#Just talking about Genshin things

[blaze-lightflame]

So…um…(howdoyouevenmakegoodtitles)

4.0 Phase 2. Had 12 Fates.

Went to get Freminet (must unite the siblings) and got him

Then went “I’m at Pity 80, one more for funsies”

And won a 50/50. So now I have my second Archon character. And this was the second 50/50 I ever won.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to try to play a solo version of Omori’s White Space on the Genshin Lyre, or sleep. (No I don’t play Omori, and I never will.)

[blueskittlesart]

deeply refreshing to see someone critical of Swift who also like, genuinely likes her. Like i'm neutral to positive on her, but the online discourse has been absolutely rancid. flipping between "Taylor Swift has never done anything wrong ever and she's a fucking genius" and "Taylor Swift is the worst lyricist of all time and also a bad person" is exhausting, so thank you for like. nuance or something lmao

not to make it serious for a sec but i genuinely think that being able to like things that are bad is really important. like I think that it's an important skill to be able to look at something and see what you personally enjoy about it and then take a step back and acknowledge that objectively it's flawed. and to also be able to acknowledge that liking something isn't necessarily an identity or a moral stance. and i think that fandom space in general could really benefit from more people taking the time to learn how to do that. it's okay to like things that are bad

[mikashisus]

connections between venti and arlecchino that i found particularly interesting, a rambling 🗣️

ARLECCHINO STORY QUEST SPOILERS‼️‼️

(these r just some cool things i found kinda sus and interesting. this was for fun.)

1. first, my thoughts on clervie — specifically what she says in response to learning about mondstadt:

2. the similarities between arlecchino and venti regarding “freedom”:

venti fought for freedom that was earned, and eventually became the god of freedom shortly after he earned said freedom.

he also tested vennessa. he tested her by saying he could grant her freedom and waited to see if she would leave the cell with him, but she didn’t. she stayed and showed him how freedom was meant to be earned, not given. venti was more than satisfied with her answer and left.

venti has shown time and time again that he believes freedom is meant to be earned. at least, that’s how i see his character and his ideals.

now i want to bring up what arlecchino said towards the end of her story quest. i find it interesting how she also believes that freedom is meant to be earned, not given.

pretty interesting.

3. now for my own personal rant and theories:

“freedom” itself is always being mentioned in this game. it started in mondstadt, the nation embodying freedom. the god of freedom himself entered the fray and showed us what freedom truly meant.

liyue was “freed” from their own god, who saw it time to step down from his position as archon and left the task of ruling & protecting liyue to the humans.

wouldn’t say there’s much freedom in inazuma tbh. unless you count the people being “freed” from the vision hunt decree and the sakoku decree.

nahida being freed from the hands of the sages/akademiya.

furina being freed from her curse and the act she played out for 500 years.

i wonder if we’ll see any freedom in natlan too.

ANYWAYS, ALL THIS TO SAY (i didnt mean for this to become a venti rant, i have constant venti brainrot) — i believe that venti and freedom play an ENORMOUS part in the lore of the game and we haven’t seen anything yet.

i am a firm believer that venti is one of the most important characters in this game. bro has lore in literally every nation, maybe with the exception of fontaine (iirc, there hasn’t been anything in fontaine calling back to barbatos).

he even has lore in the chasm and enkanomiya, which says A LOT. i haven’t finished the remuria world quest yet, so idk if there’s any lore about him or istaroth sprinkled there too. tbh i wouldn’t be surprised if there was.

everything always comes full circle when it comes to venti. he’s everywhere, which is pretty cool to think about when you realize that he’s supposed to be the embodiment of the wind, which is everywhere all at once and can hear everything.

which brings me to my last point —

4. this voiceline from arlecchino about the wind.

hmmm.. 🤨

[grimmweepers]

˚˖𓍢ִ໋🦢˚ 𝓻𝔂𝓾𝓱𝓪𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓶

there was an ache in my heart when i awoke in a strange, beautiful world that wasn’t my own. even as months turned to years, i still missed the familiar skies, the voice of loved ones and the home i had left behind. i wrote letters that went nowhere and whispered silent prayers that reached no one. it was like i was plucked from my own reality and placed in a world where i didn’t quite belong.

yet, as much as i longed for home, i was determined to learn in this new life. sumeru became my sanctuary and the akademiya, my solace. i learned their languages, customs, and secrets while sharing stories of the stars, landmarks, and beauty of my own world. the scholars listened, fascinated by the similarities and differences, but none more than al-haitham—a student assigned to guide me through this foreign land. he was a quiet presence. thoughtful and curious. he did not pity me.

and over time, he went from guide to peer to something more. over time, i wasn’t just seeking knowledge but also him. but what was the point? what was the point of falling for him if one day, i could just disappear—vanish back to my world, leaving him and teyvat behind? this could slip away at any moment. this might be as fleeting as a dream.

despite all reason, i still found myself loving him deeply. in a world that wasn’t my own, he had become my home.

