The Problem With New Characters in Genshin Impact

a point that I make very often about ki's characters is that for all the effort put into them from their designs to backgrounds to voicing to animations and such it's a shame there's no meaningful advancements being made to the game's combat to test their limits a few weeks ago I watched a video from East on air in which he brilliantly put into words how many of us feel about the game I was planning to make a video like this myself but with how comprehensive he was with everything I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to write my video without making it come off as blatant plagiarism that's how good it was and I highly recommend you guys check it out so after mulling it over event I remember the few comments I get every now and then where I talk about how there's no new content being released for ginin in the realm of combat usually those comments go along the lines of the characters are the new combat content suggesting that the way you can still enjoy combat in this game is by using different characters instead of the same ones you always use that prompted me to make this video instead our new characters pointless engageing impact should you even pull for new characters if you already have an established roster that can handle every scenario we'll be addressing all that and more today the present condition with now is that it's thriving in one aspect while stagnating in another this should not come as a surprise to any of you in the realm of exploration and story content I'd say the game is never been better if you play it exclusively for the open world and the plot no not that kind of plot the actual plot then you've been eating real good the past couple of years this category is often referred to as the Casual player base if you're playing genin for its fluid mechanics gameplay premise and combat elements things have not been all that great in fact with the exception of a new playable element absolutely nothing has changed about the game from a foundational standpoint it's exactly the same now as it was back in 2020 when it first came out this category is referred to as the quote unquote hardcore player base now the two aren't mutually exclusive from each other explores main TR progression while combat enthusiasts May enrich themselves narratively for a spell at the moment though that is the arrangement the genian player base finds itself in the one aspect Bridging the two factions together is characters the Lynch pin of genian impact as it is for other gachas for casual players it's fun to try different play Styles as you take on the Overworld content in addition to being able to experience the gameplay of a character you spent a lot of time interacting with for hardcore players more characters means more advancements in the metag game pushing the limits on what's possible to achieve and what strategies you can come up with to explode the entire screen naturally it makes a lot of sense for ho to invest resources and development time into this system as it completes players of both demographics But ultimately it's the two-way street the means of undertaking and completing content is irrelevant if the content itself doesn't reciprocate the same progress the scope of combat has not expanded in the slightest we have new enemies and sometimes a new gameplay mechanic or gimmick but the scope of a version 4 character is identical to the scope of a version one character begging the question are new units pointless on a pragmatic level the short answer is yes but of course I'll be elaborating to First address the notion of new characters being the new content for the game full acknowledgement that is correct at least superficially it's been empirically established at this point that ganshin impacts development model is Formula 8 you can learn more about that by watching East on A's video which I cannot stress enough please go watch this video it's really good it's a safe approach to make for a title of this size with some so many different types of players all playing the same game ambitious changes and expansions run the risk of causing more discontentment than Satisfaction by adhering to the status qu it at least ensures a stable timeline of service one way you can experiment is through the characters poo May hesitate on doing anything drastically gent impact but they do enjoy trying new things for characters even if those attempts fail spectacularly from time to time despite the game having few mediums of expression the way classes in MMOs give you 50 million skills and abilities seeing units like Navia shenyun wander and net Lino and whatnot who despite still only having an attack skill burst into two passive talents feel so different from each other is quite a pleasant surprise so yes characters are forms of content in and of themselves but it still doesn't change the fact that if the game itself doesn't evolve all that Innovation is meaningless to explain where I'm coming from let's use Pokémon as an example I understand I mention Pokémon a lot on this channel and some of you might be sick of it but I find the resemblance and contrast very interesting even though they're not of the same exact genre the influential factors driving hype and excitement behind the new main series title is that you get a whole new region and most importantly a whole new generation of Pokémon with new abilities new attacks and new experiences at least you hope in recent years though while Pokémon is still a household franchise acquiring new fans on a daily basis for longtime fans the childhood Nostalgia honeymoon pH has one its course with many voicing their complaints about how new games are not quite as magical or inventive as old ones admittedly a lot of this could be attributed to higher standards than before and no longer having that child Mike Wonder however what contributes to veteran player fatigue towards the Pokémon franchise is that the experience is almost exactly the same you have new Pokémon and a new region but the game has fundamentally remained unchanged it's the same experience from start to finish the same progression same grind same structure and everything Nintendo has made efforts to expand on