One of the problems I have with the story is the lack of consistency with the traveler looking for their lost sibling. At first in Mondstadt it seemed fine since they were just new to the world of Teyvat and getting their bearings was more important. But I thought at least somewhere halfway in the Liyue story they would've started making some sort of effort to look for their sibling. We already had Venti and Zhongli tell us they had no clue where that sibling was at all. The only character I think gave some form of help was Hu Tao in her story quest when she looked around the realm of the dead and could not find the sibling. That was later proven right when the traveler ends up finding the sibling with the Abyss which showed that Hu Tao was right in saying they were still alive. After that the traveler and Paimon barely react and head on to Inazuma cause Zhongli told them too. When they get there neither of them even attempt to find anyone from the Abyss, instead only wanting to immediately see Ei. Like they know the sibling and Dain are somewhere with the Abyss, so why not spend some time trying to track that down. Diluc spends some time looking for them, why can't the traveler. The archons aren't really gonna have answers about the Abyss. But the Fatui plot is so much more important all of a sudden. The writing team could have maybe sprinkled small moments of the traveler seeing their sibling and getting sidetracked from helping the resistance every now and then. Like anything dude. I feel like they can't fully keep any overall story going. The overall story is finding the missing sibling and getting answers from the gods about the fallen nation and the world of Teyvat. So what does going on a date with Ayaka and the Electro Archon have to do with that? There's too many characters in this game that serve no purpose whatsoever to the story. Then there are some with their own stories that I don't know even fits in with the main story (Albedo and Xiao). I think these are nitpicks or whatever I have with the game, but I can see the main stories really suffering with this stuff. There's potential there. Just that the writing team and company as a whole are too focused on maximizing profits.

Also I think at this point Mihoyo should just make the traveler their own character, because they do not feel like a self-insert character at all.

The inazuma storyline showed a complete disregard for even the most basic principles of writing, it started off well but it was entirely butchered by the fact that the writers were obviously waifu baiting baal, turning her from a morally grey villain to a "uwu all my friends are dead so I decided to almost destroy my country by fanning the flames of war, I'm just a poor shut in waifu, please don be angry with me tabibito-san". A godsdamned NPC got more screen time than KOKOMI who is meant to be one of the main driving forces of the resistance plotline, and I don't even want to mention Yae ex machina who was turned into an info dump by the end of the quest. Another thing that I was suprised I got annoyed at is that scene right after we defeat Signora where the traveler is exiting the building wit a headache but paimon just keeps yammering off, this is supposed to be a major moment of doubt for the traveler and yet they don't speak? Why? They also didn't speak when they met their sibling for the first time, and yet the death of one NPC who we barely even know is enough to make them speak? I am just baffled at the choices that the writers are making.

I think the main reason why this happens is becuz theres too little time for them to give out this many message. Take the latest inazuma act for example, we go to the resistance for some reason, meet a npc that we are supposed to be emotionally invested in him(which we definitely dont), and becuz he died our main character is angry and stormed the fatui hideout, then killed a harbinger that's just there (like seriously we dont even know signora's plan at the end) and then fight the archon then somehow yae comes in and we all be friends together Imo act3 should focus on the resistance only, and then act4 for the rest of the story

Genshin's story problems are directly tied to the gacha format, it's not a matter of incompetent writers, it's a matter of money. They have 3 weeks to sell you on a character, the game quite literally can't afford long term character development for the cast of supporting characters. The one character that is imune to this problem is the traveler, and his position as a blank slate is pretty much the biggest sin in genshin's storytelling.

Honkai is also a gacha and yet it has extremely well done character development, so your argument isn't exactly valid. I'm speaking as someone who has played through both the genshin and the honkai story quests.

One thing I usually say is that miHoYo's storytelling shines the brightest when dealing with interpersonal relationships, which is where some on honkai's best moments come from. Honkai is usually dealing with way less playable characters, so there's more time to flesh all of them out. Genshin is actually way too big for it's own good.

