The Story That Saved Genshin Impact

[@SailorRbbn]

honestly big agree that yanfei's roles could have been split between kuki and yelan, making the quest even more focused. I def got the impression at the end that kuki was relegated to reigning in itto for the most part and didn't really get to shine as much as she could have. fingers crossed we get an ace attorney moment with her and yanfei tho!

[@StrayMaverick]

An ace attorney quest is all I want from Genshin now! Lol

[@calebv123]

Damn, especially with the trial mechanics introduced in Fontaine, this needs to happen more than ever!!

[@celebriane]

I can't agree with part about Yanfei - first of all, her room. I actually LOVE that her room was rather bland. Why? That only shows us that Yanfei is one of the VERY few characters in this game that have their shit together and has healthy coping mechanisms. Her fears are normal. Mundane. Easy to face. And that makes sense for her character, she was brought up in a loving family, without a burden of a contract with Rex Lapis. And it's good to have characters like that, brings some balance into the story. As much as I love angst, not everyone should be burdened with traumatic background. As for her role - Raknasavis cleverly pointed out she is the perfect link between all the characters - Shinobu through their studies, Yelan through their cooperation and Xiao due to her unique heritage as half-adeptus. She was the catalyst (hehe get it) for the events to progress, it was her that had not only the idea but enough guts to talk Xiao into joining them. And she was the most logical and strategic of them all, even though Yelan should have that place - but Yelan is a bit too... proud to actively cooperate with others and share her thoughts? She only trust and is willing to work with Yanfei (again, a perfect link) whose role is putting all puzzle pieces together. I loved her in that quest, she was actually shown to be smart instead of game having to tell us that she is. Also, the beginning of the video - FAT MOOD, that was exactly my reaction xD

[@StrayMaverick]

Perhaps I should have worded it better; I'm not looking for Yanfei to have a traumatic past, just her having fears that tell us more about her. Her fears, to me, just tell us what we already knew about her. It makes her feel like a stagnant character with no flaws or intrigue. At least, to me it does. And I do mention how Yanfei has connections to other characters in the quest, and I do absolutely like that. But her being the one to do a bunch of action in the quest, like you point out, but having little thematic relevance or no character development was the issue that I had. We have a character like Shinobu, which, to me, was just a better version of Yanfei in the quest. I'm not sure why she couldn't have been given the roles that Yanfei was, and I'd argue that her in those roles would have been more compelling. Regardless tho, I enjoy Yanfei, and found her fun in the Teapot quest. To me though there just wasn't a lot here to grab onto with her character. But, I really do like that other people enjoyed her here and I'm glad that you illustrated your points really well in this comment! 😀 Thanks for being awesome!

[@FaiGal]

In Yanfei’s lore, she promised her father to live a happy life and she likes to win cases where justice is truly served. So to deal with a case about civil disputes, where nobody wins because it all just leads to heartbreak, that’s what she really fears. Overall, great analysis!

[@toasted3695]

Xiao's story never fails to make me cry...

[@StrayMaverick]

It's taken him from a character I didn't really care for to one of my favorites. Also the cutscene about Bosacious and Boyang at the end was legitimately crushing. Lol

[@Someone-wr4ms]

When yanfei entered the magic room my phone actually froze on a still image of the empty room, and I thought for a second "no way.... Yanfei is actually scared of her own longetivity (or immortality idk) and is scared of being alone after living for hundreds of years giving us a look at the depressing truth of being an adepti and retroactively making the story of other adepti like ganyu even more tragic", but then my phone unfroze and I saw that... Yeah, she... She just doesn't like family disputes or something... Honestly that's my only complain about this quest, they kinda wasted yanfei and made a little 2 dimensional

[@StrayMaverick]

Lmfao! I love how a phone freezing made you come up with a more interesting detail for Yanfei than what the quest did.

