Game Theory: You're Fighting The WRONG Person! (Genshin Impact)

thanks to gentian impact for sponsoring today's episode wow it's been almost a year since i lasted a theory on gentian impact should really try another one of those any ideas pymon more riddles dizzy already oh no pymon used to bowl her brain juice welcome to my life paimon welcome to my life hello internet welcome to game theory the show that sees there's a 50 50 chance that you'll hit that subscribe button and i like those odds as i've already mentioned today's episode is sponsored by gentian impact who did an episode with us a year ago as well so glad we didn't scare them away they just released their new 2.5 update on february 16th adding even more content for you to enjoy and explore in this ever expanding world there's new enemies new quests they're even bringing back some old characters like the ryden shogun to stand alongside their newest five-star character yai miko which is funny because both of them actually play an important part in today's theory don't you love it when an integration works out seamlessly now all these new features are great and all but we all know i'm really here [Music] for those of you who don't know when you boot up the game for the first time your character the traveler gets sealed into a deep slumber where you then experience nightmares for 500 years talk about hitting a progression wall right off the bat when you finally do wake up you find yourself into that a land that's been divided up into seven regions each with an archon a local elemental god presiding over it now the last time we covered genshin we spoke mainly about the geo archon zhong li and how his decision to fake his own death might have actually doomed the people of tivat so when genjian asked me to do another episode i figured why not take a closer look at yet another archon but this time let's one up the stakes i actually wanted to focus on an archon that we haven't met yet one that's been heavily teased and one that is integral to the ongoing plot of the game the mysterious zaritsa cryo archon of snijnaya the fact that i was able to pronounce that correctly should show that we not only do our research but we also really enjoy this game fun fact about zaritza by the way it's not actually her real name it's a title a title that comes from the feminine form of the word tsar hence why her followers sometimes call her the zaritsa bravo comrade i doubt even that saritsa herself ever expected i would make it this far also if the tsar title and the word comrade didn't include yen the schnez region is actually inspired by russia which also explains why it's associated with the cryo element there's a reason the ushanka were invented in russia ushanka are the hats with the fur ear flaps yeah we're learning all sorts of wacky words today this is a recording nightmare man anyway despite never having met sariza herself she does appear to be the closest thing that gentian impact has to an overarching villain her followers the fatoui go from region to region beating up or tricking local gods in an effort to steal the source of their powers but i've got a theory a game you know the deal at this point that saritsa isn't actually the villain that she appears to be i'm determined to predict this game's big twist before it happens that zaritsa for how nasty her methods may be will actually be revealed to be doing all this in order to save humanity she has good intentions oh yeah my friends this is classic game theory the villain isn't the villain at all and i'm about to prove it oh and also the brand would like me to remind you that although this video is sponsored all the conclusions i've come to are mine and mine alone based on dialogue and story elements within the game i've got no external help whatsoever and who knows i might have just prompted them to change their entire storyline okay so let's look at the events of the game to understand what she's done and what might really be going on here in pretty much every story arc thus far zaritsa's followers the fatoui are constantly up to shady stuff in the prologue we see one of zaritsa's lieutenants beat up the archon of monstat in order to steal his magical god item his gnosis which connects the user to celestia land of the gods in the process amplifying their elemental powers each of the seven archons has one gnosis which means that zariza already has one of her own but now she's sending out her goons to go and collect the others given that these are meant to be sources of divine cosmic power zariza immediately starts giving off some serious thanos vibes and her quest for the infinity stones doesn't stop in the prologue in the very next arc we have our second major encounter with a fatoui with another of zoritz's lieutenants trying to steal the gnosis off the corpse of yet another archon so you've been planning to take the gnosis from inside the exuviae all along it's my duty to see the will of the saritsa fulfilled she will get that which she desires now those of you who watched my last theory remember that this archon was never actually dead he just faked his death so he could kick it back in his human form zhong li so then we win right they can't steal his gnosis because zhong li is alive except then this happens you remember the agreement morax if you would be so kind the gnosis please the contract is fulfilled that which thou seeketh is now bestowed unto thee zhang lee just hands his noses over to the fatoui because of a contract taimon does a good job of summing up my feelings here no wait that's an exciting twist and all but why give the gnosis to the fatui i do not give it for free i give it as agreed upon in the contract for it is a matter solely between the tsaritsa and i fine keep your secrets i'm gonna be over here freaking out because zaritsa now has three gnosises no sissies no no no no sai i like no sai anyway that now means that she possesses earth wind and ice ice power is not earth wind and fire though i do wish that you would join a disco band at some point anyway in the next dark we travel to innozuma where word on the street is that the local archon the ride in shogun has been oppressing her people at first it seems like it's gonna be a story all about the region's internal politics but nope turns out the fatoui were behind this one as well sowing discord and seizing control over the region for themselves of course we confront zoritz's lieutenant she denies it we fight her she loses she dies so yay yeah not quite did you say gnosis as in the little thing that looks something like a chess