[ ! ] Take with a grain of salt. This video is mainly to experiment with a new style, not to be the most accurate, correct, or objective piece of media. This is my opinion.
Video inspired by THIS ONE. Very cool, check it out. Characters are integral to fictional stuff. I mean, Danganronpa needs them, even the Earth itself needs them. Have you seen that one video about the Earth’s worldbuilding?- anyway, one game that ESPECIALLY needs them is Genshin Impact. It’s kinda the whole appeal of both the story AND gameplay. Even visuals. Look at the cosplayers- now, because of how important characters are to Genshin, you’d expect them to be great, right? Well- they are! …kinda. Let’s discuss HOW to make a character first. It’ll help for later. Also, SUBSCRIBE. I’m back from my hiatus and wanna experiment. If you like experiments, me, or even youtube as a whole, subscribe. Please.
(ignore) This video covers Anemo, Geo, Electro, Dendro, Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, Abyss, Light, Aether, Lumine, Traveler, Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontaine, Natlan, Snezhnaya, Khaenr’iah, Venti, Barbatos, Zhongli, Hu Tao, Morax, Baal, Raiden Shogun, Raiden Ei, Raiden Makoto, Lesser Lord Kusanali, Nahida, Enkanomiya, Furina, Focalors, Neuvillette, Genshin, Impact, Genshin Impact, Teyvat, Primogems, Freemogems, Archons, Scaramouche, Tartaglia, Yae Miko, Childe, Wanderer, Ajax, La Signora, Paimon, Arlecchino, The Knave, Chenyu Vale, Remuria, Dottore, Simulanka
Chapters:
Intro 0:00
How to Make a Character 0:37
The Problem – Stereotypes & Lack of Variety 03:47
The Good 6:03
The Problem – Nuance 9:17
The Fix & Conclusion 10:42
Footage from:
1.0 Cutscenes
1.1 Cutscenes
1.2 Cutscenes
2.0 Cutscenes
2.1 Cutscenes
2.2 Cutscenes
3.0 Cutscenes
3.1 Cutscenes
3.2 Cutscenes
3.3 Cutscenes
4.0 Cutscenes
4.1 Cutscenes
4.2 Cutscenes
4.6 Cutscenes
La Vaguelette
Zhongli Story Teaser
Zhongli Demo
Venti Story Teaser
Venti Character Teaser
Raiden Story Teaser
Nahida Demo
Nahida Character Teaser
The “Divine” Will
Lantern Rite Short
Raiden Demo
“The Final Feast” Teaser Trailer
Signora Fanmade Story Teaser
Wanderer Demo
A Winter Night’s Lazzo
Baizhu Story Teaser
Kinich Demo
Alhaitham Demo
Mika Demo
Furina Demo
Jane Doe Demo
Billy the Kid Demo
1.0 Trailer
1.2 Trailer
2.4 Trailer
2.5 Trailer
2.6 Trailer
3.0 Trailer
3.1 Trailer
4.4 Trailer
4.6 Trailer
Sumeru Act V
Inversion of Genesis
Simulanka Cutscenes
4.8 Trailer
3.8 Trailer
2.8 Trailer
https://youtu.be/1xI9pH1LhdY?si=kf_WPUXYG0fivE9W
https://youtu.be/z6wGQ8FzgY0?si=JOveThQeU1mCVMLO
https://youtu.be/fjNIAUEAxq8?si=RulBGQLzmnUmb7Sk
Music from
Terraria Original Soundtrack
Undertale Original Soundtrack
Deltarune Chapter 1 Original Soundtrack
Deltarune Chapter 2 Original Soundtrack
Minecraft OST – Nether Update
Minecraft OST – Caves & Cliffs Update
Undertale Yellow Selects
Epic SAC: ImJustACode
Follow my ig! @its.big.tt
source
(PLEASE READ THIS & REPLIES BEFORE COMMENTING)
[ ! ] Take with a grain of salt. This video is mainly to experiment with a new style, not to be the most accurate, correct, or objective piece of media. This is my opinion, and more of a matter of expression than something I believe to be undeniably factual.
