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212 View2022-09-16

Taking a moment to appreciate the game that is Genshin Impact: From a new players perspective

I just wanted to take the time to share my appreciation and awe at the game that is Genshin Impact. I started playing this game maybe a month and a half ago, and am now working through Inazuma and just reached AR 33. And i have to say... This game is GOOOOOD!!! Especially considering it's a free to play gatcha game.

The game is in no way "pay to win" and the game offers soooo many opportunities to get the in game currency for wishes called primo-gems. Like literally almost anything you do in the game besides killing enemies gives you some amount of primo gems. From accomplishing the crazy amount of varied achievements, questing, and doing the spiral abyss to activating teleport waypoints and even opening random chests! There are just so many different and easy ways to get gems, that I have only spent $10 in total over 2 months for the welkin moon blessing thingy (which gives you 300 genesis crystals which can be converted to primos and then 90 primos a day upon logging in), and I have gotten numerous characters and a few good weapons as well, almost entirely from doing things in-game to earn gems (i have missed probably half of the welkin days). I feel in no way pushed or prodded to spend actual money on the game (not to mention genesis crystals you use to convert to primogems are relatively expensive and aren't really a good deal) and you can do all the content in the game (at least as far as i'm aware) with the characters the game gives just gives you without wishing. The fact that this is free-to-play and you in no way have to spend any amount of money on the game not only to 'win' but just to enjoy the game in general and absolutely nothing is blocked off from a pay-wall is, and that the game is just amazing in general is awesome!

The story is actually REALLY good IMHO, at least so far, and I've gotten part-way through Inazuma. There is just an insane amount of content on offer here now that the game has been out awhile, and they are continually adding more content as time goes on with every major update. There is no way (as far as i know anyway) to officially tally up your amount of time played in the game, but i estimate that over the past 2ish months I've been playing (and not even everyday), I've definitely put in over 100 hours (i am probably at maybe 115-120 but its really hard to know for sure) and I still have an absurd amount of content left, and most importantly, after all this time I still haven't gotten burnt out on it, or even feel close. Which only happens when i come across a game I'm REALLY into (I usually get bored at around the 70 hour mark, often even before that but not this time!). I'm only 3 ranks above the halfway mark for adventure rank, which i believe is 60 atm, and I haven't even touched the numerous story quests that exist for many characters using the special keys you get from doing 8 daily commissions. The characters in the story are memorable, unique, and each have their own personality. The voice acting imo is good as well.

The characters you can get through wishes are all unique. They all have their own, unique ability sets from active abilities to passive ones. The weapons are also all unique in terms of what perks they offer. You get the ability to play as the characters you encounter in the story if you unlock them via wishing, which is super neat. The combat in this game using said characters is also SUPERB, and VERY fun. The ability to chain different elemental reactions together to do extra damage is really fun and a neat combat mechanic. You will find yourself constantly switching between your 4 character party that you have configured to do so, and when you just absolutely merc a strong enemy by gracefully swapping between party members and chaining together elemental attacks feels oh so satisfying. The combat loop is just fun in general, and there are just so many different characters and abilities you can use in varying party combinations that it never gets old.

There is also a ton to do just exploring. You will run into enemies guarding a chest VERY frequently, and that allows you to engage in the fun combat loop on a regular basis. The bosses are also fun and varied and many world bosses can be replayed for various rewards. The game also has a simple free and paid battle pass, whcih offers rewards at every rank and every 10 ranks gives you a free wish for the standard banner, and another wish for the event banner (if you bought the paid $9.99USD battle pass), with simple daily objectives and even more weekly ones, and then unique event objectives whenever a major even is happening.

Overall, I think this game is amazing. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it initially, because when i first saw it on launch, I just saw a shameless Zelda Breath of the Wild clone and didn't bother to look much further. But in 2022, I sat down after the constant recommendations from my brother, and decided to give it a fair chance. I haven't put it down since! The game does so much to differentiate itself from BOTW, yet takes the mechanics that made that game great and implemented them here, and then added a ton of other, very different, stuff on top of that. BOTW is a great game, so I can totally understand why they copied what they copied, and now I'm 100% glad they did! The game is just so fun, there is an INSANE amount of content on offer, and it's all FREE! The game doesn't shove ads to buy premium currency down your throat whatsoever, and you can do all the content in the game with the 4 initial characters, plus the one from the beginners banner. The game gives you an INSANE amount of ways to earn primogems to make wishes for characters and weapons, and I've gotten at least 7 different characters and unlocked a few constellations for said characters, as well as gotten several weapons, and I have only spent $10 total on the game, and I didn't even take full advantage of that money because I skipped several days of the welkin blessing because i didn't play that day. The story is great, with numerous memorable characters and it has a good amount of depth to it as well. The combat is great, and I am so glad I finally listened to my brother and gave this game a fair chance! This is the BEST F2P game I've ever played, by far, and I wake up every day looking forward to playing more. Anyway, I could talk about this game for hours, but I'll leave it there so i don't end up repeating myself even more haha. Mihoyo did a great job here, and has continued to do a great job adding content post-launch. Now I just hope I can get a Raiden Shogun during this event banner :D... I'm getting really close to the 90 wish pity, so hopefully It's her! I stopped wishing at the tail end of the Yae Miko banner because i heard she was broken, so hopefully the hot shogun lady is better XD Cheers!

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