We HAVE To Talk About How Natlan is KILLING Genshin Impact

32 thoughts on “We HAVE To Talk About How Natlan is KILLING Genshin Impact”

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2. I love a lot of the character designs (especially Chasca), but they would be a lot better, and more interesting if they weren't named after indigenous people mythology. If it were just a generic fantasy world with some real world inspirations, that would be fine, but they literally base it all on real world cutltures. Mavuika is awesome, and designed totally off of Murata Himeko, but named after a Maori fire goddess?! Girl is white AF, and wears a cat suit and high heels. She is grade A Honkai Impact character design, but she's a goddess for a mesoamerican/polynesian nation? But the Archon quests are great, annoyingly, especially the war, wow. I want to hate this more than I do, because of it's blatant issues, but the writing has been great. Also, I would say that they likely make all the characters White because the capitalist mindset is that white characters sell better than non-white characters, it's very common in so many companies. Even Dogrates got caught changing the names of dogs if their name didn't sound white enough, because as he put it, the names effect the interactions on the post. It 100% sucks.

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3. I think the new saurians are more polished and more practical. The tepetlusaurus was just sooo slow and excruciating to move in. And then the yumkasaur was just so janky like why and then the swimming saurus was my go to choice before the Iktomisaurus came out. I can’t stop indwelling that fabulous creature. Even flying in the sky with the bird doesn’t beat floofing about the map as an Iktomisaurus. But obviously I’m sort of burnt out of exploration this time and the map isn’t helping my case.

   The thing I’m not happy about chasca is her wacky asymmetrical bangs covering HALF her face. I’m tired of bangs covering a character’s face and genshin does it so much

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4. Fontaine was peak.
   Sumeru wss good… Natlan the war part is getting good

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5. I wouldn’t say Natlan is killing Genshin but it also doesn’t feel like it completely fits in Genshin. It’s like it’s being influenced by outside content

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6. Kachina drill can also hover it showed in the teaser trailer.

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7. Bruh I don't get the Chasca hate either I think she's hot lol

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8. I have so many issues with Natlan compared to previous regions like Fontaine. Fontaine was amazing in representation of culture, great character design, and interesting play style. Fontaine actually felt planned out and its main issue was Fontaine citizen specific. (The primordial sea and dissolving the citizens of Fontaine) the whole quest was centered around deceiving the heavenly principles to overcome a prophecy. The archon quest was genuinely so intriguing and it made you want to continue playing to figure out Furina’s “big secret”. Natlan however main issue is centered around the abyss (an already existing and prominent problem throughout each region in Genshin) making Natlan’s war so Abyss specific really takes me out of the story and Natlan as a region as a whole. I think it would’ve been more interesting is the certain tribes of Natlan were at war with each other and the whole quest centered around reuniting the tribes and bringing peace amongst Natlan. Honestly Natlan feels extremely rushed and a lot of decisions I feel before Natlan was released were quickly changed to emulate “Wuthering Waves” which is honestly extremely disappointing that a competitor with a different concept has had done such numbers on Natlan and its release. Like Mauvika having a motorcycle is SO STUPID. Nothing about Mauvikas design screams South American/African culture and I do believe it was changed last minute to compete with Wuthering Waves. Natlan a nation of “war” feels goofy and so unserious with the design choices and representation of culture. It’s also embarrassing that they can make npcs darker because they’re specifically “npcs” and not. Reoccurring playable character. I think one of Genshins darkest playable characters is literally Kaeya and that was at the release of the game. In my opinion I do believe since Genshin became such a mainstream game in China a lot of the design elements and choices are altered in the process to comply with Chinas rules and regulations, having corporate over see all the design choices to make this a game still popular to a Chinese audience. Anyways that’s just my thoughts on Natlan as whole right now and unfortunately I don’t see it improving any time soon.