I think you are the ine who oversimplifies the characters, at least to some degree. Yeah in a huge roster of characters, tropes and personality traits are there to draw attention ti the character and give you a first idea of who they are, but if you think they lack character depth and individuality, i think you are not listening to them enough. And no i don't mean that they are diffrent just because of the reasons why they are like they are. Two examples would be sethos and itto and yelan and yae miko. Just like in reality people with many overlapping personality traits can still have very different personalities. That's something you can't easily explain because it's more complex than just naming tropes and traits. I love yae miko but can't stand yelan and thats not because of their design because I liked before she opened her mouth. I think sethos and itto can be better put into words. Both are "the funny extrovert in class" but while ittos character plays a lot around his poser ego combined with childishness, sethos is more gossipy. And while itto stays this way even in serious moments to an extent, sethos can be far more serious if needed.
Yes some characters serve very similar tropes and especially in the times of mondstadt to inazuma the overworked girl was really getting tiring and is worth getting criticised. I just think there are many very interesting, fun and distinguishable characters in the game and breaking them done to tropes and a few traits and then criticising there are not more than that besides from lore, doesn't do them justice
As someone who absolutely loves Evil characters (like Koyanskaya from FGO, and it's not only me being down bad for her) I strongly agree that Hoyo is afraid of showing good characters negatively. There is more portraying negative characters in a good light (Arlecchino, Childe and Scaramouche being nice examples) I still want more. I want Evil characters that have some positive traits to hold onto, and Good characters having visible flaws that make them more like people.
I really don't understand the issue with Raiden that you and a lot of people have.
She's the PERFECT written example of what happens when someone that is not meant nor trained/taught for a role gets FORCED into said role without warning, then add a massive mountain of trauma and NO support network because their absence is the source for said trauma to process that grief and trauma. OBVIOUSLY Raiden was gonna get wonky in the head, but throughout ALL of your interactions with her, you immediately notice that Ei (not the puppet) is actually a fairly soft and empathetic person. She's just so stuck in her own head she's lost herself with everyone suffering as a consequence (which, by the way, only REALLY started when the Fatui were screwing around with their corruption of the Tri-Commission. Prior to that everything was mostly fine). The end of her first story quest (after the 'date' which was A GOOD PART to make her reconnect with the human world) shows that she's decisive but fair, not cruel. The main issue with Raiden's writing is that the background for the severity of her trauma is hidden in artifact, weapon and readables lore. For example, Ei was the one that objected to Yae Miko wanting to destroy Scaramouche just after his 'birth' as a puppet because Ei didn't want to force such a stressful position as Archon to someone as in touch with their emotions as Scaramouche. She's always been kind and sweet but you need to LOOK for it instead of it being shoved in your face.
5:20 they have different personalities? Why is Lynette and Layla here? I don’t understand how you can’t see the differences between them
your opinion is shit. stop cooking.
terraria
You lost me the moment you said Yae Miko and Yelan have the same personality lol
Two characters can fall to the same archetype but still be different characters. Amber and Yoimiya, two energetic girls who befriend the player very quick. One is a responsible law-abiding knight who nonetheless has that impulsive nature, while Yoimiya is more carefree and works well with kids because she has that childish side to her, and you see her more responsible side when things get serious. Another example, Xiao and Scaramouche, two angsty short kings who avoid making meaningful connections in fear of losing someone close again, but one is a tsundere who tries to protect his nation and has a soft spot for the traveler, one of the only people who even remotely understand what he's been through and the other doesn't know who he is and his experiences turned him to evil instead.
