Genshin Impact Is The Best Game I Can't Recommend
Video Overview & Insights
A review of Genshin Impact and summary of my experience with the game, having played since its release. Enjoy.
Pinning this comment to address a few frequent questions and such in comments:
1) There was no AI involved in any part of this video's production. Every word written is my own, the voiceover is my own, and the (bad) editing is my own.
2) The most common sentiment seems to be "Just don't get all the characters" or "just save primogems" or "just ignore endgame". These might work for you, but if that's the case, the section cautioning gacha doesn't apply to you as heavily. There are plenty of people it does apply to, however. I have the control and sense not to spend, but I want nothing more than to own every character and complete every bit of endgame. And then there are people with those desires who lack that control. Those are the victims of gacha.
3) In regards to the powercreep section, I definitely think I cut out too much and summarized it poorly. Iām sitting on a fully scripted 25m video that goes in depth on my thoughts and addresses a lot of concerns people have. One thing to note is that when I say all content, I mean ALL CONTENT. This means Dire 60s. Another thing that I said is āwith relative easeā. Iām okay with difficult endgame content, but Genshin does not have endgame content that is difficult. It has endgame content that checks if you have the appropriate team for a new, hyper specific challenge, and punishes you if you donāt. Again, I have so much more to say on powercreep, both in Genshin and in games as a whole. So stay tuned.
4) I appear to be wrong about how capturing radiance odds work. Notably, we donāt have official data on it, and can only go on community statistics. This really just proves my point that wishing odds are maliciously obfuscated. Ggs.
5) This August, I did actually get my playtime from customer support. Forgot to include in the video, but Iāve spent over 3000 hours in genshin. šµāš«
6) I am NOT free to play. Iāve paid $5/mo for the Welkin pack since ~2.3. I also have bought battle passes, but donāt anymore. I bought crystals directly one time, to get a couple character skins. I think $5/mo is a reasonable price for the difference between getting every character that I am likely to want versus having to skip some. $60/yr is the same amount Iād be spending if I was playing a yearly release game like Call of Duty, so I personally donāt find it to be an exorbitant spend. The rate for Welkin is so much better than buying crystals directly, but of course can only be bought every month and requires daily logins to claim.
7) A comment noted the very obvious hypocrisy of this video. Despite the conclusion I come to, I am obviously giving the game a lot of praise and positivity, and am therefore likely to convince some people to try the game through that praise. I considered this many times while writing the video, and it's a big part of the reason I didn't finish and release it sooner. This was my response to that comment, and my statement on the matter: This is something I knew going in, and is part of why I spent so long rewriting this script again and again. The video's existence is hypocritical, yes. The target audience is people who have uninformed, yet generally negative opinions on the game. I wanted to make a video where I could shed light on what the game is beyond it's reputation, while reinforcing the very valid and common criticism those people hold in regards to the game's monetization. There are people who will try Genshin after watching this video, surely. But I ultimately gave those people a fair review of the game. This video is my story, and my review. I think the game is good, but seriously financially dangerous. I repeatedly stated that danger, but will not let it compromise the rest of my review. My overall verdict was that people should not try the game. Sole exception I could give would be for people exposed to gacha games in the past that haven't had an unhealthy relationship with spending on them. As for people who had a negative opinion of the game and came to either see it validated or challenged, they are unlikely to change their final verdict, as I agree with their presumptions in my conclusion to not recommend the game.
8) I recently gave Wuthering Waves a second try because half the comments section is people begging for it. I just find the magic isn't there. It's still a gacha game, which I hate, and the rest of the content just isn't up to par. The map design is not nearly up to the standards of its contemporaries, with the objectives feeling randomly placed. After clearing any given puzzle or enemy group, there's a solid chance I look around to see... nothing. The voice acting is awful. Flat out. Better than launch for sure, but takes so much away from the game. The setting isn't really my cup of tea either. Doesn't take away from the game per say, but doesn't add anything for me either. So much of the game's design just feels like they tried to emulate Genshin's success and make a "better" game by making a lot of small changes to small gripes people have about Genshin. Unfortunately, the game's fundamentals just aren't as good. A parry system can only be as good as the attacks you're parrying and the reward you get. I find it too strong here at a baseline. The story didn't captivate me in the 4 hours of it I played. The art direction feels... directionless. It feels like that Triple-A Mario meme but for Genshin. Soulless. That's the word I'd use to describe it.
You can argue all you want about how it's gacha is better, or it's resin isn't as bad, or how it has a skip button. But having bad systems that are "not as bad" isn't worth crediting. If somebody robs me for my whole backpack, and somebody else just takes my wallet, is the wallet-thief a good person? No.