piece i handed that over you had one job yai these archons just need better staff once again we're one step behind and just like that sarita and the fatoui are in control of four of the seven gnosis geo cryo animal and electro give her a bit more time and she's gonna be able to summon captain planet by herself so zaritsa is making some pretty great progress bedazzling her infinity gauntlet of god gems already that paints her as a bit of a villain but why is she doing this what is her true goal here does she just want a bunch of power well in the story trailer we actually learned her reasoning for collecting all the gnosis her followers hope only to be on her side when the day of her rebellion against the divine comes at last rebelling against the divine well uh yeah tearing down the heavens is usually not something that the good guys want she is clearly the big bad of the game right right well think back to how she obtained two of the gnosis both zhong li and yai miko gave them up willingly it was a negotiation not a battle or trickery for both these arkhan to just give up their godly power it feels like there's gotta be good reason there sure zhang li might be a bit of an airhead when it comes to managing money but he has a long history of forging contracts that ensure the long-term well-being for the people in his region and when i say that he has a long history i do mean he has a long history he's been protecting leo for over 3 700 years i don't think zhang li would be giving up his gnosis so willingly if he was sure he was giving it over to the bad guys despite his lack of understanding when it comes to economic issues he at the very least has his people's best interests at heart so then what about the archon that team zaritsa beat up why would zaritsa take that first gnosis in such a violent fashion well according to the story for the item stainless bloom which is supposedly telling us the story of senora we get this quote we share the same goal you your saritsa and i cleanse the sources of distortion in this world short-sighted ignorant gods so ritsa believes that her path is righteous and for the betterment of all people venti the protector of that first gnosis was exactly that a short-sighted and ignorant god who had basically abandoned his people leaving them to fend for themselves it's actually similar to zhong lee's story too a god who got tired of being a god and gave up the gnosis in order to walk around as a mortal vessel in the game venti's abandonment is framed as a good thing the people of monstat are proud of their self-reliance and his songs and fun-loving nature make him beloved by the people he's the fun boss who everyone likes but he doesn't actually do his job when zariza's lieutenant shows up she calls him out on this addressing him as the absolutely an absentee archon someone who's abused and neglected their role so maybe that's why zaritsa and the team stole the gnosis by force she didn't see venti as worthy of bargaining with as they say later that saritza's dream is the noblest and purest thing in all the world these other mundane details you insist on mentioning they're just necessary sacrifices but necessary to what overthrow celestia take down the heavens it doesn't sound like a very noble cause to me but then you get lines like this she no longer needs the power of the gnosis and in any case she tells me she has severed ties with celestia sure the gnosis is a source of power but the ride in shogun still wields immense power despite giving up the gnosis long ago so maybe this quest has less to do with a quest for power and more to do with the quest against celestia as pymon says keep them connected to celestia a connection back to celestia which as we just heard the ryden shogun has no need or desire for now why would that be well it's important to understand what exactly celestia is as i've already mentioned it's kind of like heaven it's located above the clouds it's a place where those who've ascended to divine godhood can hang out and we're told it's basically the physical creation of heavenly principles or the divine that sounds like it should be a realm associated with the good guys but we've already had a run-in at the start of the game with the sustainer of heavenly principles and uh let's just say that she wasn't acting all that good to us who are you the sustainer of heavenly principles the irrigation of mankind ends now this is who's sustaining the heavenly principles that's responsible for the creation of celestia remember that whole thing that i mentioned that happens at the start of the game the whole sealed way into 500 years of slumber filled with nightmares thing yeah this is who does it to us someone who seems to value judgment above and beyond anything else listen i'm not gonna deny that mankind can be guilty of a little irrigation every now and then but the way that she's saying it it sounds like her answer to ending mankind's irrigation might just involve ending mankind in the first place also what's irrigation mean is it being arrogant to claim or seize without justification okay so not really being arrogant also not to be confused with irrigation which is watering land by artificial means so mankind has seized things without justification and celestia ain't too happy about it and might just be angry enough to start taking some extreme actions looking deeper into the lore we learned that there was once a war called the cataclysm of the cariner the cataclysm in cairnria cainria where the gods and celestia destroyed an entire nation because they went against the heavenly principles i would go back and look up the pronunciation of cain ria but um that entire nation was destroyed so what are they gonna do about it anyway the way the whole cataclysm thing was handled by celestia seemed to have left the archons with a bitter taste in their mouths there's a line in one of zhang lee's story arcs where he has this to say about the heavenly principles and how his values may have been eroded over the millennia people abandon and surrender the things they love to pursue the right path perhaps this is the erosion imposed on me by the natural order of this world in the original chinese he says it's translated here as the natural order of this world and that's a valid translation but it's the same word that's translated elsewhere as heavenly principles other valid translations being the divine or destiny in other words while celestia may well be the world of the divine it's less a realm of all that's good and loving and holy and more a realm of inevitable destiny zhong