#but also fuck hoyo i know what youre doing with natlan

[sacredglitch]

I've been on/off this platform for a while and NGL I have stepped away from all the fandoms I love her in lieu of Genshin Impact

A game I despised like two or more years ago (I started playing in 1.4 okay?) and dropped for a bit due to getting stuck in Inazuma

I've now completed the Fontaine questline and holy shit. The ROLLERCOASTER of emotions it brings you on.

I streamed my whole experience of it and I'm glad I did cause there was so many feelings had throughout it. From a lot of love for new characters, to some hatred for others to then overwhelming sadness at the end. It's been a journey that I'm glad I had some viewers along with me for it.

Time to engorge myself in new ships and see if I can reawaken some of the other fandoms I would post about here. I've missed this place.

[tea-twords]

Can we appreciate Kinich more pretty please

Like I feel like Hoyo is neglecting him a little bit, even though he’s a super important character to the story and lore he kind of doesn’t get much attention. The feast at the people of the springs, every other person says a dead relative/companion that passed away during the war, except for Kinich. He had to have had at least some sort of loss, and I get that it’s most likely in character that he doesn’t say anything but. Let him share too. And that whole thing where we learn Mavuika tasked him with finding and identifying the unnamed dead? Like?? Can someone check on him??? That has to be such a grueling fucking job imagine what he’s already had to do with that. All the things he saw. Thats like even more free trauma. I don’t know I feel like we’re forgetting that he’s not an emotionless person and just because he doesn’t express it doesn’t mean he’s not feeling it.

And like I’m always disappointed when I read characters voiceline on Kinich. Like istg the only person who actually talks about Kinich is Kachina and thank you my child because it gave good insight on who he is from her perspective. Most other people it’s like Oh what are your thoughts about Kinich? Well that AJAW

I love ajaw I do but I DID NOT AAAAASK. ABOJT AJAW. I DIDNT ASK ABOUT HIM. I ASKED ABOUT KINICH WHERE IS HIS INDIVIDUALITY. I WANT TO KNOW WHO KINICH IS TO YOU NOT THE FUCKER AGTACHED TO HIM😭😭😭😭

Mualani also gave a little insight on kinich which I do appreciate but it was still more ajaw and it’s like come on

Ororon talks about him too but mentions ajaw first

Mavuika just talks about his ancient name and like indirectly talking about him? Which is alright I think bc it does show who he is but it would be nice to see who Kinich is to her, not just his name.

Which is another thing because I feel like there should be a certain bond between Mavuika and Kinich. Burkina grew up with Mavuika and was one of the first ones to die back then, whose name Kinich inherited. They’re both scions of the canopy, she borrowed his weapon to clap Capitano and his expression was wonderful. Like idk I feel like we should have gotten more of them. I don’t know there just wasn’t a lot of kinich that really added more to him like the other characters.

And I’m not even saying this because I’m a simp for him I GUARANTEE you im also a simp for every other natlan character besides Iansan, Kachina, and Ororon. I’m saying this bc I feel like we should at least just check up on him. See how he’s doing like are you ok. Do you need a hug. Do you need time alone. I don’t know but he deserves more

Anyway hope we get to see more of him in the future because he’s a wonderful character. Please join Mualani and Kachina on the trip they’re planning you guys are a little family.

I don’t know if any of that was coherent it’s 2:20 in the morning as I’m writing this right now and I’m just wishing he was treated better

Anyway shoutout to Capitano, RIP Capitano you were lovely🙏🙏 go have fun fusing with the lord of the night

Archon quest was beautiful, not as many tears as 5.1 but definitely a good amount

Maybe I’ll talk more later but this is my rant. Save bro

[genshinconfessions]

