The MAJOR Issue with Genshin Impact's Story Quests.

I did not expect this video to be nearly a hour long, but it is what it is lmao. I've always felt this way about a lot of these story quests in Genshin Impact and now that almost 2 people are watching me in real-time, I can now express my opinions about them.
Background Music Used:
• Chattering Snowflakes
• Hollow Knight OST - R...
Discord: / discord
#genshinimpact #yelan #storyquest

[@YelanSlave-Tao]

I'm seeing comments addressing Dehya and Kazuha's Story Quests and it burns me because I WAS going to talk about them in this video but I literally forgot ☠☠☠So I'll just say my opinion here. Kazuha's story quest, was indeed garbage. I don't know why the fuck we're apparently in Jojo Part 3 trying to figure out about a talking sword, but as far as I can remember, Kazuha's story quest was done mad dirty because the SAME time it released, the GAA event with Kazuha's island gave us an arguably better story quest for him alone, it actually explored his past. Then we complete Kazuha's story quest, and it gives us a sword, that doesn't even fucking work on Kazuha, Hoyoverse had ONE job bro ☠☠ And I'm not going to talk about Dehya for too long because once again, character's damage will get lower and lower but for as much as I clown on Dehya, her story quest was indeed good, and surprised me since it surrounded her with NPCs that were once affiliated with her and along with them, Dehya learns more about her father and both of their pasts and how she was actually adopted. It was a good story quest.

[@whatasmallworld9681]

IMO, Kazuha’s quest isn’t actually that bad. Sure it’s not perfect but it does a good job in both setting up new goals/motivations for Kazuha after the archon quest as well as explore his character through how he interacts with Kagotsurube (the sword, which wouodve been nice if it were EM but it’s also a pretty clear parallel to Scaramouche with how both of them act [creations with ties to the Raiden Gokaden whose creators “left” them, wanting to carry out said creator’s original intent and ultimately becoming lost in senseless violence and bloodshed in pursuit of that goal]). I would’ve loved for Irodori and GAA2 to have been permanent given they also do a really good job exploring his and his clan’s history but the thing with GAA2 is that, Kazuha technically is never directly involved. The whole thing is this voyeuristic deep dive into his past and throughout our exploration of it, Kazuha’s basically locked in his childhood bedroom. Like he’s admitted, he’s let go of the past and he’s not the type to try and linger on it, so while I love how GAA2 gave us that lore and showed us how he matured and evolved, I don’t think that on its own it would’ve been a good story quest for him. Again, it’s definitely not perfect but I honestly don’t think it’s as bad as some people make it out to be. Plus it technically was also how we finally had the Fatui’s involvement in the Raiden Gokaden’s downfall made more explicit onscreen (prior it had been in artefact lore, voicelines and Irodori which isn’t permanent) as well as some more lore about the Isshin art which Kazuha is the sole successor to (and also more set up for Scaramouche and Inversion of Genesis).

[@javelinmaster2]

To me, Hoyo seems to use the tactic of exploring the Character through interaction and exploration of NPCs. That can work buuut the issue comes around when you don't learn much about the Character at all. Venti is an good example since the NPC we interact with there is kinda doing the same thig that Venti has been doing (Basically appearing as their dead friend). Navia (Fontaine as a whole actually) has the Balance between learning about the NPCs and the Character in question Just right. You learn more about the Spina and how the ppl and her Father Cherished her and what they mean to her (and how a betrayal of one of the ppl she thought she could trust did shake her up) and that she is bend on being different from her mom and pops. Then there's Kokomi's story quest....... a Quest where we learned nothing about her at all and that quest had no NPC highjacking it all................ Like Hoyo just wanted to screw her character over even more after treating her like SHIT in the Archon quest.

[@imdani4997]

Kazuha's sq isn't that bad imo. Like, we already know so much about him already. Him, his family, his clan, even scara's involvement. The only thing I could think about is his dead friend's vision but I'm doubt mhy is going to touch abt that topic for now

[@lorihime]

listen Kazuha's sword being a parallel to Scara was, aside from the Irodori festival earlier that year, the only real Scara crumbs we'd gotten since 2.1... I was a Scara waiter since 1.1 and my ass reads all the WQs and lore and shit (mainly in case my king is relevant) so I like.. I was thirsty for something (in more ways than one 👀) I definitely get what you're saying tho, maybe if I was a Kazuha simp I'd be a little bit disappointed that it wasn't more solely about him but... I generally make an exception if the NPCs being focused on are parallels to other playables, especially one that's important to whoever the story quest is for. My only real critique is that I would have preferred to see it happen with the actual Scaramouche rather than an NPC stand-in. (Still holding out some hope, though.)

[@jonarvyvalenzuela1565]

I'm not reading that

[@brrrridgette]

when i realize the characters actual backstory was in a limited time event 294892 years ago and the only way to experience it is to watch a 5 hour play through

[@neo.3]

albedo moment 😔

[@PeruvianPotato]

Fischl moment

[@Frailchip]

Fucking Scaramouche's literal first appearance ever. what the fuck were they thinking.

[@Slater2113]

@@Frailchipit’s genius. FOMO encourages you to play limited events in case you miss out on lore and limited items and thus you spend more time in game. Every second they get you to spend in the game is a moment where it’s hypothetically possible for you to engage with the cash shop.

[@kingly456]

@@Frailchip That said quest also has the largest lore bomb drop it's crazy how they thought it's a good idea to not include it in the main quest

[@papkinn]

I'm convinced the reason why Wanderer never got a story quest is because Hoyoverse couldn't imagine a scenario in which he disinterestedly helps an NPC without getting bored and walking away halfway through.

[@aboudabueid1166]

I thought it was because the interlude chapter inversion Genesis was, to some extent, his own story quest, you know, it entirely revolves about him and him alone, how he grew up his past self and accepted it, and how he embraced his new future in sumeru I would love to see him going somewhere else especially inazuma but this sadly will never happen

[@aboudabueid1166]

And actually there is a way He one time helped alhaitham in the parade of providence event So he can help an npc The way is to make nahida simply ask him nicely Without doing what Asian moms do😂😂😂😂

[@gabrielabatista6016]

​​@@aboudabueid1166yeah, there's that, the interlude is practically his story quest because it's all about him and it's the conclusion of his story arch, and the start of a new arch with his new life as the Wanderer (it's just lacking him as a trial). Plus, he might get a story quest down the line. Kazuha was introduced in the Inazuma prologue, and only got a story quest way later became his story quest is after the conclusion of the Inazuma Archon quest. Shenhe and Qiqi are also characters without their own story quest. One has her story told during an Archon Quest interlude (like Wandy) and the other appears in other characters' quests. I guess Qiqi doesn't get her own because of her memory problems, it would be quite dangerous for her to go out by herself (since the traveler almost always meets the characters when they're in the middle of something when starting the quests), and it's not like she can tell us about her past because she doesn't remember it.

[@csm3825]

If they have to make Wanderer a story quest, I want Kaedehara Kazuha to be there and also him meeting Raiden Ei.

[@aboudabueid1166]

@@gabrielabatista6016 although almost no one will read. This block text But I did and it totally makes sense Poor qiqi...

[@Wand3r3rLov3r]

Neuvillettes story quest not having us go into a random domain for no reason and actually giving more insight into his character and backstory as the judge was just perfect actually cried for that little melusine that died

[@DT-yw4ob]

Fontaine and late Sumeru story quests have such a massive jump in quality compared to almost every other quest it's not even funny. Lyney, Wriothesley, Neuvillette, Navia and even Furina (yes, i'll defend It, Paimon was a little shit but she didn't know about Focalors and Furina needed that jolt to be able to pursue happiness again) were all phenomenal.

[@levi3248]

@@DT-yw4obpain on did know. Paimon said that “focalors was a god and furina was a human” to neuvilette in the final scene of the archon quest

[@inaciojunior1384]

Bro spoilers😢

[@DT-yw4ob]

@@levi3248 I meant she didn't see her suffering first hand like the Traveler but you are correct nonetheless

[@kaiipop4762]

Thanks for the spoilers :)

[@PropheticREVOlution]

It’s crazy that a lot of the 4* hangouts are better than a lot of the 5* story quest. Like Ningguang, you think she’s just some rich girl and you take her to the street to only find out she’s from the streets, not only that but she RAN the streets and worked herself up to become a rich girl queenpin.

[@TheFoolishSamurai]

Really?! Dang. I gotta do her Hangout then

[@vchlopie9357]

No fr her hangout was really really good

[@kamill_ochka]

Fauzan's hangouts literally takes her lore as a basis, and shows how the character reflects on this. I liked him a hell of a lot

[@512TheWolf512]

She's basically the actual governor of the city, yet this is strangely avoided as a topic all the time

[@aeipathyarts]

im bias but i loved bennetts. showing his relationships with others and the impact that his luck has on both himself and others and how that itself impacts his relationships with others. also, it was rlly fun for me

[@ixaVerse]

My problem with story quests is that some are blocked by other quests so i end up doing 28 other quests just to see a cutscene of cyno walking down stairs

[@lizabee]

I think the most recent update fixed this :) 🎉

[@MegaDuke4life]

Basically now if you start a quest it "pauses" other quest that can get in its way

[@nabilanawrinnijhum]

Now when you unlock a story quest you can choose not to do it right then. So they wouldn't get in way of other quests. Previously I've had archon quest get blocked by Nilou's story quest

[@lizabee]

@nabilanawrinnijhum I was the same 😣 I had unlocked all my story quests and had to do nilou, cyno and tighnari's quests first 🥲 it was super annoying so I really hope this makes it much better for new players

[@willzhang1936]

"what's upstairs?" "unfortunately the stairs don't talk" -cyno

[@Melotaku]

I think the worst part about these story quests is that, many of these NPCs that the story quests are about are ONLY in the story quest. They aren't some NPC we've seen before, they were created solely for the story quest and nothing else, as they also never appear again. (Not all of them but, quite a few.)

[@Josh-qt5zi]

Take the latest events which actually had an npc we seem before Xaiver from an world quest begin a big part of it The only one story quest that focuses on an npc we seem before in my mind is in Ayato story quest the only why I remember is for the only foreshadow that Signora was in Inazuma

[@Josh-qt5zi]

The problem with npc is that they unnecessary add more charthers in an story that had an lot of playable cast yes some time we get Melus and Sliver that work well on building charthers but most the time we get Teppei tier that just add nothing to the other playable cast

[@neo.3]

this. This. THIS.

[@chifuyu183]

The most problems is that most of genshin player just ignore lore

[@allright29456]

​@@chifuyu183yeah, a lore that is inside an item in an obscure place locked behind a 1 week long world quest. I sure love to play light novel simulator to read some insignificant lore in an open world game.

[@ImMarsh_]

I missed the old days when quests were short & sweet,sometimes less is more. I still remember razors , Xiangling, amber and Lisa’s quests. I’d rather sit through a short decent quest that leaves a longer impression than a 3 hour quest that is frustrating, unengaging and forgettable.

[@lowkeypsycho7787]

And the only 3hr quest I enjoyed was Zhongli other than that hell no

[@Silly_Illidan]

Razor, lisa and amber had story quests?

[@ZerpsT]

​@@Silly_Illidanthe tutorial basically

[@Silly_Illidan]

@@ZerpsT that's no story quest... As far as I recall it was all part of the archon quest to look for the whereabouts of dvalin

[@bookswithike3256]

@@Silly_Illidan No they're story quests. You just did them because they were a quick way to get your adventure rank up so you could get to the archon quests, but they are entirely optional.