[@samuell4194]

I really couldn't put my finger on what about this quest made me like it more than other ones, you put it in words perfectly! I strongly agree on the highlight that is the cast's interaction with each other, seeing them talk like actual people and not just reading separate paragraphs off a plotline teleprompter really brought the story to life for me

[@StrayMaverick]

Absolutely! And a "plotline teleprompter" is the perfect way to describe what often happens. Lol

[@AmoryTrys]

I absolutely loved this quest. Only one so far to actually make me cry

[@StrayMaverick]

I may have teared up.... maybe.... 😢 lmao

[@hayond656]

Just found your channel through the Xianzhou Story video, And I must say, I really like these Story analysis type content. It's pretty cool to see someone explain how a Story's elements made me react the way I did. This quest was the one of the few things that made me look for People's reactions to something other than a Boss Fight

[@tabd3277]

I enjoyed the quest. Since Genshin is a live service game, and they are continuously (if not slowly) adding new content, I like to think of it as an episodic anime tv show, and so the point is to actually watch and enjoy the stories (how sad was that last animated cutscene), as that is really the main content of the game... the stories and characters.

[@StrayMaverick]

Yeah, I'd say the story is the main aspect of this game too. Especially considering that the story progression is one of the few types of vertical progression that this game has

[@foozlesprite]

I could take or leave Yanfei's role here BUT I think Hoyoverse was going for a deliberate parallel between the Yaksha and the cast of this event, and they needed her for a Pyro character. My reasoning: Itto/Menogias - Geo; Menogias's Chinese title is derived from a Buddhist term describing someone capricious or restless that can't be contained, which fits Itto. Shinobu/Bosacius - Electro; Bosacius was leader of the Yaksha and Kuki is de facto leader of the Arataki Gang. She's also self-sacrificing; her skill sacrifices HP to heal others, per previews. Yelan/Bonanus - Hydro; the Geo and Hydro Yakshas are implied to have killed each other and Itto+Yelan were at odds a lot here. Yanfei/Indarias - Pyro; Yanfei is already friendly with Yelan and the cutscenes imply that the Hydro+Pyro Yakshas may have been close, from their proximity/laughter together. Xiao is obviously just Xiao, though you could also make a case for Aether/Lumine standing in for that role since Anemo was their first element restored.

[@StrayMaverick]

Yeah, I think that parallel is a lot of fun! I like the idea that it also makes these characters into a sort of makeshift family for the quest, like the yaksha were. Really interesting idea. But like, sub Yanfei out for Diluc or something. Lmao 😆

[@iandakariann]

Yanfei ended up kind of sacrificed in this story to serve a point. As pointed out, she carried out a Yelan role of bringing in lore elements and a shinobu role of reasonable one. But I think her doing that helped to avoid watering down the others. Yelan is secretive to the point of threatening death just to avoid having to see and share her past. Her driving the group to locate her family's old artifact to a group of strangers wouldn't make much sense for her. Given that it was the need of the compass that guided them to obtain it (using the rules of the area against itself) it would be hard to give her a good reason to bring out the needed info on the compass. A similar character issue shows up with Shinobu. Yes she's a thinker but she's not an outgoing personality. Her benefit to joining Itto's gang is experiencing all the outgoing crazy things that date would've otherwise not have done in her old life. However she herself is the strait woman in the group. She became a lawyer. This is not the type of person who would just run up to a stranger and start recklessly warping space and time using mystical forces. Also she does not know who Xiao is and so would have no reason to try to bring him in to help in the escape. Yanfei knows the Traveler. She is also outgoing enough to have brought the Traveler along even if she DIDN'T know them. She's reasonable enough to think up solutions but impulsive and reckless though to jump into Ittoish ideas like hunting for xaio to bust into their room and using unknown high powered artifacts on a hunch. Also she knows all about Xiao and can easily explain knowledge of the compass by being a half-demigod lawyer. Also note that all this means she did THREE people's roles. She replaced Paimon as 'the guide'. Which is why Paimon could focus more on just being herself, bouncing off of Itto, worrying over dying (which helped show just how f'ed up the situation was. They were basically in a magical version of the school from Corpse Party), and just being her. That's probably why Yanfei is there, to help bridge the gap between player, story, and game so that everyone else can just be themselves. It sacrificed her own character arc but was a worthy sacrifice given what we got out of it. Also I feel that the 'fear room' for yanfei is an aspect of her half adeptis unable to cope with emotionally complicated human issues and adeptai always have that inner 'do I really fit in' vibe. It probably could've been hinted a little less subtly if that's true as she's always seemed immune to that idea.

[@saltoftheegg]

Well damn, I wasn’t expecting much either and tbh I was just planning to watch the video to get the story because I usually find that less tedious than reading all the super padded dialogue, but you made it sound so good, I’m gonna actually pay attention while I play it!

