#some people. still. haven't. played Sumeru?

[gachaparadise]

I didn't realize world quests release in parts just like the main story, I thought I could finish this whole thing today noooo

I'm so going to forget all the lore between now and when part 2 releases orz

[arisewanekosuki]

Traveler's little helper: Mondstadt

Albedo, Bennett, Diluc, Kaeya, Mika, Razor, Venti x Fem! Reader Teyvat , Liyue , Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontaine --------------------

🧡 Albedo at first seemed to be interested in only Aether. He did some tests with Traveler, but then when he heard that you’re not from this world too and you share some special ‘connection’ with Aether, you piqued his interest as well. One time he took you somewhere in the forest and was waiting if Aether will be able to immediately find you. The result: Aether can't find you but you know where Aether is. He wanted to do many experiments but when you said that you’re tired he stopped with them… for some time at least. Albedo thinks that relationships are quite troublesome but he never felt that way with you and Aether. Even if you haven't seen each other in a while, you always greet him and talk to him as if you saw him yesterday and for that Albedo is grateful. He started to like when you ask him what he is doing and being genuinely interested, even if sometimes he sees that you don't understand him but that’s not a problem, he doesn't mind to explain in a way that you can understand what he’s doing. He doesn't know when he started to enjoy holding your hands while guiding them, when you decided to help him with experiments or when he started to sketch you more and more when you two were at the same place. He felt very happy when you invited him to Serenitea Pot and even prepared room where he can continue his experiments. He is wondering why he feels like that around you, from what he knew, that meant that he fancy you but why is that? What did you do to make him interested in you that way? So he started do some tests to understand better his feelings towards you. The only shame is that there are more and more people who practically fight for your time and attention but as long as Klee is on his side, there are many opportunities to spend more time with you. After all, Klee adores you too and he knows that you can't say ‘no’ to his little sister puppy eyes. One time Klee wanted to do some roleplaying, she was a Mage, you were a Knight, and Albedo was a Prince. Your and Klee's mission was to save the Prince from scary Dragon. It was fun, Albedo didn't mind to play along with his sister but what he didn't expect was when Klee said that the dragon cursed him and only the kiss of true love can save him. He will never forget how flustered you were after hearing this and how your lips felt on his cheek (even if it was a quick, little peck).

❤ Bennett is grateful that Aether, you and Paimon didn’t get scared of his bad luck. Even if you tell him that’s not his fault when something bad happens, he still feels bad. But the most things that makes him happy is how often you invite him for some adventures! At first he wanted to decline (even if deep inside he really wanted to go) because he was worried that his bad luck will ruin everything but you just smiled and took his hand, making him feel so warm inside. You told him that this adventure won’t be fun without him. He remembers how he almost cried after hearing this. Bennett likes when in team there are people he knows from his homeland, but sometimes there is him and people from other nations, your other friends, sometimes he feels intimidated by them. The worst day was when his bad luck activated and he tripped, falling at you, you were reassuring him that nothing happened and to not worry about it but he could feel at least one person glaring into back of his head. If a look could kill he would surely been dead after you hugged him to reassuring him again that everything is okay. Bennett will never forgive himself if something serious will happen to you because of him. You said that you can get hurt here but nothing more serious can’t happen to you. As long as nothing happen to Aether, the powers of ‘connection’ you have with Aether will always protect you from the worst case scenarios. Paimon and Aether heard when you told Bennett about that, and Paimon couldn't help but ask you if that’s really true. You wanted to jump from the cliff to prove it but both boys stopped you before you could do that (with Bennett almost slipping himself from cliff, but gladly you and Aether caught him before disaster happened). Of course Paimon got so scared for you wellbeing and said to never try to prove something like that ever again. There are some times when he’s pretty lucky, sometimes he wonder if this is because of you…. and maybe Aether. The thing Bennett like to do sometimes is talking how wonderful person you are to Razor. Razor likes you too so the two boys will chat sometimes away about you and how they want to spend day with you, not realizing that the admiration may start to blossom into something more.

❤ When you all tried to save Dvalin, Diluc wondered why Aether is taking you with them, you can’t fight, Paimon can’t fight either but at least she can fly and hide in her dimension but you? It was too dangerous for you. Diluc paid more attention to you just to be sure you won’t get hurt, but you are aware of dangers, when there was a fight, you stood somewhere save. You may not fight but you can heal their wounds and it felt like Aether is getting stronger when you are by his side. He acknowledge that you are very courageous and he like how much you wanted to help Mondstadt and save Dvalin. After everything was done and Mondstadt was save, you told him, that whenever he wishes he can always join to your little team. He declined at first, but after that day, when you helped him to keep a secret of his Darknight Hero side, he decided to give it try and go with you and Aether. He remembers the first time you bring mora, Agnidus Agate Fragments, Small Lamp Glasses, Everflame Seed and… Fatui’s Recruit's Insignias? He asked why you need those things for but you just smiled and told him that those things are needed to make him stronger. All those things vanished and your hands started to glow, you took his hands in yours and hold for a moment. You asked with a smile if he feel stronger and he did. He never seen or heard about such magic or alchemy. You can always count on Diluc, whenever in fight or when weather gets bad. It starts to rain? Don't worry, suddenly there is umbrella covering your head. Are you cold? Diluc puts his coat on your shoulders. You didn’t see that but Aether did, how Diluc's ears become slightly red, in moments like this. You would always be welcome in his manor, sometimes you watch how he and Aether play against each other in chess, sometimes you play with him. There are times when you help him collect grapes, other times he finds you running around the Dawn Winery trying to catch Crystalflies. He can’t help but always smile at moments like this. He wants to protect your well being, your smile. He trust Aether but sometimes he wonders why Aether takes you to such dangerous places, but you want to go, you always follow Traveler. If only he could always follow you too and make sure that you'll always be safe. Before he realized, you became someone important to him.

🤍 Your reactions, faces you make when Kaeya flirts or he compliments you, amuses him. You’re so adorable. But you’re not only one who brings him entertainment. Aether makes interesting faces too, when he sees you getting all shy just because Kaeya complimented you. But he must watch out to not cross the line, after all he wouldn’t want to be hated by Honorary Knight and not being able to see you again. He can’t help but notice how many guys started to like you, and how much Aether hates it. One time he said ‘You’re very popular aren’t you?’ and you, with confusion, just looked at him, titling your head, replying ‘Isn’t Aether the popular one? After all he is the one helping others!’. Kaeya only smiled and petted your head, it seems you are not aware of how many guys become interested in you in that way. At first you were just a friend, he would flirt with you just to see yours and other guys reactions, for fun (mostly Diluc and Aether, sometimes even Albedo) but even he started to like you more and more. They way you smile towards him, make him stronger, always saying how you trust him. You meet so many wonderful people and yet you always remember about him, inviting him to go with you and Aether for small adventure or just spending time with him. He couldn't help but be happy when he was one of the firsts to get invitation to your Tea Pot, whenever he feels lonely he can go to Traveler's 'house' where there are many people and mostly you. Even if you now visiting other nation, he can still see you. When he is free he loves sit in your room (alone or sometimes with some other people) and listen what you and Aether were up to.  You’re supposed to be just friend, but even he can’t help but wish for something more with you. The competition is big and it’s still getting bigger, not only that but he knows that his brother feels something more towards you. Why would you choose him anyway? But even so, he still wants to be helpful to you. He hopes you'll forgive him his selfishness when he comes to your room at night, wanting to just talk with you, to not sit alone in his room when he feels a bit lonely.  Even if you’re sleepy, you still try to stay awake just to talk to him, in this moments he can’t help but feel that maybe he is important to you the same you are to him.

🤍 Mika feels embarrassment when he remembers the first day you two meet. He is shy person and he got overwhelmed when the famous Hero of Mondstadt approached him, you were trying to talk with him but he couldn’t help but to excuse himself and run away. And Mika is grateful how understanding and patient you are with him and thanks to that he quickly got comfortable with you. You invited him to travel with you and Aether when he have time, of course, when he had some time for himself, he decided to join to you both. He was excited to where you are going to take him! Most of the time Mika doesn't mind which of your friends will join but he can’t help but feel intimidated by some of them. Especially it’s hard for him to get along with the ones who always charge at enemies without any plan. At moments like this you always smile and tell him to not worry, as long as he is here, everything will be alright. Mika was happy when he got invited into Teapot, when he would stays the night, in the morning you can expect to see breakfast made by him. Even if you told him that he doesn't have to make breakfast for you, he will always insist that’s not the problem. Sometimes you find him cooking along with Thoma, both of them getting along pretty well. There was one time when he wanted to camp in Realm Within, you thought it will be fun so you joined him. You both had fun with preparing the tent and other necessities, cooking together. You told him about your and Aether adventures before you two met. Mika adores listening to you, just hearing your voice makes him happy. When you're sad because you can’t fight alongside Aether and others, Mika will always say that you're important in team too! "You always make sure that nothing bad happens and even when someone gets hurt you immediately take care of their wounds! You make me and others stronger, you’re always supportive and you always know how to raise team morale!! You’re amazing (Y/n)!! I can’t even imagine to not travel with you anymore!” said Mika, you were surprised but then you smiled and thanked him. His cheeks got red after he realized what he said and his heart started beating faster. He only wish to be still helpful to you…. And Aether of course.

