Genshin Impact Review

How many of you are currently busy playing a game that was born from a Chinese developer? For those who make mobile devices their daily “gaming machines”, enjoying games from the bamboo curtain developer is certainly no longer a foreign sight, especially with the tendency for gacha-based games to be born with waifu content that will easily fool you into pretending to be as if he was born from the cold hands of Japanese developers. Among these ranks is Mihoyo, whose popularity was born and skyrocketed through the action game Honkai Impact 3rd which still has an active community base. However, with the birth of their newest project - Genshin Impact, Mihoyo stepped into the next level.

Distributed in a free to play format with gacha elements as one of the monetization motors, we were quite surprised by the quality it carried. There is more appreciation for how the gacha system that he uses doesn't necessarily keep the content locked behind it, where you always have the option to use “free” characters to complete the story. It also comes with a solid action RPG game mechanic and is very enjoyable, especially with the extra layer of elemental attack-based strategy that it carries. Genshin Impact undeniably left us with a positive first impression. So, what does Genshin Impact actually offer? Why do we call it a game that offers an innovation and addiction in hockey test action? This review will go into more depth for you.

Plot

Before we talk further about the plot of Genshin Impact, there is one thing that we must emphasize first, that conceptually this game can be called applying the concept of Games as a Service. So instead of directly dealing with a story that is immediately completed, the story will move along with the addition of content via future updates. Genshin Impact is a story that will grow with time. The story is taken from the perspective of the main character who is more often referred to as the Traveler. At one point, in their battle against a mysterious god from another world with the result of defeat, the two Traveler brothers - Aether and Lumine must be separated and stranded in a new world called Teyvat. Whichever character you choose, the main character will be accompanied by a fairy-like entity who will continue to accompany him named Paimon. The Traveler now has the tough task of not only studying and understanding Teyvat, but also finding clues about where his separated brother is.

Teyvat itself is a large region that is divided into at least 7 different countries, each of which is based on a certain element with the worship of the figure of the Archon who represents it. At the time this review article was written, the story only contained two regions - Mondstadt which carries the Anemo (wind) element with a thicker European-style architecture and Liyue based on the Earth (soil) element with a cultural approach that refers more to China. Each region will come with a separate conflict which is usually related to the Archon who oversees each of them.

Waifu

Those who are not familiar with Genshin Impact and are active on social media, might easily simplify it as a game that only sells Waifu as the main attraction. That the presence of these female characters with eye-catching designs is the essence of the experience that Genshin Impact wants to carry, at least from the presentation side. This statement is undeniable because the approach of a solid line of Waifu characters with a well-known Japanese voice actress behind it is indeed one of the main motivations to jump in. But for those who have entered and survived, Genshin Impact has more appeal. In terms of visual presentation, there is a bit of amazement that with the quality that he is currently carrying, Genshin Impact is offered as a free to play game. Because it must be admitted, with a thick anime approach, world design, character design, to the design of the enemies you fight, complete with various particle effects that appear in various attacks to environmental effects as a consequence, it looks better than many paid games. out there, even from big caliber developers and publishers. Moreover, he is also beautified with a variety of cinematic cut-scenes that as far as the story moves, carry out their duties well. Genshin Impact, despite its status as a free-to-play game, feels and looks like a paid AAA action RPG game.

One thing that is even more fantastic, is that he has personality. All sides of this sweet visual presentation don't end up being "empty" and just charming on the surface. As an example? Various female characters that you can recruit via the gacha system as a playable roster. Each of them has a fairly solid background story with a unique personality, from Klee who likes to throw bombs wherever he goes while maintaining the innocence of a child, Fischl who uses super complex language to communicate something simple, to Mona who has to live on the upper poverty line. the name of idealism. The personality also spreads to other levels, from enemies in the open world that you can see sometimes having their own activities to unique behavior to side missions with fairly deep story content. Genshin Impact is not just about the waifu appearance. The presentation side is also reinforced with solid audio support. In terms of voice acting, regardless of whether you use English or Japanese (although we recommend Japanese more), the quality deserves praise. Considering that many of these VAs come from professionals who have worked in anime (for Japanese VAs), then you can feel how the intonation that comes out also reflects an interesting personality to follow. Meanwhile, in terms of the soundtrack, the quality is also worth celebrating. Songs that will accompany your adventures, especially from the Liyue region, will easily fit into your daily playlist if you want some soul-soothing music.