[@Error403HRD]

Venti's story quest focuses a lot on Stanley, but I think they NAILED the ending, tying it in with Venti's backstory so we actually learn things about him! I might be biased though, because I ADORE Venti's lore and Mondstadt's lore as a whole. His story quest is my favorite, and given how long it's been, his second quest is probably going to drop some lore bombs. I cannot wait!

[@Lulu-hp1re]

Plus Stanley was an already established NPC that we see in Mond BEFORE Venti's SQ, and we get to see how he's changed thanks to it, unlike most of the other NPCs that just appear in the SQ and are never seen again

[@racool911]

@@Lulu-hp1reThey did the exact same thing with the Ayato story quest right?

[@Lulu-hp1re]

@@racool911 Yeah, but my issue with it is that it treats Chisato like some pushoever until Ayato speaks with her when she's shown to have a backbone even before the story quest, with her decision to help Traveler sneak out of Ritou behind her father's back. With Stanley, his behavior is consistent until the Archon Quest.

[@frey5218]

Lets cope.. we haven't got anything monsdtadt related since 10 years ago. 😂

[@ilovepalitaw]

it better be about the time god

[@Wandermidget]

Cyno's characterization simply shows that people are nuanced. He takes his job very seriously, and is no nonsense when it comes to it. But when he's off the clock, he's lighthearted, playful, and sociable. There are plenty of people who are like that IRL.

[@treasure9342]

It's sad cause the only way u can learn that I go into the menu and start reading away.......... And alot of chars apply to the same logic cause genshin has a hard time actually writing a character WELL into there storys

[@BiBiren]

@@treasure9342 i agree, there are a lot of characters applied to this same personality. Could have gone in-depth with the SQ like finding out what is the Temple of Silence and Cyno's actual job there or who was Hermanubis. Could've given these characters an Act II instead of just the Archons and Yoimiya lol

[@glennpaulo7157]

​@@treasure9342you have to consider that this game is at its core is a mobile game. Demanding for intricate stories, additonal cutscenes , quest etc. just to deep dive into characters will cost game resources, memory, time etc. I don't think most of the players would like that

[@ethanlim9894]

Not to mention this is exemplified on EVENT quests.... like.... 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@randomperson093]

Tbf he got the itto treatment,where a character is treated seriously in the first perminant content they appear in,and after that they become the comic relief,itto lost most of his nuance because of this and now cyno's kinda just that "haha puns" guy,also they forgot that they were supposed to expand upon the temple of silence

[@exo_eve7575]

Ittos quest is so good that people still to this day include Takuya in fanart and AUs with Itto. Crazy how hoyo manages to make people care for a one off npc when they arent trying to.

[@AkizatheNacho]

Yeahh, but his quest was also just about finding that blue oni, then saving Takuya and in the end you get the lil story about how the crimson and blue oni parted ways. Really not that Itto-centric. Although it was a banger ngl. He deserves a second sq tho, I wanna know what happened to his Clan and why he's the only crimson oni left, when the blue oni clan still exists.

[@BlueTheSquid]

Raiden's story quests showcase this effect amazingly well. Her first story quest is terrible, offering little about her, while her second story quest shows her dynamic with her sister/her past, gives her growth, and even expands on the Inazuma tree

[@CelBaccage]

I disagree with the second one being any good, considering it ends up making her look like an even bigger idiot for choosing to abandon her people again, even if she has better intentions this time. Ei's whole quest felt like they wanted to show that she was cleaning up after the mess she had made, and it's a good idea that she's doing something especially since Inazuma is still recovering from the whole civil war + Fatui interference. The people needed someone to set things straight, but unfortunately the quest just kinda ruined Ei for what she does at the near end. It's a cool concept that she has to physically fight her old beliefs through her puppet to prove that her old ways of going on about achieving eternity isn't working, but the fact that they wrote it that they took FIVE HUNDRED YEARS to fight, and her not knowing that the passage of time was different outside feels very dumb and irresponsible of her considering she should be out there FIXING Inazuma, not FIGHTING TO PROVE she has to fix it for, once again FIVE HUNDRED YEARS. While yes, the whole battle was out of her control with how stubborn the puppet was, but why did the writers think that five hundred years of fighting with ZERO wins for the puppet was a good amount of time to let Ei prove her determination? It's a weird thing with Hoyoverse games where they don't really consider how long hundreds of years really is and they probably should've really lessened that time she took fighting. It just makes her look like a dumb meathead who couldn't get her sore loser puppet to stop throwing a tantrum after several wins. If it took less than 500 years for her to fight the puppet, I get that it does end up feeling less like she has fully locked in her resolved for this new path to eternity, but the writers should've seen the bigger picture that Inazuma needs her to not repeat what she did in the main story quest again, and just felt like she ended up repeating the problem she initially caused which was locking herself in a pocket realm. The writers just saying "BUT THIS TIME, TIME OUTSIDE WAS NOT AFFECTED" felt like a cop out.

[@lilacdaven]

@@CelBaccage YES THANK YOU. Ei is still unredeemed in my eyes. The second she has a sob story, suddenly her actions are easily forgiven. The fact that I've had so many "debates" about how Ei also murdered thousands of people is a perfect relay on how so many Genshin players just don't understand what indirect murder actually is. Suddenly a hot milf boomer with a dead sister is forgiven or understood because of her sad backstory. It's annoying. I fully believe they should've shown Ei actually OWNING up to what she did. I can't even recall her ever apologizing or actually feeling sorry despite her admitting that she knew all along about the Fatui, the war, etc. I'm not surprised though given how little empathy she has for Enkanomiya and Orobashi, however speculated. That said, she just walks out along the streets and is praised, wowing the people around her as their archon. I find that ridiculous, in reality, people would be terrified of her, or terrified and pissed that their archon shouldn't even be their archon for how poorly she leads. Everyone around her just suddenly forgives and forgets the fact that many died solely because of her inaction, everyone was trapped in a nation and unallowed to explore or even go back to their possibly original nation, and the only thing she did for her nation that actually showed real progress was the squished beef between her regime, and Kokomi. If Ei wasn't hot then people would see her for how she truly lacks. Someone who shouldn't have led in the first place, someone who hurt thousands, someone who killed thousands, someone who hellbent her nation and allowed a war, someone who allowed fatui until Signora overstepped, someone who needed her sister from the past to plant a tree into the future because her sister knew she'd pull this crap.

[@KarlyanZe]

@@lilacdaven Nobody said that she's "forgiven". Tf are you on about ¿? And here's a hard to swallow pill: HER SECOND STORY QUEST ONLY WORKS BECAUSE OF HER FIRST STORY QUEST. That's why she has two and not only one. And literally one the THE WORST TAKES i've ever seen in this (ugly) community is "omg Ei is hot so people forgive her" like ??????????? I'M FUCKING GAY AND I STILL THINKS HER ENTIRE STORY (INCLUDING ARCHON QUEST) IS GOOD. Not a masterpiece, nor garbage, just good.

[@Reydriel]

@@CelBaccage I actually think the point IS that Ei is a massive dummy head lmao. It's consistent with how Yae Miko talks about her and treats her, and the notion that Makoto was the brains and Ei the brawn back when those two ruled Inazuma together. Of course it doesn't excuse just how little any other playable Inazuma character even acknowledge her existence anymore lmfao

[@CelBaccage]

@@Reydriel Oh yeah good point. Inazuma needs an archon and it sure as hell isn't this meathead.

[@TinTeaKettle]

Hangout events are arguably more like a “story quest” than most story quests. You get to learn about a character their daily life and their past more so in hangouts than in story quests, and the gameplay being more visual novel type is actually more interesting than going into random domains.

[@BriceKoua-11-11]

yeahh! the sayu one is the one that left me the most impression on that fact

[@nad4243]

The kaveh one is also really good. Not only it tells us about kaveh past and his principles, it also shows other characthers dynamic to us like the sumeru boys eating and how dori is an asshole.

[@RiveRiveRiveRio]

I'm probably just biased but Bennett hangout quest is awesome I love that guy, it actually shows how his bad luck affects him and even people around him... If he was a 5 star the quest would be about that guy that said Bennett is stupid or something

[@BiBiren]

Another one was Tighnari's. While it was good and a tearjerker, it's not about him at all. The spotlight instead goes to Karkata and Abattouy (even when he was dead) Tfw a machine and a dead guy made me cry than a guy with animal ears and tails. Why did Hoyo hid the fact that Tighnari came from a race who once served King Desheret??? Edit: I want someone to review every Story Quests in the game. See how many of them is about the featured playable character throughout the quest, not just the NPCs. See how much it does not scratch the surface of the character.

[@cherenmertens]

Ngl I really felt Paimon's sadness when Tighnari said that Karkata was going to be disassembled.

[@handsomhannah]

The fact I didn’t even remember those npc’s is wild like what even happened during the quest. Legit most story quests have no memorability

[@tabletennisstars1227]

i just learnt that tighnari came from a race who once served king deshret :)

[@MoxxieDeOngewoon]

I always thought that Scaramouche's/Wanderer's gaining a vision was his story quest. It should've been considered as one, and should've been an inspiration to others because he grows, GAINS A VISION, and you get to see his backstory in it. I remember almost every single aspect of that quest, I barely remember any of the actual story quests.

[@Zoe-bh1dv]

Technically it is. Just like shenhe in liyue

[@EclipticRaisin]

@@Zoe-bh1dvno, it’s considered an interlude chapter

[@thitharaudiya8033]

Actually genshin has one major problem that I'm surprised people rarely addresses to. The fact that most character is too perfect to the point of almost can be considered mary sue. They do have some hardship but it's all in the past while the one that traveler meet in the present is their max-leveled version. What happened when the character is a lready perfect from the get go? There's no problem, no hardship, no conflict, basically there's no story to tell. Ofc there's different way to fix it but the easiest would be to introduce npc#9387 who has problem that has to be fixed by this character which is sum up what happened to these character quests. Another thing is that when character does have obvious flaw, they just refuse to confront and tackle the problem in character's quest. Instead the flaw is treated as part of their charm or something positive because they afraid to risk giving actual flaw to characters. Jean's quest for example, it's pretty clear she overwork herself from babysitting the KoF too much. Instead of helping her solving this problem, all traveler did is helping her doing daily cores and give her a surprise birthday party. Does she get anything out of it except one day free from work so she can overwork herself again for another 364 days? Nope. There's nothing, in the end not only we barely learned anything, she's still the same Jean with the same flaw and problem as we first meet her. I feel like they just hate the idea of a character having major character growth unless it's something like 'evil turn into good'.

[@dendenmushi9714]

Its because this is a gacha game with unit with specific personality and charm. Having that changed will alienate fans and if this happens in game then there would be inconsistencies with the characters actual personality. For example they can't right a future where Hu Tao now likes Baizhu after many development because her voicelines highlights that she doesn't. So she's stuck in this one sided hatred for him till the end of the game. This the issue for every characters they can't develop or else they betray their actual playable state and the consumer who didn't come forthis personality. In HI3rd, Hoyo solved by only having few Valkyries that they kept giving new outfits showcasing their development and for players who don't like it the old ones are still there. For Star Rail they went about it by using 5* upgrade or having characters connected to the current story a wish. Kafka wish to experience fear. Us players are kept in our toes to see what would happen the day this happens. March want to find her past, what will happen when it comes. Genshin doesn't have that because stuff either happened in the past (archon war) or far future (Neuvillette judgement) that there's no excitement about it. Only the archon have some slight possible excitement for the future.

