#but i don't think i have that much of an emphasised hourglass figure for it to. matter?

[mishkakagehishka]

I've been eating a lot more often these days and tbh i don't know how to feel ab it

[mewmewpercy]

Natlan is Really Fucking Bad

From the time we first got the teasers featuring our Natlan lineup, most fans were aware it'd be really poorly done. Here's the major reasons why.

Number One: The Writing

I myself am a writer, so one can imagine my suffering while playing just what was released in 5.0 for the main story. It fell victim to many of my dislikes about Inazuma. Not writing in characters who should've been more imporant, weirdly resolved plot points, attempts to make the player care more about one character over another despite both being released the same version, weird uncomfortable fan service, and too much plot relevance given to npcs.

Kinich was hardly in the quests 5.0 brought. In fact I daresay there was more of Chasca than him despite it not even being her release patch. The plot of the abyss stuff felt rushed whenever it was brought up. There was a large focus on Mualani and Kachina who were also released in 5.0, but they were there practically the entire time, while like I said before, Kinich was barely there for his release patch. The random side quest we were forced into where we visit Mualani's tribe was some artists time to show off their poorly hidden foot fetish. All of the shots where she had her feet out during the outfit change stills were uncomfortable. When I say too much relevance was given to npcs I'm mostly talking about the Mualani tribe visit part of the main story and all of the npc introductions for characters who probably won't even show up in the 5.1 story.

Number Two: The Aesthetic

It's too modern. There I said it. Natlan is too modern. The technological advancements no longer fit within the confines of fantasy. They've now branched out into things that you'd sooner see in other hoyoverse titles like Zenless Zone Zero or Honkai: Star Rail. It no longer feels like genshin. I don't often agree with that sentiment but combining the character designs(an entirely separate issue) with their trailers and just the lack of consistent aesthetic in Natlan it's just bad. The difference between the akasha terminal from Sumeru or the Gardemeks and Kameras in Fontaine is that they fit withing the confines of fantasy. Steampunk and technological evolutions in general aren't out of place in fantasy. The problem with Natlan is that it crosses the fine line between fantasy and reality we as players have in our heads after four years of this game. Hoyoverse is going all out on this overly modern aesthetic but we're four years deep into a limit we've set on what's too realistic and what can be believed to be part of a fantasy world.

Number Three: The Character Designs

They're so bad. Let's just talk about who's out or drip marketed as of October 7th 2024.

So we have Mualani. She's like if you gave a person a task of thinking of what comes to mind when you think of a Hawaiian person then cut off most of the fabric on her clothes so that she's barely covered. Her hips being out has literally convinced a large portion of people that she's chubby(she literally has an hourglass figure). I personally cannot get behind her design.

Next is Kinich and by extension, Ajaw. Kinich is so odd. He toes a fine line between genshin and not genshin but he shows nothing that would convince me he's Mayan. He fits genshin maybe but where's the details to prove his inspiration? And then Ajaw.....I genuinely hate Ajaw being this 2d pixel dragon thing. It's so bad. I'd rather a second Paimon than what we got.

Kachina surprisingly fits genshin pretty well. But she also does not match her inspiration too much. It's like they softened her inspiration.

Chasca. I don't like her design at all. The colour palate and emphasised makeup is so jarring. She feels like another poorly made genshin woman because hoyo thinks women in pants can't be sexy as hell. She's like the personification of messy design.

Xilonen. She specifically pisses me off because of how defensive people get when you say her design is oversexualised and frankly a mess. She's not the right skintone and she was lightened I most newer content she's featured in. She has an insane amount of cutouts and holes in her outfit that frankly make zero sense. She's supposed to be a weaponsmith but her entire design and character direction went the DJ route instead. I almost called her a second Robin but Robin is canonically a popstar so her having a musical trailer isn't weird.

Ororon. The only thing I wanna say about that fuck is that as an ex gacha kid he brought back some insane trauma.