C J's Video: https://youtu.be/KtcngLuVT8A?si=rxxSJUL90EIkUs6r
Chapters:
Every single time I spent money in a Gatcha, I stopped to play soon after. Looks like it's true that wanting to achieve what I want makes the game lose its fun, so I am playing ZZZ again now on Steam with a fresh account, and I will spend zero.
0:00 Introduction
0:37 Discovering Genshin
Not gonna lie I actually say this to everyone if they ask what games I play, I literally tell them, I love Genshin, itās my favourite game, donāt play it tho, it takes over your life.
2:44 First Impressions
4:14 Genshin, The Game
I feel the same but something really helps me during lockdown/pandemic is the coop mode of it, staying connected with friends and love ones even you're alone in a room, sadly those whom I played back then are not active but Genshin Impact will be the best game and my comfort game
6:50 Visions, The Basis
8:39 Exploration, The Draw
I stopped playing genshin because it makes me sick when playing
11:15 Story, The Glue
13:08 Expansion, The Bait
Totally agree
Love the game
But is not for everyone
15:10 Teyvat, The Lure
16:55 Repetition, The Hook
where the FUCK is the hype button??? this is such a good video bro
19:58 Whales, The Catch
27:57 A Brief Note on Powercreep
Ive just come to genshin after 2 years, ive spent 20 dollars so far (15 for Columbina's banner, which I got her so yay!) and 5 on the welkin moon, im tyring to limit myself to spending under 50 dollars on it because I know I will spend more then neccessary. I used to be a whale, I have 2 accounts with exclusive 5 star characters that I have well over 1k on both accounts. I'm now only playing 1 account, and I try to also limit my play time and spend time on other games incase I get that "bored but wanna gamble" feeling.
It's hard, I want to enjoy the game again but having to place self restrictions just so I can enjoy a game is kinda crazy ngl.
29:14 Gacha, The Seawall
30:50 Outro and Thank You
28:00
This is just straight up a lie, endgame content is definitely clearable with most F2P characters and weapons.....although it requires a lot of grinding yes....but if you're in it for endgame min maxing you'll be grinding endlessly anyway no matter what
Outro Song: Summit, Pt. 2 (Outro) - Quadeca
Contact:
27:05
Nah, we all know what it is, we all know how gambling works....and those who decide to spend money they dont have or do it knowing they cant afford it....are idiots, our actions have consequences and we must live with them.
And most people tend to bot be susceptible to it, they outliers are the addicts
pogwilcc@gmail.com
25:38
Yeah just like getting every skin in a game like CoD is also very much impossible without spending money.....in fact you wont get most of them or even some of them without spending money
Also genshin has events that are always running that give you premium currency to use on banners
More User Perspectives
23:00
I play pubg, a game with lots of loot boxes and shit.....and I'll tell you now....definitively.....gacha is less predatory by far
For me, i see no difference between gacha and loot boxes....except that gacha gives you a guarantee and rates are far better. But somehow gacha gets slander hard while games like CoD just get accepted for the most part. Why is that?
@basilisk..Honestly powercreep ruined the game, yes you can ignore it, but how can u when the entirety of genshin content is about being strong and making ur character stronger. The end game content constantly changes where u need the latest characters, spiral abyss is still clearable, but it becomes more difficult the older of the characters u have. Genuienly such a fun game as Pogwil said. But such a draining and depressing game. These days aswell going for one character u like isnt enough, u need their 5 star supports so the character is good enough, dont even get me started on the weapons. Farming artifacts can take months and buidling a character takes a long time. Yes play the game how u enjoy, u can try to ignore things but u genuinely feel like you're missing out if u dont get certain characters.
anyways thanks for reading, i do love this game and i am a f2p, but its either u spend hours in the game trying to get the primogems that they decide to give u, that isnt even enough in the end, or u spend some cash...
I WILL be throwing all of my savings away for the Furina rerun...
@bingewatch5143You have a great skill, I admire people who don't rush things with their creativity, the time you spent creating this video was worth every second. Keep it up man!
(So that I could watch more videos like these while eating my dinner š)
Itās hard to play the game because of how easy it is to fall asleep to the story. And ALSO because itās a gacha game, itās purposely designed to give you fomo which would pressure you into playing all the time to the point it becomes unenjoyable, whereas compared to other games that ARENāT gacha, you actually love them because you can come back to them anytime because they arenāt going anywhere
@frostii34The Google Classroom foreshadowing at the beginning was wild. š¤£
@EerryyaannYour ability to appreciate aspects of the game that you thoroughly enjoyed, while still being able to call out poor design that blatantly preys on players is really commendable. Incredible video :D
@buggybasilsFurina is ABSOLUTELY worth it (still can't believe i managed to get her + 2x her weapon completely f2p when she was on banner xD)
@SparkyTMI wanted to comment on the Powercreep argument and saw that you had addressed it somewhat in the pinned comment, yet one thing I feel like you did not mention, which in my opinion should be emphasized even, is that yes, to clear ALL CONTENT, including Dire, you need to spend, but you really DO NOT GET ANYTHING FOR DOING SO. You arguably get prestige and a weapon skin. But cosmetics were never FTP anyway, so this to me is no exception.