[@MaidenlessScrub]

The last time Genshin made a flawed major character and put her through drastic growth (Ei), people rioted and tried to tear her apart because she wasn’t a girl scout

[@dendenmushi9714]

@@MaidenlessScrub Its the opposite. People rioted because Hoyo made a flawed character and decided to back track by making her a "poor waifu that didn't knew what happened". Stripping Raiden of any agency in the war and all given to the shogun instead so Raiden can appear "pure" to the players. Despite her popularity, no one loves Raiden for her personality and story in CN. Everyone fairly admit that they're in for coomer shit. People on twitter back in 4.2 were even saying that Traveler should have acted in Raiden story quest like they did Furina.

[@thitharaudiya8033]

@@MaidenlessScrub Tbh most Inazuma characters suffer from bad pacing and writing so there's that. People didn't hate Ei for having character growth but hate her because she lacks one even though she really needs it. Her real character arc only happened in her second quest which is a few months too late instead during archon quest or in her first quest. Beside, the real latest time genshin made a flawed character and gave her major character growth should be Furina. Maybe I'm wrong but there's not that much Furina hater especially after Fontaine AQ ends and her character quest out.

[@cosasdefalloutboy7451]

This, especially the last part Although I think we can blame the CCP for it.

[@wutherer]

Zhongli's story quest is quite good as well, especially the part of the Salt God revealing some lore about Archons when they pass.

[@ViperDivinity]

Im waiting for that particular story quest about Guili Assembly.

[@goldenpineappl]

I think Neuvillette's story quest was really the perfect way to do one, probably my favorite of the recent ones

[@kagakai7729]

too much melusine and not enough Neuvilette IMO, I still await the day they grow the huevos to make a character story quest about a character and ONLY that character.

[@heavenschickxx6376]

@@kagakai7729 it’s not easy to do that as ultimately the characters are influenced by the people/situations around them, like we in the real world. itto and neuvillette had a brilliant balance in their sq’s where it was mainly about them, but they had well-written npcs who added further to their development.

[@Melotaku]

I'm so glad you talked about Nilou's in particular because I thought that the story it was telling was great, just that it was about the wrong character. If Nilou and the NPC just switched roles in this quest, it would be one of the best story quests in the game, in my opinion.

[@salceds]

It'd be a disservice to Nilou's entire thing though, she's meant to be an example of what being raised with love and support should look like. She's meant to be a success story as someone who pursued the arts with supportive parents and therefore would extend that love through her troupe.

[@Alex11_.]

I have to re-started nilou quest mutiple time because I need it for archon quest but honestly her quest basically have nothing to do w her make the whole experiences for me even more sourer

[@hellogoodbye8620]

Yeah, it’s really saying something when I remember the developments between the father and daughter and nothing about Nilou in her own damn quest. I literally felt more attached to the NPCs than Nilou because if we’re being fr they’re the only ones who has any sort of arc

[@daizenmarcurio]

I just wish there was a skip dialogue button. These quests are getting too long and boring imo

[@Melotaku]

@@salceds fair point I agree. That’s probably why the quest is the way that it is. I just believe for the quest itself, it would have been more interesting.

[@HazZzel-]

Neuvillette, Lyney, Baizhu, Tartaglia and Ayaka were all my faves. They featured npcs or other characters, but it showed so much about the character themselves.

[@mitab1]

Don't forget dehya's story quest

[@azurehua]

Wriothesleys story quest is personally also one of my faves because at least for those who dont have him, you find out more about him at the end and why he did what he did....plus wriothesley is just a badass to me

[@kaeya8674]

Idr Ayaka's 💀💀

[@HazZzel-]

@@azurehua I loved Wrio's too! Great great stuff.

[@Dokicake]

Alhaitham, Neuvillette, Wriothesley, Furina, and Navia's story quests are all my favorites due to the reason you listed. To me, those are examples of showing the characters in various settings but the character is still the main focus who you learn about through their interactions with others in their quests. I actually forgot about Lyney's until your comment but his is another great example. Kaveh doesn't have a quest but his hangout is pretty much one, and does his character justice. Also Kaeya's hangout. They're all pretty memorable for me

[@TheMcSqueakers]

Yoimiya's story about her vision is meant to imply that she's way too humble to think she's special, but her desire to bring joy and happiness to the world through her fireworks was ambitious enough to earn a vision.

[@KarlyanZe]

She's fucking boring. Get over it.

[@lukatosic09]

Yoimiya's quest I actually thought was one of the better ones

[@hellogoodbye8620]

I want to add something regarding hangouts; I think that on occasion they are better than story quests. They are often entirely focused on a character and you get to spend more time with them than you would a SQ. One of the best hangouts is Faruzan’s imo. You get to learn about her past, and her struggles with acclimating to her new life. You get to see so many sides to her, from her academic side to the more tragic side with the robot that delivered a message from her loved ones years in the past. It’s something a typical SQ wouldn’t be able to achieve because of the branching endings

[@BlackBat41]

I was scrolling through the comments looking for any mentions for Faruzan’s hangout because my god that was phenomenal. Actually turned me from someone that didn’t care for her to getting more interest and appreciation for her and I can’t recommend it enough.

[@ethanlim9894]

A bunch of hangout events are bangers since they focus with backstory. Kaveh, Faruzan, Sayu, Beidou, so much more

[@bruh-hr1mt]

Holy shit fr I went into Faruzans hangout thinking ill just grind for primos but then ended up crying over 100 year old letters Faruzan I love you give me a hug

[@Sominius]

Yeah. Idk why I’ve seen people hate on Hangout Quests but praise Story Quests when generally, HQs do a much better job of focusing on the characters themselves. No NPCs, No Paimon, the characters in question are talking directly to you, etc.

[@thomasraines1396]

@@SominiusI prefer hangouts to story quests.

[@harubynspades]

Honestly, I think Ayato's story quest is the worst out of those three, at least with Nilou's and Yae's you get at least a semblance of backstory, relevance or a new thing about that character. With Nilou, you learn about her struggles with being a helpful person to the people of the theatre and her talent in helping people to find respect and love for the arts, you also learn how much Nilou cares about her closest friends and how she is ready to take any challenge to protect others. In Yae, you get glimpses of her backstory with the Yokai we meet near the end and how they bantered together, we see her sense of longing yet coming to terms with yokai's that have long since passed. We also get a glimpse at her relationships with yokai of the past and Ei/Makoto although it was horribly executed in the quest and the cutscene at the end is amazing. Oh and we also learn more about her importance as the grand priestess of the Narukami shrine. Meanwhile in Ayato's quest it's worse than those two combined, we learn almost nothing about him and the only things we learn are things that we already knew about him and WORSE this is a character that did not appear in an archon quest at all so the first impression a player gets of him is someone who tries to resolve marriage disputes ig. It's way worse than those other two.

[@Kynokefalos]

I have to confess i fell asleep doing Ayato's quest. I was doing the quest, reading, and in some point i completely forgot the whole plot and what i was doing there.

[@baronsionis6855]

Ayato's SQ cutscene being right at the beginning and not towards the end like a vast majority of other SQ's are most definitely did not help anything.

[@silverhawkscape2677]

Actually. Ayato NPC actually appears in Ei 1st story quest and also in Archon quest when you need to leave Ritou

[@moashiyodi4424]

Ayato quest did have correlation to the AQ but they did him dirty by making it revolve around his story quest rather than just a side quest to do Inazuma overall was just horrible with characters

[@veeerooooo]

nilous was so fucking boring it took me a whole month to finish it

[@rebeccacourtney5286]

I love Baizhu’s story quest because he is a doctor who gives his life force to save others. Of course it’d partially revolve around NPCs. It’s his job to help.

[@nolongerbee]

Wriothesley's story quest makes me so mad bc it would've have been easier and better to just expand on his character in any way possible. Like maybe it could be about how bad life in the fortress was before Wriothesley took over, maybe it could've been about Wriothesley's trust issues, or maybe you could be help Wriothesley on a job and run into one of the people he set free from his parents who believes that Wriothesley was in the wrong for his actions or even thought that their parents were innocent, after this you would have to convince Wriothesley to open up and explain why he killed his parents, and then convince the person who thinks Wriothesley was in the wrong to understand his side of the story and the npc forgives him and they agree to catch up and then the ending cutscene is the traveler, paimon, the npc and Wriothesley going to have lunch or something while Wriothesley sees kids being happy or some shit and learning to be accepting of his trauma? LITERALLY ANYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER. But no, make him beat up a guy so players can thirst over him and shoehorn in his backstory so it feels complete

[@saucytimes9001]

u were spitting bars until wriothesely's quest 😔 yeah it was a bunch of npcs but the hat guy was essentially running a CULT right underneath Wrio's nose, and when he found out, traveler actually interferes with his plan, which actually integrates the player really well. Although i do agree the backstory part was iffy (he gives like 3 sentences about his crime. THATS TERRIBLE AND I AGREE IT COULDVE BEEN MORE) the quest all in all shows that Wrio's morals are chaotic good at best . i mean he literally bodyslams the evil hat guy by the neck and tells him that he could kill him if he wanted to, and throughout the journey he displays protectiveness and absolute repulsion for the evil hat cult. i do get what u mean tho. story quests should absolutely expand on the character's lore and motivations, or strengthen a part of them that is established in canon. one example is how kokomi is supposed to be smart as shit but all she makes are bad decisions in the archon quest😭😭😭

[@neo.3]

dougier's motives both for challenging the very man who gave him that level of security, comfort and trust, and for treating his members and subordinates the way he did, were never properly established. they could've at least made him give wrio a super lazy-written reason, like he was the biggest fking sadist in the world or something i also agree with your second half. kokomi's writing is actually so bad it breaks my triple crowned kokomi lover's heart. she should've checked the donations she received during the aq and avoided thus putting her people at risk, and her story quest should have been a mix of her making it up to her people for her poorly made decisions and telling the traveller what she truly thought about raiden's own decisions and her hopes for inazuma's future and her own people's future. what we instead got was almost like ayaka quest act 3 but with a different waifu (ayaka quest act 2 by this logic was ei quest act 1 OMEGALUL, that made even less sense, didn't she try to kill us 45 minutes beforehand)

[@saucytimes9001]

@@neo.3 I agree, but doubters motives were actually established-mihoyo is just kinda shit at storytelling. throughout the quest, there's a bunch of members' writings and dialogies that basically cement the reason he's doing this is because he thinks everyone in the fortress of meropide is a sinner, irredeemable, and not worthy of second chances. this directly juxtaposes wrios whole thing that the fortress gives people a chance for a new life and to turn over a better life. but also, they should have made this so much more prominent because ppl are missing that part (no fault to the Creator nor u in anyway, because if this is such an important part of the character, why do ppl have to go OUT OF THEIR WAY (writings on the floor, backtracking to talk to the npcs) to learn that ? it's not even subtle storytelling 😭😭😭 also YES. kokomi was done soo bad I'm pretty the main issue with her story quest in specific focusing too much on fanservice instead of her actual Canon character 😔

[@incivous]

it was a good story but still should've been a world quest not wriothesley's story quest

[@moashiyodi4424]

Story quests need to be Help the Character solve their own problems. Not help the Character help another NPC's problems. That is my main issue with Genshin, unless it is actually an interesting big world quest. Edit:To comments trying to deflect this I put "MY" main issue for a reason. If you find the NPC's fun- good for you ig, but I personally would like to see more screentime of the character I spent money on/saved for.

