We analyze the new title from the studio miHoYo, a free to play RPG that offers an extensive world to explore and a wide variety of characters.
The Chinese studio miHoYo has gone from being an unknown studio in the world to having a certain reputation through its games. Its first title, Honkai Impact 3rd, would be launched first in China in 2016 and later to other Asian countries, including Japan, the following year to finally reach the West just 2 years ago, being available for both iOS and Android mobile platforms. as on PC. This title would offer a hack’n slash gameplay with clear influences from other successful titles of the genre such as Devil May Cry, Bayonetta or NieR Automata, becoming one of the most popular titles among mobile device game players.
Genshin Impact is its second title and so far it has been one of the games that has raised the most expectations both for its status as free to play games and for the quality that the game gives off and that, a priori, has little to envy to titles Top-notch cut RPG. Despite having certain influences from games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in certain aspects, which has been the subject of some controversy, the game denotes that it seeks to carve out its own image through its development and playable characteristics.
At the beginning of the game, the first bars of the plot are presented in which Paimon, the fairy and companion of the character selected by the player during the game, recapitulates the events that have led to the protagonist, chosen between two twins of different gender and affinity elemental and that can be freely named but that will be known as The Traveler by other characters, until the world of Teyvat after being defeated in an overwhelming way by a mysterious woman of great power, leaving both separated. Faced with the need to know the whereabouts of his missing brother, Paimon suggests seeking information by going to the city of Mondstadt. Upon his arrival, the unexpected appearance of the Stormterror dragon will put its inhabitants in check, the protagonist being the one who saves the situation by facing him. Together with the Knights of Favonius, who take him as an honorary member, they will investigate the causes of the sudden attack and try to stop its attacks.
The development of the game allows you to follow the plot through various missions, which can be marked to follow its location by pressing the L3 button, which will activate a trail that will lead to the objective, in which the future of events will unfold. lead to conversations with other characters, with options to choose from in certain cases, or battles. In certain cases, progress will be limited by the level of adventure range, which will lead to having to perform various tasks around the world of Teyvat to get the necessary experience to increase it, ranging from aspects as simple as opening the different chests scattered on the map to carry out side missions, discover teleportation points, Statues of the Seven or even solve puzzles and defeat enemies to discover hidden chests of greater rarity. It should be said that in this aspect the game does not mark very marked restrictions, even the player can freely explore the game world leaving the story aside, having with the exception of certain limitations in access to some points of the map marked with areas marked with area reddish in color.
Advancing in the adventure it will be possible to take up to a maximum of four characters in the combat group, alternating between them in real time through the directional buttons of the digital crosshead, with a short waiting time before being able to exchange them. followed, being some of those who will join the adventure Amber, Lisa and Kaeya through progress in the game’s plot, being able to obtain additional ones through spins in the game’s gachapon mode. Each character will have a specific weapon, including several types such as swords, greatswords, bows, spears or grimoires, while they can equip up to a total of five relics of different types, both having different properties when equipping them, also depending on the characteristics of the weapon. and its rarity, which can be improved by increasing its level by spending strengthening materials, both spare equipment and stones.
The accessories will in turn provide bonuses with different additional properties, such as equipping Berserker-type accessories provides a greater critical power when attacking while the healing one allows a higher recovery rate. For their part, the weapons can be refined up to a total of five levels, improving their properties in the process but needing to use the same type of weapon to carry out the process.
Characters will gain experience by fighting the different enemies they will encounter throughout Teyvat, but their level can be increased more quickly by using experience items to strengthen their parameters and their combat efficiency. Although, from the start, the maximum level is twenty, it can be increased when reaching the maximum using the ascent option, something also applicable to weapons, requiring a series of specific materials to carry it out. Each character in turn has two additional options to optimize their abilities, the first of which is the constellation, which consists of six levels, each represented by a star, which will unlock abilities that will improve elemental abilities, requiring specific objects. to activate each of them. The second of them are the talents, abilities of the character in combat which can be improved by reaching the second level of ascension. On the other hand, they will also have a bar that will determine the level of friendship which will progressively increase with certain actions and that will allow access to different extras in the info option of the character menu, including parts of the story sheet and voice samples as extras in that option to unlock.
