We discussed the highlights of the closed beta of Genshin Impact, the long-awaited RPG title developed by the Chinese studio Mihoyo.
One of the titles that has given rise to talk in recent months in the field of RPGs has been Genshin Impact, the spectacular game from the Chinese studio Mihoyo, responsible for the game of Honkai Impact 3rd, the highly successful action mobile title for mobile devices. Although there has been more controversy that has aroused through its trailers and its parallels with some aspects that remind of Zelda: Breath of the Wild than its virtues as an independent game, the truth is that the expectations that the game arouses are not for less al offers not only a game with a marked cell shading style of animated cut but also a wide world to explore in all its aspects.
With the current closed beta underway, in this article we will review some of the aspects of the game to offer an idea of what it will bring in its final version and what players can expect from it, a priori, eye-catching RPG title.
The game’s story introduces us to two characters who on their journey through different worlds meet a deity who stops them, asserting that he will be the one who stops human beings for their arrogance. Both, a boy and a girl, try to face it, to the point of trying to get close enough to hit it, at which point they will be given the option to choose between one of them and assign it a personalized name. The scene ends with the defeat of both, the other character being kidnapped and the chosen one appears in the game world, where he meets the fairy Paimon, to whom he is telling what happened. Then both begin their journey with the aim of finding clues to the whereabouts of the missing character, setting the first objective to reach the city of Mondstadt.
Although the game is subject to following the main story, as is normal, at certain times progress will be linked to the level of the adventurer rank, which will increase through gaining experience points by performing actions around the game world, well complying the missions of the main plot, opening chests or finding and giving offerings to the different Statues of the Seven that will be scattered around the map. When leveling up, items can be obtained through the adventurers’ guild, located in the city of Mondstadt itself, while some extra features will be unlocked, such as weapon upgrades or character promotion. Despite this, the game does not offer restrictions when exploring, with few exceptions, being able to go to any corner of the game world to reveal the extent of the map, precisely through discovering and activating the aforementioned statues, while discovering locations such as temples or new cities. Of course, this implies that in these unexplored areas the enemies will have a higher level than the characters and will be more difficult to defeat if the characters are not well prepared.
In the first instance, only the previously chosen character can be controlled, but when advancing in the game, a maximum of four characters can be brought into the combat group, being able to alternate between them in real time by pressing L1 together with the buttons on the remote control. that will offer wide possibilities in combat, especially since each one of them has an elemental affinity and different fighting styles. The main protagonist will have sword attacks along with, depending on the chosen character, the element of wind or earth, while it will be possible to have up to three additional characters: Amber, a skilled archer whose charge attacks are infused with the element of fire , Kaeya, a swordsman descended from pirates who uses ice element attacks, and Lisa, a sorceress whose magical arts are skilled with the electric element.
The elemental affinities of these characters will serve to exploit the weaknesses of the enemies, not only using their respective elements in favor against weak enemies, but also trying to use the inclement weather or the combination of character art in favor when fighting. For example, when in contact with water, enemies become wet, which makes them susceptible to both electricity and ice attacks, in the latter case causing freezing, so that the damage will be greater. In other cases, it will be possible to achieve continuous damage by taking advantage of the environment, as in the case of Amber and her fire attacks that when used in grassy areas will catch fire causing enemies to suffer damage from the fire element, which is also It produces with enemies equipped with wooden shields, which will reduce their durability until they are exposed, or also against thorny plants or to explode explosive barrels, although in the latter case it also works with other attacks to produce the same effect.
When fighting, the characters will gain experience until they level up, as in other games of the genre, however the process can be speeded up by spending adventurer experience items that are obtained through the chests in the game. From the beginning, the maximum level of the characters is at level 20, but this limit can be increased through the ascension process, which will require a specific amount of specific objects to carry out the process that will increase the limit by another twenty levels. Although this process can be repeated continuously, receiving a star for each phase of the process completed, it will be necessary to reach the adventurer level necessary to unlock the next level of ascension. With each promotion, an upgrade of the character’s talent level will be activated, which will grant a specific ability to the character that will be essential to meet the challenges of the game world. On the other hand, each character will have a constellation whose purpose will be, through the activation with specific objects, of each of the stars that it consists of to improve the character’s combat skills, both in attack and in special techniques.
Each character can be equipped with a weapon, which will depend on each character. Most of it can be easily found through chests, especially those of higher rarity and parameters, and can be improved by infusing them with both upgrade crystals, specific to them and also for artifacts, or pieces of equipment, that will provide experience to the weapon until it reaches its maximum value. In the same way as the characters, the weapons have an ascension system to improve their level and strengthen their parameters by increasing the limit, although as a differentiating factor is their refinement. This option consists of improving the performance of the weapon by increasing its range, being necessary to spend weapons of the same type and rarity in the process to implement the improvement.