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9. Unfortunately people got to get over the colourism stuff because I mean…it's a Chinese game lol You've seen how they treat coloured actors in movie posters, even Chinese citizens who "aren't pale enough"

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10. I hate Natlan. Uglyyyyyy! Guys, imagine if they were listening and go for more cultural representation, designing characters with dark skin and this primitive environment, that would hurt. It is eclectic for no reason, or just to find something new, but eh, primitive everyday life and motorcycles and rap and big parties – why? The pixel guy is not just ugly, he doesn't fit at all, like taken from another game. One of the best things of the game was the style, music and design, especially music, style and concept. And what is this now, maybe the music is not so bad by itself in a vacuum but in the context of the entire concept – come on, it is a disaster. Design as well. Mavuika? She is just female Diluc, not sure who is better. Well, Diluc is better. Those painted rocks? Pffff, this is the beautiful environment we expect from Genshin? It is nothing. It is cheating. I am afraid what is coming in Snezhnaya.

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11. We're all waiting for Ifa, Ororon's Saurian vet boyfriend, to show up.

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12. I think it's more about the direction than anything else, personally. In Sumeru they had the vision pro with wifi but it was a discreet blade. Fontaine's robots followed the steampunk aesthetic of the city itself. The same with that ship. The motorcycle is more Akira than Natlan.
    My problem with Natlan’s tech gadgets isn’t necessarily that they exist but they’re not really reflected in their environment
    
    And unlike Fontaine mekas or Sumeru’s machinery it’s not stylized to fit in. They just… ported modern stuff and colour matched it to the characters

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13. I agree about the paimon voice acting in the war being very good, but it did make one thing about it stand out as weird even more: why are we dragging this obviously child-minded entity through an active warzone? I knowbthe out of game reason, but shining a light on how hard she's taking it makes it very obviously weird.

    I absolutely loved the quest otherwise, its one of the best "the cavalry has arrived" moments in games i played recently, and the music absolutely helped

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14. i'm going through the same thing with Natlan— the only ship that appeals to me is capimavu/mavuitano 🥲(i don't know what their ship name is) as a fujoshi AND himejoshi, i am suffering. i have hope that when ifa is dropped we'll get yaoi crumbs lmfao IFARON TRUTHERS RISE

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15. 11:11 "Busy and bland" – wow, that's so accurate, and not only in relation to character designs. The AQ is similarly packed with action and lore, yet fails to catch my attention and feels like a chore (rhyme unintended). With outlandish character designs, nonexistent characterization and below par storywriting it feels like Genshin stopped taking itself seriously.

    Maybe after 3 years of playing, the burnout finally caught up to me, or maybe I'm not making all this stuff up.

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16. something important about mavuika is the impact of the male chinese fanbase on her characterization and writing, as they were very vocally against capitano surpassing her in power or relevance or even morals, which put a lot of pressure on the devs and writers to really reinforce that picture perfect image of her so far. hopefully we'll learn things about her past or witness failure that add to her character in a way that puts her more in line with what we expect of an archon in terms of complexity in the near future

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17. A BetterHelp sponsor? Really? Do your research before you just accept any sponsorships willy nilly. Disappointed, really.

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18. Aside from the whitewashing controversy (which I completely understand) I'd say Natlan is a good region, I find the story so far to be interesting and the characters and their gameplay are amazing, like me I have Chasca and Kinich and they are easily some of the most fun characters in terms of gameplay, I can understand why there are people who don't like the region or the characters but I don't think the region itself is objectively bad or that it's "killing" Genshin.

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19. Reading the comments and realizing something:

    Y’all haven’t read the archon quests in a while and it shows. Play your side quests yall jesus is all explain on it.

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20. one thing i hate about this discourse is how anyone who disagrees with the choices hoyo has made , must be white. while the fandom applaudes POC when they say they dont mind certain issues.

    As a POC myself, it just seems stupid to assume. but also, i really dont think you have to be a POC to have a valid perspective on racial issues.