@syl_pheenah, game is trash and you only realise it after you drop it. Dropped it after Fontaine, and looking back i see that i did the right thing at right time. Game went all kinds of roundabouts to introduce new meta and powercreep.
@AdUltimumoh shit my dailys wait
@SonicOnRitalinjust got recommended this and it is peak
@BlessPillowI'm only a few minutes in, but this whole experience mirrors mine with HSR almost perfectly. I decided to try it out after seeing how often a mate was streaming it. I figured I'd play an hour or two and quit because, and I cannot stress this enough, HSR's gameplay is not my kind of thing. Yet as I started getting into the story I felt oddly connected to it. I still don't fully see why, but something about the Astral Express really resonated with me. The moment I knew I was gonna stick with it though, was the needle drop in the first boss fight. I fully understand the hype behind Hoyo cause even without the games, those people are incredible music creators.
@AtomicAusNever have I ever spent any thing on games ( including buying them š ) but tbh I was about to break the record because of ganchen impact but THANK GOD I watched your video first and it bring back some sense in me, I dont know what was wrong with me
@gamesapp-n2tAwesome video and I agree with you on most points. I donāt agree when you said you canāt clear endgame content as a f2p due to power creep, itās been proven many times that you can
@ronniejacksonjr4910I was , and will still wait for the anime , I came for the story, and a story I will have .
@Maria-n6v7tScrew you i do what i want
redownloads genshin
Jokes aside, Iām sending this to my older brother who insists the game is just a BOTW clone and openly hates it. We had an argument not too long ago about it and I finally asked him WHY he hated it. His response? THE GAME AWARDS. HEāS STILL PISSED ABOUT THE GREAT GENSHIN AND SONIC WAR! GET OVER IT!!!
I sort of feel the same way about Genshin. I am fully aware of how dangerous the gacha system is to me (not to mention I have adhd+ other stuff). I have made a rule for myself that I will not let myself spend money on the game literally ever, and also will not let anybody gift me things in the game that cannot be obtained without money (i.e. genesis crystals). I know that's not the case for everyone though and I honestly hate the system in general. We need 5*s in the permanent shop. Minimum. The powercreep though? It's genuinely so bad. Natlan was one thing, but lunar reactions are just flat out stupid.
@2ac_officialowning all the league of legends skins and cs;go knives is obviously optional, I'm curious how many other people view gachas the same exact way I do or how much does the genshin community actually feal like they are losing something for not getting each character
On the topic of people accusing use of AI, its just because the video is very slowly spoken and has a lotta prose which AI does kinda a lot instead of getting straight to the point
For me Gacha never was a problem with Genshin Impact. I actually like that different players have different accounts, comps, builds based on their luck, time played, commitment, etc. Having said that I do think gacha games need much stricter government control with casino like KYC practices, daily/weekly/monthly spending limits, age limits to access gacha or currency shop, etc.
What burned me out of Genshin was the endless amounts of grind to build characters and limited resources to do it. It always felt that I was lagging behind everyone because I didn't have time to play every day and use all my resin. And the more characters you have the worse it becomes. I always had an idea to build Noelle team but every time I got back to it she had a better teammate, better BiS weapon, new artifact set to get, etc. Same for Xiao idk how many artifact sets fit for him are there now, 4,5? The constant feeling of that good build being so far away from me eventually made me dread the grind for it.
I never played Genshin consistently I'd play for couple months every other day and then drop it for couple months. This weird schedule made it so I often returned on last days of some big event and berely had time to do all the fun activities and witness all the event story\lore or skipped some great events entirely(Unreconciled Stars, first GAA, Albedo's Subject Two, Freminet's Pers event, etc) Every time I missed good story event like this made not want to touch the game for a while until some hype story trailer pulled me back into wanting to see the rest of the story.
I got a genshin ad before watching thisššš last time i logged onto genshin was 5 months ago :P
@_Ssamantha_Honestly, if you have a loose coin straps or are prone to gambling, then just don't play the gameši love the game and i play on the daily BUT the FOMO on this game is insaneš& the content released is very suggestive to the fomo.