Honest to god, the more I see people behaving like actual monsters or children throwing a temper tantrum over characters not having skin as black as the abyss the more I flat out just do not have the capacity to care. I get it sucks that the characters aren't being diverse enough, I get it, but throwing death threats, slurs and god knows what else at the devs while behaving like spoiled rotten brats just makes me not care to any degree. If people can't behave like ACTUAL ADULTS and genuinely have polite points to say other than "Time to attack the devs again/slander the VAs or whoever for agreeing to go with this" whenever a character isn't dark skinned, they have no one to blame but themselves if the devs elect to not listen to what basically amounts to spoiled two year olds not getting what they want. I genuinely feel bad for people who want more diversity but are less hateful and end up being lumped in with the assholes who think threatening the devs lives is a okay, and I also feel bad for anyone genuinely excited about the Natlan characters getting absolutely harassed and ripped to shreds for not "thinking they're ugly for not being dark enough". I feel like if the fan base were ALOT LESS VITRIOLIC about the issue of diversity the devs would likely listen more. But as it stands now I can't wait for the harassing and death threats being thrown around to die down again so I can actually browse genshin twit and tumblr again in peace without having to worry about running into anyone being genuine human trash towards the devs over the color of fucking pixels. I've got enough stressing me out like grieving the loss of a parent, I don't need people being assholes to add to it and it sickens me that they don't see anything wrong with how they're acting. I'm just. I'm tired and wish people could be less like bullies or arseholes for once over a silly little gacha game they claim to love yet act like this. Sorry for this being a long confession, I just needed to get this off my chest cause it's been bugging me and stressing me out so much since the Natlan teaser got released whenever I've gone to look at Genshin stuff practically everywhere lately.....

i'm very sorry for your loss :( and if it will help you feel less alone, i generally agree with your sentiments.

for me, i am a pretty staunch hoyo defender (evident in previous posts when we used to comment on asks more frequently), but i must admit, i was slightly disappointed in the natlan characters since i believed the fan edits with darker skin did look better, and i wished hoyo would have listened to the intl fandom regarding south american/african/indigenous poc things.

that said, it's never okay to send death threats to anyone for any reason. i'm sure the devs are a lot less willing to make changes if all they're getting is death threats and, like you said, vitriolic hate. constructive criticism helps ppl realize where they're wrong and how to fix it; unconstructive criticism is generally useless and tends to be ignored.

the societal issue of colorism runs very, very deep, both in asia and generally around the world. it's not something that hoyo can fix singlehandedly by changing some characters. granted, i'm sure it would set a very good example for future game devs, and it would be really great if they did listen to intl feedback! but if they choose not to, that's not smth we can change their minds about.

side note, regarding a lot of the 'natlan is colonized' comments, we don't know the story yet. it's possible that hoyo will address it as social commentary, or it might be something totally different. leaks and the search for instant gratification have really made it difficult for people to enjoy a drawn-out storyline, and that's really sad.

we've said this a lot on this page but i'll say it again: why spend so much energy hating fictional media? if it no longer brings you joy for whatever reason (i.e. you dislike the natlan characters), stop playing. if the fandom is the main source of negativity, stop engaging with the fandom, block users and tags, curate your own experience. if you claim to hate everything about it but continue to engage with it, that's quite hypocritical and unconvincing.

in any case, if you like the game well enough to keep playing, keep playing. you don't need to justify your reasoning to anyone, and you definitely don't need to fall into a trap of radicalized (and dare i say often performative) social justice.

[outivv]

I'm so distraught that there's people out there that fall for da wei's crocodile tears on the stream and going,

"noooo da wei is crying!! 😭 why are you so mean to him! ☹️"

"We must protect da wei from this hateful people, these people is such a lost cause and destroy the game 😞"

"You people is so full of hate!! 🤬".

Dear friends, (/sarc /neg) that is a motherfucking BILLIONAIRE and a FUCKING RACIST OLD MAN. that not just SEXUALIZE WOMEN but also CHILDREN in his oh so lovely games you enjoy! Good GOD they're babying him, maybe it's because he feed these brainwashed people with pretty characters and petty gifts and all that.

also fuck the fellow "boycotters" that says "go f2p guys!!" and then we see them still bought skins, collect hoyo's so called sorry "gifts", and goes "omg thank you hoyoverse for the gifts! we love you! btw stay f2p guys!!! <333" god spineless idiots, i'm so ashamed being in one group with you all.