[@StrayMaverick]

Lol I think you'll likely enjoy it! Let me know whatcha think after you've played it!

[@lithium5425]

Oh yeah, that was 100% my favorite quest so far. Like heck i didn't expect that. I hope there will be more like this.

[@StrayMaverick]

Completely agree. I think a lot of people were caught off guard with the quality of this quest. Lol

[@lizjanejam]

Maverick - love your videos. Easily one of my favorite KZbinrs. Your writing is brilliantly balanced between your humor and intelligence. Brilliant work as always! Excited for your next videos.

[@StrayMaverick]

This is legit one of the nicest comments I've ever gotten. Thank you so much! You're amazing!

[@BlackCascade]

8:24 OMG the exposition on the joke 😂😂😂

[@batperson3532]

2:36 if someone does someone a favor it isn't at all natural to follow them kilometers away from the city, on a foreign country you know nothing about into the mines guarded by the millelith underground where people have been known to have disappeared and died all just to repay a small act of kindness.

[@StrayMaverick]

Yeah, Itto is, uhhh, special. That's for sure. Lmao 🤣

[@AulaSalvadora]

It isn't small if it is an act that set you free from a prison, mind you.

[@michaelinthebathroom]

OMG you're just in time before I spiral out of control with this quest 😭

[@StrayMaverick]

Lmao join the club! We're in our own spiraling purgatory.

[@cocogoatcomehome4168]

Great video! I was getting kind of worried about the Sumeru chapter after the fiasco that was the Inazuma finale, but this event quest has given me so much more faith in the quality of the Sumeru chapter. It's honestly reignited my hype a little.

[@StrayMaverick]

I completely agree! I'm really curious now to see what the next main story quests look like!

[@Rockstarmoon]

Always at the right time to post a video. I've been enjoying your analysis of story telling in general and what's considered good writing. Though I'm really curious on what you'd think of Honkai's story telling in general and how it compares towards Genshin if it peaks your interest in the future. I'm absolutely sure you'll love it. Keep up the Good Work!

[@StrayMaverick]

Thank you! That means a lot. And I've heard that a bunch about Honkai, so I might have to try it out here soon!

[@TheDramacist]

Yanfei was key. It was her ideas and her blood link to the compass which gave them the method of escape. Additionally, she might not have a tragic past (what a dull trope), but she does have a very intriguing potential.

[@StrayMaverick]

Wasn't it Yelan who was blood linked to the compass because of her ancestor? And I can agree that not every character needs a tragic past, but when a room that's supposed to show your greatest fears shows like, paper cuts or something, that's a bit boring to me. Lol

[@jaimemiranda8265]

​@@StrayMaverick Yanfei, she is the key in the story...why ask the viewers if they like it or not Yanfei being there in the quest, if you insist on saying that she is not needed there?

[@StrayMaverick]

I mean, it's a conversation. I wanted to reply to get a better understanding and have a fun dialogue with a viewer. Lol.

[@shantelwastaken]

Thank you for making such wonderful videos that focuses on the storytelling and writing aspect of genshin!! As someone working in a different medium of the TV industry, I love the storytelling in games and in genshin and learn how to organise and analyse these stories from revisiting them here after the first gut reactions as just a player! So I just wanted to say thank you and I truly hope you grow, maybe collabs with other genshin lore CCs? Haha! Onto additional thoughts, some have brought up a fantastic point of yanfei being almost like a character goal sacrificial lamb for the greater good. She definitely felt like her role was the offload a lot of plot from the other characters to have the room to play and grow, it may be a justification, but I do think she definitely could have done that and then some for her own goal and growth. Perhaps making the will something of more personal importance would affect her more seeing the compass disappear, yet completing her goal, it's an interesting thought on how to uplift her story to make sure she isn't more easily taken out of the story. A fascinating take on the irodori festival though!! I definitely felt something was off with the cast, but I knew I was completely biased because I loved Kazuha and his lore and irodori was the first crumbs of his story even shown HAHA I discounted the awkward ensemble taking it as a kazuha centric quest instead. Not to mention, I think what disappointed me in it was klee didn't get much role in the grand scheme of things either, make it solitary confinement with kaeya again 🤣 I would love to hear you pick apart the irodori festival from the story point of view though, if you ever get the chance!! Sorry this got long, I just,, really love storytelling, as I'm so glad to have found so many that do here too! 💕