Action RPG

One thing that makes the appreciation for Genshin Impact even higher is the fact that it contains the foundation as an action RPG game that is really solid. We ourselves are gamers who, up to this point, have never been able to understand why the association with Breath of the Wild could be so strong at the beginning of its existence. But if you dive a little deeper, apart from a few slightly inspired elements, Genshin Impact has a different appeal. It has an action RPG taste that is thicker than Breath of the Wild which incidentally makes the exploration process and logic-based solving process second to none. The good news? At least the thrill of the action RPG Genshin Impact is charming. As with RPG action games, dealing with various enemies that you meet, you will be equipped with the ability to attack normally, charge attacks, the opportunity to do evasive actions with the stamina bar as a barrier, an ordinary skill, and an ultimate attack. Comes with a fast-paced combat sensation and character situations that remain vulnerable if you don't make much use of the dodge button, each fight will be quite intense. Moreover, you are also encouraged to combine a variety of different things to make your damage more effective.

Of course, Genshin Impact comes with some unique approaches. First, the party system with 4 characters does not necessarily make the four characters appear and fight together. There is no AI system for companion characters here, with a party system designed so you can switch between them instantly when needed. Second, the type of weapon is also tied to the specifics of the character. This means that characters whose initial weapons are arrows will only be able to use arrows, while those with spears can only use spears. The animations for each weapon will usually be the same, and sometimes only differ from speed, attack damage, or some additional effects that act as buffs. Third? That each character will have its own elements. Elements are indeed a crucial part of the Genshin Impact battle system. With each character having its own element, which is divided into Wind, Fire, Electricity, Ice, Water, and Earth, using and combining these elements will produce different interaction effects. Did you manage to hit the enemy with water and then ice attacks? You will get the effect of "Frozen" which makes the enemy silent for a while, freeze. You use fire and then electricity? You will get an “Overloaded” effect which will make fire-based attacks now have an AOE effect. This combination of various elements does not only occur in the enemy, but also applies to the character you use.

Therefore, building a team with a combination of elements that suit your playing style will also play an important role here. Moreover, based on the same element system, Genshin Impact also has another mechanic called "Elemental Resonance". Depending on the composition of the elements in your team, you will get different buffs. As an example? If you choose to allocate two slots from a party of 4 to a character with the fire element, you will get extra damage when attacking with fire as well as Attack status +25%. Of course, you will be faced with enemy variants that will test the matter of the synergy of these elements much more deeply, especially considering that some characters will have more effective roles as damagers, healers, or even tankers.

Although most of the enemies you will be able to subdue with ordinary physical attacks, but during the story journey and the exploration process, you will meet more variants that require extra strategy combinations of elements that are more intense on it. There are enemy types that have specific element-based shields such as the Abyss Mage that needs to be subdued with opposing elements to be killed effectively, while there are also those that appear as a mechanical golem with a weak point at a specific point that can only be beaten using a bow character. These types of enemies demand more than just ordinary attacks. Also remember, that there are several types of "Mage" characters whose attacks will usually have a magical type and therefore always contain elemental effects in them, making them more effective for certain enemies. So with combinations of elements like this, the party can't be built just based on the consideration of which character attracts you the most visually.

So the rest of the Genshin Impact experience will center around two things - completing the various side and main missions available and of course, exploration. Completing the side and main missions is as simple as you think, where you only need to watch the story and complete any tasks that are asked of you, which fortunately also has clear indicators on the map about important areas or people that you must visit. While the exploration side will take you to so many chests scattered in various locations that can usually be opened by simply subduing a number of enemies, some of which also require solving relatively simple puzzles. For this last issue, apart from the opportunity to collect materials that will be essential in the end to strengthen weapons and characters, Genshin Impact's exploration action in at least the first few dozen hours should pay off nicely.

This element system is also the one that immediately becomes a clear separator regarding the comparison between Genshin Impact and Breath of the Wild which was widely heard at the beginning of the release. The Genshin element system, especially for the exploration process, can't be used in a logical capacity like the way Nintendo handled Breath of the Wild. As an example? For example, you can't "cook" an apple by simply throwing fire attacks at an apple lying on Genshin, while you can do the same thing in BOTW. Elements in Genshin are also unaffected by the materials worn on or around the trigger point. For example, electro attacks won't do more damage to enemies with conductive weapons or armor, unlike in Breath of the Wild. Again, these two don't share the same gameplay “DNA” apart from a few inspired little things here and there.

Thus, as your game progresses, the sensation of the Genshin Impact RPG action will be more intense. Moreover, it also includes several boss fights, which will test this. Coming with thicker HP and big damage that can kill you quickly, the right combination of elements will make a fight like this move faster. Fortunately, this game also comes with a cooking system for extra food that you can use to restore HP, resurrect dead characters, and inject extra buffs such as defense and attack. Collecting food materials will also be extra motivation to carry out exploration actions. If you have difficulty completing certain challenges, whether during exploration or dungeons, Genshin Impact also provides a cooperative multiplayer option that you can easily access with only a few menus. This simple user-interface is also immediately followed by a fairly fast cross-platform matchmaking action, where Playstation 4, PC, and mobile gamers can immediately play together. The biggest weakness of the cooperative side is rooted in the fact that you will still be “locked out” of the rewards that appear in the worlds of other players you visit. You still have to sacrifice your resin to open each one of them and you still can't open chests in their world. The most important reward is simply the opportunity to "harvest" the materials you find.