[@aperfectlynormalinternetus6715]

What problem would, say, Nilou have in her life that needs solving? Does she need to go get that ribbons she lost in the desert and that's what the whole story quest is about? Oh but we already have an example of that - Jean's story quest, where she goes into a dungeon to fight an abyss mage, and then the other Mondstadt characters throw a party for her. The majority of the quest was us with her solving a problem, and it was boring as shit. The thing that makes story quests good aren't whether it's centered around someone or other, it's the concept and execution of it.

[@Rihorama]

That's like saying that there is only one way to write a successful book and everyone must follow that take, otherwise the book cannot be good. You are basically saying that the only way to get to know a character is for them to have a problem that must be solved. Which is a a sad and very narrow-minded take. You can get to know a character through their actions and those don't have to be self-centered. Just like that you can watch what said character does and how they think when helping others or dealing with a problem that is not theirs. It's a 100% valid narrative tool and has been used for loved characters for centuries. It simply must be done right. There are some traits that cannot be properly introduced while dealing with some personal issue, like Ayato being an absolute plotting mastermind. And this is what they wanted us to learn about him.

[@Rae-nw9xt]

@@aperfectlynormalinternetus6715I mean it’d make Nilou’s Flatline personality so much more interesting if they did so 🤔

[@Rae-nw9xt]

@@RihoramaYou do realize there is so many ways to do that right? Not only by NPC focus, that’s the problem??? Yeah we got to see that side of Ayato but it felt more like errands for 2 hours rather than spending time with him and uncovering that about him

[@PengyDraws]

@@aperfectlynormalinternetus6715 It's not difficult to come up with a problem. The character just needs to be able to solve it by doubling down on themselves. Easy.

[@kazedae]

I think these story quests don’t include character lore is becuz of the traveler’s involvement. When we meet the character, they’ve already been through the things which we read in the character story. But adding something new about the character itself aside from their backstory is what makes a good story quest imo. They need to be put in new situations in a way which also involves the traveler

[@timon5413]

I think the same as you do, I think you really have a solid point but hell these people are rating about old quests where the new ones are getting pretty amazing.

[@air_sejok6852]

they could have done it more like neuvillete story quest for example you meet the 5 star character - hangout with them at some particular place where it was important for them in the past - and just flashback episode from there but without the water power thing to give the reason oh it seems my memory slips to you oops cause I think there don't need a reason for a flashback cause WE ALL WANT TO SEE IT and it would pretty damn cool

[@timon5413]

@air_sejok6852 No other character reminisces about the past like how Neuvillette does. They all seem to move on from their past since most of them were filled with trauma.

[@heyheyheizou]

@@timon5413for a second I was about to argue with you saying zhongli seems to reminisce a lot but after reading ur comment again i realized

[@PengyDraws]

@@timon5413 Then let them face something that forces them to reminisce. Like Dehya's quest

[@stayinurzane197]

yoimiya’s second story quest is perfect example of a good story quest, you get to know more about how she thinks, her dreams, and how her personality shines throughout the whole quest

[@thomasraines1396]

She also showed interest in the the traveler as a person and asked about their journey up to now. It felt nice.

[@PMSeymour]

The biggest takeaway of writing character stories in this game is, It should be a story about the character Not a story with the character just in it

[@tsunderemerc2963]

This is honestly an issue I have with some event storylines, too. They're more focused on some random ass NPC we'll see twice a year (or never again) rather than the characters I'm actually invested in. I feel like it kind of robs the actual special characters of their value and just makes them generic NPCs with fancier clothes. Even if you say that it's simply a quest with X character in it...then why is it branded as THEIR story quest, when said character will seldom get content as-is. Also then tf is Rosaria getting a quest she's really collecting dust in Hoyo's basement.

[@shimaduu]

literally Chizuri or whatever her name was from Inazuma. The event was great and she was cool, both story and design wise, yet we never ever get to see her again. Like they're just temporary and WHY?? same goes for GAA

[@cosasdefalloutboy7451]

I need a Rosaria quest Like she's literally an assassin nun how can you not make a quest for her

[@nunyabusiness3652]

​​@@shimaduu If you're thinking of Chiori, she's coming out on next patch.

[@Lucindr]

It’s so weird to me that the 4 star story quests let you replay whenever, and have a hangable photo for your teapot and largely centre around themselves instead of NPCs but the 5 star ones don’t. Like obv the 5 star ones have more of a storyline and a cutscene but still

[@nadianadia4867]

Wriothesley's story quest was 70% npc yapping, 20% fan service (which I'm grateful for) and 10% his actual story.

[@tidebringer4517]

I feel like this problem was definitely avoided with Honkai Star rail because it’s always a character we can play as who were following with one exception being the abundance cult lady but besides her we truly grow close with the cast we can play as. This even goes into events because instead of taking a photos for a random NPC for no reason we instead bond with March 7th as we take photos in order to make memories she won’t forget.

[@jericobautista3701]

Glad that you brought it up, I was supposed to say Honkai Star Rail has better narrative than Genshin granted HSR story is kinda lacking at the moment but when telling a story quest of a character for example Kafka. They didn't need to put a lot of NPC to talk to and more importantly, it focused on Kafka alone. It's only like 30 mins. quest but you have learned a lot of her story in that 30 mins. compare that to Genshin where you need to talk to 3-4 NPCs before the story quest proceeds.

[@isisv7]

I found it interesting that some of those companion quests are so personal that the TB is almost out of place there, like luka, Yukong, or Pela/Lynx quest. And we don’t even participate on the ones that the pov goes to March and Dan Heng. I like Genshin but sometimes it would be nice to not make the traveler always so present in others histories

[@undeniablySomeGuy]

The reason that Genshin can't center its playable characters in quests is fear. They market the character one way and show them in that specific way when they make their first appearances. If Hoyo shows aspects of a character in future quests that players don't like, or if the character changes significantly, then players might not like them anymore and won't pull them on reruns. This outcome is a non-option. Not to mention how the character's animations and combat voicelines show a specific personality, and this cannot change either. Characters are static from the moment they release. They must be evergreen. If they had normal quests, we would either learn all their is to know about the character, rendering them uninteresting, or Hoyo would have to risk actually developing a character, putting them in interesting circumstances and showing what they would do. This has the weird effect of making the world feel static. No character with a real design ever does anything in the world. They never seem to make plays or have troubles that are worth watching. I imagine they sit absolutely still in the basement of the Cat's Tail until the next time you call them to play Genius Invocation TCG. When you play, watch for the rare times when we do see a character again: this is usually in the form of an event quest or hangouts. In these quests, characters can never change in meaningful ways: At best we see unexpected interactions between characters or backstory which don't change the characters at the end of the day. These types of things are like the junk food of plot, basically fan service. However, most of the time, characters are little more than reminders that these characters still are who they were in the last in game quest they had. At worst characters in these are shells of who they should be. Just look at the Guns and Roses event. Ayato: Is barely there but when he is, he's showing how he Knows and does more than people see, Looks out for his sister Ayaka: Does acting, showing how she is diligent and noble as ever. (Liking mechs dancing and enjoying swimming are not character traits) Yoimiya: Is peppy and helpful. (I think she ironically comes out the best of all these characters because her bit of acting was animated and actually really fun) Furina: is a husk of a character that hoyo can't commit to making a real diva director/personality in the arts or just a true traumatized sad sack (despite having ample time to have logically become either of those things since her last appearance)

[@HazZzel-]

Furina is actually realistic. She switches between feelings like a real person would. Ayato is silly and I'll give him that. Not all characters are one dimensional. There's characters such as Ayaka, Scara, Yae, Nahida, Alhaitham, Kaveh...almost all the fontaine characters that have varying levels of depth. However most of it is locked behind friendship levels, and just having basic comprehension and observation skills. I'll give you credit, you have a point. It's weird to see characters have voicelines that show a different aspect but then they always act the exact same in events

[@darianstarfrog]

Great point..Dori being a perfect example..There's alot unhinged Genshin players

[@keiths2902]

Scaramouche was probably the only time we’ve been introduced to a character but then that character actually experiences growth. He does switch back to being a bit of a brat - but the lore makes sense for why. Love him or hate him, he’s the most complex they’ve ever been able to write - barring maybe Furina - and he (and her) may be as complex/realistic/satisfyingly developed as we’ll get. I hope to be proven wrong! Likely the other Fatuis will be their means of complexity - I think they can have more freedom cus ’character bad’ becoming ’character good’ or ’character neutral’ is less likely ro ”ruin” someone than ”my absolutely flawless waifu had one (1) single moment of flaw displayed”.

[@HazZzel-]

@@keiths2902 Fr, most my favorite characters are Fatui. Lyney for example is a well written character with interesting psychology behind him. Same with Scara. Tartaglia isn't the greatest in writing but he's still interesting and has complexities that we've yet to fully see. Arlechino not only has one of the only non hyper sexualized female designs, but also has an interesting and mysterious personality. Dottore too, I can't wait for more content involving him, and I'm deeply looking forward to Capitano. I'm also curious to see what route they go with the Tsaritsa

[@loethefox6938]

I would say Kaeya's an example of a character who develops over time in the story, but to work that out I had to read the manga, look at all of his voicelines, find hidden dialogue from the first GAA event (and i didn't even start playing the game till 3.3), then do his hangout event and then painstakingly analyse everything because even at his most honest the guy's still cagey. I like the story between the lines! It has a very wholesome ending, though I'm sure nobody in their right mind would ever think about a character enough to come up with this themselves. I love and hate (well written) genshin writing for this reason. It's so expansive that someone could spend their whole life thinking about this game and still have curiosities to mull over and connections to draw. But at the same time... we have a life outside of genshin. We should be able to think about other stories or come up with our own, but genshin really seeks to capture all of our attention and leave nothing for other interests. :(.

[@queda5331]

this is why Tartaglia story quest remain supreme.

[@nightkelm9552]

As time has gone on the story quests have been getting much better, like even though Wriothesleys story quest focuses more on the barret gang situation we do get his backstory, or how Lyneys is on the phantom weasel which ties into his story, so I’ll give Genshin points for that

[@ziephel-6780]

What I like about character story quests like Albedo's is that the story was mostly between him and the Traveler on Dragonspine. Venti's story quest was pretty nice too, but even he suffered a similar issue with being eclipsed by an npc character, but it makes sense for Venti because he's supposed to be pretty mysterious too.

[@Homururu]

Venti's is a little different because that NPC was supposed to represent his struggles. The fake Stanley (I think that was his name?) is obviously a strawman for Venti, who's also taken the form of his most important, long lost friend. It's still lame that it's about an NPC but at least there's an actual good reason. In my opinion, of course.

[@moonline6808]

‼️Contains spoilers of Character Story Quest‼️ Another Story Quest that is really good is definitely Baizhu's. It was a mix of focusing on NPC and Baizhu at the same time but the NPC was actually related to Baizhu's story. Jiangli was Baizhu's fellow apprentice and Jialiang is Jiangli's husband who is also the man Baizhu's master was trying to save back then. Also fun fact: Jiangli's method of healing Jialiang is the same method Dottore used to stop Collei's Eleazar from developing any further (using God Remains on the ill). Anyway, in Baizhu's Story Quest we learn why he's after immortality, what Changsheng (the snake on his neck) is, we learn about his master and also Hu Tao's reason for disliking Baizhu. It was the perfect Character Story Quest.

