#(forgive me for the Genshin Impact reference it was the only thing I could think of. it was a brief phase I don’t play it anymore)

[cuteniarose]

Sometimes I wish I had more people interested in my creations, but then I get hit by thoughts like “Imagine the outrage you’d be faced with if your Avatar Suiren AU was more popular. This is the fandom that still cannot ‘forgive’ Korra for SOMETHING THAT WAS DONE TO HER, calling her the worst Avatar for losing the connection to her past lives (which came about because she HAD RAAVA LITERALLY RIPPED OUR OF HER) and acting like that is somehow a worse offence than, say, inaction leading to genocide. The hate you’d get for intentionally making Suiren the last Avatar would be IMMEASURABLE” and go “… actually, I’m glad that for the most part it’s just @katkastrofa and I–”

(Though then again… would it even be an AU by yours truly if it didn’t contain at least one cancellable offence? 😁)

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Genshin Impact - Combat tierlist

Okay, I think I'm gonna trigger some people, especially those that read the entire lore with this ranking.

Don't worry, I'm working on the requests. I just had this idea while playing TW: Warhammer 3, and I wanted to share it. It's not proofread more than one time, so forgive me if it turns into too much of a drabble.

Before I get into the tierlist itself, I want to say a few things first. For one, I'm not looking at the gameplay stats for characters. The fact that, for example, Yanfei can get sick numbers on screen doesn't instantly mean she is a good fighter in Genshin's reality. Second - every character has their moments. The fact that Ningguang threw a bunch of large Geo projectiles (with quite a lot of effort for sure) at the sea gods doesn't mean she can do that consistently. And last: it's only my own opinion. I didn't read every character story or every weapon description, so I might miss a few important details.

Also, remember that a lot of Genshin's events and stuff in general doesn't make logical sense, so please take the quests with a grain of salt.

The characters are in no particular order in every tier except Decent/Meh. Those are sorted from "decent" to "meh".

I used Fatui Skirmishers as reference, as, among all the common enemies, they pose the greatest threat.

Anyway, don't hesitate to disagree (or agree). Hope you enjoy.

Absolute Beast

This character is a very powerful warrior, both experienced and proficient with their weapon and elemental powers. They could take on god-like beings with a high chance of victory, so even large grups of Skirmishers will be no problem.

Good fighter

This character is very familiar with their weapon, and has used it on numerous occasions. They are experienced in combat, and have a decent chance against smaller Skirmisher squads.

Decent/Meh

These characters are not green when it comes to fighting, but their skills leave some to desired. They can hold their own against a max of two or three Skirmishers, and have a chance of defeating them.

Self-defense

This character can use their Vision to protect themselves or deal a little damage. They aren't warriors, or don't need fighting in general. They prefer avoiding direct conflict wherever possible, and will pull their weapon out only when pushed up against the wall (or to flex). If faced with two Skirmishers, they would likely make a run for it. 

Trash

This character carries a weapon to use only in the darkest hour, or against the weakest enemies. They aren't proficient in using neither their equipement nor Vision. There is a possibility they will live through an encounter with two larger slimes, or a single shielded Hilichurl.

Aloy

Nobody likes Aloy.

Now, some explenations for the characters that I think need them.

As far as I know, Venti didn't actively participate in the Archon war, and overthrew Decerabian with others' hands. He still has the power of an Archon, even if it's the second weakest among them.

Miko got rusty over the many years of idling away at the shrine.

Scaradook doesn't match up to the Puppet when it comes to fighting skills, as he was the failed one and so didn't recieve the right programming.

It comes down to raw power with Noelle and Itto, which is very important in hand-to-hand combat. Noelle also has a strong shield on her side.

Nahida is the youngest and weakest Archon of the Seven. She manages to win thanks to her intelligence and resourcefullness, but, when it comes to basic strength, she has much to work on.

If I recall correctly, Yelan said in one of her voicelines that she isn't really strong. Her Vision isn't really powerfull as well.

Ganyu would have been a great warrior 500 years ago, but five centuries of just paperwork eroded her skills significantly. As far as I know, she doesn't actively train or seek out challanges to keep her level.