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: very slow burn, mutual pining, friends to lovers

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐔𝐒: 22.10.22 | playlist | genshinverse ryu | home for christmas (fic) | moodboards

𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐒: modern au | akademiya days | season of love | minecraft |

[welcometoteyvat]

finally typing up my late lantern rite thoughts (very long). overall 100/10 quest I love hu tao

The amount of Xingqiu's brother mentions were insane. Surely we'll see him either as an NPC soon, right? Right? /j Honestly here he sounded pretty competent, nothing like "a simpleton" like Xingqiu's troubles voiceline suggests hmm...

The little model animations were SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. contributed a lot to the experience and made it feel so much more alive. hu tao's expressions especially, but also yun jin's expressions, and Xiangling's "come back, get over here and eat!!!!!1!1!!!" was also really fucking funny. they've been adding these small animations for a while but this event specifically had so many of them and the effort paid off <3

in a similar vein I'm impressed how smooth the animation/model actions were when Xiao put the sigil on us

hu tao lan yan and qiqi fill in the gap fic please

timaeus is kind of silly, also very funny he and ying'er still going strong 2 years later. he's literally learning liyue language for ying'er? genuinely his dedication is impressive. they should make events replayable because how will everyone who missed 3.5 windblume know why timaeus simps for someone a whole country over

we finally know what the fake chinese characters in all those liyue signs represent (kinda ig). I need to look over this part again

if hu tao&/xiangling or hu tao &/yun jin stocks on ao3 don't increase after this I will start biting. MY GIRLS T_T T_TT_T_T_T_T_T_T. bro the farewell section was so tender I enjoyed it greatly. Their relationships with each other got developed on screen.. yun jin and hu tao's banter especially was really cute and really shows us their relationship aside from the hints in their VOs

YUN JIN OPERATIC HILITUNE ON SCREEN. the fanvid of it from bilibili can finally rest, thanks for your service, canon got here 4 years later.

Yun Jin, having practiced the tao dou opera, MUST have known something correct?? or else she wouldn't have asked hu tao so many times to promise to come back, right? She trusts Hu Tao so much :'''' . if Hu Tao says she can handle it, Yun Jin knows there's no stopping her, and she will find a way, but it doesn't stop her from worrying nonetheless :''').

hu tao's death flags during part 2......

my agenda is speaking, but I wish Xingqiu and Hu Tao directly talked during the farewells section. something something chivalry and sacrifice. Hu Tao makes her peace with giving up everything to resolve the Tao Dou issue, but is Xingqiu at peace with losing a friend even tho its selfish of him to want her to stay? he has personal stakes in this please just let them talk a little

I'm really really glad they went through with the death, they showed Hu Tao's emotions, they showed her father and grandfather waving her off. I broke, she looked so tired but satisfied (thinking about her vision story, where she waited so long for her grandfather to never appear vs him visiting her for just a brief moment here)

my other favorite shot is when traveler pulls her out and she looks at them in muted surprise. she just looked so sad and fragile and in need of a hug :(((

the Themes (waves hands wildly). hu tao's father's lingering regrets were his fatal flaw, and so Hu Tao settles her affairs properly and steels herself before going to die. she leaves behind the plum blossom branch just like her grandfather left his hat.. genuinely what the hell. the parallels between her cutscene goodbye and her saying "happy lantern rite" kills me

the epilogue last year with the fontaine tourists was pretty fanservicey, and tbh the epilogue the year before was also somewhat fanservice to me, (liyue gang dinner and zhongli venti teasing) though I liked it better. However I think this epilogue was actually really good— the hanging out and the fluff felt natural, it fit with everything else and wasn't super sudden. Maybe this was because of all the setup that happened (Yun Jin and Xiangling's promises to Hu Tao, Xiao and Yelan's dynamic built up in Perilous Trails and their earlier exchange), so the payoff is good instead of forced. After the trials and danger they got put through, everyone gets a chance to relax, and I appreciate the slice of life after the main plot. also Yun Jin's opera was crazy good considering it was not a cutscene, the animation and camera angles really sold it

I thought the special guest was xiao again, like how LR 3.4 had him dragged to the harbor by Hu Tao.... xiaolan banter was also v good though.

