#i was actually reading some of Nilou's lore

[lotus-dancer-nilou]

Miss Nilou! how are you so light on your feet? I may be a cat-hybrid..but I don't understand how you're so quick!

-Estella/@murderousaudhdcat

Oh- Hello! I'm not really sure myself haha, maybe it's just my dance training. It focuses a lot on the flexibility in my feet and legs to make my movements smoother.

You're not the first person to ask me this, actually. Someone suggested that I teach a movement therapy class, but I'm not sure if many people would be interested in it.

[gyuscoquetteribbon]

svt headcanons (them as genshin impact players)

-> warnings: none !!

-> a/n: aaaaa I love writing headcanons sm bear wit me pls </3 also i wanted to save up for baizhu but i really wanted layla and i pulled for her and got mona instead im actually devastated i gotta kiss my baizhu goodbye ;-; I've been waiting for him for two years T^T

-> seungcheol:

his team : zhongli, raiden, ganyu, bennett

absolutely loves lumine over aether.

somehow has the best luck ever and almost never loses 50/50????

however, he also has the worst luck when it comes to artifacts and almost never gets good artifacts at all but he kinda deserves it for all the 50/50s he won >:[

would definitely start rage killing hilichurls, abyss mages, samachurls or literally any enemy that decides to come his way after wasting all his resins on artifacts that he does NOT!! WANT!!

never allows the rest of the boys enter his world (ESPECIALLY JEONGHAN) because they always steal ascension materials that he is in need of.

but, he also has the AUDACITY to whine and sulk if the other members don't let him in their world.

all the children in the game (qiqi and maybe even nahida included) are his own children now idc (i may or may not be projecting here).

"I even got you dinner with my o w n money and you have the audacity to reject my co-op request????"

-> jeonghan:

his team : ayato, ayaka, scaramouche, raiden

definitely put raiden and scaramouche in the same team for shits and giggles given the history the two share

he definitely has venti or childe as his avatar picture or whatever idk he just gives off that vibe.

DEFINITELY CHOSE LUMINE AT THE BEGINNING

enters people's worlds under the pretense of collecting easily available things but ends up stealing stuff like onikabutos.

stands in the sidelines when he feels like he's gonna lose his characters in a co-op fight

BIGGEST PAIMON ANTI EVER !! HE HATES EVERYTHING ABOUT HER !!!

would kill timmie's pigeons just because .

"Hey can I just collect cecilia for my venti real quick?" (those are NOT his real intentions)

-> joshua:

his team : ganyu, nilou, yae miko, xinqui

no.1 aether defender !!

LOVES LOVES LOVES HYDRO CHARACTERS FOR SOME REASON. THEYRE ALL SO PRETTY !!!

has such pretty serenitea layouts fr !! absolutely loves the serenitea pot <3333

spends so much time in making things in his serenitea pot that he doesn't even get the time to build his characters.

almost never plays in co-op mode.

knows where you get what wood and where to mine certain items BY HEART

definitely has a thing for the mirror maiden and the pyro fatui agent. he literally goes heart eyes <3___<3 for them.

"Oh sandbearer wood? You'll find it all around liyue !"

-> jun:

his team: ganyu, xiao, yanfei, razor

you can hear him screaming from across the street, even with the door to your house closed and locked everytime he loses 50/50 and gets qiqi

definitely has c6 qiqi by now. he hasn't even got her past level 1 (he's petty)

was definitely stressed when he was asked to choose between aether and lumine (he chose aether in one server and lumine in the other purely because he couldn't choose who he wanted)

cannot pronounce the mondstadt characters names for the life of him like wtf is a fischl 😐

BIGGEST GANYU LUVER <33333 HE WAS SO ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT BUILDING HER !! she's literally the only triple crowned character.

another paimon hater. he doesn't even give her a chance to speak he's clicking past it in the speed of light.

he loves the lore but hates having to read the voicelines like that takes SO. MUCH. EFFORT.

definitely gave scaramouche a goofy name and had a good giggle about it for 3 mins before he realized this name is final and it can't be changed so now he's stuck with a goofy name for his wanderer :///

"NOOOO I DIDN'T MEAN TO NAME HIM SCARAMUCUS !!!"