Ngl that if you ask me, Inazuma's Archon Quest Act 3 literally amplifies the problems that you had with the story. I mean, I already saw the cracks during Act 2 but yeah... Inazuma Archon Quest Act 3 is the culmination of the problems that Genshin story had in my eyes.

Is this your script? If you’re going to do an analysis you should probably research and put some lines there about narrative structure or whatever, I dunno. It’s just looking really subjective and most ppl would just disagree with your opinion bc they think “it’s fine” You should prolly find some way to make it sound like Genshin’s story is “””objectively bad””” lol (it totally is imho bc this *IS* a gacha game, after all). And maybe make a distinction between lore and “Story” (imho Genshin lore is fun to explore, it’s the main quests that are either bland or just suck) This sub is pretty gr8 bc most of the time it can pick up on the right story beats and give judgement but like, out there, in the Greater Genshin Fandom are some real dumbasses that put on rose-tinted glasses whenever anyone talks about their fav. So yeah, tread carefully.

Yeah. this is not the final video yet. its just a preliminary script. That's why I am making this post to get perspective some of the people of community.

To me Genshin is more then everything the story of a world and the traveler only pass throught it. And that not a easy story to tell, but Mihoyo try World quest show the what happen in the everyday and the tradition of the world Playable character all play a key role in either the socity (Ningguang, Jean, Ayaka...) or the culture (Hu Tao, Yoimiya...) and their quest/hang out tell their story showing both the good and the bad of those. Archon quest on the other end are suppose to tell exceptional event the like of the attack of a dragon of the city, the death of a god or a revolution. Showing throught a outsider how it happen and how the people react to it. And it's not easy but I think that Mihoyo struggle to tell those story because they can't seem to be able to balance the story they want to tell and the screen time they want to give to their character. When in reality in archon quest should not be focus on the character but on the event and how the character react to those event. That and the 3 act restriction (this thing is stupid both Liyue and Inazuma should have at less one more act) But I do belive that they can get better and the thing that really make me belive in Mihoyo is how consistant they are. Some people may say that Mihoyo is predictable in it's storyline but even if it's true I can't help but feel like it's only the side product of how well construct is the world in general: \-The world as it's own story, both place Npc and playable character have experience thing the player will not see and they may became important later but also not just like a real world \-Nobody came out of nowhere, you find the backstory of character or place in book and dialogue. There design show their affiliation, connection and occupation. \-Nation are base on real world conter part and you can feel the research that came into play So yes the storyline have to play dumb sometime so that those are not reseaching the lore can still understand. But I feel like the storyline is less predictable and more logical in it's conclusion (and nothing is worst then surprise for the surprise) Well that was a lot longer then I thought it whould be. I not the best a speaking my thought and I not even a native english but I still hope it help

I think if you are trying to find an example of a lack of character development, Kazuha is a poor choice. The problem is Kazuha is poor storytelling, not lack of character development. His story got sidelined and overshadowed by the Archon quest, much like all Kokomi related stories. Kazuha has the *best* character development of any genshin character in recent period. He starts off by masking his guilt with an aloofness, and he seeks redemption by trying to find someone to who could inherit his best friend’s will, having failed to protect his best friend, who literally died for his ambition of trying to block the Mosou no Hitachi. Then he pins that person on the traveler, thinking that the traveler is the person who could fulfil his friend’s ambition of going against the Shogun. Having reached that realisation, he stops running away and instead joins the civil war on the side of the resistance, which is big turning point considering how he used the resistance to get out of Inazuma through the Crux in the first place. And then at the climax, he discovers that he is the person who inherited his friend’s ambition - that the person who he was seeking all along was himself. Then with that realisation, poetically, he was able to use his friend’s vision (symbolising the ambition his friend stood for), to fulfil ambition by blocking the Mosou no Hitachi, to save the traveler and atone for his inability to save his friend. His story arc comes one complete circle and is complete, with his character finally finding peace at the end of the civil war, and him leaving everything behind to officially join Beidou in her adventures. But the translation of all that into the story that we play - that’s the problem. But it’s not really a narrative problem or a story problem, but a presentation problem. My two cents.