Consequences Free to Play

Genshin Impact is really cool, especially with the free to play concept that he stretches. But we should always remember that video games are still a business and not a charity. That the free to play distribution format is usually designed in such a way as to open the door as much as possible for gamers to enter, then presented a variety of content and mechanisms that evoke a little "passion" to spend extra real money with it. The simplest analogy is to compare it with malls in various countries. There is no fee to enter and “have fun” in the mall by just walking around and washing your eyes. However, malls are carefully designed, especially from the path, the location of escalators and elevators for example, to make you pass through various strategic locations based on popular stores. Your probability of shopping will increase with the frequency and how long you are in the mall. Even for something as small as grocery shopping.

Genshin Impact also applies the same thing. On the one hand, praise because at least the monetization system that he offers does not feel forced in the first few decades, when Adventure Rank - your user level that projects enemy strength and chance to drop rare items in Teyvat, is still below 30. But along with the strengthening of your character and weapons, you will start to feel that the resources will slowly but surely, start to run out. That the resources you need to take your character to the next level are no longer easy to come by. Chests scattered in many corners of the area are running out, side missions and main missions that usually come with money and material rewards are empty, and the option to spend real money seems to be growing into a "necessity" and no longer a "luxury". Genshin Impact came up with a system like this.

Interestingly? It's not always a matter of gacha characters that rely on a resource called Primogems, which you can buy in packages with shopping values ​​ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of Rupiah, depending on the depth of your wallet. Genshin Impact also provides other options such as “Blessing” which will reward you with around 90 Primogems per day at a more affordable price as well as the opportunity to unlock extra significant amounts of rewards if you end up purchasing the advanced “Battle Pass” content. For this last matter, he will be the solution to the problem of upgrading materials and money that will consistently haunt those who are already at a high Adventure Rank. Slowly but surely, miHoYo will make you “give up” and see that at least an “investment” of 140 thousand Rupiah is something normal and appropriate for a game that you have been enjoying for tens of hours. But again, this option never grew to become a necessity. The option to spend your day grinding material (which is also depleted and will recover after a certain period of time) is always open.

The consequence of the free to play system promoted by miHoYo also gave birth to the Resin system, which can simply be explained as a “ticket system” in other mobile games. Resin is a resource that you must spend to make claims for various activities that provide super valuable rewards, from money, materials, to Artifacts - a type of super important accessory that affects the status of the character who wears it, each of which will require a certain amount of Resin to be claimed. The presence of a Resin system like this is a daily limitation that is clearly designed with one goal in mind - limiting the number of farming activities that free gamers can do who happen to have a lot of free time, to ensure their progress remains "controlled". Because on the other hand, gamers who invest their extra money by buying Primogems for example, always have the option to exchange them for a certain amount of Resin to use even though they also have a limited amount each day. At least, this makes gamers who have invested real money still have an advantage over those who play for free.

Quality

So as we talked about earlier, Genshin Impact is basically a GaaS, where the story, content, and characters that can be used will continue to be added and "swell" along with the aging of the game. We deliberately waited for the content update 1.1 to be able to talk about this in more detail, which made our review article end up having a long pause after the preview article which was launched at least last month. As a GaaS game that really requires a high level of engagement from its players, Genshin Impact also does a fantastic job. It's even better than paid games like Marvel's Avengers at the time this review article was written, which despite carrying the same GaaS concept, ended up in a fatal content vacuum situation that made it start to be abandoned. Genshin Impact injects content updates, from the preview article period to this review, it comes with two essential things it has quality and it has quantity. That the event that launches during this "honeymoon" release will consistently encourage you to log in at least once a day. Apart from daily quests with tempting rewards that you will want to complete, they also usually provide events that provide extra rewards within a certain period that also encourage the same. This keeps the community at least active and hence, high retention rates.

One thing that deserves appreciation is how this additional content doesn't just happen in major updates to other major updates, such as 1.0 to 1.1 for example. miHoYo as a developer keeps injecting additional content between these major updates, which will provide extra reasons to keep playing and keeping busy. We're talking about things as simple as introducing a new character that can be gacha, new missions focused on providing more in-depth background to characters like what happened to Venti, Klee, and Mona, and just events with special themes like what happened with the story. Fischl at the time of writing this review, which focused on investigating the mystery of the meteor fall to Teyvat which turned out to have resulted in certain complications for the existing population. For missions like this, he is presented complete with extra cut-scenes and voice-acting for each character involved. Content like this also provides from just 30 minutes-1 hour of content, to 1 full week of events with additional activities for exploration action.