-> hoshi:

his team : itto (it just makes sense), childe, venti, xinyan

AETHER LUVER™

definitely cried during the inazuma archon quest. (and the inazuma world quest where they had to do that cleansing ritual)

literally gets past all the quest out of pure luck because he does NOT know how to build his characters for the life of him.

wonwoo would ocassionally help him with artifacts but that's about it.

wouldn't even want a certain character and he'd still pull for them because he likes to collect 5 stars 😧

his quest list is endless because he just never completes them.

has a teeny tiny crush on all the sumeru enemies, men and women alike (I'm most definitely projecting here)

"WHY MUST TEPPEI DIE?? *sniffle* I HATE THIS GAME SO MUCH!"

-> wonwoo:

his team : yae miko, al haitham, hu tao, nahida

probably the only one that knows how to build his characters properly.

definitely chose aether.

NOT an f2p player.

he completed the aranara quest in a single day 😰 (it took him 6.5 hours)

completed the spiral abyss 😧

hasn't opened his serenitea pot. like, at all.

he let's out a guttural scream everytime he gets yunjin in place of a 5 star he wanted (definitely projecting here, I'm not sorry

" Let me help you with your quests since I'm done with mine." (To hoshi, of course)

-> woozi:

his team : raiden, heizou, ayaka, nilou

most of his archon quests were completed by wonwoo.

chose aether in a hurry.

doesn't really pull unless he thinks the playstyle of a character suits his taste.

fought a ruin guard ONE (1) time and decided the game isn't worth it.

HATES HATES HATES DRAGONSPINE !!

only does his ascension quest if wonwoo or jun are around so that he could do the first half and they'd take care of the rest.

actually feels sorry for timmie instead of hatred the way most genshin players do :(

Just pure screams of agony because he's been made to fight a rifthound.

-> minghao:

his team : yelan, fischl, kazuha, kokomi

strictly a f2p player because he thinks it's pure insanity to even pay money for a game that he'd get tired of in two years. moreover, humans shouldn't be so greedy and must also face the downs of life (losing 50/50) and not just the ups.

is actually very interested in the lore and has probably read the genshin comic.

biggest lumine defender !!!

diluc >>>>> kaeya for some reason.

strategically builds his characters. he first builds his main team and the other characters he switches now and then, depending on the enemy he's fighting. he, then, builds the healers that are left and then the shield users that are left before getting to the characters that he personally fancies.

has reached friendship level 10 with most of his characters.

another person who actually takes some time out to build the prettiest layouts in his serenitea pot.

"Luck shouldn't be BOUGHT. It should come your way on its own. So, you getting Al Haitham through welkin doesn't really count as a win, but that's just my opinion 🥰"

-> mingyu:

his team : yae miko, al haitham, yelan, bennett

chose lumine as the traveller in one server and aether as the traveller in another server because they're both so precious to him.

has the BIGGEST, FATTEST crush on the mirror maidens and the oceanid (something about the shit-talking gets him going 😧)

he chose his team based on how hot they are, excluding bennett, of course. he chose bennett because that's his son and he's a healer.

accidentally plunges down where the npcs are walking and scares them.

only buys welkin when he REALLY wants a character (basically, if the character is hot)

is actually pretty good at building his characters, but has a horrible luck when pulling for them. and he's almost always getting yunjin like at this point bro has c6 yunjin please hoyoverse stop this madness 😰😰

only buys welkin when he REALLY wants a character (basically, if the character is hot)

has so many people in his friends list. so much so that, he's actually nearing the limit. HE DOESNT EVEN ENTER SOMEONE'S WORLD MORE THAN ONCE HE JUST HAS STRANGERS IN HIS FRIENDS LIST!!

"Oh, I don't know who deez is; they're just. THERE."

-> dokyeom:

his team : yelan, heizou, layla, fischl

LUMINE IS HIS DAUGHTER.

he's so sweet, he let's jeonghan and other people into his world every single time only for them to steal the things he really needs.

uses raiden's skill and then stands in the sidelines with jeonghan. he is NOT GETTING IN THERE AND DYING >:[

everytime he's fighting outside of co-op mode, you can hear him screaming 3 neighbourhoods away.

uses klee's skill to bomb you up when he gets mad at you.

definitely tried to ice bridge his way to inazuma when he was a low ar player and died by a lightning strike. 5 times. On different ocassions.

actually enjoyed the aranara quest because the aranaras are SO cute !!