💜 For Razor you and Aether are his Lupical. That’s simple and yet Razor is wondering why he prefers when you are the one to help him brush his hair than his Teacher. Why he feels more protective over you. He tried to think that’s maybe it’s because you can’t fight, but then Aether is there to protect you too and he trust Aether and yet he can’t help it to always stay in front you when enemy is nearby. Razor always tries his best when it comes to fight. He enjoys when you praise him or when your warm hand pet his head or when you hug him. You always make him feel so 'warm and fluffy' inside. Razor world is simple and yet sometimes it feels… complicated, especially now. He doesn’t like when there are people in group that he doesn’t know. He knows he has trouble with speaking and because of that he often don’t know how to express himself. Sometimes he feels worse because of those other guys who are much stronger and better than him. And yet you always appreciate his help or still wants to spend time with him. You don’t mind his short sentences, you can be the one who talks or you two just sit in comfortable silence. Razor couldn’t help but notice how you like to look (and try to touch) fluffy ears and tails of those two guys from other nations, he wonders if he had wolf ears would you like to pet them too? But for now he will enjoy whenever you help him wash and brush his hair. Lisa of course noticed how Razor behave around you and how protective he is, she find it cute. So she decided to help him, telling him how he should compliment you or get you some nice flowers. It was fun for her to see you being flustered with sudden compliments that you didn’t expect from Razor. Of course when you learned it’s Lisa who told him to say those things, you scolded her, you said she shouldn’t make Razor do things he doesn’t want to do. She only sighed, she now understand what Kaeya meant that you’re dense when it comes to noticing other people feelings towards you. Razor likes how you smell, it always brings him comfort, he feels that everything will be alright as long as he is by your side. So for you, he will become stronger to make sure nothing ever bad happens to you. After all, it’s because you’re his Lupical, right?

💚💙 The Anemo Archon, Barbatos or mostly know to everyone as Venti didn’t expect that one day he will find someone who he will fancy. It wasn’t love at first sight, no, it just came like a wind from nowhere, when you were just spending time together more and more with each other. The thing that made him see you in different way happened the day when you scolded him for drinking too much. The two of you were sitting in front Angel Share alone, Aether went with Paimon to get some supplies. You held onto his hand and with serious face you said that he shouldn’t drink his worries away, that you’re here to listen to him, if he wish he can even cry, you won’t judge him nor laugh at him. That was a moment Venti started to think if he really should tell you some of his worries, of his sorrows from the past. Before he could even say anything you got up from the chair and approached him. You held him in your arms, his head on your chest, letting him hear your heartbeat. “Archon, Wind wisp, Dragon, Human, no matter what you are or who you are… if I consider you my friend I only wish for happiness for you, so please remember, I’m here for you too when you feel sad or lonely.” Before you noticed, Venti vanished from your arms, you got worried if you crossed the line and upset him. But the truth was he didn’t wanted you nor Aether ,who was coming back, to see him crying. After some days, he came back like nothing happened that day. Venti was so happy that you offered one of the rooms for him in Tea Pot, where the two of you can spend time together and sing. Venti loves when you sing, whenever you are good or not, he doesn’t care. He would teach you some songs from Teyvat so the two of you can sing together. This is the best way for him to relax with you. One time Venti got in the mood to try make you his disciple, he said that he need one small offering from you, his face getting dangerously close to you. But before anything could happened Aether came from nowhere and hide you behind him from the Anemo Archon. Venti was laughing and Aether just glared at him. Venti doesn’t mind other competition… but for some reason the only one he can’t stand at all is Geo Archon.  So whenever you spend some time with Zhongli you can be sure that Venti is going to join you both. After all he doesn’t want his 'Windblume' to be alone with ‘old block-head’. ------- Thank you for reading till the end! (^ v ^)/)

[iloveyanderes]

Moreeeeee yandere genshin impact ideas. It's been quite a while and I haven't kept up with the lore as much as I should so forgive me if there's any lore errors.

(I realize now that this first one isn't really yandere but can be seen as soft yandere if you squint)

1.Everyone knows that the tsaritsa is the goddess of love and that she no longer has any left for her people. What if before celestia attacked kheanrhia she met a female nymph in sumeru who she quickly fell in love with due to their kindness and selflessness. Nymph reader is the younger sister of the dendro archon and the goddess of flowers. Nymph reader has nothing but kindness in her heart so when the icy tsaritsa approached her she welcomed the snow queen with open arms. Nymph reader however was far too kind for her own good so when the great archon war took place she sacrificed herself in order to save the civilians of sumeru. For years the tsaritsa was heartbroken and filled with hatred no where to go. She could attack the citizens of sumeru as that's what nymph reader gave her life to protect she also couldn't attack the other gods as they are stronger than her. So it was left deep in her heart, a growing rage with no outlet, growing with enough might to challenge any fire.

But then, she learned something. Celestia, those heavenly principles pulled some strings to get the nymph reader killed. Something about punishing them for interfering when they tried to imprison a pair of "golden twins".

And just like that the tsaritsa now had something reasonable to throw her anger it. The fear of something being stronger than her no longer remained. So she created the fatui, sealed off her heart, and set off to find the gnosis. Love didn't matter anymore the only thing that did was revenge, the sweet fiery cold of revenge.

So basically the tsaritsa was known as the goddess of love because of her undying intense love to nymph reader, her subjects followed her lead, becoming just as heartbroken when celestia robbed them of a flower.

There would be two route for this. One would be that the tsaritsa happens to come across a 20 year old girl who looks identical to nymph reader, this human girl would either be a distant relative or their reincarnation. It doesn't matter because the tsaritsa instantly kidnaps them, trapping them in a flower garden and drowning them with the very flowers nymph reader gave them in a desperate attempt to make this girl look more like nymph reader. Eventually deluding herself into believing this is nymph reader. Celestia still is enemy number one but the tsaritsa finally has her love again.

The second route would be that the tsaritsa goes on with her plans never meeting that girl eventually getting defeated by the traveller, realizing everything they've done she chooses to die because that'd be better than living more knowing that nymph reader would hate her for what's shes becomes. For a sweet ending the tsaritsa and nymph reader would reincarnate on a little planet called earth(without there memories) and meet again, fall in love, get married and enjoy their happily ever after.

I love this idea because it plays on the Grumpy x sunshine, flower x snowflake, winter/fall x spring/summer, and the most important: TRAGIC YURI, hoyoverse especially knows that there's nothing better than tragic yuri(cough Kiana x mei cough cough the pink lesbian goddess Elysia cough cough everything to do with jyahnar cough)

2. There's two versions of the one, one where the reader is an idol or popstar, and the other where the reader is the goddess of the moon so I might as well combine them. Let's call this reader Celene because righting the name reader is getting kind of annoying. Celene is the goddess of the moon and the backbone of Fontaine. Everyone one adores and worships the ground she walks on. However she has two personas that she takes on. Her duties as the goddess of the moon is to keep the waters running. Being the living embodiment of the moon it's her the keeps the tide moving, has that magnetic pull that allows water to be so powerful. Water quite literally means nothing without her, even that little hydro dragon whose name is a little to difficult for me would be powerless without her. Then her persona as a famous pop idol in Fontaine, who is the best singer in all of teyvat. The two of Celene's personas have one thing in common: they're people pleases. As a god she gives the worshipers what the want even if she have to rip her skin off to please them and as an idol she will stop at nothing to give the audience what they want autographs meet and greet sessions, private concerts. Celene is the type of girl to give everyone what they want as it's the duty that's been slapped onto them ever since the moon rose just for them. You know the monster high movie called boo York where Cleo decides to give the people what they want, it's that kind of scenario. Celene gives to the people as they demand, even if all they do is take take take take take take take take and take, they're quite literally obsessed with her, magnetic to her. Just like how the water is magnetic to the moon.

This is inspired by that one quote that I think? Has to do with that one book about a rainbow fish giving up all its scales. "I can give away all my flesh and still be called selfish for refusing to give my bones" except everyone is obsessed and wants to take any part of you.

3.small one maybe a bit suggestive but platonic yandere house of the hearth x mother reader. Your the assistant to arlecchino whose been dubbed the 'father' so you jokingly called yourself the 'mother' and the kids were like; mommy🥹 unlike the kids who are platonic yandere arlecchino is anything but. They have romantic feels towards the reader so seeing their children call the ready mum they got an idea to truly make the reader 'mommy' arlecchino goes up to the reader and tells them that if they want to be mom they have to follow the typical gender roles, which then of course leads to arlecchino absolutely dominating the reader in you know what, Turning her into an obedient little housewife whose goal was to please her husband. (I don't like writing smut so I rushed this sorry)

4. Baby dragon reader! Perfect fodder for mommy hydro dragon......

5.yandere childe x skirk apprentice reader who either chose to stay in the abyss or run the fuck away from him. He hunts them down to the face of the earth and continually fights more and more powerful thing to get away from him and you know Tartaglia he really really likes powerful woman,😉

6.herrscher reader x yandere everyone in teyvat. Reader is just trying to kill everyone with the power of the honkai and is so confused when everyone is just confessing their love to them or trying to kidnap them.

[beanmaster-pika]

Hello!! I just read ur fic, The Shoot of Conscious Attainment (at least i hope this is the same person? I only looked up the username), and i wanted to tell u how much i absolutely loved it!!

First of all, I'm a big Venti & Nahida enjoyer myself and it's criminal they haven't yet interacted in-game. Ur fic scratched a very particular itch and im so so glad i found it!! It also helped a lot that they were so in character, it really felt like official content. Their interaction was everything i wanted to see and more!!

