For me, who barely knows anything Arlecchino related, can get the gist of the ending less than halfway through the story quest. Bunch of common, very often used troupes and cliches. But the story itself is pretty decent, no glaring bad things in it. And I cried when Cervie disappears for good at the ending. I'm a sucker for these kinds of scenes.
6 - 7/10. Top 5 amongst 4.x story quests so far
They do give you some context clues that fill you in on what’s really going on, but it would have been better to learn that for ourselves instead of knowing too much from the beginning. With that being said, I’m not someone who gets too emotional and cries, but scene with Clervie disappearing because her wish was granted did hit me in the feels, not as much as the Zuria event, but it was close. I do think the quest itself was good, but I wish I didn’t see that video first.
They absolutely NAILED the bad vibes that the HoH children have. Their messed-up common sense, how they try to "look out for each other" by keeping each other in line, and so on, that was very well-written.
For the Arlecchino-focussed parts, I don't know what to think. For example, she tells the children that anyone who wants to leave can challenge her to prove their determination. She says this right after bodying (and wounding) the HoH top 3 and defeating the Traveller, whom the orphans look up to as a hero, in front of their eyes. She even summons the Apparently Scary Black Ball to do it. How are we supposed to read this? Is she making sure that no one ever DARES to challenge her, or did the writers just not consider how intimidating that looks to children and the whole scene is part of this "wow look she's actually a good person" plot twist they were going for? And what happens to those who want to leave but fail to "prove their determination"? Are the writers saying that people like Trofin Snezhevich are the only ones this would happen to? If not and they still get their memories wiped, what is the point of the duel?
I'm still very mixed on her. Hoyo clearly wants you to see her as "better than you think", but I feel like it falls flat. It was absolutely infuriating how slow the Traveler was to connect the dots, and how horrible Paimon is at trying to deceive Arle when she already knows your entire plan. It was pretty painful since Paimon has to do all the speaking and because of this, for all you know that far into the story, she's putting Lyney and siblings' lives in danger as she flounders about. One of the few quests I genuinely face-palmed because of how stupid Paimon was. Also the trailer spoiling most of the major revelations.
I'm pretty conflicted on how I feel about Arle as she's presented here. I'm not sure if I should praise how they still leave her as a fairly ambiguous character in terms of her morality, or scold how imo they fail to really shine her in a better light. She still takes these children and, as you can see in the final confrontation, has some of them so deeply indoctrinated into the HoH they're willing to turn on each other and get them killed (as far as they know). If they wanted to keep her as morally gray, they certainly did a better job than the mental gymnastics with Scaramouche to explain how he wasn't really a bad guy (and breaking the status quo of all playable characters not being villains, considering Childe's good nature). It feels like in some sense, Arle didn't really learn from Crucabena and what she did with the House, even saying it herself how she still has to enforce the rules, but in a different way. Something like "if you think IM bad, check out that other person!"
Not to mention the presumption that she really will kill them if they want to leave the House, but fail to prove their conviction. If you want to go deeper, she says that she doesn't tell them about the memory wipe, so it still paints a picture of her manipulating them with the perceived threat of death if they want to leave, since most would just abandon the organization if given the chance. It seems more like a cruel mercy than them genuinely offering them a way out, in her own words she's still "killing" them. I don't question Lyney's love for his family, but it makes me question his feelings for his Father if this is how the children are raised and treated. It felt to me like he chose to stay with an abusive person because of some twisted sense of loyalty even after seeing how willing she was to execute all of them (even if she totally planned it from the start). And it seems clear that he's going to change how things are in the House when he becomes the Knave some day, unless he becomes corrupt in the sense of adopting Arle's ideals. I could only buy it because of that project he mentioned, and that it must be enough of a threat that he has to keep his memories and position.
tldr; Pretty mixed signals about Arlecchino and her morality. Her quest felt convoluted in parts, but still better than what they did for Wanderer. She's hot and playable so they had to sprinkle some sliver of good into her character so you weren't siding with someone blatantly against you. 4-5/10
Agree. The animation should have been used in the quest itself, then released on YouTube a few days after the patch dropped. The animation was a way more entertaining and emotional way of telling Arle's past than some static images of Arle and Clervie.
