#genshin impact is genuinely a very fun game and the story is pretty good

[itmestine]

Thank you so much for the tag @takeme-totheworld! This is my first time doing one of these too.

10 Characters, 10 Fandoms

Tokyo Mew Mew - Retasu Midorikawa

Naruto - Kakashi Hatake

Jane Eyre - Jane Eyre

Love Live Sunshine - Chika Takami

Mushi-shi - Ginko

Bakemonogatari - Tsubasa Hanekawa

From The New World - Saki Watanabe

Genshin Impact - Diluc Raginvindr

Obey Me - Lucifer

Good Omens - Aziraphale and Crowley (I am incapable of picking between them)

Tagging (no pressure of course!): @neiratina @obae-me @dreamsforthedamned @jasper-crow @the-name-is-loser @mimisempai @dral-koumine

[narwhalandchill]

wuwa rambles incoming, on the negative side ish (?)

so i also ended up downloading wuwa to test it out despite being fairly confident in the assessment that it Will not be a long term thing for me (and yeah stand behind that one after day 1 and some today) and like

firstly yes the state of the game is in shambles lmao like it really wasnt finished in time for release in terms of performance and polish At All. on my side luckily the overall experience has been more or less okay on medium graphics with some glitches and a total of two crashes but its still like. this isnt an optimized game at all. ppl rly have been taking genshin being incredibly cautious with new systems and additions (so that the game actually Functions) for granted i suppose 💀 and or consistently taken the most uncharitable angle towards it . like yes we shouldve had xyz since forever but i 100% believe theres actual spaghetti code behind things taking long and that hoyo genuinely wants to be very careful w it for good reason. but yeah artifact presets where still

secondly as much as the world is like, pretty and vast with many sceneries that make for a beautiful vignette to Look at and all kinds of trinkets to run towards and engage w for that quick dopamine release, i think the fact that the story and lore of the world is just so fucking inconsequential and terribly communicated makes it just. Incredibly hard to Feel anything for it. its like a cake with stunning decorations except u take a bite and realize its all just fondant and no actual flavor. its just there. i dont have any thoughts nor feelings for it bc the worldbuilding is such a failure that i care neither for this place nor the characters whose stories are supposed to be selling me on the entire game. and that really sucks bc this place really Does look stunning in places and i Wish they would give me something to care about but its just the backdrop for the (admittedly fun) pokemon echo farm and ur exploration progress and the combat system

character-wise i also just dont mesh with vast majority of them much. they dont stand out enough from one another and no one except for like scar has actually made me very intrigued about anything at all regarding the world. designs vary from ugh to fine with some that i do like but they still arent like . the kind of Instant recognizable design that just Hits. they look fine but they lack the (jenshin) impact that makes you want to forfeit ur mortal possessions to them

now there is One (1) exception to this to be fair and thats sanhua but thats Literally just bc she is so fucking gender envy to me design wise. like its almost perfect just like that. literally if only her top wasnt open in the back . Id wear that shit SO hard for My scifi fantasy waves that wuther self insert oh my god. she looks like a middle school OC id make JSJSKSKDKUSKDK i love herrr literally the only reason i continue playing tbh . And she has ice powers too she is literally made For Me 💀

(jen forbidden lore tldr a niche finnish Banger of a fantasy book series that rewired my brain at 10 had an Excellently written girl protag who among other things gained op draconic ice powers of eternal winter and since then that simply became My main character daydream self elemental power of choice Always hsjsjsjskvkd)

the combat i think is where wuwa stands out and it definitely lets u engage more with the enemies. like ultimate evasion and counters Feel satisfying and building up ur characters unique mechanic like sanhuas ice constructs for her powered up charge atk Feels satisfying i def think theres a lot of potential there but in terms of A Future Meta in a gacha that wants money idk where things would ultimarely go in the future. but ya that stuff is solid.

enemy designs are also cool but suffer from that same lack of context to make me intrigued w the world theyre a part of. like cool eldritch creature ig but it doesnt give heebie jeebies the same way as seeing like. the husks in the chasm for the first time. where u instantly go oh fuck How. Why. Who were they. bc u know there Will be a relevant answer . etc . which is a shame. make me fear for my life smh

anyway for me my pulls have been like ridiculously bad i am genuinely not joking that getting sanhua on my first starter banner multi is the only reason i stuck w it. like. prior to this morning and getting aalto from the 20 free pulls . i have not received a Single non f2p new 4*. i have chixia c3 who i do Not like. yangyang c2. baizhi c1. Literally i kid you not the other new 4* i pulled today was . Yuanwu. so like considering the event and log in thats also c1 yuanwu c1 sanhua (latter of which i obvi have no issue w). and then my starter 5* was the worst case scenario 💀 Walmart gaming i mean. if u think hes cute cool but i am not at All enthused. id have taken Anyone over him lmao

so thats fun . i mean its fine im not gonna play long term i like sanhua and playing her w baizhi and someone like yangyang or aalto its fine for what i intend to do w it for now. & none of the future 5* rly appeal to me either

ultimately the game definitely has potential but it just. released too soon in a shoddy state and in many ways (mostly relating to its open world) i think is too reliant on just resembling genshin without actually innovating on top of that foundation or distinguishing itself from it. and the failure of its story to make players care about its world At All doesnt help. Do i think the world and lore are shit w 0 potential? well obviously no bc its so poorly communicated i cant even fucking tell you what it is About. but any possible potential there was definitely not utilized how it should so eh

now personally i have absolutely no horse in this toxic drama clownfest of a gacha game war arms race other than its not worth the time nor effort. so i truly have no particular feelings of fervent support nor some schadenfreude about kuro and for competitions sake i Do hope they manage to salvage the situation and that wuwa manages to flourish in the end but ironically enough the genshin "killer" number two more or less seems to have went the way of the other one aka ToF. so thats something i suppose lmao

Like there is something very painfully ironic about it all and it is hysterical in that sense. at least that much i can admit hsiajsks. But truly if some ppl find that wuwa offers them sth better than genshin then good for em, dont let my highly lukewarm reception ruin ur enjoyment. just end the fucking drama farm and disingenuous claims to gas up ur own cope and hype

(and to be clear. i would Not have played like 8 hours yesterday if i wasnt genuinely engaged w trying the game out and having fun lol. its just very clear to me that this early rush of ADHD dopamine oh new game new things to burn through new exploration shinies short term quick fun is very likely all wuwa is going to have on offer for me personally)

anyway thats just me so feel free to share yalls thoughts too if ud like

[wishingstarinajar]

Hi, on anonymous because I'm shy, but a while ago, I saw your discord status talking about Genshin Impact, and I was wondering what you thought of it. Sorry if that's intrusive! I really like that game and wanted to know.

Le gasp, someone who knows me!... Maybe, haaai~

Genshin, yes (or Genshion, as I accidentally typo-ed it in my status and people were so kind to point out x'D). So my status said I was giving the game another try after leaving my account to rot for almost two years.

I made an account back then and tried to play but was so overwhelmed by it, I didn't find much enjoyment in it. I tried it long enough to get my adventurer rank to 7 or something, but I struggled hard with wrapping my head around the gameplay style. So I left it to the side.

Cue last week, when I brushed off my account and gave it another go.

Day one was hell: I had NO idea what was going on, I didn't remember anything, and once again I struggled with getting a hang of the playstyle. I was having no fun and decided to give up.

Day two was... okay: I figured I gave up too easily the day before and wanted to give the game another chance. It's a pretty game with nice designs and scenery, I like the soundtrack, and if so many darn people like it, then surely I'm not doing something right. I got some online assistance and slowly started to understand how the heck to play it.

Day three was actually fun: Finally, after trying for hours, I was starting to have fun. I could progress, I didn't keep getting my ass handed back to me, I dared to explore and got a better taste of the story. Beating harder mobs/bosses felt really good.

From here on in, the game has been rather enjoyable, but I have hit the "grind wall" now where I need to grind for level boosts, food materials, and other items to upgrade weapons and artifacts, and to ascend characters and weapons so they can gain higher levels. My "main-ish" team is now all in the level 33 brackets and my Adventurer rank/level is 22, so I've been doing okay, I guess xD

I'm still not that great at switching out party members to create elemental chain reactions or what-have-you for good damage; I'm not used to this kind of playstyle, especially this fast-paced, but I'm trying. I usually just go into fights with Xiangling and wreck things (most of the time). Takes a bit longer than it should but it works.

I think the game is pretty alright. I didn't have a high opinion of it before, but that was mostly because my own experience with it was pretty shit. It has a nice story, pretty graphics and a wonderful soundtrack. I like to explore and glide, I think those are my favorite parts of the game, and I do smile when I'm interacting with other characters.

Things I still don't like very much are:

The English voice acting. Some of the voices are pretty grating to listen to, while others sound very forced (aka not genuine or natural). Hopefully this is just throughout the "beginning" of the game and people ease into it better later on. I am considering downloading the Japanese voice-acting pack though.

Being forced to stick with the gender of the Traveler you picked at the very start and being unable to customize their appearance. I'm not going to make a whole new account just to switch gender for aesthetic reasons. Still sucks that this isn't something that can be changed, at all.

Adventurer level hurdles. I hate you... Just let me progress through the story, don't make me wait and grind.

Ice. The Ice element is my worst enemy and the mountain area can fek right off.

Can I have some more dudes on my team? Thanks.

I will say that the urge to make a Genshin OC is there but I feel like I don't have a good enough grasp on the game, the setting and the story yet to justify it. We'll see.

[falthiere]

What is it about genshin that makes you want to play to it's meta? More power to you if that's fun I just don't get it

Just a "I like the game so I want to play it well lol" thing?

sorry for getting to this late!

short answer: i like big number

long answer: i have a deep and intense love for genshin's combat system. it's designed to be simple to understand and play since it has to function well on mobile, but there is so much depth and complexity to the mechanics that you can spend so much time learning about!!!

the elemental reactions is a really interesting concept to build a game upon and genshin really does its best to deliver: there are so many teams you can build around those reactions with various nuances to them, and that's something i find really enjoyable! my background leading up to genshin (and what got me interested in playing it) is its resemblances to JRPGs. because of that i'm already the kind of masochist that likes grinding in video games, and i derive a lot of satisfaction from working hard to become strong and clearing content.

i think the wording "play TO the meta" isn't very accurate: that makes it seem like it's some really stringent and restrictive ruleset for how to play the game, and that's not how i regard it at all. there's a lot of meta teams that i'm not personally all that interested in playing, and others that i am. meta is pretty broad in genshin impact, and there's a LOT of different teams and playstyles you can try, especially with the release of dendro. it's not just "play hyperbloom and international," there's nilou bloom, burgeon, double hydro, vaporize, fridge, curry, soup, etc etc. so many things!

i don't consider "meta" to be a limiting thing at all, or something that i adhere to. i consider it a lot like speedrunning! speedrunning is the result of months, sometimes years of research into a game, learning what makes it tick, and utilizing all of that knowledge to stretch the game to its limit. i find it sad sometimes that people view things like fanart/fanfiction and theorycrafting as concepts that are so distant, with one not being something that comes from passion at all. theorycrafting is another way of enjoying genshin impact, and it is fueled just as much by love of the game as someting like fanart is.

sure, the units i have triple crowned are units that are pretty meta, but i didn't triple crown them because they're meta units, i did so because i think they're really fun to play or because i like them as characters. diluc isn't a meta unit by any means, but if i had him i would for sure triple crown him.

so i guess the tldr isn't really "i like the game so i want to play it well", it's "playing it well is what makes me like it" if that makes sense? like, that's how i have fun in genshin impact. i view genshin as a video game first and foremost and judge it like one: i'm not really much of a lore/story guy (but i do have my faves).

if you're interested in learning more, i would highly recommend taking a peek at zajef77's youtube channel! he's a theorycrafter and a GREAT teacher at explaining the deeper mechanics of this game, and he does it with such genuine enthusiasm too. his iceberg video or his elemental reaction guides are a pretty good place to start

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

-Cyberpunk Edge-runners (Anime) - Finished up Cyberpunk Edgerunners at anime night. Overall I think it was fine, I respect the unique character designs and animation, liked the soundtrack, and can respect the fucked up but realistic hyper-capitalist setting, but I can't say I really connected with the characters or was that engaged in the story as a whole. Lucy was fine, I liked her well enough, and in general the women had fun designs if little substantial screen time but I would find myself frequently zoning out as there wasn't really a mystery or engaging plot tension and I didn't care about the characters all that much when barely any of them cared about each other. That being said I don't want to be too harsh on it, it had some good parts, I liked the moon being called back as an escape from reality for example.

