Genshin Impact

First published in GRIND II, pages 30–41.

I believe in one Holy Barbatos, father of all drunkards, maker of cider and dandelion wine. And in one Holy Morax, blood brother, who was born of stone and became sand. Island from island, vision from vision, destroyed, but not made, of one being with Baal, through whom all things were subjected. Who for us, F2P, and for our salvation, came down from the anniversary and was made flesh by miHoYo, and of the virgin Kokomi, and was made dust. And the martyr leakers crucified themselves for us, and suffered, and were buried. And rose again on the third day after the announcements, and ascended to Twitter, and will sit at the right hand of the community, and will come again in glory to judge the whales and the poor, whose pity shall have no end. And in Dainsleif, the Lord of the destroying Abyss, who proceeds from Khaenri'ah, who with Aether and Lumine is written and glorified, who has spoken through visions. In one Holy, futile and unceasing farming, I hope for a complete set for the forgiveness of bad luck, I await the reset of wishes, and the 5-star hero of the age. Amen!

Genshin Impact – Act IV:

Without giving too many details from the main story, the endless quests you're handed, from the leaders of each nation right down to kids who've lost their parents, give you the impression that this universe is utterly cursed without you, even though you're the one asking for help.

As an anecdote, every god, though supposedly meant to watch over their subjects, does anything but that. Barbatos, the Archon of Mondstadt, dreams of bottles of cider and plays the big-shot bard. Morax, the God of Contracts and the one who created Mora, is flat broke and works at a funeral parlour. And Baal, the divinity of Inazuma, bangs on about eternity but raids Visions without much care for the consequences. On top of that, in Teyvat there's a dark entity, the Abyss, which wants to destroy Celestia (a kind of Mount Olympus) and rise up against the gods.

What I've recounted about the game's events is only a small part of it, told in a sarcastic and amusing tone. Genshin Impact, despite being a grind-fest, offers you the freedom to enjoy the content as you please, alone or with friends who can drop into your world, whatever device you're playing on. Events are quite diverse, from playing hide-and-seek to tennis, fishing and dates with the partner of your dreams, where you end up knitting winter jumpers for stray dogs and cats.

I'll end these lines the same way I started, with a prayer. Not least because the disadvantage of being new to Genshin Impact requires nerves of steel and the possibility of having a character from a continent you don't even have access to. Thank goodness there's plenty to choose from, and time you'll have in spades!

Act III:

In short, Lisa won't be effective on her own, so you'll need to raise a Dendro character (in reaction with Electro it'll give you Aggravate), an Electro battery so she can recharge her abilities quickly, then an element that will provide healing (Anemo is a viable choice).

And all that just for a functional team built around the wife I devoted so much care to until she became a monster in the battle arena.

Of course, this is an optimistic scenario, because after more than two years of continuously trying team strategies, I've taken to hunting down on Twitter the accounts of those who leak future characters, so I can then imagine what weapon or team I'll need for a potential obsession in the form of a boy with a jackal helmet who howls Anubis from a mile off (Cyno, for reference).

It's a continuous cycle that doesn't look like stopping anytime soon. Perhaps not until I get my sights set on some other anime husbando with the Japanese voice of Junichi Suwabe or Mamoru Miyano.

But hey, who has a harem of pretty girls and guys on their account, in every possible combination?

LOVE FROM FARMING DOES

WHAT

FARMING DOES FROM LOVE Genshin Impact Act III:

Resin is very important, one of the most used currencies in Genshin Impact.

You need this Resin to claim the rewards and materials accumulated from a boss, or from domains for materials, talents or artefacts. At the same time, the more you use, the more EXP you earn (at a 1:5 rate). The downside is that one Resin regenerates every eight minutes, and the cap is 160. Once you hit that figure, it stops regenerating.

After ages of struggle, you've managed to build Lisa in the image and likeness of your own whims, with a Crit Rate/Crit DMG ratio that would make any whale who's thrown a fortune at the game feel small and insignificant. Only to then realise you need a tank, an energy battery and, ideally, elements that generate the strongest possible reactions, an advantage both in combat and for assorted puzzles.

