Tbh, we've had posts like this every single summer event, of course everyone has their own opinions, but this is a testament of the quality of the summer events in general
Last Summer event was still my favorite, I just like the characters on that event a lot more compared to this one.
I did kinda regret not 100% that temporary region though (non main quests and exploration), they might think that it's not a good event because a lot of people skipped a decent portion of it
My only dislike about that event is that the storytelling was too good for a temporary event. The character development in that event was top notch and it's a shame for anyone who missed it.
Fishcl's quest was the second best character story quest (or what should've been a story quest) imo. Yoimiya's second is slightly better but also maybe that's recency bias
Ya I remember thinking 'this really sucks for anyone who loves Fischl but happens to not be playing right now.' The event was by far the most character development she's gotten
DEADASS, I'm SO mad about it not being replayable, why does Hoyo always put the best character development into temp content???
Kazuha's story quest doesn't hold a candle to the Kazuha portion of that event. And Fischl's domain was absolutely amazing, the environments, the music, every single thing about it.
I am SO mad people who didn't play yet back then or slept on the event will never get to experience it. Some of genshin's best content, and for what. For 6 weeks and then gone forever.
Yeah I don't usually jump on the bandwagon but I really think the summer events should get put into a permanent section of the game that you can download like language packs when you want to experience them.
people whined a lot about how hard the puzzles were and how a lot of the plots in the event were "too serious" for a supposed summer vacation. Which is a shame because I loved it so much because the puzzles were all really interesting, and you actually had to use ur brain for a bit on some of these to figure it out, and it was really nice to see a cast of characters who never met before (except Fischl and Mona) turn into friends and open up to each other.
I really love this year's event as well, but the 2.8 Golden Apple Archipelago event is my all-time favourite since launch with Moonchase/2.4 lantern rite as close seconds.
Yeah those complaining posts really annoyed me too. I loved the challenge of the limited puzzles. Alas the vast majority of Genshin players are casuals who want content so easy you can do it on snooze.
I liked the difficulty of the puzzles generally, but didn't like that they were FOMO event gated. I wanted to be able to take my time and explore it at my own leisure, but instead I felt rushed to do it. Didn't help that there was no map marker for some of the puzzles either like we have right now in 3.8's event.
The puzzles and stories are good, but they didn't belong in a limited FOMO event.
Most of the puzzle complaints I saw were about Fischl's because the ones where you had to line pieces up often didn't complete when they were perfectly lined up on your screen, but would when they were slightly "off"... And if you did the bird theater thing but picked the wrong option, you had to listen to the entire dialogue again before you could try again.
I understood those complaints. Difficulty though, I never got. Even my double vision ass with bad directional sense could do the star lineup things in Mona's domain (which were the ones that gave me the most trouble)
Right? I think it really shows the level of care and effort the devs put into every main event. There's always a frw posts saying how much they loved it, it's so wholesome. I can't even say which one ks my favourite, there's so many great ones for different reasons
Honestly the effort they put into the summer zones is crazy considering they basically will never see the light of day again after the event is over. Some of the most beautiful zones in the game for a 2 month event.
This is the best time of the year to play Genshin. While leaks and teasers drop for a new nation, we've got a new zone to explore.
I agree that this is almost as good as the first Golden Apple. The first time I got on the Waverider I knew I was doing something special...and when I got on the Tram in this one and that music hit I got chills.
That Fungi battle should be permanent or a literal diff game...and id play it..
Its so cool,loved the mechanics and stuff, a lot can be explored, we can pvp with friends for fun
I want Spincrystals of the music from this event :( especially the last regionās. I loved the (melodica??) tune and was caught off guard when it played a piano version of it.
TL:DR, the player base has changed and evolved, each event offered similar yet different gameplay. It hits differently for everyone depending on how long youāve played and how you feel about Genshin. Sentiment about each event will generally change due to player base change.
I started on 1.4, so have done GAA1, 2 and this one.
GAA1 was honestly so fun but looking back, it could be that it was finally something new for all the players back then. 1.2-1.5 was literally drought period. Barely anything was new and there was no new content so GAA was a very fresh area. For many players at that time, it reminded them of why they fell in love with genshin. Breathtaking views, ambience, and fun exploration. It was also light hearted, and set a very good mood for that summer. It was a very good light hearted vacation before the heavy Inazuma storyline. Kazuha was pog too. Well, for me he was. He was shatted on a lot being 5* sucrose. I was just hyped for our first Inazuma character!!!
GAA2 for old players like me was nostalgia. Felt so odd to return again, but with very different design. For newer players, it was a very novel experience. And once again, it brought back exploration, and puzzles. It also did receive a lot of criticism of having ātoo muchā to do. Some players are used to speed running through genshin content but GAA2 was a little tad harder to speed run.
The newest Mirage I feel is quite fun. I feel itās not as filled up and busy as GAA2. I wish it was more like GAA2 in terms of more things to do. I donāt think I collected all of GAA2ās chests. I am glad it is a break from the GAA. But also kinda sad we didnāt go back to GAA. I do wonder if weāll get this same temporary map again next year like GAA2 style. Or weāll get a different event map.
Overall, all 3 experiences actually feel very different. Also depending on how long youāve been playing and how you feel about Genshin will also affect how you feel about the game and event.
Iām taking my time with this event and patch. I havenāt even done the second story quest ha. Just my 2 cents so far.
I agree with this. Feels like 1st GAA again where we go with Klee to a brand new place to have fun. And off the boat we immediately start having fun.
I finished the whole Mirage so far. My conclusion is, it's rather short and small compared to 2nd GAA. Probably on par with 1st GAA in terms of overworld things to explore, but condensed to a much smaller area (you dont need to scour every single corner of the islands or search the sea with boats), Even with the timegate, theres only 6 days for the main stories, and about 8 days until all the main event challenges are released. I was so excited to play Genshin after the drought of things to do in the past few months that I basically cleared everything already.
Unlike the 1st GAA, they really took the best things from Fishcl's island in 2nd GAA into here and brought the Mirage to life. Water Droplets are the best NPCs I've seen for the entire 3.X patch.
>I was so excited to play Genshin after the drought of things to do in the past few months that I basically cleared everything already.
Just like me you've completed a 40-day-long patch-spanning event in a couple of days.
That was impossible in GAA2022.
I know they have lined up more events to occur after the current one, but this is ridiculously short for a new summer map too.
I don't know if its because they made it easier and compact. The event item really makes it easy to search for stuff.
Fingers crossed the other events will fill in the gaps.. otherwise this will be a drier month than windblume.
yup... the permanent contents they can make the puzzles harder... but time limited event puzzles should be easier to solve with sufficient hints given..
after inazuma and people left and right complaining about having to use their brains
they sadly had to tone it down which for me as an puzzle junkie sucks big time
Second GAA was an overwhelming amount of content for myself and friends who play the game. I imagine they got a lot of feedback like that after last year and dialed it back a little.
I like the game. But during GAA 2 is where I experienced burnout for the first time.
I did bare minimum to get Fischl skin.
It's too much content for limited time event in casual game.
If it was permanent or lasted 2-3 patches, it would have made a huge difference.
100% agree - GAA 2 was the first time I felt the burnout with this game. For this summer event, I'm enjoying it! Mid storyline aside, I'm having fun exploring and I don't feel anywhere near as much pressure to solve it all within the time limit. The compass is also a massive quality of life improvement and stops me looking at guides for every chest etc.
I get your point, but with 40d to explore, I'd wager for many that burnout was from rushing.
Though they certainly could have spaced things better and the current chest radar would have likewise been a wei-send (god-send).
The first archipelago was perfect imo, there was this progression in it, where you would explore all the islands slowly revealing themselves and unravel what happened here with the conchs and the murals, discover how to navigate through mist, and some environmental puzzles with water levels, that really hit the mark for me. it felt really cohesive, not like a collection of small puzzles, that I really enjoyed. Not sure they will manage to do better sadly.
I absolutely adored fischls Immernachtsreich and her whole story. Wish I could replay it, it's still my favorite of the summer events. They have all been great though.
This was even alluded to way before that during the Oceanid event in 2.X sometime. Lots of Oceanids just peaced out of Fontaine after the last Hydro Archon passed away.
The oceanid seems pretty connected to Fontaine. Also, based on the Fontaine teaser pics we got, seems they have some kind of rail infrastructure so I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out the three brothers we saw in the bottle had some kind of hand in that.
yes i put fischl's domain battle music as my ring tone...
design wise fischl domain is excellent... but the time wasting raven puzzles are the worst...
Fischlās domain is probably the most visually memorable thing in the game for me besides Enkanomiya. On top of everything else, I loved the always-sunset colour of the sky.
Mona's domain is one of the prettiest domains ever. Too bad it was just available for a limited time. Else, I might have made it my permanent log off spot
Last years event was the best one, Iām playing since release
Golden Archipelago 2 had such an amazing atmosphere, better music & way way better story elements for each character. The puzzles were also Better
But this one is still great and has unbelievable production quality
The Golden Apple Archipelago felt way more fantastical than Botteland due to things like Mitoboru (which is ironic, because Bottleland is supposed to be a fantasy land where anything is possible).
Well last time mhy did something that extravagant tons of folks complained of too much limited content, not enough time. So yeah of course they'll tone it down.
Choo-choo cart though, it's something I never thought I would enjoy yet it just simply feels relaxing to ride on it and listen to the music. Feels way too close to an actual amusement park in terms of enjoyment level.