-Face Off (TV) - Wish that Netflix has the whole thing rather than just 2 seasons and some bonus episodes but it was nice while it lasted. The creativity on display with a lot of these creatures is impressive and its neat to see the behind the scenes of how movie monsters are constructed.

- Fallout (TV) - Waiting to watch more before I make any judgements but I did quite like the first episode, it's a good setup with some nice tension and gave an appropriate amount of time to each character based on what's going on in their plots. Interested to see more.

- In Stars and Time (Video Game) - Watching the Jello playthrough, very delightful so far, I love Time Loop stories in general and the character art is very cute. Will likely say more as I get through.

- Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (Webnovel) - Picked this back up to see if I could finish it before the anime comes out, I do quite like it but boy is it a long novel.

- The Apothecary Diaries (Anime) - Still having fun with this so decided to watch the English dub partially as background noise but partially because I just want to see it again.

- Pokemon Infinite Fusion (Video Game) -Been utterly obsessed with this game since I downloaded it, a pokemon fangame where you can fuse pokemon together to make unique new creatures. Not only are there 200,000+ possible fusions with a lot of really cool/cute/weird/horrifying/funny sprites, but it's also a genuinely good game with side-quests, fun dialogue, an original plot, and nice art all around. It's also free, which is insane. Only downside is that I have to play it on my PC, destroying my back.

- One Piece (Anime) - Yup.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Somehow randomly got Kazuha when trying to pull for Yan-Fei constellations. I mean I'll take it, wow, he's been quite fun to play so far even if I'm pretty indifferent to him as a character. Anyway nice to see Rosaria in the event, she's pretty cool with her perpetual eye bags.

Listening To: How Did You Love by Shinedown, Give Up Your Dreams from The School of Rock, Everything Goes On by Porter Robinson, All the Boys by Panic! At The Disco, Willow by Taylor Swift, Rose Colored Boy by Paramore, Her Diamonds by Rob Thomas, Stray Italian Greyhound by Vienna Teng, Hey I Don’t Work Here by Tom Cardy, Pierrot by Kei, and Can’t Catch Me Now cover by Annapantsu

[apompkwrites]

I just read your story, the one with Xiao and Albedo, its really good! I love it! Is it ok if you do the same thing but with Kaeya, Zhongli, Childe and Diluc version. I can see how excited these guys are since Kaeya first appeared is clapping his hand, the way Childe call Lumine 'Hey Girlie', Zhongli with how handsome he is especially his eyes and with Diluc how mysterious he is when he appeared out of nowhere

Feel free to do it if you're not busy or you can ignore this :3

reader impact || first meeting cont.

series masterlist characters: kaeya, diluc, childe genre: fluff summary: a game has been released entitled genshin impact, consisting of otherworldly abilities relying on the basic elements of nature. the game follows the story of an interdimensional traveling twin in search of their other half. along this journey, they meet different characters that live in this world. including you. notes: i’m glad you liked it! i’m having a lot of fun writing these so expect some more coming out :D i plan on doing more first meeting hcs and then branching off to other scenarios, so if there’s something specific, please request it! also, i’ve already done one for zhongli!

kaeya's playthrough -

he's more of a variety streamer, honestly.

most of his viewers watch him because of his carefree nature (as well as his looks).

obviously, he'd do a bunch of drinking streams whenever he could where he would just talk to his viewers about whatever came to mind.

during those streams, his viewers often try to ask him questions, which are only answered in vague statements.

his gaming streams are pretty rare compared to his chatting streams, but they're there nonetheless.

his viewers jump when they hear he's planning on playing genshin impact.

just neverending messages about a character they are convinced he will love.

he's so tempted to ask but decides not to, wanting to learn who this mystery character is on his own.

honestly, he was expecting you to appear way later in the story.

he's very interested in the looming threat of stormterror.

his character lands on the ground and he leans back to watch the cutscene play.

then he hears footsteps and sees his character look to someone offscreen.

this man practically LUNGES INTO HIS MONITOR WHEN THE CAMERA PANS UP TO YOU.

you walk in clapping at a calculated pace, which is when he leans forward and stares at your character model.

"i can't believe you have the power to stand up against that dragon... that said, are you a new ally... or a new storm?"

"oh, hun, i can be whatever you want me to be."

HE'S ALREADY FLIRTING WITH YOU PLEASE HIS CHAT IS IN HYSTERICS-

he knows his chat is freaking out, so he turns to the camera and sends his signature smirk.

"now i know why you guys wanted me to play this so bad."

"(name), kaeya, you've come at the right time. we must..."

"now now, don't forget to introduce us."

"oh... right. this is (name), our cavalry captain. these two are travelers from afar."

"ooh, they're a person in charge, too?"

HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING TO HIS CHAT BUT THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU DO TO HIM.

he genuinely likes you. like genuinely. he's fallen deep and he doesn't plan on leaving anytime soon.

if your costume has that long v-neck like his does...

hOO BOY HE'S THANKING EVERY DEVELOPER OF THIS GAME.

anyway, he's heard that there are characters you can only obtain throguh wishes, so he's kind of nervous to find out if that's the case with you.

he just really wants you in his party so y'all can be mysterious together.

"let me show you how the knights of favonius conquer our adversaries!"

"oh, yes. please do."

his viewers can and will make compilations of him flirting with you.

ngl, he's looking forward to those.

sometimes, your voice gets all quiet and he melts when he hears that.

he will pay to have voicelines of you flirting with him--

when he enters your trial domain, he will purposely avoid completing it just in case he doesn't get to keep you.

he sees some of his viewers talking about how you're a bad character and that the other characters are so much better.

too bad, they're banned now.

no (name) slander in his chat, thank you very much.

he loves your quips whenever he uses your elemental skill.

he loves you even more if those quips are puns based on your element.

finally, he's nearing the end of your domain. when that happens, he will slowly turn towards the camera and stare.

"if they aren't a permanent member on my team, this'll be the last stream of genshin."

"let's continue our adventure, shall we?"

obtained (name): a thinker in the knights of favonius with a somewhat exotic appearance.

"okay, so we'll continue streaming genshin soon."

he'll put you in the first slot of his party, moving his traveler character to the second.

his streams will always include him flirting with you, even if you don't reply.

diluc's playthrough -

his streams are mainly bartending based, so he likes mixing drinks on stream for his viewers.

he doesn't drink them, though. he gives them out to his friends and family once the stream is over.

it's pretty rare for him to play games but he'll do an occasional gaming stream if his friends and family don't want any drinks.

his chat always makes fun of him because he's a bartender that doesn't like the taste of alcohol.

he's very blunt, so he's not afraid to drop a game immediately if he isn't interested.

in fact, that's almost what he did with genshin.

it's not like the game is bad or anything, diluc just didn't care for it because of all the hype his chat shared.

he keeps playing, though, because someone promised he would really enjoy a character that comes up in the prologue.

granted, it's over an hour or so but it doesn't matter--

when he gets to the domain teaching him how to use cryo, he hates every minute of it.

he hates the character he's given and just wants to leave.

the demo character is one he doesn't really care for, especially because he's the type of person he dislikes coming to the bars he works at.

his chat is laughing at him when they reach the end because the cutscene continues with the character he hates.

he feels a bit better when he learns the abyss mage is in the domain because he gets to see and hear something that isn't the cryo character.

then he meets you.

you run into the domain out of nowhere, quickly defeating the abyss mage and tossing it towards the corner.

"knights of favonius... always so inefficient."

his chat goes insane when your character appears, especially because of how dumbfounded diluc looks.

he's known for not really emoting and it's the same case for this scene. however, his chat knows he is in love with your character.

he takes a few minutes when he's kicked out of the domain but he clears his throat and looks over at the camera.

"i'll be streaming this game again soon when the others don't want any drinks."

YOU SINGLEHANDEDLY SAVED THIS GAME FROM BEING TOSSED AWAY WITHIN A MINUTE OF APPEARING

THE POWER YOU HOLD OVER THIS MAN AND HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW YOUR NAME--

cut to after he's stolen the lyre and is sent to the tavern.

he's a bit excited because he gets to visit mondstadt's tavern but then--

"master (name), this is this week's accounts."

"they're back."

HE'S SO NONCHALANT BUT WE ALL KNOW HE'S FREAKING OUT

he gets second-hand embarrassment when venti talks to you asking for the... least conspicuous table.

he's kinda sad when your character is suspicious of him, but he understands.

when the knights leave the tavern, he really wants venti to just shut up.

please you're embarrassing the man.

when he hears how you feel about him joining the knights, he is so willing to quit--

man just wants you to be proud of him and trust him :((

he's relieved to hear that you will help him and you don't hate him.

please give him validation--

childe's playthrough -

man is still rich he can do whatever he wants.

his gaming streams would definitely be pvp based games. honestly, just any game where he can fight someone, he'll play.

his chat also has a few little games they like to play together like guessing what the hell this man does to have so much money--

also his siblings crash in on his streams sometimes :D

those are pretty much the only times you'll see him be soft and not so competitive.

teucer likes crashing his streams to show off his plushies :))

anyway, genshin time!

he definitely tried to fight paimon the first time he loaded the game.

please expect lots of genshin stream from this guy because he needs to make his team deal the highest damage he can get.

also his wallet doesn't even have a dent in it despite all of the money he's spent on characters and weapons.

please sir what do you do for all that money

ok so onto your first meeting

he was really excited when the exuvia fell during the rite of descension because he thought he would get to fight whoever killed the great archon of liyue.

he really wanted to fight the millelith but then his chat convinced him to dodge them first.

one of his viewers explains that there's a character they know he'll like and he was very... intriguied to say the least.

he moves forward in his chair once his character is heard by the millelith, prepared to fight the various soldiers surrounding him.

"hang on, sweetheart. i've got this."

this man will squeal when you flip over the stairs in front of his character.

he doesn't know who you are and what you do but he knows for a fact that you are his new favorite character.

you take down all of the guards in two seconds, leaving him (and his in-game character) dumbfounded.

"come with me."

"o-okay..."

he's smitten.

he absolutely loves the way your character fights even if he met you about... a minute ago.

his siblings definitely come into his room to check on him because he's so quiet.

once he realizes you're a part of the harbingers, he's even more obsessed.

he hates the options the game gives him when he needs to respond because 2/3 of them are insulting you.

anyway he really likes listening to your voice.

he will give anything to hear you call him sweetheart again.

his chat informs him that the traveler he chose changed the nickname you give him, which makes him very happy.

when you send him off to talk to the other adepti, he's kind of disappointed he doesn't get to hang out with you.

but when he gets back to you...

"welcome back, sweetheart. how was your trip to jueyun karst?"

HE'S SOFT ALL OVER AGAIN PLEASE KEEP CALLING HIM SWEETHEART!!!

when he learns you're rich just like him... he gets all pouty. his chat, of course, wants to know why.

"... i want to be able to spoil her."