A few paragraphs above, we discussed the presence of the seven elements. There's an interesting mechanic here, namely the possibility of building your team (maximum four characters) around reactions. To give an example, if you use a Hydro and Pyro reaction you'll get Vaporize, Electro and Pyro will give Overloaded, Hydro and Cryo lead to Frozen, and so on.

Act III:

If I haven't lost your attention by now, congratulations!

I should mention that we've still got a way to go before our witch makes a proper showing of herself on the battlefield. And what hero is worth their salt without a weapon to match? For Lisa we need a Catalyst, the weapon specific to a mage role. The other weapon types are Claymore, Sword and Polearm. Just like the character, these can be four- or five-star, and upgrading works the same way (duplicates serve as refinement, max 5, max weapon level 90). Though a weapon costs roughly half what a character does, you need separate materials which, like talents, have their own domains, with items active on different days.

Finally, we come to artefacts – a topic where the Jesus of RNG has his way with you in the most perverse fashion. That's because a complete artefact set (minimum four pieces) is obtained after long hours of grinding in a purpose-built domain, only for you to then pray to a multitude of known and unknown spirits to get the sub-stat you need to roll as you level an artefact to maximum. The formula holds here too: there are four-star artefacts (max level 16) and five-star artefacts (max level 20). On top of that, there are characters who scale with HP, Attack or Energy Recharge, depending on the role they play in the team (DPS, sub DPS, tank, support).

LOVE FROM FARMING DOES

WHAT

FARMING DOES FROM LOVE Genshin Impact Act III:

Each constellation has its benefits, such as faster energy regeneration, a DEF boost, interruption resistance, and the list goes on.

We have all the copies, now what? Well, we start gathering the resources needed to level her up (max 90). In total you need 420,000 Mora (Teyvat's currency), 46 Lightning Prisms (obtainable from an Electro cube, a boss that drops two or three items after each defeat if you're at WL 8), purple diamonds, 146 Valberries (which can be picked from various spots around Mondstadt and respawn after 48 hours) and Slime Concentrate. If you weren't sensible enough to farm before deciding to raise Lisa, it's going to take you a while.

On to talents. And not because the girl isn't gifted enough, but because her abilities and her ultimate also need an enhance. Each talent can be upgraded up to level 10. A few of the necessary resources overlap with the character level-up ones, but talent materials are a different kettle of fish altogether. These can be obtained in battle domains, available on certain days of the week. Higher-level talents (6 - 10) require items that are dropped only by weekly bosses. Level 10 additionally asks for a crown, which can be obtained exclusively from limited-time events.

Act III:

WHAT FARMING DOES FROM LOVE

Genshin Impact managed to bring out of me something I never imagined I'd find in an anime video game. Collecting virtual husbands or wives (depending on your perspective), to whom I give my time, my money, my sweat and my fantasies.

Each character you can obtain within a limited time has their own design, characteristics and powers that make them special, slotted into either the game's main story or into time-limited themed events.

Diversity is the keyword when you take a look at the multitude of male and female personalities the game offers you (around 57, but new ones are on the way). Do you want a girl who flirts with you at every opportunity, has a voice ripped straight out of a hentai when she climbs rocks and electrocutes your enemies? Lisa, a very talented mage and the librarian of the Knights of Favonius, is the perfect choice! For those who are more unconventional, we have Hu Tao, the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, an accomplished poet and a charismatic manager. Attentive to her clients, she visits them regularly, just so she knows when to get their coffins ready in good time, with 50% off for a second deceased. You never know when you might need one!

The bad part is that it becomes impossible to have just one favourite. And you're probably asking yourselves, why would that be a bad thing? Grab a chair, maybe a crate of beer, because maxing out a character (what a good joke!) in Genshin Impact can take months of farming resources, talents, weapons and artifacts.

Let's say you decided to c h a n n e l your energies into the lady named above, Lisa.

