Genshin Impact is an infamous game in the RPG MMO community ( for the wrong reasons). Like most gacha games, the pity system sucks, the developers rarely listen to the community, and while the characters are great, the older ones aren’t meta anymore. Also, biggest of all, their communities aren’t the kindest, but isn’t that how every fandom is? However, despite all this, I still play, but not out of love but out of spite. I play it because I hate how addictive it is. From daily tasks to special events, Genshin Impact still attracts an audience. It somehow still attracts me, but how?
First, you have to understand my journey with the game. I’ve been playing since 2021, about 8 months or so after its release in 2020. Im not entirely sure how I came to play it, but it must have been from the numerous ads that would run on YouTube. With the pandemic still going on, I was truly their most valuable customer. I logged in every day, sometimes got characters, got to level them up, and got to explore the ever-expanding world. I played so much that I even got my little sister to play with me. Although she eventually dropped it much sooner than I, I feel like she still enjoyed it.
As school started going full-time and offline, I found myself playing less. However, that wasn’t even the biggest reason. It was the people! The players in the game that I loved so much were weirdos. Even after all the hours I spent, my characters still sucked, and my world wasn’t up to par with the “elitist” standards of the game. I thought I could brave through the storm from all the years I spent on Twitter, but even that was no match. I eventually fell out of love with the game for many years. Not until recently did I pick it back but only because I realized something. The game wasn’t that serious. Or maybe I took myself too seriously playing this game. After picking it up after a while, I realized that it has many cool features, and no matter how you play the game, you’ll have fun (kinda).
Here are some features that I enjoy:
The characters!
They have so many and they are so pretty. One of the people I main is named Ayaka, she is a cryo character. She was one of the many five-stars (high rarity) that I was excited to own. I think it’s super fun to level up your character’s level, friendships, and talents. It’s hard work because it takes time, but the reward is satisfying. Also, they keep upping their game, and the designs for the models get better and better(they’re not the best, but better). Having so many characters helps people come back and enjoy all the content the new characters are in.
Being Pretty FTP Friendly!
I like that the game is free to play friendly! Spending money may seem like one of the only ways to make your characters actually OP. However, as an FTP player all these years, I can tell you you don’t need money. Maybe this is just a personal thing, but I’ve never felt the need to spend money on a game. I watch plenty of people/content creators that do spend their whole paycheck. While it’s entertaining, I’ve never had the urge. Also, while playing long enough, I have a lot of good characters that you can play in the world comfortably. While endgame content does get difficult if you haven’t bought the right character, I get by just fine.
Events!
Lastly, the Events! They have a variety of events, from solo to playing other random players. The games are fun and also rewarding (in that they give actual awards). Many of the events revolve around new updates and characters. The games are different every patch; some are fighting style, puzzle-based, or competitive. I think the events are most important because they are the only things that are considered constantly new besides the chaters that roll out. The events help immerse you in the world and feel accomplished even if you have finished everything else in the game.
Even after all the struggles I had in this game, it’s still really fun, and I would recommend it to anyone as long as they don’t take it too seriously ( and if they do, to make sure they have the pockets big enough to support them).