The prose itself was very beautiful, especially from Nahida's inner monologue. The play on "old-new" and "unfamiliar-familiar" in regards to Venti was absolutely delicious. And the description of Nahida's hands, specifically the "five hundred years of childhood" part has me in a chokehold. U did such an amazing job portraying her feelings and the smallness she experiences it's unreal.

And obviously Venti himself was glorious, from the wind cuddling to the holding back physical affection until Nahida initiated it. So so good, all of it.

It was really just very enjoyable overall and i liked it a lot!! If i could give it multiple Kudos i would. Loved, loved, loved it!! Thank u for writing it and for sharing it with the world 💖

Aaaaaaaaa thank you so much this is so nice!!!! Always wonderful to meet a fellow Venti & Nahida fan ^^ I'm honored you enjoyed it and thought they were in-character!! I'm glad you liked the prose too!!

My characterization of Nahida draws in part from reading heartslogos (the god of Sumeru fics. To me) fics around the time I wrote this if you're ever on the hunt for recs 👀They wrote some incredible Nahida-centric ones a couple years ago, and I'm glad I was able to channel that energy and have it come through! Even if she's one of if not the smartest people in the world and 500 years old, she still lived those centuries as a bird in a cage that prevented her from growing. I hope that in between her archon duties, she now gets to experience a real childhood and explore the world and ultimately grow up happy :')

One of the sad things about Rukkhadevata being erased from Irminsul is that Nahida doesn't just have big shoes to fill but big shoes that she already supposedly filled before. Poor radish. Trying to live up to a standard you've set yourself and being unsure if you can do it again is a different sort of torment from trying to live up to your predecessor.

I am glad also that you enjoyed Venti's portrayal, the wind cuddles were something self-indulgent that I wrote for Me so I'm glad others actually like them 🙏 In part because he's nervous about meeting Nahida and doesn't want to make her uncomfortable but also he's an affectionate person!! He's fifty percent mischief but the other fifty percent is love!! and also because I am just. Endlessly fascinated by his connection with the wind. He is the wind itself. It's like an extension of him, but without the solid physicality that actually tethers it to him if that makes any sense.

Anyways! Thank you for reading it and sharing your thoughts with me!!!! 💗 (and for leaving kudos) I'm happy that you liked it enough to say all this!

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

Fontaine and Natlan Archon Quest Thoughts

I haven't played Genshin in over a year and I just got back into it. So, I had to speed run all the archon quests in order to feel like I can manage the insane amount of quests I have to do. Let me tell you, the Fontaine Archon quest line might just be my favorite in the entire game (my prev fave was Sumeru). But wow, Fontaine really stepped it up from the scale of the story to the characters.

The first part of the archon quest involves an incident at magician Lyney's show, leading to his trial for the disappearance of a woman. This later connected to another case in which women were disappearing from all over. I really loved how the story neatly transitioned from the small scale of Lyney's trial to the overarching case. It was honestly very intriguing and I really enjoyed the game mechanic of playing lawyer. Furthermore, the quests did a great job involving the various characters. Although Navia initially starts off as someone helping us defend Lyney, she becomes an integral part of finding out who kidnapped all those women. Her story about her father also was very heartfelt and Navia is easily one of my new favorite characters. Plus, Silver and Melus are awesome. The eventual reveal about Marcel and what he did was genuinely chilling.

Once we wrapped up the missing women case, Neuvillette has the player investigate something for him. This leads us to the Fortress of Meropide which is honestly such a cool location. The music and sound design really has stuck with me (and it finally got me off the ear worm that was Sumeru's music bc I think I spent too much time in that place; thanks Kaveh). Anyways, although we were stuck there for a while, it never felt boring. Wriothesely and the people that lived there set up a very interesting community. This is eventually culminated in the primordial sea breaking through its containment.

The third part of the archon quest involves Furina's trial as being a false archon and the fated prophecy of Fontaine. I think this archon quest excels so much is because you have that underlying prophecy connecting everything. Lyney's trial involved a women who went missing. The eventual reveal showed us that she was dissolved per the prophecy's words. In the Fortress of Meropide, the primordial sea almost kills everyone. We also learn that smaller amounts of the water can be made into a drug. Even Childe got some more lore reveal in connection to the sea. When it all comes together for Furina's trial, it hits so hard. This girl has spent hundreds of years acting as the archon and trying to protect her people, using a facade to create a sense of security. But in reality, she's not ok, the prophecy is still fated to take place, and Furina is very lost. It's heartbreaking.

In truth, Furina is the human side to Focalors. Focalors herself put her consciousness in the Oratrice. She tells Neuvillette the truth about the previous Hyrdo Archon, the revelation about the Fontainian people, and what she did in order to try and stop the prophecy. Furthermore, we learn a lot about Neuvillette and who he truly is. (Btw, this beautifully connects to his story and journey about belonging). Everything, in my opinion, is so well written and you really begin to feel for these characters. Both Neuvillette and Furina have such compelling and tragic stories which the archon quest beautifully highlights. Overall, just phenomenal.

And that's not even going into everything with Arlecchino. I wound up really, really loving her involvement in the story, the lore behind the House of the Hearth, and her boss fight in her story quest. She's a fascinating character and I look forward to seeing her again in future content. It also adds depth of Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet. They're fatui via due to the House of the Hearth, but they're not malicious like other Fatui characters the Traveler has encountered. I love all three of them very much and their sibling bond is very heartfelt.

That's not to mention all the other amazing characters like Clorinde, Sigewinne, the other Melusines, and Charlotte.

I loved this quest, can't you tell?

Natlan time. Spoilers because it's still quite recent.

We're still early in the Natlan archon quests but it didn't grab me as much as Fontaine's did. Overall, it was good and there's still more to come. I think the strengths for me came from the characters. Kachina is a very endearing kid and you genuinely want to help her out and do the Pilgrimage (at least I wanted to). Mualani is very kind and positive. I loved her right away and pulled for her even though I just got back into the game. She's awesome. Kinich is cool. I need to go back and watch his cutscenes at some point. I don't like Ajaw though. I wanna yeet that thing.

The Pilgrimage itself was pretty fun and I loved the teamwork with Kachina and Mualani. I enjoyed going around Natlan as well and seeing Mualani's home. After the Pilgrimage, Kachina is unable to be resurrected and we have to go into the Night Kingdom in order to save her. The design of the place was really cool and I like the distinction between the Night Kingdom monsters and regular ones. The souls who wander were also really spooky when they came at you. Overall, I liked the aesthetic of Natlan and its characters.

Where it kinda fell flat for me was with Mavuika and Capitano. I like her as a character and how Natlan chooses a different Pyro Archon ever couple hundred years or so. However, it feels like Capitano kinda shows up out of nowhere. I was really excited for the fight scene between them and it looked really cool. But it happens so fast that I wish we got a little more build up to it. The Abyss is the prime antagonist of Natlan and Capitano kinda just manifests. I really thought we were going to get a scene were Mavuika meets the Traveler and then Capitano arrives. Like, we barely know Mavuika because she's just sitting there for the first archon quest. I really didn't feel much when she and Capitano fought. She looked really cool, but I think we needed a bit more. Anyone else feel slightly underwhelmed?

There was so much hype in the trailer and it then it comes and goes by so quick. At least Capitano is sticking around for now. Perhaps this will all hit different once we get the rest of the Archon Quests in the Natlan storyline. I also wonder what the power levels are since Capitano, Dottore, and Columbina are supposed to have power that of a god. Mavuika I think has the same thing since she's a human who was granted divinity.

That's just me though.

I am very much looking forward to what's coming next and how Natlan will stave off the Abyss before it's entirely consumed by it. (I just realized this is very similar to Fontaine and Sumeru. All three nations are plagued by some sort of supernatural event that will destroy them, whether it's the withering, the primordial sea, or the Abyss. Hopefully, Snezhnaya will be different.

Anyways, those are my thoughts on the everything right now. I love the characters and Fontaine Archon quest went so hard.

[ouchieouchfuckers]

So I played through 5.0 and I have a bunch of basics theories (?) so far. (I might fix some things later)

Time block theory confirmed as Mavuika herself thinks past present and future all exists at the same time. For furter proof we had Ei storyline and Scaramouche with is irminsol fuckery (also the whole irminsul/leylines fuckery as they are basically the tracks for the preset future), also Enkanomia and tsurumi. Ancient names seems to work in this way, either way names in teyvat are extremely important.

Small note I also think that the illusions Venti can create are actually images taken from a different time/space given his connection to istarot.

Time and wind, music, dreams, names and constellation are the main themes here presents in every nation and in every main quest. (FUCKIN BARBATOS TELL ME YOUR SECRETS)

The lume of fate is basically a way to create a different future. (Confirmed?)

The archons take power (stolen from the dragons sovereigns) from the heavenly thrones and everyone with a vision or with an elemental affinity can become one. (Confirmed?) So the archons never needed the gnosis (Venti u fucker), they basically aways consisted as an aid for humanity (like training wheels on a bicicle) but the question is was it the archons choice or did celestia choose them because they were the best options for humans? In all of our travels we see the concept of good and evil constantly more blurred and that's probably the point of our journey so.

Where exactly is Chasca from? Because she as the same ears as Klee (and probably Alice). I'd say dragon descendants (as honkai star rail is in the same universe and have many key elements in common), or outlander like the traveler (the concept of outlander often seems to me intended as people born in teyvat but not under the gaze of celestia and not only outside of that world). Also is mentioned like she's that tipe of person who enjoy fighting (Childe abissal vibes here), Klee's definitely not calm.