li knows this he's experienced the erosion of his personality and of his friends personalities over time and in this cutscene he outright says that he believes that this erosion is imposed on him by the heavenly principles all of this would imply that when you use a gnosis the connection goes both ways sure the gnosis made zhang li more powerful and able to produce more but it's also changed who he is as a person if that's what he believes then it starts to make a lot more sense why someone like zhang li would want to sever their connection with the realm of heavenly principles it could be why he's giving up his gnosis to zariza willingly and also the reason why the ryden shogun would have severed her connection to celestia as well they want to break from destiny they want to live their own lives and celestia isn't happy about giving up control so when we're told that the zareza is gearing up for a rebellion against the divine that is what she's planning on fighting against she's battling the same forces that sealed the player character away in a nightmare cube for 500 years she's battling the same forces that eroded zhong li the same forces that the ryden shogun intentionally cut herself off from long ago and the same forces that wiped an entire nation from the map even venti who didn't go out of his way to give up his gnosis seems pretty undisturbed by losing it he reacts by going to hang out under a tree the wind amongst the branches is good i love the way it smells you just got robbed of your godlike powers and that's the first thing you have to say i know venti's whole thing is being carefree but he really doesn't seem like someone who sees losing his gnosis is a huge problem you think he'd be doing more to try and get it back you know clearly the archons of tavat do not care for the divine in fact they seem somewhat opposed to it giving syriza their gnosis is essentially a win-win for them by giving it up they sever their connection with celestia something which erodes their personality in exchange for power which it turns out they don't even need plus if zariza is successful in taking down the divine these heavenly principles then arkhan don't have to be worried about them coming down and ending humanity the people that they've sworn to protect and have actually grown quite fond of why else would zhong li fake his own death just so he can hang out with mortals we know that out of the seven major regions zorritz's is gonna be the last one that we visit in the main storyline so it would make a ton of sense if the climax of the story was some epic team-up event where zaritsa with all seven gnosis in hand finally leads her rebellion against the divine with all the other regions of tavat supporting her allowing the residents to finally live in peace without the fear of divine intervention at first glance it might seem like this is a story all about a super villain trying to acquire seven artifacts just to become the most powerful but i think that zaritza might end up proven to be gentian impact's biggest and most important hero but hey thanks again to gentian impact for sponsoring this video this is the second time that we've jumped headfirst into lore of the franchise and it is not disappointed plus with the new 2.5 update release they've added not one but three new events so there's even more lore now available at your fingertips you bet i'm gonna be playing that after i'm done recording the episode i'm excited to see how i can fit the electrifying yai miko into my roster i've been told that her playstyle is shockingly good so if what we've theorized about today is interesting to you or you know you just want a aaa quality game for the low low price of zero dollars then head on down to the description below and click the link to download the game on the device of your choice to start your adventure and if you use the code oh this is a big code i'm gonna read out but i'm also gonna put it down in the description so you can just copy and paste it cause i like that they didn't make this a real word oh sorry this is delightful to me zspdksc3v8v5 rolls off the tongue you can get your hands on 60 of the game's premium currency prima gems clearly they don't want to be given away too much more after our last theory you'll also get five times the amount of adventurers experience using the code so here it is again it's a mouthful but don't worry i'm putting it down in the description so you can just copy and paste but for all of you who have a instant memory for this sort of stuff zspdk sc3v8v5 easy as that just remember you'll need to be at least level 10 to redeem the code so get to saving that world people i'll see you all in the final battle against the divine or not in case that's not the story that they're planning although never hurts to be prepared because you know what it is just a theory after all a game theory thanks for watching and hey if you haven't already why not check out our previous theory about zhong li and how he's doomed the entirety of tavat into an economic crisis promise it is much more entertaining than it sounds so check that one out or you know make your gnosis power the power of subscription it's got very short cooldowns thanks again everyone and i'll see you all next week

Channel: The Game Theorists

Views: 1,901,778

Keywords: genshin impact, genshin impact ost, genshin impact characters, Tsaritsa, signora, Snezhnaya, celestia, genshin impact update, genshin impact 2.5, genshin impact v2.5, genshin impact 2.5 update, Zhongli, Zhongli genshin impact, genshin impact childe, genshin impact music, genshin impact comic, genshin impact meme, genshin impact gameplay, genshin impact trailer, game theory, game theorists, matpat, game theory genshin impact, genshin impact theory, genshin impact game

Id: D6adSwNj868

Length: 16min 1sec (961 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 24 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/RemRem170]

This theory has been a theory in the fandom for a long time tho….

[u/follow-meme2]

I thought it was going to be about how yae miko was the real villain of inazuma but no just a rather common theory of the tsaritsa.

Of course she'll be misunderstood and good in her own way. We can't compete the playable archon set if we blow one up. We just have to wait 6 more years before that part.

Also not mentioning what the tsaritsa is the goddess of really shows no lore digging was done. Poor on you for not playing the God of love card as reason for ger actions.

[u/Due_Emu_1683]

Just saw it iwas a great video and i remember the code lol