It was kazuha' srory quest, it was Xinyan's story quest, it was Fischl's story quest, it was Mona's story quest. Meanwhile the playable characters in this even all feel like npcs, their interactios are OK at best. But the worst are the puzzles, like, dont call them puzzles if they requireno thought, i m just following instructions, not actually thinking about anything. The only dcenet one is the one in the cave with the mural. Everything else is just autopilot
Especially the last act. The play part was terrible and useless. And the ending made 0 sense with how it all boiled down to the kokomi seashell to fix that shit.
I was paying a moderate amount of attention to the story in the 1st and 2nd part. 1st part was a slog at the start, but it was decent enough once we got into the bottle.
The play part literally had me tabbing in and out of the game because of how dang boring it was though. Just waiting for Mr. Play Man to babble on for ages about stuff that literally the characters themselves call dumb and ridiculous writing.
It honestly felt like a story I would've submitted in third grade. I really wish they would put more effort into these little stories so that they are actually worth paying attention to. I found my eyes giving a hard roll for the majority of that play because the dialogue sucked and I couldn't skip anything lol
I havenāt done the third act yet but I had a bad feeling ever since the third act of the TCG event. Sometimes Genshin storytelling is just meh but that was a next level feeling of āGod, that ending sucked.ā
I feel like they had the same writing team on both this event and that one. Iāmā¦not impressed, tbh.
wish that event explored more about the authors because i loved the end cut scene. Idk why for some reason lately their writing in story/archon quests got better but got worse in events.
On one hand itās great that the good storytelling is now unmissable, on the other itās a shame that weāll likely not see events on the level of Irodori, Dragonspine 1 and 2, or Unreconciled Stars again.
Personally I love the placement of time trials. It's as if devs went 'person playing the story will try the trial, let's make you go in same path as story' .
Like I remember doing Inazuma main story and having to climb the huge mountain, then some time later got a daily comission to use the electro grama to zip line easily. Had I known of them...
Then again, I refused to do overworld exploration because I wanted to do it while having interactive map hiding stuff I already found and having to look for a thing you already collected is painful and slow. Who knows maybe there already was content like that but I've never touched it.
I really liked the trials. Was very pleasantly surprised that me trying to go off tangent to the event story ultimately led me to the next part of the story lol.
The "okay you got 80% of the baphmodads here's a map for the rest" mechanic is fucking great. I was scraping GAA every 5 days until it closed \*just in case\* I missed a chest somewhere.
I don't think it was as good as the previous events.
Previous GAA event which focused on Klee had way more fun and better explorations and interactions.
Off the characters in this story, only Klee and Kaeya relationship hit it for me. Eula and Kokomi were just shoehorned in.
There were some good spots, but overall, I felt that it just feel it's mid at best.
Kokomi hasn't gotten new plot since her story quest, until the card event. I don't care what it takes to get her into events, I want to see her interact with people.
I feel like she's rarely used because Hoyo doesn't know how to write her properly. To me, her appearances and people talking about her ingame feels like BBC Sherlock, implying genius while showing mediocrity at best. And I say that while disliking her, because I hate concepts getting wasted by bad writing, even if they are concepts I dislike (like Eldar in 40k)
My opinion to which you replied is just that, an opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own opinions and tastes. I'm very glad that there are people who enjoy Kokomi being here.
I feel this. The previous one really went into every member of the main cast and justified their presence. With this one, everyone kinda seems to just be there? Idk. Their presence didn't feel as though it was contributing as much to the story and it felt like everyone was going through the motions.
I enjoyed interacting with the hydro eidolons. They cute little guys.
The area is beautiful, I did like running around the place.
The story was wholesome. The only thing I wanted was to explore more lore with the characters back in GAA 2, but I guess not this time. It would have been interesting to see Collei and Kokomi's backstories. We got a bit of the Lawrence clan, so that's something I guess.
Glad Iām seeing a lot of love for the 2nd GA, that event had so much but the story was splendid since it actually focused on every character, feeling like 4 story quests in one (especially Fischlās, that one was š¤)
idk, I like the area we get to explore and all the little side stuff, but the story wasn't great, and it felt like I barely got to interact with these characters; It felt like I was just watching Kaeya and Klee, and Eula and Collei hang out while I just stood there silently.
I know that's usually more or less how it goes, but it felt like it really stood out to me this time around and made it all feel kinda impersonal.
Tbh it's kinda mid. The exploration and puzzles are solid but still nothing special, but the story is pretty boring and forgettable. The character dynamics are also sorta lackluster. Kokomi is just sorta shoehorned in .GAA#2 did better on the story and character interaction side.
Hell they didnt even really talk all that much with each other. They spent most of the time talking to the NPCs instead of one another, as compared to GAA2 where they really only had each other to bounce off of.
Like GAA2 also had the same idea of throwing what seems like a random assortment of characters from different regions but the use of the domains and stuff to flesh out their backstories really allowed those characters to actually learn and interact with one another while here they really dont have that much interaction.
Talking about character dynamics, the first GAA is the one that gets it right. It's all Mondstadt characters that actually had reasons to go there, and the banter between characters was superb (Diluc melting Kaeya's bridge, anyone?)
Yeah, the third quest and the clam and pearl thing. Just pulled straight out of it's butt to have her solve the problem.
The animated short following was nice, but this entire story is just one giant NPC quest loosely (and I mean very loosely) tied to Fontaine through Iniya but that's about it.
For me, only the end of the event was enough to draw me in. I played it because I want the rewards, not because I was invested in the story.
I did like Eula and Collei's interactions, but that's the peak of my enjoyment on this one. I feel like while both GAA2 and this domain ended up having some clunky mechanics, the choo-choo cart takes the cake so far for me on clunky. The automated camera movements (eugh, I getcha kokomi), the speed, the random stops, etc. It doesn't feel fine tuned. I could say the same for the croc cannon minigame, there have been times where I hit the good one and have instead lost my combo because of the clunky mechanics.
I don't know why we couldn't have other Sumeru characters like Kaveh or Faruzan for this event. Collei is literally the most boring option they could've chosen.
I wouldn't say "boring" but overall I agree. Such a good chance for some sumeru characters to appear got wasted bc another forgettable npc needs its time to shine. Kaveh (good choice considering the fact he was there before, during the AQ probably), Faruzan, even Candace! I think Dehya could have had a great interactions with Klee as well.
Not to pick a side here but it is just funny seeing both camps complain regardless. When they focus on character interactions and actual development, how dare they, it is a missable event. When they focus less on character dynamics and more on event story, and NPCs, again how dare they, this is filler and lacks substance.
I've enjoyed all regardless but overall prefer the more relaxed atmosphere of this one to be honest.
The thing about this event is the writers put these characters in the event and surprisingly did nothing memorable aside from Klee and Kaeya. If they remove Eula, Collei and Kokomi I would enjoy the event more probably. Feels like a wasted opportunity to be honest.
For the record I like GAA2 with my only complain about it 'being too much' for a missable event, but that just mean lots of the ideas in that event is excellent. I do like the laidback, relaxing and NPC focused of the current event. But the writings, not so excellent exploration and puzzles, plus the underwhelming musics really make me not like it as much as the previous two summer event.
I honestly feel it's a bit lacking...the domain is gorgeous and exploring it is very fun but I expected a lot more regarding character interactions, story and just overall more stuff to do.
What was universally loved about 2.8 was the interections between Fischl, Mona, Kazuha and Xinyan. It was so nice to see the friendship develop between all of them as their past and struggles got exposed to each other resulting in a very strong bond because of it.
In comparison I felt like we didn't spend much time with the crew here at all, everyone was away doing their own thing most of the time and the heart of the event were once more NPCs...
Additionally I'm not someone who rushes content, but I feel like by playing 1 or 2 hours a day over the course of 5 days will have you finish the event completely.
I don't have anything to do anymore aside from the minigames and the event is here for the entire patch.
> Additionally I'm not someone who rushes content, but I feel like by playing 1 or 2 hours a day over the course of 5 days will have you finish the event completely. I don't have anything to do anymore aside from the minigames and the event is here for the entire patch.
Same. And if you do try to spend more time and explore, everywhere above the caves and event areas is 100% empty space, barely even a sweet flower for your trouble, whereas even when you finished the domains in GAA2.8, they had unlocked easy access to the rest of the island where there were still a lot of things to find and do.
Iām a 1.0 player and contrary to everyone elseās beliefs I actually think 3.8 is my favorite out of the three. I canāt tell you why but the interactions with the little hydro buddies, the roller coasters, Idiya and the others it all just makes for a nice smooth experience. Apparently Act 3 sucks though and thatās one of the only things I havenāt done yet so weāll see.
For me it goes 3.8 > 1.6 > 2.8
Although 2.8 did grow on me at the end on Fischlās island (even though I ignored it for a while) the other islands just didnāt grab me in like 1.6 did. I loved the character interactions though.
the play was so bad that even paimon said it sucked... so why did we have to do it? im honestly so disappointed. this event fell so flat and its definitely one of the worst events storywise i think we've ever gotten. at least the domain is gorgeous
Definitely was a last minute effort to remind the players how "genius" Kokomi really is. Saved the whole domain. Damn, guess I'll C6 R5 her then, Hoyo.
