Adventures With Genshin Impact

 I don't usually play gacha games, but Genshin Impact intrigued me. The idea of a free to play open world gacha game was interesting so I decided to try it out. I told myself I would only play for an hour to see what it was like. I ended up playing for two hours because I didn't want to stop playing. The game was that much fun for me and I've been playing ever since. The world of Genshin is set in Teyvat and you are introduced to the twins, a brother and sister who are traveling across many worlds. They are stopped by an unknown god in Teyvat and the god takes one twin and seals away the other. This is where you get a choice to play as either the twin brother or the twin sister. I went with the sister so of course she gets sealed away. This character is just known as Traveler.

The traveler starts her adventure.

Traveler awakens and meets Paimon. Since the main character does not have a voice, Paimon does all the talking and acts as a companion and guide to Traveler. This is how the battle tutorial is done with Paimon explaining how the battle works as well as how the inventory system works. Paimon is very cute and there are a lot of funny jokes with Paimon including referring to Paimon as emergency food which results in a hilarious dialogue between Traveler and Paimon. 

Paimon is not emergency food. 

Traveler and Paimon decide to check out the city of Mondstadt and try to find Traveler's missing twin. Mondstadt is basically the starter city for Genshin Impact and it's beautiful. The world of Genshin Impact itself is gorgeous and it is very clear that they were inspired by games like Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, but does it in a way that shows off its own style. There's a lot of freedom to explore and I would find myself getting sidetracked from the quests to just climb canyon walls, glide down from a mountaintop, and just take in all the amazing scenic vistas. 

The wonderful city of Mondstadt. 

The story isn't really anything mind blowing, but it's easy to follow and it's a lot of fun. You get to meet a variety of interesting characters and some have personal quests you can do as part of the story. This is where some of the gacha aspect comes in. Remember, Genshin Impact is a gacha game and it is important to gacha responsibly because there have been many people spending a ton of money just to get a particular character they want. There are characters you do get for free as part of the story and they do have useful skills if you practice with them and figure out what works for you while using them in your party. Here's the thing. You don't have to spend money in the game if you don't want to. Genshin Impact does a great job of allowing you that freedom to explore and earn the in-game currency known as Primogems by doing daily quests via the Adventurer's Guild, completing dungeons, fighting world bosses, or finishing various quests. You can then use these on the Wish system. There are three different banners for the Wish system depending on if you want a specific character or item. These are definitely subject to RNG and you may not always get what you want, but sometimes the game gives you a pity roll after multiple tries and can surprise you with what you were looking for. This was how I got Klee and Sucrose. Thanks, RNG pity roll!

Wish RNG gave me Klee, Sucrose, and items. Score!

You can have four people in your party and Genshin allows you to play as the character you're actively controlling and switch between each character in your party with the tap of a button depending on what you need to win a fight. Various enemies have weaknesses to certain elements and since each character has a specific set elemental power they can use, it makes you plan out your strategies for your party because you can switch to each character in your party while fighting. For example ice is weak to fire, so having a character like Klee or Amber in your party who have fire abilities is helpful. There are also things to consider like healing abilities. I have a character, Barbara in my party who uses water abilities which can heal a single party member and her ultimate ability heals everyone in the party at the same time. It's things like this that make the combat fun and if your party gets wiped don't worry. You get put back in a safe spot and it just means you have to level grind a bit more. Luckily, it's not tedious to level grind in Genshin because the exploration aspect and rewards make it worth it.

Amber brings the heat.

The two areas that can be explored currently are Mondstadt and Liyue and they're such big areas I never run out of things to do. Throw in multiplayer and there's even more things to do and you can have fun with your friends. Some story chapters are locked behind adventure rank. You need to have the right adventure rank in order to unlock them. This is also true of multiplayer. In order to be able to play the game with your friends, you need to be adventure rank 16. Once you have that, you can play the game with your friends and yes you can play together across multiple platforms. I play on PS4 and have played the game with friends who are on PC and mobile and we've had a blast playing the game together. There is an odd aspect to the multiplayer in Genshin however. The only one who can open the chests in the world is the person who is hosting the multiplayer session. This feels like a really odd choice. Sure, your friends can gather ore and plants in the game and they get rewards from world bosses, but it seems pretty strange that the host opens the chests and is the only one who gets anything. I feel your friends should get something too. Hopefully, they change that sometime in the future. 

Enjoying mutliplayer with my friends.

I love the art of Genshin Impact and no two characters look alike. Each character has their own unique style and anime aesthetic with a variety of personalities. It's great to swap each character in just to see what they can do and I love that each character also has their own personal story quests as well as the fact Traveler runs into them during their adventure. My traveler herself has wind abilities because I attuned with the sacred statue in Mondstadt. You can also change it to earth if you attune with a sacred statue in Liyue. I love the wind abilities and they definitely come in handy. The game itself is very anime which I enjoy because there are a lot of great cutscenes and the overall game itself is fun to explore and play.

A variety of styles for everyone!

That isn't to say that Genshin Impact is completely perfect. There are definitely some issues with things such as ascending your characters. When your characters hit levels 20 and 40 you have to make sure you have certain items in order to break the level seal in order for them to be able to ascend to higher levels. This is all fine, but some of the resources are rare and only dropped by fighting certain bosses or completing certain dungeons which require you to spend a regenerating resource known as resin. The issue is you only get so much resin per day and if you run out, you just have to wait for it to regenerate. That doesn't sound so bad, but the part that is frustrating for many players is that you have to wait 16 hours before you have more and with the later levels, everything you need requires it which makes the higher level grinding in Genshin an unbearable chore. The same thing is kind of similar for the constellation tree. In order to unlock those abilities you need to hope you get a duplicate of that character so you can use it for that and considering how fickle the RNG can be at times, that's a bit rough too.