[@alexplayer77]

Hard agree. I wish they'd do this more often and have other playable characters getting involved in quests to explain why the relationship between thrm is the way it is.

[@f4llenleaves]

I loved it, honestly. Baizhu is too underrated as a character and he has a solid and unique philosophy. And hard agree on what you said. It's alright to show a character's line of work through NPC story, but it should also be ideally connected to the character. Or at least it should resonate with the character well enough to evoke an important aspect of the character's personality and ideals.

[@Noumikon]

Another good example of bad vs good story quest could be done with Kazuha, his permanent story quest is so dissapointing where the main focus of it is just this sentient blade forged some npc long ago instead of focusing on kazuha, but then we got the golden apple archipelago story quest that shows us Kazuha's past, family, the decline of his clan and how he escaped from inazuma.... on a limited time event that will likely not come back, like why couldnt it be the other way around??

[@sentience3033]

I felt sentient blade was parallel to Scaramouche’s life

[@saltyboy7013]

i agree that a lot of character story quests are about NPCs, but you kept bringing up a point that seemed strange to me: adapting character lore from their friendship-unlocked story. they cant do this, because that took place in the past. you suggested using "past or future events" for these. while i do think they could use more relevant to the character details for these, no. the whole point of character story quests is showing them in the moment, having the traveler meet them and interact with them and learn about them that way. it wouldn't make sense for the traveler to even be around for these, or show past events of a character weve already met WITHOUT the traveler. the most you could do is have the character have a flashback, which they did in like, dehya's quest. but that has to be limited, imagine you go to the start of a character story quest and they just go "traveler lemme tell you about the time i blah blah blah" and then the traveler isnt even there the whole quest. basically, the way they do current stroy quests is gonna stick: meet a character in the present day, learn about them and interact with them and see how they act in a new situation. the way they do this is by introducing a new problem for them to solve. and the easiest way to introduce a problem is by NPCs. which is how they ended up in this hole. my proposed solution is simple: introduce new solutions for the character in other ways. easy.

[@urvenicebitch]

yapping

[@nesbola9521]

Totally agree. You can see a pattern of story quest dealing with the "present" of the character, including their routine. Ayato's quest just shows the things he deals with everyday and how he does it. And yeah, politics are often boring. I'm always making example of Kazuha's SQ: while yes, time event in the SAME patch showed his backstory, his SQ (which, you can argue, is a npc quest) did a lot to characterize him and show his philosophy and most importantly - clue us in on where he's headed in the future. Most of the examples of good SQ in the video of characters who have some conflict in their lives: bad guy with soft side/racism/prejudice. Not every character has this component, they're just chilling. Kazuha too is not a character to have much of a conflict since inazuma AQ, still they managed to give a conflict, that reflected on him and made us understand him better. One more thing, but just showing characters "story" from their profile is kinda weird when you need to basically work to unlock those stories, gaining friendship exp.

[@saltyboy7013]

i agree on that last part. bit weird. but i guess it means the more you play the more you learn about them, considering the ways you gain friendship xp. also yeah, kazuha's story quest is a BANGER@@nesbola9521

[@JerryMouse.]

THIS THIS is what I meant.

[@balzo_benevolo]

I think the problem is exactly the presence of the Traveler and Paimon. Why do they have to be there? The way I see it, the Traveler and Paimon are friends with everyone just because they are good and friendly persons, not because they form any meaningful bond with the characters. And I honestly find that really boring. The Traveler in general doesn't even have a real personality. They are like a witness in the stories we see play out, but they don't do anything important (most of the time, at least). I'm not saying the Traveler is a de facto player insert, but sometimes I get that feeling.

[@KuduOW]

I feel like zhongli, furina, and neuv are some of the only ones that actually go into new depths for the characters UPDATE: there are a couple other 5 stars that have good writing and help you to know more about them, I was just sleepy and just spitballed what came off my head first :3

[@feralsgoose]

Also wanderer and nahida second story quest are very good

[@FreakGeSt]

Eh, no so much about Furina, only in the end part of that quest, is still about that NPC group, Zhongli and Neuvillete are well made.

[@jazmonicacid]

I don't agree for the Zhongli one. but yes furnia and neuv is good.

[@tha1oneasianguy]

@@FreakGeSt It's still bad considering that the NPCs and the traveler invading her personal boundaries...

[@SpydeR5K]

Not all five stars have this. I can only think of wriothesley rn. But I am sure there are others.

[@mortimamori2330]

I will never forget what they did to Cyno... Cyno was one of the most anticipated characters for me. That moment when I saw him appear in the Teyvat Teaser video I knew that I want to get him just from the design alone. And then I read the manga and fell even more for this cool and mysterious dude. But then he came out only to be degraded to a complete caricature of a character. The guy literally has an ancient deity in him but we get this information only in the walls of texts in the character menu and crumbs from the limited time event. Ah yeah, not only in the limited time event but from the ADDITIONAL dialogue in the limited time event that wasn't a part of the main event quest that 90% of the players missed. And all this just so that Cyno could be a silly TCG nerd and make stupid jokes all the time

[@bronyanword4099]

The main problem I have with Genshin's story quest is they look more like sub quest than main quest that actually have effect on the MC's journey. The game told us that the MC's goal is to find the sibling but things that happen in each story are just all over the place and doesn't have focus on the reason of MC's journey at all. We didn't get to know more that much about Khaenri'ah or Celestia, all we did is just travel around and meet new characters before saying goodbye then repeat this whole loop over and over again. It makes me feel like the main goal of the journey doesn't have any progress at all and that makes the story telling borring af so I quite after playing for 2 years.

[@itsacharcoalice]

Even now it's a pattern of country and its people story, then dripfeed of larger plot after, then repeat. I will admit the revelations are quite interesting though

[@primaryhoodies6386]

I think a major issue with story quests is that (from my memory) they always take place in modern day. So we never really get to see characters develop because they’ve technically already gone through their challenges. I think it would be great that instead of random domains for character trials, maybe change it up to be use experiencing something from their past. Ex: let’s say that traveler goes to talk to a character and they end up talking about their past. Instead of just reading what happened we would go into a challenge where we play as that character and experience what happened.

[@fibbbb909]

I quite liked Yae’s story quest actually. I think having this ancient character being obsessed with something mundane as a book store makes her more interesting and fun.

[@FreakGeSt]

I agreed, feeled to subjective even he has a point about is not about Yae.

[@AmethystLeslie]

@@FreakGeSt This is me with Ayato's SQ. I liked it cuz I related to Chisato, but yeah, wrong character to focus on for his own SQ.

[@MonkeBrain07]

I'm actually fine with her SQ. My issue is the length of the set up. I was 10 minutes into the SQ and wondered when Yae would make an appearance.

[@kresshq5170]

Well, Yae's SQ is good. But you didn't learn more about her. All that it shows is just a surface level information about her. You laern more about the npc around Yae but not about herself.

[@vetreas366]

​@@kresshq5170 This is just wrong. What do you mean you don't learn anything about Yae? Who do you learn more about? Can you give me a list of characters you learn more about? Do you learn more about the two liars at the start? The oni that posses one of them? Maybe you mean to say you learn more about Urakusai? The Traveler? Paimon? The Raiden Shogun? The unnamed NPCs who appear at the end? Or do you learn about Yae from how she interacts with all of the other characters and how she behaves during the quest? Do you learn more about the two dumbasses at the start or do you learn more about how Yae doesn't suffer their stupidity and is absolutely fine with letting them get burned by the situation so they can learn a lesson? Do you learn more about the oni spirit that possesses the guy or about how Yae doesn't really see the need to forcibly exorcise him if he's not actually bringing real or lasting harm to anyone? Learn more about Urakusai or more about how Yae interacts with someone she sees as a friend and equal and who seems to have known her since she was a child? Do the final scenes when Yae actually displays some moments of vulnerability that suggest she does feel lonely really not say anything about her? Would she actually ever admit to feeling lonely or showing moments of such vulnerability? Do these aspects explored add anything to her character and give her more dimensions or are they unnecessary to her character? They help, because with the exception of Yae putting her trust in the Traveler at the end of Raiden's story quest, Yae's general character could be described as "smug fox" and all of her interactions with all other characters have her asserting dominance and putting up a playful facade. In her story quest we see much of the same, but we do also see that there were people that even she couldn't get the upper hand on and that she needs friends just as much as she suggested Ei would back in the Archon quest. That she has her vulnerable moments and that she does ultimately trust the Traveler as she allows them to be with her in a moment of weakness, as much as she wouldn't admit it. Did we really learn nothing about her or was reading between the lines the issue here?

[@teeafy]

Xiaos story quest made me so mad. I thought we were gonna learn more about his character and back story like ya know…. The Yaksha. But we get some fake Adeptus guy and the bare minimum of Xiao.

[@thomasraines1396]

He’s barely in it honestly.

[@Ravera_gyx]

Haven't seen anyone talk about Yoimiya's second story quest, but it is definitely my top (not one of but the top top). The little girl in the wheelchair, the shooting stars and how we had to tell a well intentioned lie to preserve dreams, the lens, the aranara all tied her character together beautifully. Although we didn't learn anything new about her, I do love how the quest is like an embodiment of who she is as a person. Seeing the little girl get out of her wheelchair and run was also very emotional.

[@mowossh]

u know i was like 'yeah!!! i really loved yoimiya's 2nd quest too!!' but then i thought about it. why yoimiya? all the way from inazuma...? no hate to yoimiya i love her but. but imagine if this storyline was given to nilou instead that would've given nilou more connections to the nation she's in 🤣

[@Luchiinku]

Hangout quests are AMAZING at showing interesting aspects of the characters. I'm currently playing Kaveh's story quest and I already learnt so much about him through just one of the endings.

[@Paimordial]

Exactly! Some hangouts i WILLINGLY go back to hang out

[@thomasraines1396]

Beidou’s and Ningguang’s are my personal favorites so far, Beidou because she’s such a chill character (plus us learning about her past) and with Ningguang we learn more about her and see there’s more to her then the money obsessed typhoon (not sure if that’s the right word to describe her but it’s all I can think of).

[@jericobautista3701]

Finally!! someone had said it. Genshin has a LOT of interesting playable and nonplayable characters yet when a new version arrives, they focus on a story of a new NPC that we barely care of and treat playable characters as side characters. The last summer event for example was a waste, if was supposed to focus on Eula, Kokomi, Klee and Kaeya but they focused on that copy and paste NPC from Fontaine. The same thing happened in the poetry event. I want to know more about Hutao, Diona, Xinqiu or Chongyun. Instead we only got a few dialogues of their lore and then back to their focus which is another generic NPC.

[@thomasraines1396]

They also act like the new character has been there the entire time. Learning why Diona can’t make a terrible drink no matter how hard she tries is funny but also sad seeing as learning about it was locked behind the event. If you didn’t play it though you as the player are just like Diona in thinking she just isn’t trying hard enough when there’s an in universe reason for why her drinks always turn out good.

[@kingly456]

Nilou's story quest felt more of a hangout than a story quest which is ironic because some hangouts do a better job at this than Nilou's story quest. It saddens me that she got treated this way she really has a lot of untapped potential when it comes to her story quest

[@idaniluz652]

At least the Fontaine story quests are a major improvement. Lyney, Neuvillette, Furina and Navia's story quests are actually about them and develop their characters. I hope Genshin continues this trend to Natlan and Shneznaya.

