#well i guess tsurumi IS so removed from the other islands

[emirrea]

I thought I had every region at 100% exploration after finishing exploring chenyu vale today, but then there's this fucker asdjfklfkd

[rapifessor]

Thoughts on The Chasm

Holy shit, there’s a lot to break down here. I’ll try to keep this post organized so that each talking point is distinct and easy to find.

Oh yeah, and spoiler warning, obviously...

General Thoughts

The concept behind the Chasm is really fucking cool. A vast underground system of caverns that’s slowly but constantly changing shape, shifting in its structure as a result of supernatural forces. It would have been the coolest thing in the world if this was actually reflected in the gameplay, but I understand that actually accomplishing this would be very difficult, Still, they could have done something similar to how they handled Tsurumi Island.

The parts where you get to those long, vertical passages and the music stops, then you get to the bottom and it’s a completely different environment and the music starts up again are just... perfect. It’s an indescribable feeling, delving into the unknown, moving ever forward into the depths and striving to reach the bottom before discovering something that’s beyond all imagination.

The sheer scale and especially the verticality of this area which is entirely underground is really something else. Nothing I’ve seen so far in Genshin Impact, except for possibly Enkanomiya, compares to the majesty of the Chasm. That’s not to say that previously released areas are boring by any means, but I’m definitely of the opinion that HoYoverse has only gotten better at designing open-world areas over time.

Speaking of Enkanomiya though, the fact that the Chasm contains pretty much identical ruins is a pretty big deal. That means they were built by the same civilization, and according to Dainsleif, that civilization is even more ancient than Khaenri’ah. It’s starting to seem like, whatever this ancient civilization is, it’s going to have some serious significance going into the future. I hope we get to learn more about it soon.

The Treasure

Holy god damn are there a lot of crystals down here. I used to always mine crystals as part of my daily routine in Genshin Impact, so that I could passively gain Mystic Enhancement Ore to easily level up weapons with later on. I stopped doing it a while ago because I already have so much of that stuff, I’m not leveling weapons right now, and it’s a really tedious and repetitive process.

However, one of the issues with mining crystals was that if you just mined at the spots that generated Magical Crystals every day, it was impossible to make the maximum amount (30) of Mystic Enhancement Ore every day. It might have been possible with crystals from other deposits located around the game world, but those are even more tedious to collect and they only respawn every three days.

The crystals in the Chasm are the same, but there are way more of them and they even drop a higher number of Crystal Chunks when broken. I probably got a good 200 or so just while I was exploring the area. So, if you’re dedicated, it should be more than possible to get enough crystals for all the Mystic Enhancement Ore you could ever want.

As for the chests themselves, I was elated to find that they contained 3-star weapons. Such weapons had pretty much been removed from chests in Inazuma, a decision by HoYoverse that kind of frustrated me because it meant I couldn’t get any more of them. The 3-star weapons you get from chests can ONLY be found in chests, so once you get them all, that’s it. You can’t get any more of them. And if you wanted fully-refined weapons of this variety, but used all the ones you had as fodder to level other weapons, well... You were shit outta luck, as they say.

The chests in the Chasm have remedied this somewhat, but seemingly only for certain weapons. I wasn’t able to find any of these: Traveler’s Handy Sword, Otherworldly Story, White Iron Greatsword, and Recurve Bow. It seems like these weapons may have only been obtainable from chests in Mondstadt, which really sucks because there’s no telling when a new Mondstadt-related area will be introduced to the game. Guess we’ll have to wait until we can explore the Mare Jivari or something.

The Archon Quest

This quest was... emotional. I was invested in the Abyss/Khaenri’ah storyline more than anything else in Genshin Impact already, and this just made me even more interested to see where it goes. Now that I know the true extent of the devastation brought upon Khaenri’ah, I’ve come to empathize with both sides of the conflict between Dainsleif and the Traveler’s twin.

Dainsleif is like my favorite character in the game, and I learned a lot about his ideology and what he’s fighting for in this quest. I also got to learn a lot about the ideals of the Traveler’s twin, what the Abyss Order is trying to accomplish, and why they do the things they do. I still don’t quite get why the twin threw in their lot with the Abyss Order, but I’ve come to understand some of the reasoning behind their actions.

It seems like the Abyss Order is doing everything it can to undo the Khaenri’ah Cataclysm and defy the will of Celestia, which I totally understand and agree with. Celestia is clearly full of bastards who don’t like it when they’re challenged by mortals. Dainsleif, meanwhile, seems more inclined to accept that changing the course of fate is beyond his power and would only bring about further suffering. So he does everything he can to prevent the Abyss Order from continuing on their destructive path.

Both ideologies are inherently flawed, yet both are understandable and I agree with both to an extent. Dainsleif’s apparent nihilism has led him to simply accept the injustice leveled at Khaenri’ah, whereas the Abyss Order’s methods towards achieving its goals are blatantly immoral.

My hope for the future of Genshin Impact’s story, however unlikely it is, is that these two sides are able to reconcile their differences and join forces to take the fight to Celestia. I want Dainsleif to realize his hard-line attitude towards the Abyss and refusal to attempt to change the status quo is leaving a crime unpunished. And I want the Abyss Order and the Traveler’s twin to realize that their current course of action is doomed to failure and they need to challenge Celestia on better grounds.

Final Thoughts

That was a lot to get through. I think I had more fun exploring the Chasm than any other area so far, in no small part due to the significance of the lore and Dainsleif’s part in the story. Sadly it seems like we won’t be seeing him again for a while since this last escapade did a number on him. I really hope Dainsleif becomes a playable character the next time we see him. That’s a lot to hope for, I know, and I’m guessing at this point that we’ll only reach that point once Dainsleif is done running around doing his own thing all the time.

Or maybe HoYoverse changed their minds about Dainsleif being made playable, which would be tremendously disappointing. Or maybe they haven’t figured out how to make an element-less character fit into the gameplay yet, or... something. Regardless, Dainsleif fans such as myself have been waiting almost longer than anyone else for their character to become playable (I see you there, Baizhu simps. Yaoyao too eh?).

I think that wraps up my thoughts though. I’ll have more to say once we get to version 2.7 and have the next Archon Quest, as well as the major event centered around the Chasm that we’re supposed to get.