Tropes and archetypes are a good way to give someone a base idea of a character, a first impression that can then be expanded upon. Given that not every character is in the main story, Genshin does a really good job of making the characters varied in personality, even within the same archetype. It's a necessary literary shortcut when you have like a gajillion characters and not all of them will be featured in the main storyline
I don't agree with basically anything after the intro, starting with the reasons why someone completes the story quests. Your understanding of the game is incredibly incomplete if you not only aren't doing those quests, but take the stance that those stated in the video are the only reasons to do them, because it reflects on what you do and do not see about the game.
To draw an analogy, it would be like saying that the lore and worldbuilding of Genshin feels incredibly incomplete, random, and like the writers just pull things out of thin air because you not only skip the books and item descriptions, but mash the button to skip the quests as fast as possible *when that is where the lore and worldbuilding occurs*. People who aren't interested have the prerogative to skip it, but then they can't turn around and say it isn't there.
In my opinion, you are right but it's not their fault, it simply has to be done because it a gacha game
Characters with overtly bad traits likely tend to have way less sales appeal so gacha games avoid it because they only have a 3 week window to earn that gacha money from customers so anything that makes the customer uncomfortable is a no-go.
Because the characters are treated like products in a gacha game this is their sad reality as they have to be "marketable".
Even in cases like scaramouche who's a villain, he's bent into a tragic victim and no longer does anymore atrocities by the time he becomes playable. He's even kind of comedic now almost being more like a tsundere type.
(LONG essay ahead)
I do agree with you, for the most part. I at least think characters like Nilou, Ayaka, and- for a male version- Kazuha are big examples of what you're criticizing (though I am biased- these are my least favorite in all of Genshin because I find them insufferably boring.)
While there may be an attemp to round out a character with conflicts and goals, they can still be poorly handled if they're not presented right OR if you complete their goals too soon. I personally don't find these 3 as impactful because after they all played their role in the Archon Quests, they've just been left with…Being nice.
They don't have conflict among the playable characters or NPCS that needs to be resolved, they're always treated positively, the people who do oppose them are painted as wrong for doing so, and the flaws they do have are overshadowed/told but not shown/conquered too easily.
I specify "Archon Quest" because it's these quests where these 3 have the most action and involvement. I actually used to like Nilou during the AQ. And Kazuha's moment against Ei was cool to see.
I still think Ayaka was one of the worst parts abour Inazuma's AQ. BUT at least it was clear Hoyo was trying to make her a character.
But afterward, their subsequent appearances in other quests have been so…Boring. All their conflict was resolved in the AQ, and Hoyo refuses to give them more than that. So instead we have stuff like Ayaka making friends and being told she's soooo good at things like acting, Kazuha getting complimented left and right for the sword block, and nonstop shoving in our face how amazing Nilou is at dancing.
And what's worse is that the 3 of them CAN have conflicts and flaws worth exploring in future content.
I think Ayaka is a big case of having flaws that are "told" and not "shown." Plus, the presentation of her struggles don't match the supposed impact, in my opinion. So why not have quests that lean more toward her political position? She was put into a position of power without much of a choice, so why not explore (with way more depth) why this position is such a burden to her. Let's see this supposed contrast between Politican Ayaka VS "Normal" Ayaka in an actual conflict. Let's see this supposed "mask" she wears.
And Kazuha can potentially have conflict with Wanderer (I BEG people to not make this point about shipping.) I want Wanderer to make amends for what he did to Kazuha's family. And honestly- I want Kazuha to not forgive him. I want to see Kazuha be flawed and irrational- I want him ANGRY or RESENTFUL. Wanderer ruined his family. This may be the most likely, but I really want Hoyo to show an uglier side to Kazuha somehow.
Finally, Nilou could have more conflict with the Akademiya. Not another "crusty old Akademita nerd wants to shut down the theater" plot. God no. But Nilou clashing with the other characters who are strongly affiliated with the Akademiya like Cyno or Alhaithem. I want to see that "ART vs STEM" Character dynamic happen where they learn to understand one another. That way we can see Nilou's shortcomings like how she may not be gifted as the Akademiya students and how she may not completely understand how they think. And no matter how hard she tries, she may never understand them. The "Art VS Akademiya" theme of Nilou was the most interesting thing about her and it was dumped after the AQ- I want to see it brought back and done better.