I'm sorry for venting in your askbox, I don't know where should I go confess my feelings, because there's a lot of the so called "boycotters" running around :"(

Do not even get me started on the whole “omg guys da Wei is crying!!!”

Girl those are complete crocodile tears, stfu- you and da Wei will be FINEEEEE TRUST. TRUST. Bro has to approve most of this shit before it gets sent out, like he’s GOTTA- and the shit that has gotten sent out before has been sexualizing women and children- like you said!! So it’s like girl… girl he knows what he’s doing, HE JUST DOESNT CARE?? Bro if you don’t want you and your employees to be viewed as incompetent- then maybe DONT BE INCOMPETENT 🥰 OR RACIST 🥰 OR PEDOS 🥰

Omg… I’ve seen a few people on twt do that being like “guys make sure to be f2p!!” And then recently being like “wowww I just bought nilou skin!!” “Wowww I just spent money on Emilie banner!!” Stfu go away. Go AWAY. Hold yourself to the same standard you hold others to.

Like I’m happy for hyv’s “gifts” and optimization shit in the upcoming patch- but like 😭 girl that doesn’t mean I’m gonna spend money, they’re optimizing it so you don’t have to spend AS MUCH money- like good lord. Girl I’ll be saving for most of natlan if not all of it 🫡, maybe pull a character or two, but I’m not spending SHIT. Completely just… those people are boycotting for show, which is disgusting as fuck- and I hope their computer breaks.

Don’t be sorry for venting, it’s all good!! Gives me an excuse to messily ramble on about how much I agree with all of your point BAHAHAH

[daybreakrising]

man that trailer was fire (pun intended)

more thoughts below the cut bc there will be some... frustrations-

so hyped for lantern rite (including that 3 second glimpse of baizhu which is probably all we're going to get-), so hyped for the conclusion of the archon quest (pyro traveller better be fucking worth this wait, hoyo, especially for someone who cannot get natlan characters other than fckn kachina for the foreseeable future).

i still hate the motorbike. pls understand, i don't hate the concept of it, i just hate that it's just... a motorbike. a modern ass looking motorbike & the fact that it's all just fanservice in the first place. if you like it, that's fine, but it's not my taste. i also don't like chasca riding around on a gun either. it all feels a little too hsr and a little less genshin for me, that's all. i'm also rolling my eyes at citlali riding around on plushies bc.... really hoyo? really? idk guys i'm just really not feeling these design choices in natlan. and i want to be clear: it's not that they're more technological or modern-adjacent that bothers me (except the bike, bc... idk i just think it's too modern looking), it's just that i don't think it fits with the world around it. i'm happy for people to disagree with me but i stand firm on that opinion. some degree of tech is already established in the world (fontaine has meka, sumeru basically had the internet, etc) but it still feels in keeping with the region and the world as a whole. and yes, yes, i know, fake sky blah blah but it just takes me out of the world a little when there's a fckn flying gun and a superpowered motorbike kicking around. in comparison, kachina's little drill works great with the world around it - mualani's surfboard, kinich's grappling hook, these all fit well. i just think the later movement mechanics are getting silly, idk.

can confirm hoyo hates cryo characters bc i feel like only character collectors and people who really like her (why? FDKLNH sorry, i'm salty-) will pull for citlali when the archon is right there. but hey, they're giving us shenhe i guess so......