Gorou is higher than Sara, because he is more of an executor of Kokomi's orders, while Sara fills the roles of commander and general in equal measure. Yet both of them aren't that great personally (Sara sent out others because she couldn't hope to take on the Traveler herself, change my mind). Sara and Gorou fight alongside a team of dedicated bodyguards (or at least the should - every general in the medieval times had their own guard). They also picked the worst possible weapon for close quarters. Sara can't fly (her wings are damaged), but even if she could she wouldn't do it. Being in the air makes you really vounarable to incoming fire. Sara isn't really strong as well, since her body is slimer and lighter than Gorou's as a Tengu.

Klee is there only because she wields explosives with decent effect.

Bennett is on this tier because he is quite fit and experienced. Yet he is really lucky indeed to still be alive, with all those coincidental fights he gets himself into.

As for Ayaka... forget the entire recent event, the one with a Maguu Kenki fight at the end. It's really dumb. You're telling me that a girl as small as Ayaka, in a dress, could take a three meter murder robot wielding two elements? Also, why would the Yashiro... nevermind, why would anyone allow her to go and fight it alongside the Traveler? As far as I know, Maguu Kenki are still malfunctioning robots. It could easily strike her down with a single swipe.

Remember Shinobu's hangout event? Yeah, she survived the encounter only because of the Traveler. Even as little as two ronin would likely be too much for her and her noodle arms (a single blocked hit from these guys could knock her off-balance easily. I mean, just look at how buff they are). Her Vision isn't the strongest of the element, especially that she hurts herself to heal others. That line about Shinobu's anger is a joke for sure.

Yanfei is a lawyer, not a warrior. She likely never practised combat. I mean, she just kind of throws Pyro at her opponents without a shadow of a techinque. Even though Madame Ping is her mentor, the Adeptus wasn't a fighter herself, so it's unlikely she taught Yanfei how to fight back. Yanfei also doesn't leave Liyue Harbor that much (the Chasm quest was another one of those absurd situations), so she probably isn't interested with learning how to fight.

Yao Yao has a polearm, most likely the lenght of a standard double-handed sword. Don't tell me it's anywhere near effective.

Thanks!

[grlfriends]

giovanna ily but i diont understand the scaramouche thing. at all. but ill support you

😭😭😭😭😭😭 u don't understand what's written in the screenshots or my love for him?? anyway ily u too anon you're so sweet thank for the message and I'll try to explain how this came to be under the the read more

context: scaramouche is a character in the game genshin impact

nov 7 2022 was the day everything changed for me, I saw a tweet talking about a funny comment on a quote retweet on a fanart of scaramouche and childe and I'm a bit curious and a bit nosy tbh so ofc I went looking after the fanart the comment was referring too so I did spend some time on the chiscara tag on twt and then eventually went into their own personal tags and that's exactly when everything changed, I just fell in love with scaramouche's design and backstory even tho I couldn't really understand much bc I just did not know what genshin was even about at the time so I was in love based on vibes and good fanart only 🫡 some days before my friend did start playing it too so this + her incentive + my new phone having a huge storage motivated me to start playing it just to test things out (little did I know I would really like other characters too)

overall genshin is super fun and I really enjoy the story it's developing and the characters, even tho I slowed down a bit when I finished all major (archon) quests I was still able to have fun and be overwhelmed by how much there was to do so yeah if you want to test it out I would say go for it!!!

now into my love for him:: he's just so neat!! his backstory is just soooooo interesting to me and the way he was developed both as a villain and then as a wanderer really hit all the right spots in my brain, yeah I know I kinda have a type and it's tsundere definitely but he's so much more than that, it's about the way he cares so much and yet keeps his distance to protect himself while also trying to get closer to those he cares about and also how he is willing to hurt himself if it means he'll be ahead of the game and get closer to his goals and then regretting it but also not holding back if it means he can correct the mistakes he made and is so willing to accept the hate some ppl would feel towards him bc he doesn't want forgiveness he doesn't want redemption he wants to live life his own way and find out what does that mean bc he doesn't really know himself but he's trying so hard and it makes me sooo emotional and crazy over it tbh I think yeah u could boil it down to the both of us having mommy issues but also he's just great I really like the pixels on the screen that go by scaramouche/wanderer

also he's really fun to play with even if I still prefer characters that use swords

[renegadewangs]

Van Zieks - the Examination, part 12

Warnings: SPOILERS for The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles. Additional warning for racist sentiments uttered by fictional characters (and screencaps to show these sentiments).