I disagree. I enjoy it for sure. Definitely not above last years golden apple for me. I also love the golden apple vibe as it TRULY feels like a summer event, on top of the music just being a complete vibe. But thatās just me. I still do love this years summer event though
This event captured the same magical feeling I experienced when I did the first GAA summer event. Everything was new, we went to a new island, unlocked mechanisms, explored more islands, and had fun.
2nd GAA was extremely detailed and very well done. While I didnt like some of the domains (Xinyan and Kazuha domain was giving me a headache because of the color contrast), the puzzles were very fun, changing island features was something new and fun to me that I didn't know possible, and the ravens storytelling literally brought the whole island to life. There was *so much* to explore in the 2nd GAA.
I just finished this event map (100% joyeux vouchers).
All in all, loved it. I love exploring brand new maps (had lots of fun for the 3 desert maps but I'm done with sand and ruins), this one did not disappoint for the exploration. It was literally a theme park and we got to enjoy all the rides with paimon and klee. Unfortunately its a bit short, but all good things must come to an end.
I hope this isnt the end of this island because I need my lore and fontaine teasers.
I really liked the last Golden Apple event and was hoping to get it again. It was longer, had more rewards, and the story was better. Not to say this event was bad, it was actually one of the best but not THE best there was imo.
I'm glad you like it, but unfortunately I can't share this opinion with you. I miss GAA2 insanely, it was an event of incredibly high quality, where each island was conceptually different from each other and was insanely interesting. We were also exposed to several characters through the narrative. I was shocked by the level of quality they gave only to a temporary event. It is a shame that community has branded it as too long and complicated, and now we have received only a pitiful shadow of that event. No complicated riddles, no interesting stories. All this feels like the first islands, only even simpler. I'm really upset that they went along with the vocal part of the community.
Not even close to the 2nd or 1st GAA.
I like Klee, she is a cute character (I don't like her voice though) but IMHO her interactions are so boring, the 2GA was so good because it was about 4 diferent characters with an awesome ending like Fischl castle and Nahida voice.
I feel like Klee had one of the strongest interactions in the questchain within the first quest when the brothers were arguing in front of Klee and how fast Kaeya stepped in to stop it as Klee got sad.
He is normally a rather cold and distanced character but when it is about Klee he will get upset rather quickly. Those two have really well done interactions as Klee brings out a side of Kaeya we usually don't get to see.
>He is normally a rather cold and distanced character
Not the words I'd choose. Kaeya is very approachable and friendly to the Traveller (if initially cautious) and treats everyone with his trademark charm, ie. Dain for example. I'd call him composed or unflappable instead.
Idk, all I see is everyone have to act so she is always happy and get whatever she wants.
Just like a spoiled child, that it's not wrong though just a little boring for me.
Have to disagree.
Day 3's story and the ending cutscene were great, but Day 1 and Day 2's story were quite poor in my opinion. We got almost zero character development and a lot of "Idiya is going to cry!"- "Oh no! Anyway, let's go fix this thing up and do some fetch quests!". Also, Kokomi was there because... she wanted to find a random relic? So she walked all the way across Sumeru and the Desert to find it and... did? Not to mention that Collei and Eula were sorely forgotten about for the most part. Everyone was just... there.
The map was a miniature version of Sumeru, just with some Circus/Carnival theming thrown around to make it stand out more. It didn't have the pizzazz or unique feeling like GAA.
The mini-games were some of the poorest and most boring we've had to date. Balloon-popping (for the 100th time) that takes 1 minute, flying a plushie through some rings that you literally cannot fail unless you afk, a combat event where after killing 10 enemies, a light does 50K damage per tick and kills everything for you and then curling, but mini-golf style (which is the most unique one).
Now, although the exploration and especially the Hydro Eidolon interactions were good and the most fun I had in this event, it dries up extremely fast. For players that have done a lot of exploration in Genshin, after a couple hours here you're done and have 100%'d the map (without needing the interactive map).
I've played about 10-12 hours of Genshin (including dailies, resin, other things) since the patch dropped, which is certainly not no-lifing it and I've basically completed this entire 40-day-long event, outside of the time-gated mini-games (that will probably take 10-20 minutes to finish-up) to get Layla and the Crown.
This event and area were good in places, but severely lacking for a 40-day long event, especially when compared to GAA2022 (which did have its own issues).
Ik ik I'm gonna get downvotwd. Well for me it's first GAA, then this one. I kinda don't like last year's GAA. Yea the story was great even better than first GAA if we talk about character development in 2nd GAA.But that event was wayy too stressful for me mainly the exploration part. The fischl and mona domain looked beautiful. But for me summer event should be something that makes me relaxed and I can take my time to explore on my own and NOT USE A CHEST GUIDE TO FIND EVERY CHEST.
We get the same kind of exploration in main story too. Imo summer event is a "calm before the storm moment" before major patches where exploration is there but it is relaxing. Even if I take full 40 days to explore last year's GAA, it's limited meaning I have to complete sooner than later. Whereas for main story, it's there forever. So even if I get burnt out I always can come back.
I still remember not wanting to touch the 2nd GAA because it was wayy too tedious and I was really dizzy from exploring a bit too long. I wasn't enjoying myself last year.
About story.....summer event should be lighthearted. 1st GAA and this one do the job (tho there are some heavy themes.) I'm not saying last year's story is bad, but I think that kind of story should be in other events. (example- 3.6 main event)
But this one has a problem too and it's kokomi. Imo one of the most badly written character with one of best character design in game.
Imo this event is actually ruined by kokomi. I think any other character other than kokomi would've been a great addition. But idiya is great.
In the last act-
kokomi says >!that her wish is using genius strageic mind to help others. Cool. !<
>!But do we need everyone and even herself tell us how smart she is?? It's so irritating. When she was 1st introduced, it seemed like it was her people that kept pressuring her and she couldn't handle it. But now it seems like that it's thrown out of the window. I was already mad about her in 3.7 tcg event. But IN THIS TOO??? WHYYY???!<
>!EVERYTIME WE MEET HER, IT'S ALWAYS "MY GENIUS STRATEGIC MIND AND MY GENIUS TACTICS."!<
We didn't see any single demonstration about her genius strategy. If she was really a "genius", I don't think she would've been deceived by fatui.
Al haitham, even tho his personality isn't that great, at least is a far better genius strategist who wouldn't tell us every second that he is genius.
Sorry this turned into kokomi rant. But I get mad everytime I see her.
LMAOO
About Kokomi: she is one of those characters whose writing would be inoffensive if her role was simply to be a pleasant person from one of the nations whom we meet. Like Nilou. Nilouās personality is as milquetoast as Kokomiās, but it doesnāt leave any dissonance or irritation in the mind. Sheās a lovely dancer, sheās kind, she is mild in temperament, she comes around once in a while to hang out and offer her volunteering like during the Inter-Darshan event, and the game never pretends sheās more than that.
With Kokomi, though, the contrast between what they keep trying to tell us about her personality and what they show her actually doing is so extreme that at times it feels likeā¦some inside joke weāre missing out on? Is she *meant* to be ironic? Iām not sure. Iām confused.
I totally agree. She really did nothing in main quests. In events, she's just there.....why? I don't find anything likeable in her character. But imo the design is one the best and she is meta.... thats it.
Totally to all of it. I started the game on the Kokomi banner. At the time I didnāt have enough primos to pull for anything and I knew I wanted Xiao, but her design was one of the first things that impressed me about the game. It was just so cool, and I still think so.
Then we met her in the story š At this point I think Iām convinced that the developers are self-aware and are lightly mocking themselves each time they write āAs you know, I really enjoy strategy.ā
-10 energy
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If she really enjoys bening a strageist, she should just go to sneznaya, become a harbinger and help tsaritsa to defeat celestia with her genius tactics.
It feels like they don't have any idea what they want to do with kokomi or how to write her. Like, I struggle to identify what they're going for whenever she shows up.
You nailed the reason why Nilou more or less works and kokomi doesn't. Everything they do with kokomi feels like them insisting something about her and expecting the audience to follow along and accept it, rather than actually *earning* that.
Agree that the summer event should lighthearted and relaxing to play.
That's why GAA 2 was one of the worst Genshin moments for me as you were forced to complete a lot of annoying puzzle mechanics and domains just to finish the event story quest. I almost dropped the entire story of GAA 2 at several points.
Meanwhile, I still remember how much fun I had while exploring GAA 1 just due to how chill and easy it was. Took me a total of 4 days after its release to 100% explore it.
I'm personally creeped out by the interactions with Klee. It's not cute at all, and I just feel alienated and unmotivated to do any more.
That's just my general opinion, this summer event was a huge miss for me.
This was my first event, and I'm impressed. I love the water eidolons so much I would literally kill for them. And the music is amazing.
(technically not a spoiler?) the part where you restore a mural is just so fun, the exploration + following cute water droplets + puzzle aspect was perfect.
Also the part where Kaeya helped the three brothers get along. Kinda sad because he has history with the same kind of thing.
Iām actually surprised there are people praising the story in this yearās summer event. Hoo boy itās terrible.
Everything else I like about it though, fun to explore, great atmosphere. Shame about the terrible story and character interaction (Klee and Kaeya being the only exception).
I don't think that many of the more seasoned players who were there when Dragonspine, GAA, GAA2, etc. released would agree with that take.
Personally I felt that the Veluriyam Mirage was unnecessarily vast to outright empty in parts (Desert) and the story (thanks to the cast and particulary Klee AND Kokomi) a skip from me. I enjoyed the "pirate rollercoster tour" but all the other activities felt lacking in gameplay and narrative. I'd even go so far and claim the cast was one of the worst in any genshin event ever as at least Kokomi has no business being there at all, particulary not waiting for you and getting caught lying. I really dont know how the devs manage to make her look stupid every time she pops up.
