|OT| Genshin Impact |OT| 4.0 (Fontaine) - Je m'appelle "la baleine"

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Three things to get out of the way first:

1) You do not need to spend money to enjoy this game.

2) When you first start wishing, only use the Beginners' banner for your first 20 wishes. If you don't do this, you're going to miss out on two free early character unlocks. More on this later.

3) The PC version of this game originally launched with the same invasive anti-cheat as Valorant. It ran from the moment you started your PC, couldn't be turned off, had admin privileges, didn't uninstall with the program, etc. At this point, most of that is no longer true. The anti-cheat now doesn't run if the game isn't on, and it does uninstall with the program, but it sounds like the admin privileges granted by the install itself have not changed. You may want to read up on the current situation before deciding if you want to install the game or not.

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Who? miHoYo
What? Free to play single player action RPG / massive open world / optional 4 player co-op / light puzzle elements.
When? September 28th, 2020.
Where? PC, PS4, PS5, Android, iOS, and coming later for Switch.
Why? Over 100 hours of content, high production value, full voice acting throughout the campaign, fun combat, emphasis on exploration.
How? Gacha mechanics (loot boxes featuring characters, weapons, and artifacts). There's also a battle pass and login events.

Table of contents:

1.0 - Exactly what does the gameplay involve?
1.1 - Is this game worth playing at all if you don't plan to spend lots of money on microtransactions?
1.2 - Multiplayer and cross-save details.
1.3 - A spoiler free explanation of character unlocks.
1.4 - So what's the deal with the gacha system in this game?
1.5 - A quick guide to resource management (now in easy to browse format).
1.6 - Any other tips or suggestions?
1.7 - What's with the thread title?
1.8 - Reasons to never spend money in Genshin Impact.


1.0 - Exactly what does the gameplay involve?

Combat - You play as a team of four characters, each with elemental abilities. You can switch characters instantly, and only one character from the team is ever on screen at a given time. You fight using various elemental combinations. Each character has basic attacks, and two skills on cooldown timers, one short and one long. There is no lock-on function to target enemies, but there is a dodge function that also doubles as a run button. The main character has a sword, while others can be skilled in archery, magic, spears, etc.

Exploration - This is where Breath of the Wild comparisons are pretty accurate. You can climb most surfaces, you have a stamina bar, you have a glider for air travel, you can swim, you can place pins on your map to mark areas of importance, and the list goes on. There are hundreds of treasure chests to find, some in the open, some that require enemies to be defeated, and some that require light puzzle solving. In most chests you find items that can boost your character's XP. This, not combat, is the primary method of gaining XP.

Genshin Impact is a single player game, not an MMO. Multiplayer is completely optional, and supports up to four players.


1.1 - Is this game worth playing at all if you don't plan to spend lots of money on microtransactions?

What you can do for free without much / any grinding:

• Fully explore both of the very large areas of the overworld currently in the game.
• Unlock five characters, each with access to one of the five elemental abilities that you'll need to unlock every chest and solve every puzzle.
• Enjoy the main story campaign and many various side quests.
• Use given resources to level ONE character and their weapon considerably more than the rest of your team.

What you'll likely need to grind a bit for:

• Continuing to level characters after the resources from the main campaign have been exhausted.
• Reaching the level cap with any of your characters or their weapons.
• Slowly gathering the resources to continue to use the Gacha system.

What money can buy get you:

• $5 - Blessing of the moon - A small amount of Gacha roll currency each day you log in. You're paying money for a small login reward.
• $10 - Battle Pass - Lots of extra resources and your choice of a weapon once you've reached level 30 of the battle pass.
• Crazy whale money - You can spend $500.00 of real money, and that amount would still only guarantee one 5 star character, due to the pity system. More on the exact rates later, but you don't need 5 star characters to play this game effectively.

