Genshin Impact

[Hammr2]

@Magicat

It's the tiny Anastella icon above, it only appears when you swap into next character from any Rina attack. Doing Rina basic attack 1 and then swapping is enough to get the buff, no need to Ex-skill version. Beside doing basic attack and not Ex-skill do not force swapping/assist into next character, can swap to previous character instead.

Her buff stays for the other two chars beside Rina. I mean if accidentally swapping back to Rina while buff is still up, you have to do Rina attack again. Because swapping back to Rina means recalling her dolls, they stop giving the buff.
Yeah, M1 is good enough for Rina. Bad UI buff, tiny orange circle doesn't go down to see exact duration like other buffs.

Special ZZZ video from dev.

1) Story
Season 2 teaser trailer will be out on April 13th (assuming it's Asia time, not Burgerland timezone).
The player character - Proxy will become a disciple studying under Yixuan (key character in season 2). New city - Failume Height in Waifei Peninsula. Chinese culture pandering here.

Reeks of Honkai design more than ZZZ style to me.
More secrets to be revealed. Sarah's plans behind Sacrifice for example, conspiracy behind Exaltists, the truth behind fall of Old Capital, more secrets behind Phaethon siblings. More factions, Yunkui Summit, Angels of Delusion and Obol Squad are mentioned.
I'm not sure if this part was English skill issue, or is it Belle being written in mind as "default protagonist" rather than Wise now.
I'm dumb, "her" here is Yixuan.

I guess, rip Eous, no more navigating as bangboo anymore. Rip Venus, officer Mewmew and any whatever world NPCs being related side quests I guess.

2) Gameplay.
More/better integration between combat zones and residential areas.
Reducing loading times. Better UI, less scrolling around to choose areas for example. New dailies to match Waifei Peninsula.
Phaethon's story and special episodes will be merged together. More focus on developing connection between various Agents and main storylines, deepening more Proxies' involvement.
More new characters will be designed in mind similar to how Astra, Pulchra and Trigger work. To have that better feeling of doing something in combat.
Old characters balance, they try to design characters to be more future-proof and have long-term value. If needed, they may supplement or reworks certain skills. This is kinda PR talk to me, I don't really feel optimistic, but considering how few old characters have more enhanced mechanics in the weekly Hollow Zero gameplay. Those enhancements may become real thing in future balance.

Many things seem nice. Anyone still plays or like it, enjoy the ride. I don't really feel like it with direction they choose for story already.

 

[DenseDeerFather]

I don't really feel like it with direction they choose for story already.

Our of curiosity, what is it about the story you don't like?

Personally I'm more curious though I miss the earlier shit post feel of the earlier chapters.

Also I hope we'll get something about those Void Hunters one day.

As with the QOL updates I'm a bit wary with how badly powercreep runs rampant in Star Rail but we'll see.

 

[Hammr2]

Our of curiosity, what is it about the story you don't like?

ZZZ world building is kinda non-existent, that's fine for me. I still don't like supernatural power with Miyabi, Vivian and coming Yixuan (Anby Pro max). Mostly because everyone seems to treat it as a normal thing. Or at least, they don't give it some proper introduction and integration to the story. Even Yanagi is mixed with oni blood because of trope writing. I find oni aspect is severely under-developed to the point I feel Soukaku is actually having Ice-power rather than her giant banner doing it. And somehow oni race can hold off against "army" high tech on human-side, depsite oni village only using medieval weapons.
I don't mind diversity of robots, furry, kemono mimi, elves and even "demon" type characters. I don't need lore to have proper explanation for them because I understand those are parts of artist team design preference.

Now, possibility of Proxies becoming something even more than a nerd/hacker/guide, just because they are "the chosen ones" with wuxia stuffs come in. This current patch kinda teasing with the whole fixing Proxies ether aptitude so they can go into Hollow zones and even "lacking of combat skills" comment from Ellen.
Proxies themselves are perfectly fine as on the sideline characters in this settings. They don't have to be like the Traveler, Trailblazer, Rover or any typical JRPG protagonists. Literally all networking with TOPS, Scott Outpost group and even New Eridu mayor. Apparently none of them are good enough to cover for setting up place to go to the new city. Or any branches to extend to there. Nope, "you are weak, now you shall cultivate" under Kungfu master. Fairy plot is just throw away, any weird hints at the very early game don't matter anymore. Maybe, they will use this cultivation to explain more of possibility of super natural power.

