In this video, we’re doing a deep dive review on Genshin Impact and so you can decide whether it’s worth your time in 2023. We’ll explore the core gameplay loop, storytelling, RNG farming, gacha mechanics, etc.
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0:00 Introduction
0:46 TLDR / What’s New in Genshin Impact?
2:46 Is Genshin Impact F2P Friendly?
5:46 Combat: The BEST Part of the Game
9:42 Farming & Character Progression
13:18 The PAIN of Artifact Farming
16:07 Wish Upon a Star: The Gacha System
19:08 Exploration
21:27 Events and Mini-games
24:19 Endgame Controversy
26:23 Problem with Main Quest Structure
30:30 Is Genshin Impact Worth It in 2023?
A lot has changed since my initial Genshin Impact review. The new region of Sumeru was released along with an expansion to the main quest. Dendro was added to the game, creating a bunch of additional elemental reactions and combat options. There’s a new trading card game mode… and I’m no longer free-to-play.
This ended up being a much longer review than I initially planned because I cover a lot of aspects of the game in-depth. So we’re going DEEP in this video, but the TLDW version is this – Genshin Impact is a phenomenal game that I’ve grown to love over the past five months. That being said, the game also has noteworthy flaws that are worth criticizing. My goal with this review is not to convince you to play Genshin Impact, but give you a solid overview of what to expect so you can decide whether it’s something worth playing for you.
The combat in Genshin Impact is phenomenal; the upgrade and progression systems are really satisfying but also tedious and grindy at times; the story is really enjoyable but sometimes the cutscenes run way too long and it feels like I’m watching a movie instead of playing a game; there’s a ton of content for new players to enjoy, with new content being added frequently at an impressive rate; but there’s a distinct lack of challenging combat-focused endgame content for more hardcore players to enjoy. And then there’s the gacha system.
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Oh god, what the hell? Free games (not mods) are never worth a minute of your time, and who would even care about it if your audience is about rpgs with good stories and decisions, you can see it in the numbers of viewers
Well… I dunno about the farming, I have been stuck for nearly 2.6 years with very low DPS and such, only managed to do a little progress after I got Hu Tao in November 2021 and Yanfei, but aside of exploring areas I really haven't done anything after Lyue (or whatever is the name of that region) story (yup, I still haven't done the "We will be reunited" arc and beyond).
The initial overview comparing the free experience and the pay is the reason that I don't even touch anything f2p.
The financial incentives are just terribly aligned for stuff like this, developers are always going to be incentivized to design the game in a way that makes you spend money for a better experience Whereas selling a game for a flat price Incentivizes them to just make the best quality game for everyone because they're only gonna to get a flat fee regardless.
I only respect genshin for the 0ffbrand art and d0ujins. 😏👌
Full of microtransactions so that's a pass for me.
Literally explained how it's absolutely terrible for f2p players in your section about how it's "f2p friendly"
answer is: NO
A game that kind of forces me to spend money on it is a straight no lol
Funny that there was an ad for the game before the video
It's interesting to see how reward focused you seem to be when it comes to genshin. First by putting the gacha and farming aspects as the first subjects in your review (aside from the combat) over the exploration/story, when they are the main part of the game, and especially when a new player wouldn't even really start farming until completing a good chunk of that content (which, by now, would take literally hundreds of hours)… And also by your pragmatic explanation of the game's content: exploration rewards you with this, events with that, game mods with this and that, etc. Whereas for instance someone else might have mentioned the beautiful landscape, the aesthetic, the music, the lore (etc.), first.
It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just something I noticed because it's a very different approach from mine.
(although mentioning some of that would have been nice I think for the review to be more thorough… and giving the exploration/story an earlier spotlight too, especially since right now most viewers are likely to leave before hearing anything about the biggest part of the game).
Also, genshin's storytelling is definitely its biggest weakness I wholeheartedly agree (saved by the incredible lore honestly). The biggest culprit being the bloated dialogue. The current format would work just fine if that was solved (it's very much a jrpg though, so big gameplay to cutscene ratios are inevitable and not on issue in theory).
The whole 5 star versus 4 star and f2p vs whale comparison was a bit disingenuous imo though. Some 4 stars are pretty bad yes, but some are literally the best characters in the game, and most are pretty fun and good. And the f2p life is arguably better than the whale life – planning for characters becomes in a meta way a strategic part of the game which I find fun, but most importantly, you don't spread your resources thin like whales do (poor dudes and gals with so many unleveled and therefore unused characters). It's also not hard to eventually get the characters you want anyway as long as you don't want them all. The game never makes you feel like you absolutely need these characters either.