the Pokémon experience in recent versions though they added new combat gimmicks like Mega Evolution zimus gigantamax and stuff and then with sword and shield they introduced the wild area then in scarlet and violet they added more open world elements with mixed reception from the player base gion impact is following a similar trend of waning interest only they don't release new versions they build off an existing one which is worse every so often they release a new region with a new story line and a new roster of characters they might also introduce a new gameplay mechanic here and there like how they did with djo and suo and how they added the oia and Numa Dy in flain along with proper underwater exploration for the first time and while that's all well and good the core gameplay experience feels almost exactly the same dayto day now than it was back then because from a combat and progression standpoint it is new units do allow for new interactions and exploration but no matter how much you switch out the toppings or flavor of ice cream it's still ice cream you can only eat so much of it before you get sick of it and want to try something else to clarify there's nothing wrong with wanting to stick to a set formula and resist change countless times you hear player bases moan and grown about how the old days are so much better and how they want an old school RuneScape or wild classic for everything the reason they feel this way is because there's a clear difference between the game and the present day and the game several years ago you don't hear anyone complain about wanting an old school gameplay because nothing changed 4 years later later players always get hyped up whenever a new unit releases but that excitement goes away after all about a week when they realize it's the same experience as it was for the units they pulled before that and the units they pulled before that again it's the ice cream analogy new flavor of ice cream but you already have a lifetime supply of ice cream in the freezer there needs to be a new craving for the game so to speak have you noticed that all the five stars received in version 4 so far are measurably stronger on average than in past versions Lenny nolet rley finina Navia shun shot arino not a single Miss and yes that does include myle and shii not much attention was given to either of them but gameplay-wise they're both highly competitive units only held back by Gio and cryo not their own respective kits and yet despite how good version Four's characters are compared to version 3 and 2 players don't feel the same compulsion or enthusiasm to go after them I do remember there was mention of Shen Yun Banner in 4.4 breaking records of the highest amount of sales on the first day despite there being a supposed push for a boycott at the time but one it's come to my attention that ginin lab is not a trustworthy Cy for Banner sales two two I'm willing to buy money that Nita contributed a ton and three First Day sales are never indicative of the whole story it's not how you start it's how you finish metrics aside when you look at discussion for new characters with the exception of nalet and possibly finina the reception for almost every five star from Fontaine onward has thus far been they're good but ultimately skippable objectively this applies to the majority of five stars I'd be hard pressed to call anyone a must pole apart from at most three with genin's veteran players having more than enough characters and teams to take on a five-party spiral or more unless they're completely metod def finding there's no reason to wail for new units why would they the game's combat has not changed in years it doesn't matter if for the sake of argument arino and Linny are stronger than utal and duuk when the game can still more than easily be cleared with your existing units they might offer a novel experience on doing so but there's not a single incentive to outside of personal attachment the absence of power creeping genin is good for your bottom line as you don't have to throw hundreds of dollars at the game on a monthly basis the way you're pressured to another Gess but refusing to expand on the game's combat whatsoever is hurting not just player retention but character reception I'm not even talking about endgame content at this point it's a question of the combat Itself by extension the game's progression calling back to Pokémon for a moment even though I said earlier that new generations aren't as appealing due to the experience being mostly the same on a macro skill one reason it games have such a strong replayability factor is the micro skill demonstrated by the ability to reset your progression you can start a new game and try things again possibly in a different way in recent years challenge runs like nuz loocking have become quite popular it forces you to try new Pokémon that otherwise you would not have used moreover you get to experience a fulls scale adventure with that new team even if the roads when You' taken before would building a new team be nearly as gratifying if you didn't at the end of the game probably not characters need to serve our purpose why is Kasa so wi the used and P for because he facilitates more teams than I can even count why is Yellen so popular because she's a very comfortable fit into any team that needs hro and makes use of normal attacks also she can do a lot of damage herself why is Nita so popular she's single-handed ly breaks any suance of difficulty in the game why is D so popular he single-handedly breaks any suance of difficulty in the game why is noet so popular he single-handedly breaks any Summits of difficulty in the game okay maybe there's a recurring theme here but you get what I mean new characters are pointless because they don't serve a purpose the game doesn't have anything in place that at the end point of our progression after you've already gone through the entirety of game Ching impact compels you to think that you need this unit to enhance your progression because there is no progression left the only thing you can do with them is go back and rematch ball es or dungeons you've already cleared before with other teams but that experience does not and will not ever be the same as back