[@StrayMaverick]

Well thank you so much! That really means a lot. And hey, I'm open to collaborating with whoever! lol. And I agree on Yanfei. I can see what the writers were trying to do with her here, but I think that treating a character as if they're a tool instead of a 3 dimensional person is always a letdown. And Kazuha was definitely my favorite part of the festival! I think that almost every other character could be cut out of that quest, because to me they didn't really bring much, but learning more about Kazuha is always great. And maybe one day I will do a ranking of event stories or a specific video about Irodori to give my indepth thoughts on it. And thank you for such a well-thought out comment! I hope to see ya around for future videos!

[@shantelwastaken]

@@StrayMaverick yasss a year 2.0 ranking haha! Looking forward so much to finally a Kazuha story quest and I'm really hoping it's good 🥺💕 totally felt about yanfei though, it feels like hoyoverse is finding their footing on an ensemble cast and I hope it just keeps getting better from here on out!! Thanks for replying too! Looking forward to future videos 🥳🥳

[@allurasven6425]

This is one of the best archon quest so far. It is really well-balanced like every characters has their own goals (I agree with yanfei's roles should be split up to kuki and yelan), more lore but not very boring at all. It helps to connect the whole genshin lore and also the backstories. More interactions between characters and we get to understand everyone's true personality. Love how I need to think and use my mind to understand the whole story plus xiao's character development. This is one of my fav quest so far.

[@paulinasolis9261]

I really love your videos, and i enjoy big time listening to your thoughts. I hope this channels grows bigger! Amazing enterteiner

[@osoaioi]

Honestly Yanfei is one of the characters I yearn the most to have more content of cause I agree she's really under developed- but I sense so much potential in her story, the idea of a half human half adeptus that leans in more toward her human side, it really puts her in contrast with the other adepti who are all very reserved, ethereal, and bound by contracts, while Yanfei on the other hand is very down town earth and studies law specifically to not be bound by anything like a contract, she learns about the nature of binding and she wishes to spread that knowledge to others in order to help them, she's this half spirit that chooses to live as a human and not only play by human rules but to use rules as a means of liberation- I don't know maybe I'm misinterpreting her but I just wish the writers played more into this angle

[@Valefor_Bahamut]

Loved the story analysis and breakdown.

[@controlcon]

not sure if i missed it but you didn't mention how the traveler got significantly more dialogue (albeit its his thoughts) than any other quest so far. I hope this continues, i really want the traveler to actually start talking tbh

[@StrayMaverick]

That's a very good point! Having the Traveler have dialogue aside from the dialogue choices should absolutely be a must for every quest moving forward. Even if it's just their thoughts.

[@vitozd2001]

Do you think it's possible to see your live reactions to the events/cutscenes in the future? Would have loved to see your reaction to the cutscenes in this quest especially.

[@jonathanmiles4633]

amen brother, that sums up my thoughts completely and I look forward to future content!

[@StrayMaverick]

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed the vid. :D

[@werewolfwebsite]

Yanfei's fear would have been a bit more interesting if her parents got divorced or something like if she hates civil disputes because it reminds her of some family troubles. It doesn't even have to be all that traumatic like it could have been amicable but lead to yanfei being super conflict averse or trying to fix every single disagreement people have, hence her becoming a lawyer. I think it would do a lot to also tie her personality and her job together as well? Because a lot of characters in liyue really feel like they are entirely based on their job, or around their job, and with ninguang and beidou it feels very connected to their characters and incorporated really well, but with yanfei it always feels like she is just Lawyer Adeptus: The Half God Lawyer. I really like her and wish we got to see more personality beyond "oh her greatest fear is this specific aspect of her job" bc it feels like she only exists to be a lawyer and its very flat.

[@andriuspluto7444]

Agree abt yanfei, but idk what other excuse they would use for kuki & itto going to the chasm besides an impulsive trip

[@kingalex105x7]

only issue i had with this is i wish when they did exposition they showed some like 2d images of the stuff, something they later introduced in sumeru, since the chasm hole we stayed in for most of the quest was kinda boring looking compared to all the other cool things in the chasm

[@TheREALSimagination]

Definitely experienced more interesting stories in this game, but it probably was one of the more interesting story-tied events so far. Maybe I'm just disappointed we didn't get another area in this patch, like with the Chasm.