I was also thinking about seelies because they are an important piece of information we don't know enough about (even after sumeru I just have more questions) and the olny seelie we saw in natlan was in the night kingdom.

So wishful thinking il Capitano could be an ancient name bearer maybe even an original one.i mean it's not like we haven't already seen the fatui cooperating even if he's would probably be a forceful one. (It's probably not happening but I really want it to)

And for last Mavuika is Kaveh's ancestor, honestly we all memed about it but she actually said that her sister became an architect and an artist, in her vision she said she wanted to find a way to find her again, she could has well have left a progeny but they don't know because people who leave natlan have memory issues. (Far fetched theory but worth for the meme)

Where's my mondstat expansion? There's no coincidence in the fact that the closest people to khaenri'ah are basically all there (we found paimon there). And what about sumeru? We still have all this lore about king deshret but I feel like something is still unexplored. Zhongli I lost all my 50/50 to get you but when I do I'll burn your non disclosure agreement.

Dainslef I love u plz come back if you tell me your secrets I'll never have a tragic breakup with you like my sibling did.

[nogenderbee]

Accidental body-swap with Albedo, Tighnari

Albedo always warned you how his experiments can be dangerous and today's one was supposed to be extremely dangerous when 2 people are around so he got something to focus your attention on in hopes you won't be bored. Of course he placed you next to a fireplace and gave you a blanket, and overally anything you'd need.

But he was taking a really long time. He said it can take him some time but it's literally getting dark outside and you were getting worried, so you decided to check on your lover. At first you knocked softly but when you didn't received the answer you came in and peeked behind your boyfriend which scared him a little and made him add more ingredient than he wanted to his potion, and shortly after, white light blinded you, and once it stopped, you were in you boyfriend's body.

"YN, why did you come in here? I told you not to do it."

"Sorry, I was just worried about you..."

"I can see that, I haven't came out in a while so I guess it's partially my fault too. I guess I'll start preparing the antidotum now... Although it can take me some time so it'll be easier for both of us if we accept our fate for now."

Of course he's interested in doing some research about you while he's in your body but he quickly realizes he should focus on more important things, and he won't do any experiments without your permission.

Tighnari always gave you his lectures on hiw you should be more careful while wandering around Sumeru Forests. But today you had commission to find some Zaytun Peach for cookies and you even got some as addition to your normal reward you agreed on earlier. So of course you wanted to share them with your lover in hopes he'll like it.

He didn't noticed anything strange when you first handed him the cookies so he decided to try it. I mean, sure, his senses were tingling but he usually let's his guard down around you, so he ignores his feeling. And not long after both of you tried those cookies, everything started spinning, and after that, you found yourself in not your body. It was naturally that you instantly panicked but someone in your bidy was calm and also a little... annoyed?

"Alright! First of all, don't panic. It appeared we switched bodies. Second of all, did you used some fruits that looked like Zaytun Peach for those cookies?"

"Well... I didn't baked them! I just found the ingredients...!"

"That's even worse, YN... I'll return us to normal after around 3 hours since I'm still pretty busy and I hope it'll be a good lesson for you."

He'll be busy with all his work, so he'll stay inside his house and avoid going out for the next 3 hours, although the only only ones that will know about your body-swap are Collei and maybe Cyno if he happened to pay him a visit this day. After he's done tho, he'll prepare the medicine that will turn you back to normal. But once you're in your bodies again, he'll give you a classic lecture on how you should listen to him and be careful. And if you played with his tail or ears while you were in his body, he'll also mention hiw you should be more respectful but it's really hard to take him seriously while his tails is slightly wagging and there's light pink colour on his face.

❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉

[viaetor]

hi everyone! i hope you're all doing well and taking care of yourselves and having good days. i haven't been very active here because of my surgeries, but i plan on being more active soon since i've been missing writing a lot. before that though, i need to state something very important for my blog going forward: i will not be interacting with any natlan characters/blogs or characters related/inspired by the region (including ocs), only if they're canon divergent. this will not change with the release of the archon quests. i will simply take whatever i feel is relevant to my aether and that’s it. my reasons for this drastic decision will be explained below. please take this post not only as an announcement but as well as a vent and an attempt to call for awareness, especially since many of us are not only roleplayers but writers, artists and content creators. i'd appreciate it if you could all read this post in full.

this post is also not directed at my mutuals or any people i have contact with. this is just me trying to make my boundaries clear, explaining them, and hoping you can understand (and perhaps relate to) my hurt. read this post and make your own judgement. i appreciate your time regardless. 

i'm latin american, proudly born and raised. my parents fought in the dictatorship of our country, my grandparents were of indigenous settlements. i'm a history graduate with honours, and before that, i studied social and political sciences. i've been a part of political movements in my university to guarantee equality and education, and i only stopped being part of some of them because i received threats by alt-right extremists targeting my family. even so, i still continue to be a constant participant in assemblies and projects. i'm an avid volunteer worker in local schools, and i worked in hospitals, too. i speak portuguese, spanish, french and english with varying levels of fluency. i've lived most of my childhood and early adolescence in villages. i've participated in many religious rituals, invited by practising people of those beliefs, and i've shared so many wonderful memories with people from so many latin american backgrounds that i can't even make a cohesive timeline of all my adventures. 

i'm saying all this to emphasise that i'm speaking from a place of experience, knowledge, and culture. my word is by no means the law, but i sure do believe it holds weight. you're free to disagree with me and think otherwise, of course. but i do think that, if that's the case and you have very strong positive feelings regarding natlan as a whole, it'd be best if you would unfollow and block me for both of our sakes.

i've been playing genshin impact since its launch, and ever since the release of inazuma as a region, i've been discontent with how the game has been progressing in design. i've also written and published scientific articles about the inherent colourism, racism and orientalism found in genshin, specifically in sumeru, while also nodding in acknowledgement to some of the research that the design team put in some characters—namely al-haitham, nilou and cyno. i know the issues we are seeing today are not new. however, it for sure has gotten worse. 

with these disclaimers out, i'd like to put some of my grievances out in the open. 

when you play genshin, you can feel that liyue is china. mondstadt feels like germany. inazuma resembles japan. fontaine is an ode of love to french steampunk and was very well designed. even sumeru, with all its issues of blending all of swana in one single region, has some research done when it comes to the islamic golden ages and pre-islamic mythologies. so if you see anyone arguing that hoyoverse is “just a videogame company”, know that they can and have done better. as their popularity and revenue grow, as players—free to play or otherwise—we are entitled to expect the same quality or more from them.

i don't feel the same way about everything we've seen of natlan so far, and i've been feeling more and more disrespected. 

i was sceptical when natlan was first announced, and some leaks were happening. i expected the worst, and honestly, it sunk even deeper than i thought. the names of the characters we've got, alongside some leaks, suggest that the characters we will be getting are based on the north, central, and south americas, africa, and oceania. this worried me very, very deeply and today, with the newest released trailer, i just gave up hoping for anything good, really.

although some people may (ignorantly? optimistically? blindly?) claim that all these continents are connected—and they certainly have many influences on each other through religion, culture and economics, born from colonisation processes—, it's at best stupidly naive to believe that one single entire region in an online videogame will tactfully tackle complex non-western and non-asian cultures and customs. because, yes, those are non-western and non-asian societies: we are progressively denied a place in western politics and cultures, we are treated as lesser, and we do not participate in global economics. when did you last buy a chilean videogame in the united states or europe? or a fiji pair of shoes? or a nigerian movie ticket in your city theatres? if you've answered "never" to just one of those questions, you've proven my point that these countries and regions are not "part" of the west or even asia. we are outsiders. we have always been treated as outsiders. while these european and asian powerhouses were allowed to stand as their own regions, genshin muddled all these cultures and ethnicities into one melting pot that they are calling natlan. the game is quite literally a global phenomenon now. imagine the impression natlan will be projecting to an audience that is none-the-wiser to the cultures natlan is meant to be inspired from.

so, again: when it was announced that natlan would take inspiration from all these regions, my heart sank. it feels like we're all being put together in one single frying pan of "exotic," "distant," and "unknown." everything that is considered "tribal" (because that's how westerners and asians tend to see us) is being thrown in natlan. it's demoralising. 

this is not to mention the clear money-grabbing and capitalist recycling of character designs going on with some of the characters—something never seen before in genshin impact’s history, by the way! they always came up with new concepts—and the abhorrent colourism that has been intensified. 

the disrespect has been getting rampant. some of the already shown characters have tribal tattoos that are used by some of the indigenous people for important rituals. the patterns of clothes they've shown also mix many cultures and peoples (sometimes even historically rivalling ones, to top that off) that are disrespectful. they went for a streetwear/biker kind of look that looks completely soulless and unimaginative, instead of doing the bare minimum of researching beautiful contemporary indigenous-owned fashion companies. because it's easier. i think it’s also easier to hire voice actors who aren’t latines, right? we must be “scarce, barely existent”.

and, what kicked the bucket for me, after trying so hard to give genshin the benefit of the doubt: an important deity for the yorubá people, iansã/iansan/oyá, has been shown as a fucking child in the game. she… and olorun, who you might know as ororon if you play in english, even though in all other translations (japanese, korean and chinese), his name is written correctly as olorun. but of course, the english translation team for hoyoverse, as usual, couldn’t do the bare fucking minimum. because it’s a nigerian name, right? why do they/you care? but just so you know, in case you’re the least bit curious: iansan and olorun are two of the most important orixás/deities in african and african-latin american religions. they’re worshipped to this day. they’re real, representative religious symbols. not tokens. not your average dead gods. i want to ask you, sincerely: what would you think and how would you feel if genshin named a guy "mohammed", or "allah", or “jesus christ”, or a girl "mary magdalene"? what do you think happened when cod vanguard showed the quran's pages on the floor? people were pissed. and of course, people should be pissed. and don't try to "oh, but people do that with greek and egyptian gods". don't be disingenuous, i know you’re smarter than that and that you know there's a difference and creeping power dynamic here. 

if this is not enough for you, then please, enlighten me. where are the beautiful forests of natlan that could have been inspired by the amazon? where are the amazing deserts inspired in bolivia or chile? how about the colourful cities of el salvador or cuba? is it truly enough for you guys to have something slightly resembling the aztec empire and its continuous fetishisation? wouldn't it be easier to play crash bandicoot or the old indiana jones games? why are we celebrating this?

i'm beyond heartbroken. 

to my latine siblings, whether you’re celebrating/enjoying natlan in your own way and finding light in it or if you’re as disappointed as i am, we deserve better than this. 

to my usamerican, canadian, european and asian friends, please, please, please listen to people who have lived and loved latam and all the other regions. i already did what i could: i've sent tickets to hoyoverse, i'll be muting natlan-specific words, and i will not be rolling on any upcoming natlan banners. 

so this here is just the nail of the coffin: i will not be accepting anything natlan-related on this blog.

thank you for reading!