On the other hand, the characters will be able to equip a total of five artifacts between different classes (flower, feather, clock, chalice and crown) that when equipping them will provide specific advantages, such as attack or defense improvements, which will be greater if the equipped set has some similar characteristics, which in turn will offer a special bonus such as granting higher health points or regenerating HP by opening a chest by a certain percentage during a limited period of time. Likewise, these can be improved through the use of experience crystals and artifacts to accumulate experience and increase their level.
The game world will offer a wide variety of enemies that will have to be faced in real-time combat, offering these a certain challenge when they are in groups and with different equipment, some of them carrying wooden or stone shields, and support from elemental sorcerers, which makes some of the matches a difficult challenge to solve. Among the enemies that can be found there will be from elemental slimes and Hilichurls, these being the most common, to other more powerful enemies such as witches, elemental cubes and automata, who have much greater power and abilities while acting as bosses in the map and at certain locations to explore on the map. Another challenge is the temples, which although they are part of certain sections of the game’s history, result in additional challenges in which you face groups of enemies to get rewards. The part related to the plot will follow a guided game scheme in which you go through several rooms, some of them with enemies to defeat, activating switches and making use of the elemental abilities of each character to advance, having the option to resurrect, in case of taking a wrong step or being defeated, through portals that act as checkpoints. In certain cases it will be necessary to use some specific mechanics to advance, such as using the air currents at certain points to be able to solve distances and there will even be some areas in which to advance through mobile platforms. It should be noted that different types of extra challenges will be offered in these locations that will require a specific adventurer level to access them.
Regarding exploration, the game allows you to move around the world without many limitations, although there will be inaccessible areas due to the development of the plot, being able to advance through roads or climbing mountain ranges to access new areas. Although in this aspect it must be taken into account that the climb will be limited through the character’s endurance bar, which as it moves it will gradually descend, more with hasty movements, and if it is exhausted it will fall to the ground, being able to lose the entire life bar if it is at high altitude. In this aspect, it will be necessary to discover the different Statues of the Seven to not only reveal the mapping of the area that it covers, but also to be able to make offerings to them and get both experience and rewards as well as increase the maximum of the stamina bar.
It will also be useful to use the Flying Wings, which Amber will give to the protagonist when arriving at Mondstadt, whose use will serve both to plan in high altitude areas and to access lost anemoculi and geoculus, elements necessary in the offerings for the statues, and also for flight time trial tests among other uses. Finally there will also be the option of swimming to cross areas separated from each other by lakes or marine parts, however, as with climbing and that also applies to Flying Wings, the endurance bar will gradually wear out so that if the character has not reached the mainland, he will end up drowning.
The kitchen will also be an important aspect in the game, having the option of preparing various dishes, provided that the corresponding recipe is learned and the relevant materials obtained, which will have various effects when using them. Some of them will serve to recover a part or all of the life bar, others will serve to improve stats such as defense or attack temporarily and there will be certain dishes that will serve to resurrect the group in times of need, although in the latter aspect with a time limit to use it again. Its application is quite simple, it is enough to select the corresponding recipe, the character and then proceed to prepare it, having a time bar in which you will have to press the X button in the darkest area to complete the recipe successfully. Each dish will have a level of mastery when it comes to preparing them, which will increase with each preparation until reaching its maximum level, which will unlock the option to prepare it automatically by selecting the desired quantity.
The multiplayer mode of this title will be unlockable through the adventurer rank, allowing, once access to it, to connect to the world of other players, with a limit of up to four simultaneously, to carry out missions throughout the world of the game, although having some limitations when it comes to getting objects. Among the connection options, players will only be able to connect to others who have the same level and will previously need confirmation from the player to access their world.
Finally, among the aspects that have been seen in the beta, there are gachapon-style mechanics and also a shop, which will use the protogems as a bargaining chip, an object that can be easily achieved by completing various tasks within the game development . In the store, they will serve as a bargaining chip to exchange them for starburst and stardust, which can be used to buy items such as materials, higher rarity equipment and even get some characters that will be offered temporarily. However, these two objects will serve, in turn, to activate the rolls of the different active events in the gachapon option, being able to choose between activating a single roll or the maximum of them to get both weapons and characters for the game, both relative to the main campaign as totally different ones.
The sensations left by what is seen in this beta is that the game promises a lot in terms of content for a player with enough elements to maintain interest in the game, both in the development of the adventure, as in exploration possibilities, variety of characters and various challenges to meet. Technically, the cell shading graphics offers a lively style in which a world is captured alive enough, not only because of the number of NPCs and enemies but also because of the variety of living creatures that populate each area, such as squirrels, fish and some birds among others. several, some of them even hunted to get ingredients. Thus, expectations are, for the moment, positive for the imminent launch of the game next fall on PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android platforms.
