Review Genshin Impact - Has scale but lacks soul

Developer: miHoYo

Publisher: miHoYo

Release date: September 28 , 2020

Platform: PC, PS4, iOS, Android

ESRB: Teen

Genshin Impact is light on story and focused on exploration, encouraging players to dig under every rock, glide from every cliff, and overcome every goblin camp. This free-to-play open-world action/role-playing game is an amazing combination of art and sound coupled with easy-to-learn combat mechanics and a survival of magical adventures around every corner.

As you climb the highest peaks, confront giant bosses, and spend quiet moments admiring the scenery. A lot of MMORPG games always have endless quests, but Genshin Impact brings a sense of fascination and longing that the writer rarely feels.

I've been reflecting on my recent Genshin Impact experience with my friends. Loot mechanism, upgrade and customize the character is very attractive and attractive. Genshin Impact, like many other MMORPGs, is a never-ending adventure, where every minute you decide to do a quest turns into hours of continuous play.

Perhaps you're on a main story quest but see a chest in the distance, which leads to following a mysterious spirit down a cliff and finding a rare recipe. By the time you're done with that, time has passed and you forget why you were in this area in the first place. That's okay, though, because you've solved a puzzle and sent you soaring through the air next to a majestic mountain range, rescuing some travelers trapped in millennial amber, and fighting. with a mech for new, more delicious loot.

The game's main mission is always there, but it's hard to focus on it when you're busy running, surfing and climbing to explore the vast world of Genshin Impact. This world contains an incredibly intoxicating and irresistible beauty.

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However, the game also has its weak points, the dialogue and the plot are the weakest parts of the game experience. You can completely ignore most conversation with NPCs 'for the sake of' when you're working on a main quest sequence that unlocks certain areas and boss encounters.

The real story here is created by your journey as you move from one area to another. From rummaging through a carrot-growing field for food to accidentally getting lost in an encounter with high-level monsters because the surroundings distract you, I've never felt my duty. Play becomes bland and repetitive. Although the game can become 'plowed' for about 30 hours after that, but is it really called plowing if you're not bored at all?

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You control a party of four characters, but can only use one character at a time. The combat mechanics are pretty straightforward, with each character having a few different attacks, an elemental skill, and a powerful elemental attack. Swap characters mid-battle with an instant button press, creating a more dynamic and exciting battle system than pressing buttons around and then the monster dying.

Using a Hydro character to get enemies wet and then quickly swapping into an Electro character to electrify them is an effective use of elemental combos, especially with tougher confrontations and especially in timed challenges, it is extremely important to master the coordination of elemental combos.

In a fight with multiple minibosses present and the clock ticking down, you must carefully strategize to coordinate your elemental attacks for maximum damage and effectiveness.

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Elemental skills are not only valuable in combat, as you explore the world, these skills also play an important role. Genshin Impact's open world is filled with puzzles and well-hidden treasure chests to test your creativity. Simple quests like burning a thorn bush wrapped around a chest or blowing away dandelion seeds with the wind are done in the opening moment, but subsequent missions will require multiple systems. element to trigger many objects to interact in the environment.

Find yourself running out of stamina bars as you try to swim across a vast body of water? Freeze the water to create a path. Create an earth to activate a pedal to open a portal like in the movie Indiana Jones. Even late in the game, I'm discovering new ways to use my elemental abilities thanks to the game's vast world full of mysteries.

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The game allows up to four players to team up with each other, and the game also supports crossplay on all platforms. You'll probably need a friend or two to fight a tough boss or explore one. some dungeon. Or maybe you just want to hang out, see some ducks and take pictures together under the beautiful scenery of the game. Co-op mode is a fun addition, but everything in the game you can do and enjoy alone.

My biggest concern with Genshin Impact is that Genshin Impact's business model, even though it's a free-to-play game, is organized in a way that mobile gamers will find familiar. We can liken the 'gachapon' system to loot boxes, i.e. a form of gambling. But these loot boxes aren't just for storing skins or items that just look good; they contain more expensive characters and weapons than usual.

That's right, Genshin Impact is a pay-to-win game. Genshin Impact also has a battle pass that doesn't even show up until you've played the game for about 20 hours. The lottery for characters and weapons is exacerbated by the deliberate design methods of the developer Genshin Impact, such as giving you full-star heroes in your squad. in certain quests, allowing you to experience testing their awesome power and then strip it away, thus making you want to spin the gacha to get that power again.

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This is a monetization model that I can't support, but I haven't spent any real money in my 40+ hours with the game either. I don't feel like my leveling is stifled or my enjoyment is reduced because I haven't paid enough. I've played many gacha games and although Genshin Impact's monetization is the least greedy of them all, I hope this functionality will be removed and replaced by something healthier than a form of chess. this silver.

Lesley Montoya

Update 05 January 2022