#no big game will ever have this much reference and inspiration from SWANA/MENA

[nicebonescomrades]

Sumeru's world quests will never be matched, I'm afraid. Genuinely my favourite world quests out of everything else Genshin has written because Jeht's growth was so lovely to witness, the scenery of the desert is also so beautiful and the fact we are directly changing the environment? I love it. King Deshret and Nabu Malikata's lore is 100/10, the eternal oasis and the entirety of the Realm of Farakhkert are visually so stunning? And the sandstorm in the Desert of Hadramaveth is so intimidating to look at in such a good way. But back to the world quests, seeing Jeht say goodbye to her parents in the eternal oasis and then after the Tanit's betrayal when we are taking a walk with her? Some of my favourite moments istg. On the other hand, the Khvarena of Good and Evil is a masterpiece, so many of the terms and stories and names are things I've grown up with and seeing them in the game made me so happy? To see all the Zoroastrianism references when it's a religion that is dying in its own country made me so unbelievably happy, not to mention the exploration of the area was 10/10 and I still spend most of my time there even if I have it all at 100%. Nilou, too, was one of my all time favorite characters for one reason only: her dancing in front of the Akademiya when it's illegal is such a huge parallel to the iranian women that dance in the streets of Iran in retaliation to the oppression they face

Anyways, while Genshin's character designs and skin diversity could have been so, so so much better, there's no denying the sheer amount of research that went into the environment and the world quests.