Finally, there remains the elemental affinity that each character has, which includes each of the seven elements of the world of Tevyat (which are Pyro, Hydro, Cryo, Electro, Anemo, Geo and Dendro) being able to use skills imbued in the related element at the time they will be susceptible to others. The combination of attacks and altenance between characters will be essential when fighting since they will activate different states in the enemies. As an example, using a character with water attacks and switching to an ice one will inflict freezing, making enemies unable to move for a limited time, or failing that, changing the latter to electro, which will produce the superconducting effect when taking damage. by electro combined by the wet state effect.
The game’s combat system offers real-time confrontations against the enemies that will be in the different areas of the world of Teyvat, ranging from simple elemental slimes or the Hilichurls to Fatui soldiers or Abyss Mages who will put the fighting capabilities of the group to the test. . When fighting, normal attack moves can be used by pressing the circle button while holding it down will result in charged hits with increased attack power. Each character has an elemental ability that can be used by pressing the R2 button and that will give different effects depending on it, such as, for example, Amber that will summon her wrist which will taunt the enemies by drawing their attention to finally explode causing fire damage . When executing chains of attacks, the definitive technique of the character will be loaded, executable by pressing the triangle button and that will allow to deploy the elemental power of the character, wreaking havoc among the enemies with damage in a specific area as in the case of Amber, in a wide radius like Lisa’s or releasing a blast of power like when using Qiqi’s ability.
When exploring the world it will be important to activate each of the Statues of the Seven, which refer to each of the seven deities of each area of the world of Teyvat, scattered in the territories of Mondstadt and Liyue, since doing so will show the map of the area including the location of transportation points. On the other hand, giving them offerings, using the lost anemoculi that will be found in various areas of the map both with the naked eye and hidden, will allow to obtain additional rewards that will consist of various objects and in turn an increase in the character’s energy bar. Denote that depending on the area the elemental power of these statues changes, Mondstadt being ruled by the spirit of the wind while in Liyue it is that of Geo, which will also affect the types of anemoculi that can be found in each area.
The energy bar will be shown when performing actions that require additional effort such as climbing, the use of flying wings to glide when launching from high altitude locations to progressively descend and swim, gradually reducing until it is completely empty, which will cause the character to stop performing the action, which can result in a fall from a great height with the consequent death of the character or the drowning of the same, although in the latter case it will reappear at the previous point of the coast.
To revitalize the group in times of need it will be essential to cook on the bonfires that will be found in certain areas, preparing in them the recipes learned through the game, some through the main story and others through secondary missions such as Xiangling. For the process, it will be necessary to have the ingredients to be able to prepare it, being able to buy them in certain stores or collect them in the field and later select the recipe to prepare in addition to the character, which may have a special bonus, depending on the case, which will give rise to different results at the end of the process. The preparation mechanics are very simple, limiting itself to stopping the marker in the orange area of the bar to be able to cook the dish successfully, which in turn will allow to gain mastery each time the corresponding recipe is prepared, varying the number of times. Once the maximum level has been reached, the auto cook option can be used, which simply consists of choosing the desired quantity of the recipe and later preparing it. The properties of each plate will vary at the time of use, producing various effects such as healing part or all of the life bar, producing different effects (more resistance, strength, etc.) or resuscitating the members fallen in combat. It should be noted that some objects can be processed to make condiments, as in the case of wheat to obtain flour, choosing the desired quantity and requiring a variable time to complete the process.
In the cities you will be able to access several stores that will provide some features with some relevance for the adventure. The first one is the smithy where the minerals that are collected can be refined to turn them into strengthening materials or, failing that, use them to make new weapons, which will have to be combined with specific objects to carry out the process. The next is the alchemy shop where you can make potions and other objects both to use in combat and gain advantages, such as resistance to the different elements, and necessary objects to use in the ascension of characters. In the dedicated inns and boutiques you can get ready meals to take away and also buy ingredients for cooking, while in the souvenir shop you can invest the Geo medals obtained to exchange them for objects of different kinds.
Another important place is the Adventurer’s Guild, in which the adventure rank is tracked, providing rewards for each level increase and opening new functions. Among these is being able to perform daily commissions, marked with a purple icon, through both Mondstadt and Liyue, something that will help gain more experience for the rank while meeting the daily mission quota, which will report turn into additional rewards. Finally, prospects can be carried out by sending characters to different places in Mondstadt and Liyue in search of materials, which will be different depending on the place selected, and determining the time that the search will last. In certain cases there will be characters that when selected will have a special bonus, such as reducing the time of prospecting.