PLEASE HE'S SO IN LOVE WITH YOU <3

[kuroken-lovechild]

How haikyuu characters would play genshin impact:

//featuring me nerding out about mbti types 😔

Karasuno

Hinata

As an ESFP he would probably choose his main based on who feels good to use

Quick movements, lots of jumping, strong = XIAO MAIN (probably finds the flashiness and edginess cool and enjoys the button mashing too)

would aggressively compete with kageyama on who can beat spiral abyss the fastest and with the shortest time

unfortunately they’re both not very good (initially because kenma helps him out after)

Would try to follows the plot but dialogue goes over his head

Does not understand stats other than attack at first

Wish impulse is real and never has any primos

would attempt to talk to every npc

Kageyama

META SLAVE

Has no idea what wishing/gacha is at first and builds his starters really well

Then he found out and currently mains Ganyu, Zhongli, Hutao for the big numbers

gloats about his first 5 star to hinata

Does not talk to NPCs at all and barely digs into the story

only there for spiral abyss and to make his characters stronger

Tsukishima

Didn’t wanna play until yamaguchi dragged him in to have someone to co op with

Appreciates the story and lore more than the gameplay aspect

Eula, razor (cv uchiyama kouki) main—easy to build, easy to use

Doesn’t care about wishing either

Got Eula by accident and now holds it over kageyama’s head

Has really good artifact RNG that it infuriates kagehina (gloats about it to fan the flame 😚)

Yamaguchi

he’s infp he chooses based on characters he likes 🥺

Diluc, albedo, ayaka main

(i can’t explain why I think he’d like those three, it just Makes Sense)

Co ops with tsukki and yachi, plays both dps and support

Spiral abyss makes him anxious but he pushes through anyway!!

Daichi

Starter team king 😩

Feels bad about switching his regular team out FJDFJDJJDDJ DAICHI

Probably a casual player though

Plays to coop with suga and tanaka but they carry him through domains

he’s trying his best

Suga

Mains based on whoever’s fun to play too!!

but enjoys more of a challenge

Childe main

Waiting for Scaramouche to drop hAha 🥲 and harbingers in general

Appreciates the plot and is very interested in lore!!

Diligently does spiral abyss

Doesn’t quite wish on impulse, but if theres a character he likes he’ll spend everything on their banner

Asahi

Does not play, got too scared (see: haikyuu ova)

Nishinoya

Rolls VERY much on impulse

Similar to hinata in that he also likes playing playstyles that feel good

Xiao and/or yoimiya main

(xiao because he’s short jk)

Probably raised Rosaria and planned to use her

Plot who???? we only care about world exploration and fighting in this house

Tanaka

wished for all the women, raised all the women, uses all the women

valid

Primarily mains Rosaria, ningguang and Lisa though

sorry beidou you remind him of his sister too much

waiting for signora like many of us are

Coops with noya and has INSANELY bad rng luck

Yachi

Also chooses based on characters’ personalities

gay, mains sucrose and jean

isfj child and probably feels bad about the underrated characters :(

uses amber, xinyan and qiqi too!

Raises all characters but hasn’t raised anyone to 90

Coops with yamaguchi and uses jean (as healer, support, damage dealer)

Talks to NPCs and sympathizes with their sad backstories

Gets too anxious to do spiral floors 9-12 too (mood)

Seijoh

Oikawa

Oh boy

this ENFJ 3w2 guy? you KNOW he’s gonna be the best

As long as it doesn’t clash with volleyball of course

Very VERY competitive in abyss

Has one character hed get attached to but doesn’t limit himself to using them only

Incredibly focused on team synergy, carefully crafts teams to bring out the best in each character

Tests best damage output too

But also he’d probably use meta characters and secretly raise the ones he actually likes?

Current fave: Yoimiya

Uses strong characters for coop but uses his faves for single player domains (or coop with iwaizumi)

Likes characters but surprisingly wouldnt be too invested in the plot

does not whale out of pride

Iwaizumi

Geo user

Uses characters he finds respectable in the storyline + hard hitters

Razor, klee, jean main but unaware of the family relationship

Sometimes uses beidou although her burst takes too long sometimes

Pretty casual player, only started because of Oikawa

Hanamaki

obviously he and matsukawa would make zhongli pillar dick jokes

Kaeya and beidou main (he thinks they’re cool)

Not that impatient to wait for bursts to charge or has a lot of energy recharge

whale

Matsukawa

……. Hutao main

funeral home

Would use qiqi and hutao together for the meme then grows to genuinely like qiqi

Saves up for a really long time then spends it all at once

Kindaichi

Doesn’t play much tbh

Offline for a week, comes back to do commissions for one day, leaves

Kunimi

Hed be pretty good

but lazy and forget to do dailies

then buy welkin moon instead

Focuses more on the story too rather than gameplay and points out loopholes

Mains whoever he has in his team with good synergy (like chongyun xingqiu xiangling)

Kyoutani

Rage quits 5 minutes in after hearing paimon’s voice 😔

Throws his phone at the wall

Yahaba

Simps for jean

Mains jean

Dedicated to dailies and spiral abyss

But doesn’t wish that much

Was the one who tried getting kyoutani into it and suffered the consequences

Nekoma

Kuroo

ENTP king raises a whole arsenal of characters for spiral abyss

I cant see him really getting attached to one in particular ?

makes zhongli pillar dick jokes every chance he can get

but also uses him for utility

Wants to try using a whole bunch of characters and wishes on every banner

But uses the meta ones with good team comps

sparks twitter debates with ….. interesting takes

“_____ is completely shit”

Kenma

OH BOY HES A GAMER GAMER

Whale whale whale whale

He’s tony to

Best synergy teams, understands the value of elemental mastery, REALLY values good supports, calculates possible damage numbers

Kazuha, zhongli, bennett, venti are a staple in his teams

Helps hinata and kuroo until kuroo teases too much by deliberately playing horribly

mildom and youtube streamer like murase ayumu

Appreciates story and lore very much too

Yaku

he’d LOVE the children

Probably would use characters that remind him of family members and friends

Klee, diona, qiqi, chongyun, xingqiu, razor, bennett

does spiral abyss but not obsessively

Lev

KENMA-SAN!!! LETS PLAY TOGETHER!!!

I’m sorry he would not know how the game works

Doesn’t do the ascension quests and gets stuck at AR 26 with 500k extra points

Thinks he’s amazing but it’s because he’s stuck at world level 1

I’m sorry lev ily but ……. its the truth

Tries pulling for everyone too and mains the first 5 star he got

(childe because he’s russian AKSHDKDHSKSHS /j)

Wants diluc and xiao because they look cool but gets Mona instead (doesnt understand how to use her)

Yamamoto

Also raises the women like tanaka but + kaeya

Lev complained to him about getting Mona while he’s wanted Mona for months

Not really a dedicated intense gamer EXCEPT for during those battle events

Fukurodani

Bokuto

WANTS THE STRONG AND COOL LOOKING 5 STARS

Eula, zhongli, diluc, xiao

but doesn’t know how to build either

doesn’t understand stats

would feel really bad for qiqi

Wouldn’t like signora for hurting venti :(

Wouldn’t like childe too :( until he plays the story quest and sees the ruin guard cutscene

then starts sobbing because of what a good brother he is

“AKAAAASSHI I wanna do that too!!!” then he dies

Tries to use childe but doesn’t understand the cool down management

Mispronounces and misspells tartaglia (タルタリア)

for more info on how bokuto plays genshin see Kimura ryohei’s YouTube channel ✨

Akaashi

the true childe main (just like me)

Uses characters based on utility

but mains whoever reminds him of bokuto FJDHFJFJDKSJ

Very good supports but unlike Kenma, he chooses and builds supports around his main

also uses very good supports so people won’t realize he’s using childe for the cv kimura ryohei (everyone knows anyway)

Literature nerd appreciates the plot, writing and deep lore too

Konoha

Tries pulling for everyone but has REALLY bad luck

Has really good characters but never the one he wants

loses all 50/50s and has a c4 qiqi

Ends up maining qiqi as dps

sorry konoha i didn’t mean to slander you

Shiratorizawa

Ushijima

does not know how to play or build

Uses whoever he has (aka starters)

Only plays because tendou downloaded and made an account for him

Doesn’t know how to ascend characters or farm

Forgets about talents (me)

Weirdly good RNG and doesn’t realize it 😩

“Let me look at your account wakatoshi-kun”

“Sure”

“You didn’t tell me you had 6 of jean’s Stella fortuna???”

“What’s that?”

Tendou

this man pulls for the seiyuus

Mains childe, hutao, mona for 5 stars

childe and hutao’s instinct based quickswap playstyle works so well for him!

jokes about cosplaying mona then actually does

Knows how to build, grinds, and manages ushijima’s account for him

Probably whales too

Shirabu

Meta meta meta meta

But f2p meta

Loves setting up reactions

More into the lore too and researches theories

Remembers actual names of boss drops

Semi: so how many of those buttplugs do you have again

Shirabu: 💢stop calling them buttplugs, they have actual names 💢

VERY diligent with battle pass, dailies, achievements and spiral abyss full stars

Until he //SPOILERS gets into med school and has no time for shit

Inarizaki

Atsumu

Would have a crush on a character I just know it

Invests heavily on his faves and is great at utilizing each of them

fussy . complains about a certain unit and how they can improve

or complains about how the game can improve to osamu

Osamu: yer just saying that cuz you couldn’t get a high score

Archons main (already saving for the tsaritsa)

Wouldn’t have a main dps but several hard hitting supports

Whale and falls victim to the weapon banner

Osamu

More casual player than Atsumu but still tries to get higher than him in events and spiral abyss

If atsumu’s a whale, osamu’s a dolphin

Great at dodging

Catalyst user!!

Mains ningguang, klee, yanfei + other catalyst supports

Also uses keqing

Kita

the man appreciates routine aka VERY diligent with dailies, battle pass, farming

“if you do things properly results will follow” or whatever quote he said ✨

Starter team but raises other characters for abyss

Reads dialogue and appreciates the plot

Barely gachas

Aran

will defend TO THE DEATH the underappreciated characters

Has empathy for noelle 🥺🥺

Noelle, Barbara, xinyan, bennett, children user 🥺

Talks to every NPC and loves the backstories and lore

also would feel really bad for qiqi

Suna

Uses the tall men and women and builds them all as dps (childe zhongli diluc kaeya beidou ningguang jean lisa rosaria eula)

He’d probably make a support character a dps tbh

Disregards team synergy for the shits but somehow manages to do domains and abyss

Itachiyama

Sakusa

c6 everyone

leaves

[ddarker-dreams]

dropping by to tell u that ur my favoritest yan fic writer out there and your yan genshin updates give me life MUAH

thank you so much nonnie!!!! 😘😘😘 i appreciate you!!! i’ve absolutely loved writing for genshin, so i’m glad that the community is thriving with so much content aaaa ❤️ warms my heart...

anon 2 asked: I’m not sure if this has been asked before or not, but have you read/watched Togashi’s other work Yu Yu Hakusho? If you haven’t, I think you’d definitely like Kurama.

i have heard of it but i haven’t watched it before! i looked up the design for kurama and wow... he is a very pretty boy. he has these mysterious vibes that makes me think i would like him. if i ever get around to watching it i’ll keep an eye out for this boy 👀

anon 3 asked: If you don't mind me asking, what other games do you play besides genshin?

my cycle of playing games is kind of messed up by genshin right now since that’s the main game i play whenever i get hit with Gamer Urge. however, the games ive enjoyed the most recently other than that would be divinity original sin 2, darkest dungeon, pokémon, animal crossing, and fire emblem!

anon 4 said: it's nice to see a fellow hu tao simp! i was so excited to see you make a yandere hu tao x reader,, i rarely see any x reader content of her so i just silently suffer most of the time 💔 ty for feeding us hu tao simps good food op i will be reading that story religiously everyday 🛐

we need more hu tao in this world, i fully agree. every time i see her i just can’t help but smoke... i think it’s the super cute hair. long pigtails 🥺 ANYWAYS you have god tier taste anon. i trust anyone that loves hu tao.

anon 5 said: i am going to kiss u on the forehead as gently as i can,,, that hu tao fic was absolutely delicious❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

THANK YOU NONNIE!!! i was worried at first over how much macabre hu tao typical dialogue to incorporate into a fanfic, but i ended up content with the balance. she can be soft when she wants to, after all. i’m happy that you enjoyed it!

anon 6 said: You posted the harem HCs right after I finished work and it was such a treat to read. I love them. I know you obviously didn't write them for me in mind but thank you for brightening up my day!