I don't think it's fair to judge something so early without any proper in touch with it. Presuming these contents are planned for maybe like a year ahead. Yet somehow it gives me more of "changing plans" feeling because how original design vision isn't do great for their standard, popularity, revenue or whatever. I don't know whether more urban style gacha coming or the need of being Honkai-ish have any effects on this game.

 

[Daddy's Little Kitten]

I don't know whether more urban style gacha coming or the need of being Honkai-ish have any effects on this game.

Both NTE and Ananta are urban gachas supposedly releasing later this year so you may not be far off.

I legit don't pay attention to ZZZs story because it's all over the place.

 

[LucasSomething]

The player character - Proxy will become a disciple studying under Yixuan (key character in season 2). New city - Failume Height in Waifei Peninsula. Chinese culture pandering here.

>create gacha game with unique world asthethics
>Second city is fantasy/modern china

Is this some kind of hoyo curse? Maybe not since other chinese gacha like snowbreak did it too (it's even dumber there cause it comes out of nowhere).

Yet somehow it gives me more of "changing plans" feeling because how original design vision isn't do great for their standard, popularity, revenue or whatever.

I was going to say this, i don't play ZZZ but i feel like it's losing away all it's idendity because it's original "edge" is not "hoyo mainstream" enough. Most gachas don't "relaunch" on version 1.4 and then announce more overhauls in 2.0

-We made a waifu game and now no women are playing and the community is dying?? Bump lighter to 5* and give out harumasa for free (wait this is a good thing). Make this vampire ass bigger since women goon too!

-The original idea of requiring S rank score to ult was ditched cause bad players cant ult, and release system was bad cause only dps ult so now everyone has their ult meter like honkai 3 and genshin.

-Characters are going to be "more involved out of field" aka doing subdps off field stuff like genshin too, which will definitely lead to endgame powercreep.

-We designed the tv mode around everything in the game and everyone hated. We improved it and everyone hated it. We removed it from side stuff and it's not enough. It's fucking gone in season 2. Lets never mention it again.

-You liked the underground streetpunk asthethics? Guess what motherfucker it's time for the Hoyo Chinese Area (TM) except now it's just hong kong (?) and maybe some fantasy bullshit.

-Players/china doesn't like a silent protagonist sitting in a vhs store? Fuck it, he's going to train with a hot asian waifu (who is just hersher of void from honkai 3?) and reach level 99. You'll have your "stronger protagonist presence".

I don't know whether more urban style gacha coming or the need of being Honkai-ish have any effects on this game.

Urban style and post apocalypse were trendy and still are in chinese gacha (snowbreak, tower of fantasy, WuWa etc) but i think genshin and star rail having completely different asthetics for each country and planet broke the glass and now ZZZ is expected to comply. The second ZZZ city HAS to be china and the third one HAS to be something completely new.

But of course, ZZZ was not built with the world building to support this so they have to make shit up at best and pander at worst.

Note that even other gacha like WuWa are affected and forced into "honkaification", with rinascita being obviously more fantasy. You know those incoming urbarstyle gachas? They will become china or fantasy too eventually.

 

[Daddy's Little Kitten]

But you need to do China! Otherwise you'll piss off Winnie the Pooh.

Also, why are the ching chong areas the worst in terms of storytelling? I can't speak for Genshin, but both HSR and WuWa were at their weakest there.

 

[LucasSomething]

But you need to do China! Otherwise you'll piss off Winnie the Pooh.

Also, why are the ching chong areas the worst in terms of storytelling? I can't speak for Genshin, but both HSR and WuWa were at their weakest there.

IMO Genshin china story was terrible and people only excuse it because it was all there in 1.0 and people played during honeymoon phase. Contraved plot, literal fetch quests, slowly greeting everyone in china, twist that trivializes everything etc. If Liyue archon quest was released across fours patches it would get more hate than inazuma.

I guess star rail is proof of this scenario. Yeah Luofu was bad on it's own but having to suffer through it for months makes every bad bit stand out.

 

[marvlouslie]

Have all the English VAs been fired and replaced yet?

 

[Dollar Store Sentai]

-We designed the tv mode around everything in the game and everyone hated. We improved it and everyone hated it. We removed it from side stuff and it's not enough. It's fucking gone in season 2. Lets never mention it again.

People were bitching about that even when the game was in closed beta, so once the game launched and normies started complaining the writing was on the wall with it.

I'm annoyed that they are going to focus on the MC's being foreground characters instead of being hackers hiding in the shadows. Depending on how bad the glazing is, I'll have no issues dropping the game and checking out story channels like I do with Genshin already.