Advancing through the game will unlock, upon reaching adventure rank level 20, the option to face the Abyss Portal, accessible through the space-time portal located near the Cape of Oath that will lead to the islet of Musk’s Reef. In this option we are offered access to several portals in which to face three levels of challenges for each of them to obtain various rewards for completing them, even more so by overcoming their additional challenges under the time limit, fighting against several hordes of high enemies level that will complicate the confrontations. Luckily, before fighting, you can select the combat group and also choose an additional advantage bonus from among three possible ones that will have an effect on the current floor and that offer advantages such as improving elemental mastery, increasing the power of charged attacks or recover the life levels of the characters under certain conditions.
The game’s gachapon option offers the opportunity to get new characters and rarer weapons. Although the title offers the possibility of buying gems with real money to exchange them for protogems, which in turn allow obtaining the necessary objects to make the spins, in reality the game system does not require this process since the protogems are easily obtained during the game, both for completing missions or opening chests and for reading the important messages of the game among other aspects. For its part, the game store offers options for exchanging objects, being able to convert the protogems into objects of circulation for each of the available banners, at the same time as using the extra objects obtained in this option for ascension objects and even characters, the Which can be obtained in limited quantities and with a limited time until replacement or exchange.
On the other hand, the multiplayer game options offer the possibility of connecting to the worlds of other players, as long as they are of the same level, forming groups of up to a maximum of four components to carry out different types of missions together to get rewards, in certain limited cases.
The gameplay of the title is simple but at the same time addictive, boasting an action combat system in which the intuitive handling of the character stands out and the possibilities to alternate the control of the characters to achieve different effects that result in different types of status effects on enemies, making combat entertaining and challenging in the long run, especially when facing increasingly powerful enemies. Likewise, the exploration of the Teyvat map with freedom and without notable restrictions stands out, being able to climb high mountains, plan long distances or swim until reaching small islands or coasts, it is one of the attractions that the game has, finding between half missions through NPCs, hidden treasures, chests, materials and visiting new locations each more striking and with different contrasts.
In terms of graphics, the game boasts a cell shading graphic style with evident anime influence, another of the game’s striking aspects, both for the result it offers to the different types of scenarios and for the designs that each of the characters have controllable of the game, very varied and different from each other. In this regard, it can be said that the result obtained is very striking and that it stands out for the quality of the set, both for the different styles shown by Mondstadt and Liyue, drawing from sources from Western and Eastern cultures respectively, as well as for their characters.
Regarding sound, the game offers. It should be noted that a wide variety of tracks and instrumental themes that will accompany the different moments of the game and the music will change depending on the location, offering classical instrumental themes in Mondstadt while Liyue will offer compositions that evoke a marked oriental style. Although they do not stand out too much, in the moments when such compositions appear when climbing a mountain, for example, the simplicity and subtlety of the chords, especially when in Liyue, harmonize during the game. For its part, it allows you to select dubbing in four different languages between English (by default when you start playing), Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
CONCLUSION
Genshin Impact is presented as a surprising proposal that, although it maintains its own structure of games for smartphones in certain aspects, results in an entertaining experience that stands out for the possibilities of exploration and its combat system, added to a roster of characters , varied among themselves, possessing different personality contrasts and in the long run they are charismatic. Being an experience that players can enjoy at no additional cost, it is more than enough reason to give it a chance, especially when progress does not require or depend on micropayments to enjoy development.
THE BEST
- The graphic section of the game, which thanks to its cell shading design with obvious anime style inspiration, offers a colorful and striking set.
- Its combat system is addictive and easy to master, especially when interspersing characters and using their elemental affinities.
- The wide variety of characters it offers, with different styles and personalities.
- The soundtrack, offering a wide selection of tracks with different musical styles.
- Texts entirely in Spanish.
- Dubbing in multiple languages
WORST
- At certain times it becomes difficult to increase the adventure range.
- Some difficulty peaks on certain challenges.
Very good
A game with a remarkable finish that we will enjoy and remember. A good buy, highly recommended for lovers of the genre. It is well cared for at all levels.