And then met with a more "massive" update from 1.0 to 1.1 which finally, gave the conclusion of the story that should be for the conflict involving the Traveler in Liyue. The 1.1 update, which just rolled out some time ago, comes with a quality that deserves to be celebrated. We are not only met with the conclusion of the story that we have been waiting for in the previous version, but also the presentation style that is not half-hearted. This solid story is presented along with cut-scenes, full voice acting, the introduction of new characters that deepen the mystery of the lore as a whole, to the weekly boss fights which will now be extra busy for you to try. All of them perfect how important and epic moments are also presented with cut-scenes with a cinematic taste and solid action side. So far, the way he handles plot additions in the form of updates is solid.

lucky

One of the biggest questions that always haunts games with a Genshin Impact system like this is how essential is the gacha process really? Will eventually, outside of systems like Blessing and the Battle Pass we talked about earlier, come to a point where you feel like you have to spend money on gacha action to get characters and weapons? The most objective answer is no. The most subjective answer? The temptation will be consistently there, along with the time you invest. Because in the end, just like any gacha system should be, it all depends on luck aka hockey. miHoYo itself builds a pretty solid system to let you have a chance at least once in 3 days to gacha. This is achieved by completing daily missions that are ready to give you 60 Primogems. With the need to collect at least 160 Primogems for a single gacha action, this means at least once every 3 days you will be able to test your luck.

It's still not enough, you'll also get lots of extra Primogems through miHoYo's various events and "sorry" actions. Events that can be enjoyed for free, which may or may not require Resin to be completed, will usually also reward you with dozens of Primogems for each milestone you have achieved. A variety of other achievements, from completing Achievements, reaching certain levels in the Battle Pass, completing specific missions, to opening chests can lead to Primogems that you can collect. This is still not the case with the “apologizing” Primogems that miHoYo usually gives out when bugs are found, maintenance is done, or simply spread out to celebrate certain achievements or even, when building a little extra plot for some characters. Genshin Impact also comes with several systems to make the level of randomness of the gacha system a bit more tolerable. First, is the Banner system. Instead of being collected into the same pool, you will be given the opportunity to do gacha in the appropriate banners which will have a higher probability of getting a certain character or weapon. This means if the banner has the character or weapon you want, then the most rational thing is to allocate your Primogems to that banner with extra prayers that you get it.

Outside of the system, this game also injects what is known as the "Pity Rate" as a more certain guarantee. With this system running behind the scenes, it will guarantee that for your 90th gacha draw, you will get a five-star character or weapon which incidentally is the highest rarity level at the moment. This is a guarantee, which has absolutely nothing to do with how lucky you are. Should you manage to get a five-star character or weapon before the “Pity Rate” occurs? Then the "Pity Rate" number will be reset back to 0 to ensure that you will not get more weapons and rare characters more than what your hockey line is destined for.

Playing it for at least two months, we are proud to announce that we are spending absolutely no money at all on character gacha action and weapons at all. We ended up buying with real money, indeed there are various other options such as "Blessing" and "Battle Pass" which so far feel comparable to the price he offers. Without spending millions of Rupiah for gacha action, we managed to lock up two five-star characters Klee and Qiqi in the position of Klee and even get duplicates which were then converted into resources to unlock Constellation an essential buff system that strengthens characters and changes the work of several types of attacks. We also managed to get at least two five-star weapons, and some four-star characters and weapons. All of this was achieved without the gacha banner action costing millions of Rupiah.

Conclusion

Lebih baik dari apa yang kami harapkan, terlepas dari rasa pesimisme karena sistem free to play yang ia usung, Genshin Impact berakhir menjadi game action RPG fantastis yang sebanding dengan hype dan popularitas yang ia raih pada saat review ini ditulis. Ia ditangani sebagai game GaaS dengan cara yang lebih baik dan efektif bahkan dibandingkan dengan beberapa contoh game AAA berbayar dari studio dengan kaliber lebih besar saat ini. Namun daya tarik utamanya memang mengakar pada banyak hal kecil yang sebenarnya tidak perlu mereka pikirkan, namun ditangani dengan optimal. Kita bicara soal desain dunia, desain karakter, voice acting, bagaimana ia hadir dengan banyak kepribadian, hingga proses balancing cukup baik untuk gamer yang hendak menikmatinya dengan uang nyata ataupun secara cuma-cuma. Genshin Impact datang dengan kualitas yang mengejutkan. But despite these shortcomings, Genshin Impact is a free-to-play game that deserves the opportunity for you to try it, especially if you love RPG action games or stories with a strong anime flavor. You will find that this release format does not represent the various stigmas about poor quality and cheap monetization that occur in other free-to-play games. This is a game that will still test your hockey, but on the other hand, still comes with innovations worth celebrating.