Disclaimer: (see Part 1 for the more detailed disclaimer.) - These posts are not meant to be taken as fact. Everything I’m outlining stems from my own views and experiences. If you believe that I’ve missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know so I can edit the post accordingly. -The purpose of these posts is an analysis, nothing more. Please do not come into these posts expecting me to either defend Barok van Zieks from haters, nor expecting me to encourage the hatred. - I’m using the Western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for these posts, but may refer to the original Japanese dialogue of Dai Gyakuten Saiban if needed to compare what’s said. This also means I’m using the localized names and localized romanization of the names to stay consistent. -It doesn’t matter one bit to me whether you like Barok van Zieks or dislike him. However, I will ask that everyone who comments refrains from attacking real, actual people.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

Let's bring this thing home! It's time for the conclusion of the essay series!

Conclusion With a stupidly long essay series behind us, it's time to look at what we've learned! Let's go back to Part 1 and review what we needed from Van Zieks's character development for a fully rounded redemption arc, shall we?

1) Present an antagonistic (possibly immoral) force who personifies Ryunosuke’s biggest personal obstacle/weakness, in this case racial prejudice. 2) Humanizing traits begin to show. OPTIONAL: A backstory to justify any immorality he has. 3) Over time, Barok has his realization and sees the error of his ways. 4) Barok atones for his immorality, not simply through apology but by taking decisive steps. 5) The cast around him acknowledges his efforts and forgives him.

And looking at the main game (plus additional dialogue), we have...

1) Antagonistic force:

Etc. etc. I have many of these. We can all agree that as an antagonistic force, he does his job quite well. CEO of Racism and White Privilege in the flesh. It works, since we as the audience get very frustrated and want to see him defeated.

2) Humanization:

Giving him an old friend to be a defendant was a brilliant move, really. Albert's reflection on the friendship and the person Van Zieks used to be really helped flesh him out and make him appear more like a human being with, y'know, emotions and weaknesses. The little snippets of dialogue in his office really help too. Presenting evidence can also lead to fun tidbits. All in all, considering how gruff and distant Van Zieks is, they really did their very best to humanize him. The writers were given very little to work with but they exploited every opportunity to come their way.

OPTIONAL backstory:

Again, I don't think we needed a tragic backstory to have a well-rounded, redeemable character. Still, it ties in very expertly to the game's plot and the motivations of quite a few other characters. The story of Klint van Zieks and his death isn't necessarily Barok van Zieks's backstory, it's the center of an intricate web which also holds Kazuma, Stronghart, Gregson, Jigoku, (S)Holmes, Mikotoba, Sithe, Drebber- I could go on. A LOT. So because of how very integrated it is into the main narrative's recurring themes and characters, I'll give it props for being relevant and well thought out. The bigger question is: Does it justify his immorality? Not entirely. I think the game could have gotten more out of this if they'd involved the other two exchange students in this tale just a bit more. They could have given more attention to how Jigoku's aggressive behavior in the trial impacted Van Zieks, and explained whether he might've suspected Mikotoba of sabotaging (S)Holmes's investigation. If the narrative had done that, all three Japanese people to come to London would have been ‘the bad guy’ in Van Zieks's eyes and it would have given more credence to his racial generalization. They could have also given more attention to how the people around him reacted to Genshin being the Professor, because I'm sure Stronghart and Gregson stoked the fire in terms of xenophobia. As it stands, there isn't really enough there to justify hatred of an entire race as opposed to just one person.

3) Realization/Redemption

We see him already start to realize the error of his ways around the end of 1-5, which is technically only about halfway into the full narrative. Unfortunately, thanks to 2-2 being played afterwards (but chronologically set before 1-5), any progress made in 1-5 can become invalidated in the player's eyes. Growth works best when it's done linear. Don't get me wrong, flashbacking to earlier times when a character is still more morally tainted can work well, but it needs to be executed properly. Barok's behavior in 2-2 is downright insulting towards the audience itself and therefore, it causes emotional friction when relaying the narrative endgoal of redemption. It also makes it extra jarring when we hit 2-3, and suddenly Van Zieks is meant to be relying on the protagonist's desire to expose the truth. How on earth can we as the audience trust that Van Zieks believes in Ryu's abilities when we just came fresh out of a case where this man actively sabotages Ryu's efforts?

