Yo! Long time no write. I already explained that my gaming life these days consists almost entirely of unexciting casual fare, so there’s nothing to write about… or there wasn’t, until a few days ago.
Genshin Impact
Sometimes “If you don’t like it, don’t play it” is indeed the correct answer to complaints about a game. Usually it’s a cop-out response meant to deflect valid concerns, but sometimes a gamer does need to move on when something is not working. In Genshin Impact‘s case, I and many other players have said that they want new areas to explore instead of the minigames, “festivals” and visual novel sequences Mihoyo has been pushing for the past 4-5 months. We’ve said it so often and in so many places that there’s no doubt Mihoyo has heard us. Nevertheless, they still decided to make the 1.5 patch another inconsequential non-event affect, except now with house decoration shenanigans. If I wanted Animal Crossing, I would play Animal Crossing.
At this point, it’s clear that Mihoyo can’t or won’t release new maps at a fast pace. It’s likely that the maps simply aren’t ready because making, testing and balancing them is taking longer than expected. Genshin Impact is an ambitious blend of open-world action RPG with gacha elements, so there’s a ton of things to design, program and test. Even after all this time, they only have concept art of Inazuma to show and nothing for the Chasm, so they probably don’t have anything presentable finished yet.
Alternatively, it’s possible that Mihoyo wants to milk the dairy cow for a long time, so they’re seeing how long they can string fans along before releasing substantial updates. Maybe it’s even fine with them if the fussiest and most impatient players give up and leave, so the more easygoing and patient ones can stay behind for less drama and hassle.
I rank myself as one of the “easygoing and patient” ones, but there’s really nothing I want to do in Genshin Impact right now. Daily commissions are boring and repetitive. Primogems, mora, etc. are all wasted on me because there’s no character I want to pull after getting Venti, who I don’t even use. I know the game is going to be full of fun and excitement again once new areas finally open up. That’s why instead of plodding along so long that I get angry and burnt out before then, it’s best to drop Genshin Impact for a while and pick it up when either Inazuma or The Chasm is released.
Octopath Traveler
My brother accidentally left his Switch with me. And being the nice sister that I am, I decided to take good care of it for him. Naturally, that involves turning it on every day and testing the games just to make sure everything’s working well, what a hard worker I am❤.
So, I was almost done with Octopath Traveler last November when I had to pause for a while. It’s a straightforward RPG though, so it didn’t take me too long to get back in the saddle after I fumbled around for a bit. I’m at the last chapter for all the routes. IIRC I’ve beaten the final bosses for Therion’s route (I was convinced Heathcote would be a traitor, but he wasn’t), Tressa’s (incredibly trivial as usual and oh-so cringy), Primrose (soooo much talking, what the heck) and H’aanit’s (simple case with decent conclusion).
Four more to go and then I can give a final review. I enjoyed this game even more than I thought it would, though not all the stories are equally interesting. The battle system was good, but could get a little boring once you hit a good combination of skills. And the encounter rate was a tad on the high side. That’s one thing that puts me off turn-based RPGs these days… Random encounters… Can’t even walk around in peace, just swoooosh after swiiissh after swoooosh… But we’ll talk about all that once I’m finally done. See ya!
For Genshin, maybe worth checking out next patch 1.6 in June? Heard they might be releasing a chain of islands to explore (tied to event).
Oh really. I haven’t been following leaks lately, but that’s good to hear. June isn’t too far away.