PHEW what good timing!! i end up working on my writing on and off throughout the day and finishing it around the time people (in american) time zones would be getting home. i’m glad that you were able to enjoy the headcanons after a day of work!!

anon 7 said: I loved the Liyue reverse harem, how can you be such a good write???Xiao being a puppy is actually cute and I love this concept

i was looking forward to including vigilant xiao watching over his crush the most 😭 it’s just an adorable sight to picture. he’s such an intimidating figure, it can’t help but melt your heart that he’s there to ensure you’re always safe. the main trick is writing the most self indulgent stuff, anon. that is what produces the best you have to offer because you’re having such a good time writing it.

anon 8 said: akfhdsh Lock why was that Zhongli fic so hot🔥?? Ahh I haven't been able to get it out of my head ALL day & 5000 words? You are superb 😍 I can't help but feel so sorry for poor darling. Having to do that with him on the very first night, man didn't even give her a break/a chance to settle down. Either way I'd love for you to throw some concepts here & there if you can 👉👈 or share your afterthoughts ^_^  the universe in this one felt especially great! I wish you the best of luck, take care <3

it’s all because of the random zhongli dream anon 😭 i couldn’t get him out of my mind until i wrote a loooong fic for him. the idea of his darling being with him since the archon war days is my favorite! i’ve always had a soft spot for it, ever since i was trying to figure out what a yandere zhongli might look like back in november. it’s just... genuinely horrifying to imagine being stuck with that for thousands of years. especially when people view rex lapis so highly in liyue, darling feels even more alone on her festering feelings. there’s no relief to be had.

i think i’ll do a big ol headcanon post because the world for yan zhongli and his god darling is so big, i’ve given it a Lot of thought. but the main gist of it is how darling deals with the inaccurate portrayal of their history together. and of course, she interacts with others, since zhongli has the reassurance from the contract that she won’t try to escape. so there’s a lot of angst there. 😭

anon 9 asked: Hey! any plans for more Hu tao content in the future? your last story was just really gooood, she's such an interesting character! I've also been hooked to Rosaria and I'm wondering if you plan to write for her aswell... hopefully no one asked this already lol

i’d love to write more for hu tao!! she is a character that i adore a lot. currently, i don’t have any ideas for her that would get me going, but once i see one or get hit with inspiration she’ll make a reappearance. i do have a few hu tao requests so hopefully those will help inspire me. AND ROSARIA... 🥺 WHAT A WOMAN. i want to learn more about her!! i’ll write for her when her stories and voice lines are all out, that way the characterization is more accurate. she captured my heart with that distant attitude and those listless eyes 🥰🥰

anon 10 said: hi hi!! i just wanted to say i discovered genshin impact bcs of you! i saw your yandere genshin posts back in november, i didn't know anything abt genshin or their world but i read it and just googled their names to know their appearances lmfao and until then i just fell into a rabbit hole of genshin. i eventually grew tired of not knowing anything abt genshin and its lore so i craved around early january and downloaded the game despite me not rlly being a gamer™ and now i'm here at ar 51, a hu tao main and no, i haven't touched grass since downloading the game 😭

ah yes, welcome anon, to what could be considered heaven or help depending. if you were able to get hu tao then i’d say you’re in the latter camp (aside from having to grind for her ascension materials, that is pure suffering). it’s a fun game to get into during this quarantine/spotty lockdown time, so i hope you’ll enjoy your time with it! i’m glad that mihoyo releases content often enough to keep us well fed.

anon 11 asked: Lock dearest, have you ever watched Jujutsu Kaisen?

i like that super cute girl with short finger hair!! i’m planning on watching the show when it’s completed, which i think is soon? ill binge watch it. i’ve recognized a lot of my favorite voice actors from the clips i’ve seen posted, so i’m excited to give it a shot.

anon 12 asked: You watch Demon Slayer? It's really great 🤯

i’ve seen clips of the amazing animation before! it’s currently on my list of shows to watch. 👀👀

[kuiperblog]

I spent some time (and money) playing Genshin Impact

I've spent some time with Genshin Impact over the past few weeks.  (It's probably come to about 60 hours and 60 dollars that I've spent.)

All of the things that need to be said about this game has probably already been said by others: yes, it's very much similar to Zelda: Breath of the Wild in terms of the open world exploration and visuals. It's also a free-to-play gacha game where you have to put money into the slot machine if you want to be guaranteed to get the characters you want, and you have a limited amount of daily stamina to get rewards from certain repeatable content.

The thing that seems to be under-acknowledged is that Genshin Impact is largely two different games: an open-world exploration game that you’re largely free to play through at your own pace, and a “grind to make the numbers go up” game where your progress is mostly limited by daily missions and activities. These two games are sort of intertwined, but I think I’ve managed to decouple the two, and it’s greatly enhanced my ability to enjoy Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact is at its best when it is an open world game where you wander around, discovering treasure and puzzles and shrines and fighting groups of enemies who are guarding chests.  This is the part that takes after Breath of the Wild: it does a great job of filling the overworld with content in a way that, every time you finish a task, you need only to pan the camera around to see another activity off in the distance that you can do.  And if you don't see anything to do, just climb the nearest mountain and pan the camera around to look for a glowing point of interest.  This, too, is very BotW-esque: you can climb any vertical surface (how high you can climb is limited by your stamina), then jump from the peak using your glider.  Scattered around the world, you will find orbs (usually cleverly hidden within environmental puzzles), and you feed these orbs to a statue in each region to raise your character’s stamina so that you can climb mountains more easily.

The environment has an incredible amount of verticality, and I had a lot of time in one particularly mountainous region (pictured above), gliding from clifftop to clifftop, then walking around the "mid-tier" of the mountains where everything was connected by suspension bridges, and finally exploring all of the valleys.  And of course, I was constantly switching between the different "tiers" of the environment: I would begin gliding from one clifftop to another, but then I would pan the camera down and see, "ooh, there's a chest down in that valley.  Let me take a 'small detour' to obtain it," and then I would parachute down from the sky before climbing back up to see what other goodies were hidden in the world.

Genshin Impact, like Breath of the Wild, is all about seeing an interesting landmark in the distance, walking in that direction, and repeatedly getting distracted by detours and other smaller points of interest on the way there. You can stumble across a random torch, think “there’s probably a bunch of other torches in this area that will give me a reward if I light all of them,” and you will be right. No matter where you are in the world, there’s always multiple things that you can see in the distance that make you say, “ooh, I want to see what’s over there. I bet I’ll find another korok seed blue wisp.” It’s kind of great.

The thing that it actually does better than BotW is that everything you do in the overworld feels like it is giving you forward progress, whether it’s hunting for hidden treasure or fighting enemies.  In BotW, there are genuinely some enemy encounters where you will just fight a bunch of enemies and afterwards go, "Great, I just wasted half of this sword's durability, and all I have to show for it is a much crappier sword than the one I used to kill these enemies."  In Genshin Impact, there is no weapon durability, and every enemy drops materials that you will eventually use to "ascend" your characters and weapons (essentially raising the level cap), so even time that you spend fighting trash mobs isn’t wasted (though there are usually faster ways to progress, so I don’t fight every single enemy I come across).  Every chest that you open gives you progress toward raising your "adventure rank," which determines how high you can raise the level cap. The open world is fun to spend time in, and it always feels like you are making progress.

In fact, exploring the open world is so much fun that it's easy to forget that there's actually a main questline, though the questline is actually quite enjoyable. (And, unlike BotW, that main questline actually involves a large amount of story where you meet and talk to different characters, like you would in most open-world fantasy games!)  There's voice acting and cutscenes and an interesting story that explores the different cultures in this world, including an interesting contrast between one vaguely-western European region where you meet characters with names like "Jean" and Bennet" and "Noelle," and a China analog where the characters have names like "Chongyun" and "Ningguang” and "Xingqiu" (who you can see pictured below). 

The cultural influences aren’t merely aesthetic (though they are definitely reflected in the fashion and architecture of these two regions).

There are also “character” story quests where you will, for example, meet a character who is a book nerd and help him track down a volume of a novel he’s been trying to find. In the process of helping the book geek, you will meet with the merchants guild to engage in financial speculation and market manipulation, and also there are some combat sequences where you get to play with the book nerd character and find out that he’s also pretty good with a sword and water magic, and hey, if you’d like him to be a permanent part of your team, maybe you could consider spending some money on the gacha slot machine for a chance of getting him?

(By the way, if all of that sounds like a bit much just to help some kid track down a novel, it should be noted that this game is set in a time where books are quite a prized commodity: there’s also a story set in the game’s “vaguely western European” region that involves helping a librarian character track down overdue library books, and I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to tell you that part of this quest involves entering a dungeon and fighting a bunch of enemies.)

These “character stories” do feel like a pretty obvious way to get you to care about and “try out” characters that are locked behind the paywall, but I’m glad they’re there, as they are easily the most endearing part of the game’s story. I’ve been content with my main squad of 5-ish main characters without the need to dig into the game’s roster of ~25 characters (with more to surely be added with each update).

There’s a finite amount of content, in the sense that eventually, you will explore all of the open world and uncover all of the secrets, and do all of the main questline and all the character sidequests and whatnot.  (The game does have some repeatable and “daily” content...but we’ll get to that later.) The game’s open world and story seems to represent about 60 hours of content, from my own estimates (and estimates I’ve seen by others), and it is worth noting that more content is on the way: the game currently has 2 regions, but the map (and the game’s lore) has room for a total of 7 regions, and of course I’m sure that more characters (and accompanying side stories) are on the way, since getting you to pull for new characters is how the game makes money.

I enjoyed my time with that game very much, and will probably be coming back every time there’s a major update that adds a new region.  It’s also worth mentioning that while some of the activities in the open world are one-time puzzles, there are many chests throughout the world that do respawn every few days, so there is still stuff to do if you want to keep exploring the open world even after you’ve cleared everything.

All of what I’ve described above could be a regular AAA game that I’d be perfectly content to spend $60 on (and, as it just so happens, I have spent approximately that amount of money on it, because I wanted to recruit the mischievous bard archer whose ultimate ability is to summon tornadoes, and the chuuni thunder princess whose ultimate lets you fly around as an electro-charged raven and zap everything. I don’t regret that purchase.)

This leads into the “second game” that is Genshin Impact.

One of the main “rewards” for exploring the open world of Genshin Impact (as well as doing the main questline and the side quests) is that nearly everything you do (including opening random chests in the overworld) gives you experience toward raising your “adventure rank.” Adventure rank 1-20 is when you are mainly progressing to unlock the game’s features.  This is done pretty well, for the most part: tying various features to the game’s progression system ensures that you’re not inundated with too much stuff to do right out of the gate, and it gives you an incentive to keep progressing the main quest to continue advancing your adventure rank.

The final “feature” that the game unlocks for you at adventure rank 20 is that you now have the ability to ascend the game’s “world level.”  At adventure rank 20, you ascend from “world level 0″ to “world level 1.”  (From this point on, every 5 adventure rank you gain allows you to raise the “world level” again: at adventure rank 25, you hit world level 2, at adventure rank 30, you hit world level 3, and so on.)

This is where you encounter the second game within Genshin Impact, which is a game that is basically about watching numbers go up.

You explore the open world and do quests to raise your adventure rank, which lets you raise the world level.  Raising the world level raises the level cap for all of your characters.  Raising the world level also makes all of the enemies stronger, but this is good because it means they drop better materials, which you need in order to ascend your characters to hit the new level cap.  This becomes the main “gameplay loop” of Genshin Impact: you want to raise your adventure rank, so that you can become stronger and so that the enemies become stronger so that you can become stronger faster.