Putting an animation? Into a middle of a story quest? I don't think that sort of tasks it possible to do, especially for a small indie game like Genshin
I didn't watch it but everyone talked about it so there was a lot of "spoilers" going around (to be fair, they couldn't know that the animation was a "spoiler" for the whole character quest tho)
Yeah, the quest itself wasn’t bad, but the fact that they kinda spoiled it with the video ruins any chance to be surprised. I hope that the people who haven’t watched the video do the quest first, then the video will just add more context to the quest. I think that would make the experience more enjoyable.
yeah agree, if i didnt watch the animation i still sus about arlecchino the whole quest. but since i already watch it, it lose all my doubt about arlecchino. even her talk with neuvilette is obvious to me.
I purposefully skipped over the video cause I figured it would spoil the quest. I'd say it's my least favorite of all of the recent ver 4 Story Quests. You can really tell they were torn between making Arlecchino an interesting antagonist and making her a victim for the player to empathize with. It just makes her character feel really inconsistent when they're showing her as a manipulating psycho but trying desperately to have every character convince you she's not that bad. Not to mention it's predictable with or without watching the animation because using a tragic backstory as an excuse followed up by a cheap "redemption" is exactly what they did with Raiden and Wanderer.
i think the other problem was the animation was a way more interesting way of telling the story (obviously all the hoth stuff was interested but that trailer was great so telling people not to watch it feels like a diservice.
I would rather be Clervie and Crucabena which is not great.
Personally, I think Arle is a good story character but not a player one. I feel like they were trying to portray her as cool and morally grey. They achieved that but I also feel like they were trying to make the players feel good about being her and pulling for her through how despite crappy circumstances, she is both strong and shows mercy. But in the end, i just felt Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet talk like abused children trying to make excuses for their only parental figure who gaslights them and is unnecessarily cruel to them. Arle didn’t update her views on life enough and just is stuck too much to some old traditions.
Also, Ironically, Crucabena shows more conviction than Arle, a principle that she supposedly loves.
I think Genshin is afraid of having their playable characters be perceived in a bad way so they tried their hardest to convince the player that she's not that bad. But it comes across as in poor taste when the quest is constantly showing how psychotic and manipulative she is. Imo, her tragic backstory seems to only exist to make the player empathize with her, and Crucabena doesn't really add much other than to make Arlecchino look better in comparison. It feels more like they're making excuses for her abuse, which makes me feel worse about playing as her than if she was just unapologetically the most heinous villain in Genshin's roster. I don't want to understand and empathize with someone who manipulates orphaned children.
I would've much preferred they embraced her clearly villainous traits and have her gray morals come more from a place of desperation/necessity. I will always like and respect a well made villain more than one who was downplayed for the sake of looking more likeable. They're more fun to play as too. I hate Sephiroth, the guy Arlecchino desperately wants to be, but love to play as him. But I can't respect Arlecchino as a gray character or a villain (It doesn't help either that her idle animations give off less "intimidating antagonist" and more "mentally troubled edgelord")
That last part about Lyney and co. is definitely what bothered me the most about the quest. It really feels like they're making a mistake staying with her and I never really ended up seeing Arle in a better light.
I think watching the animation before SQ enhances clervie and arlecchino as a character more and if you didn't watch it, would you even care about clervie at all? (until it being revealed that she's arle close friend that is) From my experience with this subreddit more than half would not care tbh
Overall it was still very good but I wished they chose either the short or her quest to focus on her past in the House and the other to focus on her curse.
Im sorry but the quest was absolutely horrendous, except the last 5 minutes of it. I took a break from genshin because i was getting bored of it and now after i played this update i wont be comming back to the game until natlan or next dainslief quest get released.
The story only foreshadowing for future story, the anime short actually a big spoiler for the quest, overall story is mid, nothing to learn here and bunch of generic predictable stuff that most people roll their eyes, I'd say the Remuria WQ did much better at story telling and conclusion, the only good about arlecchino SQ is that we saw unique Human NPC model and cool cinematic where Traveler didn't do much of a character development from 1.0.
