sorry to be genshin on main but. i seem to be the only one who didnt rly care for inazuma.

Oh man, I thought I was the only one. :O I haven't finished the story quest, but from a purely landscape perspective, I thought it seemed soooo much less lovingly crafted than Mondstat and especially Liyue. I remember exploring the latter for the first time and constantly entering areas that made my eyes pop out of my sockets from how pretty they were, but when going through Inazuma, my biggest impression was mostly how annoying the rocks were to climb, sdfjklhdfjkhdfkjdh.

(Not to say there weren't cool areas, but they seemed further and fewer between, and that's even before you consider how comparatively small it is against the other two.)

I thought the first half of inazuma's story quest was really interesting with the vision decree and seeing the fight against it. Then the latter half...I do not remember at all, only that it seemed to involve a lot more talking which did not carry the same momentum

I am biased tho cuz I like the inazuma characters a lot, aka gorou *applause *cheering *standing ovation

Okay this part about the limited-time story events! The game is becoming increasingly more difficult for someone to hop onto the game later on, especially because you'd be missing out on stuff and events aren't accessible to someone who might still just be in Mondstadt or someone who had taken a break from the game and decides to come back after a couple months. I know I struggled to catch up and it made it very discouraging.

That said, I feel like I really loved the Inazuma characters a lot and really wished the story quests could do them a little more justice. I'd also really like some limited-time story events to either be accessible if you reach that area or later, events like the Five Kasen aaa

I really enjoyed Inazuma. Which actually makes me the odd one it seems. I'm aware of what saying that makes people think of me. Trust me. I've been told. For me, Inazuma was where I started. I joined the game just a month-ish maybe two before it went live so it's the equivalent for me of "that expansion" It's the one I lived through in real-time and it made such an impression. Inazuma's content made me fall in love with the game. The characters, the stories, all of it. I loved changing the landscape as I cleared the quests. Shutting off that damn thunder that killed poor Kaeya many times over. I still cackle when I think of how it hit him during cutscenes and he'd just go flying. I cried more times as the stories really hit the feels (looking right at you tsurumi island and enkanomiya), than with either of the other two areas. Not because they were terrible, but they weren't the ones I lived through alongside the characters.

Inazuma doesn't have to be everyone's cup of tea, but for some of us, it might be. I quite enjoy my questionable taste in content. (And also pineapple on pizza...>.>...I shall not be stopped.)

This is actually a pretty common view - especially in the like 50 genshin servers I mod. In fact, the CN fans hated Raiden for like 80% of her story and were so livid about it.

They are the weakest stories in my opinion. While they did introduce a lot of aesthetic and boy oh boy it did well in that to the point I can close my eyes after playing the game and just have purple on the back of my eyelids. Story wise, I felt that they had a very strong premise, but none of the characters gripped me in their reasoning or flow. (Let's talk about the shopping trip and I think everyone on the CN side would riot, they were not happy) I genuinely think the writing was the weakest as if they left their hat somewhere in Liyue which I feel they have the best written stories.

The puzzles can be glitchy, there's not a lot of motivation to want to explore a lot of these puzzles even though I do think they really did try. I actually really liked the whole Seirai thing, However, Tsurumi- even though the story is hands down the best they wrote- just seems to be a pain in the butt for no reason. Honestly when the story for Tsurumi and the cat on Serai island are the only slightly interesting things happening, it's a weird thing. They wrote a war with literally no stakes.

And now, I don't want to blame mhy completely, since there were a few laws passed at the time in the region that caused certain issues with portraying certain events- but it isn't nearly as catchy as Zhongli being Zhongli. Honestly the only character I liked in all of Inazuma was Yoimiya cause casual arsonists shall always be fun. Itto isn't bad either, and Thoma is a good boy.

Music though? Music hands down, a banger. I love listening to the OST, especially moth lady.

I'm curious about Sumeru, but honestly as a klk shipper I hope we get more of that on the GAA islands than anything else. Anything but more Inazuma, please. I saw the new skins and I'm hoarding both of those in my tiny swamp gremlin hands.

this actually makes me feel better. all the replies saying "i agree" have made me feel better because everyone i personally know seems to have been like "you need to actually focus on 100%'ing inazuma's map because inazuma is best" and im like... (tired)

edit: this isn't to say those who DO care for inazuma are wrong! we are all very valid in our opinions, but to know it's common makes me feel less alone. 

sorry to write a lot here bc i know this is going to get long but i definitely agree with you on a lot of points (and with more than one person here). disclaimer: i'm not really a fan of a lot of genshin's storyline or character handling to begin with (i do not like the traveler storyline etc etc) but i feel like inazuma was where a lot of it derailed the most for me.

initially upon going through the storyline and everything i actually really enjoyed it. it was exciting to me and i felt that the characters were pretty interesting, i enjoyed yoimiya & ayaka's quests in between etc. however, inazuma was always a pain to navigate and the quests to clear the really hostile weather were frustrating to me especially when i was not well versed in building characters (i started playing last november!) and had trouble with fighting a lot of the enemies throughout. the fact there were So Many quests that basically couldn't be avoided if i wanted to actually try to enjoy exploring made me miserable and although it's easier to explore now, the terrain seems like it's still in beta as much of it is easy to glitch into and get stuck, and seemingly flat rock faces apparently aren't on a regular basis.

that said, i like the inazuma storyline. i enjoy it probably more than i did liyue's as a whole (primarily bc i didn't care for the zhongli fetch quest) but although it's in my opinion pretty compelling (especially compared to how miserable mondstadt's is, don't come for me i've done it four times at this point) it feels rushed and contradictory to a lot of characters voicelines / lore / some prior cutscenes especially in relation to sara which is such a bummer bc she's so interesting to me. the way the end of the quest was treated / treated her really feels so rushed and careless and throwaway lmao

it doesn't seem as lovingly crafted and the fact that i know so many people who don't like ei because they've only done the main storyline is a failure on mhy's part, especially when her most interesting lore and anything that presents her as an actual person with a personality and relatability or anything empathetic is locked behind a story quest that is in turn locked behind a certain rank.

also, i love puzzles but i really don't like the puzzles in inazuma?? they're so bad.

there are a lot of interesting things to the region but a lot of it is stuck in otherwise dredging world quests which you could easily miss the point to, etc, etc, etc

also, all of that in depth deep stuff aside a lot of the gimmick mechanics, colors, etc chosen for much of inazuma tends to make me sick (an issue i also had with the top of the chasm & enkanomiya)

+ the drops in inazuma are abhorrent and the enemies are such a pain to fight / so tedious and you have to fight So Many compared to anywhere else lol

going to add to the convo of genshin inazuma stuff.

can we talk about how bad the nobushi drops are (a set of at least 4 nobushi might, just might drop a blue handguard but rarely anything more than 2-4 handguards in general?) and how annoying it is that pretty much half the inazuma roster requires them not only for ascension but talents as well? :sigh:

sorry for the double post but

sumeru cannot come any sooner. i am hyped primarily for the lore and setting. the lush green rainforest looks spectacular. personally, whether dendro is a hit with me or not isn't a concern. if it adds to the gameplay and mixes things up a little bit, i am all for it.

edit: the newest video!!!!! the dendro reactions and things are awesome!!! love that the enemies and surrounding plants actually change based on reactions

not too excited for the p5r alchemy stars collab. might pull for akira n makoto but not hyped for the event overall. or i could just be bored of the game in general idrk ; - ;

ngl davis @ tears of themis is actually really scary. would rather the cutesy anime boy not talk about knowing what one of the ML searched about/what they're doing in general tbh