[@StrayMaverick]

What would you say is your favorite story quest so far?

[@TheREALSimagination]

@@StrayMaverick You clearly went into this on a more technical level than I had anticipated, and honestly, I don't have the brains to ID those kinds of building blocks of a good story, but although I liked this one, from a pure enjoyment perspective, I liked the Lantern Rite Festival and the quest where we rebuilt the Jade Chamber the most so far. I was crushed when it was destroyed in the fight against Osial, and even sent in a request to the devs to make a quest to rebuild it - somehow I think they always planned to. The Lantern Rite was just enjoyable, especially the one-on-one moments with certain characters. I started playing the game during the first Lantern Rite but didn't have a clue as to what I was really doing, about events and the like, so I missed out on it and was very happy when I came around again. Perhaps it's mostly nostalgia and my preference of some characters... But the fight for Liyue Harbor against Osial is by far the coolest quest sequence so far, and I really like the last quest overall in the Liyue questline, so I guess we can put that in with the other two. Was this quest in the Chasm your favorite?

[@StrayMaverick]

Yeah, I was surprised as well when the Jade Chamber was destroyed too. I do like the idea of the world changing as we progress through the story tho. But it's so beautiful that I gotta admit that I AM glad that it's back. Lol. And I can see how nostalgia can get someone to be interested in a character. I pulled Jean on my first multi and because of that I used her a bunch. So I started really enjoying her character, even tho she really hasn't been given a whole lot of depth since the beginning of the game. The Osial fight was definitely great! Probably the first true hype moment that the game had. And as for main story quests, currently I think this would be my favorite. But I still think that Venti's story quest might be my favorite quest in the game so far. I might do a tier list here soon! That might be fun.

[@TheREALSimagination]

@@StrayMaverick A tier list vid could be cool. Do you mean Venti's quest as in the monstadt (how do you even spell that?) story or does he have his own thing? The Jade Chamber is gorgeous, true, but what I like most is it floats in the air and is such a symbol for Liyue. It felt like something was missing after it got destroyed.

[@StrayMaverick]

Venti's character quest. The one that you get by using the quest keys to unlock. And I agree. I also think they really ran with the idea of rebuilding the chamber, which was a lot of fun.

[@strangely240]

tbh one of the reasons why I like this Archon quest is because the traveler had a voice line but how I wish they had more lines 😭

[@StrayMaverick]

Lol THIS! Give the Traveler lines!

[@celineosthaus8032]

Ushi had more spoken lines than traveler😭

[@davida6883]

I liked Yanfei role, she kinda links the interactions between all the characters , been semi adepti she is curious about what really happened there. I wouldn't remove her.

[@co_co_ocelot]

WHY THE FRIGG ARE YOU SO UNDERATED WHAT THE HECKK

[@mugdhashirodkar3451]

Mr maverick could you do a review of shenhe archon quest its one of the best in my opinion it would be nice too see more people talking about it.

[@StrayMaverick]

I could definitely do a retrospective on it! It might be a bit, but keep an eye out! 😀

[@semjoi]

you're back! :D

[@StrayMaverick]

I'll always be here! :D

[@keelooah388]

Will you be doing another world lore video soon? The last one was so good and so informative

[@StrayMaverick]

Yup! It'll take awhile for it to come out, but I'm working on it! Lol

[@keelooah388]

@@StrayMaverick haha that’s okay I’m willing to wait ;)

[@RealDemimondaine]

Sweet a new Altered Maverick video! As always, I appreciate you breaking down the story and explaining what you enjoyed and didn’t, since it’s always nice when someone substantiates their opinions. I 100% agree with your take on long form story telling in the “A Little More” section of your video in regards to Genshin. As for this quest, it’s my second favorite main quest closely next to the “Requiem of the echoing depths”.

[@StrayMaverick]

Thanks so much! That means a lot. And I also really enjoyed the Chasm main quest. Having 2 really good main story quests back-to-back is certainly awesome. Let's hope they keep it up!