[@kyoken8691]

What I did was just change my way of thinking with regards to story quests. Instead of thinking were getting quests "about the character" it's more like quests "with the character". As that seems to be what is most consistent about all the story quests so far. Since canonically there's only really traveler and paimon, the rest of the cast just temporarily join and leave depending on the plot. Story quest then are side quests where that specific character is a "guest party member" for its whole duration. Stil doesnt detract from some of the atrocious writing and bland characterizations though.

[@Josh-jr4nw]

Good job in gaslighting yourself

[@JosepiThe13th]

I actually thoroughly enjoy most hangouts, and most of them are really well written and have a ton of depth for that character. The Sumeru ones in particular do a great job of this, and Beidou’s. Faruzan’s hangout might just be the best one in the entire game, and gives a lot of depth to an otherwise forgettable 4 star character. In all honesty, I wish there were MORE hangout events. It’s insane how infrequent they are considering there is a new 4 stat almost every patch.

[@ZanathKariashi]

the first couple are pretty rough as they weren't sure what they wanted to do with hangouts. I burned through the whole list recently in reverse order to squeeze out some more primos, and you can literally see the quality dropping as you go down the list until the first set (with Noelle 2 being a notable exception as it came much later and is written more in style of current quests). Bennet especially was torture to get through as even with Chapter Mechanic (which didn't exist when Hangouts released), it barely made a difference as all but 2 of his endings required you to play through 90% of the hangout again anyway.

[@Neo-o]

I personally really loved Kaveh’s

[@JosepiThe13th]

@@Neo-o All the ones with Sumeru characters were incredible. And a huge reason why I’m upset there aren’t Collei and Candace hangouts. They deserve them too!

[@arminkir9389]

i wouldnt mind if they bring back NPCS I ACTUALLY FUCKING KNEW like i swear if the ybrought back jeht for a nahida or cyno quest i would of litterally cried tears of joy but noooooo they want some new random charecter that i cant give 2 fucks about though some npcs in the story quest are good CAUSE THEY ACTUALL GIVE LORE example nahidas 2nd story quest raidens story quest and then boom we get wriothesleys and more like omfg i hate it sm

[@chalk._.]

I think that they try to make the story quests more about the character in the present (and even where their future will take them) but even then, They could maybe have what their past involves and how it effects them currently instead of something like Nilou and Ayato's story quests

[@Xelluse]

Story quests are not about characters exactly, but about Traveler experience with those characters by interacting the world. Genshin is fully written in third person after all.

[@DonDaniellllll]

The best storyquest that we had were patch locked in 2.8. Kazuha, Xinyan, Mona and Fischl stories about their past were masterpieces. Sadly, newplayers after 3.0 will never experience that.

[@MH.0807]

Dehya's SQ is actually well written and very character focused. Yoimiya's 2nd SQ may not solely focus on her but it highlights the very best of yoimiya's personality/characterization. Neuvi, is my favorite fontaine SQ so far. I think it's very well balanced and truly is a backstory. (all sq mentioned made me cry)

[@fanartfiasco4398]

I'm glad you talked about Ittos quest it's probably one of my favourites and i feel like ppl dont really talk abt it (idk man im silly maybe ppl do). I like how we get to see what itto is actually like and not what ppl think he is like, he's goofy and rebellious but knows when it's time to get serious, the conflict that takuya brings is hella interesting and itto handled it really well, and the story book paralleling the events of the quest is super clever. Also probably the funniest quest in the game I've never laughed that hard playing genshin but this quest sent me. Idk if I got all the details down cuz I played the quest a long time ago but honestly a really good time.♡

[@someoneinasia]

it's funny how some limited event's story has more character story than the character own story quest.

[@hydroarchonfaker]

I feel like Venti's was the only good way to add some npc character backstory. We knew Stanley ahead of time, and it ended up also relating to Venti himself. It worked well. They seemed to take the one that worked well and thought OH lets just go ahead and do that for everyone. Which sadly has ended poorly.

[@loonastrawberry]

i liked furina's quest, surprisingly. i didn't expect anything good. but it was very good, touching and we got to see how furina tried to overcome her trauma.

[@ChainedThoughts]

There's a reason why they don't take lore from character stories for their story quest. Its because those are past events and Traveler wasn't even there to witness it. The reason why a character story quest mostly revolves around an NPC is so that we get an idea of their personality. Take Ayato's for example, its very accurate to his position in the Yashiro Commission. He is the Head of the Clan but Ayaka is the face of the Clan. He does things behind the scenes and at the end of the day, we learn that he does this so that his people can return home to their families safely. Also, a lot of the character story quests foreshadows future quests in a very subtle manner. The reason why people find certain quests boring is maybe because they expect something grand when really we learn so much about that character's personality compared to just listening to voicelines that may or may not say much about them. With their story quest, we get an insight of what they go through every day that we don't often get to see.

[@neo.3]

thank you for offering this response. how we as different players interpret the same story is going to be different after all which means what we want from a story quest and consider good from a story quest is usually very subjective. for instance, players who want the character to be the superstar of the show all the time would be more interested in a story quest like klee or itto compared to ayato or yelan, because ayato and yelan are both people who would much rather be slowly tugging the strings behind the scenes. waifu hunters and simps would like ayaka/yomiya/kokomi quests more than they would like male characters' quests

[@timon5413]

The only problem with the quest is those unnecessary dialogues that were written in a lazy manner. And also traveler saying the same line but just broken into two choices of the same line 😂😂

[@kiz7300]

A story quest shouldn't be "just another day of work". In a story quest you don't have to either show the personality of a character or their lore... You can do both. In Wriothesley story quest we perfectly understand his personality and his ideals, but we also learn his past and his position as the Duke gets questioned. Kinda the same happens with Navia or Neuvilette, we get both lore and present story, while seeing their personality and some of their daily life. That's perfect. 1 hour and 30 minutes of Ayato helping 2 npc just for us to say "oh wow, he is smart! He is cunning!" is stupid. They could've make a story quest about Ayato having to defend the Kamisato clan from someone of a past rivalry, or something like that to make us like Ayato more and understand his burden... but no, there is 0 emotion in that story quest, we found out nothing new about him expect that he likes to make bad food and 2 lines of his past. Wow. Like, everyone has his tastes and if someone loves those types of Quest, that's cool. But for me, Ayato, Nilou and Yoimiya SQ were torture.

[@clawsthewolf89]

what is a flashback? what is them talking about or reminiscing about a time they had with someone important to them with the traveler its not hard to do most of the npc in these quest take up the lions share of the screen time and we will never see these people again after this quest so who cares about them if we wanted to see this these characters personality there are tons of better ways than watch me help people

[@dojiz7242]

Yep, although it's possible to bring up flashbacks or make the character talk about them naturally. Scaramouche's backstory only get shown as a cutscene due to plot letting Traveller see (because Scaramouche's general personality won't let him talk openly at first). For other characters, they just need a reason to talk since they all have varying level of trust in Traveller.

[@hellogoodbye8620]

When you mentioned Ayato’s story quest I started laughing because I realized that I didn’t remember ANYTHING that went down in that quest. Truly a testament to how nothing it was

[@llily9096]

i think another good story quest was dehya. Learning about her past and overcoming her grief was amazing. I love that so much.

[@walteranurantha5014]

Same with Shenhe, she also has to overcome her grief of her father abandoning her is why I love her so much than Yelan.

[@thomasraines1396]

I really enjoyed her quest.

[@whatthehecktye]

This is why nowadays I push off story quests until I have absolutely nothing better to do; they're usually just long NPC quests. You often learn about characters more in hangout quests than these "dedicated" 5 star story quests.

[@mikonyx7712]

Knowing how story quests were consistently good since Dehya'. That was a pain to read 😔

[@lucendus_the_descendus3463]

I know she just came out like a few days ago, but I wanna talk about Xianyun's story quest since I feel like it was appropriate. It was ass at first, where its centered around helping 2 npcs, a grandma and her grand daughter helping them in restoring the granny's memories, so cliched that I don't even remembered their names. But we learn towards the end that the granny had a deep connection with Xianyun in the past, in fact the whole purpose of Xianyun's visit to Liyue harbor was for them. Unlike many other past story quest, we actually learned something about Xianyun's past that is connected to the lore of the adepti and how they play a major role in shaping what liyue is today, something that should've been presented in Ganyu's story quest. But what really made this story quest unique compared to every other story quests is that we actually get to play through Xianyun's past as she secretly observes and protects the granny and her husband as she give birth to her son. Oh did I forget to mention for the first time ever, we get to see the traveler with his/her sibling actually having a good time exploring Teyvat together even it is just a dream. Never before a story quest actually show the siblings together having a good time. We really need more story quests like this.

[@thomasraines1396]

Cloud Retainer’s story quest was pretty good especially the ending.

[@islowclick]

When I hear your opinions it just makes sense. Keep speaking facts brother. Also God dam ayato keeps becoming this side chaarcter in the venti inazuma event and the latest event. God he even was a side character in his own character quest. They have to make the fashion event that's coming soon include him ffs. Also they should add playable characters to the world quests. It makes it like they actually exist and not just in events or their own story quests like that one xing qiu world quest

[@neo.3]

im pretty sure said fashion event already ended OMEGALUL

[@kaled20001]

This is why Raiden's story quests are the best in the game, yes, including the first one, because they are about HER, we get to know so much about her in both story quests, how she reconnects with the world, how she slowly accepts the ideal of her sister, how she steps up as a leader and deals with issues, her past, her vision of what her ideal should be, her resolve and determination, Ei's quests are so rich in characterization and development and are the best in the game because of it.

[@ectasy358]

Even though they completely change raiden as a character, I agree that the story quests are actually good.

[@kaled20001]

@@ectasy358 They couldn't change Raiden as a character before her story quests because we literally didn't know shit about her at all lol, the only thing we knew was not only speculation from most characters but was also wrong or out of context, the only one that gave any accurate info was Yae and the things she said, jokingly, still hold up in her quests. It's wacky that the Archon Quest didn't feature its Archon all that much lmao.

[@HazZzel-]

Ain't no way. Raidens story quests were shit. They tried to make it look like the disaster wasn't her fault and she was really a cute unaware waifu. I appreciate that they focused on her, but it only made me hate her more. She never takes responsibility, but to be fair that's less to do with the writing and more to do with the character. I also may be biased You want a good story quest? Ayaka was good. It might've been slightly bland but it was about her, about her feelings and her own traits. Neuvillette story quest, that was excellent. Yes, there were NPCs, but it was about him and his feelings and didn't try to rewrite him. Baizhu, Tartaglia, Itto, Lyney...they all had good quests if you ask me. They didn't try to change the character but merely brought out more in them

[@FreakGeSt]

First part of her story quest was a joke dude, but I agreed is about her, not the NPC like many others, but you can't denied is mediocre as f.