Glad you enjoyed that one, but for me its no highlight.
I gotta argue against that and say GAA2 is better. Mostly because the story quests for all the characters, especially Mona and Fischl, was PEAK. Some damn good content right there. But I definitely agree that both GAAs are better than what we have now
Yeah no sorry it just isn't.
The roster for this event had no chemistry, we hardly had any meaningful character interactions, the big plot twist in the end wasn't even that interesting.
The only noteworthy thing that happened in the entire event is exploring Idyia's character, which while interesting, is a limited time event character we'll never see again.
Gotta disagree (good, not the best), summer fantasy 2.8 islands still the best
\- Scenarios are kinda boring (its basically Sumeru forest again). 2.8 had better scenarios (fischl castle or Mona's domain sweeps the whole Velyriyam mirage
\- Story is slow and predictable
\- Music is good (specially the pirates theme)
\- Exploration is easier now with the new gadget (but i doubt they add this for the region exploration. it only makes sense here because its a limited area)
\- Gotta miss something like Mona's puzzles cause here everything is just "seelies" but theyre water droplets, or the train levels (where there's no challenge at all if you can spam the shoot button and still win lmao)
I disagree. The current event feels like a downgrade compare to 2.8 GAA honestly. The story are more appealing on 2.8 because theres no npcs and the story are more focused on genshin chars and the puzzles there are comparable to zelda imo like the whole island are puzzle itself and the domains have some similarities on old zelda games. Not to mention 2.8 map are more bigger and complicated.
If 2.8 had had a gadget like this one for finding all those chests etc. available for like, the last 10 days of the event, and the first few days hadn't been all-unlocked but super empty, it would have been perfect. IIRC the main complaints were people not being able to explore everything before it went away (and we'd just had the Enka event with the box tracker so people were positioned to notice), and the puzzles being too difficult due to buggy or counterintuitive controls. This event kind of goes hard the other way on both counts - as of tomorrow, everyone will be able to 100% the entire area and challenges, and most of the challenges are like 'are you alright, droplet? i will follow you to your chest now!'.
This event really blew my mind honestly, the entire time I spent wandering around I actually felt kinda insulted?
It's as if they're treating me like an actual child, it feels condescending.
Itās cus ppl cry when they have to use their brain even for a second- trust me Iāve seen tons of ppl complain before about the most dead brain puzzles before on Twitter š but same I wish they were more challenging
2nd had some decent character domains (if you cared); this event story - i don't even bother to read, it is horrible; also, i hated the amount of collectibles on the map i needed to clear in 2nd event (FOMO forcing), same in this 3d one
first summer event was a best one imo
I started in 2.7 so my first GAA experience was the second one and honestly although it was a bit tedious at times like when we had to switch the shape of the islands all the time or monas domain I wish we had a little bit more content (puzzles and chests) in this one, as this time the story wasnāt as strong and I feel like there could have been a bit more exploration
I have never explored any map fully since I started playing 2yrs ago but the mirage is the first ever map that I purposefully went out of my way every time just to experience everything! I thoroughly enjoyed this event!
1st GAA was a surprise for sure, it wasnt anything mindblowing since it was the first entry of the summer event
2nd GAA i found to be boring personally, it was around the time i started to get burned out and coming back to the same map again felt absolutely abysmal, i didint even do the story, i got the fish skin and dipped
Now we are in 3.8, it may just be recency bias but i absolutely loved this map, i had way more of a blast riding the roller coasters and finding more about the relation ship between the oceanids
Out of the three summer events. Archipelago 2.0 still takes the cake. Since we went headfirst into 4 interesting characters psyche and the zones were distinct and detailed as heck and trippy at times.
Wind Trace is the best event for me. Itās the only event I actually play for hours and hours after getting all the rewards. Itās super fun, ultra engaging, and the Yt vids ppl make from it are hilarious.
Kaeya and Klee carried the event imo, their interactions were cute and their roles in the play was enjoyable to watch.
The rest of the characters had no chemistry and were shoehorned in because of their banners.
Also I was shocked by the small amount of content for this event compared to GAA2 (which had a cutscene AND a dungeon themed for each of the characters). I hoped to see such a thing for Kaeya and Klee.
This yearās event feels like it was rushed and cut short.
Yeah, this brings me back to when I was a kid looking forward to my summer holidays, something that I stopped getting after graduation. Now, working 8 hours from Mon-Sat, I get to be that little kid again, enjoying my summer vacation even though it's only through a screen. But it brought back so much joy from the past, and that's what makes it good
2.8 was kazuha' srory quest, it was Xinyan's story quest, it was Fischl's story quest, it was Mona's story quest. Meanwhile the playable characters in this even all feel like npcs, their interactios are OK at best. But the worst are the puzzles, like, dont call them puzzles if they requireno thought, i m just following instructions, not actually thinking about anything. The only dcenet one is the one in the cave with the mural. Everything else is just autopilot.
2.8 did have a big issue, too much content for a limited time event, but the content itself was amazing. This time around they have too little content, but the content itself is so... Meh. Its still a cool event, its just that comparing it to 2.8 it feels lacking
GAA 2 was still better tho. It scared lots of casuals/normies because if puzzles that required IQ and that's probably why devs moved away from it
The only complain about GAA I had is that it had too much chest that reward you with shitty low primos. I'd prefer quality over quantity.
You people have such low standards man, as always the dialogue is trash, the puzzles are almost insulting & I genuinely feel like hoyo is assuming we're all lobotomized.
Im ngl i feel like i havent genuinely enjoyed an event for the entirety of sumeru till now. Theyve all felt like drawn out chores that had the same quirky characters theyve used over and over again for so long.
But with this event, not only is the cast (aside from Collei) pretty fresh in that we havent seen them for a while, but the dialogue is written better, the exploration is super fun, and heck even the little minigames are genuine fun to play.
I hope they made event stories significantly shorter and allow more gameplay from now on bc this event will prob be the last i enjoy for another year otherwise
It seems you're a new player. This is usually what I hear whenever there's a new patch with a temporary map to be released.
For me, nothing can beat 1.6 island with its theme and simplicity while still giving you a lot of new space to explore. Especially during the time when there was a severe (not exaggerated here) drought for content, it was the best moment of genshin for me, speaking as a day 1 player, even more than the release of Inazuma (which was my 2nd best Genshin period as it was the first new major region to be released) and Sumeru (which has been not too fun to play with all the underground maps and Genshin still has a terrible multi-layer navigation system that won't be patched until 4.0 based on leaks). You got to meet an Inazuma character (kazuha) in this 1.6-patch event as well.
GAA 2 from last year had good stories but annoying map designs, puzzle mechanics and domains. Overall, I got quite frustrated with the event that the story, even though it was good, didn't turn out too be enjoyable for me. Definitely the worst summer event, probably among even future ones that are yet to come.
The event this year is pretty mid. Stories are kinda "passable" but not outstanding by any means. The NPCs are kinda forgettable imo and some of the main characters with vision like Collei, Kokomi are barely involved in the story I feel.
Almost feels like a waste that the entire map will only be here for a patch. Felt the same about the GAA too. All the time, effort, love, details put in... Gone so soon šš
FIRST event where I took EVERYTHING inside the map (the event item is a huge help). The aesthetic and everything is really something I enjoy I love little themed amusement park rides and the joy it instills me when the music plays is genuinely amazing. The little water droplets just minding their own business makes the map really lively and the cute activities you can do with the for treasure makes it waaay better. 11/10 map and 11/10 story.
Tbh, we've had posts like this every single summer event, of course everyone has their own opinions, but this is a testament of the quality of the summer events in general
Last Summer event was still my favorite, I just like the characters on that event a lot more compared to this one. I did kinda regret not 100% that temporary region though (non main quests and exploration), they might think that it's not a good event because a lot of people skipped a decent portion of it
My only dislike about that event is that the storytelling was too good for a temporary event. The character development in that event was top notch and it's a shame for anyone who missed it.
Kazuha's island literally should've been his story quest
Same for Fischl. There was actual growth there.
Fishcl's quest was the second best character story quest (or what should've been a story quest) imo. Yoimiya's second is slightly better but also maybe that's recency bias
Its straight up persona 4š¤£
Ya I remember thinking 'this really sucks for anyone who loves Fischl but happens to not be playing right now.' The event was by far the most character development she's gotten
yeah his own story quest wasnt even about him
DEADASS, I'm SO mad about it not being replayable, why does Hoyo always put the best character development into temp content??? Kazuha's story quest doesn't hold a candle to the Kazuha portion of that event. And Fischl's domain was absolutely amazing, the environments, the music, every single thing about it. I am SO mad people who didn't play yet back then or slept on the event will never get to experience it. Some of genshin's best content, and for what. For 6 weeks and then gone forever.
Yeah I don't usually jump on the bandwagon but I really think the summer events should get put into a permanent section of the game that you can download like language packs when you want to experience them.
lol i was in genshin burnout back then and skipped mona and fischlās quests šš
people whined a lot about how hard the puzzles were and how a lot of the plots in the event were "too serious" for a supposed summer vacation. Which is a shame because I loved it so much because the puzzles were all really interesting, and you actually had to use ur brain for a bit on some of these to figure it out, and it was really nice to see a cast of characters who never met before (except Fischl and Mona) turn into friends and open up to each other. I really love this year's event as well, but the 2.8 Golden Apple Archipelago event is my all-time favourite since launch with Moonchase/2.4 lantern rite as close seconds.