which leads me onto: hoyo if i have to wait three years for a fontaine chronicled wish to get a wrio rerun i'm gonna fucking quit the game i stg. i'm glad you've loosened the restrictions but please for the love of everything just listen to your fans and give him back to us. i already knew you were rerunning two more fontaine characters before him so i'm not as angry as i would normally be upon the reveal, but seriously, give him back to us soon. you finally gave us shenhe back, now it's wrio's turn. please. what's next? rerunning fucking emilie before wrio? don't do that to us

i went through like... the five stages of grief when i realised lan yan would be in the free 4* selector for lantern rite, bc on the one hand: yay i can actually get a new character instead of sitting here staring at banners i can't pull on; but on the other: i've only just finished collecting ascension resources for all my existing characters and now i'm gonna have to farm for a new one- (this is obviously not serious, it won't take long to farm for one character)

who wants to take bets on how quickly i forget that bosses will respawn instantly and get jumpscared by one-

ifa. ifa. listen i'm already clearing a spot for him on my roster (you're welcome, myrd). give him to me now, hoyo. (also from those silhouettes......... really, hoyo, please give us some more male characters soon. i know they probably don't sell as well but please.... balance it out a little more, i beg you.)

and finally, one last thought: DRAGON

[e17omm]

Alright, Genshin Natlan Act 4. Same as before, Im gonna be writing things as I play through it.

(This quest went from me practically losing all faith in Hoyo, to returning to me having Hope that they can stop their fake tension bullshit)

Do you know how much of a ( -_-) face Im having right now?

I fucking hope Mauvika is wrong. I am so tired of every region being the same. Fatui bad. Archon good. Everyone's fine always nothing bad ever happens to anyone on the "good" side.

If they dont change how the Fatui is potrayed now, the writers are going to implode when we get to Snezhnaya and we gotta help the people but the people are all Fatui and Fatui bad so we cant help the country but thats all we've been doing and there cant be good people coz all of them are loyal to the Fatui or... Is Snezhnaya secretly going to have an underground rebellion with people that dont like the Fatui?

Its been the same for 4 years now. Can these writers write anything else?

2. what was the point of Ororon, a character Ive barely met, to have an internal struggle with a person Ive never even heard of? Well wonder if theyre gonna butcher Capitano or if they'll keep writing him well...

3. I am hoping, from the bottom of my heart, that Mauvika's plan fails.

If it doesnt fail, and it succeeds, the Hoyo I am a fan of is dead, because this new one can only write the same, very limited, repeated plot points.

Why, do you write tension into your story, if its never realised?

If tension is not going to happen, then dont write your story to have tension.

For FOUR. YEARS. Hoyo has repeatedly written plot points that asks "will they make it?" or "will they be fine?" and the answer has, without fail, been "yes."

You can do that here and there.

You cant repeatedly ask that question for four years.

You have no idea how badly I want to be proven wrong. I want to be proven so wrong that people link my posts and comments about this and laughs at me.

Because the alternative is that the Hoyo I am a fan of is no more.

And this new Hoyo can only write stories that never has any real tension, but also cant embrace being a fun lighthearted story.

This new Hoyo wants to go down the middle, where their story is lighthearted yet tense. Tense, but nothing bad every actually happens.

Go one way or the other. Please. Either realise the tension, or dont have it.

You cant write happy fun stories where characters DIES and then they just come back like nothing's wrong.

You cant write tense stories where things can go wrong, when every time something saves them.

This isnt just in GI. Its all their games lately.

I need a moment to come to terms that this company that has thrashed my feelings and made me connect with fictional characters, a company which has crafted worlds and stories that I enjoyed so much that I think about them almost daily, may be no more.

Please just commit to write a fun story or a story where tension is real. I cant take this repeated overuse of fake tension where nothing bad can actually happen and its all an illusion for much longer.

what number was i on...?

5. at least we are now working with the Fatui and they genuinely want to help.

I disagree with the statement that the feeling of dread is getting stronger, uh, because, you know, Hoyo has refused to act on the tension they've tried having for the past 4 years.

AHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA THEY REALLY JUST SAID THAT DEATH IS A RULE

FUCKING FUNNY JOKE HOYO. That actually made me laugh, they actually said that. Im not joking, that was funny. That is so rich of them!