This is where the complaints about the “stamina” system come in.  You see, the part of Genshin Impact that is just about watching the numbers go up is all tied to your adventure rank, and the open world has an essentially finite amount of adventure exp.  Early on, your adventure rank grows quickly because the story quests and sidequests give you generous amounts of adventure exp, but eventually the main soure of renewable adventure exp becomes tied to daily quests and the game’s energy system.

The game is filled with overworld bosses, short dungeons, and “leylines” (which are basically random points on the open world where you can spawn and fight through waves of enemies).  You can do these as much as you want, but they only give adventure exp (and other rewards) if you spend energy, which you get a finite amount of every day.  You get 180 energy per day, and each activity costs 20-40 energy.  (Also, energy constantly regenerates and you can only store 120 energy at a time, so if you don’t want to “waste” energy by hitting the cap, it means you have to log in multiple times per day to spend it.)

This means that, at a certain point, your “adventure rank” progress is gated by energy/dailies. (For me, this happened at around adventure rank 30.) Of course, you can spend money to get extra energy. This is what has a lot of players upset. (The game’s energy system is called “resin,” and doing a google search for ‘genshin impact resin’ or simply pulling up the Genshin Impact subreddit will probably turn up pages of such complaints, if you’re interested in reading such things.)

The thing is, the “energy system” doesn’t really impede your ability to explore the open world, which is where this game is really at it’s best.  In fact, there are people who have gone through the entire world and found all of hundreds of hidden orbs even before ascending to world level 1.

When I say that Genshin Impact eventually becomes a game about watching the numbers go up, I mean that quite literally: at world level 3, I am fighting the exact same enemies that I was at world level 1; they just have bigger numbers over their heads.  I am using the same characters and abilities and doing all of the same activities, but now instead of killing level 18 goblin archers to collect “firm arrowheads,” I’m killing level 45 goblin archers to get “sharp arrowheads.” The difference between these two items is that “firm arrowheads” are required to ascend my archer up to level 40, while “sharp arrowheads” are required to ascend my archer up to level 60.  Eventually, I’ll graduate to fighting even higher levels of goblin archers to get “weathered arrowheads,” which will let me ascend my archer up to level 80.

It is worth noting that the game’s “loop” of watching the numbers go up is quite satisfying: while it is easy to describe the game in a reductive way that makes it feel dumb and arbitrary, I’ll admit that once I graduated from fighting level 35 slimes (who only drop “slime condensate”) to fighting level 40 slimes (who were then able to drop “slime secretions”), and then used those “slime secretions” to upgrade my my wind archer’s attacks to do more damage, it felt good.

Whether it’s leveling your characters, ascending your characters, leveling your weapons, ascending your weapons, level up each of your character’s individual talents, leveling each of their individual pieces of equipment...it just feels good to make the numbers go up, and to keep making the numbers go up, you have to raise the world level to make the enemies stronger.  Every milestone feels like a significant achievement, and it’s great at giving you the constant feeling that you get when you “prestige” in a game like Call of Duty: the game ratchets up in difficulty, and you once again get to go through the process of grinding your characters up until you slowly accomplish the task of once again hitting the new level cap.

And so I absolutely understand the frustration that a lot of players hit once the “the wall” where only way to keep making the numbers go up is to sign in every day to do their dailies and spend their energy, or spend money to get more energy.  I myself was a bit annoyed, and even spent a couple dollars’ worth of the game’s premium currency so that I could gain more adventure exp to make the number go up faster.

But I quickly realized, “No matter what my adventure rank is, I’m still fighting the same goblins, slimes, wizards, and electro cubes that I was fighting 10 hours ago.” Even if my progress is being arbitrarily gated by an energy system, on a moment-to-moment basis, the gameplay is pretty much the same.

And at that point, I basically abandoned the game within Genshin Impact that is “make the numbers go up,” and went back to playing the thing that made me enjoy Genshin Impact, which is the game of “wander around in the open world, look for activities to do, collect all the orbs, open all the chests, and fight the various enemies that I fight along the way.” Doing this still makes the numbers go up, just more slowly than if I was spending energy on all of the game’s repeatable content.  And that game continues to be quite fun.  Eventually I’ll run out of things to do, and at that point I will probably put down Genshin Impact until the next region comes out and gives me another few dozen hours of open-world content to explore.

Most people I’ve seen recommend Genshin Impact do so with the caveat that before you go in, you should be aware of the gacha system so you don’t spend too much money, and maybe stay away if you lack the self control to avoid dumping too much money into it.  In my case, the money I’ve lost to gacha games has always paled in comparison to the amount of time and mental energy I’ve lost to playing any game that has “dailies” that make me feel obligated to sign in once a day (or more than once a day) so I’m not “wasting” a resource that the game is giving me for “free.”

Now that I’ve resigned myself to not particularly caring about the numbers in Genshin Impact, it’s not such a big problem for me, but if you are the kind of person who is going to lose a ton of mental bandwidth to any game that has “dailies” or an energy system, be aware that Genshin Impact is one of those.  Also be aware that playing the game at higher “World Ranks” is pretty much the same experience as playing it at World Rank 1 in terms of the enemies you fight against and the abilities that you use, and if you’re able to cross that mental hurdle (like I eventually did), you can loop around to not really caring too much about the game’s energy system (which prevents you from getting frustrated by having your progress, but perhaps more critically saves you from feeling like you need to log in every day for fear of “wasting” energy).

[localtopegg]

1-30 for the video game ask. you know i had to do it to ya

I literally had to make a google doc for this, there was so many questions, cause formatting machine broke here:

Do you try to stay away from walkthroughs? 🥚 Aggressively. Walkthroughs, guides and videos are a last resort.

Company you're always loyal to? 🥚 I mean Nintendo's pretty high up there but I'm gaining a LOT of respect for Double Fine lately as well!

Best game you've ever played? 🥚 Super. Paper. Mario.

Worst game you've ever played? 🥚 Ninjabread Man... Yes. Ye's I've played that shovelware nightmare.

A popular series/game you just can't get into no matter how much you try? 🥚 I've never been able to get into most fighting games of any kind. Street fighter, tekken, smash brothers- Though I'm trying my hardest with smash, since my little brother is heavily attached to it and I'm heavily attached to him.

A game that's changed you the most? 🥚 There's a few games actually! Paper Mario 64, Pokemon Ultra Moon and Hollow Knight! - Paper Mario because it was my first introduction to dark themes hidden under a bright color of paint! Taught me that you don't necessarily need the world ending to have something scary! - Pokemon cause it's kinda been my first bold step out against my religious household's views. It was a good dose on independence! - Hollow Knight is smaller, admittedly... It introduced me to metroidvanias and speedrunning in a way that I can actually have fun! Cheating but not also is kinda fun, haha!

A game you'll never forget? 🥚 Club Penguin! Yes, I'm counting that here! That was my childhood and would probably have done what Paper Mario did if it had come first in my life!

Best soundtrack? 🥚 For those who don't know, I'm a HUGE music fan, so choosing one OST is kinda hard for me! That being said, I have a soft spot for both Mario Galaxy OSTs, A Hat in Time, Psychonauts and recently Paper Mario: The Oragami King.

A game you turn your volume off every time you play it? 🥚 The World Ends With You, after some of my father's comments on the OST, sadly...

A game you've completely given up on? 🥚 Granny Simulator. I don't have anyone to play it with.

Hardest game you've played? 🥚 Hollow Knight by far. You try to 112% Steel Soul that shit and get back to me.

Shortest time you've beaten a game in? 🥚 Maybe an hour? I beat Tattletail in about that time.

A game you were the most excited for when it wasn't released yet? 🥚 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 P S Y C H O N A U G H T S 2

A game you think would be cool if it had voice acting? 🥚 The Paper Mario Franchise as a whole honestly

Which two games do you think would make an awesome crossover? 🥚 Hmm, Genshin Impact and Xenoblade Chronicles! I think they'd mesh nicely!

Character you've hated most? From what game? 🥚 Gosh, genuinely hate? I've never hated any character... Okay maybe that's a lie. I don't hate him anymore but as a kid I HATED Huff'n'Puff from Paper Mario 64. Specifically his fight. He healed himself all the time and the amount of support puffs he could have. As a kid I could NEVER beat him and still have yet to go back to the fight. I know what to do nowadays, but the problem is getting the game.

What game do you never tell people you play? 🥚 ... Cookie Run? Maybe Fruit Ninja?

A game you wish your friends knew about? 🥚 SUPER! PAPER! MARIO!!! And Bugsnax!

Which game do you think deserves a revival? 🥚 Xenoblade Chronicles and Style Savvy!

What was the first video game you ever played? 🥚 Super Mario World for the SNES!

How old were you when you first played a video game? 🥚 Maaaaybe 5? 7?? I was very young, but my brother was younger!

If you could immerse yourself in any game for one day, which game would it be? What would you do? 🥚 Pokémon! I would love to try my hand at a league or even just having an in-person companion in my life.

Biggest disappointment you've had in gaming? 🥚 The Meat Circus

Casual, Hardcore, or in the middle? 🥚 It entirely depends on the game, honestly.

Be honest; have you ever used cheats (like ActionReplay or Gameshark)? 🥚 I never have, to my knowledge. That was more my brother's thing. I have only ever used "cheat codes" that were in a game before, and even then it was just to less around and not actually beat the game.

Handheld or console? 🥚 Computer, actually. I find myself on here more than I do my DS or Switch, mainly cause of my brother and father. I'm always anxious they'll come down here and be upset that I'm on the switch so I just. Don't touch it ever anymore. And my DS is currently Pokemon Nuzlocke Only, so I can hide the game in it.

Has there ever been a moment that has made you cry? 🥚 Mother. Fucking. Huff'n'Puff Fight!!!! Story wise, recently Genshin Impact's been tugging at my heartstrings some.

Which character's clothes do you wish you owned the most? 🥚 I never actually thought about this. Mainly cause I'm not exactly most character's sizes... Some of the NPC outfits in Genshin Impact look really comfy though!

Which is more important, gameplay or story? 🥚 Both are integral to a game! Without a good story, it doesn't matter how good the gameplay is, your players won't have motivation to keep playing. Without good gameplay, a good story will feel more drawn out and disjointed. It's incredibly vital to have both!

A game that hasn't been localized in your country that you think should be localized? 🥚 MOTHER 3! GIVE US AN OFFICIAL RELEASE NONTENDO!!!

[protagonistheavy]

I caved and got Genshin Impact. I’m a few hours in, like adventure rank 12, and so far I think this is pretty fun. I’m having about as much fun as I expected to have with it. The gameplay is simple but with a lot of depth waiting to be tapped into, at least so far as this combo system goes and the variety of situations that can arise. I’m looking forward to getting further in the game, and as a bonus, the story isn’t terrible or boring -- it’s not super interesting, but it’s engaging enough. The setting is cozy and the characters feel right for the world, but again, nothing flashy.

All that said, the game doesn’t have anything too revolutionary to bring to the table. Almost every aspect of the game comes ripped from some other game, with the most obvious inspiration being Breath of the Wild, but you’ll see similarities to all sorts of jrpgs like Tales of, Fire Emblem, etc. Character designs are generically okay-to-above-average with an art style that’s relatively safe. Tropes galore make the plot and universe easier to digest. Honestly none of this makes me mad, because all these features come together for one satisfying experience, it feels like a game I’ve imagined many times before and now actually exists.

My biggest problem so far is with the gacha. It’s so ridiculous lol. I’m already really worn out of gacha games and experiences, so I’m not exactly approaching this system very openly. I haven’t spent any money on the game, fortunately the game does give you a fair amount of rolling material as you play along the story, but the chances of actually getting anything worthwhile is abysmal. There’s about 30 characters you can roll but you have terrible odds of rolling any of them, you’re more likely to pull weapons that simply aren’t exciting or ever really going to get used. If you want a 5-star playable character, you have a 0.3% of rolling one -- you don’t get to choose which character of course, that’s just 0.3% of getting a five-star character. So you have to be EXTREMELY lucky to, within just a handful of rolls, actually get a specific 5-star you might want.