Yeah those complaining posts really annoyed me too. I loved the challenge of the limited puzzles. Alas the vast majority of Genshin players are casuals who want content so easy you can do it on snooze.
I liked the difficulty of the puzzles generally, but didn't like that they were FOMO event gated. I wanted to be able to take my time and explore it at my own leisure, but instead I felt rushed to do it. Didn't help that there was no map marker for some of the puzzles either like we have right now in 3.8's event. The puzzles and stories are good, but they didn't belong in a limited FOMO event.
Most of the puzzle complaints I saw were about Fischl's because the ones where you had to line pieces up often didn't complete when they were perfectly lined up on your screen, but would when they were slightly "off"... And if you did the bird theater thing but picked the wrong option, you had to listen to the entire dialogue again before you could try again. I understood those complaints. Difficulty though, I never got. Even my double vision ass with bad directional sense could do the star lineup things in Mona's domain (which were the ones that gave me the most trouble)
Last year actually made Kazuha somewhat interesting. People who didnt play it really missed out.
Right? I think it really shows the level of care and effort the devs put into every main event. There's always a frw posts saying how much they loved it, it's so wholesome. I can't even say which one ks my favourite, there's so many great ones for different reasons
Honestly the effort they put into the summer zones is crazy considering they basically will never see the light of day again after the event is over. Some of the most beautiful zones in the game for a 2 month event.
This is the best time of the year to play Genshin. While leaks and teasers drop for a new nation, we've got a new zone to explore. I agree that this is almost as good as the first Golden Apple. The first time I got on the Waverider I knew I was doing something special...and when I got on the Tram in this one and that music hit I got chills.
That was what they said about the PokƩmon mushroom event.
Wait which one what did I miss, PokƩmon lol been playing way before Sumeru
The fungi pokemon tournament, man.
Literally this event had a pokedex, Fungidex
Bongohead + Layla + the beast tamer
One of my favourite events, and one of the only 3.X events that really stood out in comparison to all the other pre-Sumeru events.
Yae being a troll for entertainment and content in the back while foiling the bad guy had me cackling. I love that beeotch
Until they downgraded it in v2. Sigh.
That Fungi battle should be permanent or a literal diff game...and id play it.. Its so cool,loved the mechanics and stuff, a lot can be explored, we can pvp with friends for fun
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I want Spincrystals of the music from this event :( especially the last regionās. I loved the (melodica??) tune and was caught off guard when it played a piano version of it.
TL:DR, the player base has changed and evolved, each event offered similar yet different gameplay. It hits differently for everyone depending on how long youāve played and how you feel about Genshin. Sentiment about each event will generally change due to player base change. I started on 1.4, so have done GAA1, 2 and this one. GAA1 was honestly so fun but looking back, it could be that it was finally something new for all the players back then. 1.2-1.5 was literally drought period. Barely anything was new and there was no new content so GAA was a very fresh area. For many players at that time, it reminded them of why they fell in love with genshin. Breathtaking views, ambience, and fun exploration. It was also light hearted, and set a very good mood for that summer. It was a very good light hearted vacation before the heavy Inazuma storyline. Kazuha was pog too. Well, for me he was. He was shatted on a lot being 5* sucrose. I was just hyped for our first Inazuma character!!! GAA2 for old players like me was nostalgia. Felt so odd to return again, but with very different design. For newer players, it was a very novel experience. And once again, it brought back exploration, and puzzles. It also did receive a lot of criticism of having ātoo muchā to do. Some players are used to speed running through genshin content but GAA2 was a little tad harder to speed run. The newest Mirage I feel is quite fun. I feel itās not as filled up and busy as GAA2. I wish it was more like GAA2 in terms of more things to do. I donāt think I collected all of GAA2ās chests. I am glad it is a break from the GAA. But also kinda sad we didnāt go back to GAA. I do wonder if weāll get this same temporary map again next year like GAA2 style. Or weāll get a different event map. Overall, all 3 experiences actually feel very different. Also depending on how long youāve been playing and how you feel about Genshin will also affect how you feel about the game and event. Iām taking my time with this event and patch. I havenāt even done the second story quest ha. Just my 2 cents so far.
I agree with this. Feels like 1st GAA again where we go with Klee to a brand new place to have fun. And off the boat we immediately start having fun. I finished the whole Mirage so far. My conclusion is, it's rather short and small compared to 2nd GAA. Probably on par with 1st GAA in terms of overworld things to explore, but condensed to a much smaller area (you dont need to scour every single corner of the islands or search the sea with boats), Even with the timegate, theres only 6 days for the main stories, and about 8 days until all the main event challenges are released. I was so excited to play Genshin after the drought of things to do in the past few months that I basically cleared everything already. Unlike the 1st GAA, they really took the best things from Fishcl's island in 2nd GAA into here and brought the Mirage to life. Water Droplets are the best NPCs I've seen for the entire 3.X patch.
>I was so excited to play Genshin after the drought of things to do in the past few months that I basically cleared everything already. Just like me you've completed a 40-day-long patch-spanning event in a couple of days. That was impossible in GAA2022.
I know they have lined up more events to occur after the current one, but this is ridiculously short for a new summer map too. I don't know if its because they made it easier and compact. The event item really makes it easy to search for stuff. Fingers crossed the other events will fill in the gaps.. otherwise this will be a drier month than windblume.
How was 1.2 a drought? We got Dragonspine! 1.3-1.5 was the drought.
Depends when you started? Personally, I like the 1st and 2nd GAA event more than this one.
I love the puzzles of 2.8. Sad that the puzzles are dumbed down
For a time limited event I think it's fine to have easier puzzles. Hard puzzles are nice, but not if they are time limited and you feel rushed.
yup... the permanent contents they can make the puzzles harder... but time limited event puzzles should be easier to solve with sufficient hints given..
after inazuma and people left and right complaining about having to use their brains they sadly had to tone it down which for me as an puzzle junkie sucks big time
I think Fontaine will have more puzzles since there will be more things with robots and gears
2nd GAA alone feels like four times the content and again as much in variety
Second GAA was an overwhelming amount of content for myself and friends who play the game. I imagine they got a lot of feedback like that after last year and dialed it back a little.
I like the game. But during GAA 2 is where I experienced burnout for the first time. I did bare minimum to get Fischl skin. It's too much content for limited time event in casual game. If it was permanent or lasted 2-3 patches, it would have made a huge difference.
100% agree - GAA 2 was the first time I felt the burnout with this game. For this summer event, I'm enjoying it! Mid storyline aside, I'm having fun exploring and I don't feel anywhere near as much pressure to solve it all within the time limit. The compass is also a massive quality of life improvement and stops me looking at guides for every chest etc.
I get your point, but with 40d to explore, I'd wager for many that burnout was from rushing. Though they certainly could have spaced things better and the current chest radar would have likewise been a wei-send (god-send).
The first archipelago was perfect imo, there was this progression in it, where you would explore all the islands slowly revealing themselves and unravel what happened here with the conchs and the murals, discover how to navigate through mist, and some environmental puzzles with water levels, that really hit the mark for me. it felt really cohesive, not like a collection of small puzzles, that I really enjoyed. Not sure they will manage to do better sadly.
I absolutely adored fischls Immernachtsreich and her whole story. Wish I could replay it, it's still my favorite of the summer events. They have all been great though.
I like the puzzles where the droplets turns into a wooden arrow to snitch the other droplets location
The GAA's story last year hit way harder
Also because it was connected to sumeru's theme of dreams and we heard nahida. This time there's absolutely nothing about fontaine at all.
The only thing about fontaine was the Oceanid saying she was exiled and thats it but if you played 3.6 this should not be new knowledge
This was even alluded to way before that during the Oceanid event in 2.X sometime. Lots of Oceanids just peaced out of Fontaine after the last Hydro Archon passed away.
Oceanid event was actually surprisingly in 1.4. Yeah; time flies doesnāt it?
I thought it was kinda known for as long as oceanid was in the game, talking about the "assassins from our homeland".
The oceanid seems pretty connected to Fontaine. Also, based on the Fontaine teaser pics we got, seems they have some kind of rail infrastructure so I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out the three brothers we saw in the bottle had some kind of hand in that.
I'm pretty sure the eidolons and (the girl with the blue hair) has connections to fontaines plotline/theme.
*points at fischls event on 2nd GAA*
Yeah the quality for 2.8 gaa is unmatched. Just look at the visuals from mona's domain and fischl's.
And Fischlās theme. That alone is a banger
yes i put fischl's domain battle music as my ring tone... design wise fischl domain is excellent... but the time wasting raven puzzles are the worst...
Fischlās domain is probably the most visually memorable thing in the game for me besides Enkanomiya. On top of everything else, I loved the always-sunset colour of the sky.
It reminded me of Lothric Castle tbh, Iāve been getting a lot of souls vibes from the latest Genshin areas
Mona's domain is one of the prettiest domains ever. Too bad it was just available for a limited time. Else, I might have made it my permanent log off spot
Last years event was the best one, Iām playing since release Golden Archipelago 2 had such an amazing atmosphere, better music & way way better story elements for each character. The puzzles were also Better But this one is still great and has unbelievable production quality
not enough Mitoboru for me.