 

[The Lawgiver]

I remember when the other games started coming out after genshin's success people were like "OH SEE GENSHIN IS JUST THE MONEY GAME THESE OTHER ONES ARE GONNA BE THE REAL EFFORT!!!!" and then they kept blowing loads on gacha shit and framing it like genshin was the worst one. Said it before but genshin's like the one that i've been able to get into, not just due to system compatibility stuff but also due to the fact t doesn't play like a gacha game. Unless something goes horribly wrong down the line it's main issue is cutscene dialogue length at some moments and some other minor gripes. Stuff like there being no designated toggle off for the enemy lock on mechanic that can on occasion make some pretty simple tasks like breaking 2 pillars or grappling onto something a slight pain cause you'll just start attacking some other goblin or animal off to the left sometimes.

I personally find it neat that they're able to pull off having multiple plot heavy games running at once, but I also wouldn't doubt some of the stuff got a little iffy in parts due to the fact they're now juggling SEVERAL games like that. Like more than they already were when they brought out genshin to start with since there's some games that predate that one.

EDIT: Just remembered I never brought this up, but though I haven't unlocked the character I did one of the event quest story events where you had specific characters in your team and I find it pretty neat but also odd how Iansan's dash is different than Varesa's. Not in a bad way, just in a way that changes up the moveset just enough that it's a little unique for both of them. I thought they'd be basically the same functionally but with a different animation like other Natlan regional characters I've tried of the same element tribe as each other seemed to do with their abilities. If I ever unlock her it'll be interesting to compare the two and alternate them out to just sonic speed through the map.

 

[Clancee]

Genshin's like the one that i've been able to get into, not just due to system compatibility stuff but also due to the fact t doesn't play like a gacha game.

Part of the reason that Genshin got as wide of an audience as it did is because the main appeal was "Breath of the Wild but with waifus". Being free + covid did help but the fact that it was an open world game with the gacha looking like an afterthought made it appealing to the casuals. To this day it's still the only gacha game I still play, I've tried other gachas and they just didn't hit the same.

 

[LucasSomething]

People were bitching about that even when the game was in closed beta, so once the game launched and normies started complaining the writing was on the wall with it.

I'm annoyed that they are going to focus on the MC's being foreground characters instead of being hackers hiding in the shadows. Depending on how bad the glazing is, I'll have no issues dropping the game and checking out story channels like I do with Genshin already.

I know, that why i mentioned they "improved" it multiple times, the devs tried and tried and decided it's not worth it. From the little i played, i thought tv and combat detracted too much from each other due to thethe loading screens. The game is not tense enough to need this much downtime and it's on mobile so everything has to be short.

I get the idea, you can't have JUST combat arena, you need something to make your game stand out and make the main gimmick connects with the world building and on paper it sounded good. There are these pocket dimensions that appear and are basically dungeons filled with monsters. Enter the MC who is literally a hacker who sends a bunnybot and helps warriors navigate the dungeon, by literally navigating the tv minigame. This is what MCs in most older gachas usually do, play faceless leader in the background.

But (chinese) gacha hasn't been like that in a while partially due to hoyo itself, with more on the way (arknights endfield). People nowadays expect the mc to be playable or at least be super cool and get bitches.

As much as trailblazer got ruined by memes, i appreciate he's not hyperglazed and allowed to be a silly guy with his train buddies. I also like how tribe nine MC has amnesia but is not a silent self insert at all, he's more of a standard hotblooded shounen protag and you have to roll for his cons like any other unit.

 

[Daddy's Little Kitten]

Fuck Castorice.



My Ruan Mei is E1 now. When you log in, it redirects you straight into Castorice's warp. Not even Firefly gets a pretty video
Also, pls gib moni:

 

[Donkey Kongus]

I remember when the other games started coming out after genshin's success people were like "OH SEE GENSHIN IS JUST THE MONEY GAME THESE OTHER ONES ARE GONNA BE THE REAL EFFORT!!!!" and then they kept blowing loads on gacha shit and framing it like genshin was the worst one. Said it before but genshin's like the one that i've been able to get into, not just due to system compatibility stuff but also due to the fact t doesn't play like a gacha game. Unless something goes horribly wrong down the line it's main issue is cutscene dialogue length at some moments and some other minor gripes. Stuff like there being no designated toggle off for the enemy lock on mechanic that can on occasion make some pretty simple tasks like breaking 2 pillars or grappling onto something a slight pain cause you'll just start attacking some other goblin or animal off to the left sometimes.

Agreed. One of the big things keeping me glued to Genshin is that even with all of it's Gacha stuff, it feels like a game first in a lot of regards. It has its problems, but I don't regret sticking with it for as long as I have. At least to me, the cutscene/dialogue length doesn't become a problem until Sumeru. I'd say by Inazuma is when they start introducing a lot more complex or intricate plot points or concepts which isn't always bad!