(To jeonghan) "So...do you wanna bet who'll die first in this domain among those two?"

-> seungkwan:

his team : tighnari, xinyan, fischl, barbara

he's planning on naming his firstborn lumine.

though barbara doesn't cause a lot of damage he's actually content with the way she heals others.

he's the one fighting for his life in domains while dokyeom and jeonghan are standing in the sidelines, placing bets.

he can't even pause the game to text them in-game, so he just yells from his room.

he isn't very good with bow users but he loves tighnari's character. SO MUCH HE JUST CANT NOT PUT HIM ON HIS TEAM :(((

he refuses to switch tightnari out of his team, no matter what!! he WILL be there.

everytime paimon speaks, he gets into a one-sided conversation (argument) with her. OUT LOUD.

"CAN YOU BOTH S T O P PLACING BETS AND COME HELP ME??? YOU KNOW WE CAN GET THIS OVER WITH QUICKER IF YOU'D JUST COME HERE. IS THIS HOW YOU'RE GONNA BE IN THE MIDDLE OF AN APOCALYPSE TOO???!"

-> vernon:

his team : childe, albedo, dendro traveller, kuki

loves aether so much for an unexplainable reason. like he literally built dendro traveller with so much efforts <3

he's there for the lore.

AVOIDS GOING TO THE CHASM AND DRAGONSPINE LIKE THE PLAGUE.

is the only one that helps seungkwan out in domains.

doesn't get on co-op that often unless it's seungkwan.

takes his own sweet time in completing the archon quests insead of rushing head first into them.

if he can't complete a quest, he'd be on youtube IMMEDIATELY. if he fails the first time you are NOT gonna see him do it on his own the second time without a youtube guide.

"Oh...the chasm? You wanna go to the chasm? Ah...give me a sec, I need to use the bathroom real quick." *vernonline has left your world* (legend has it that he is still in the bathroom)

-> dino:

his team : eula, razor, hu tao, diona

always gets smacked left and right by the ruin hunter before he could dodge its attacks.

he loves lumine so much. He even has a lumine plushie.

loves getting on co-op mode with his members please he just enjoys playing with them so much <3333

he makes headcanons about the characters during his free time and gets so excited when someone asks him about it.

he WON'T stop talking about his headcanons.

sometimes he gets bored of the game but then remembers that he needs to get to the end to see how the story plays out.

anybody can join his world because this silly fool did not choose the ask before joining option. and then, he'll freak out when he sees another person in his world.

"OH MY GOD!?@*! WHO ARE YOU??? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??? WHAT????"

[curiouschaosstarlight]

For the ask game; 3, 11, and 16 (yes I just randomly generated these don't hold me responsible for which ones they chose)

(I'm gonna assign these Gensh 'cause why not)

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

I do not have and will not take a screenshot, but I think "everyone only woobifies Scaramouche because one piece of canon says he's nice to children, and they should stop writing" still pisses me off the most, genuinely. It's such a high-horse, full of shit take that you can only really have if you've been deliberately not paying any attention to canon. The ENTIRETY of Sumeru should have put this take in the ground where it belongs. And it ain't even the full tidbit of the thing being referenced either. I think you should honestly quit playing Gensh if you're not actually going to pay attention to the story and lore and get on a high-horse about how other people totes have it wrong. It's fine to have preferences for characters, but genuinely fuck off with the "any take I dislike is obviously wrong and shouldn't be written" shit.

11. number of fandom-related words you've filtered

Not-very-many, but that's because the lack of Gensh people I follow, so it tends not to be necessary. It's like...two or three things, currently? Could turn into more if I actually got more active (or if people would tag stuff I really don't like that doesn't really get tagged)

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Polite Answer: A few characters I personally find boring or un-engaging, some headcanons I'm really not into, and one version of a take on a ship that baffles me.