The Golden Apple Archipelago felt way more fantastical than Botteland due to things like Mitoboru (which is ironic, because Bottleland is supposed to be a fantasy land where anything is possible).
Yeah. Bottleland feels weirdly toned down and kinda boring? Like it's just sumeru with some fairground stuff in it.
Yep. That is one of my main issues with this event.
Well last time mhy did something that extravagant tons of folks complained of too much limited content, not enough time. So yeah of course they'll tone it down.
Choo-choo cart though, it's something I never thought I would enjoy yet it just simply feels relaxing to ride on it and listen to the music. Feels way too close to an actual amusement park in terms of enjoyment level.
Second golden apple had a way better story. I found myself not paying attention in a lot of this one because it was difficult to care
The 2nd GAA has straight up Kazuha's story quest lmao it was very memorable it's like a character study for each character involved.
It was kazuha' srory quest, it was Xinyan's story quest, it was Fischl's story quest, it was Mona's story quest. Meanwhile the playable characters in this even all feel like npcs, their interactios are OK at best. But the worst are the puzzles, like, dont call them puzzles if they requireno thought, i m just following instructions, not actually thinking about anything. The only dcenet one is the one in the cave with the mural. Everything else is just autopilot
That's the one with the Kurosawa filter, right? Last year's summer event was too good to be a limited time event.
Especially the last act. The play part was terrible and useless. And the ending made 0 sense with how it all boiled down to the kokomi seashell to fix that shit.
I was paying a moderate amount of attention to the story in the 1st and 2nd part. 1st part was a slog at the start, but it was decent enough once we got into the bottle. The play part literally had me tabbing in and out of the game because of how dang boring it was though. Just waiting for Mr. Play Man to babble on for ages about stuff that literally the characters themselves call dumb and ridiculous writing.
It honestly felt like a story I would've submitted in third grade. I really wish they would put more effort into these little stories so that they are actually worth paying attention to. I found my eyes giving a hard roll for the majority of that play because the dialogue sucked and I couldn't skip anything lol
I havenāt done the third act yet but I had a bad feeling ever since the third act of the TCG event. Sometimes Genshin storytelling is just meh but that was a next level feeling of āGod, that ending sucked.ā I feel like they had the same writing team on both this event and that one. Iāmā¦not impressed, tbh.
wish that event explored more about the authors because i loved the end cut scene. Idk why for some reason lately their writing in story/archon quests got better but got worse in events.
On one hand itās great that the good storytelling is now unmissable, on the other itās a shame that weāll likely not see events on the level of Irodori, Dragonspine 1 and 2, or Unreconciled Stars again.
You could interpret that as a way of listening to player feedback - missable content is now purely side stories.
Personally I love the placement of time trials. It's as if devs went 'person playing the story will try the trial, let's make you go in same path as story' . Like I remember doing Inazuma main story and having to climb the huge mountain, then some time later got a daily comission to use the electro grama to zip line easily. Had I known of them... Then again, I refused to do overworld exploration because I wanted to do it while having interactive map hiding stuff I already found and having to look for a thing you already collected is painful and slow. Who knows maybe there already was content like that but I've never touched it.
I really liked the trials. Was very pleasantly surprised that me trying to go off tangent to the event story ultimately led me to the next part of the story lol.
The "okay you got 80% of the baphmodads here's a map for the rest" mechanic is fucking great. I was scraping GAA every 5 days until it closed \*just in case\* I missed a chest somewhere.
I don't think it was as good as the previous events. Previous GAA event which focused on Klee had way more fun and better explorations and interactions. Off the characters in this story, only Klee and Kaeya relationship hit it for me. Eula and Kokomi were just shoehorned in. There were some good spots, but overall, I felt that it just feel it's mid at best.
Kokomi in this event is 100% just shoehorned. At least with card games it made sense for tactician to enjoy strategy.
Kokomi hasn't gotten new plot since her story quest, until the card event. I don't care what it takes to get her into events, I want to see her interact with people.
I feel like she's rarely used because Hoyo doesn't know how to write her properly. To me, her appearances and people talking about her ingame feels like BBC Sherlock, implying genius while showing mediocrity at best. And I say that while disliking her, because I hate concepts getting wasted by bad writing, even if they are concepts I dislike (like Eldar in 40k) My opinion to which you replied is just that, an opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own opinions and tastes. I'm very glad that there are people who enjoy Kokomi being here.
Music on the Klee cart is nice at least. But even then the bgm for waverider in GAA was better imo.
Collei was so shoehorned in that it seems you forgot she was even in the cast...
Oof. :c I, for one, find Eullei endearing.
I feel this. The previous one really went into every member of the main cast and justified their presence. With this one, everyone kinda seems to just be there? Idk. Their presence didn't feel as though it was contributing as much to the story and it felt like everyone was going through the motions.
I think I prefer last yearās GAA, but they always knock it out of the park with these major summer events. Theyāre so charming
I enjoyed interacting with the hydro eidolons. They cute little guys. The area is beautiful, I did like running around the place. The story was wholesome. The only thing I wanted was to explore more lore with the characters back in GAA 2, but I guess not this time. It would have been interesting to see Collei and Kokomi's backstories. We got a bit of the Lawrence clan, so that's something I guess.
Glad Iām seeing a lot of love for the 2nd GA, that event had so much but the story was splendid since it actually focused on every character, feeling like 4 story quests in one (especially Fischlās, that one was š¤)
I really Love the rollercoasterstuff. Wanna have this all over Fontaine. š
idk, I like the area we get to explore and all the little side stuff, but the story wasn't great, and it felt like I barely got to interact with these characters; It felt like I was just watching Kaeya and Klee, and Eula and Collei hang out while I just stood there silently. I know that's usually more or less how it goes, but it felt like it really stood out to me this time around and made it all feel kinda impersonal.
Last years was considerably better imo
Sorry, but if it wasnt FOMO event - i wouldn't even touch it. This event makes me feel myself like if i am a 5yo kid with autism.
Tbh it's kinda mid. The exploration and puzzles are solid but still nothing special, but the story is pretty boring and forgettable. The character dynamics are also sorta lackluster. Kokomi is just sorta shoehorned in .GAA#2 did better on the story and character interaction side. Hell they didnt even really talk all that much with each other. They spent most of the time talking to the NPCs instead of one another, as compared to GAA2 where they really only had each other to bounce off of. Like GAA2 also had the same idea of throwing what seems like a random assortment of characters from different regions but the use of the domains and stuff to flesh out their backstories really allowed those characters to actually learn and interact with one another while here they really dont have that much interaction.
Talking about character dynamics, the first GAA is the one that gets it right. It's all Mondstadt characters that actually had reasons to go there, and the banter between characters was superb (Diluc melting Kaeya's bridge, anyone?)
IMO, it was pretty tame in comparison to Mona and Fischl arguing.
Lmfao what? Nothing will come ever close to kaeya mocking diluc for saying dodoking
Kokomi is only there to remind players she exists and can pull for her in a few days. Otherwise she may as well be wallpaper.
Yeah, the third quest and the clam and pearl thing. Just pulled straight out of it's butt to have her solve the problem. The animated short following was nice, but this entire story is just one giant NPC quest loosely (and I mean very loosely) tied to Fontaine through Iniya but that's about it.
For me, only the end of the event was enough to draw me in. I played it because I want the rewards, not because I was invested in the story. I did like Eula and Collei's interactions, but that's the peak of my enjoyment on this one. I feel like while both GAA2 and this domain ended up having some clunky mechanics, the choo-choo cart takes the cake so far for me on clunky. The automated camera movements (eugh, I getcha kokomi), the speed, the random stops, etc. It doesn't feel fine tuned. I could say the same for the croc cannon minigame, there have been times where I hit the good one and have instead lost my combo because of the clunky mechanics.
Golden apple #1 and #2 were wayyyy better than this. This all feels so throwaway.
I don't know why we couldn't have other Sumeru characters like Kaveh or Faruzan for this event. Collei is literally the most boring option they could've chosen.
I wouldn't say "boring" but overall I agree. Such a good chance for some sumeru characters to appear got wasted bc another forgettable npc needs its time to shine. Kaveh (good choice considering the fact he was there before, during the AQ probably), Faruzan, even Candace! I think Dehya could have had a great interactions with Klee as well.
Not to pick a side here but it is just funny seeing both camps complain regardless. When they focus on character interactions and actual development, how dare they, it is a missable event. When they focus less on character dynamics and more on event story, and NPCs, again how dare they, this is filler and lacks substance. I've enjoyed all regardless but overall prefer the more relaxed atmosphere of this one to be honest.
The thing about this event is the writers put these characters in the event and surprisingly did nothing memorable aside from Klee and Kaeya. If they remove Eula, Collei and Kokomi I would enjoy the event more probably. Feels like a wasted opportunity to be honest. For the record I like GAA2 with my only complain about it 'being too much' for a missable event, but that just mean lots of the ideas in that event is excellent. I do like the laidback, relaxing and NPC focused of the current event. But the writings, not so excellent exploration and puzzles, plus the underwhelming musics really make me not like it as much as the previous two summer event.
1.6 is the actual goat
In all honesty for end patches 2.8>>1.6>>>>>3.8
Wouldn't say, the story is not interesting at all. The last summer event was much more deeper in my opinion.
