Exploring Liyue and AR19

Every so often you just have to sit back and revel in how extremely gorgeous Genshin Impact is. There is a lot of comparrison between this game and Breath of the Wild and it is completely valid. However to me, Genshin Impact improves upon that formula in so many ways that it feels iterative. My core problem with BotW was weapon durability and it greatly hampered my enjoyment of the experience. Also the world of Hyrule felt extremely dead, which I think is the vibe they were going for… but there is at no point where I feel isolated and alone in Teyvat. Both Mondstadt and Liyue feel bustling with life and activity in spite of bumping into other people in a fairly similar cadence as that of Breath of the Wild.

I had grand goals last night of testing out the multiplayer functionality, but for whatever reason I was feeling deeply out of it. Co-Op as the game calls it is gated both on a specific part of the main story quest and on reaching Adventure Rank 16. After that point it seems like you can just pop into the same game as one of your friends, or seemingly complete strangers as that seems to be what is shown on the actual Co-Op menu. I am curious if it only works for Domains (aka Dungeons) or if it will allow folks just to roam around together in the overworld. If the later is the case I am curious how it handles each player being progressed differently in unlocking things in the overworld.

My last night instead was spent hanging out on the couch, snuggled with cats and unlocking all of the shrines in Liyue. This of course meant that I did a bunch of assorted side content while roaming the land. For me at least the game is best when I am just wandering aimlessly and doing whatever happens to be over the next hill. This is the way that I play Skyrim, and in truth my preferred method of playing games like Destiny 2 that have a more open map mode. As a result I tend to be lagging behind in the Main Story quest. I go through these phases where I burn through whatever quest is available and then go back to open world exploration. Tonight when I get settled in I am going to pick up where the story was gated at AR18.

My overarching goal this week was to hit AR20 so that I could claim the free healer and also do the dungeon that unlocks Xiangling. However on the later part I ended up getting her through a Wish pull, so when I earn her through the dungeon it will unlock a constellation. I have to say I am a little on the fence about that system, namely that the only way you can unlock the higher tiers of your characters is through getting duplicates. Getting a dupe in Dragalia Lost felt awful, but at least you got generally useful currency and that the progress was not gated. I doubt I will ever play at a level that requires to have a full party of characters with all of their constellations unlocked. That said it is a little annoying knowing that dupes are the prime vehicle for high end progression. You do however get a significant number of free pulls so maybe over time it shakes out.

I am still deeply enthralled by this game, and in truth so far there is nothing that has required me to spend any money. On the other hand I want to spend a little money because the game is so damned good, that I want to do something to support its development. It seems like they are following the release cadence of a mobile developer because there are already patch notes on the test realm for the content updates coming in 1.1 which apparently includes an entire new region of similar size to Liyue. If this game can stay this free feeling while expanding at the rate that something like Dragalia Lost did… we maybe have a new MMO sensation on our hands.

1 thought on “Exploring Liyue and AR19”

  1. Having overcome my reservations on the Terms and Conditions, I just downloaded GI. Download speeds was fantastic, too. Took less than fifteen minutes to download and install the entire game. Off to make a character right now.

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