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21. genshin needs a skip dialogue button so badly. Like im sorry but most of the "story" is just characters wasting time talking with utterly blank doll-faces cycling through the same four weird emotes. Dialogue, in a visual medium, needs something visually interesting happening on screen while it's happening. There's a reason the star wars prequels are so infamous for having so many "walking and talking" scenes. Also paimon is a tragedy upon trying to take anything in the story seriously. Like if something sad happens and im supposed to be sad, the second paimon is sad im no longer sad. In fact seeing her in misery is balm on the burn that is genshin's average dialogue encounter. Every time she speaks i just want to grab her by the leg and slam her headfirst into concrete. The Traveler is not a real character, theyre just a tripod with a camera on it so that the player can watch the story unfold, so having paimon interact with the story in our stead makes every aspect of the story less impactful and immersive. You cannot have a story based game where the protagonist is an annoying, greedy, ugly, selfish, poopy-diaper-wearing whiny piece of shit. Because if paimon is fighting the abyss, i only want the abyss to win. I'm not invested in saving teyvat because paimon is part of it. At this point, i'm not invested in the story at all because i only want to join my crop-top wearing brother in ending the world.

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22. For me, the thing that is absolutely taking me out is the complete dissonance between the chracters kits and the nation they live in and who they are in the story. I hate how the tech is just completely absent from anywhere else in people lives ( the only good implementation of tbe modern tech in the environment of natlan is tbe one DJ booth in the children of the Echos, i love how its stylized to fit its surrounding but thats like the only time they did it right) U have Maulvika and Chasca with tech that could REVOLUTIONIZE travel in the country. Chascas tribe has a legit plot about the flightless and they have the solution right there with her philgiston powered gun-vehicle but nothing will ever come from that, they will never explore that further and how it can chenge their lives witb further research. U have Maulvika riding on a high tech, sleek motorcycle while her people still live in tents and travel via alphcas… u have Xilonen have an acrylic paneled, LED lit DJ booth while the roads are lit by open flame basins. U have Maulani surfing on a mechanical surfboard that is so life like and seamless that it rivals the inventions of the genius adepti Xianyun and all of the Fontaine research institute. In sumeru and fontaine u can physically see the fruits of researchers labor to get their countries to where they are. U can see where the characters get their abilities based on how the nation function around them, u see it in every facet of their lives but with Natlan the devs just said uhhh philgiston and called it a day… for me its not that the modern tech exists or how the characters have modern elements but its how they have taken no time to show how how this tech exists in their lives. Natlan in the story quests is a very humble and spirtual place but that is just not reflected in the chracters gameplay to instead make chase after things that will make em a lot of money.

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23. I'm getting burnt out trying to get my daily artifact farming and rock farming done as they still haven't reduced the respawn time of Artifact Investigation spots and rocks, it would make it so much easier on me if Investigation spot all respawned at 12 hours so I can farm daily without doing a 24H +3minutes routine that messes with my sleep schedual. And Rocks spawning Daily would also prevent you from needing to create new accounts or farm other people's worlds it's just annoying. And the way they make you have to do all the quests within the time frame ends up messing with my sleep as I keep missing out on the rewards early on but when I tried to catch up and get them done this time I ended up needing to sleep for 2-3 days after the Archon quest, it's already hard enough to keep up with all the rest of the games at the same time as do things IRL. Dad just got mad at me because I didn't buy some new Sandals for outside in 2 weeks because I was so busy, I just can't get it all done and I keep missing out on everything and overcapping resin and I missed a Shiyu defense the other day because I decided to do both Spiral abyss and Imaginarium then forgot to do Shiyu so missed out on more rewards there.

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24. I just completely stopped playing the game.

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25. Personally, as a red-haired person myself, I'm actually quite glad Mavuika isn't the stereotypical brash, violent or meatheaded or emptybrained leader/commander she could've been because red hair. Redheads have been portrayed like that in most (not all, but most ) pieces of media around the world. And I'm glad Mavuika doesn't adhere to those same stereotypes as other Genshin redheads have been before (Diluc, Tartaglia, Rosaria, and even Yoimiya to some extent in that she's hyperenergetic and sometimes forgets to think before acting. The only outlier until now in Genshin is Nilou). I am excited to see what skeletons are in her closet though.