@rengokuonigiri2377This actually makes me really sad. As a pretty new f2p character, I had no idea it costed this much. I've already become absolutely hooked on this game, having played it for a few hours each day for the past two or three weeks. I love the exploration and the art and the stories and everything. I'd honestly have a lot of trouble just leaving it now, and I'm actually glad I'm f2p, because that means I can't spend a hundred dollars trying to get a character and being devastated when I don't. And then ultimately trying again. Who knew it was 365 dollars just to get a five star? Definitely not me. I opened this video thinking it was just another person hating on the game and now I'm closing it being pissed at hoyoverse.
@BeelikestodrawI chuckled when he said he meant to quickly install this game.
LOL.
Idk if i have some sort of luck for gacha games, but it ain't impossible trust, i got 4 5 starts back to back, one was qiqi but in the same pull i got nefer, and before nefers banner i got both flins and yelan without missing a 50/50. I AM F2P BABY THAT WAS A GOOD 2 MONTHS TO BE ALIVE
@Nothing.else.to.say1i thought it's just me waiting downloadng genshin for 18 hours, i go to sleep ad it's still downloading... ugh
@aisyahmutia4709I used to play Genshin, then I got bored at some point, so I stopped, I never felt like I had to spend my money on it and I didn't really pull for characters. What I liked about it was the character designs, even if characters had similar style, they still felt unique, but recently, I've seen that the feeling of uniqueness is gone, especially for the female characters, they all feel the same, they have similar dresses, mostly miniskirts, one of the characters I was really excited to see was Sandrone, an Android, I was immediately intrigued by her in the trailer of Signora's funeral, a small girl sitting on the hand of a big robot, and I was excited when I saw she was going to play a big part in the story of Nodkrai, along with Columbina, who I feel is still the most unique looking character in the roster. I haven't really followed the story, but when I heard she was going to be playable, I was happy, I was even thinking that she was going to be the character to get me back into Genshin impactā¦then I saw her design. The long dress in the Nodkrai story was gone, she didn't look like a doll or a noble young lady, she just looked the same as the others, a girl in a mini skirt with detachable sleeves, even then I was still hopeful, I thought maybe the gameplay would at least make up for it. They had replaced the big robot she was sitting on by a robot maid. Honestly, that just completly turned me off from the game, I was even a bit outraged, and I saw that apparently, the fandom agreed with me, they were also mad that the company changed Sandrone's design, now I know that they designed this outfit because they thought it'd be too unique, that she didn't fit the formula that sells, and seeing the recent trailers for Shnezaya, It didn't give me more hope, especially the maid character with a tiny skirt that barely covers anything, which shocked me because this is the same company who made Noelle, one of my favorite characters who is also a maid and looks much better than the character that is going to come out. It sucks because I love character design, and some of my first OCs were genshin impact OCs, but now it feels less like there's less love put into how the characters look. Mihoyo always cared about money, I'm aware of that, if they didn't, they wouldn't have made a gacha game, but at least it felt like they cared about the character designs.
@flakethecatcristalia1911I honestly loved the game aswell. the reason i did not pay any money is cause i did not have any to give. i was in middle school when I played and my parents did not know I played it. when natlan came I was wayyyy to bored that I did not stay. I also gave myself the rule to only pull for hydro 5-star. So my FOMO was also quite shallow. If I look back at the game the only thing i actually enjoyed was Windtrace. And Windtrace barely came.
@AllukaLucilferWarframe is just better, go play that guys
@Alx562:48 that's some insane download speed.. i had like 1% of that speed in my home
@hamutasa327:46 I see it as rewarding good behaviour. You wouldn't mess up training your dog by scolding them after they did something good.
@PowerSpirit50i am still hoping they'll stop powercreep or it should not be every update
@HvlbhsDish sent me here
@chrisiswinchristian15over the years genshin progressed to be way less rewarding and if you are unlucky than it just adds up a lot so I just left genshin altogether and never came back to it.
@simplyguriAt this point im only playing for the lore and not getting the characters. If i do get a new one i dont use money i just use it from an event that i was playing while logging in
@abrahamramirez6487Very great video! A tad bit heavy on the pathos though but otherwise great! I suppose that the pity system was exagurated a little bit but it's not faulty in any meaningful way(your argument not the game's system)
@TrueBIGoonSexualim in love with the open world exploration and the character designs of genshin, but there are things that annoy me. the cutscenes are longer than they used to be which made me skip everything and slowly lose interest in the story. the endgame content feels overwhelming, they used to say that they didnt want players to get stressed over clearing endgame content, and look what they do now!! it annoys me but i like to focus on exploration and think that im good at this game as long as i can clear everything in the open world
@ilikemlp7153:25 in the background is that an animated series of genshin or part of the game like some cutschene
@PureDragonCOS