Of course this is all subjective. And the fandom will surely have my head for insinuiting some of the most popular charcters in Genshin aren't Hoyo's best.
For the record, my #1 is Mona because I think she's very well rounded. She's prideful and she has the intelligence and skill to back up the pride. But she is not infallible and she's not always right. She's mature enough to take care of herself, but will let her ego go for those she cares about (eg. Fischl). And her relationship with B is so all over the place that it's both hilarious and kind of concerning. And there's so many mysteries about her that are unresolved and leave room for further growth.
Best of all, everything I said about her can be found in actual game and event content. Not behind her profile.
Anyway- apologize for the long essay. Thank you if you actually read it. I love Genshin but I am extremely critical of how it handles characters. But Lord knows that the fandom will not allow you to have negative opinions about the 3 I mentioned.
You should do some character quests. No I don't believe every character is a gold mine in a gacha game there are gonna be specific golden child's which is a VERY salient point you brought up. I think that's why despite myself I still catch myself liking Albedo. Problem is a good chunk of his build up is done through events so any new comer to genshin would glance at him for a second at most. I dont blame them for that though they have no access to one of the other parts of this theoretical character design pyramid you proposed in the video characterization, lore. A character story quest list in order of quality is definitely needed to filter through the junk. Even my favorite characters get done dirty so there are going to be characters I dont even like that did better in this field. In a game with so many characters/ backgrounds it is SO hard to filter through and makes the golden child's position more highlighted. Its so odd in a game that is very colorful with exaggerated colors popping out on screen, in the outfits that a large majority of it doesn't matter as they get overshadowed (some more gracefully than others). For example the overworked wives of genshin impact will struggle to hold attention in the presence of other characters.
7:10 this is where I tell you to do hangouts, Layla is sleepy because she’s hard on herself and extremely burnt out from studying and having to meet people’s expectations while also being criticised by her classmates for saying she can’t complete her work (which she thinks is true because she’s unaware of the other personality) while having most of them done by said other personality in my opinion she’s one of the realistic characters.
Meanwhile sayu is because of her insecurities, she sleeps in hope she grows taller to fit into a proper ninja so she does it on purpose while Layla accidentally does it because of pressure (by it I mean sleeping and taking a lot of breaks)
Layla shows a different side of the academiya, most characters we saw who studied there were just smart ass bookworms who could probably handle pressure, she’s a realistic character and good representation for how pressure and high expectations can lead to poor mental state especially in younger people.
Sayu shows how insecurities can cause someone to unintentionally harm themselves and trying their hardest to become better instead of not being insecure and it also shows in her hangout that just because someone has a good position (in this case the shrine maiden) doesn’t mean they’re good people because in her hangout we can see how the maiden yells, hits and humiliated sayu.
I love Fischl ngl
You know there's some irony in people taking what you're saying at face value because they think you're taking something at face value…
Anyway you're right, the most interesting characters in the game are the ones that aren't lawfully good, or at least have clear flaws.
Heck even Traveler is more interesting to me than majority of the cast. Listen I know they're the MC and get the whole game to grow but still.
I don't understand why people call Zhongli serious or even cold. It's a complete fanon. He's not serious at all, rather calm and awkward (and even silly). He smiles and laughs a lot (okay, not a lot, but according to his mood). His hobby is to chat for a long time about useless facts that seem funny to him. And this is clear even without additional lore, it is literally in AQ. I think he's a character like Uncle Iroh – That is, a wise elder who has already made his mistakes and successes, and now he's just a chill. A Alhaitham and Neuvillete also have their own nuances, but I think it's about the way of presentation from hoyo. Fans of the character will find out everything about the character by finding them in detail, which is not good, not bad I do not know.
Going off the music, I am also waiting for the next episode of Delta Rune. Anyways, I feel like it's nearly impossible and might actually be a negative to give every character truly unique traits/personalities or time to develop. Particularly because the Devs have to keep making new characters.