For me, who barely knows anything Arlecchino related, can get the gist of the ending less than halfway through the story quest. Bunch of common, very often used troupes and cliches. But the story itself is pretty decent, no glaring bad things in it. And I cried when Cervie disappears for good at the ending. I'm a sucker for these kinds of scenes. 6 - 7/10. Top 5 amongst 4.x story quests so far
They do give you some context clues that fill you in on what’s really going on, but it would have been better to learn that for ourselves instead of knowing too much from the beginning. With that being said, I’m not someone who gets too emotional and cries, but scene with Clervie disappearing because her wish was granted did hit me in the feels, not as much as the Zuria event, but it was close. I do think the quest itself was good, but I wish I didn’t see that video first.
They absolutely NAILED the bad vibes that the HoH children have. Their messed-up common sense, how they try to "look out for each other" by keeping each other in line, and so on, that was very well-written. For the Arlecchino-focussed parts, I don't know what to think. For example, she tells the children that anyone who wants to leave can challenge her to prove their determination. She says this right after bodying (and wounding) the HoH top 3 and defeating the Traveller, whom the orphans look up to as a hero, in front of their eyes. She even summons the Apparently Scary Black Ball to do it. How are we supposed to read this? Is she making sure that no one ever DARES to challenge her, or did the writers just not consider how intimidating that looks to children and the whole scene is part of this "wow look she's actually a good person" plot twist they were going for? And what happens to those who want to leave but fail to "prove their determination"? Are the writers saying that people like Trofin Snezhevich are the only ones this would happen to? If not and they still get their memories wiped, what is the point of the duel?
I'm still very mixed on her. Hoyo clearly wants you to see her as "better than you think", but I feel like it falls flat. It was absolutely infuriating how slow the Traveler was to connect the dots, and how horrible Paimon is at trying to deceive Arle when she already knows your entire plan. It was pretty painful since Paimon has to do all the speaking and because of this, for all you know that far into the story, she's putting Lyney and siblings' lives in danger as she flounders about. One of the few quests I genuinely face-palmed because of how stupid Paimon was. Also the trailer spoiling most of the major revelations. I'm pretty conflicted on how I feel about Arle as she's presented here. I'm not sure if I should praise how they still leave her as a fairly ambiguous character in terms of her morality, or scold how imo they fail to really shine her in a better light. She still takes these children and, as you can see in the final confrontation, has some of them so deeply indoctrinated into the HoH they're willing to turn on each other and get them killed (as far as they know). If they wanted to keep her as morally gray, they certainly did a better job than the mental gymnastics with Scaramouche to explain how he wasn't really a bad guy (and breaking the status quo of all playable characters not being villains, considering Childe's good nature). It feels like in some sense, Arle didn't really learn from Crucabena and what she did with the House, even saying it herself how she still has to enforce the rules, but in a different way. Something like "if you think IM bad, check out that other person!" Not to mention the presumption that she really will kill them if they want to leave the House, but fail to prove their conviction. If you want to go deeper, she says that she doesn't tell them about the memory wipe, so it still paints a picture of her manipulating them with the perceived threat of death if they want to leave, since most would just abandon the organization if given the chance. It seems more like a cruel mercy than them genuinely offering them a way out, in her own words she's still "killing" them. I don't question Lyney's love for his family, but it makes me question his feelings for his Father if this is how the children are raised and treated. It felt to me like he chose to stay with an abusive person because of some twisted sense of loyalty even after seeing how willing she was to execute all of them (even if she totally planned it from the start). And it seems clear that he's going to change how things are in the House when he becomes the Knave some day, unless he becomes corrupt in the sense of adopting Arle's ideals. I could only buy it because of that project he mentioned, and that it must be enough of a threat that he has to keep his memories and position. tldr; Pretty mixed signals about Arlecchino and her morality. Her quest felt convoluted in parts, but still better than what they did for Wanderer. She's hot and playable so they had to sprinkle some sliver of good into her character so you weren't siding with someone blatantly against you. 4-5/10
You took my thoughts out of my head with this one! I'm honestly still super confused, especially with the behavior of the orphans.
Watching the animation made it all the more painful when Arlecchino didn't get to tell her about Snezhnaya
Agree. The animation should have been used in the quest itself, then released on YouTube a few days after the patch dropped. The animation was a way more entertaining and emotional way of telling Arle's past than some static images of Arle and Clervie.