[@kaled20001]

@@HazZzel- The story quests didn't tried to make it look like the disaster wasn't her fault, the disaster simply wasn't her fault at all, this is literally what the entire third act of the Archon Quest is about, it's a fact already at the end of it that the fatui and the corrupted tri commission were the ones at fault, her quests didn't do anything about it lol, in fact, the moment Ei got to know what was happening it was the moment the war was shut down, she can't take responsibility for something that she didn't even knew about, even Watatsumi island who hates her thought that it was weird how she wasn't doing anything about it and they speculate that she might not even know what it going on, and yeah that was the case lmao. Also, even though she wasn't responsible for any of it she DOES help her people and step up as a leader anyway: > Arrested the commission heads that betrayed her and plunged Inazuma into chaos. > Ei banned sword duels to the death, with the exception of duels before the throne. > Issue directives to help rebuild war torn areas > Issued a large array of directives aimed at resolving, or at least easing, the tensions that have built up over the years. > Rewarded and recompensed Kazuha for his achievements and the excessive punishment he and his clan endured > Issued many decrees aimed at supporting the development of various industries in Inazuma > Possibly had a hand in the commodity bill for Watatsumi island.

[@hayakawaken9493]

I would say I disagree with your take on the Yae Miko one (being a Yae main myself). I Agree that the book writing stuff is a bit drab and just a literary device to work in meta jokes about Inazuma AQ so I'll give you that. But the part where she reunites with her Youkai uncle is some actual lore stuff about her, since these guys greatly influenced her as her elder when she's young, and she won't be able to talk to them after the rite of passage for these long-deceased loved one of hers. After the ritual at the ending of the quest, she'll truly be the last of her kind, and her mask of exuberance slips off for a bit after the ritual because the weight of the situation. I'd say it's this quest that makes her character works for me. Anyway, sorry for the long rant, I agree the Nilou one is really bafflingly NPC focused. Would be nice if these story quests has more to say about the character from now on.

[@JJEB]

Nah it's boring

[@eggpam8908]

Yae's quest was the best for me. Actually enjoyed her sassiness and all the gaslighting and humour there was. The cutscene was also great. Only problem was that damn domain.

[@ryankimbell8762]

One point of disagreement: While a character may have a great backstory, those can't usually be the subject of a story quest, because we are the Traveler, here, today, in the present. You can't have an entire story quest of flashbacks with nothing for MC to do. Yes, you can sometimes have someone from their past show up with a new problem that reveals their old story, but there's only so many ways you can contrive a good plot using that.

[@l__Dark__l]

The only parts I liked about the story of Wriothesley is his backstory at the end and when he said to the "evil hat guy" "The Warden doesn't need a reason to make someone dissapear" then he proceeded to absolutely dominate him by grabbing the back of his neck and pushing him to the ground. xD For a moment I felt like this guy is a closet Psycho and I like it.

[@inphrognito1018]

5:20 furina's is mentioned in multiple of her voicelines, as well as in an event released later. additionally, even though it is a hangout quest, heizou mentions his as well.

[@HectorCotto97]

I feel like Wriothesley's story quest was a tad oversimplified. It wasn't just a story about a evil guy who wears a hat, no this was some cult leader type shit going on. If memory serves the guy on the surface was running an organization meant to help the inmates reform themselves and to try to make the environment they were stuck in into a more welcoming one. However behind the scenes he was manipulating, blackmailing and even drugging his "followers" into obedience and anyone who failed him or didn't follow his rules would be either imprisoned in isolation or they would be executed by their follow members, even if that fellow member happened to be a significant other.

[@papapepe1111]

I think the writing was good and entertaining but they could've implemented some info about Wriothesley better

[@danialyousaf6456]

My dude, we literally get wriothesley's backstory on how he was raised by his adoptive parents and why he hated them and how it connects with the bad guy of the quest. Like i get that it was a bit tedious but it definitely was interesting.

[@sapphireshineauthor]

Im slowly working through this video, but I also have some opinions to share in general regarding story quests that might not align with yours. I do agree that some quests are a bit too focused on NPCs than the selected character. However, considering the occupation and situations, its not that far fetched. In regards to Yae Miko (my first limited *5 and my favorite), Nilou, and Ayato, its all occupational. Miko loves her publishing, and the finale of the quest shows her connection to the Youkai and how she had to move on, even though the ones she cares for slowly vanish from the world. Nilou literally works at the theater and that the theater is her family, and Ayato is literally a major political figure in Inazuma. Considering these stories occur in present time, and their occupations, its no surprise the npcs are there to drive the plot forward. It happens organically, the plots thst happen, would logically happen at some point in the timeline of the world. Making the Raiden Shogun reverting her stances and the vision hunt, not the mention Kujo clan being revealed to conspiring with the Fatui and the destruction of Inazuma. Ayato, who focuses on RELATIONAL matters between parties, the fact he has to deal with a marital issue between Ritou and the Kujo clan makes so much sense, and well, the traveler happens to be along for the ride. I think for the npc heavy ones, its really just the playable characters doing their job in that world. We may not learn anything personal about them much, but this is their ROLE, their job, their duties. This is who they are in the world of Teyvat and their purpose in their world. Same goes for Cyno, it may not be so specific about him, but it shows what his role as the General Mahamatra entails. His ideal if justice, and his role in the Akademiya. And Wriothesley's as well! He's the warden of Meropide, it's his role to keep the peace and order. He's just doing his job, and ofc, most of the time, we'll just see characters doing their job. Most of the story quests is just us seeing the characters doing their jobs, doing their work and what their roles were outside of the chaos of the archon quests. Hu Tao goes about her work as she would whether Rex Lapis died or not. Nilou is supporting her theater and family, regardless of whether the sages were making a fake god or not, Yae Miko is what she deals with on a daily basis regardless of the state of inazuma. We read about their personalities in their character stories when we obtain the characters (which makes sense, since now that i think about it, getting a playable character in the gacha... Can symbolically show the trust the characters have with the traveler. They trust them enough to share their stories and secrets. But that is just me reading too much into it XD). We may differ on what the stories should focus on, but it's no surprise given the world it's in and what the characters do. To be frank, it actually works well in a realistic sense. When you make a friend in the real life, you don't dump your history, motivations, and interest within 10 minutes of meeting them unprompted. And depending on how you view things, most personal information is on a "tell when necessary" basis. Ayato's makes sense since he only knew of us from Ayaka and second hand sources. He wouldn't just dump personal info on us the first chance we meet. So whats the best way to ease the tension and hang out? He has us attend his job with him. This is what he normally does, the kinds of matters he needs to tend to. Cyno is the same, we're just helping him do his job. Most of the playable characters we meet, especially the ones eith npc heavy quests, are usually characters we don't really have much time with in terms if in game time. Ayato doesn't know us, only meeting in the story quest (and vague glimpses from limited events i think), Cyno only knew us when we stepped foot in the desert eith Alhaitham (and from the desert to the finale, was probably only a few days/weeks of in game planning). Yae Miko knew us more, but she's a mysterious character and doesn't exactly explain herself to anyone she isn't personally close to (and like Cyno, we only knew Miko partway into our journey in Inazuma). I definitely don't recall running into Yelan prior to the Chasm quest, so she only knows us from others and when we were stuck in a pit. The characters, canonically, don't know the traveler that well when the story quest roles around. Some exceptions are there of course, but it makes sense. I don't really know where i was going with this comment. But thr main takeaway is that, the quests may be npc heavy, but it still does spotlight the characters, just in a more mundane matter. When the world or region isn't in crisis, well, this is what their daily lives are.

[@starqueenelement]

THIS!!! ^^

[@althea7181]

YESSS EXACTLYYY

[@MaidenlessScrub]

The earlier story quests focus a lot on the main characters and maybe another playable character that they’re connected to like Jean and Klee or Kaeya and Diluc. But now they just suddenly change to make the type of quests like you described

[@cynicalducky1041]

I'd argue that Wriothesley's story quest isn't that bad compared to Ayato. At least he told us his backstory which was hella interesting, which gave us some insight into his character. But I do agree that it would have been more interesting if the hat guy had some agenda against Wriothesley, because of his past would have been more interesting. Like make the hat guy be the reason why Wriothesley has his current scars. Maybe the old guy was around when young wriothesley was killing his parents and out of self defence, he scarred Wriothesley to stop the young boy from killing his parents but failed.

[@neo.3]

his quest was fine for me and quite engaging. it was the first time they managed to make me unironically interested in the npc's, like make me wonder wtf dougier was thinking the whole time, and why he dared challenge the very man who was giving him a second chance when he coulda chosen not to give him that level of security, comfort and trust. i was even rooting for all of dougier's victims and for the couple (the main two npc's, the one where in the cutscene the girl was about to execute the guy as forced by dougier) who told wrio they wanted to marry in and then stay in the meropide, and damn was i frustrated when the quest completed immediately after that and we didn't even get to see dougier's well deserved punishment. that severe lack of explanation of dougier's motive was the most confusing part by far, because the story felt so incomplete due to just that one part... why put your subordinates through that level of agony and misery if just for the "fun" of it? they coulda at least given a lazy reason like dougier was the ultimate sadist

[@someoneshiny]

i think it's crazy how hangout events show better depictions of the characters than story quests do. like the hangout events (at least the ones i've done) explain and explore so much about the 4 star that people would never know because most of them don't feel like scrolling through their character stories. I'm just upset that characters like mika, charlotte, yanfei, etc don't get hangout events. i think that all 4 stars should get hangout events- and yes, it does kind of upset me that kaeya got a hangout while he has a story quest already! the only thing i dislike about story quests is having to hurt some of the characters to get the endings (that one chongyun hangout ending. 🙁) but that just gives even more insight to the characters in the end. anyway mika hangout when

[@NoitNoit-ef2yq]

Although I have a LOT of issues with story quests I dont see them not accomplishing what you expected, I see a lot of people getting mad at Hoyo for "telling not showing" basically how they tell us that Kokomi is a genius strategist but we dont actually see that and other examples, but most of the story quests "show and dont tell" maybe thats why most people dont see the relation between the quest and said character because they are expecting to be told, Venti's quest show us how the god of freedom carries his duties not just Stanley's story, Ayato and Yae's quest show us how cunning they are by having you pawn around in their hands thinking youre helping when everything was already planned out by them, the Ayato quest was about a couple? LOL Maybe you do need Paimon to repeat everything 3 times more than you think you need.

[@pedroares6562]

I love it, basically as you said Nilou is actually Inayah's character quest. Yae Miko could talk about her ancestors or why there aren't more kitsunes, but no. I think the only good story quests are the one with new boss world. Eula is pretty good but the issue is the timeline. If the Lawrence family existed 1000 years ago and still exists today, then more than half of Mosntad would be from the Lawrence family.

[@harubynspades]

I think the game skews the sense of height and population of the world of teyvat, in lore, mondstadt possibly has millions of people same with liyue, inazuma, sumeru, fontaine. They can't just make millions of houses or npcs so yeah.

[@cum4044]

​@@harubynspadesalso because the lawrence clan is a royal clan so inbreeding is pretty normal

[@worstpartis20068]

@@cum4044 that and the occasional Murdering a side branch of the family

[@williemherbert1456]

You know, they could just be in-bred?

[@pedroares6562]

@@williemherbert1456 The problem is not the idea of Lawrence as outcast and keeping their traditions and the clan "pure", the problem is the 1000 years. After 50+ generations of inbreeding they won't look like Eula, and that is saying the children survive to adulthood.