THE ADEPTI. they're still watching over Liyue in their own way :') the affectionate bickering about hu tao's name :''''''''

I barely mentioned lan yan in this... her part was pretty minor ngl, her habit of learning everything about a person to the point of sounding a bit creepy is kind of fun though.

alright. fantastic quest absolutely no notes I got almost everything I ever wanted and I am so glad Hu Tao had such an incredible 2nd story quest. chongyun and shenhe exorcist lantern rite next year?

[spookythesillyfella]

i rlly hate celebrating my birthday and . because of this . some irls suggested that i make a drawing for the occasion to help me feel less disgusted with myself

while im not particularly proud of this piece . i did use over 100 layers and my phone crashed twice so i might as well post it ; since i don't have any good content to share

[dantetel1028]

a character that’s terrified of dying alone but either hates showing weakness or hates worrying others to the point where they will hide while bleeding out

[corkinavoid]

FUCKING BIBLICAL BITCHES

I'm going on the angel hunt today come at me you winged horrors you will not stand a goddamn chance in face of my wrath

[wintersettled]

Honestly the way different archons in genshin impact have such different interactions with their nation is very interesting to me, especially with how its further expanded in fontaine recently.

The archons who are closest to the way we traditionally (in the west) think of a god (ie. all-powerful and on a completely other level of existence to humans) would probably be Barbatos first, then Rex Lapis.

Barbatos/Venti having churches dedicated to him and not appearing (as far as most are aware) in society for centuries is very similar to how the christian god is seen, as someone worshipped but never directly interacted with on a level beyond the spiritual. Meanwhile Rex Lapis/Zhongli has tons of myths and stories dedicated to him across lands and made appearances for years until his "death". In this way he's somewhat comparable to Greek gods (or even Jesus, to keep the christianity analogy going). He's far more openly entrenched in humanity but still remains separate and "above".

It's more-so with the three other archons we've encountered that our understanding of what gods must be like in teyvat based on Rex Lapis and Barbatos is totally altered with Ei, Furina, and Buer, all three being the "replacement" archon for their respective nations.

Ei, the third archon we meet, takes a direct role in Inazuman government as the Shogun, a totally different approach than the previous two which i find more similar to various rulers claiming divine right of kings. Also, despite not being the original electro archon most dont actually know this because Ei took on the identity of her sister, who died during the calamity. I think Ei taking on her sisters identity definitely helped her maintain her "divine authority" where other archons (buer) failed to maintain it in their nations.

Speaking of Buer/Nahida, you'd think the whole changing the past to everyone except descenders thing would complicate our interpretation of her but it doesnt at all. I think the reason for this is that destroying the previous archon in irmunsul didnt actually change the past. I also dont think the wanderer/scaramouche actually changed the past. I think they just changed peoples memories of it. but anyway. Nahida also takes on a governmental role at the end of sumerus archon quests while still remaining a somewhat holy figure. She was obviously shut out/disregarded following the passing of the previous dendro archon, unlike Ei she wasn't able to maintain her authority. After the archon quest however, her position in government kind of reminds me of the queen of england early in her rule. There was still a democratic governing body in the prime minister and other representatives but she maintains power.

Furina/Focalors also reminds me of the queen of england but at the end of her career instead. Furina appears to be more of a mascot in fontaine than a proper ruling body. It actually seems that the machine and neuvillette hold more authority that she does. Obviously we havent really explored fontaine much yet (its only been out a few days but im loving it) and we've only gotten so much info from the archon quests but as far as i can tell, furina appears to be kind of scrambling to live up to the previous hydro archon who was seemingly so well liked that fontaines people are repenting to this day. (as am i misremembering or did they say the previous archon didnt side with celestia but her people did?? what!?). Its even actively pointed out how people in fontaine do not view their archon to even a similar level as people in other nations (i mean their archon does meet and greets and is very reckless with her accusations but-).

anyways 👍 yes.

TLDR: zhongli + venti = traditional gods ei + nahida (now) = government furina + nahida = queen of england idk also i dont think they actually changed the past, just people interpretation of it. btw whats up with the fontaine profecy and the whole "they sided with celestia" thing??