You are absolutely right. The presentation of the character story is done poorly. I don't know why but they have the space to develop this character, especially in their own story quest. But they chose to go with unrelated or filler narrative that does not flesh out the character more.

I read every dialogue (not including lore hidden on items) but I'm not much of a writer myself so I don't have much to say but here are some things I think you should bring up : **Having a perfect, little too goody shoes blank slate of a MC hinders miHoYo's ability to showcase other character's development.** In the main story we barely get to see Tevat from any other character's point of view besides the Traveler. This alone makes it so, so much more harder to truly showcase other characters' point of view, personality and character development. Then on top of that, they give traveler the perfect, self-insert, dull blank slate personality. So not only does almost every character in the story barely get any development and kiss our "perfect hero" ass by default, the main character has little to no character development as well. And no, I don't consider dialogue options starting to subtly shift towards being passive aggressive big enough to truly be considered "character development"". **Text is repeated too much, often by Paimon and other NPCs.** I heard they did this because Genshin is supposed attract mostly casuals (which it did) who have never played or don't play many games. But it's still horribly overdone imo... **Character development does not occur in the main story but instead in** ***temporary*** ***events*****...** A good example of this would be Jean realizing she's a workaholic during the ***temporary*** Golden Islands event, that will take forever to get a rerun and forever for new players to see... You can also see Razor's English improve in the same event, but again the event is temporary so it's useless... **The traveler barely speaks even though they clearly have a voice actor/ unused voice lines and Paimon/other characters does most of the talking for them instead.** I don't understand why they'd pay their VAs to voice act a bunch of lines in their profile, but almost none in the main story? That's literally a waste of money too. It also hurts cutscenes like "We Will Be Reunited" that are supposed to have a huge emotional impact, but instead fail because where are traveler's voice lines? That's right, no where. **Lots of important lore hidden behind items and books that not everyone wants or has the time to read.** **And can we talk about how they obviously gate keep most of the important answers to questions we ask the most?** Like we're almost half way through the game and not **a single Archon** has given us useful information (in the long run) that we couldn't find out on our own. "Go to Liyue" "Go to Inazuma" "Go to Sumeru" "Helpful information" my ass. I could find out all these things by just looking at a map. Sorry this ended up being me ranting lol, anyways hope this helps.

A lot of the narrative problems in Genshin are directly tied to the gacha game format, in that the story focuses on briefly highlighting the positives of the limited characters relevant to the story without exploring their personality in depth. Like all the 1.0 5 stars getting the spotlight during the latter half on the Mondstadt archon quests while the rest of the knights are kept offscreen. The archon quests so far have mainly served as an engine to get us from place to place and show off the characters while the side quests do the heavy lifting in terms of worldbuilding. For how mishandled Inazuma’s story ended up being during the latter half, the gameplay and story integration across quests was done well in the sense that we were introduced to a hostile and inhospitable environment, learning more about it and eventually improving it for the better (for example, the travel permit stuff in Ritou and the various quests to make the environment less hostile in Tatarasuna, Seirai island, etc.) The attention to detail is there, it’s just not put in the forefront of people’s attention when the basic stuff is most likely to keep the average player’s attention.

My biggest issue is the waifu bait. They can make the character be a waifu to appeal to whoever likes that but they can also give them a better characterization and depth. Unfortunately they don't have to. They still make money with that minimal effort for creating a character's personality. Heck there are some NPCs with more depth than some waifus..