[@AbyssalGaze5]

The wall of text in 5:08 reads as follows: "Hey Hoyoverse wassup so is there any possible chance that you could create a life-sized copy or cutout of this very same chair Yelan is sitting on in this vid? It would be quite beneficial towards my collection of Yelan content, oh and if it isn't too much to ask for, could you also get one of Yelan's VAs to sit on the chair aswell? Just for an extra benefit since I love antique objects to keep ahold of, it would make it so much more valuable and authentic in nature. It would be a true piece of priceless treasure to get my hands upon, the smell would be quite delectable in fact. It might be the only smell i would sniff for the rest of my miserable life. Hoyoverse I would pay you so much money to just get me this fucking chair. Dear god I just can't hold it in anymore I just want to smell this chair right the fuck now, do you even understand how incomprehensible my lust is for this chair Yelan is sitting on? Goodness gracious the smell.. the sweat would taste so delicious.. Hoyoverse PLEASE I WOULD WHALE EVERY SINGLE DAY IF YOU COULD GET ME THIS CHAIR, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MAN I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK ME TO, I'LL EVEN GET A C6 FURINA IF YOU CAN GET ME THIS FUCKING CHAIR HOYOVERSE. I JUST NEED THE CHAIR THAT'S ALL I NEED IN THIS WORLD RIGHT NOW... NOTHING ELSE FUCKING MATTERS MORE THAN GETTING THIS CHAIR BRO, I CAN'T PAY MY BILLS, I CAN'T GET A GF, I CAN'T GET ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS LIFE, SO I MIGHT ASWELL JUST GET YELAN'S CHAIR. PLEASE.. THIS IS ALL I ASK FOR, THIS IS ALL I NEED AND WANT AND DESIRE IN MY LIFE"

[@kirbydswii]

This just makes me think that world quests should have playable characters in them and that ayatos story would be just a world quest if playble npcs were allowed in wqs.

[@asheclips3784]

i’m a cyno main, and in all honesty his story quest doesn’t bother me as much as some of the others (mainly because it’s focused on him and his work, not mostly on an npc) but knowing his lore they had so much room to play with. spoilers for most of his lore (which i hope i got right lol) cyno was a desert dweller, taken by some researchers and literally had a god’s remains put into him to test out a theory (i’m pretty sure that’s true, it’s how he has that funky looking burst). he was adopted by the guy we saw during the academia competition event, and he’s literally capable of performing fucking EXORCISMS??? we also cannot pass on the fact he is pretty much a reincarnation of the priest who had something funky going on with greater lord rukkadevata. and the fact he is feared by pretty much the entirety of sumeru, has a very close bond with the aggrevate boys and maybe in fact, gad something about him being the general mahamatra, or how he values gudgement and doing the right thing over following orders from the higher-ups. hell, we could even have a bit of his love for tcg because what the hell?

[@pokefan69420]

I personally think that they're good quests. It shows their personality and how they act and interact with other people. For example, Venti. His story quest mainly revolves around Stanley and his troubles, and shows how Venti cares for the citizens of Mondstadt. Nilou, it shows how kinds and willing she is to help others, especially of one from the Zubayr theater. And Ayato, it shows how he usually works, he's a politician, and likes to do his business behind the scenes. Hu Tao, it shows her views on life and death and her care for the deceased.

[@bunbun5000]

Hey this video was so well done. It would be really cool to see you make a similar video about hangout quests because trust me when i say they are actually really good. Like you learn so many things about the characters and paimon isn't present and so on.... the best ones imo are heizou kaveh kaeya etc

[@silverhawkscape2677]

Hangouts are dates with the characters so you do learn more about them.

[@neo.3]

however, mihoyo are not going to create hangout events for 5 star characters

[@kiplingwasafurry1108]

I really like Faruzan’s as well, I’ve only played a bit of it but it gives a real sense of the tragedy she went through being missing for 100 years.

[@AmethystLeslie]

@@kiplingwasafurry1108 Thanks for reminding me to do Faruzan's Hangout. Literally the one I haven't done yet lol.

[@rogue5590]

also, something that i can't wrap my head around is how clorinde and navia are on perfectly great terms even though clorinde executed navia's dad...like i get it, she can forgive her i understand that it was a duel and a fair fight, but the thing is that they hangout and go to restaurants pretending that everything is fine💀 it's okay to forgive and not hold a grudge, but cmon now, if someone killed a member of my family they should be grateful if i even spoke to them, my point is, i think hoyoverse is scared of making two playable characters not like each other and they are all somehow friends

[@thomasraines1396]

I really hate that aspect of the story but they essentially wrote Navia with the forgiveness of a saint, as shown when when she still wants to associate with that douchebag from her story quest after everything he did. It’s so contrived and awkward. They write it as if Navia simply learning the truth is enough for her to forgive Clorinde which is crap in my opinion. It reminds me of how the CW has really assholish characters get contrived “friendships” with some of the main cast to endear them to the audience and usually those characters would have every reason to not want to associate with each other.

[@user-rm3itr40rnd]

they just promote lesbian fanfiction around them.

[@user-rm3itr40rnd]

The one of biggest problems with Genshin story-writing is all playable characters being overly friendly to each other. Even during first meeting they act like they're in good terms for longest time and feel great mutual trust. That's so unnatural. There are no conflicts, no disagreement. I bet even Neuvillete won't have any will to fight against Archons after few small talks with Zhonglee about weather, food, arts...

[@Dorian_Nox]

You know it's bad when you are slipping the dialogue of your favourite character in their own story quest-

[@GussyBaka1972]

NPCs arent the problem they provide set up and context for the quest. And NPCs also help flesh out the world as it would be a little weird if the only people that mattered were vision bearers

[@heyheyheizou]

vision bearers actually seem like the only people who matter though..all vision bearers must’ve not owned a vision at some point, right? they could’ve been like any other average NPC, right? but THEN they get a vision and along with it comes with a makeover..just look at the differences between an NPC and a playable character’s design..

[@heyheyheizou]

Excluding that one girl from sumeru who got a dendro vision

[@GussyBaka1972]

@@heyheyheizou either you dont understand what i said, or i dont understand what you said

[@heyheyheizou]

@@GussyBaka1972 im very confused.. because you said ‘it would be weird if the only people that mattered were vision bearers’ and i thought that was already true, like im saying that vision bearers ARE basically the only people who matter in teyvat

[@GussyBaka1972]

@@heyheyheizou i mean in world, like if the only people who held any sort of relevance in world were vision bearers it would be weird. Having NPCs helps flesh out the world as more than just vision bearers being special

[@equisde8721]

Honestly, the tartaglia one did make me fell in love with the character, i got so happy when he was part of the story of fontaine.

[@cantanuh]

Honestly, I liked the story quests like ventis a lot more than other story quests mostly because it focuses on how venti reacts to the situation rather than how the random npc reacts and it builds ventis character a lot better than just walking around talking to him about shit

[@The1Fau]

Honestly, the worst part is that some characters get more lore in events than those story quests so tons of people just never find out about them unless they search online.

[@nicolasprzasnyski2114]

I have a theory on why they need to make paimon act like think... the first paimon voice lines were more in Corinas regular vocal range, and shes been asked to go higher and more cheery.. but when you hear Cor drop her voice, you realize theres other places she can take the paimon voice that could be very ominous and dark.... they want you to know when paimon switches side. 😅

[@user-mw6hy8rx9i]

WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT NAVIAS QUEST????!! THAT WAS SO WELL WRITTEN

[@FreakGeSt]

Indeed, Idk why he things Navia wasn't good enough, or say Eula is simple, and OMG is super annoying when he repeats he same down bad joke about Yelan for the nth time, hard to take serious his opinion.

[@plazasta]

Thank you for voicing a frustration I've had for MONTHS. Ever since I played Ayato's quest, I got frustrated at how so many story quests, especially Inazuma and Sumeru ones, have their titular character be a minor side character, almost an afterthought, in some random NPC's quest. Ayato in particular is a travesty, because it doesn't feel limited to his story quest; he never gets fleshed out on-screen, like when I saw him in Roses and Muskets, I got super excited! I thought "finally I get to see this character again! Finally he has a chance to shine!" Aaaaaand 5 minutes into the film's production he leaves. Hoyo just went "ok, you had your two minutes of yearly on-screen time, now shoo! Begone!" He's barely involved afterwards. He's a background figure that spends all his time doing stuff off-screen, and it feels like Hoyo does not want him to be fleshed out ever Nilou's story quest also infuriates me in a different way: specifically the difference in production quality between story quests and world quests. It felt so jarring, so frustrating to me to see how, in Nikou's story quest, two NPCs having an awkward reunion warrants a full-on animated cutscene, but in Aranyaka, when Rana GETS AN ACTUAL VISION, YOU KNOW, THE PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION OF THE GODS ACKNOWLEDGING YOUR AMBITION AND AN OBJECT THAT LITERALLY MAKES YOU ELIGIBLE TO MAYBE BECOMING A GOD ONE DAY, IT IS NOT EVEN TOLD THROUGH IN-GAME DIALOGUE, NO, IT'S TOLD AS WHITE TEXT ON A BLACK BACKGROUND. HOW THE HELL DOES AN AWKWARD INTERACTION DESERVE A FULL-BLOWN TOP QUALITY ANIMATION, BUT ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT AND IMPORTANT EVENTS IN A PERSON'S LIFE, AND SOMETHING THAT UP TO NOW I'VE ONLY SEEN TWICE IN THE GAME, A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EVENT THAT FEW PEOPLE GET TO EVER WITNESS, GET SUCH A LOW PRIORITY PRODUCTION-WISE THAT THEY TELL IT AS A WHITE TEXT DESCRIPTION ON A BLACK BACKGROUND? As a whole, it frustrates me how there's a clear hierarchy in production quality between the Archon, story and world quests, but this hierarchy between them does NOT reflect at all the quality of the stories being told On other quests, it boggles my mind how, for the most part, Alhaitham's story quest barely characterises him, and feels more about the NPCs of the collective consciousness. The Archon Quest gave us a better insight into who he is than his own story quest... until we reach the end. His interaction with Paimon outside the cave, and especially the scenes between him and Kaveh in their house are the saving grace of his story quest. Kinda funny how Alhaitham is best characterised and fleshed out through Kaveh. I also find it funny how Hu Tao was better characterised and fleshed out in Baizhu's story quest than her own, even though she's a side character in there. Interestingly enough, I don't think 4 star character hangouts have such issues, at least anywhere near as much as the 5 star story quests. Perhaps it's by virtue of them being longer and having multiple branching paths you can take, but you get far more insight into a characted in a hangout than in a story quest, which leads to this weird situation where it feels like 4 star characters get fleshed out more and better than 5 stars. From a gacha point of view, this makes no sense. Wouldn’t you want the characters that are the most fleshed out and appealing to be the rarer and more expensive ones?

[@azuredrago001]

Yes oml I love ayato but my guy never gets screen time. And when he does, it’s just boring. Like, I need to know his lore and backstory!!

[@plazasta]

@@azuredrago001 it feels like he got as much characterization in his "about Itto" voice line as he did in all the times he was present on-screen during a quest or event combined

[@azuredrago001]

@@plazasta yes oml

[@alpha4935]

4:30 Lobotomy Kaisen always strikes when you least expect it.

[@coco-wc1cz]

As a lore enthusiast, we are just as clueless, the lore feels like the entire storyline is literally laid out in front of you but its super hard to make sense of it

[@Indian_gae_boii]

i dont have a problem if hoyoo wants to tell the story of an npc, jeht is one of my favourite charecters ever, but it deffo is a problem when they mask the npc's story under a charecters story

[@sipscoffeeaggressively2503]

Love your editing, I didn’t expect to sit through it all haha

[@jaystrike3270]

unrelated but Gorou hitting 5k perfectly at 10:29, made me cream. I love seeing perfectly numbered damage.