Oh yeah that was note 6.

7. Okay, this whole war map thing actually looks interesting.

Im thankful the music is completely missing the mark on the mood. Oh yeah, upbeat tunes and calm tones, thats what I want to hear when Natlan is facing its biggest Abyss attack yet.

I hope my sarcasm shines through on that previous statement.

8. Okay, idea of the whole war map vs abyssal corruption is really cool... But the execution is bad. Nothing corruptive on the map, and the gameplay is short bursts of fighting with about 3-4 minutes of travel time by air balloon which you are forced to do.

Alright they started teleporting me after forcing me to ride the balloon twice. Thank god.

9. Pretty cool cutscene. Would have been better if this wasnt the 6th nation and there was still tension in the story. But you know, Mauvika waved her hand and the crisis was pushed back.

I kept thinking through the entire cutscene "yeah this looks bad, but will it stay that way?" and the answer appears to be a pretty standard "nah" nah it wont stay that bad. Nothing ever does.

10. Ooooh so now we can see the abyssal corruption on the map!

But will it stay that way?

11. Okay. They actually have the guts to show things getting dark. By killing a bunch of NPC's we've never met, but you know, its something! Things are bad! The Abyss is invading! Of course people will die but they're still nameless numbers I've never met or heard about before.

But still, its something!

Still fully expecting Mauvika to destroy the Abyss orb thing and save the day forever. That's basically what Hoyo has repeatedly been doing for years now.

But hey, at least they can stick through things getting dark and not fix it right away after shying away from doing just that for so long.

12. Wow Chuychu just died. I didnt know her for that long but at least she was unique and had a distinct personality.

Im still expecting this crisis to be over by the end of the quest so it doesnt stick, but also like, where the fuck was this 2 years ago? Sumeru and Fontaine would have been so much more tense if this was the status quo!

If this was the tension/precedent set when I entered Natlan I would have been so much more invested in this story!

Aaaaaaaaand there it is. Will Hoyo prove me wrong and Mauvika's plan will fail? I hope but we have all the heroes now

13. That was a good scene with Cisca. Chisca? carrying in Chychu.

But also, like, "this was is about to end" and I've barely seen any of it. So unless the plan fails, this crisis wont stick for any interesting amount of time and will be completely contained to Natlan with no impact on any of the other nations or characters. Which is a massive shame.

14. yeaaaaah this is about to end isnt it? Resurrection is back, hopeful music is playing.

This was a good quest. I hope Hoyo can relearn what they have lost from it.

Im fully expecting them to defeat the Abyss and have a bright happy ending where everything is fine. The quest will still be good despite that, I'll keep some hope that the Hoyo I am a fan of isnt entirely gone and that they can recover from their fake tension dump.

The absolutely worse scenario is that Chychu is resurrected. That will make me throw my controller into my monitor.

15. alright, looks like Hoyo does understand that just pasting a character back into the story after they showed said character dying is a really bad idea for tension and stakes!

The result is expected - nothing except this specific quest is impacted, which is a shame, but baby steps! Things went bad and lots of people died and it wasnt quickly solved and the dead stay dead.

I would have liked to see a more gradual war over several quests rather than in a single quest that took place over like, a few hours, but again - BABY STEPS.

I hope they learn from this and stops doing their fake tension shit in every one of their games.

16. Okay, "task of wiping out the Abyss" thats jumping the gun, isnt it? Dont we have that whole thing with the Abyss Order and Khaenri'ah to see first?

17. BOOOO they couldnt even add the broken sky into the game? Come the fuck on, even Mauvika spoke about it as if it was permanent.

They'll make you solve problems in world quests that makes the world look less interesting, but after the "fake sky" was revealed, they dont make it permanent and only give us a short glimpse of it, even if the characters treats it as a possibly permanent thing in the sky?

Come on.

Quest was fine. I hope Hoyo learns from it and stops doing their fake tension bullshit - in all their games.