Detailed answer under the read more;

I really don't see the whole wide appeal of characters like Barbara, Noelle, Nilou, Kokomi, Mona...to me, they're all just kind of generically cute and sweet. (And one character I forgot I kind of genuinely despise, but I think I get the appeal so I don't think I can put her here...) I guess I can kind of get it, but the more people angrily try to say how great they are and complain about That Sort Of Take while putting down other characters like Itto, the less inclined I am to even try to like them, and the more resentful I get instead. I also have zero interest in the "pop idol" facet of Barbara's personality, and was more interested in her in the story when she was doing her priest/nun role, since I'm EXTREMELY used to "cutesy bubbly girl who sings" and not very used to "cute-but-serious nun" characters.

(Also call Barbara fucking minor-coded again and I will find a way to rip through this computer screen I swear to god)

Next would probably be Childe being some kind of confident playboy. I think that's born of the English dub exclusively, and has no fitting place in any genuine part of his personality. It's hard to explain, but he gives me way more of an Innocent But Violent Kid vibe, particularly with his devotion to the Tsaritsa. (No this isn't child-coding, this is a description of trauma stuff) And I find that much more fascinating. (Also very funny to think his sex education might be a little lacking if he had to learn from other Harbingers or something) Also I have NO idea why people like him saying "girlie" so much. In every other language, he's far more polite and essentially says some form of "miss", and I haaaaaaate when people call me "girlie" so, so much. That's just a personal pet peeve of mine. Can't trust english fandom with anything.

And basically, in general, if it's the english fandom's version of the character, I pretty much exclusively don't understand it or its appeal. The takes of people that only engage with the english dub and nothing else are generally pretty bad and way off the mark for actual characterizations, especially with things like the Harbingers.

While I've since remembered some ship takes I genuinely dislike a bit, one that baffles me endlessly is Kazuha/Wanderer; specifically the version where they make a lot of parallels between Kazuha and Niwa, but think it's BadWrong to ship Niwa/Wanderer. Like, friend, bud, amigo, chum, pal.......what? You're very, very close to just writing straight up Niwa/Wanderer, what's your problem, why are you complaining?

(...I also don't really get why so many people like Wanderer/Mona. I kinda sorta get the basis, but I also just...don't...like Mona, as previously mentioned, and I don't really know what's so compelling about those two together.)

I'd generally advise to take mmmost of these with a grain of salt. I'm the type of person that can be tricked into liking anything so long as you get me writing it for whatever reason.

But I WILL grow to hate things out of spite also, so. you know.

[sumerun]

sumeru archon quest act 2 appreciation post

HEAVY HEAVY spoilers warning, wall of text

note: i know the game said it wasn’t a time loop but for simplicity’s sake we’re keeping that phrase

honestly, i’m still riding the high of the archon quest so i will be very biased in my opinions LMAO. however from reading some friend’s and randoms’ opinions, i think we can all agree to a certain extent that this is one of the best if not the best archon quest to date. it’s such a mindfuck, wonderfully executed and so much more engaging. this is what inazuma should have been instead of the rushed mess that we got. i knew that the writing was going to improve bc MHY is no stranger to well-written stories (honkai, dainsleif’s and inazuma npc’s quests) but i certainly did not expect such drastic improvement this patch lmao.

first i want to go back and look at previous nations and why i hated the format of the missions. (to be fair i know that story-heavy live services games usually get better over time and not perfect the first few years but just using these points for comparison ;)). mondstadt and liyue, imo, is just there to set a foundation and test the waters. how the story was delivered was very boring. it’s pretty much: you walk here, read dialogue that most skip anyways, fight for 3 seconds, watch characters do the same 3 talking animation, cue cutscene, conclusion. look, i may be able to play visual novels for hours, but when i play genshin i expect something much more engaging than that okay lol. story is supposed to excite you, keep you immersed and encourage you to keep coming back to it. but i really didn’t feel that with mondstadt and liyue. most of the excitement were boss fights and cutscenes. if you asked me what happened in-between, i wouldn’t really remember much LMAO. inazuma was slightly better but followed a very similar format. i think we were all hyped from raiden shogun reveal and new region that we just kinda accepted whatever we got. Inazuma’s quests were better near the end with yae miko’s and raiden’s quest for certain though. building up to sumeru, we had a LOOOT of unanswered questions and no one seems to know or want to talk. this frustrated me a lot bc the only time we get to learn more about our sibling/khaenri’ah was through dain and that motherfucker appears like TWICE in the duration of one nation KJASEK. so as we enter sumeru we have a LOT of anticipation for something MORE, whether that’s through better quests or getting actual answers about the other sibling/abyss. inazuma is not completely flawed and is amazing in its own way but it should tell you a lot that I was already kinda done with the region by 2.4 ish.