You gotta sell us an Ayaka/Nilou type every region for example. And if you go more in depth with those types like say with how FF is fleshed out in HSR, you run the risk of splitting the playerbase, 'cuz people who like those characters will appreciate the screentime and people who hate those characters just feel alienated when it's shoved into the main story like Ayaka and Yoimiya's Story Quests being forced into the Inazuma AQ. I think that's also part of the reason why you get almost nothing for most characters in the main story, and even in their goddamn story quests, the characters are often second fiddles to some NPCs.
The Devs seem less inclined to go too far with any given character because they're trying to appeal to as many people as possible without doing too much to cause a division. On paper, that's lazy, when you expect a character design and tropey personality to hard carry. In reality, that's just being efficient with these kind of games and it's proven time and again to work. Kinich is another Xiao that similarly doesn't have much going on besides personal suffering, but most people already love him anyways for his aesthetic, VA, whatever have you.
The bottom line is, most people are fine with shallow character writing and can make do with other aspects. You don't really need to make everyone 10/10s in the character development and character progression departments. God knows most FGO players didn't actually care about how well written Zenobia was when she spiked sales on her only rate up to date during a Halloween event banner, despite being a 4* that was going to be added to the general pool.
I think Genshin's more or less fine as it is for character writing, including keeping character lore or development in Story Quests, Hangouts, or even Events in some cases. The issue instead is the accessibility of those Events. You can touch character stories and hangouts whenever they unlock and you feel like it. But your only option for Event content is like. Youtube. That shit sucks.
RANDOM IDIOT ON THE INTERNET RABMLING ABOUT HER FAVORITE CHARACTERS AND WHY PEOPLE LOVE AND DEFEND CERTAIN CHARACTERS:
I actually agree with your comment on all the interesting characters being ones that aren't just shown in a positive light. Here are some of my favorite characters (from both genshin and hsr) and why I like them:
Hu Tao: She's silly, kooky, insane, and overall a menace.
Xingqiu: Book loving prankster who's prolly gay
Venti: Silly drunk guy who may or may not be putting on an act and is actually evil or smth idk…
Collei: Sweet cotten candy with WAY too much angst (she reminds me of my old oc's from when I was younger and I also really like her design) (IM SO MAD THAT HER PAST WASNT EVER REALLY BROUGH UP OR SHOWN IN GAME MAN)
Klee: Cute and bombs
Yoimiya: She's silly, she probably likes arson, she's friends with klee, she likes fireworks, (she kinda has no real personality but thats ok I still love her <3)
Mualani: She got that vbux, she's silly, she has a shark (I like sharks), she's fun, (shes kinda a copy paste of Yoimiyas personality tbh..)
Sparkle: Shes insane (if you know anything about murder drones and have looked at my pfp you should realize the pattern by now), sadistic, her trailer feels like a vocaloid music video, I LOVE her design, I LOVE her trailer, she's insane, she's insane, she's cute, she's insane, she had a gun in her trailer, and she's insane. Also her trailer is amazing.
Anyways, if you look at many of these characters, you'll probably notice that many of them share similar traits. I noticed that my favorite characters were mostly ones I relate to (silly, kooky, seems a bit insane on the outside, might be insane on the inside.) Many people also like characters they can relate too, and they can also start to identify with that character. (Not as in they think they are the character, more like they simply feel a bit like that character because they relate to them.) So, when someone insults that character, they feel as if they themselves are being attacked. Or they just think the character is hot and want to defend their simping choices.
anyways if you finished this uhhh heres a cookie 🍪have a good day! (Hope I didn't make it owrse)
Layla is always sleepy because of her DID which makes her split personality wakes up and does things whenerver she tries to sleep or has nervous breakdowns.
Sayu is always trying to sleep because somebody told her that she's shorter than her friends because she doesn't sleep enough. And she's pretty insecure about her height.