Yes, it's a gacha game, but those last two things are jarring from the rest of the game which is bordering on revolutionary because it gives away so much for free almost changing the exploitive gacha mechanics and makes me wonder why this monetization was implemented so carelessly and thoughtlessly. It needs a rework and the developers can find a better way in order to make that grind better for everyone. 

Other than that, I do like Genshin Impact a lot. It's a fun adventure and they got so much right with the cross platform multiplayer and the free to play open world exploration. I'm enjoying playing the game with my friends and just having a great journey on my own. If they can just address that higher level grind with the resources, then they would really shine. Than you for reading, see you at the next adventure! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates and please do your best to be safe this year. 

Admiring the beautiful view in Liyue.

*Genshin Impact is available to play on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Playstation 5,  Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS

*Join our community on twitch as we enjoy games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

 

Mothergamer Plays Vampyr

 I had never played Vampyr before so when I saw that it was one of the free games for Playstation Plus members in October, I decided to pick it up. The story of Vampyr is set in 1918 London amid World War I and the influenza epidemic. The main character Doctor Johnathan Reid is returning home when he is suddenly attacked and wakes up in a mass grave as a vampire. This is where Vampyr begins playing as Johnathan trying to find answers about why he was turned into a vampire and trying to save lives. 

Johnathan's first day as a vampire. 

This introduction sets up with a quick tutorial on how the user menu and gameplay controls work as Johnathan has to run from vampire hunters that are all over the city. The setting of the city is gloomy, somber, and fitting for the story. Johnathan's beliefs in science and facts are overwhelmed by the supernatural aspects of what has happened to him and slowly he starts to understand how serious his situation is. Johnathan works at a hospital and his standing as a well known surgeon is how he is able to hide in plain sight working the night shift. This also gives him chances to talk to citizens and do quests for them ranging from getting extra medical supplies to rescuing someone who has a fear of being buried alive. 

Dr. Reid is in the house. 

With talking to the citizens, you are able to get clues depending on what you say. Here's the thing, I really did not like that Vampyr only has an autosave feature and no manual save because sometimes I would pick a conversation choice and it would be incorrect which meant the game would tell me that a hint about that person was gone forever. The only way to get it back is to start completely over from the beginning. That is frustrating enough, but then to not even be allowed to reload my last save and have a redo adds to that frustration. I understand what they were trying to do with showing that your actions in the story have consequences, but in reality people also try to amend the conversation by apologizing or explaining that's not what they meant; they get to continue the conversation. Vampyr gives you the illusion of choice with these conversations, but I felt you really don't and in some regards those hints are vital to the story. I ended up playing the game with a conversation guide so I could get every single conversation right and get the main story chat hints done. 

Trying to choose the right conversation. 

You can be the big bad villain and feed on the citizens, but considering many of Johnathan's conversations and inner thoughts are about absolutely not wanting to take lives because he is a doctor, I chose not to do that with three exceptions. The big thing is to not kill the person that is considered a pillar of the community in each district because people can go missing and feral vampires will be everywhere. I also felt that fast travel would have been nice to have because walking back and forth between neighborhoods became incredibly tedious. With each quest and ending each night, you get an update on each district on whether it's stable or unhealthy. This is where Johnathan's identity as a doctor comes in as he can craft medicines at the crafting table at the hospital or at various safe houses, then make the rounds giving people medicine to cure them. Crafting is a big part of the game by the way, as you will need to craft medicines, enhance weapons, and have healing items for Johnathan. 

Crafting medicines and more.

Combat in the game is interesting without being too challenging. Johnathan has plenty of vampire abilities that are unlocked as he levels up. One of the ways to level up is finishing the story chapters and feeding on citizens. If you're playing the pacifist or semi-pacifist route, this can be a bit of a challenge. Without spoiling it, there are at least 3 people that you can feed on that no one will really miss. Sometimes the combat can be a little sticky with the controls and in some boss fights a bit clunky, but they're not completely terrible. Unlocking different combat vampire skills for Johnathan helps to make him stronger, faster, and deadlier when it comes to fighting enemies like overzealous vampire hunters. 

Fighting vampire hunters. 

In many ways Vampyr felt really appropriate to play with the way this year has been due to Covid and drawing the parallels of seeing signs posted everywhere in 1918 London about wearing a mask, staying home if sick, and not coughing in public. I became invested in Johnathan's story as he struggled with the idea of being a vampire while trying to use science and logic with a mix of accepting the supernatural to figure out the mystery behind where the pandemic started and getting answers about the vampire who created him. 

I did enjoy the story in spite of quite a few plot holes. I also feel it suffered from the lack of a manual save system, no fast travel, and some very long loading time in places, but it isn't a terrible game. Depending on certain choices being made in the story you can get a great ending, a good ending, and a tragic ending. You can continue to be a good doctor vampire or you can be a terrible monster vampire that terrifies everyone. That part is definitely up to you. I liked playing Vampyr and I am glad I got a chance to play it. I don't think it's the best game, but I thought it had a good story and I did like the main characters as they discussed class systems, science, and the ability to try to accept that there are things in this world that sometimes we just can't explain like the supernatural. I got the pretty good ending and I was satisfied with it mostly, but again there were questions that didn't really get answered. Perhaps it was done that way on purpose, to leave it up to our imaginations. Either way, it was an intriguing adventure and fun to play as a vampire doctor. 

Johnathan has a cup of tea with a friend.

*Vampyr is available to play on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch

*Join our community on twitch as we enjoy gaming and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer