InterMusketeer
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Flashbacks of the terrible Lunar game for the Nintendo DS. Couldn't even pick which enemies you attacked (turn based). Getting exp/materials in that game was a pain and you had to pick which you got..Combat - Genshin - BotW combat fucking sucks. When you don't have to worry about throwing/breaking weapons after 3 hits, you see just how bad it is.
We're of the same mind on most of these topics. I'd probably rate traversal as a tie as I didn't really use the horses much while playing BOTW. I also grew tired of switching gear to improve climbing speed/stamina usage. GI traversal is in a weird state since it now varies so much by region. I've recently gone back to Mondstadt for my commissions and it feels weird to not have those Sumeru floating flower things to speed things up. I wouldn't mind if the devs went back and added something like that to the more mountainous areas in Liyue.Man I've been playing emulated BotW lately the past week or so, I'm so torn on it. Doing the infinite durability mod has both made the game more satisfying for me, at the same time highlighting just how terrible the combat is in BotW. Especially compared to Genshin with the reactions and actual combos and stuff.
Graphics - Genshin - BotW looks a lot better on PC than it did on Switch originally, upscaled with AA and removing dynamic resolution, but the vistas are just plain ugly by today's standards, the pop in sucks, the textures are awful for most things etc. Genshin I find to be one of the most beautiful games out right now, especially from an art standpoint. It never tries to go ultra realistic but they really know how to paint a scene.
Exploration - Tie - Both games have great exploration, but ultimately the rewards for exploration suck ass in both games after the first day or so of playing. Elden ring with unique rewards and weapons/etc for exploration mogs them both. Even if the low hanging fruit is mushrooms and random bullshit in Elden Ring, getting through a nasty miniboss encounter or finding a hidden passage and being rewarded with a new sword with a cool effect is just 1000x more satisfying than whatever Genshin or BotW gives you.
Combat - Genshin - BotW combat fucking sucks. When you don't have to worry about throwing/breaking weapons after 3 hits, you see just how bad it is. The enemy AI is actually pretty cool, how they will run to pick up weapons on the ground and the skeletons will try to find any head they can to reform their bodies. They will use tactics like having a shield enemy engage you while the bow enemies retreat and shoot from far, etc. But man, everything else sucks. The Witch Time dodging, the parries, the horrible lock on feature, the awful movesets of the weapons. BotW's battle system encourages you to use the environment and physics of the game for combat because the direct combat is so shit. Makes sense why they didn't get rid of the weapon durability in the sequel despite almost nobody liking it. That said, I still prefer the unlimited durability style vs. every weapon breaking a few hits in. I still find myself swapping weapons quite a bit for different reasons. (thunderstorms, better remove metal weapons so I don't get zapped, on horseback, better switch to spear for the reach, Boss encounter, better switch to strongest 2h'er, etc). It does make the Guardian weapons a bit too good early on, but considering the game wasn't designed for it I really enjoy that awful fucking mechanic being gone.
Puzzles - BotW - I used to think Genshin had the better puzzles, but then I think due to oversaturation of the same types over and over it kinda lost its magic. Also Fuz putting "the puzzles are too hard" in surveys which has reduced them to brainless tier time wasters instead of something that requires you to think and overcome. I think Inazuma was peak puzzle time, with the varied types and generally higher difficulty, but the rewards being shit kinda made them meaningless if you don't just enjoy the puzzles for what they are. BotW is great in that the game doesn't hold you back from trying non-standard solutions using the game physics and tools at your disposal. I remember that one puzzle where you have to roll a key ball through one of those tilt mazes which was very frustrating, OR, you could just flip the controller upside down and have it roll easily on the underside on a flat surface if you thought about it. That kind of shit is really cool. Shame that both games have such shitty rewards for your time and effort.
Traversal - BotW - This was a tough one to decide. Ultimately, I love the horses, the fact that they ignore you and fuck off until they become fond of you, I'd love to see mounts in Genshin. The physics engine in BotW is so much better. I like how breezes can effect your glider and either make you go faster or slower. The game has actual momentum instead of whatever the fuck Genshin uses. Stasis blasting yourself across the map on top of a boulder is a lot of fun. On the other hand, I like Kaz's double jump, Yelan's dash, Sayu's roll, Mona's swim. They're cool how they're tied into the combat too.