Also… artefact farming is optional. You don't need perfect artefacts. You don't even need meta teams. Unless you want to 36* abyss for a tiny amount of primogems, in which case yeah you might need one OR the other. It's also the reason why genshin doesn't add more hardcore end game content. They don't want their players to feel like they HAVE to go through painful farm, or that they NEED to pull specific characters, to clear content. It's a casual game.
So yeah, I don't agree with everything, but still, good video overall 😉
I really wish there was an offline/non gacha option for genshin. This game is still amazing even if you only use the MC and the free given characters and still complete the whole game.
I play genshin and think its pretty funny at least for an our, then you left to play something else. One more thing, I just discoverd your channel because I have the opportunity to play mass effect trilogy thank to playstation plus. I enjoy your old videos about ME. Thanks for the entertaining 😅👋
No
I came back after 6 month and did sumuru. I was so angry because it was so long and boring. It was so much boring talk.
I think this is an amazing review and you are one of the few reviewers that i believe explored enough about the game for it to finally show its strenghts and weaknesses properly. However, I dont know why but when you include the ingame sounds the sound quality is really terrible. I dont know if its only on my end, but I think that would be worth looking into.
No need to ask for anything from mihoyo, they only listen to whales and china players, the rest doesn't matter.
If you're getting in gocha games with a great storyline and storyline, you should check out Fate Grand Order. Gension impact is a cool game top tier just like fgo
The cutscene focus in the archonquests are great for the lore immersive feeling though. There is an abundance of combat for all the rest of the content, so i really don't see the problem here 🙂
Aranyaka is the "gameplay" quest you're asking for, it's 10 hours long with minimal cutscenes and mostly fighting and exploring. The archon quest is literally "movie" for story enjoyer. Personally I like both of them, but I don't want too much combat shoehorned into a story heavy quest because it will cause moment like this: Character doing dialogue – oh shit something attack – going back to dialogue – let's punch someone – dialogue – we're being ambushed, basically they have to change the story to include that combat section in, I want the dev to do whatever they set out to do and imo they're doing a fine job.
Just cancelled the new fire Emblem because of genshin charackterdesign…
I play this game since launch and it destroys most of the other Anime looking games by far.
Been playing this game for over two years now. I haven't yet spent a dime but the devs earned my respect and they will get my money. I hate gacha but I love Genshin.
In other words it's still a very good game in spite of the gacha and it's 100% f2p friendly simply for the fact that there's no PvP or challenging PvE content.
Although you can buy power, imo players who whale enjoy a dopamine rush only to then suffer for lack of endgame content and challenge to throw their investment against. Whaling is short term satisfaction, long-term frustration which can be felt quite quickly in Genshin unless you're fine with playing a game without challenge.
– If you're into the art style the game is a treat.
– The music is always amazing and that point can't be stressed enough.
– Exploration is fun, addictive and it keeps getting better with each new version. It's open world done right.
– Events are hit or miss but are mostly lighthearted and they bring some variety to a grindy game.
– The story is well above what you have any business expecting from a mobile gacha game. It's an ambitious story that's for sure although it has peaks and valleys in storytelling.
– The lore is compelling and very very well done.
– Then of course there are the characters. Oh yeah, the voice acting? Superb in four languages.
Look, it's imperfect. It's not ground breaking. It's just hella fun, every day.
I'd rather just spend money on a normal game that I'd have fun playing the entire time lmao
✨Good review overall. ✨
I only have a few points I want to point out, personally.
The game is grindy but not so like other games. For example, World of Warcraft. That game has a lot of stuff to grind if you want to. Genshin's grind feels like butter compared to WoW.
Yes, the game has No-tryhard endgame content, but it could get challenging from time to time. But not so that it's not clearable. I do wish they added something Extreme but I'm chilling.
The good thing you mentioned is that THE GAME IS COMPLETABLE EVEN IF YOU ARE 100% F2P. I hate that there is still a misconception from time to time that this game is a massive cash grab. Absolutely not! Don't be cringe and open your damn fukin minds if you still think that.
Genshin is the most user-friendly Gacha game if you have resistance (self-restraint from rolling on everything) of course. Trust me there are worse gacha games than this. Genshin is very kind. You can clear anything within this game if you use your brain and don't waste materials on garbage. Be aware. Resources take time to farm so be wise in using them. I suggest watching guides consistently to be up to date, regarding combat and Abyss clear.
The game is not built on the idea that you are not incentivised to 'Pay in order to win (P2W)* – it's optional but 'Pay in order to show gratitude.' This is something that isn't talked about much but the game gives you enough reason to invest at least the minimum amount which is the 'Welkin' 5$. Which in return will give you a significantly bigger boost in character obtainability. The game offers you so much beautiful scenery, vistas, story quests, God-tier music etc. You will have that unconscious wish to return the favour to the game – company for the experience they give you.