Fortunately, the game hands her to you from the first missions, so it isn't much of a chore if you want her. Being a four-star character, the gacha drop rate (or slot machines, as I like to call them) is higher. To reach a potential comparable to that of a five-star character, which is harder to obtain but comes with more powerful abilities, you need to get constellations. Put simply: play the slots and hope you pull duplicates of Lisa until you have all six available constellations.

Genshin Impact – Act II:

WELCOME TO TEYVAT!

The first hours spent in Genshin Impact slip by without you even realising it.

You're busy hoarding as much material as you can, from flowers, ores and bugs to hurling yourself into packs of hobgoblins (here they're called hilichurls, and it took me a while to get used to that) or slimes, against which you can measure your strength.

The world is vast, with superb landscapes inspired by places such as the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan for the mountains of Liyue, the cities of Germany and Switzerland for Mondstadt, the imperial temples and castles of Japan for Inazuma, or the Egyptian pyramids for the desert region of Sumeru. If that already sounds like a lot, bear in mind that miHoYo plans to release three more new zones in future, inspired by pre-Columbian cultures (Natlan), France (Fontaine) and Russia (Snezhnaya). And yes, you guessed it, the Snezhnayans are the bad guys.

As you explore, your AR (Adventure Rank) rises, which helps push your World Level up. The higher your WL (8 at most), the harder the enemies are to beat, but the more substantial the rewards they drop. Which brings up the question: what's all this hoarding of experience, resources and treasure for?

Your first interaction with the environment is with one of the Statues of the Seven, on the edge of Mondstadt. The Seven are gods (Archons) who watch over the main regions of Teyvat.

Each god embodies the force of one of the seven elements: Anemo (Air), Geo (Earth), Electro (Electricity), Dendro (Vegetation), Pyro (Fire), Hydro (Water) and Cryo (Ice). At the same time, these idols can grant Visions to mortals. They can manipulate the powers of an element, becoming like demigods. Not to be confused with the everyday sense of the word 'vision'. In Genshin Impact, a Vision is a physical object, a kind of amulet, whose symbol matches the element the character can tap into in the form of special abilities.

Aether, our traveller, has no Vision (literally and figuratively), but if he comes into contact with a statue, he can take on that element. Through that same monument, the map of the land is gradually revealed, and numerous teleport waypoints become available to make getting from one point to another easier. ` Although I wouldn't have minded the chance to have a horse to explore all the world's beauties with. Blast it, now I'm thinking about Breath of the Wild again.

Genshin Impact – Act I:

EXPULSION FROM PARADISE AND THE SEVEN

The story begins with the image of two meteorites crossing the sky of an unknown universe. The two cosmic bodies are a reference to two twin siblings, Lumine and Aether. They had been travelling through the world called Teyvat for some time, but found themselves forced to leave it for a specific reason.

But something happened. An unknown entity of fabulous power blocks their path. The conquest by humans ends here, threatens the creature that calls itself the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. The two protagonists fight with all their might against the supposed deity. In that moment, you are forced to make a choice. Lumine or Aether. You don't know the reason for the choice, but you have to press on.

The goddess captures the sibling who wasn't chosen, and the other is cast out into Teyvat. With his memories wiped, apart from the encounter with the threatening deity, our hero (I'll mention Aether's name, since he's the twin I chose) tries to survive on a deserted beach. While fishing, he comes across a bizarre creature. Though she looks like a child, Paimon is a very energetic, very talkative flying NPC (maybe a bit too much for her own good) who, after listening to Aether's story, decides to become his companion and guide. That's how the main quest in Genshin Impact begins. To discover these lands and search for your lost sister.

Genshin Impact – HAREM SLOTS AND THE FURY OF THE GODS

Our Barbatos, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy cider. Thy domains come, thy full set be done. On Celestia as it is in Teyvat. Give us this day our daily Resin. And forgive us our complaints, as we forgive the RNG of life. And lead us not into Khaenri'ah, but deliver us from A b y s s. Amen!