[ballads-of-breeze]

Oh my god. The end of the route with Venti. Kaeya slipping away because he’s not a follower of Barbatos and thinks that means he’s not a true son of Mond. Venti essentially telling Kaeya and Traveler point-blank that he’s tired of losing the people he cares about before the ending (I think he’s alluding to the nameless bard’s death before he got to see New Mondstadt + maybe the Ragnvindr ancestor leaving before the same). The poem and exchange at the end where Venti tries to tell Kaeya that it doesn’t matter that he doesn’t follow him and is from Khaenri’ah, he’ll bless him all the same (and what a thing to say to a descendant of the godless nation)!! I am also specifically losing my mind over this line

(Yeah he sure does have stars in his eyes, and the Abyss euphemism is NOT subtle. Kaeya admitted in Caribert that he doesn’t want to be connected to the Abyss, and the poem as a whole is Venti describing Kaeya’s struggle with who he’s meant to be and his fate)

And this one

The thought of not having to live forever in struggle over his identity under the shadow of the legacy his ancestors have left him, and being able to choose the dawn—I can’t help but think this is intentional; the dawn is widely used as a symbol of new beginnings, but it’s got to also be representative of his adoptive family (especially Diluc, whose name origin diluculum apparently means dawn) which is closely associated with dawn.

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

Pst quick question; did you have an image in mind when writing For foil legacy by chance? Was curious if there was any art of him floating around c:

ooh that's an interesting question, i'll see if i can explain!!

of course i use the in-game model of Foul Legacy as a base reference, and the differences are mostly minor things that only i really care about but they are still IMPORTANT. my Foul Legacy has pretty, sparkly wings instead of cape, but they've got the same flowing silky texture that they almost seem like a cape. they CAN act as fins underwater if needed, although they're also extremely delicate when waterlogged and need to be treated with utmost care. in all the time he's been with you, he's only torn his wings once, and the shriek of agony he let you completely wrenched your heart in two. you took the next few days off of work to care for him, Legacy's head staying in your lap or buried against your shoulder at almost all times as the pain slowly faded

he's also fluffier when i imagine him, perfect for holding and snuggling. his fur is very poofy and soft and when he curls up a certain way he looks like a ginger and lilac dandelion. it's especially prevalent in the winter when the weather is cold, the fluff keeping him warm as he romps around in the few snowfalls you have each year and curls up inside around you whenever it pours down freezing rain. Legacy purrs and lightly pushes you until you sit, flopping on top of you and nuzzling with a deep, content croon as the rain taps the roof of your house in a steady rhythm

Legacy's got claws, but did you also know that he has paw pads!! in my world he has toebeans on his palms and fingertips, faint lilac ones that squish when you poke them, and he always lets out a surprised chitter when you do. they're to help him grasp and knead against blankets, pillows, and your legs- the latter done with caution and care so he doesn't tear through your skin. you compare him to a cat. a big, armored, Abyssal cat, and it's quite an apt description from the way he bumps against you and nibbles at your fingers and curls around your body and trills drowsily with happiness

[onceapirateprincess]

Augh. I get not wanting to support Hoyo but now I'm genuinely conflicted about the new update. No, I'm not gonna spend money, and no, I definitely don't like the whitewashing of cultures. I'm Mexican - American myself and while I'm removed from the culture I still find it an important part of my identity. All the leaks I've seen have shown gorgeous everything else, literally Natlan would have been perfect if it hadn't been for the blatant racism and colorism. I love Genshin. I love the story,.I love the storyline and environments. I'm mostly f2p myself but God the fact I get a pit in my stomach now every time because of hoyoverses decision. Thanks HoyoVerse, ya kinda ruined a good thing because now I'm scared of being seen as racist for trying to enjoy a game you,.the devs, ruined by what looks like a definitely intentional decision.

I feel like they're killing a game I absolutely love because of awful decisions. Call it an overreaction but genshin is the one thing I have in common with my partner as we are living states away from each other and we don't often get to do things together.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Aufh.

Also just to stress this, I'm not spending any more money on genshin or official Genshin merch until they fix this and I'm already signing petitions / circulating awareness posts. I'm trying to do my part it just feels awful that this is happening, not for the first time, in something that I've grown to genuinely love.

[vv-ispy]

Ships that could have worked out if it wasn't for one (1) thing

[shikan0in-heizou]

SHE CALLED THEM HER CHILDREN!!! SHE'S THEIR MOM!!!