when you took them on the first time since you already have an established team you could take it upon yourself to make a brand new account and start fresh but unlike Pokémon units are not free you have to pull for them you can't wake up one day and say I'm going to make a brand new account in uzat and get started he may not even be available and do you really want to spend hundreds of dollars every time you do this gen is not a playthrough based game it's an endless progression games have massive expansions of new major systems added every so often because the freshness of the gameplay of existing characters while at the same time encouraging players to go for brand new units who are designed with the expansion or system in mind rather than getting retrofitted by them I used to play Final Fantasy braxus back in the day and when I first started the max Rarity for units was six stars base five star units can be promoted to six and get new attacks and abilities a couple years into the game they implemented Seven Star allowing units to become even stronger while several sixstars could promote to sevenstar they also made new units appealing on account of them being intentionally built to run that new level of power a few more years later they released Neo Visions effectively eight star Rarity once more five star units were retroactively buffed to be able to ascend to Neo Vision but they also released characters who were Neo Visions right from the start on top of their base Rarity being Neo Vision instead of five star they also gained access to a form known as Brave shift essentially letting you shift from one play style to another players had a huge incentive to pull for base andv units because they had something you could not obtain in older characters and naturally the game's content skills and difficulty to account for these new expansions and power level poo does a fantastic job doing what they can with the limited scope of character design but the game itself is still the same the way you build a character is the same the way you figure out how to use them and what to use them on is the same unless the character in question is so disrespectfully overpowered the way net was there will not be as much of a reason to B for new units because all bases at this point have been covered Dental was so refreshing for the game since it was a new element regardless of if you were awale or free to playay everyone was committed to building up their dento rosters making units like ya Yao tigadi and whatnot very despite objectively being nowhere close to top tier but they didn't have to be they were part of something nothing before that could emulate am I saying we need a new element every version no I mean it would be interesting Dean's Leaf doesn't appear to have any elements belonging to the seven a couple years ago cat with blue hat made a video of the arising more elements that could be implemented there are many ways to incentivize pulling for new units you can go down the conventional power creep route where old units are just not strong enough to keep up with the meta forcing players to go for the new ones who are strong enough or you can go the feature G rout where say you introduce playable delusions so new units can switch between two elements you can add a character with two Elemental skills maybe a stance change in a similar fashion to FAS but affecting the entire kit Beyond characters you can also of course for the 10th time add new game modes hongkai starl introduces new game modes because they understand if we only had memory of chaos there would be zero reason to pull for anyone who wasn't better than the best if ginin added a survival game mode to where the goal was to stay alive for as long as you could then units of great sustainability would take precedence over damage if they release dungeons that force you to bring units only of a certain weapon type like only sword and bow users then you might feel more compelled to pull for a high tier or even a mintier bow user since they're really good at the bow dungeon if genin doesn't evolve its combat character or progression elements on a systematic level this will only continue to exacerbate Nance naaya and whatever areas that come after there will come a time where there will be no practical reason to go for new characters f f over meta will always be in effect but if you're approaching this in regards to what will be an improvement to your account if you already for instance Ben shling and a main DPS whether Hut Linny or arino you basically will never need a new pyro character ever again since the game doesn't make you have to get one I swear every time I make a video like this it frustrates me to help there is so much potential you can do at gin's combat that likely takes far less effort and where with all than giant Overworld expansions which only makes them more confounding why they don't do it if they want new characters to be worth pulling for the game has to evolve I'm not talking about a new gimmick I'm talking about changing the game to where it's conspicuously different from what it was back in 2020 what do you guys think do you agree that new characters are pointless or do you think there is still merit behind pulling for someone even if you have plenty of characters of the element already feel free to share in the comments for now if you enjoy the video it would be great if you could leave a like And subscribe don't forget to follow me on Twitter at VSM join my Discord server and check out my other ging discussions if you haven't yet but until next time thanks so much for watching and I look forward to seeing you again soon take care [Music]

Channel: Vars II

Views: 141,162

Keywords: genshin, genshin impact, vars genshin impact, genshin why no one plays, genshin impact gameplay, genshin discussion, genshin impact analysis, mihoyo, hoyoverse, genshin arlecchino, genshin sigewinne, genshin clorinde, genshin new characters, genshin problems, genshin impact dying, genshin impact why no one plays, genshin impact 5.0, genshin impact natlan, genshin impact new characters, genshin impact don't play, genshin 4.6, genshin 4.7

Id: 4L1PA3uuVnw

Length: 14min 24sec (864 seconds)

Published: Sat May 18 2024