now to actually talk about why i think act 2 was so good. i love time-loop like tropes ok? like a lot. it’s a complex trope to write and the audience can very easily get lost and frustrated trying to follow it. however, if developed with care, it’s extremely rewarding for both the writer and us pea brains gacha addicts. it’s not perfect as i think MHY could’ve done better than a “collective dream” as the reason for samsara. the conclusion was a tiny bit jarring with nilou being the host bc she barely appeared. but everything else was incredible. i appreciate that they tried to make that trope work within genshin’s lore. if anyone has ever watched madoka magica, i think it’s a great example of why time-loop like tropes are so good. simply, it’s disturbing. (madoka spoilers skip to next bold text if needed) the creator of madoka confirmed that homura has ran through at least 100 timelines to attempt to save madoka. when i watched it, i personally didn’t even get the hint that homura was stuck in a time-loop lmao. (end of spoilers). i like that the time-loop in genshin was similar to this. we sensed that something wack was going on. our memories are erased and we keep repeating the festival until the duo consistently retain their memories. nahida confirmed that they went through at least 20 time loops before realization. that is so eerie to me. i would legit question everything i ever knew about time and reality lmao. paranoia would overwhelm you and you can’t help but think if you’re truly of out the “dream”. if the duo wasn’t protected by plot armor, they could’ve been trapped there for an eternity. autonomy over your own life lost bc of some petty scholars. it’s that feeling of helplessness and trapped with no way out is what makes this quest so terrifying.

so that’s reason #1: time loop tropes are cool and it was executed well majority of the quest. reason #2: better audience engagement. aw man 100 chefs kiss to the teams that worked on this together. i don’t want to ramble but to summarize the following things really helped me stay engaged in the story:

- camera work: I might be very wrong there were some shot that utilizes actual camera techniques such as dutch angles and dolly zoom. subtle maybe but it was there. these are great for giving the feeling of uneasiness. and it was a great way to lead the audience too - dunyarzad: she was fleshed out very well! i was attached to her early on and even shed some tears during the dancing cutscene lmao she feels much more alive bc she had a purpose and relationships (nilou, dehya) that we care about. teppei lacked a lot of that and while i adored his character, i can’t deny that dunyarzad was more complex and believable - deduction mechanic: for once the player actively participates in the story!!!! it was so cool piecing things together. it helps making you feel like you’re a part of the mystery. aaaaanddd it confirms that the traveler is an established protagonist that actually speaks and not a piece of cardboard voiced by paimon. - battle of wits: we always see paimon solving issues via brute force but i think this is the first time we really get to watch them use their intelligence and observational skills to get out of this sticky situation. it was so refreshing to do a quest that was more mystery oriented. i definitely need more quests like this bc the dynamics/bonds between the duo truly shines here! - small little things such as art of young dunyarzad speaking to nahida, and mini-cutscenes of the duo time-looping to show quest progression. it helped liven the quest for me!

- traveler: traveler feels so much more human here. like I LOVED that they were mourning dunyarzad and angry at themselves for being unable to protect her. paimon has always spoken for them and we don’t really get to see traveler express their own thoughts and emotions a lot. I feel much more attached to the traveler bc of this imo. I’ve always seen them as a blank slate (and they are for the player but I see them more as an OC)

CONCLUSION

whether or not they're listening to our feedback regarding story (certainly not for character design oop), this is very exciting. i love the direction that they are going in in terms of storytelling and execution. this specific act is more story than action so it's possible that this gives MHY more leeway to be creative. but i'm gonna send them a fat feedback to make sure they keep some of the elements i mentioned bc i refuse to go back to the 40 minutes of pure dialogue and talking animations. the sumeru plot line has potential to be one of the best AND very dark thematically but will mhy actually do it??? we’ll find out in 3.1 and 3.2!

