SQ was a cop-out. Yes, it thematically made sense so I can't entirely begrudge it, but still; Arlecchino thematically considering a loss of memory to mean "death" technically meets the condition where her "policy for enforcing rules" is the same as Crucabena's (also death), but it seems altered in a specific way to make Arlecchino's actions seem more merciful and less menacing than was previously implied. While I liked Ignis Purgatorius Chapter Act I, it did come across as softening Arlecchino's character even though she gets a hulking nightmare-fuel bossfight. I'm happy to hear arguments to the opposite, though.

(And I don't hate Arlecchino; I just think she could have had more opportunities to be morally unpalatable and force the player to think more about her deeds and actions.)

2 - Dottore is being set up as the 'evilness scapegoat' for a majority of relevant characters

Tangent to the above, Dottore has had a hand in almost every semi-'villainous' character's backstory. Dottore (as Escher) practically set up Kabukimono's entire tragic backstory. Even the young child who dies of (implied) Tatarigami, since the sabotage of the Mikage Furnace released Tatarigami everywhere.

Crucially, Dottore/Escher is never mentioned in Scaramouche's backstory pre-3.3. Even though he was a pivotal character who brought pioneering new technology (which was secretly meant to destroy the Mikage Furnace) and an outsider to boot (recall that Kabukimono's outsider status also made him an intrigue to the people of Tatarasuna). The Rather Aged Notes, which tell the story of Tatarasuna from the perspective of the people there at the time, do not mention Escher at all or even hint at his existence. I can't say for certain, but it seems as if he was inserted there as well to provide a clear villain and scapegoat for the Tatarasuna plotline (originally, it seemed like Mikoshi Nagamasa, who slew Katsuragi with his prized claymore the Daitarara Nagamasa [now known as the craftable weapon Katsuragikiri Nagamasa], was just a little fucked in the head, but they even changed the perspective on that to make it an act of willing sacrifice, making the only clear villain Dottore once again.)

Likewise with Arlecchino and Crucabena, Dottore is mentioned as cooperating with Crucabena to siphon off failed children (which, frankly, seems like evilness overkill). Trofin Snezhevich's Aranara quest is also on Dottore's orders. The Eremites (Farrokhzadan and Desert group, which tried to deal with the Tanit) are also under his orders. It seems like every evil thing the Fatui does is tied up in Dottore's dirty fingers.

Which, okay, Dottore is evil, we've seen that many times now. Would it kill the devs to give us Fatui who act on their own malicious impulses rather than tying their stories back to Dottore? Even Crucabena, whom I believe was set up as a moral scapegoat for Arlecchino, suffers a little from her evilness deriving from cooperation with Dottore. It's getting slightly concerning to the point where most of the morally unscrupulous things done by the Fatui are mostly Dottore's fault, and makes me worried about the future Fatui plotline.

3 - Genshin is putting down more loose threads than it can tie up

Disclaimer: while I share this opinion, this was first brought to my attention by a friend of mine.

I think we all know by now that we're closer to the end of Genshin Impact than the beginning. We've completed our travels in six out of the seven nations, and things have been advancing, we've been learning more about the nature of the world and its people...

And yet. There are still many things left unresolved, to the point where it's becoming genuinely concerning whether Genshin can tie them up in time. To name a few topics:

(takes a deep breath) Our sibling, the Sea of Flowers, the Sinners of Khaenri'ah and the true nature of the Cataclysm, the Fatui's plans, what are the moons really? (gasp for breath to break the text block), who are the remaining Descenders, is the Heavenly Principles the Primordial One, why was Natlan specifically more destroyed by the War of Vengeance than the rest of Teyvat, (inhale), the entire implied existence of the All-Devouring Narwhal and "other worlds", Teyvat's cosmology, what's going on with all the Celestial Nails (we know the individual purposes of most of them, but as a grander plan, why?), Project Stuzha, Mini-Durin and Wanderer, the Hexenzirkel, Varka's expedition, the fucking Pyro Gnosis and whether it will end up with the Tsaritsa, also, THE SUSTAINER OF HEAVENLY PRINCIPLES HASN'T EVEN BEEN HINTED AT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME...