[enden-k]

i didn't catch most of the sumeru events and I so get it. i want more of it too, it's like so-so. Big and colorful. fontaine is just sort of the same

Hoyoverse really popped off with sumeru tbh, both characters and quests.

tbh I'm of the opinion that like. there should be one new location event with each update (like the thelxi stuff, tho it was not very exploratory, could have been better) and then they should just do one in a Different nation (I guess they had that poetry thing but it was kinda boring)

also like. they need the hsr thing where you can play story events even after they're done. I missed the fucking interdarshan tournament and I'm still so fucking sad about it. I haven't even been playing genshin all that long and the events already bore me to death. i know they're hard to make but like hoyoverse come on. genshin is you most popular game, Make An Effort

...this kinda turned into complaining I'm sorry. long story short I get you

this is my main issue too and also probably why hoyo decided to take the focus off playable characters and instead make npcs important for events. i have difficulties connecting and feeling so easily so im really unfazed when some random ass same face npc who i know for not even 5mins suddenly dies (cough teppei or what that silly guy was named) or smth- what im saying is that i need the time and chance to know more of this character before i can have a connection and then im able to feel. its why i fucking CRIED and felt so much for jeht and why shes honestly the best npc in this entire game to me HAHAH we honestly need more npcs and stories like jeht and the one cartographer in the chasm etc

anyway

bc hoyo locked some important character stories/lore behind events where the focus was on them (albedos events with SUPER IMPORTANT lore to the game), the scara event before his release, kavehs event,...) it sucks a lot for people who missed those. i guess its why they started to bring in more npcs instead but honestly, those events feel very bland to me most of the time (ofc its different for others) bc of my issue with connecting with a character in a limited time. im excited to see some familiar faces again and then the main story is some random ass npcs lovestory

idk i feel like the events really drop lately. maybe its also just bc im a pampered little noodle spoiled rotten by lantern rite and interdarshan championship. idk if ppl get me there hhghg i think if they either create unique npcs and give us the time and chance to make a connection with them, the events they create around them might get better again. this, or they bring back more events focusing on playable characters but make those accessible after the event end for new players missing them

this turned super long and rambly sorry, im tired and brainless today uhghgh anyway

[ourlittleuluru]

Please hear me out on this one...

Dainsleif from genshin impact as xaiver?

It fits l think?

Hi Anon~

Oooooh. Hmm they do share some similiar themes, so I would think they rather fit! But I haven't really caught up on the Archon Quests since Sumeru 😭 So, my information's rather outdated...

But I think some facts where Dain pretty much roams Teyvat to try and deal with the curse of his people, both being KNIGHT CAPTAINS...! Very much similar.

I can also see some similarities in personality, if one looks at Xavier when he's more in his "Prince of Philos" mode and not when he's more softened up and with MC. 🤔 but Dains' a lot more distant I feel. At least Xavier, while roaming eath, still mingled around with people.

(Also ngl I mean, I am also rather Dainsleif biased xd;;; that i think plays a tiny part in it lmao. And also starry aesthetics... except Dain is more dark blue while Xavier is a brighter blue)

[ninjamomo]

kavetham hcs

as the title says; im having a brainrot of those two sillies so bear with me (i haven't written anything for ages now)

they listen to taylor swift (yes she exists in every world) together. kaveh sings “the way i loved you” to alhaitham; even though alhaitham says he doesn’t like it he actually loves when kaveh sings to him. ofc kaveh knows it

if someone ever asks alhaitham what he listens most throughout the day, he’d say some classical music. but the real answer is actually “enchanted” by taylor swift. its because this song reminds of kaveh. he is so whipped istg

whenever they’re both home, they cook together !! well i mean, its mostly haitham doing the cooking and kaveh just being pretty & him doing food-tasting.

after alhaitham became the grand sage, he tends to forget eating because of his workload. so kaveh brings him lunch to his office at the akademiya.

at first, alhaitham’s secretary would always ask him before they let kaveh in. but after some time, they just stopped asking & let kaveh come in without even lifting their head. kaveh was getting annoyed anyways lol

alhaitham is the only person who can interrupt kaveh while he is working & get his ass to home when he overworks himself. even though he has tons of workload; when the time gets late, haitham knows when to stop for the day. so he always finds kaveh completely drown in his work only to make him stop & have him take a break.

we all know that their bickering is famous all around sumeru. but after they got together, even though their bickering didn’t stop, the affectionate gestures has started.

still to this day, people of sumeru couldn’t find out if they are together or not. one day, a brave & a young soul tried to ask kaveh about their relationship status. kaveh being the cheeky mf, he answered his question with a question: “what do you think, huh?” he winked.

their friendgroup of course knows that they’re together but whenever they’re approached with the questions “are they together? , are they friends? do they still live together?” etc etc; they never respond to those questions.

one time tighnari would say “yes they are together” and the other time cyno would say “wdym, they are not together ofc”. kaveh and cyno are having way too much fun by confusing the poor souls.

yes they force tighnari and alhaitham to play along with their antics. yes i do not make the rules.

they go on picnic dates on weekends !!! sometimes they ask their friends to come, sometimes they just ask nahida & wanderer to accompany them. even though wanderer complains when he gets asked, he always agrees. he doesn’t have the heart to say no to nahida. (he loves spending time with kaveh & aihaitham idc. those four are a family together)

when kaveh brings his work to home, alhaitham accompanies him by reading his book while kaveh works. yes their love language is quality time.

kaveh gets jealous way too easily than haitham and he does not hold himself back to when it comes to showing his emotions. alhaitham may be the silent type but we all know that he is a one possesive fucker when it comes to kaveh.

he knows kaveh gets all the eyes on him whenever he enters the room. he also knows that kaveh loves the attention. but what he also knows is that kaveh loves his attention the most.

he knows how possesive alhaitham is, so some days (especially when he gets jealous of him) he tries alhaitham to his limits. we can all guess what happens when they get home after those days ;)

alhaitham braids kaveh’s hair !! they get into a routine & every morning haitham braids his hair. kaveh knows perfectly well how to style his hair but he loves when haitham is the one doing it.

alhaitham has softer hands when you compare them to kaveh’s. (yes kaveh takes perfect care of his hands but because of his job he can’t help but have more rough hands when he compares to haitham)

so kaveh loves playing with alhaitham’s hands. one can safely say that doing this calms his always-working mind. since kaveh loves it, alhaitham doesn’t mind being extra when it comes to his hands. he always keeps them soft for kaveh.

yes this also means that haitham is very capable with his hands.

whenever they argue, kaveh goes to cyno & tighnari for help. and alhaitham goes to nilou when he needs breath after their arguments. nilou always helps him calm his mind. sometimes she listens, sometimes she gives advices; she is always there for him. (yes i hc haitham & nilou as best friends)

nahida learns what true love actually means from them. i know this sounds cheesy as hell but this is the truth. they crash, they kiss, they fight, they make up, they make out. they’re each other’s biggest critics. they’re each other’s biggest fans & number one supporters. they’re each other’s home, comfort.

they’re just so silly together and so whipped for one another and they think they are being slick when it comes to pda. well, they are not. everyone loves hates them.