[fictionfixations]

Genshin Impact fic thoughts? idk man

okay so

im kinda tempted to write genshin fanfiction

i mean i probably wont because theres a whole lot of terms and locations i just dont remember off the top of my head- i mean we know the basics, archons and visions ofc, etc etc

but like.. aaAAAaa

ive also gotten more into it since the 3.1 update, and i recently got cyno and ive been building him--

uhm.

so basically i got a fixation on cyno and dottore (on an unrelated note, fuckin love cyno and alhathiams [i probably misspelled his name] dynamic)

i also recently read the genshin manga (including the i think last 3 chapters, which still havent been officially translated into english so fan translators, youre the best)

ackk

i really like collei too (apparently you got her for free last update!?? NOOOO- i didnt play then SOBS.)

no but anyways

LORE SPOILERS IG? idk man i dont know a lot but its still spoilers

i dont think cyno and dottore ever actually truly met and stuff blah blah blah i mean like- maybe they did? i dont know. I mean I know Cyno and Lisa were in the Akademiya together but idk if Dottore was there or not D:

I mean.

so

Cyno's like.. possessed by some godly ancient being that i dont know who- i mean hes possessed by something when he does his burst

what if Dottore's being all evil and shit

and Cyno notices that of course, because hes the general mahamatra thing and knows kinda a lot -? He's smart basically and notices when something is off

uh.. he registers Dottore as a threat to the people of Sumeru and attacks him- or well tries to take him down (id like to think hes a little impulsive. [id imagine Alhaitham would know him enough though to know that too and would hold him back sometimes. They have a hate-love friendship lmao] when maybe like someone he cares about is threatened-- well like he cares about everyone in Sumeru, and if everyones all scare-- OH IDEA IDEA)

okay so like

he just has a feeling that somethings not right, so he returns to Sumeru City (Thats what its called right?? i mean I know Port Ormos but theres the other one where we get our Akasha when we first enter, and has the Akademiya and I think the stage that Nilou was at)

The people don't seem like they're acting right but he brushes it off as possibly being paranoid, though notes it for later if something happens

He hears a cry. (I'd imagine he has better hearing? I don't know if I wanna count the ears on his helmet thing actual ears or just that, decorative things on the helmet thing)

Immediately, he pinpoints the location of where the cry is coming from and heads there. He's quiet though. As much as he'd like to rush there, it would be better to see the situation for himself and calculate a plan then.

He sees Dottore (wait would he know about the Fatui? I mean like everyone probably does- WAIT. okay so he helped Collei back in the manga and brought him to Sumeru. I'd imagine they'd get some understanding, and while he wouldn't push for her to tell him, I'd think one day she would. Well like he knows Dottore, but I think Collei only saw his old mask- she'd recognize the hair but it's not one of the things that would stand out the most, and she would probably point out the creepy mask- so cyno would not recognize Dottore.)

Dottore is saying something undiscernible but absolutely negatively to the crying child.

Cyno gets mad. His breath hitches at the sight and immediately gets into action, but Dottore expects this. It turns out to be like a fuckin plot and the child stops crying, because Dottore was doing the hallucination thought control thingy with the Akasha terminal

I'd imagine Dottore is powerful, not just in his brain, but he can fight well considering his status.

Cyno is still standing, yet he won't get anywhere, and the longer he takes, who knows what's happening to the kid- and he realizes that it's also happening to everyone else (I'd imagine not Cyno though- he isn't wearing the Akasha I think in Aaru village and I'd imagine this takes place somewhere during his self-imposed exile)

He uses his burst, and Dottore grins. "There it is."

