Genshin Impact - Honest Review

The GamerCritic has reviewed Genshin Impact:

Genshin Impact Honest Review (Mild Spoilers)

loading…

More information.

He said nothing new there.
We already pointed all that stuff in previous comments.

Well… Except, lemme call them, biotic explosions.
He says random. It's not random.

There's something about calling one's reviews "honest" reviews that makes me not trust them. Usually when people say they're just being honest it means they're being an asshole. It's generally a given that someone you trust is being honest when they talk to you.

He's mostly right, but I think his review is made with a low to mid level party.

I'm adventure rank 47 / world level 6 now and some fights are very challenging.
So you have to plan your party, skills, gear and fighting tactics.

I'm still F2P and have many good characters to build up, the game is still fun after playing it for two month now.

One advice: Don't advance from adventure rank 45 to adventure rank 46 (=world level 5 to world level 6) too early. Build up at least two level 75-80 characters first. Otherwise the game will get really difficult for a while.

Yes, in the review we see only characters you get for free, early game puzzles and combat. But that's why the review is good - it does not shill for others.

I've deliberately stuck my progress on WL5 and am still AR45 - refusing to ascend the world before I get enough of adv. xp for AR50. As there is no character/weapons progression before AR50 and the only thing that has better drop on WL6 than on WL5 is weekly boss wolf.







In other words, you don't have to plan anything, just don't go WL6 as soon as you can. Stall.

That's a hint for others. Stay on the world level 5, don't ascend it till you collect 86400 adventure experience which will instantly bring you to AR50 upon world acension.

A hint for you, rewards on WL7 are all the same as on WL6. Leylines, drops, everything. Even wolf. Currently. Yet all the trashmobs levelscale up. So don't go WL7 until they fix it - there is no reason to waste more time on grind if it's not rewarding.

Free To Play means that game mechanics are designed in such a way as to encourage microtransactions. It's true, you aren't forced to do this, but the hope is that the player will be sucked into the game enough that they will. I take a hard pass on FTP games and games with any kind of "loot box" mechanic.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
Free To Play means that game mechanics are designed in such a way as to encourage microtransactions.

Not in this game - you get so many free wishes = free characters and weapons, that you can't build them up all. This is not a monetary restriction, you can't simply play more. (At least if you have a job).

I'm already at 240 hours playtime in two month and I could build up 6 good characters, but I own 14 (!). So there's really no need to buy anything.
I even have the 5-star Tartaglia, but don't use him, because I have no time to build him above lvl 40.

I'm confirming what Hidden says.
There is absolutely no reason to buy a single lootbox in Genshin Impact.
So don't, everything is reachable and doable with free characters.

The problematic part is if you have a gambling addiction.
If such is the case, DO NOT touch this game. Ever.

I've written that before, and also this:
Although the game is good, it contains microtransactions just like Assassin Creed Vikings and as such can never get my goty vote anywhere.

Microtransactions or not, I don't see the appeal here. I guess if you're a big fan of anime. Otherwise…no.

Yes I'm a huge fan of chinese animation. Try these series sometime:
- Qin's Moon (a bit old but still holds)
- King's Avatar
- Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

If movies and not series are your thing, then go with already available White Snake:


In a few months, go with cyberpunkish Ne Zha Reborn:

Originally Posted by joxer
If movies and not series are your thing, then go with already available White Snake:

I think I'd rather watch this one.

I don't think it's the lootboxes you need to look out for. Lootboxes are a very obvious gamble and are really only attractive to the biggest whales. What most people will be tempted by are microtransations that give you more progression for your time played or cut out tedious actions. Things like XP boosts, drop rate boosts, more inventory space, etc. Various ways to save you time.

You may have played 260 hours but you could have effectively played 500 hours if you only played boosted and bought townportal scrolls to cut out the wasted travel time and so on.

That's the sort of thing that will always be on the back of your mind and is easy to rationalise the purchase "since I'm playing it anyway. Why not spend a little? I've spent more on games I've played less and they deserve the money."

I'm not directly familiar with Genshin, but my experience with other games would lead me to believe this is the case.

Originally Posted by joxer
If movies and not series are your thing, then go with already available White Snake:

loading…

Way too off-topic, I know, but I prefer the japanese anime "The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon" [1963].

Originally Posted by SirJames
That's the sort of thing that will always be on the back of your mind and is easy to rationalise the purchase "since I'm playing it anyway. Why not spend a little? I've spent more on games I've played less and they deserve the money."

There is nothing wrong with that - the thing is all they sell is pretend currency which is used to buy lootboxes.
So there is basically nothing proper to support.

(okay there is something called gnostic hymn, but I won't go details why and how).

Yeah - all they sell are basically lootboxes (even the gnostic hymn is mostly just more of in-game loot).
They thing is: More characters, weapons don't really help you. They are no shortcuts. On the contrary: To use these new shiny things and characters you have to build them up as well, which costs even more time (and resin).
And if your upgrade-resources get wasted on too many characters and weapons you can end up even worse!

Loot boxes are for collectors that
a) want every character/weapon of the game (but can't play them all(!))
b) and/or want to play with a special character/constellation at all costs (not a good idea money wise)

These collectors are financing my F2P game, so I don't blame them.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
Yeah - all they sell are basically lootboxes (even the gnostic hymn is mostly just more of in-game loot).
They thing is: More characters, weapons don't really help you. They are no shortcuts. On the contrary: To use these new shiny things and characters you have to build them up as well, which costs even more time (and resin).
And if your upgrade-resources get wasted on too many characters and weapons you can end up even worse!

Loot boxes are for collectors that
a) want every character/weapon of the game (but can't play them all(!))
b) and/or want to play with a special character/constellation at all costs (not a good idea money wise)

These collectors are financing my F2P game, so I don't blame them.

Well there is the problem with the current model, if too many players decide they just F2P the game, the developer can't stay in business and support this game or make another one. Would that there was another way than buying lootboxes to help them a tiny bit. What are your ideas on this?

Originally Posted by basharran
Well there is the problem with the current model, if too many players decide they just F2P the game, the developer can't stay in business and support this game or make another one. Would that there was another way than buying lootboxes to help them a tiny bit. What are your ideas on this?

They have already earned so much money (place #1 in Apple and Google store) that even the developer miHoYo is surprised. So no worries here.