[daybreakrising]

okay, quest thoughts under the cut, but again, i'm not really saying anything other people on my dash haven't already said-

i'm gonna get the negatives out of the way first, bc i like to end things on a positive note. i promise you, i do have positive things to say, but-

genshin peaked at fontaine. i'm sorry, maybe there's a little bias involved there, but i genuinely believe that. i'd accept an argument for sumeru to be included too - the storytelling in both of those regions was amazing.

nothing in this story has grabbed me the way fontaine's did. i had zero emotional connection to any of the characters, most of whom i found to be severely lacking in any distinctive personalities beyond surface level traits. i just had no reason to care about them except that the story was basically telling me to, which... is very bad storytelling. if you want me to care about these people and their stories, then give me a reason to, show me why i should be invested in them and their stories. i had more emotional connection to the saurians than the people. as for the archon... listen, i may not have found raiden all that interesting, personally (in comparison to other archons, that is), but i could still connect with her and her story. mavuika? eh. i'm sorry, but she's just boring to me. yes, she's kind, she's strong, but is that... it ?? for her personality ??? and sure, it's sad that she said goodbye to her family so she could come back in 500 years but to me that's nothing compared to the sacrifices or the losses that other archons have faced. in my tier list of archons, she's at the very bottom with no competition. we'll see if her story quest changes anything, but based solely on what we get in the archo quest? i just don't care. i know some people love her but for me there's just not enough there to care about.

and the story itself... is boring. the idea behind it is interesting, some of the execution of it has been fantastic, but as an overall plot... ehhh. being force-fed "friendship is magic" themes over and over, the constant introduction of frankly pointless interludes that add nothing to the plot, the pacing of the story itself... it made me tune out and skip dialogue (by this i mean: i read the subtitles and skipped the voiced lines once i was done) and it felt like such a drag to get through. i saw this last act described as a 'slog' and honestly.... that's so accurate. it was.

that first half didn't need to be included, or if they had to shove it in there, why wasn't it part of the equally pointless (and very short) interlude quest last patch? it would have made more sense to have the 'post-war downtime' elements in the interlude so you can start off the final act with the actual action. i know i began playing when i was already exhausted, but it isn't the first time i've picked up an archon quest on little to no sleep and i've never before had to put down the controller and take a break because i was bored. nothing pulled me in, nothing gave me the motivation or the drive to finish it (or at least get as far as i could before i had to cave to exhaustion). i literally got to the point of "wait 2 more days" (again) and went: i cannot be fucking bothered with this. it honestly felt like a means of 'padding out' the story for the sake of content, and just frustrated me because i wanted to get to the point of the plot.

side note: i'm getting so tired of the constant "wait x amount of days" quest objectives. you can show the passing of time with a simply cutscene, or even just one of those black screens with text genshin likes to throw at us a lot. that and the "walk three steps, cutscene, walk two steps, cutscene, walk-" elements that are prevalent throughout hyv games but seem to be more frequent in current storylines are just... killing it for me. it's unnecessary and interrupts the pacing of the plot too much.

i have many issues with the storytelling in this region, some i've talked about before, some other people have put into finer words than i can produce right now, but it does come down to: there's no conflict, there's no real consequence, and it's not real enough. "but lauri, 2000 people died in this quest, how is that not a consequence?" - this is one of the positives i have about natlan because yes, we see actual consequence of war but at the same time... that's it. we get one act with consequences and then magically the world is all back to normal. i saw a video that touched on this exact issue: during that act, we saw the region torn apart and contaminated by the abyss, we saw people and saurians dead or dying - but then once we complete that part of the story, there's no follow-up (i do not count that pathetic interlude. it had promise and it failed to deliver imo) - and to prove this isn't entirely based on bias, fontaine did have the same problem. there was a huge ass flood and other than poisson, nowhere needed rebuilding?? there was no lasting damage??? genshin pls we know you can alter the state of the world around us - do better. and as much as i hated the trope of 'dead sister = awakened power', we should have seen more of how that affected chasca after it happened. instead, we got a few lines of dialogue and that was it. and idk if it's gonna come up again in a later quest of some kind but her whole "tainted by the abyss" deal just... never became relevant outside of her briefly losing control in her grief. i honestly expected that to play a part in the archon quest somehow and it... didn't.

because there's no conflict. & i'm not referring to the actual physical conflict of war, but conflict between characters, between elements of the plot, etc. everyone is just perfectly happy buddies that all magically get along and that is just.... not real at all. even when people band together against a common enemy, join forces to fight for their people and their home, you're not going to magically work together perfectly. there will be clashes, opposing opinions on how to move forward, etc. if there's conflict between characters, it makes it more meaningful when they do come together and fight for a common cause, it makes the victory even more impactful because of it. instead it just felt... empty. lacklustre.

i have never before finished an archon quest's story and gone: is that it? i did with this one.

i've rambled enough about the negatives so i'll close on one final thing regarding capitano and his story: there wasn't enough of it. there wasn't enough of him. again, other people have already touched on this with far more eloquence than i can muster at this moment, but as one of the only genuinely interesting characters in this quest, i was very disappointed that he was just... nowhere to be seen until the very end. 'but he didn't have an ancient name, he couldn't help with the final fight' - so wtf was he doing while it went on then? idk man i just think they could have showcased him a little more, especially since he's the first harbinger.

and now for the positives!

natlan as a region has a lot going for it from my perspective. i love the landscape, i love the saurians, i love the music (though it doesn't always fit the tone of the scenes happening in some of the quests), i love the different tribes and the culture of natlan as a whole. i may not like some of the playable character designs but some of the npc designs are fire (pun intended). the lore is fantastic too, and i've really enjoyed the world quests (which makes me sad they aren't voiced, bc i prefer them to the archon quest in this instance)

capitano saying a big fuck you to the lord of death was *chef's kiss*. i'm sad that his character has essentially come to a close now, but it was definitely clearly leading to that and it is a very fitting end to him. i loved that he was nothing like anyone really expected him to be & he's definitely up there amongst my favourite harbingers. the fact he asked to removed from the mission to collect the gnosis was a nice touch - further establishing the honour he upheld (i'm also curious who will be sent instead - given the new area incoming, perhaps dottore again? it's a shame the one i want to see the most canonically doesn't leave snezhnaya-)

and i didn't hate the story entirely, don't get me wrong. i know i've complained a lot about many elements, but that's only because i know they can do better. and some of the small things - vichama's sub-plot & the fact he does eventually get to reunite with his friend at last, people you've helped in the tribes or in world quests coming to your aid, etc - were very nicely done. it had such a good premise that was simply let down by bad storytelling and a lack of investment into making the main characters interesting enough and important enough for you to care about what happens to them. and i'm sure not everyone will feel that way - people will connect to characters for a multitude of reasons and that's very valid, but for me i just. i needed more.

i enjoyed it, but i enjoyed it in the way i enjoy a book with a plot that sounded promising but didn't quite hit the mark: i finished it, but it's not going to a memorable story that i'll come back to. it's gonna sit on the shelf next to inazuma and gather dust, whilst fontaine gets taken down and experienced again and again.

i can only hope snezhnaya brings it back around

[iwant-fuitgummi]

Sumeru Headcanons pt. 1!

(part 2 here!)

Cyno

he/they

26

Transgender Man, Gay

Engaged to Tighnari

Family: Collei (Adopted Daughter), Lisa Minci (FF Sister), Candace (Sister)

Best Friend: Tighnari

He has bad sensory issues. This is why he doesn't wear shoes. It's also why he doesn't wear a lot of clothes, honestly. He hates the way that fabric feels. He feels trapped. So, he wears the bare minimum that is "socially acceptable."

Autistic. Special interest in, you guessed it, TCG. They also love studying old unsolved cases that the Akademiya has on file, and then trying to solve them.

I feel like he'd love FNAF if he were real.

They constantly call Collei "Collei Flower." They started doing it at Windblume and haven't stopped since then.

Speaking of Collei, she's one of the few people that he lets borrow his TCG cards. He taught her how to play, built her a deck, he even gave her some of his duplicates so she'd have a better chance at winning. He also watches over every time she plays. It's like a dad at his son's football game.

Hates the rainforest. They always get eaten up by mosquitos :(

He uses Tighnari's tail and ears as fidgets sometimes. They'll just be sitting on the couch reading or something and Cyno will just start messing with his ears or combing his fingers through his tail.

Okay so they did them dirty in game. Cyno is buff.

Tighnari

he/they/kit/kits/stem/stemself

26

Nonbinary, Asexual, Biromantic

Engaged to Cyno

Family: Collei (Adopted Daughter)

Best Friend: Cyno

Tighnari's in game color palette hurts me so I darkened everything a bit.

He's definitely autistic, but we already knew that. His special interests are botany and mycology.

They also have an auditory processing disorder. Their ears let them hear a lot, so it's hard for them to focus on one thing at a time. They're also very sensitive to sound; Alhaitham lent them some of his noise cancelling headphones [adjusted by Kaveh to fit Tighnari's head (and style) of course] to help.

Kit has a huge lighting scar on kits back. Kit's also scared of storms, but kit tries to pretend that kits not. Cyno can tell something's up, though.

Speaking of being scared of storms, Tighnari is scared of electro in general. Stem gets very nervous when stem sees Cyno's vision activate, but stem pretends stem doesn't.

He's a vegan. He absolutely hates the meat industry and how it treats animals. He grows all of his food by himself in Ghandarva Ville. Collei's asked him if he'd like her to become vegan, too, but he always says "You're still growing, you need all the nutrients you can get," and tells her about all the supplements he needs to take.

They love lizards.

Collei

she/they/he

15

Genderfluid, Asexual, Greyromantic, Gynosexual

Family: Cyno (Adoptive Dad), Tighnari (Adoptive Parent), Candace (Adoptive Aunt), Amber Hasenkamp (FF Sister), Kaeya Alberich (FF Brother), Wanderer (FF Brother)

Best Friend: Kirara

She has a lot of pet lizards! A leopard gecko named Fatin, a panther chameleon named Ziad, a bearded dragon named Kirvi, a frilled dragon named Nayja, a blue tailed skink named Ghaith, and a rosy boa named Anisa. They're all random lizards that Tighnari gave her to help her feel more comfy being alone. She likes them because "they have scales like me!"

In addition to all of these lizards, they also have a service dog. His name is Jabir, and he's an amstaff terrier. He warns her when her Eleazar is about to flare up and gets help.

After Eleazar disappeared, Jabir became Collei's emotional support dog.