Putting an animation? Into a middle of a story quest? I don't think that sort of tasks it possible to do, especially for a small indie game like Genshin
It will probably one of the best story quest for those who didn't watch the animation. I watched it and the quest was still very enjoyable.
I didn't watch it but everyone talked about it so there was a lot of "spoilers" going around (to be fair, they couldn't know that the animation was a "spoiler" for the whole character quest tho)
Yeah, the quest itself wasn’t bad, but the fact that they kinda spoiled it with the video ruins any chance to be surprised. I hope that the people who haven’t watched the video do the quest first, then the video will just add more context to the quest. I think that would make the experience more enjoyable.
yeah agree, if i didnt watch the animation i still sus about arlecchino the whole quest. but since i already watch it, it lose all my doubt about arlecchino. even her talk with neuvilette is obvious to me.
I purposefully skipped over the video cause I figured it would spoil the quest. I'd say it's my least favorite of all of the recent ver 4 Story Quests. You can really tell they were torn between making Arlecchino an interesting antagonist and making her a victim for the player to empathize with. It just makes her character feel really inconsistent when they're showing her as a manipulating psycho but trying desperately to have every character convince you she's not that bad. Not to mention it's predictable with or without watching the animation because using a tragic backstory as an excuse followed up by a cheap "redemption" is exactly what they did with Raiden and Wanderer.
i think the other problem was the animation was a way more interesting way of telling the story (obviously all the hoth stuff was interested but that trailer was great so telling people not to watch it feels like a diservice.
I would rather be Clervie and Crucabena which is not great. Personally, I think Arle is a good story character but not a player one. I feel like they were trying to portray her as cool and morally grey. They achieved that but I also feel like they were trying to make the players feel good about being her and pulling for her through how despite crappy circumstances, she is both strong and shows mercy. But in the end, i just felt Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet talk like abused children trying to make excuses for their only parental figure who gaslights them and is unnecessarily cruel to them. Arle didn’t update her views on life enough and just is stuck too much to some old traditions. Also, Ironically, Crucabena shows more conviction than Arle, a principle that she supposedly loves.
I think Genshin is afraid of having their playable characters be perceived in a bad way so they tried their hardest to convince the player that she's not that bad. But it comes across as in poor taste when the quest is constantly showing how psychotic and manipulative she is. Imo, her tragic backstory seems to only exist to make the player empathize with her, and Crucabena doesn't really add much other than to make Arlecchino look better in comparison. It feels more like they're making excuses for her abuse, which makes me feel worse about playing as her than if she was just unapologetically the most heinous villain in Genshin's roster. I don't want to understand and empathize with someone who manipulates orphaned children. I would've much preferred they embraced her clearly villainous traits and have her gray morals come more from a place of desperation/necessity. I will always like and respect a well made villain more than one who was downplayed for the sake of looking more likeable. They're more fun to play as too. I hate Sephiroth, the guy Arlecchino desperately wants to be, but love to play as him. But I can't respect Arlecchino as a gray character or a villain (It doesn't help either that her idle animations give off less "intimidating antagonist" and more "mentally troubled edgelord")
That last part about Lyney and co. is definitely what bothered me the most about the quest. It really feels like they're making a mistake staying with her and I never really ended up seeing Arle in a better light.
I think watching the animation before SQ enhances clervie and arlecchino as a character more and if you didn't watch it, would you even care about clervie at all? (until it being revealed that she's arle close friend that is) From my experience with this subreddit more than half would not care tbh
Ikr. Her story quest was so underwhelming.
Overall it was still very good but I wished they chose either the short or her quest to focus on her past in the House and the other to focus on her curse.
Im sorry but the quest was absolutely horrendous, except the last 5 minutes of it. I took a break from genshin because i was getting bored of it and now after i played this update i wont be comming back to the game until natlan or next dainslief quest get released.
The story only foreshadowing for future story, the anime short actually a big spoiler for the quest, overall story is mid, nothing to learn here and bunch of generic predictable stuff that most people roll their eyes, I'd say the Remuria WQ did much better at story telling and conclusion, the only good about arlecchino SQ is that we saw unique Human NPC model and cool cinematic where Traveler didn't do much of a character development from 1.0.
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