Genshin Impact is a game that has gained a lot of traction since its launch and is insanely popular. Despite its popularity, there are still many issues with its design choices and group content.
I would assume that most of Genshin’s combat encounters would be used to accentuate the most interesting part of their combat system, elemental reactions. Swapping over to different characters and using skills to cause elemental reactions with one another while dodging telegraphs is the meat of the combat. However, there are many instances where Genshin decides to throw all of that out of the window and put the spotlight on their normal attacks. As much as how unique each character looks and how smooth their attack animations are, it is not an interesting design choice. It gets boring having to sit there and just attack and watching white numbers pop off. Genshin’s combat truly shines with elemental reactions and particle effects caused by amazing skill animations. Unfortunately, Genshin sometimes like to take that away from players leaving them with nothing but a normal and charge attack.
Innovative designs
Geovishaps
An example of a good design would be Geovishaps. These mobs were introduced in the 1.3 version and has been a part of many content drops such as the spiral abyss and the new artifact domain that we have in the 1.5 release. They even have their own event that allow players to send out expeditions and you could later track them down yourselves.
Geovishaps are amazing for several reasons, mainly, elemental reactions. When fighting a Geovishap, one may start off using their normal combos to chip away at this mob’s health. Players are then given some telegraphs to dodge which is all common for most encounters in Genshin.
After 30s, (depending on CC) this encounter would truly start to shine. Geovishaps infuse themselves with a certain element becoming more aggressive with their attacks. The infused element allows every other element applied to cause an instant reaction which can cause an increase in DPS if done correctly. Even geo reacts to grant you a shield if you are having trouble with the damage and knockbacks.
The second phase not only increases the aggression of these mobs but provides opportunities for the players to interact with them in a different way. This encounter highlights then strengths of combat in Genshin, elemental reactions. It was able to increase the risk and the reward of the gameplay with a simple phase change. I regard this to be one of the best combat designs in Genshin so far. It was able to increase the number of choices a player could approach the problem without taking away too much.
Restrictive designs
Cecilia Garden Domain of forgery (Increasing skill CD)/Hidden Palace of Lianshan Formula (Energy drain)
These designs are not the end of Genshin by any means, but they do present the player with an annoying problem to deal with.
The pesky domain that increases your cooldowns by the truckload. I hate this domain with a passion. In a game, where most of the joy of combat comes from performing elemental reactions through using skills, why on earth would you want to take those things away from the players?
Instead of highlighting the best parts of combat, this domain leaves players with nothing more than a pitiful attack chain. Now each character you own can use their skills once during each of these runs making it less interactive and therefore less enjoyable.
This is further amplified with mobs that have elemental shields that require multiple elemental skills to break. This drags out the entire domain longer than it needs to be. Players are funneled into 3 options, a ranged/catalyst user to provide elements on demand, a cleanse or Gan Yu (amazing attack). This domain can be done after a prolonged period without the optimum characters, but this gives a really grindy feel to the game. Combat should be concise and seek to increase options for the players interact with it.
Pretty much the same goes for this domain, but with only a single skill being disabled resulting in half the rage.
The mess that is called multiplayer.
Combat wise, multiplayer is one of the worst features to be implemented. Multiplayer in Genshin takes away from the game rather than adding onto it.
The addition of teammates would still allow the same number of elemental skills/bursts to be used every so often. However, each player (assuming 4 player count) now has access to a quarter of their skills. Players would spend more time using normal attacks, emphasizing the most mundane aspect of combat.
That is not the only horror multiplayer brings. The application of elements is all thrown out off-cooldown which produces random reactions. What would be a simple rotation done by a single player to apply correct elements in order would now require communication among 4 players if they would even bother to communicate. I believe this is the sole reason why group content in Genshin feels off. Group content in Genshin is always available for those who want it, but it will never truly compare to the likes of other multiplayer games on the market. That that is okay.
Genshin Impact is a game made to be played solo and expecting a decent multiplayer mode will be a difficult undertaking for Mihoyo.
Conclusion
Genshin impact is a good game with certain design flaws. Some of those issues can be fixed such as the ‘bonus’ effects domains provide that mess up most team composition. Mihoyo has shown that it knows what innovative design looks like, but I do not see it being widely applied throughout the game. As for Genshin’s multiplayer content, it is an uphill battle with its limited skill count for each character. Mihoyo often claims that Genshin has heavy emphasis on single player mode, and they do stick to it well. If they so choose to delve into making engaging multiplayer content, it will require a major rework or some otherworldly innovation.
Just wanted to rant! TY for reading!
Welcome to Hive!
Hello, @pitsaboy ! This is @macchiata from the @OCD team. We saw that you already posted your first post here in Hive!
Welcome to Hive ! it would be awesome if you do an introduction post. You can refer to this intro post for reference:
My Introduction to the Hive Community
There's no specific format on how you do your intro post, but there are some suggested content that we would love to see in your post. Information like who are you and where you're from, how did you discover Hive or who invited you, what types of content you want to see here and the types that you want produce, and what are your expectations in this platform.
There's no pressure on this. You can choose on whatever information you would like to share.
If you have questions, you can hop into OCD's Discord server and we'll gladly answer your questions. For now, @lovesniper will follow you and we are looking forward to your intro post!
games like this are always hit or miss with me. Sometimes I enjoy them but there are so many that are like them that I never really know which one to choose. Based on what you have said here I am likely to skip this one though.
Congratulations @pitsaboy! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 50 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!