Collei has scale-shaped scars on his body from having Eleazar for so long. He also often uses elbow crutches and a wheelchair, since Eleazar had him in bed so often that he's struck with bouts of weakness.

She has cataracts in her right eye.

Candace

she/her

28

Cisgender Woman, Lesbian

Dating Dehya

Family: Cyno (Brother), Collei (Adoptive Niece), All of Aaru Village

Best Friend: Layla

Huge family woman. Loves Aaru Village more than herself.

She runs a soup kitchen in the desert for passing travelers who can't afford food. Plus, there isn't a lot of food and water in the desert, so it's helpful for pretty much everyone.

She's Cyno's older sister. She taught him how to use a polearm when they were younger. She's super proud of him now! Supportive sister :D

She doesn't really like makeup or jewelry, but Dehya does. She lets Dehya give her fun little accessories and lets her do her makeup.

Candace is buff. I don't care. She's built.

She hates the cold with a passion.

She does pottery as a hobby! Her vision helps her keep the clay wet when it needs to be, and it gives her something to do with her hands when she's not busy. She can't focus when she's not doing something physical (she just like me fr)

She gifts small pottery to Collei! She used to make them as hard for her to hold her medication, but Collei doesn't really need it anymore so she just gives her cute ones. She made a clay vase shaped like Baron Bunny once.

Very light sleeper. She's always on alert to protect Aaru Village. She also has Insomnia.

Alhaitham

he/it/xe

25

Nonbinary Man, Gay, Aroace Spectrum

Unofficially Dating Kaveh

Family: Nahida (FF Daughter)

Best Friend: Kaveh

EVERYONE SHUT UP. DESHRET REINCARNATED. LOOK AT HIS EYES HOW IS IT A COINCIDENCE. HIS EYES LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE SYMBOL THAT REPRESENTS DESHRET. ahem. anyways.

Autism™

He's not the best at social cues. If he does notice them, he just... doesn't care.

I have two different routes here:

1. It's very sensitive to sound and uses its headphones to block them out (this one's pretty much canon)

2. It's deaf and the headphones act as hearing aids. In this scenario, Kaveh learned sign so that he could talk to it when it doesn't have its headphones on.

In both scenarios, Alhaitham knows sign.

Xe wears braces on xyr arms to help with arthritis. Xe writes constantly, so xyr arms are under a lot of stress 24/7.

He LOVES grammar and language. Can and will go on rants to Kaveh about interjections and participles and prepositions. He loves editing essays. He loves fixing them. So. Much.

Sorry that was me projecting. Anyways.

That gem in its chest glows to determine how drained its social battery is. If the gem isn't glowing, it does NOT wanna be there.

Xe has pica and dermatillomania. Kaveh makes xem little toys to pick at so xe doesn't pick at xyr skin. Kaveh also constantly bandages xyr hands so xe doesn't pick at xyr fingernails and hangnails.

He has a pet fish in his office at the Akademiya. It's a tiger barb named Cod-veh. Cyno named it because Alhaitham couldn't think of a name. Kaveh doesn't know that's its name. Don't tell him.

It has tons of succulents. It's a literal god at caring for them. It's actually bizarre.

Wanderer -- Kunimitsu/Beleth

he/they/ae/eni/eniself/rem/rems/remself

~22 (physically), 500+

Genderqueer, Aromantic, Pansexual

Family: Raiden Ei (Mother), Yae Miko (Mother), Raiden Makoto (Aunt), Raiden Shogun (Sister), Xiao (FF Cousin), Nahida (FF Sister), Collei (FF Sister)

Best Friend: Nilou

I named my wanderer Kunimitsu. It has the opposite meaning of Kunikuzushi, and I can still call him Kuni :3

And I gave him a Goetian name, too. Beleth. I chose Beleth because he looks like a cat and plays music (according to Wikipedia idk). This way it ties into Scarameow and his signature weapon.

Best friends with Nilou!! She's teaching them how to dance (secretly ofc). Nahida convinced them to do it, said it would be like physical therapy. Kuni didn't like her at first, but has since grown attached to her and gets sad when they have to miss classes.

Since aer ball-jointed, ae often have aer joints lock up. When this happens, ae uses aer vision to move around. It's not easy, but ae manage. This is why Nahida told aer that Nilou's dance classes would be physical therapy, to stop aer joints from locking up. If Kuni was a human, it'd be arthritis. Ae wears braces on aer arms.

Kuni has a crack in enis face from where eni fell from the Shouki no Kami.

I uncovered rems beauty mark. Honestly just because I think it's pretty. But for an actual reason rem would stop hiding it is...honestly, since Ei doesn't remember rem. Plus, Nahida helped rem become more confident in remself and rems own skin.

He sees Collei as a little sister. He remembers seeing her around Dottore's lab when she was a kid, so seeing her in Sumeru made him weirdly happy. He'd die for her fr.

They visit Xiao occasionally and spar. Kuni found out that he was Morax's kid and was like !!! He like me fr !!!

Feeds the stray cats around Sumeru city. It's gotten to the point that they see him and all come running hoping for snacks and affection.

Nilou

she/her

22

Transgender Girl, Demiromantic, Bisexual

Family: the Zubayr Theater Group

Best Friend: Wanderer

She has a pet bunny named Parisa and two bird named Abtin and Afrin. Parisa is a French lop that she got during a trip to Fontaine, and Abtin and Afrin are rose-ringed parakeets.

Literally one of the most fearless people in Teyvat. Don't test her, she's not afraid of you.

Social butterfly, everyone loves her! Dehya often acts as her bodyguard during shows.

She's getting over anorexia. Her friends have helped her overcome it, and she's now healthier than she's ever been.

She's great with kids! She runs a class where she teaches them (and Wanderer) to dance!

She's such an animal person, literally a Disney princess. She loves animals and animals love her. She always carries snacks around to feed them, too.

Layla

she/they/xe/ey/star/starself

21

Nonbinary, Aromantic, Lesbian

In a QPR with Faruzan

Family: Dori (Sister)

Best Friend: Candace

Narcolepsy, anxiety, ADHD, Tourettes.

Her vision helps her stay safe during narcoleptic sleep attacks. If she's busy and just conks out, her vision will catch her with her shield.

They often have their vision active to keep themself cold and awake.

Xyr anxiety is really bad, but gets worse when it's exam season. Xe doesn't know how to calm down :(

Ey gets distracted very easily. Dori doesn't help, considering she's always showing em her newest wares.

Also Dori and Layla are siblings to me.

Star LOVES astrology SO SO MUCH. Star can't help but infodump when someone brings it up.

She really admires Faruzan and loves spending time with her, so they decided to get in a QPR (queer platonic relationship). They're both super happy!

Faruzan

she/they/ey/thy

23

Demigirl, Aroace

In a QPR with Layla

Family: None :(

Best Friend: Kaveh

I honestly love Faruzan as a character idk what to say

She's pretty and she's silly.

They have a pet mini Tent Tortoise. Its name is Niaz and they got it because "It remembers the same world that I do."

Autism. Special interest in mechanics.

Ey've had a hard time adjusting to modern life, but that's okay! Layla and Kaveh are there to help em!

Not much else to say, I love her.

Nahida

Any Pronouns

~9, 500+

Family: Greater Lord Rukkhadevata (Mother), Wanderer (FF Brother), Alhaitham (FF Father), Raiden Ei (FF Sister)

Best Friend: Paimon

Paimon and Nahida are besties idc

Albino Nahida real

She has the personality, mannerisms, and habits of a nine year old, but the intelligence and wisdom of a god.

I really like Nahida's character so there's not much for me to say

[belaprus]

Dottore x reader: being his assistant (pt.3)

"Are you sure you want to continue?"

"Yes"

"Even if it meant for you to spend more time with him?"

"Yes"

Pantalone was looking at your injured arm, slightly concerned. It felt like he was carefully searching for the right words to express himself. After some moments, he opened his mouth to speak again:

"Are you growing attached, maybe?"

"Absolutely not. It's just I'm the only one who can take care of him properly"

The skeptical expression on his face was clear, especially when he had heard you say 'take care of him'. You continued:

"He's no different from my average patient. At least this job is more rewarding, and I can focus on only one person"

"The latter might be a problem. And if you think he's just the average patient, need I remind you that his name is forsaken from the entirety of Sumeru?"

"He's still a person, and I'm the more capable one on this job. This is nothing I can't manage"

"If you say so..."

After a second of pondering, Pantalone smiled at you:

"I guess you really are suited for him, after all"

You smiled back. You were no average person either. You wouldn't deal with the average people. To be fair, your whole life wasn't average at all. You were used to it, it was almost in your comfort zone to be with people like Dottore. You had always found them interesting. Sometimes it would get scary, like with the ruin hunter's incident, but you felt like it was definitely worth it: your payment was not average either.