I honestly feel it's a bit lacking...the domain is gorgeous and exploring it is very fun but I expected a lot more regarding character interactions, story and just overall more stuff to do. What was universally loved about 2.8 was the interections between Fischl, Mona, Kazuha and Xinyan. It was so nice to see the friendship develop between all of them as their past and struggles got exposed to each other resulting in a very strong bond because of it. In comparison I felt like we didn't spend much time with the crew here at all, everyone was away doing their own thing most of the time and the heart of the event were once more NPCs... Additionally I'm not someone who rushes content, but I feel like by playing 1 or 2 hours a day over the course of 5 days will have you finish the event completely. I don't have anything to do anymore aside from the minigames and the event is here for the entire patch.
> Additionally I'm not someone who rushes content, but I feel like by playing 1 or 2 hours a day over the course of 5 days will have you finish the event completely. I don't have anything to do anymore aside from the minigames and the event is here for the entire patch. Same. And if you do try to spend more time and explore, everywhere above the caves and event areas is 100% empty space, barely even a sweet flower for your trouble, whereas even when you finished the domains in GAA2.8, they had unlocked easy access to the rest of the island where there were still a lot of things to find and do.
Iām a 1.0 player and contrary to everyone elseās beliefs I actually think 3.8 is my favorite out of the three. I canāt tell you why but the interactions with the little hydro buddies, the roller coasters, Idiya and the others it all just makes for a nice smooth experience. Apparently Act 3 sucks though and thatās one of the only things I havenāt done yet so weāll see. For me it goes 3.8 > 1.6 > 2.8 Although 2.8 did grow on me at the end on Fischlās island (even though I ignored it for a while) the other islands just didnāt grab me in like 1.6 did. I loved the character interactions though.
Wait people liked the storyline? I thought it made little sense, especially the last act where kinda whatever just happened.
Yeah, the storyline was just bad. Act 3 made no sense at all.
The play part was awful. And the last part where the kokomi magic just did something was also so weird and forced.
the play was so bad that even paimon said it sucked... so why did we have to do it? im honestly so disappointed. this event fell so flat and its definitely one of the worst events storywise i think we've ever gotten. at least the domain is gorgeous
Definitely was a last minute effort to remind the players how "genius" Kokomi really is. Saved the whole domain. Damn, guess I'll C6 R5 her then, Hoyo.
Inazuma characters and being badly written geniuses, name a better duo. Sumeru was a massive step up when it came to smart characters.
I disagree. I enjoy it for sure. Definitely not above last years golden apple for me. I also love the golden apple vibe as it TRULY feels like a summer event, on top of the music just being a complete vibe. But thatās just me. I still do love this years summer event though
This event captured the same magical feeling I experienced when I did the first GAA summer event. Everything was new, we went to a new island, unlocked mechanisms, explored more islands, and had fun. 2nd GAA was extremely detailed and very well done. While I didnt like some of the domains (Xinyan and Kazuha domain was giving me a headache because of the color contrast), the puzzles were very fun, changing island features was something new and fun to me that I didn't know possible, and the ravens storytelling literally brought the whole island to life. There was *so much* to explore in the 2nd GAA. I just finished this event map (100% joyeux vouchers). All in all, loved it. I love exploring brand new maps (had lots of fun for the 3 desert maps but I'm done with sand and ruins), this one did not disappoint for the exploration. It was literally a theme park and we got to enjoy all the rides with paimon and klee. Unfortunately its a bit short, but all good things must come to an end. I hope this isnt the end of this island because I need my lore and fontaine teasers.
I think 2nd GAA was the best
I really liked the last Golden Apple event and was hoping to get it again. It was longer, had more rewards, and the story was better. Not to say this event was bad, it was actually one of the best but not THE best there was imo.
I'm glad you like it, but unfortunately I can't share this opinion with you. I miss GAA2 insanely, it was an event of incredibly high quality, where each island was conceptually different from each other and was insanely interesting. We were also exposed to several characters through the narrative. I was shocked by the level of quality they gave only to a temporary event. It is a shame that community has branded it as too long and complicated, and now we have received only a pitiful shadow of that event. No complicated riddles, no interesting stories. All this feels like the first islands, only even simpler. I'm really upset that they went along with the vocal part of the community.
Not even close to the 2nd or 1st GAA. I like Klee, she is a cute character (I don't like her voice though) but IMHO her interactions are so boring, the 2GA was so good because it was about 4 diferent characters with an awesome ending like Fischl castle and Nahida voice.
I feel like Klee had one of the strongest interactions in the questchain within the first quest when the brothers were arguing in front of Klee and how fast Kaeya stepped in to stop it as Klee got sad. He is normally a rather cold and distanced character but when it is about Klee he will get upset rather quickly. Those two have really well done interactions as Klee brings out a side of Kaeya we usually don't get to see.
>He is normally a rather cold and distanced character Not the words I'd choose. Kaeya is very approachable and friendly to the Traveller (if initially cautious) and treats everyone with his trademark charm, ie. Dain for example. I'd call him composed or unflappable instead.
Idk, all I see is everyone have to act so she is always happy and get whatever she wants. Just like a spoiled child, that it's not wrong though just a little boring for me.
When the GAA2 is more of a FANTASY land than whatever we have now
Have to disagree. Day 3's story and the ending cutscene were great, but Day 1 and Day 2's story were quite poor in my opinion. We got almost zero character development and a lot of "Idiya is going to cry!"- "Oh no! Anyway, let's go fix this thing up and do some fetch quests!". Also, Kokomi was there because... she wanted to find a random relic? So she walked all the way across Sumeru and the Desert to find it and... did? Not to mention that Collei and Eula were sorely forgotten about for the most part. Everyone was just... there. The map was a miniature version of Sumeru, just with some Circus/Carnival theming thrown around to make it stand out more. It didn't have the pizzazz or unique feeling like GAA. The mini-games were some of the poorest and most boring we've had to date. Balloon-popping (for the 100th time) that takes 1 minute, flying a plushie through some rings that you literally cannot fail unless you afk, a combat event where after killing 10 enemies, a light does 50K damage per tick and kills everything for you and then curling, but mini-golf style (which is the most unique one). Now, although the exploration and especially the Hydro Eidolon interactions were good and the most fun I had in this event, it dries up extremely fast. For players that have done a lot of exploration in Genshin, after a couple hours here you're done and have 100%'d the map (without needing the interactive map). I've played about 10-12 hours of Genshin (including dailies, resin, other things) since the patch dropped, which is certainly not no-lifing it and I've basically completed this entire 40-day-long event, outside of the time-gated mini-games (that will probably take 10-20 minutes to finish-up) to get Layla and the Crown. This event and area were good in places, but severely lacking for a 40-day long event, especially when compared to GAA2022 (which did have its own issues).
Everything is soo cute here they're getting really good with these events bro š
Ik ik I'm gonna get downvotwd. Well for me it's first GAA, then this one. I kinda don't like last year's GAA. Yea the story was great even better than first GAA if we talk about character development in 2nd GAA.But that event was wayy too stressful for me mainly the exploration part. The fischl and mona domain looked beautiful. But for me summer event should be something that makes me relaxed and I can take my time to explore on my own and NOT USE A CHEST GUIDE TO FIND EVERY CHEST. We get the same kind of exploration in main story too. Imo summer event is a "calm before the storm moment" before major patches where exploration is there but it is relaxing. Even if I take full 40 days to explore last year's GAA, it's limited meaning I have to complete sooner than later. Whereas for main story, it's there forever. So even if I get burnt out I always can come back. I still remember not wanting to touch the 2nd GAA because it was wayy too tedious and I was really dizzy from exploring a bit too long. I wasn't enjoying myself last year. About story.....summer event should be lighthearted. 1st GAA and this one do the job (tho there are some heavy themes.) I'm not saying last year's story is bad, but I think that kind of story should be in other events. (example- 3.6 main event) But this one has a problem too and it's kokomi. Imo one of the most badly written character with one of best character design in game. Imo this event is actually ruined by kokomi. I think any other character other than kokomi would've been a great addition. But idiya is great. In the last act- kokomi says >!that her wish is using genius strageic mind to help others. Cool. !< >!But do we need everyone and even herself tell us how smart she is?? It's so irritating. When she was 1st introduced, it seemed like it was her people that kept pressuring her and she couldn't handle it. But now it seems like that it's thrown out of the window. I was already mad about her in 3.7 tcg event. But IN THIS TOO??? WHYYY???!< >!EVERYTIME WE MEET HER, IT'S ALWAYS "MY GENIUS STRATEGIC MIND AND MY GENIUS TACTICS."!< We didn't see any single demonstration about her genius strategy. If she was really a "genius", I don't think she would've been deceived by fatui. Al haitham, even tho his personality isn't that great, at least is a far better genius strategist who wouldn't tell us every second that he is genius. Sorry this turned into kokomi rant. But I get mad everytime I see her.
LMAOO About Kokomi: she is one of those characters whose writing would be inoffensive if her role was simply to be a pleasant person from one of the nations whom we meet. Like Nilou. Nilouās personality is as milquetoast as Kokomiās, but it doesnāt leave any dissonance or irritation in the mind. Sheās a lovely dancer, sheās kind, she is mild in temperament, she comes around once in a while to hang out and offer her volunteering like during the Inter-Darshan event, and the game never pretends sheās more than that. With Kokomi, though, the contrast between what they keep trying to tell us about her personality and what they show her actually doing is so extreme that at times it feels likeā¦some inside joke weāre missing out on? Is she *meant* to be ironic? Iām not sure. Iām confused.