Now, some of the threads left unknown will be solved. We know this, because they're part of the main story. The trouble is, does Genshin have time to solve everything in a satisfactory way? One thing that stuck out to me about Natlan is that it seemed to want to speedrun major, major aspects of lore (moons, seelies/Yohualtehcutin, dragons/Saurians, Abyss) that had previously been only slowly drip-fed. It seems, to me at least, that the devs are rushing; also compare the relative lore-competence of characters in Natlan (Citlali and Mavuika knowing about Descenders) versus elsewhere (such as Nahida, god of wisdom, who only found out about Descenders by trawling Irminsul and reading Fatui records).

There's also some threads that may never get answered. That's fine, in my opinion; it would be boring if they solved everything. But there's also the threat that truly important plot threads, ones that have massive implications for Teyvat as a whole, may never get solved in this case, and that would be a massive missed opportunity.

Like, Hu Tao got the reveal of her father and grandfather's demise (plus an entire new sect of Liyue lore about Tao Du) 4 years after she released. There are other characters with outstanding mysteries about their existence (Bennett, Neuvillette, Childe to some extent, the true nature of the Raiden twins, if Hu Tao could get lore about her parents why can't Thoma's father, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, get resolved too?, Focalors as a concept and her connection to Remuria/Erinnyes, etc...) and whether there is time to solve all of them is questionable at this point.

We're approaching 6.0, which may or may not be Snezhnaya, and then whatever the 'end-game' looks like. I don't think Genshin will end that soon, but the fact that the end-game is approaching and we aren't even close to being able to piece together crucial pieces of lore for it is a little concerning. My most personal gripe is the Sustainer, since it's been 4 years since we've last seen her mentioned. Like, we don't need to know who she is or anything, but at least a mention or hint towards the nature of her existence would be nice? Otherwise, whenever she re-emerges, the story is going to have a lot of exposition dumping to do.

(Also the Traveler's character stories haven't been touched since Mondstadt, wtf? but that's another rant. If I make this post any longer my fingers are going to cramp, so I'll leave it here for now. If anyone has anything to add/object I'd love to hear your thoughts!)

[prettybbychim]

trope i really like is self-loathing characters desperate for the catharsis of punishment for frankly rather selfish reasons who r also obsessed with repeatedly pressing others into hating them and hurting them as essentially a method of self harm. yes baby continue making it worse for urself and everybody around u instead of doing an actually productive and effective journey of improvement

[prettybbychim]

first part of the inazuma festival kinda dope ngl

[prettybbychim]

cracked my screen protector AGAIN goddamnit

[prettybbychim]

Is that precum in your pants or is your penis just chopping onions

[prettybbychim]

ha hahaha i’m fine this is fine

[prettybbychim]

Citlali: That damn brat, Ororon, hanging out with the Captain. I'm telling you, Mavuika. I do NOT trust that Harbinger. Not one bit!

Mavuika: Come on, I trust him! The man's got amazing qualities, you know? Speaking of which, where are they?

*Meanwhile, Capitano and Ororon:

[prettybbychim]

ANAXA IS HERE

He just gives away how to annoy the daylights out of him that easily... he's insufferable your honor.

[prettybbychim]

I THINK I JUST REMEBERED

friendly reminder to write down ur ideas as they come to u bc i may have figured out a way to solve this issue ive been having in my wip while i was laying down for a nap yesterday and i foolishly believed it was something i could not forget, i’ll definitely remember it but now for the life of me i can’t remember sobbing

[prettybbychim]

✦ POV: You're a Harbinger on a mission and this little thing keeps following you. What do you do? 🦇

[prettybbychim]

We got a random spike supposed to fall from thin air out of the sky onto you and instantly kill you scheduled for tonight Please be standing outside by 8pm

[prettybbychim]

friendly reminder to write down ur ideas as they come to u bc i may have figured out a way to solve this issue ive been having in my wip while i was laying down for a nap yesterday and i foolishly believed it was something i could not forget, i’ll definitely remember it but now for the life of me i can’t remember sobbing

[prettybbychim]

hey wait a minute is the herta’s skill counter capping at 42 a reference to the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy

[prettybbychim]

in a craving validation sort of mood so my brain is telling me to post something and that’ll fix me (it won’t 💀) it’s not like i even have anything to post either lmao ah yes lemme upload all 25 of my unfinished works yeahhh

[prettybbychim]

Deep dive into "126"

Things you may or may not have missed!

Read 126 from the beginning