1.2 - Multiplayer and cross-save details:

Multiplayer is available after adventure level 16. Full cross-play support with all platforms. PlayStation isn't cross-save with other platforms, but online play does not require PS Plus. PlayStation accounts are tied to a PSN account, while PC and mobile are tied to miHoYo accounts. Only certain activities are available in multiplayer.


1.3 - A spoiler free explanation of character unlocks:

• The traveler - A brother or sister who becomes your first character, selected at the beginning of the game.
• Character 2 - Earned by playing the story.
• Character 3 - Earned by playing the story.
• Character 4 - Earned by playing the story.
• Character 5 - Unlocked by using your first set of 10 fates on the Beginners' banner.
• Random character 1 - Unlocked by using a second set of 10 fates on the Beginners' banner.
• Character 6 - Earned by reaching adventure rank 18, and then completing a quest.
• Character 7 - Earned by completing floor 3-3 of the Spiral Abyss arena.
• Additional random characters - Unlocked by using the gacha "Wish" system.

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1.4 - So what's the deal with the gacha system in this game?

When starting the game, only wish on the beginner banner, and only wish using sets of 10 wishes. Doing this twice will unlock at least two new characters. Using the standard banner or a promotional banner can result in getting weapons only, and those are much easier to obtain than characters, so don't do that. The Beginners' banner is strongly recommended.

Wishes - Unlocks characters and weapons. Wishes in Genshin Impact are essentially what most people think of as "lootboxes."

Fates - Used to buy wishes. There are two types of fates.

Acquaint fates - These are used to pull from the beginner banner or the standard banner.

Intertwined fates - These are used to pull from promotional banners, which always have a higher chance of granting the featured character or item.

Stardust - Earned by wishing after receiving any item. Can be used to buy fates, but this has a monthly limit.

Starglitter - Earned by wishing after receiving any four or five star character or weapon. Probably the hardest to earn currency in the game. Should generally only be spent on the weapons in the store, as everything else you can get in other ways. Can also be used to purchase four star characters directly, which usually isn't a good use of starglitter. Even for weapons, you'll want to do your research first and make you're you don't already have a better weapon for a given character before purchasing anything.

Your 10th wish on the Beginners' banner will unlock a specific character, and your 20th will unlock a random character. After that, consider yourself done with new characters for a while. You'll get a four star character here and there, but chances are very slim of getting a five star. Regardless, you can reach the end-game content with just your starting characters.

As far as I'm aware, you aren't guaranteed to unlock a specific five star character until your 180th wish on the promo banner, although 90 wishes does come with a 50 percent chance of the featured promo banner character and a 50 percent chance of a different five star. To buy that number of wishes with real money, you're looking at nearly $450 for a single guaranteed character.

For each single wish, the standard base probability of earning a 5 star character or weapon is 0.6%. The base probability of earning a 4 star character or weapon is 5.1%.

If the information I've been able to find is accurate, To definitely unlock all the content in just the launch version of the game with actual money, you would be looking at spending over $20,000.

Also keep in mind that once you reach the end-game content, the game could eventually start pushing you towards unlocking more powerful characters. My suggestion is to be aware of this, and be ready to walk away happy with the loads of free gameplay that you already experienced. If you are having fun and everything feels fair and rewarding, maybe consider picking up some reasonably priced cosmetics instead, if those ever come to the game.

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1.5 - A quick guide to resource management (now in easy to browse format):

If you want to wish for characters, never use your primogems on anything but wishing, and be sure to do your daily quests. You'll be getting 60 guaranteed primogems per day, and they add up.

You should probably spend in-game currency (primogems, stardust) on Intertwined fates over Acquaint fates. Intertwined fates are used to pull from promotional banners, which have better odds of the featured characters than the standard banner. The standard banner doesn't have an increased chance of any particular characters or weapons, no matter who is pictured on the banner.

Pickup everything after opening a chest. Pickup everything else as well. Take every resource. Flowers are pretty, but they're also useful. If you don't need it now, that probably means you'll need it later.

Killing enemies is best for the resources they drop, but you don't gain much XP that way. You will mainly level your character with XP boosts you find in chests. The drops from monsters will be needed to ascend your characters.