Still, the line of redemption continues from 2-3 into 2-4 well enough. He admits that he was wrong- that his hatred was illogical and that he needs to change. This is the very definition of redemption. I need to stress once more this is not to be confused with atonement, which comes next.

4) Atonement

Here it is. It's not enough to simply acknowledge mistakes; one needs to work hard to fix them. Since Van Zieks is the defendant for two whole episodes, equaling roughly 20% of the full narrative and 67% of the time following his first true realization (chronologically), there isn't much that he can actively do to atone. Because remember, not only do these actions need to fit the situation he's currently in, they need to fit his personality. These two limitations ensure the atonement mostly takes the form of dialogue. Of apologies.

One might want to point out that he never apologizes specifically for his racism, but there's a reason for that. If you pay close attention, you'll notice that there isn't a single character who ever uses a word like “racism”, “xenophobia” or even “racial prejudice” in this game. It's for the same reason you'll never see an Ace Attorney character utter words like “alcoholism”, “drug abuse” or “depression”. These things may be implied very strongly, to the point where you'll know for certain a character is suffering from it, but it's never given these exact labels. It has to do with the tone of the game. In Great Ace Attorney's dialogue, Barok van Zieks is only ever described as holding “a deep hatred for Japanese”, which is then the only thing he could apologize for. And he does, so long as you aren't looking for a literal phrasing of “I apologize for my deep hatred of your people”.

Regardless, he can't take more active, decisive action until he's freed from prison and two scenes with Van Zieks later, the game has ended. He still manages to take two actions, though! The first is to publicize the truth of the Professor, taking the blame of the mass murders off Genshin's shoulders (and losing his own privilege in the process). The second is to take Kazuma under his wing as his disciple. I'm not certain there's anything else the narrative could have had him do. What is decisively missing, however, is the following:

5) Acknowledgment

The above aren't good examples of cast acknowledgment that Van Zieks is taking part in a redemption arc, rather, they're the best I could find. Characters are acknowledging that he's changing- that he's being kinder to them and they can get along with him now, but they're not acknowledging that he caused hurt in the first place. This, in my opinion, is the Great Ace Attorney's biggest narrative flaw. I've talked before about how Ryu's reaction to Van Zieks's racism is 'indirect communication', a typically Japanese manner of dealing with negativity. I've also talked about how Ryu is not in a position to speak up, as he's a literal minority who is there to represent his country in an official capacity and can’t afford to make enemies. However, characters like Susato and Kazuma are far more outspoken in their opinions, as is Soseki. The only one who ever calls Van Zieks out on his racism is the British judge, and even that is done very meekly. When an old crusty white guy is the one who condemns white privilege in a cast full of minorities, you've got a problem. The Japanese cast's refusal to acknowledge that Van Zieks's words were harmful is like Team Avatar telling Zuko that sure, he can join since he's a good guy now, but never once acknowledging that he burned down villages or betrayed everyone's trust in Ba Sing Se. There's something very vital missing, see? If indeed the cast had called Van Zieks out more actively on his harmful ways and how necessary it was for him to change, he in turn could have taken more atonement steps in response.

So, for the conclusion: Does Barok van Zieks tick all the necessary boxes for a complete redemption arc? Yes. In a very technical sense, all the requirements are there. But does that mean it's a successful arc? Not necessarily. The game has a few slip-ups, a few things not executed as well as they could have been. For that reason, whether the audience is satisfied with the arc is entirely up to them. Taking into consideration that they had to cram a whole lot of story into just two games- the second game in particular, I can acknowledge they did their very best with the limitations that were there.

And there we have it! That’s all I could think to say on the matter. I hope everyone who read this till the very end enjoyed it, maybe even learned a thing or two. I’m always open to questions, input and constructive criticism!