Worldbuilding - Genshin - Genshin just has such rich and interesting lore, but all of it is hidden behind super dry and flowery text (lots of confusing flavor names for everything). I understand most don't like it, and I do wish it was presented better, but it's really cool and interesting that they put so much thought and effort into the lore. The "delete from Irminsul" thing kinda hurts it a bit, because they essentially just baked in the ability for them to change anything at any time for any reason, retconning things that they don't want to have to explain, which feels cheap to me. Maybe it's something they're used to in CN with the government censoring and memory holing stuff in the real world. BotW's best part was the "100 years ago" storyline that you slowly learn throughout the game and of course the 4 divine beasts. I will ALWAYS love giant monsters/robots causing a sense of dread and awe in games. Shadow of the Colossus was so good because of this. Even if the divine beast dungeons were only "meh", the sense of wonder they created when you saw them out stomping around in their areas was really cool. Wish they were bigger menaces than a walking dungeon and random weather issues. It'd also be cool if they attacked you/towns/etc directly and you had to fend them off. Climbing the Gerudo Highlands tower and seeing the huge ass camel stomping in the desert around a huge sand/lightning storm was like a major "oh fuck! that's cool" moment for me both times I played the game (at launch and now). Also having the last boss circling around the castle right from the beginning of the game was a cool idea, to visually remind you of what the goal is as you're out running around Hyrule. Actual quests and lore past that though was kinda garbage.
Anyways, that's more than I planned to write about a comparison between the two. I'm really looking forward to TotK, but it's gonna be hard going back to breakable weapons after playing it without them, and having it be a superior experience. I also hope that Genshin improves a lot of things with 4.0 and doesn't just keep shoveling more dandy males and censored females with 200 of the same puzzles that amount to:
It's probably a bit much to ask, but having real physics in the game would be so nice compared to the pre-baked animations we have now for movement. It really adds something to the gameplay.
I am 2/4 Divine Beasts down now and Wizzrobes still genuinely terrify me when I run into one. Genshin enemies are such pushovers, even if you're massively under-leveled. The new hydro/anemo winged hilichurls for instance. They could have been cool and tough, but they move like they're stuck in a bottle of peanut butter. MHY decided to decimate any offensive threat that they could be and instead just gave them super armor so they can't be interrupted during their 2.8 year animation to do a single swipe of an attack. Genshin needs more actual threat of dying. I mean at this point almost everyone has Zhongli, so they really could stand to up the offensive capabilities of the enemies more. Consecrated Beasts are a step in the right direction, but they're still just more HP sponges than an actual threat, which they should be.I think both games are at their most fun during the early-to-mid game point where you have some resources and gear, but aren't overpowered yet. Early in BOTW, I always found it fun when you stumbled upon a powerful enemy, like a blue Lynel, while exploring a remote area and there were actual stakes to fight.
Slow enemy attack animations are definitely an issue, but how slow the enemies even start to react to you has been problem from the start and only seems to be getting worse. You can run up to the new beefed up hilichurls and drop an elemental skill, switch characters and drop another skill in the time it takes them to get off their asses. It's the same issue with the elite elemental Eremites, it's hard to find them threatening when you have them at half health before they start engaging the player.Genshin enemies are such pushovers, even if you're massively under-leveled. The new hydro/anemo winged hilichurls for instance. They could have been cool and tough, but they move like they're stuck in a bottle of peanut butter. MHY decided to decimate any offensive threat that they could be and instead just gave them super armor so they can't be interrupted during their 2.8 year animation to do a single swipe of an attack. Genshin needs more actual threat of dying. I mean at this point almost everyone has Zhongli, so they really could stand to up the offensive capabilities of the enemies more. Consecrated Beasts are a step in the right direction, but they're still just more HP sponges than an actual threat, which they should be.
Agreed. That's why I mentioned consecrated beasts. They have much higher damage than other enemies, they attack fast, have super armor, and pretty much start attacking as soon as you agro them. Even with all of that though, they really don't amount to much difficulty in the game. I couldn't tell you the last time I actually died in combat due to enemies and not falling to my death/1shot mechanics like Raiden's slice or Scaramouche's meteor thing back when they were new and I didn't have them figured out yet. Even then it's only 1 of four characters, so the chance of you actually dying is very very very slim.Slow enemy attack animations are definitely an issue, but how slow the enemies even start to react to you has been problem from the start and only seems to be getting worse. You can run up to the new beefed up hilichurls and drop an elemental skill, switch characters and drop another skill in the time it takes them to get off their asses. It's the same issue with the elite elemental Eremites, it's hard to find them threatening when you have them at half health before they start engaging the player.
A shared HP bar would make it harder to implement the HP related skill/burst mechanics, plus it would eliminate the difference between on and off field healing.Agreed. That's why I mentioned consecrated beasts. They have much higher damage than other enemies, they attack fast, have super armor, and pretty much start attacking as soon as you agro them. Even with all of that though, they really don't amount to much difficulty in the game. I couldn't tell you the last time I actually died in combat due to enemies and not falling to my death/1shot mechanics like Raiden's slice or Scaramouche's meteor thing back when they were new and I didn't have them figured out yet. Even then it's only 1 of four characters, so the chance of you actually dying is very very very slim.
Wonder if a shared HP bar would have been the way to go in Genshin?