I haaaaate this shit, I hate when characters are locked behind rng gamble mechanics, man. It’s so obnoxious to see a character that you want to play, an experience you wish you had, or strategical options you want to be tapping into, but nope. You don’t get that. Not until you press this random number generator and roll a 1-in-1000 chance, and by the way it costs a dollar every time you want to generate a new number. Do you get anything of relative value if you don’t get what you wanted? Of course not! Most likely you end up with a shit weapon you will never, ever use, or you get “””lucky””” and roll a new character... that you don’t want to use or play, so it’s virtually more worthless than the already worthless weapons. Great system!

Seriously, I hate this shit, I just know what my luck is gonna be like. I’m gonna want some Pretty Lady with Cool Abilities, I’ll grind and grind and grind for fucking weeks to scrounge up what roll material the game allows me to grind for, only to be given a “pity roll” result of some 4-star shota-ass character with an obnoxious personality and a weapon/element type that another character already covers. This shit is so stupid! I’m genuinely EXPECTED to be “happy” when I roll some useless character that I have no interest in -- whippeee! A 10 year-old boy that I didn’t want to play as! What a fucking reward that was worth grinding for!

And then the sugar coating here is the pointlessly confusing currency conversions. Keep up with this: The premium currency is called “primogems” but no, that’s not what you buy with real money. You spend real money to buy ANOTHER RESOURCE, which then sells 1-1 for primogems -- yeah it’s fucking pointless, spend money to buy a resource that you then trade in for an equally valued resource. And THEN you have to spend primogems on the ACTUAL roll material, of which there’s TWO TYPES that banners alternate from. So now you have to go back to the banners, look at which material it uses, then go back to the shop, find the material, then buy it, then go back to the banner and make your fucking wish. YOU GET: A fucking sword! You’ve gotten five of these already! Nice get!!!!!

I keep saying “pointless” but obviously there is a point to all this and the point is to trick people into spending money. That’s all there is to these complicated systems. Is it really “fun” or “immersive” to go through all this hassle, just for the chance of unlocking a new character to play? No, but it is profitable for the company! It’s profitable for them to lure you into confusing states where you stay engaged with a currency system that’s full of contrivances because the longer you spend trying to decipher how to even use the fucking currency, the more likely you are to engage with that system and spend real money on it. Systems like this thrive on you feeling anxious about purchases and making you do so much legwork to try and convince you that it was some exciting experience, and they want you to mess up at some point and spend real money on the wrong thing so that you have to buy even more. It’s what they blatantly want, it sucks, it’s a blight on what would otherwise be a totally fun game with excusable drawbacks.

And what ticks me off the most with gacha systems like this is the utter cruelty of it. They could make this a more generous system, easily! And without even altering drop rates, though that’d be really fucking generous huh? They could make sure you don’t get duplicates! Just no duplicates, don’t worry about it -- you slowly dwindle down the odds until you’re guaranteed to get the character you want. Or they could give you tickets to claim characters of your choice! That way it’s never an issue, and you get to pull the exact person you want! They could make all the characters purchasable and just let you buy them outright!

But nooooooooooooooooo their generosity only goes so far. They’ll “pity” you by making sure that by 100 fucking rolls, you’re guaranteed to get a 4-star character -- yipee! Thanks, Company! $100 and I’ll finally be given a weak-ass character that I may not have even wanted, or possibly a duplicate! Oh and they’re soooo generous by giving you “masterless stardust” which is ANOTHER currency it gives you when you roll shit weapons that you can use to slowly buy, you guessed it, MORE ROLLS! So it’s like you get a really shitty refund system that only actually refunds you for a shitty roll after about 50 fucking shit ones. UGHHH! This system was like designed to press allllll of my buttons with its gacha, it’s sooooo frustrating.

The “bright side” is that after about 20 rolls using what rolls the game gives, I did at least get a new character to play, and goodness me at least it’s a somewhat cute character with fun abilities. God knows though that when I finally want a character for my own, a specific character that really appeals to me, I know I’ll just NEVER get them and will instead win myself dozens of the same fucking sword and a couple 4-star 10 year-old boys that can’t even use those swords.

[kittenfemme27]

Genshin Impact

Breath of the Wild was a game I wanted to love. I love the Zelda games, always have, and I eat up open world games like candy. Yet, BoTW has sat on my digital shelf collecting digital dust for ages. Why is that? Well, to put it simply, I don't want to play as Link. BoTW has a beautiful world, rich combat and game play puzzles, tons to see and do and experience, it's a sandbox for the ages. But it's hampered so heavily for me by the fact that I have to play this very boring and to be honest kind of forgettable boy named Link during the game play. That may sound petty, but if I'm in an open world game I want to fully immerse myself into that and video games are where we all go to escape anyway. If I wanted to be misgendered, I'd simply forget to shave and go outside.

I don't mind playing other Zelda games because in those, Link is a self contained character in the world and they're relatively short and self contained games. But BoTW is a sandbox. And for a large majority of it, you're not going to be doing the story or being addressed as link. The size of the world and the sheer amount of hours you're going to put into it mean that for almost all intents and purposes, Link isn't Link, he's a faceless avatar that you're supposed to put yourself into. The game offers so much freedom in so many avenues and yet, in your choice of how to explore the world as someone you'd actually like to be, you're not allowed. You have to be a skinny blonde twink.

So, in late 2019, in comes a trailer for Genshin Impact. It's making its rounds on the Internet as a "PC Free to Play Gacha Breath of the Wild Clone" which, while a mouthful, was something I initially wrote off. Didn't see a point in checking it out, as I really don't like Gacha games very much. But in late September 2020, MiHoYo the developers released the public 1.0 build of the game to everyone. Multi-platform, too. iOS/Android, PC, PS4, and even a switch release down the line. And maybe its the pandemic, or maybe the Internet was simply too lured in by the cute anime girls, but it took the many by storm. It took me personally over 12+ hours to download the 11 gigs of the game because the servers were so swamped with people.

Now I do want to be clear: Genshin Impact borrows many things from BoTW, but it isn't a clone. It's not a sandbox in the same way BoTW is and aside from some general game play things such as gliders, stamina/wall climbing system, and general aesthetic, the games are massively different. Still, though, playing it has highlighted to me why I never felt quite right playing BoTW, and its that lack of freedom. That lack of ability to play the game on my own terms and explore the beautiful handcrafted world the way I want to. 

Despite appearances, Genshin Impact is a lot more like a single player MMO than it is anything else. Requiring tons of farming and grinding to create high level powerful characters in a world that gets increasingly more powerful and hostile as you do. The core game play loop of Genshin Impact is pretty phenomenal, essentially giving you a massive world to explore with literally thousands upon thousands of chests and rewards to find. Either by clearing out enemies, doing random in world puzzles, or even just sitting around. Being inside of and exploring the world of Teyvat is as rewarding as it is beautiful. The art and animation design of the game are stellar and do a lot to make you forget how much time has passed since you booted up the game in the first place. There's tons of different lore books to find, NPC's to talk to, quests to complete, the world is chock-full of lore and world building even down to simple weapon and material descriptions. Teyvat is a wonderful place to be and the developers MiHoYo deserve a pat on the back for how good the world of Genshin Impact is. The other side of game play is a simple system of Character Progression where you farm materials to make your characters/weapons/abilities better so that you can farm even more materials from harder enemies, much like an MMO, and you also acquire gear called Artifacts with randomly rolled stats much like an ARPG. In that regard, Genshin Impact is highly addictive. There are a myriad of weapons, talents, artifacts, and characters all to level up and build up over the course of your play, and every character can be made viable very very easily. The game also lets you keep a party of 4 characters that you can swap between at any point, as well as each character being attuned to a specific Elemental Type that reacts to other Elements. This causes the end-game to be centered around doing some of the hardest dungeons the game has to offer by theory crafting incredibly powerful teams that work off of each other and cause Elemental Reactions in enemies. It’s some of the most fun i’ve had in a game in ages.

All of that is fantastic but unfortunately its all also held back by one simple, huge problem: Original Resin. The game uses a currency called Original Resin that you use to challenge the harder content in the game. Dungeons, World Bosses, Elite Weekly Bosses, you name it and if its end-game content, it likely costs Resin. And not in insignificant amounts either. Dungeons are 20, Bosses are 40, and Weekly Bosses are 60. So, how do you obtain this material? Time. You start with, and are capped, at 120(Later 160 in patch 1.1). 1 resin takes 8 minutes to get back. If you spend it all, it takes 16 hours to get back. Given the rates you spend it, you can go from 120 to 0 in roughly 10-15 minutes. With no way to increase the resin cap, and the incredibly slow acquisition rate, that frequently means you only have about that much playtime a day of the game in the endgame. And that's, needless to say, incredibly frustrating. Thankfully its not an entire stamina system that means you can't play the game at all when you're out of resin, but it does mean that character progression itself is gated as all upgrade/progression materials are locked behind these dungeons and bosses that you must use Original Resin to face. Effecitvely, this means single characters will become weeks and weeks of work, with weapons and artifacts being only slightly less time consuming. I can only hope MiHoYo is looking to change this system in a way that isn't just increasing the cap as the feedback they've received has been very negative regarding it, but only time will tell.

Unfortunately, this isn't the games only problem with its players either. The game is a Gacha, there is no getting around that, but despite the fact that pretty much any character can become massively overpowered and viable in the endgame, people are going to want the rarest characters that exist. This is by design and unfortunately is more or less a glorified gambling system. And while the game is quite nice with its premium currency and how often it gives it, what isn't nice is that the rarest “5-star”characters cost a minimum of 200$ to get through money. With no guarantee you're getting the one you want.

Worse still, outside of a guaranteed 5-star drop at 90 rolls on the gacha wheel, the chance for a 5-star weapon or character is 0.6%. Not even a whole rounded up 1%. This is frankly ridiculous, as is the cost of real money to premium currency. For reference, most other popular Gacha’s doing well offer their rarest characters at anywhere between a 1-6% rate. In general, gacha's aren't known to be kind in their rates. That’s the point, they want you to gamble with real money. Genshin Impact, however, is so unkind and unfair that even other regular players of gacha gamers are very, very vocally upset. If it wasn't for the game play loop and the world, I'm not sure this would fly. And its certainly not flying in the west with the crowd that doesn't play Gacha's nearly as much. Neither is the resin system, as gamers in the west typically want to play for hours and hours at a time.

I’d be remiss if i didn’t bring up the story in Genshin Impact, as it’s genuinely fantastic. As previously stated, the world has a metric tonne of hidden lore in books, weapon/item/artifact descriptions, character stories you unlock as you use a playable character, etc. But the main story you can currently play from start to finish in the 1.0 release is the prologue.

This prologue stars very simply: Your character, the “Traveler” is an alien from another world. Not much is known about them so far, other than that the Traveler and their sibling were people with the ability to hop between worlds at will. In the opening moments of the game this power, along with your sibling, are stolen from you by an unnamed assailant. Thus trapping you in Teyvat and leaving you to begin a journey to find the Seven Gods of Teyvat, simply known as “The Seven” and seek their power and wisdom to find your sibling and potentially leave. This journey is how you meet Venti, one of the Seven in disguise as a simple human bard, and his best friend Dvalin. The events that follow have you help this strange bard, as well as the people of Mondstat, defeat the dragon Dvalin. Previously, he protected the lands of Mondstat for hundreds of years. However, as you meet both Dvalin and Venti, he has had his mind corrupted and been lied to by an order of evil mages known as the Abyss Order, and its caused him to go on the offensive against Mondstat and her people.