    Other than that, I fully agree with the mordernity in attire and gameplay. I can excuse Mualani and Kachina (shark-shaped surfboard for the former, and a big, clunky mining tool that doubles as transport that, to me at least, still gives me the same vibes as Fontainian Mekas for the latter). Kinich's is… really weird, I can accept Ajaw and HIS pixel stuff because he was imprisoned in Kinich's watch which could be ancient Dragon tech so… fine? but his clothes and accesories are just not it. Xilonen's rollerblades are pushing it HEAVILY though and her DJ set is just complete nonsense, and then we have Chasca whose entire flying gun thing is… completely ridiculous.

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26. the fact mavuika x capitano and kinich x mualani are the ships i'm most invested in for natlan is so insane like is this straight ppl capital???? ( i see them all as queer, especially capitano, but help me lord 😭 )

    ( i'm also starting an ororon x xilonen train … i am a whole entire butch. )

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27. It’s too long too explain, but white-washing, among other things are extensions of racism, rather than just colourism.

    Lightening characters is definitely colourism, but the extent of the erasure, like taking inspiration from a Black Yoruba God and making him white??😭

    Not here to fight though, just saying that people are shy to call something racist when it is💀 cause racism can happen even without hateful intent

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28. About the ships: WE ARE STARVING- not just Yuri and Yaoi wise, but just generally. Most popular Yaoi ship (from what I’ve seen) is either Kinich x Ajaw or Kinich x Lyney (no hate to Lynich shippers) the fact we have to use a rare pair cause we ain’t got enough male characters in Natlan and barely have even interacted with one and other makes me sob- Yuri, the only slight implication I’ve seen is a little Xilonen x Chasca (FROM WHAT IVE SEEN, I haven’t really done the archon quest) it’s cause of a singular fist bump is making me sob—- and as a Pixelshark shipper (MualanixKinich) that ship is literally divided down between seeing them as Siblings and Dating (and it’s fine if you see them as siblings, just be nice). The only ship I’ve seen slightly agreed on or popular is MauvikaxCapitano which I have not seen anyone say is their favorite. It just exists. The problem? WE HAVE NO CHEMISTRY OTHER THAN FRIENDSHIP- I’m not a terribly big shipper, but I think a part some people like seeing is the chemistry between characters. It’s not a huge detriment, but it still is disappointing.
    (But don’t take too much from me I have done the archon quest. This is from the media and the small amount of the archon quest I have done. So just be warned)

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29. Latin american here, idk, I believe the pros far outweight the cons. And the cons are "not enough representation", which considering is a chinese company, I'm glad we got Iansan not being lightened.
    On clothing, colors and wars: most people don't know how latinoamerica looks, don't bother to know, specially the south.

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30. K'inich actually means "sun-eyed", and Kinich does have suns in his eyes

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31. I’m Mexican and I’ve playing genshin since launch, tbh I was just really excited that my culture would be taken as inspiration in a game. I was a little taken aback about the colorism but honestly I didn’t expect much from Hoyoverse after seeing what they did to the Sumeru characters. It’s funny how when Sumeru was first released people were complaining for similar reasons and now they’re saying that the Sumeru characters are peak. For me Natlan is the best region so far and I really enjoy everything from it. I also am a Chasca defender, she’s so pretty u.u

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32. 36:30 LITERALLY!!! One of the major reasons I still haven’t finished the Archon quest is because there is just no chemistry between some of these characters
    Like it doesn’t even need to be romantic I just feel like the chemistry between the cast is lacking
    At certain points I was listening to Mulalani talk about how her, Kinich and Kacchina were friends and I deadass didn’t believe it 😭
    Tell me it’s better once I do the Archon Quest pls

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