[@MrJemoederopeenstokj]

The way they clapped for Itto was a high point for sure

[@MrAnca]

Can you still do this event now a days or it was only for a limited time ? (I'm currently reaching inazuma so idk how much is left before reaching this part of the story )

[@Caporal_Croaporal]

You can still do it

[@Zufftino]

i sub after that long vid of all lore of genshing i would l like to know if u ever made onether vid lik that

[@StrayMaverick]

There will definitely be a Volume 2!

[@azula292]

Xiao's honestly one of the best characters in the game and will probably always be my fave character. He's just rlly well written and whenever there's an event with him in it i'm always on the edge of my seat reading the dialogue properly. I'm glad the writers rlly fleshed him out as a person and makes him seem like a perfect balance not just for his character as an adeptus but showing the balance between other characters and their adeptus and human selves. You can see where the pendulum of character sits for Adeptus and Human with Xiao. And moments where Xiao is more human than adeptus are always powerful cuz these are seemed to be as different from the norm. overall Be a Xiao main. 👍🏽

[@medbeth9857]

Hard agree. No matter how much time passes, how many characters get released, you'll always go back to a well written character whose potential was fully exploited. We have developped not only understanding for Xiao as a character, we also formed a bond with him. We are actively accompanying him on his path to healing and self-acceptance. There is only so many characters in genshin you'd confidently say you understand and are invested into. Xiao and recently, Neuvillette and to a lesser extent Furina, are the only ones to do that for me :")

[@azula292]

REALLLL PREACH PREACHHHHHHH LOL@@medbeth9857

[@Void_Creature4]

When i first heard about this quest i was like "YES MY SON RETURNS AFTER THEY DID HIM DIRTY IN THE LANTERN RITE (Xiao is my poor little meow meow) This better be good" and i was NOT disappointed ps: we already knew about Shinobu's mom and the shrine maiden job from her voicelines btw

[@crystalizedhell36]

I think yanfei in the quest was okay, she definitely could have had more character development. However she can't NOT be there because Xiao probably would have never rejoined the group without yanfei's help, because she's adeptus like him and the only other person he trusts besides the traveler.

[@cmsnsnnds]

she could've been replaced with zhongli or ganyu by this reasoning

[@crystalizedhell36]

@@cmsnsnnds i mean, not really? Zhongli generally doesn't interfere with adeptus stuff now that he's "dead" and ganyu is a secretary for ningguang so she's busy with that. The only adeptus interaction we hadn't seen is yanfei and xiao.

[@imvge3]

No, KZbin Sensation Altered Maverick, I don’t know what you’re talking about at 7:55 blocked and reported 😡

[@rizzaza]

Girl what 💀

[@10tailedbijuu]

i disagree, we still have yet to get a actual story quest for yanfei, love using her, and i would love to actually learn more about her. So anything more is good in my book.

[@Dishido]

Honkai Content pls? I wanna hear your opinions on Honkai Also, dancing Ushi was so god damn cute

[@GhostEmblem]

Wait you thought the Irodri festival mishandled its cast? When it came out everyone was saying how great it was. I feel like with Genshin every patch people say how great it was and then proceed to shit all over the last patch which they were praising weeks before. Its like the anti-nostalgia.

[@StrayMaverick]

I mean, I did give reasons why I believe that they mishandled the cast in this video. I also expressed in my last video that I wasn't a fan of it. I still liked the patch overall and praised the main quest. My reasons are, and have always been, more than just nostalgia-based.

[@GhostEmblem]

@@StrayMaverick I didn't mean to come off as overly harsh sorry if I did and most people (myself included) agree this patch had a good story. I was just expressing a gut reaction before I'd even finished the video. Just to clearify on that nostalgia bit I was saying anti-nostalgia as a joke as in peoples memories of it get worse as time goes on instead of better.

[@StrayMaverick]

Oh you're totally fine. I can understand the reaction. There are certainly people who are like that and I agree that it's annoying since it's not based on any actual points. Lol. Also, thanks for watching the video! I hope you enjoyed it

[@Allpracticall]

Omg imma cry wtf

[@StrayMaverick]

😢 😢 😢 😭

[@floa6264]

meow

[@StrayMaverick]

Paw! No, not a comment, PAW!

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

:,)

[@sy1uslegendaryz458]

First

[@StrayMaverick]

First on first!