 

[LucasSomething]

I logged in star rail and i'm flashbanged by a forced into a Castorice preview that launches me straight into her banner. How absolute shameless of hoyo to do this, especially as people here talk about genshin being a game first and gacha second. The event icon is different now and REALLY wants to remind you that you should spend that money! It's A 690% DISCOUNT DEAL DUDE! IT'S THE GAME ANNIVERSARY AND YOU GIVE US THE PRESENT WOOO!

And apparently this patch onwards they give 2 more things in the stellar reunion

1-100 coupons that let you finish material and boss calyx instantly

2-A free full set of relics and ornaments!... That is 4* star lol.

Bro what am i supposed to do with lvl 9 4* set in the current state of the game?? Beat MoC in 40 turns? This reminds me that i have nothing for sunday to wear and the thought of farming months to speed tune him already gives me anxiety. He will wear these scraps for now (the substats were all shit too).

The coupon stuff is really good tho. 100 coupons is basically 1000 resin of materials you can get instantly.



But this doesn't work on relics and ornaments which is the grind that matters and sucks... But i did get sunday on 80 and 1/7/7/7 just from this so i guess it's better than nothing. Not enough to make me play again tho.

In some random news, WuWa was changed to 16+ out of nowhere lol

 

[WULULULULU]

I logged in star rail and i'm flashbanged by a forced into a Castorice preview that launches me straight into her banner. How absolute shameless of hoyo to do this, especially as people here talk about genshin being a game first and gacha second.

All F2P games eventually do this. When the honeymoon phase ends, the game immediately sends an offer (more like an ad) that sends you straight into the cash shop. This is just simply an inevitability to Hoyoslop.

 

[Leaf Wage Slave Jr]

All F2P games eventually do this. When the honeymoon phase ends, the game immediately sends an offer (more like an ad) that sends you straight into the cash shop. This is just simply an inevitability to Hoyoslop.

As someone who plays Nikke, it could always be worse - Nikke throws up offers for the Shop at pretty much every conceivable milestone you could hit, and on a 2 Hour Window.

Again, the game knows its market - for all I will shill the game because the story and music is way better than you’d expect, it knows it’s aimed at Gooners with disposable income.

 

[RIPRhongoBongo]

All that for an E1 Clara. Fuck it, guess it's something

 

[DenseDeerFather]

Oh my fucking god, this new patch is insane with the spending. I log in and BOOM SPEND MONEY HERE, SPEND MONEY THERE.

Jesus Christ, chill.

Also lost my 50/50 to Welt so now he's E2. Well I guess I'm one step closer to get Luocha. Also yes, picked Ruan Mei as my freebie because Firefly.

God I actually hate that they did this with the special E6 currency but only for 5*.

hersher

Not gonna lie, when I saw the ZZZ white haired yellow eyed waifu, I thought two things.

1. Is this another Silver Squad clone?
2. That looks like the bitch from the Genshin opening scene.

We designed the tv mode around everything in the game and everyone hated. We improved it and everyone hated it. We removed it from side stuff and it's not enough. It's fucking gone in season 2. Lets never mention it again

I will admit I actually liked TV mode. I do miss that it's just gone.

They will become china or fantasy too eventually.

WuWa started out like China which was fine and made sense.

I will admit the Final Fantasy route that it took did disappoint me even though if I like aspects of it. I miss Sci-fi Shanghai.

I'm annoyed that they are going to focus on the MC's being foreground characters instead of being hackers hiding in the shadows. Depending on how bad the glazing is, I'll have no issues dropping the game and checking out story channels like I do with Genshin already.

Same tbh. Before...all of this I liked that ZZZ had the main characters take a backseat for the actual player characters but also felt like...you know, characters. Which would make sense as hackers.

They were still involved as they should be and they had their own mystery to them. Like the fall of the old capital, Fairy, and their teacher which was teased at some point.

But them suddenly becoming new fighters and shit is massively disappointing.

People nowadays expect the mc to be playable or at least be super cool and get bitches.

Which in turn makes the games feel homogenized if they are all gonna become harem/Mary Sue simulators in Sci-fi Shanghai/Narnia of China.

When you log in, it redirects you straight into Castorice's warp. Not even Firefly gets a pretty video

Given how popular she's become, I guess it was a given. Firefly was more polarizing if memory serves.

 

[Daddy's Little Kitten]

I have a dream. I'm gonna get Acheron to E2 without spending