13/01/2021: Breath of the Waifu – a Genshin Impact Review

Genshin Impact is a new waifu collection mobile-cum-pc game with breath of the wild mechanics that has taken the world by storm. Lots of players laud it for being a free to play game that is of a superb quality, us included. But is it entirely beautiful a game, or it is plagued by the culture of toxic in game transactions and monetisation? Here are some of my thoughts as an AR 50+ player on the Genshin and how I would rate it.

1. Content – 8/10

A key part of playing Genshin Impact would be exploring its vast open world. The world of Teyvat is not only beautifully constructed, but also one that has full of wonders to discover and chests to crack open. It is also filled with many puzzles and secrets to uncover that would certainly keep you entertained. The fact that you can explore it with almost no restrictions (other than the current map boundaries) is truly a breath-taking experience. Genshin Impact also offers a wide range of quests and dungeons to clear, with a wide array of characters to choose from.

However, the real problem with Genshin’s content at the moment is its lack of an endgame. Once you level you adventure rank up to AR 40-50, it starts becoming a little dull as the content becomes repetitional. Furthermore, a lot of the content in this game is locked behind a stamina system which really limits progression. Each Domain run costs minimally 20 resin (stamina), and resin recharges at a rate of 1 resin every 8 mins (in essence, a wait of 2hr 40 per domain run). This results in a very slow rate of obtaining equipment and resources. Additionally, this also makes having a wide roster of characters redundant to a degree, as players only having enough resources to raise a small handful of characters to their max potential. As an AR 50 player, my gameplay tends to last merely 30 minutes on average per day, extending to an hour at best if I am farming for resources.

A perk of this limitation however is that it allows you to take a good break from the game and not feel obliged to constantly farm. As a law school slave in BTC, this certainly makes Genshin a very manageable game and one that I know can manage playing daily.

Additionally, the developers have been providing contents updates quite readily. With the new Dragonspine region introduced together with a constant supply of events, there is quite a bit of content to keep players engaged and excited about the game.

2. Story – 7/10

The storyline Genshin Impact is relatively decent. It is not spectacular unlike some other triple A titles, but definitely keeps you wanting more. However, what gives Genshin an above average score for its story is really its world building. Many NPCs in Genshin Impact have pretty interesting and, to a certain degree, deep and emotional back stories that you can uncover by interacting with them or doing quests for them. The playable characters are also very likable and are developed through interactions with them during their story quests. Most importantly, the VAs (the JP ones especially) are top notch. From Kenshou san/Giorno to Uuchida Maaya san/Rikka (who also plays a Chuunibyo, Fishcl), the voice acting is really something for weeaboos to fanboy/girl over.

3. Gameplay Mechanics – 8/10

While Genshin Impact’s combat mechanics are simpler than most other action RPGs, it certainly doesn’t make it any less fun or interesting. This is mainly due to two unique mechanics in that the combat system in Genshin revolves around.

Firstly, the rotation of characters. In Genshin, you can form a team of up to 4 characters to have in your party. While only 1 character may take the field at any one point, they can constantly swap out for one another. This allows players to plan and use characters to synergise with one another – such as using a support character like Noelle to set up shields for a main DPS like Razor or Diluc.

Secondly, elemental reactions. Elemental skills are a core aspect of each character in Genshin Impact. However, what really differentiates Genshin from other RPG titles with elemental skills is that when combined, they produce elemental reactions that are incredibly useful. This combined with the character swapping mechanic provides for a strategic and refreshing combat experience that is very satisfying when done right.

However, A slight qualm I would express with this would be that the elemental reactions can be a lot better balanced. At the moment, Pyro reactions are a lot stronger than most other reactions, while Geo reactions are very underwhelming. But hey, geo daddy Zhong Li is getting a buff soon so this may not stay the case :D

4. Monetisation – 4/10

This is where Genshin Impact really falls off the hardest. Although Genshin Impact is a free to play game, it should be noted that it is heavily monetised. Like many other free to play waifu collection games, Genshin uses a gacha (lootbox) system to unlock characters. What makes Genshin far more pernicious than other gacha games would be its incredibly low rates – with only a 0.6% chance of obtaining a 5* character. That is even lower than Fate/Grand Order’s 1% chance for a 5*, a game known to have one of the lowest gacha rates. It is also very difficult to farm primogems (the currency used for the gacha) especially so in the late game, with each chest you open giving you a measly 2 or 5 primogems (you need 160 for a single pull).

One saving grace of Genshin’s gacha is that it has a pity system that carries across banners. Every 90 pulls on the same scout (Character or Standard, 80 for Weapon), regardless of which banner you are pulling on, you will get a guaranteed 5*. If you do not pull the featured 5*, the next 5* you pull will be guaranteed the featured one as well.

Additionally, spending, or rolling at all, is technically not necessary in Genshin. There are sufficient F2P characters given to you in the game that work phenomenally well if built correctly. These, however, is in my opinion insufficient to bring the monetisation in Genshin to an above average score. After all, what is a waifu collection game without collecting waifus?

5. Multiplayer – 5/10

While Genshin Impact does provide a multiplayer system, it is arguably quite a bare one in its current state. As of this review, multiplayer in Genshin Impact only involves 2 main aspects: 1) clearing Domains (single room dungeons to farm limited resources or equipment); and 2) exploring the world together to farm resources. These are, however, very limited.

While clearing Domains together can be very fruitful in terms of the rewards you’ll earn, the multiplayer gameplay is certainly not the most fun. Domains are usually very simple to clear and most of them can even be cleared quite easily on single player. Even when it comes to the harder Domains, the gameplay tends to get a bit stale overtime due to it being rather repetitive.

Farming resources in the open world together is also a rather limited aspect as many core resources, such as regional specialities, can only be picked up by 1 player. Additionally, chests in the open world can only be opened by the “host” player.

Overall Verdict: 7/10

Although there are some downsides to Genshin Impact’s monetisation structure and progression system, it still definitely is a great free to play game. Be for world exploration or for waifu collection, we’ll definitely recommend you give it a try, especially if you are an otaku. Just don’t fall into the trap of spending an ungodly amount of $ on virtual booty. You don’t want to sell backside just to see virtual backside :P

I hope you've got a better idea of whether Genshin Impact is the F2P mobile game for you! See you soon - Ruka Urushibara :D