This entire video is like me reviewing a restaurant WITHOUT ever stepping foot in it 😵💫😅
ngl on one hand I feel like some of this video suffers because you don't know enough about a character, like the reason for layla's sleepiness (which, she already has a bare minimum excuse for being a student let's be real)
on the other hand… yeah I don't like doing hangouts either
i agree wholeheartedly with everything in this video! it is really frustrating to see how well they can write certain characters while leaving 80% of the cast just blatantly boring and single note. ive always had a hard time articulating it so im glad you were able to compile it all so well. i think the situation is on a slow up-climb with newer updates but it still leaves much to be desired, especially for a gacha game.. i dont think its unrealistic to assume people choosing who to pull on isnt a decision purely influenced by meta, the characters likeableness plays a huge part in it too, hoyo could really benefit from being bolder with character writing!
Think i disagree with just about anything in the video. Maybe you should do quests instead of just watching them. Lynette and Ayaka the same? Really? Ayaka is calm, cute and sweet… Lynette is.. huh…deadpan humor. Actually one of the few characters that makes me laugh.
I disagree a bit with the reasons why you do a story quest. Of course, many people don't have time to do story quests, but Genshin has always been pushing you to do story quests as a part of the story experience. Back during Inazuma, with the compulsary Yoi and Aya quests, as well as all the quests that unlock a boss (Zhongli 2, Raiden 2, Nahida 2, Arle), we've always been incentivised to complete it ASAP. Now with Natlan's release its grown even more clear, with extra primogem rewards for completing story quests during the character's banner period. As well as this new version trailers also include dialogues and scenes from Story Quests for the patch, which shows that the story quest is a highlight for the new patch. Genshin as a game treats these quests as 'highly important' (for people who care about the full story it's as much as you can get to a must-do) and so will the players, regardless if the character is interesting or not. Of course, since they're permanent, its easier to just ignore it since you can do it at any time as opposed to limited events. Doing only the archon quests is only the outline, there's a lot of relevant plot points inside story quests as well, so not doing them will not give you the full scope. Hangouts and extra lore from Character Stories are the true 'extras'. Its kind of like the Archon quests are the key episodes of a show, story quests are the other episodes and the 'extras' are the wiki page with more info.
However, I definitely agree that the characters are glazed way too much. Characters such as Raiden (worst case) suffer especially from this. This is why the Fatui Hamburgers are often my favourite characters.
Characters quests exist for a reason, you know…Just sayin😅
lynette doesn't even simp for the traveller she's just a deadpan, probably autistic girl, who looks out for her family. she's one of the most refreshing characters, nowhere similar to ayaka
I was willing to hear you out until you said you don't do story quests.
People don't just do those when they really like their character. It's not an ottome dating sim.
There's literal world building lore and even gameplay aspects that are locked behind some of those. Entire weekly domains. Sure, some of them are more lightgearted than others but there's substance to be found behind all of them. Especially if you find the characters bland.
The whole video feels dishonest. You got a feel for the characters and their backstory at the surface level and are complaining about them feeling… surface level?? Ok bro
I somewhat agree that Genshin needs less characters that aren't good people, But I feel like a lot of this just boils down to " These Characters feel shallow because we don't get too deep into their character in any major stories " … well yeah, While a character becoming Interesting instantly WILL help you get into doing their Story way easier, Them being good characters from the get go is too much to ask for as well for a game with almost 90 characters, and more to come.
It's your opinion, I get that and It's fair, But in my opinion a character feeling Uninteresting until you get to know them doesn't make them a BAD character, and if we follow the logic you used in this video then Even furina is a Bad character, since for her to get any Depth whatsoever you have to do the entirety of the Fontaine archon quest, since for the first Two of those she's quite literally just your average Stuck up celebrity
Actually i feel neavulite and alheathem are different from each other I though neagulite was going to be like him ehen he was introduced but definitely not now i believe there different from eachother
You should try HSR, the characters are more mature and deeper I'd say