It's a fair bit emotional, humorous at times thanks to Venti, and overall very engaging. Mondstat is a city built on freedom, to the point that its own god Barbatos(Venti) refuses to rule over it and allows himself to be the weakest of the seven gods, as that would take away some of the cities freedom. Within this prologue, there is a huge focus on Mondstat being a city of Freedom, the prologue quite literally ends with Venti telling Dvalin after you have saved him from the corruption that even though he is "meant" to be the protector of Mondstat, he hopes Dvalin chooses whatever life he wants, even if that's not Mondstats protector, and that Venti simply wants him to be happy. Venti's own personal story quest goes further in depth about the foundation of Mondstat and its origins as a rebel city founded after the citizens overthrew the oppressive rule of an awful tyrant God and killed him. In a very pretty hand drawn "cathedral window" style cutscene, you get to see the end of this war and why Barbatos chose the form he currently inhabits and took up being a bard, which was to honor a dead friend from this very same war. This explains why Mondstat and Barbatos value its freedom so highly. I cried at this moment both times I played it.

For a free game, the storytelling here is off the charts. As i said before, Venti and many other characters have personal stories that both introduce you to a trial version of the playable character, thus letting you see how they work and play, and also giving you either more info on the world or an introduction to the character in question, or both. They're fantastic little stories and are up there with the main story in quality. One of my favorite parts of the game and something that will only be expanded with time. Each one takes you on a journey of discovery or even simple fun with a character and it all feels very personal and touching, as all of the main stories and character quests are very well voice acted.

The prologue being so focused on freedom makes it all the more awkward, then, that MiHoYo is a game developer based out of China, and as such has to follow China's censorship rules. Taiwan and Hong Kong both are censored in-game chat and if you're reported for saying them, you'll be banned for daring to speak the words. These aren't the only censorship decisions in the game, but they're by far the ones that struck me the most. I understand that the company is based out of China and thus has to follow the censorship rules, as they are the actual law of the land and they could be fined or even shut down if they refused. But the disconnect of knowing there are actual human rights atrocities being committed in China with the Uygher Genocide and Re-Education camps, the human rights violations in Hong Kong, the breakdown of democracy and the treatment of Taiwan, while this game that comes out of China boasts on and on about Freedom and the Human right to self actualize and choose their future is... troubling. It's one that I don't really know how to reconcile, if it can be reconciled at all. I'd like to believe that the developers really believe in their own story and secretly oppose those sorts of atrocities. But at the same time, banning players who mention Hong Kong or Taiwan isn't in the law. That’s a decision MiHoYo is making. Right now, China doesn’t have the freedom that Venti and Mondstat and Genshin Impact try to instill in you so hard as important and a human right. And knowing that and knowing the censorship is in the game make it very difficult to get a read on what the game actually wants you to feel.

Overall,i think Genshin Impact is a fantastic game. Its updates plan to bring in not only more story, as there are meant to be 7 Acts and currently the game features the Prologue and half of Act 1, but in those acts it plans to explain the playable areas and bring in new Events, Characters, Weapons, etc. And that makes me excited for the future of Genshin Impact! It’s a beautiful game of genuinely Triple AAA quality completely for free. But. Its also a Gacha game and by far one of the least rewarding Gachas you could play right now. Maybe that will change with time. I certainly hope it does. But it feels hard to recommend something that, once you beat it, disrespects your time so much and so badly. I hope Genshin Impact has a bright future, I really do, and I’m definitely going to continue playing it. But right now, I can’t say for certain that I feel confident in the developers to make it the game it clearly wants to be if it wasn’t shackled down by its Gacha.

[starrydaphne]

Online friends

Short Story by: StarryDaphne 

A girl and a boy in their teenage years started talking to each other, they met  from a common game they play. At first strangers, both slowly strengthened their relationship through playing together and by talking with each other when they are online. 

The young girl just finished her online classes, one thing to take note of is that every country right now is in quarantine. The purpose of everyone staying in their houses would be because there’s a virus going on. With that, online classes are implemented for the students’ safety. People are still allowed to go out although only when needed, in this case, only for groceries and for necessities. 

She sighs after closing her laptop, her head seemed heavy and murky with all the information she got from class. What made her head even more heavy would be the pay for next school year, the family had enough money for now. Not so long until they are not able to afford the tuition, she hopes that it won’t happen with all her heart. “I’ll do the chores now and then school work.” The young girl thought. 

Quarantine has affected many people, it is an understatement to say otherwise. Whether financially, mentally, emotionally, physically, and all sorts. Losses of any kind are devastating, and unfortunately, the girl has experienced the same dilemma. 

Her family has been going through a financial issue where they would sometimes only take 1 meal a day for them to pay their bills. With that she was not able to play the game as often, and when they do, she’s a bit different than how she used to be. This made her best friend worry about her. 

“You ok there Alice?” He sends a message from his computer. This teenage boy was playing with random people in coop, waiting for her to become online. It was around 8pm when they would usually play, so he decided to send a message to her in discord. These online friends were from the same country, and they both shared their usernames once they were both comfortable with each other.

He waited for 30 mins. and finally had a reply back. 

“Not really Wayne. ._.” Alice replies to him after she was done doing some of her school assignments. 

“Want to talk about it? You seem pretty down lately.” He replies. 

Wayne was pretty concerned as a friend, Alice would help him out when he needed help with school or other dilemmas. He wanted to give back to her since she was being a great friend.

You could say that both of them are really close, they’ve been friends for a year now ever since they met from playing the game. They don’t just play games together, but chat as well in discord. Both of them gave their ages once they were more comfortable with each other. 

“Sure, I could talk about it.” Alice sends her reply, a bit hesitant at first with her slowed down typing. After a few moments she then said her situation. “Our family has a financial issue right now.” She said feeling a bit embarrassed. Alice is now wondering how he’ll react, her heart pounding. 

Receiving the message, Wayne thought for a while on how to cheer her up. “I hope that you’ll over come it.” He replies back. “What else could I say to help her?” 

Alice read his reply and a small smile crept on her face, her heart beat began to go back to normal. She was really thankful for having a great friend which she met last year. They met during summer break when Alice was a bit shy with socializing. She accidentally accepted his coop request. Scared at first, Alice became more comfortable with him being so confident and kind. How did Alice accidentally accept his coop request? She was so deep in thought on how to build up her main, that she got surprised with the request that popped up. To her surprise, it led her to immediately press the check button without thought.

Wayne right now on the other side of the screen, looked up to his laptop and waited for her reply, he thought of something that could actually help her. “Thank you :>” She replies. 

“Right, I have a suggestion for you. If you would like one.” He secretly hopes that she’ll accept his advice while he was typing that sentence out. “Sure, what is it?” Alice says to Wayne as her embarrassment slowly fades away. 

“You could try doing art commissions since you love drawing.” Wayne really did give it some thought, he remembered Alice mentioning that she enjoys drawing in her free time in one of their chats. 

“True I could do that, but I’m so busy with school so I don’t know if I could manage my time.” Alice replies, sighing with the thought. “I’ll be the first client for now and you could take your time. :D” He says, confident with his suggestion with no doubt whatsoever on his decision. 

“Really?? You would do that? Let’s get started then :DD” She smiled and laughed after she sent the message, really excited and happy for her first art commission. “I’ll do it digitally, and in terms for the payment..” Alice added. 

“I could pay you through g-cash, and sure it’s fine to do it digitally.” Wayne texted back. “Ok sure I’m good with that :D” She immediately says. 

The both of them discussed what Alice’s first art commissions will be in a semi professional but casual tone. “What can I be of your service today my very dear client?” Alice starts. Wayne plays along until they finally had a decision. 

Both are aware that they should keep their word and not let the other down, the bond of trust they have together was really strong. 

Alice would send him drafts, the color palette, and little sneak peaks of her digital art to make sure he is satisfied with it and would approve of it. Both of them made sure to keep the work professional, still having fun with it as best friends.

Over the process of making Alice’s first art commission, both of them will be client and artist for work. Provided that their topic of chat is about her art commission. Then frequently, they are best friends playing the game and chatting through meaningful conversations. There was great balance between having work, to help Alice gain money for her family, and having fun through strengthening their relationship as best friends. 

After 4 weeks, she finally finished her artwork. She sent a low quality resolution/really pixelated photo of her digital artwork. “I’m done with my first art commission Wayne. :D”” Alice added a smiley face to have a bit of casualness in her line of work. She was proud of it and she was sure that the pay will definitely be worth it.  

A few minutes passed and Wayne replies with “Great job! :>” He definitely smiled after sending his message, he continues to type. “Now as a client that has seen your hard work, I will definitely pay your fine with ease.” He added. 

“Thank you very much, now I will wait for your payment as promised.” Alice giggles as she sent her message. She was really happy with their relationship. There is no burden Alice carries with Wayne, both of them have each other’s backs. 

This continued for a year and Alice was really fortunate to help her family. Eventually the financial problem was solved with her family being able to make more money than usual now. The virus also eased and announcements from the government said that it was safe to go out now. 

Alice also started making commissions for other people instead of just Wayne, while she was making her first commission she actually made an art account in Instagram which received a lot of recognition over time. Alice really made sure to thank Wayne for his encouragement and help. 

“Hey Wayne! I just want to thank you for helping me overcome my financial issue. What could I give you in return?” Alice sends her message immediately after forming her sentence, “I would really like nothing in return honestly, I did this genuinely so no worries about it.” He replies. 

“Oh, there’s one thing that I would like us to do.” Wayne then texts after he sent his message. “Of course! What would it be?” Alice replies in a heartbeat. 

“Let’s meet up shall we?” He asks, a bit nervous with his heart pounding. 

Alice’s eyes widened and really smiled wide. “You bet :D” 

*I DO NOT OWN THE AMAZING DRAWING SHOWN* 

(Also the drawing shown here was not the first art commission Alice made, it’s more better than that and of course I can’t draw magnificently yet XD)

All my links: https://linktr.ee/STARRYDAPHNE

Thanks for reading! Follow for more.

I’ve been engaging in discord and in genshin impact recently so might as well create a short story about online friends. :DD It’s completely fine to have them since their real, just be careful to the people you talk with . :>> Keep in mind that we all have our limitations. 

(The game that Alice and Wayne plays together is Genshin Impact, I did not add the specific name to make it more general :D Although canonically, it’s genshin impact.) 

Also I just did a random name generator for this fiction short story. XD

All right reserved to StarryDaphne.

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

-Hatoful Boyfriend (Video Game) - Hatoful finale and wow what an ending it was. I really have to applaud this game on turning a silly bonkers premise into a genuinely unnerving psychological horror while actually having interesting characters and emotional moments. I wouldn't say I connected enough with any of them to buy merch or anything but they had more depth than I was expecting from dating sim characters (and birds at that) with exiting little twists. The true ending was the culmination of all the routes and somehow delivered the most impactful story line of all, with a sort of fucked up but true case of "yeah minus the birds thing this is kinda how humans react to sudden and unexpected political shifts huh?". I'd definitely recommend giving it a playthrough/watch, it may seem a little slow at first but boy is it an experience.

-Face Off (TV) - Seasons 4 and 5 are on Netflix so I've been putting this on as background noise while I work. Really fun to see the neat challenges and designs, especially as I like to think how I would approach them myself (though more from a drawing/writing standpoint than crafting obviously). Too bad the whole show isn't available, I haven't found an archived set of all the designs and challenges online so I feel like I'm missing out on some fun ones.

-Suzume (Movie) - Okay so I had typed a whole big review on this out that glitched and did not save. I don't want to type it again so short version is that I respect the animation and themes or equating grief over the loss of a person with the loss of a location and community, but didn't really vibe with the lack of character or tension in the story. Also I feel bad for the little gremlin cat and think he deserved way better, justice for that cat that twink guy should've stayed a chair.

- Campfire Cooking (Manga) - A quick reread of the whole manga when I just wanted a self-indulgent relaxing cooking series. It's still very wholesome, though I will say that I think this is one of the rare ones where the anime is better than the manga due to the visuals really enhancing the appetizing meals and cute mannerisms of the familiars. Season 2 will be coming out soon which I am now fully prepared for, bring me the tiny dragon and loser elf.