[lupins-hehim-pussy]

I wanna know ur Fontaine msq criticisms 👁️👁️👂I’m all ears

I'm not sure if you wanted me to talk about this secretly or publicly but! Here I go!

The TLDR: Fontaine MSQ aestheticised prison, poverty, child abuse, the justice system/court and didn't properly address any of it.

More:

Focalors/Furina has way too much of a sympathetic angle for a dictator who's lets people drown with her inaction.

Neuvillette feels Bad for sentencing some people to death/prison, but that's it. He's one of the most powerful people in Fontaine. If he felt like there are systemic injustices, I.E sending an abused Child to prison, he should be the first person to DO something about it, not just cry and be sad so the audience can be like aw, that's complex character writing isn't it? No it's not! And guilt doesn't absolve you!!!!!!! (These are stuff we deal with in OTCOJ read my fic now /j)

Meropide has children in it, both Sentenced there (Wriothesley) and BORN THERE (Lanoire), and this is just a quirk of the place. Not only that, Meropide accepts prisoners of all genders and crimes. There are abusers and abuse victims in one place. Do you know how bad that is? How much potential for crimes to happen in a place like that— oh wait, Meropide isn't under Fontaine's jurisdiction. If you are assaulted as an inmate it literally means nothing to the court.

Wriothesley had no qualifications when he took over. Depending on how long he lived on the streets, how old he was when he killed his parents, how old he was when he was first taken in by the orphanage, etc, the man might never have more than 4–5 years of formal education. Sigewinne probably had to teach him how to write reports. And do Meropide's spreadsheets. Edit because I forgot to elaborate on this one: This isn't a point brought up anywhere, which is bad, because when poverty and incarceration robs you of a proper education (and the rights to vote in many places too, too, by the way), it reduces your prospects for jobs, reduces many people's ability to get a home etc etc. Wriothesley was just, narratively, Given his position.

Meropide is an industrialized prison, and they portray this as a good thing. Prisoners are paid in coupons for their labour, and this is also portrayed as a good thing.

The One-Meal-A-Day reform was something Paimon gushed about being so great of a perk, that people might want to go to jail for food (could be interesting and reflective of systemic poverty if MHY had brains, but they don't, so I was just Pissed because essentially all Paimon wanted to say was "Prison isn't so bad, but still don't go to prison guys! Prison labour is really hard!"). By the way, in most real-world prisons they are obligated to feed you three meals a day. Because that's how much food a human needs. MHY went with one meal just so they can say "if you want to eat more, you have to work." And then the welfare meal is a goddamn gacha. So imagine you're a starving child who's too weak to work in the fucking robot assembly line, and you wander up for your first meal in 24 hours, only to luck in with a shit one. I'd kill myself.

They wrote Wriothesley, who's a victim of the system, into a guy who's say shit like "I'm the Duke I can do whatever I want" for a cool moment where he choke-slams an inmate (I know he was a bad guy. But also, in copaganda when cops are violent/disregarding protocols, they are always only portrayed to do that against bad guys, so what does our critical thinking tells us about this one?) They wrote Wriothesley, who was an inmate of a prison so bad, so notorious that it is the literal boogeyman of Fontaine, that has a legal (???) fighting pit, with an administrator who abuses his position to be unreasonable, to willingly stay in the place and become an Administrator who would choke-slam an inmate while saying a cool line about how he has the power to do whatever he wants. They wrote him, the guy who had to be fed on the streets by melusines, to think one-meal-a-day was a good enough reform (while he spends god-knows how much on his boat). This wasn't a victim-turns-into-abuser narrative either, they want all this to be seen as positive character growth.

And then, the final kicker is, they gloss over his entire abuse. You can only read about these shit in his profile, which most people don't because they don't Have Him or doesn't care to unlock it/read it online, and they jammed his entire backstory into a flaccid info-dump at the end of his character story quest. This man isn't Allowed to feel abused and neglected and show any reaction to it within the narrative of Fontaine itself, because if they actually Gave Weight to what happened to him, they'd have to confront THE FUCKING JUSTICE SYSTEM they had NO PLANS on criticising. I don't think they ever explicitly said the fucking Crime-Theatre nonsense was Bad either.

I could go on, but this is already so long. But yeah, I hope this gave you an idea.

[goingbadonkas]

Kavetham au with Princess Bride