Don't use character XP boosts on all of your characters. It's best to concentrate on leveling one or two characters. Resources for leveling will eventually be very limited, although it might not seem so at first. Most of the XP in this game comes from chests, and there are only so many in the world, even if many do respawn over time. Ideally, you'll want to level one or two damage dealers with elements and skills that complement each other nicely.

Level any character you want to 20, level two or three characters to 40, and really start thinking about the exact team you want to build after that. 20 or 40 requires barely any XP when compared to the later levels, although you don't want to level everyone to 40 either. There's no need to worry in the early game, though.

Unless you can't help it, you usually shouldn't put resources into weapons below weapon level level 4 or 5. And you should never put resources into artifacts below level 3 or 4. When you eventually find something better, you do have the option of using your current weapon to enhance that new four or five star item you just found, but you'll lose 10 or 15 percent of all the XP you put into your old weapon or artifact.

In the early game, save mining resources for forging 4 star weapons. At least at first, White Iron Chunk and Crystal Chunk should not be used for making enhancement ores. Save them all for good weapons later. Speaking of mining, using a great sword makes things much easier. You can get one when you get Noelle from the beginner banner. You can also find standard swords that are good at breaking rocks. Later in the game, you'll use those resources mostly for leveling weapons instead.

Don't neglect your talent books, once you can access the domains required to earn them. These make your various skills more effective, and do more damage.

Don't sit on full Resin. It's the "energy" of this game, and you use it for various events, such dungeons, bosses, and collecting rewards. It regenerates over time. Think of it like sitting on the Glimmer cap in Destiny and not being able to earn more money. Don't do that.


1.6 - Any other tips or suggestions?

Wait until you have four characters before you explore the world. A lot of activities will be inaccessible if you explore too early.

When you do explore the world, don't forget to use your map pins. You should pin areas where you find important resources, or areas that you can't access yet.

For the most part, only the character that triggers an elemental combination is the one responsible for the real damage. For example, a level 10 character who uses a cryo blast followed by a level 40 character who triggers it with electro will do far more damage than the reverse. Because of this, you don't really need to level characters very much that you intend to primarily use for elemental combos.

If you get a new character early enough, go back to the early areas of the game and try them there. If you enjoy using them, put them in your current party as an alternate. As long as they're in your four character party, they will slowly gain XP as you complete story missions and side quests.

Adventure rank matters. It unlocks new questlines and new game features. It also eventually increases the difficulty of the overworld monsters and the quality of their loot drops. If you don't feel ready for more difficult enemies, you can decide not to complete certain ascension missions that you gain access to at levels 25, 35, 45, etc.

Use the Statue's Blessing to heal your characters in the overworld. It regenerates over time. Never eat food in the overworld. Save that for dungeons. Statues can also revive characters that have been defeated.

Looking to increase your stamina? There are two different types of blue floating things in this game. One is a little ghostly thing that you follow to a treasure, and the other is usually found high up in various hard to reach spots. You're looking for the second one. As you find them, you can offer them up to the statues of the seven for a lot of adventure rank XP and increases in stamina. They're called "amenoculus." They also appear as "stars" on your mini map. If you you run into one that you can't reach, mark the location on map so you can return later.

If you're not going to be playing the game for a while, be sure to send some of your characters on an expedition while you're away. The ability to do this unlocked for me at Adventure Rank 14.

Much like Breath of the Wild, you have the option of jumping to climb faster, but you will also not be able to climb as high before you run out of stamina.

You can fall from any height and avoid fall damage by doing a slam attack towards the end of your fall.


1.7 - What's with the thread title?

Original title: Genshin Impact |OT| Legend of Gacha: The Whale Waker (free-to-play action RPG)

That's a wind waker reference, but wind waker wasn't really about waking a whale while links awaking was. Either way, it's a Zelda pun.

A whale is a term used by the developers of free-to-play games to describe someone who spends thousands of dollars on their game.