- Six of Crows (Books) - Left without internet I was forced to listen to the pre-downloaded audio books I had bought months ago. It's actually pretty interesting so far, I do love heist stories, but I don't feel like talking about it until I'm farther in.

- The Apothecary Diaries (Anime) - I'm too tired to talk about how incredible this was right now but believe me it's really really good. I love MaoMao, this setting is amazing, the characterization of everyone is grounded enough to feel like unique people while leaving room for silly comedy, and the mysteries and twists are so compelling that I could barely stop watching. Highly recommend, might even rewatch it again soon.

- Dungeon Meshi (Anime) - Y'all weren't kidding about those lesbians huh? Good for them, Good for them.

- One Piece (Anime) - Arrived in Wano, the new art style is charming and so are Otama and Okiku.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Making my way through Sumeru.

Listening To: How Did You Love by Shinedown, Give Up Your Dreams from The School of Rock, Everything Goes On by Porter Robinson, All the Boys by Panic! At The Disco, Willow by Taylor Swift, Rose Colored Boy by Paramore, Her Diamonds by Rob Thomas, Stray Italian Greyhound by Vienna Teng, Hey I Don't Work Here by Tom Cardy, Pierrot by Kei, and Can't Catch Me Now cover by Annapantsu

[apompkwrites]

reader impact || first meetings: adventurer edition

series masterlist characters: amber, bennett genre: fluff summary: a game has been released entitled genshin impact, consisting of otherworldly abilities relying on the basic elements of nature. the game follows the story of an interdimensional traveling twin in search of their other half. along this journey, they meet different characters that live in this world. including you. notes: i decided to put these two together since i've already done one for diluc!

amber's playthrough -

amber's more of an outdoorsy type of person but that doesn't stop her from streaming!

she likes doing camping streams where she just camps out in her backyard and shows her chat what she would normally do. and the occasional cooking stream to show how you can make good foods healthy <33

she has a little bunny that she shows on stream sometimes :))

there'll be some days where she just sits at home talking to chat about her day while playing with her little baron bunny.

she plays games occasionally, but their mainly adventure type ones that mimic the lifestyle she holds.

like minecraft, rust, any survival game really.

she's still very energetic so any stream of hers is just bustling with excitement.

she'd probably host some streams where she teaches basic survival techniques?? idk man i don't go out much AIHSDASHLDKJ--

anyway anyway, she got a bunch of requests asking her to play genshin ofc.

i mean?? cute game, cute models, cute characters, and aDVENTURE.

i feel like she'd go with the male traveler solely because it isn't very practical to go exploring/adventuring in a dress?? like girl's over here genuinely thinking about real life scenarios.

anyway she's sitting there after finding dvalin's corrupted tear and the cutscene plays.

she's there vibing with chat and her little bunny by her side because of course they'll be sitting there while she plays.

"hey you! stop right there!"

"aCK!"

please she screeched when you yelled at her--

and then she squealed when jumped in front of her character.

pLEASE

the camera showing off your cute little headband mimicking animal ears makes her melt.

and then you jump from the little cliff and you have to stumble to regain your balance?!?!??!

PLEASE YOU'RE SO CUTE

"may the anemo god protect you, stranger! i am (name), outrider for the knights of favonius."

catch her copying your little salute.

"they're so cute!!!!"

she will point out the animal ears constantly.

and then your vision has a cute little ribbon at the end of it!!!!!!

"just! just! just look at them!!"

and then you join her party officially!!!

please she switches to you automatically--

she'll just jump around for a few minutes to watch all your accessories bounce around.

and she can just tell that your story would be a delight to read about.

when paimon mentions her mc's missing sibling, you sound so soft and caring and just aGH.

and then she gets to try out your elemental skill and it's the aNIMAL THAT YOUR CHARACTER'S HEADBAND IS BASED OFF OF!!!

if it's a bunny she would definitely find a matching headband she can wear when she plays :00

her chat's usually a really sweet place to vibe and hang out but of course, there's gonna be those kinda people.

she catches wind of some people badmouthing you and calling you the worst character in the game >:((

she's not too keen on banning people for their opinions so instead...

"hey, guys, can we just have fun with this game? if you don't like how i'm playing you can always just?? leave??"

please girl's fuming inside but she's trying her hardest to be nice about it >:((

back to you <3

she'd get another pet that matches yours and name it after you or your elemental skill.

she'd find ways to copy your outfit too ngl--

she'd definitely cook your signature dish!!

gotta make it all cute for you <3

bennett's playthrough -

ah yes, our unlucky baby boy bennett <3

like amber, he really loves adventures!!

he's still pretty unlucky for some reason???

idk man he's just vibing and his bad luck says too bad,,,

he's kind of a baby streamer if you catch my drift?

like he's new to everything so he's just trying to figure it out.

he used to be in a streamer house but... yeah.

we don't like them anyway, it's fine.

unlike in the game, bennett's bad luck didn't bring the other members harm, it was just... little inconveniences i guess.

but he left so now he's all on his own!

he's kinda inexperienced in all of this but he's trying his best!

for now he's sticking to gaming because that's a majority of what he knows.

lots of survival games!!!

and, sadly, luck-based games.

his chat just wants to see if his luck impacts games!!

and it does,,,

luckily they request genshin, which has the best of both worlds.

bennett's got all of the adventuring and his chat gets to see his misfortune in action.

sadly you don't appear in the main archon quests so bennett actually goes a long while not knowing who you are :((

veterans of the game, however, know exactly who you are >:))

first, they'd help show you off by posting links to your splash art in his chat.

bennett, being the baby he is, just clicks on the links without a second thought.

and he's in aWE!!!

LOOK AT YOU!!! LOOK AT HOW COOL YOU ARE!!

"woahh!! who are they? can i meet them soon?"

cri

they tell him he has to roll for you and he's sad, but only for a bit!

at least you're not an exclusive character because if he were, he thinks he'd have no chance at getting you :((

but he can get you whenever!

anyway, one stream he's rolling because he's stocked up a bunch of primogems (which took a long time) and he's like might as well use them up now.

he gets a lot of weapons :(((

he's basically dedicated his whole team to c6ing his characters he has now because he "knows" he won't get a good character.

luckily the pity systems exist so he gets the occasional four star <33

so he thinks it's another character he already has, so he's very prepared to get another constellation in.

he's looking through the trash weapons and then splash art appears!

"wait... i recognize that--"

IT'S YOU.

HE WASN'T EXPECTING IT BUT IT'S YOU!!!!

"THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE REALLY HERE!!"

his chats hyping him up as he's running around his room because they love him <33

please i love this boy with a passion.

he'll put you in his team automatically with all of his c5/6 characters asdhaklsf

he doesn't even care you get everything and anything he owns in the game <3

"this is your team! it's really cool! i'm (name), leader of (name)'s adventure team! is there... do you think we could team up? i-it could even be just once!"

"they're staying on my team forever."

he loves you so much.

not just because you're a cool character but because he can relate to you--

anyway, he goes to your voicelines because that's the only time he can actually hear you fully :((

he's genuinely excited to learn about your story.

and then he learns that you have extremely bad luck too???!?!?!?

please y'all can be unlucky together!!

would that cancel out or just make you more unlucky??

huh.

he gets all sad when he hears you talking bad about yourself so he's here to reassure you (even if you're a fictional character).

[apompkwrites]

for the reader impact can you do jean and barbara?<3 thank you!

reader impact || first meeting: gunnhildr sisters

series masterlist characters: barbara, jean genre: fluff summary: a game has been released entitled genshin impact, consisting of otherworldly abilities relying on the basic elements of nature. the game follows the story of an interdimensional traveling twin in search of their other half. along this journey, they meet different characters that live in this world. including you. notes: i've never written these girls before... and honestly i've never written any of the other girls :(( i'm trying!! i hope this is good!

barbara -

barbara doesn't get to stream too often.

or at least, not as often as she'd like to.

as an idol, she still has a lot of responsiblities outside of streaming.

you know, training, concerts, all of that.

but, when she has the time, she loves streaming with her big sister :D

she doesn't do a lot of music streams solely because she needs a break from all of the idol work she does.

she isn't too into pvp based games and, instead, prefers to play more lighthearted ones!

she's a very soft and sweet streamer :)

her chat is normally very sweet as well because of how hard the mods are on how they act.

jean is also a mod on her streams whenever she isn't streaming.

and vice versa!

barbara loves to please her fans, so it's no surprise when she picks up genshin impact from many fan requests!

this game is probably the only she's fine with playing combat for.

once she starts, she absolutely loves the music.

she doesn't do music streams like i said, but she'll still fawn over any ost she genuinely enjoys.

anyway, here she goes starting the game.

she really loves the story so far, despite it starting a bit... sad.

she actually almost cried in the beginning of that.

just thinking about her sister being taken from her was something she hated imagining.

the more she plays, the more interesting the game becomes.

especially because she's following a bard who is, apparently, the god of the city she's currently in.

she feels really bad for him though, considering a close friend of his has seemingly been manipulated.

she doesn't like that she has to steal the lyre from the church...

and she feels even worse when the lyre they were supposed to take is stolen by someone else right in front of them.

but, luckily, they get it back.

and then it breaks...

she's afraid of the part of the game where she needs to actually return it.

and unfortunately, that time comes way too quick.

she meets with the acting grand master at the church, nervously fiddling with her fingers as the game takes over for dialogue.

"this is (name), the deacon/ess of the church."

that nervousness (almost) washes away as soon as she sees you onscreen :0

"may the anemo archon protect you."

"THEY'RE SO CUTE!"

she absolutely loves your voice!!!

be it soft and quiet or loud and excitable, she doesn't care.

you're cute and she wants nothing more than to have you as a permanent part of her team.

but then she's reminded of the fact that she's broken the lyre...

her character holds it out to you, causing to reel back in shock.

"AAAAAARGH!!! THE HOLY LYRE!!!"

"I'M SO SORRY!"

and when you start praying, she'll pray with you.

she just wants to make it up to you :(

after the strange... encounter with la signora, her character passes out.

only to wake up with you right in front of her!!!!!

you look so soft and sweet and--

she doesn't expect you to come to her team immediately because of the gacha system, so she's ready to just save primogems until she can get you.

but!!! she does!

and you best bet that you'll be on her team until this game ends.

jean -

jean, just like her younger sister, doesn't get to stream as often as she would like to.

she multitasks a lot so it's hard for her to put out good content when she's preoccupied by so many other projects.

luckily, the rare occasions she does stream, they're more relaxed.

the only reason she's able to calm down while streaming is that it still feels like she's getting things done.

it also lets her have some fun while working :D

her chat keeps trying to get her to take a break but... she just can't.

the things she does onstream are pretty normal.

she doesn't play games too often.

instead, she likes to do her everyday work onstream :)

like cooking! she absolutely loves doing cooking streams so that she can get two things done at once :D

the times she gets to actually play games are when barbara's home.

she'd rather play co-op games so they can spend time together.

because of that, barbara's the one that actually encourages her to start playing genshin!

it's a rather long game with objectives, so she thinks it'll be the best type of solo game for jean to play.

and! there's co-op so they can play together :))

just like her sister, she gets a bit emotional during the intro cutscene.

she just can't stand the thought.

as the game progresses, she actually finds herself having fun with a more slow-paced solo game.

of course, there are moments where it picks up.

once dvalin/stormterror is introduced, jean finds herself needing to go to the knights' headquarters.

at first she thinks she'll get to explore the actual building.

instead, she gets to go straight to a cutscene.

it pans up and all she knows is that she's in love with your design!

"(name), what's the hurry? i thought we agreed to meet them here."

the librarian in your office is a close second to her favorite character.

that spots already been reserved for you and you haven't even talked yet!

"there have been sightings of stormterror outside the city. once we meet, we must..."

just from how your character is written, she can tell how hardworking you are.

and that's exactly what jean looks for in a character.

she just... relates to you so much??

and her chat agrees.

you two are practically the same person at this point.

she appreciates how straightforward you are and definitely looks forward to getting to know you more :))