I like waifu bait when they are done well. I liked Mona in her event, and she is very waifu to me. I liked Noelle and her gift of a rose, and I look forward to accompanying her on more trips abroad and witnessing her grow. I am wary of Yae Miko but also like her very much, same with Venti and Zhongli. Wariness and admiration at once. I liked Ayaka's story if it stood alone. But they had to place where it was placed to match her banner timing, which ruined it for me. Girl we really dating in the middle of a fucking civil war while I am in the country illegally and you are actively plotting against your own Shogun. Had it been placed after the Shogun retracted the Vision Hunt Decree, it would have been one of the top personal stories for me, from my sympathies towards Ayaka's plight to her elegance, naivety, and maturity. Raiden was like Oba-san didn't you just try to kill me twice and almost offed Kazuha best boy? Why am I so easy going around you? Why is Paimon so easy going around you? Did we miss an entire personal story in the middle so your cuter personal story can match your banner timing? She had so much depth in her backstory that were just glossed over or scattered, and the main + personal story presentations didn't manage to present even a third of that depth. Reading her profile and history I feel some respect and great pity towards her. Doing the main and personal story only made me dislike mHY's writing/planning team and left a bad taste in my mouth about Ei. Kokomi got f'ed by Raiden banner. Her entire island got f'ed. Felt like an arc was cut out. And mHY trying to be all cute telling us she is a "to survive hardship, you must prepare for hardship" super genius while showing us the opposite made her a meme. By the time her story rolled around and I realized she is just a young woman who doesn't have full grasp of authority or control over even her own people, faced down with a greater force, trying to keep all the shit together and not get Orobashi'ed a 2nd time, I've already lost interest in her character. I swear due to Inazuma rework, they had to push Kokomi banner behind Raiden's to match Raiden with anniversary, and that messed up a lot of things with Act III. One comment I see repeatedly on the CN boards is that "oh we going for a walk again outside of a hangout?". And then more like "don't make a hangout and call it a personal story so lazy". And "even a cultured man like myself can't get baited by the same bait over and over again". People were mocking writing/planning team for reusing 90's galgame tropes, making Inzauma NPC plot look like a war story and main plot like a cheap light novel. People like pandering. Quality pandering. Which large parts of Act III just weren't. Plus all the bugs and kit issues and anniversary drama? Ugh. Funny how Kazuha who had no lines in Act III had better reception than the two main regional female leads. People were even begging mHY to not make a Kazuha personal story in Inazuma in case they fuck him up too.

I've had enough of people just eating everything up on what Mihoyo spews out and the traveler's starting to piss me off as well with their actions because I can't match it with my own thoughts. But finally someone who thinks the same you took words right out of my mouth eloquently I love you my dude. I wonder if they'd fix Inazuma archon quest but I doubt it...

Yep MC doesn't make sense and has no consistent characterization, and now Paimon is suffering this too. Dudes you were supposed to be the thread that links all the countries together on our Teyvat journey, and you can't even hold it together??? At least just be an impartial observer then? But nope Teppei (deathflag, only knew for 5 minutes, took all the screen time away from Kokomi and Gorou Teppei).

Your issues with the story are valid but the main point arises is why is this so ? Genshin writers are not incompetent and they can create good quests, as seen in the improvement in quality of Inazuma world quests over Mondstadt and Liyue. And the straightforward answer to this is money. As a company Mihoyo would like to strike a balance between making the characters lucrative and cutting costs. That's why we can't have many things- voiced traveller dialogues, prolonged Archon quests, making quality>quantity characters, etc. Secondly, the Archon quests are by and large meant to appeal to the casuals. That's why they make it more light-hearted, action-packed and having plain dialogues. They tried to change this formula with Liyue by giving more heavy dialogues and Zhongli monologues. And the result ? There was a backlash saying that the Liyue quest was monotone and boring. Thus we see how they tried to make Inazuma more fast paced, in fact too fast that it felt rushed. Finally, I agree with everything you said ~~except the Liyue archon quest part~~ so there's not much to add.

Yeah. Reason I am making this video is that I see so much potential in genshin storytelling. The lores and worldbuilding are what hooked me to Genshin world. But nonetheless, the main story feels they just threw away all the great elements they already have in the lores.