Long rant. But whoever reads this. Respect. Thank you for your time. 🙏
300$ for a pixel
Wishing all genshin players the best of luck on your future pulls✨✨✨
Dude. GREAT review man! I’m new to genshin and was wondering if it’s worth hopping on to and you’ve convinced me. Keep it up!
I was searching for video like this just to know it got uploaded just yesterday
Yo Dan my man, this is gonna sound like on odd request but I'm stuck with the paramour 3 achievement on ME legendary edition is there anyway you'd consider making a guide on that subject? I've romanced liara from ME 1 to 3 and that didn't count so I did another run of ME3 where I romanced kidan up until the lock in point where I locked in with kaiden to see if that worked and it didn't pop? Any way you would make a vid covering this?
Limited banners run for three weeks, and also you know about them in advance. Learn the art of saving and you don't ever have to "pull out your credit card"
Also, the statement about vast difference between 4* and 5* is untrue, because half the most broken units are 4*: Bennett, Fischl, Sucrose, Xingqiu, Xiangling… All of them god-tier characters.
But of course I'll pull out lvl1 Collei with no build and artifacts to show how 4* suck.
Literally just straight up misinformation
The cutscenes are the best part of the story
Being AR 60 for a while, I played so much and spent so much money. But I think my enjoyment died when, the no endgame combat kinda killed it for me. I still play and Unfortunately the coop is not that great so you can't go through the story together. I hate doing Daily‘s so much its one of the worst things. You are getting 10 primos per Daily and than 20 for turning it in. So a total of 60 gems a day. With Welkin you get 150 per day. Not enough for a wish. It sucks that the story is good and open world is cool and then you build characters for the Abyss and thats about it.
I played genshin from the moment it started. You may like the game now, but once you reach endgame. The game becomes super boring. imagine everything dying in 2-3 seconds and you can't even finish a rotation. combat mechanics are fun but you need combat for it to happen. I use to spend money on this game and now I'm looking for ways to sell my account. I'm not saying it has to be difficult, heck just give the monsters more health, just saying that the game is too easy. I like to sit up and play a game, not lay on the couch pressing buttons because it doesn't take much effort. Even my friends I use to play with at the start of the game left and they where hard core spenders. Once people reach end game, people start quitting. That is my little rant
Pretty good review but I can't stand the Collei Slander 😭😭😭😭
Good and fair review. Interesting to see the evolution since the last one. Hope to see a new one in a year, maybe.
Genshin sucks if you’re a real gamer and not an anime simp, Genshin has constantly dumbed itself down and watered down all its content to appeal to casuals, no endgame, no world level increase, no difficult permanent combat content, all the game is walls of text and simping for virtual idols. Genshin really is disappointing and has wasted all its potential, but the devs follow the money, and the money comes from casual simps.
You are missing the music of genshin, which is the one of the best experience across all video games.
No, this game sucks
See you next year?
I'm free to play in Genshin Impact lol so basically it's F2P friendly to be honest, both event and quest is cater for Casual aspect.
welp we Lore players are very happy because of sumeru archon Quest its the best archon quest because of how theres so much lore in it 😀 and i think your the first person that actually hated it
weakness of genshin impact is the social experience….For an mmo player like me wanting to talk to other players and see them roaming the town is a must. Yeah it's a gacha game not an mmo but man i wish it was.
If you're new. Yes, Its worth playing. But If you've been playing for the past 2 years and realize how many things still haven't been fixed, resin, level progression from open world enemies, retry in abyss actually resetting your skills to original cool downs, crowns lack of, artifacts not having an option to fuse two together to take stats off another, no equipment presets, weapon banner still a money pit, lack of co op content giving no reason to co op, characters slowly becoming more and more underwhelming needing more constellations than they did before to be useful, events feeling like they're designed for 5 year olds. Hey? Can you control your character? Do you know where the jump button is? Collect these things yay, you did it you get primogems now. Sure its fine starting off but 2+ years of it being the same thing it all starts to really weigh on why you're even playing. I spend 90% of my time in abyss trying to beat floors in 30s for something to do. After you've reached this point you've pretty much done everything the game has to offer and will have to offer for a while.
I don’t need endgame but I feel bad for those that do.
My major problem with this game is Paimon. She literally never shuts up and the dialogue "choices" are only there so players won't just put auto mode and do something else
With no endgame content, it's not worth playing it.
I'm glad to see your opinion has changed since your last review reading the comments. I'm glad you're enjoying the game more now. Because truly thats all that matters, that you're having fun. That and well making sure you're responsible with money. Overall enjoyed the video you did it well and more complete then the last. Jokes hit well and made me laugh. Take my 50/50 luck you'll get the next feature you want.