In the end Cyno loses, mainly because Dottore uses a cheap trick, threatening the child. Death? No, that would be too merciful. He threatens to break the poor kids mind, never to be able to have a sane thought again, forced to go insane and lose his mind. It would be an interesting experimentation regardless.

actually whats dottores vision? I'm pretty sure he has one but idk if he uses it- probably not but still ;w;;; (theres just some cruelty with defeating vision wielders without one)

Dottore commends him on his fighting, but says that his technique is lacking a little

and then

uhhhh

i mean id imagine hed want to experiment or something on cyno because he is strong n stuff but like. how would he word it?

mans has only appeared in the actual game for like ONE cutscene and then oofed to nowhere land (i mean he'll probably appear in like the next update but still LMAO-)

[kyogre-blue]

Anonymous:

Same anon that made it to the epilogue and same! I really liked Durin's story & thought Albedo would play a bigger role in anything related to him. Instead Albedo shows up for a few minutes in the epilogue of all things just to mention that Durin's heart is acting up irl too and wants Wanderer to help him out in case Durin resurrects since he's besties with Mini-Durin and just…huh????? If they're gonna include Albedo, why not just have him be part of the main cast this time around? Nilou, Kirara & Navia have no relation and added absolutely nothing to the story! Why don't they ever use actually lore relevant characters?

I would guess it comes down to three things.

1) Characters are chosen based on their popularity. It seems like especially for this kind of seasonal event, the character participants are chosen based on some kind of popularity metrics.

It might seem weird, but Scaramouche seems to have been very popular with some crowd. That's why he gets stuff like the coffee collab in Korea. Nilou has a pretty impressive amount of fanart and I've heard many people talk about how pretty she is. And Navia... being from Fontaine they might have just assumed she'd be popular because she got so much screentime in the AQ, but it might just be that her role was left as largely blank until quite late in, when a few lines would be adjusted for her specifically. In fact, it's possible that's the case for all the characters.

2) Genshin has a fairly rigid roadmap for the lore reveals. They have a very clearly planned way of dripping out lore details, and right now they're pushing the Hexsquare to the front, so we get this event being determined ahead of time to focus on them.

3) Genshin writers are at minimum not very good and most likely not very creative. They've just never shown any capacity to work with the limitations of their situation, and they've also never shown any particular skill at writing characters or emotions.

So the end result is a cast of characters determined by some kind of analytics, stuffed into a storyline that must provide certain information, all being smoothed out into something baseline coherent by writers who lack the drive or skill or imagination to make it work for them.

Being realistic, Albedo was never going to have a major role because he's one of the most forgotten and mediocre units in the game, and he's already been relegated to the depths of Chronicled Wish. And being super cynical, even if he was here for real, he'd have maybe two lines with any personal touch in them because lbr none of the characters we did get had much to add about themselves in any of this, and neither would he.

...Well, I can complain a lot, but tbh... even if they did write a touching story about Scaramouche and Durin's newfound friendship, I wouldn't have read it either because I just do not care about Scaramouche and I don't want to start caring. The window of opportunity on that has long passed.

That's probably the crux of half my issues with Genshin. At this point, it's not possible for them to win, where I'm concerned, haha....

I made it to the epilogue of this year's Genshin summer event and just...man the audacity of this event's story writing. I'm so mad/disappointed even if it's par for the course at this point

:')

tbh I have been doing my best to leave the game to just play all scenes on auto, so I have very little idea what happens. I know Nilou is a fairy, Kirara is there, Navia is a queen and wants to help the toy people, and there's a dragon that is apparently Durin. And Scaramouche is the.... uuuuh hero? And then Durin turns into a very little, brightly colored drake (tfw when no arms) or something.

And then other characters cameo or something. I haven't finished some of the follow up quests yet, not sure whether I will.

I keep telling myself that all the primos I get here are primos I won't have to get from somewhere in Natlan.

But yeah, from what I've heard, I am not happy with this event. I really just do not like Scaramouche, and I don't care about his emotional journey or whatever, and for them to settle Durin's story like this feels deeply disappointing to me as someone who really liked him and Albedo.