Made me lookup some review videos.Flashbacks of the terrible Lunar game for the Nintendo DS. Couldn't even pick which enemies you attacked (turn based). Getting exp/materials in that game was a pain and you had to pick which you got.
Encountered a monkey that broke my weapon probably after spending at least 10 hours on the game. Turned it off and never turned it back on.
Lunar (sega/ps1) was a great series btw. Just avoid the DS game. Lunar Silver Star and Lunar Eternal Blue (the sequel to Silver Star) are great games.
Nevermind. Ignore this shit, there's no reward for it.Dude. Much thing to do in this event.
Nevermind. Ignore this shit, there's no reward for it.
Learned the hard way...argh.Nevermind. Ignore this shit, there's no reward for it.
You did. Reborn virgin Scara decided to regain his old memories which changed back his personality. He's basically the old Scara we knew from before, but we're supposed to forgive him because he realized he was deceived and made some sort of sacrifice to make up for it (which was ultimately pointless). And he's supposedly trustworthy now because Nahida keeps him in check. Also, he's a playable character so that automagically means he's a good guy, just like Childe.Or did I miss some details?
You did. Reborn virgin Scara decided to regain his old memories which changed back his personality. He's basically the old Scara we knew from before, but we're supposed to forgive him because he realized he was deceived and made some sort of sacrifice to make up for it (which was ultimately pointless). And he's supposedly trustworthy now because Nahida keeps him in check. Also, he's a playable character so that automagically means he's a good guy, just like Childe.
BTW he's well-versed in Inazuman politics. This dumb fuck felt betrayed by a kid that died, but somehow understands politics. This game has such garbage writing sometimes.
"Hat Guy" was a pathetic cop out to not use any name, since we named him (they'll probably regretted that) but I must confess that it made me chuckle.
Not sure why they're still treating him (both the characters and the writers) as he's a villain, since that personality has been erased for good. Or did I miss some details?
Oh, you have to play Layla's hangout to understand a small exchange between her and Faruzan
(Yes, I'm posting as I play because A) I'm an alt-tab addict and B) their dialogues go on forever and I get bored)
Anyone hates the new event(s)?
I'm really disliking the "project connectivity", the interface is too clunky and cumbersome, placing pieces and testing is too slow, also for me some keys overlap (since I rebinded the movement) making it a double pain.
Fuck Daya.
Rest are the usual ok-ish. Kinda feel they're scared of going a little bit further and making them actually fun and engaging.
Mix bag imo, but I want to know who will win this shit.
Layla
Cappellotto and Don Sombrero are way better names than "hat guy" though.
It's because you're not italian.Yeah, Sombrero is actually cool.
I'm really, really tempted to give it a try but I know it won't end well. Sooooo no.So anyone tackled the new game from Mihoyo, Star rail? What are your thoughts?
If you think Genshin is full of dry text boxes after text boxes, you would really hate Star Rail. Plus the localizers decided to meme it up, so there's all sorts of bullshit references that don't make sense in-universe.I'm really, really tempted to give it a try but I know it won't end well. Sooooo no.
I played 2 versions of the beta and tried it on my phone recently to see if they improved anything. It's got a high quality story similar to what JRPGs used to feel like, but they still have every character boil down to 2 moves (their skill and ultimate) and there is a LOT of text. It's really a shame though, the game could be a pretty big hit if it was a standalone JRPG, well I guess Chinese (J?)RPG, but it's ruined in the typical gacha way to keep people playing and addicted. I got through the end of the first area and uninstalled. I don't have enough bandwidth for another game with dailies and weeklies and all that shit.So anyone tackled the new game from Mihoyo, Star rail? What are your thoughts?
I like it so far. The trash can lore is great.So anyone tackled the new game from Mihoyo, Star rail? What are your thoughts?
Agreed, I finally started the new Sumeru event and it's pretty weak considering it's the featured artwork for v3.6. It's a collection of mini-games that highlights some of the over-used or under-baked aspects of GI.I just started the Sumeru event tonight and man, I dunno, I'm just not feeling this one. We'll see how it goes, I just did the intro quest and one of each of the minigames to try them out.
I play in English, but they should have just used Don Sombrero for all languages, IMO. It's the superior name.
You have to destroy the electro stones that interfere with the gadget.In the first area, neither artifact was in the smaller circle on map. This was confusing, so I just ignored the map and used the compasses.
I did that and both artifacts in that area were not in the smaller circles. In the second area, the map function did work properly, so that's why I thought it was bugged in the first area.You have to destroy the electro stones that interfere with the gadget.
- Minigame that features the clunky Teapot building interface. This was really easy, but it's not fun dealing with the menus and interface.
Are you using a keyboard/mouse or a controller? It can be a annoying to use on a controller.Teapot interface is not bad, come on.