After you parted ways with Pantalone, you returned back home. 'Tomorrow will be another day of work', you thought while drifting off to sleep in your bed. --------- He was face-down on his own desk, mentally searching for whatever way to continue his experiments. Now he was left with only two children and some chemical components, all because of that bitch-sitter who never shut her mouth. Speaking of the devil, she had just entered the room. He didn't react at all. No, he was staying like this until something, ANYTHING, had caused his funds to raise. He heard a chair moving onto the other side of the desk, her sitting on it. Silence fell onto the room. After some moments, he noticed it wasn't completely quiet around: he could feel someone breathing and an intense stare on him. His heart-rate was just a little faster than normal, meaning he could feel it pump inside his own body. 'Stop, please... Someone make her stop' was all he could think about. It was torture to feel her so close, it was getting him anxious. Was he the real freak, at this point? ----------- You found it so amusing. He was clearly tense, but was trying so hard not to make any moves. It kind of reminded you of your cat's passive-aggressive behaviour: when you haven't been home for a long time, he would always act like you were not there, playing on your sense of guilt. Luckily for you, you barely had any. If the game was set on resistence mode, you were absolutely sure of your win. You noticed his mask was left beside him on the desk. 'It may be uncomfortable for him to wear it in that position.' - you thought to yourself - 'Still, I've never seen his whole face. I'm kind of curious'. You were trying to make out his features by watching him closely, when you were suddendly met with his scarlet red eyes. You instinctively gasped and backed out a bit, as he did the same. Were you too close? You hadn't noticed. He quickly put his mask back on, but you had already seen the big scar on his left eye. You were completely undisturbed by it, but guessed he would feel another way, since now he looked offended.

"You're a freak", he told you as he agitatedly walked around the narrow space between the desk and the freezer, covering his face in a hysterical motion.

"What do you want now? I don't have any new experiments to show you"

You stayed silent, analyzing his behaviour. Most of his sentences didn't have sense, but sometimes he was spitting out things like "Am I your experiment?", "Do I look stupid to you?". The fact that you simply being too close had left him in this state was unmistakably abnormal. 'Did I mess up that badly?', you were thinking. He suddendly stopped. Then, taking a deep breath, he turned in your direction and walked past you, grabbing some cigarettes along the way and rushing out. You had noticed how, when he was too stressed, he would just run away from the place he's in. As you were thinking about it, you sat there, trying to figure out what had just happened. After a few moments, you decided to follow him out.

[roseapov]

Happy 2nd Genshin Anniversary for me!

07.01.2022-07.01.2024

It's been a really long time, right? 2 whole years of daily playing, but I'll admit, I did experienced a little burnout lately, but I'm starting to slowly play again, and maybe later on, once a week? That whould be satisfactionary, to not miss any short-timed events.

Every pic above has some significant meaning to me, such as Xiao, my main dps, the only character i got 2 of in a one 10 pull, got his weapon at 7 pity, the person I started playing for, and whose banner enticed me to game in 2.4 in his shared one with Shenhe. Even tho I haven't gotten him on that banner I still managed to, in 2.7 on his banner with Yelan. Always in my team ever since, same with Venti!

Chongyun, being my first 4* character I've ever gotten, maybe even my first 4* ever? He carried me so much during all of my time as an low-ar player. He's even 90 lvl now with maxed friendship.

Also Venti, my beloved. The first 5* character I've ever got, being with me all this time, even till now! That's a true destiny, if I might say so? He's great and will have forver hold a special place in my heart, my favourite of all!

As for the twins, I think that's self explanatory, isn't it? The start of the story, where I picked Aether to be the protagonist of my story, a long, long time ago...

The 5 Archons together are representing all of the Archons and regions I explored during all of this time. All of it had it's precious charm, with their Archons at the front, it's been an amazing journey.

The Sumeru pic has a special place in my heart, where I were the to it, making it my first Nation to wittness releasing. It was such an amazing time, when wherever you looked there were edits of the trailer with Shakira songs. It was so great! And that upbeat, tropical music fitted perfectly with a lively Nation such as Sumeru. And when people couldn't believe that Kusanali was made white-skinned and a child instead of an tanned woman! These were the times..

And the Fontaine one pic, well it is to also represent the Fontaine Archon Quests that I wittnessed releasing and being in the game up till now. The joy this quest brought me was unexplainable, and Neuvillette! Yes, he indeed is an astonishing man, forever in my heart, with an amazing story of Furina these quests were the best ones so far! And Lyney too! Such a charming magician. With wonderful released characters too, same as Sumeru in fact!

It has been a lovely journey that I hope to continue for as long as possible! This game will forever hold a place in my heart!

A commemorative photo! I hate Spiral Abyss..

[mayobedo]

Initial thoughts on the Natlan characters now that I've had the day to simmer on them

Disclaimer: I am white. I figured I should make that clear. I just want to get my thoughts out there.

In general, I think the more modern look is very unique and something we haven't seen in Genshin Impact before, but they do feel kind of safe. They're very vibrant too, which fits all the color we've seen from the Natlan previews. Unlike a lot of the Fontaine designs initially there's few I actively dislike, but perhaps they'll grow on me, like many characters have. They just sorely need some melanin given the cultures Natlan takes inspiration from.

Ranking each character we've seen individually based on my initial impressions, from best to worst, under the cut (pictures included).

1. Xilonen

Out of everyone in the teaser she immediately caught my eye. The jaguar (or possibly other big cat) theming (as well as being a proper catgirl) and image of her lounging in a tree, bathing in sunlight gives off a sense of power. Kind of like a real big cat! But you guys probably know I tend to like the tall women a lot.

2. Mavuika

I think a lot of people, myself included, expected the Pyro Archon to be a Himeko expy and/or light-skinned. And well, she seems to be both of those. The leaks of the Pyro Archon in a conquistador outfit did have me worried given real world history, but I'm very relieved to see that isn't the case.

Seeing her in a bodysuit when I first opened YouTube did have me puzzled at first, but seeing the full outfit really brings it together. Hoyo does put a lot of research into things, so I'm interested to see any analyses on her design, too!

And the sunglasses are peak. From what I've seen it's a controversial design element, but I think it really adds to her character. She really seems like a friendly archon all around. I wonder how "war" plays into all of this.

She's also the first archon without dark or white hair--it's just straight up red. Which makes me hope she'll change up the common tropes archons tend to have (please i don't want the two archons plotline for the 4th nation in a row). is really I really liked the flame hair concepts from her leaked designs, so it's nice to see we still got that in some form here.

3. Kinich

Kinich has a pretty cohesive design, and the color palette is pretty pleasing to look at, too. But I can definitely see the Xiao comparisons. I hope his personality makes him stand out from him.

The most perplexing thing about him though is how his design focuses a lot around pixels--Ajaw is a pixel dragon. The Sumeru Dendro characters do have their computer/tech themes (Alhaitham and Nahida especially, the latter of which is Irminsul's avatar), but this seems a little...much. Even when considering Natlan characters have more modern designs.

Taking the "Teyvat is a simulation" theory (and similar) in mind, I feel like Ajaw is going to play into that. Or they're just a pixel dragon because Hoyo thought it would be cool.

4. Mualani

Her design makes me think she was originally designed with a darker skin tone, but late in the development process someone told the designer to make her skin lighter, so we got the tan she has today.

Honestly her and Kinich are pretty close, probably interchangeable. But the main thing that bothers me are the orange highlights on her hair. They're a little off-putting.

But overall, I think her design is cute! As a character I get the impression she's going to be chill. Like "girl next door" vibes.

5. Iansan

I really don't have much to say given we've seen her before, and I didn't have much to say back then either. I do hope they give her a good amount of focus given she is a Teyvat Travail character, and I think they will, given it's a pattern they haven't broken. But Hoyo does like breaking patterns... I'd rather be optimistic, though.

Iansan is, however, the first character on this list we don't know the element for. I remember thinking initially she would be Geo, but now we know of two Geo characters, surely they won't have three Geos in the Pyro Nation, right?

I think she's most likely to be Pyro, but I've seen people throw around Electro too since I heard she's named after a lightning spirit. It would make sense--she has a lot of purple in her design. But I'd like to throw out my wild guess that she's Dendro. Why? Well, her eyes are the Dendro green, and if she isn't, then it's impossible for every element to be represented by a Teyvat Travail character. And I highly doubt Pulcinella is going to be Dendro.

6. Ororon

yeah that sure is a genshin character. cool cape though.

He's probably important given he's with Capitano of all people. Maybe he's a Fatuus, but I don't see any Fatui symbol on him. It would be nice to have more playable Fatui.

One thing I'm noticing just now is that he has heterochromia. Hoyo doesn't give out heterochromia willy-nilly. Definitely a mysterious character for sure.

As for element I'm pretty sure he's Anemo with how prominent teal is in his design. If that's true, he'll be our first tall Anemo man! Only took four years...

I am curious about his name, though. It every other language his name is Olorun. I wonder if the misspelling in English is intentional, or if it was just a localization error.

7. Kachina

She's cute...but that's really all she has going for her. I will say, though, the big fluffy ears are unique.

but basically melanin would've saved her

8. Citlali

The only reason she's at this spot is because of what we've seen of her personality so far. I can't think of a particularly hot-tempered female character in Genshin, and I think she might fulfill that niche.

But her design... I think the main thing that bogs it down is the dull pink color used for her hair. With the light skin tone she has it's kind of clashing. It's nice to see another character get colored eyelashes, at least.

I...really don't know how to put my dislike of her design in words. I don't think she's the worst design in Genshin, but she's far down there.

9. Chasca

I'll be honest she just feels like Natlan Clorinde. She stands out from her as a distinct character, but they still give off the same vibe.

I like her design better than Citlali, I will give her that. She just feels kind of boring compared to everyone else.

There are a few small details that are neat--the shoulder mole, textured eyebrows, elf ears... But yeah. She'd really have to impress me to make me want to pull her.

~

So yeah, those are my thoughts. I think this will be fun to look back on later down the line, when Natlan's story is done and we've gotten to know these characters better.

I am excited to see where the story goes, but honestly I'm more excited for the exploration than anything else. It looks super fun, and I can't wait to finally get my hands on the Saurians.