[astrxlis-archive]

Hello again !! 😚 THANK YOU for your warm welcome Fox! <33 also the paragraphs are still duplicated in my side i do not know what's going on, but don't worry! Not much of a big deal 👌

THE MEMES too... You really took a fraction of your time to do the cake one😭 I probably am not around or maybe I am but not aware of it during that time. I'm doing alright! (i do not know my true state tbh 😅) I could say that, but really I don't think I actually am because it's really difficult to do work now, given that this so-called Executive Dysfunction is affecting me so much (ᗒᗩᗕ) OH SCARAMOUCHE! I definitely am not aware that i have said to dislike him however i'm very very glad to have my ideas help you!! I look forward to the xingqiu theme in October! 👀

Sumeru is such a cozy place, I agree with that! The enemies are great for me too, so many variety of mushrooms + eremites! I did have finished the archon quest available, due to needing to unlock reputation immediately to start progress~ it was great, Nahida is well written and I hope you'd love her too! The only concern i have is that she looks like a radish 😆 I have also finished the Aranyaka quest, it was long but it was meant to be that. I love Aranaras so much :3

Hello fellow kazuha haver~ I feel the same about getting tighnari because of the difficulties i'm having in exploring sumeru. Goodluck on getting Scaramouche too (early pity hopefully) <3 ACTUALLY I was thinking of pulling for scaramouche for funsies only, since i have ei and kazuha. But then another thing that prevents me from doing so is that i barely have built my anemo characters properly with a 4 pc VV,,, i am wondering as well if you're interested in getting candace? She's a definite yes to me given that she's a four star, but we'll see what happens! Nilou's skills are really beautiful, AND CYNO. Cyno's like the Ayaka or Xiao of Sumeru. They're beautiful, but I am f2p .......

May you get some proper rest during your gap semester Fox!! Take your nice break and make the best of it from uni for a while 💕 The heavy things that will come later on during the year isn't yet happening, however if i were to be honest... It is really overwhelming even if it doesn't scare me due to not functioning as a student at this point *sweats* I'm still trying ☺️ i also wanted to share that im seeing study posts around social media, making me think if it's a sign of anything 🤔

so i didnt knew this is getting long but it cant be compared to the long ass messages we've exchanged with each other before xD True about writing,... 5 years.. that's a lot!! I definitely enjoyed your ramblings, I liked reading it! I'm not supposed to reply to everything but I have lots of things to say for each so i cant not reply! Hehe.

— 🍰.

hewwo 🍰!!!

no dude no need to thank me❣️i tried to fix that but gave up; hopefully this one won't give me issues.

ofc i did!! i thought you'd find it a little funny too 😂 also, no worries!! i'm,,,, not sure if i should say i'm glad you're alright or not?? kfndjdnd but here, have a hug, i know exactly how much executive dysfunction can mess you up 🥴 are you back on meds or gave up?

i'm pretty sure you did when we were talking abt the irodori festival lore, but i don't remember if i replies to that ask or not... i still have three asks from july (rip) in my inbox. i'm really sorry abt that 😥

is it bad that i laughed about the nahida comment? i feel like it is but it's still funny jdndjsn i'm taking it slow, enjoying the events instead of rushing through the quests, but i'll let you know when i finish the archon one. i unlocked vanarana yesterday, and dude. i wanna squish the aranaras so much. they're so cute but so trusting it makes me worry for them so much— ��🥹🥹

hello~ did you get any kazuha constellations too or just him at C0? i lost my tighnari 50/50 to diluc. he's benched. that's all i have to say. and thank you!! i really do hope he comes home early. he has no choice since i'm guaranteed now. :)

dude if i show my anemo "builds" i think it might make you feel better about yours 🤧 to think i main an anemo character... i'm sorry xiao.......

hmmm... i'll wait to see how well i adapt to her fighting style, but by looks alone, i'm very excited to get her as well hehe speaking of four stars, what did you think of heizou? cyno (dreamy sigh).... please come home to me on your rerun...... i've been interested in him since i read the comics, and his skills........ and his idle animations too 🫣 i haven't seen about nilou, so i can't comment 🥲

i'm doing my best to enjoy my break 💖 only recently i've started to feel like i can relax, so that's good. yeah, i would take that as i sign, but that's just me 😂 school is overwhelming, and i hope you have a good support system with you 🥺 and if it's worth anything, i'm here to encourage you or just hand out if you need a break!

kfnskabja don't worry about it!! 5 years... is it a long time though? seems so little to me. maybe it's my old age........... jokes aside, i'm glad you're so thoughtful about the things i say and in your replies 💕