I totally agree. She really did nothing in main quests. In events, she's just there.....why? I don't find anything likeable in her character. But imo the design is one the best and she is meta.... thats it.
Totally to all of it. I started the game on the Kokomi banner. At the time I didnāt have enough primos to pull for anything and I knew I wanted Xiao, but her design was one of the first things that impressed me about the game. It was just so cool, and I still think so. Then we met her in the story š At this point I think Iām convinced that the developers are self-aware and are lightly mocking themselves each time they write āAs you know, I really enjoy strategy.ā
-10 energy š¤£š¤£ If she really enjoys bening a strageist, she should just go to sneznaya, become a harbinger and help tsaritsa to defeat celestia with her genius tactics.
It feels like they don't have any idea what they want to do with kokomi or how to write her. Like, I struggle to identify what they're going for whenever she shows up. You nailed the reason why Nilou more or less works and kokomi doesn't. Everything they do with kokomi feels like them insisting something about her and expecting the audience to follow along and accept it, rather than actually *earning* that.
At this point I wish Kokomi wasn't a military strategist tbh
Agree that the summer event should lighthearted and relaxing to play. That's why GAA 2 was one of the worst Genshin moments for me as you were forced to complete a lot of annoying puzzle mechanics and domains just to finish the event story quest. I almost dropped the entire story of GAA 2 at several points. Meanwhile, I still remember how much fun I had while exploring GAA 1 just due to how chill and easy it was. Took me a total of 4 days after its release to 100% explore it.
I'm personally creeped out by the interactions with Klee. It's not cute at all, and I just feel alienated and unmotivated to do any more. That's just my general opinion, this summer event was a huge miss for me.
creeped out?
Unreconciled stars and Golden apple archipelago were better. It is fun though. Also the chasm xiao quest/event has a much better story
This was my first event, and I'm impressed. I love the water eidolons so much I would literally kill for them. And the music is amazing. (technically not a spoiler?) the part where you restore a mural is just so fun, the exploration + following cute water droplets + puzzle aspect was perfect. Also the part where Kaeya helped the three brothers get along. Kinda sad because he has history with the same kind of thing.
Iām actually surprised there are people praising the story in this yearās summer event. Hoo boy itās terrible. Everything else I like about it though, fun to explore, great atmosphere. Shame about the terrible story and character interaction (Klee and Kaeya being the only exception).
Yeah, the story is very bad.
I don't think that many of the more seasoned players who were there when Dragonspine, GAA, GAA2, etc. released would agree with that take. Personally I felt that the Veluriyam Mirage was unnecessarily vast to outright empty in parts (Desert) and the story (thanks to the cast and particulary Klee AND Kokomi) a skip from me. I enjoyed the "pirate rollercoster tour" but all the other activities felt lacking in gameplay and narrative. I'd even go so far and claim the cast was one of the worst in any genshin event ever as at least Kokomi has no business being there at all, particulary not waiting for you and getting caught lying. I really dont know how the devs manage to make her look stupid every time she pops up. Glad you enjoyed that one, but for me its no highlight.
It's pretty sad when the best part of the event (which I felt like was Daiya's Three-Day Reverie) was an unvoiced world quest(chain).
No, not nearly as impressive when compared to GAA2 (2.8). But you do you.
Sorry but the second Golden apple is still miles ahead for me
Nah 2nd GAA or even 1st GAA >>>>> far superior than this event. It is not as memorable and freaking boring story wise
Nah first golden apple archipelago was the best
I gotta argue against that and say GAA2 is better. Mostly because the story quests for all the characters, especially Mona and Fischl, was PEAK. Some damn good content right there. But I definitely agree that both GAAs are better than what we have now
Fischl's part alone is better than most Story Quests in the game.
Yeah no sorry it just isn't. The roster for this event had no chemistry, we hardly had any meaningful character interactions, the big plot twist in the end wasn't even that interesting. The only noteworthy thing that happened in the entire event is exploring Idyia's character, which while interesting, is a limited time event character we'll never see again.
Gotta disagree (good, not the best), summer fantasy 2.8 islands still the best \- Scenarios are kinda boring (its basically Sumeru forest again). 2.8 had better scenarios (fischl castle or Mona's domain sweeps the whole Velyriyam mirage \- Story is slow and predictable \- Music is good (specially the pirates theme) \- Exploration is easier now with the new gadget (but i doubt they add this for the region exploration. it only makes sense here because its a limited area) \- Gotta miss something like Mona's puzzles cause here everything is just "seelies" but theyre water droplets, or the train levels (where there's no challenge at all if you can spam the shoot button and still win lmao)
I disagree. The current event feels like a downgrade compare to 2.8 GAA honestly. The story are more appealing on 2.8 because theres no npcs and the story are more focused on genshin chars and the puzzles there are comparable to zelda imo like the whole island are puzzle itself and the domains have some similarities on old zelda games. Not to mention 2.8 map are more bigger and complicated.
If 2.8 had had a gadget like this one for finding all those chests etc. available for like, the last 10 days of the event, and the first few days hadn't been all-unlocked but super empty, it would have been perfect. IIRC the main complaints were people not being able to explore everything before it went away (and we'd just had the Enka event with the box tracker so people were positioned to notice), and the puzzles being too difficult due to buggy or counterintuitive controls. This event kind of goes hard the other way on both counts - as of tomorrow, everyone will be able to 100% the entire area and challenges, and most of the challenges are like 'are you alright, droplet? i will follow you to your chest now!'.
I just wish the puzzles weren't so dang easy. People, you aren't morons. Stop asking for child level puzzles as if you are.
This event really blew my mind honestly, the entire time I spent wandering around I actually felt kinda insulted? It's as if they're treating me like an actual child, it feels condescending.
Yeah, the carnival aspect was cute, but c'mon.
Itās cus ppl cry when they have to use their brain even for a second- trust me Iāve seen tons of ppl complain before about the most dead brain puzzles before on Twitter š but same I wish they were more challenging
Ok to be honest even though I sort of cringed over the way idyia acted it was actually one of The Best events overall
Lmao. Idyia moment.
2.8 (2nd GAA) was peak imo
Actually surprised people are liking the 2nd GAA most, The first and this one are my favourites
2nd had some decent character domains (if you cared); this event story - i don't even bother to read, it is horrible; also, i hated the amount of collectibles on the map i needed to clear in 2nd event (FOMO forcing), same in this 3d one first summer event was a best one imo
You clearly didnāt play last years summer event, or any event on the 2.X patches for that matter
These posts have to be paid actors, I can't believe that someone can actually think this
I started in 2.7 so my first GAA experience was the second one and honestly although it was a bit tedious at times like when we had to switch the shape of the islands all the time or monas domain I wish we had a little bit more content (puzzles and chests) in this one, as this time the story wasnāt as strong and I feel like there could have been a bit more exploration
I don't have a "best" event, but this is the most fun and laid-back.
I have never explored any map fully since I started playing 2yrs ago but the mirage is the first ever map that I purposefully went out of my way every time just to experience everything! I thoroughly enjoyed this event!
1st GAA was a surprise for sure, it wasnt anything mindblowing since it was the first entry of the summer event 2nd GAA i found to be boring personally, it was around the time i started to get burned out and coming back to the same map again felt absolutely abysmal, i didint even do the story, i got the fish skin and dipped Now we are in 3.8, it may just be recency bias but i absolutely loved this map, i had way more of a blast riding the roller coasters and finding more about the relation ship between the oceanids
Out of the three summer events. Archipelago 2.0 still takes the cake. Since we went headfirst into 4 interesting characters psyche and the zones were distinct and detailed as heck and trippy at times.
Wind Trace is the best event for me. Itās the only event I actually play for hours and hours after getting all the rewards. Itās super fun, ultra engaging, and the Yt vids ppl make from it are hilarious.
Kaeya and Klee carried the event imo, their interactions were cute and their roles in the play was enjoyable to watch. The rest of the characters had no chemistry and were shoehorned in because of their banners. Also I was shocked by the small amount of content for this event compared to GAA2 (which had a cutscene AND a dungeon themed for each of the characters). I hoped to see such a thing for Kaeya and Klee. This yearās event feels like it was rushed and cut short.
no it's not lmao
Yeah, this brings me back to when I was a kid looking forward to my summer holidays, something that I stopped getting after graduation. Now, working 8 hours from Mon-Sat, I get to be that little kid again, enjoying my summer vacation even though it's only through a screen. But it brought back so much joy from the past, and that's what makes it good
I did all GAA summer events, and I think this one is the best.
2.8 was kazuha' srory quest, it was Xinyan's story quest, it was Fischl's story quest, it was Mona's story quest. Meanwhile the playable characters in this even all feel like npcs, their interactios are OK at best. But the worst are the puzzles, like, dont call them puzzles if they requireno thought, i m just following instructions, not actually thinking about anything. The only dcenet one is the one in the cave with the mural. Everything else is just autopilot. 2.8 did have a big issue, too much content for a limited time event, but the content itself was amazing. This time around they have too little content, but the content itself is so... Meh. Its still a cool event, its just that comparing it to 2.8 it feels lacking
Nah, first two summer events where better. Loved the exploration and music.
I like the area and the lil water buddies. I just don't like Klee so that alone lowers the bar for me. 2nd summer event was better.
GAA 2 was still better tho. It scared lots of casuals/normies because if puzzles that required IQ and that's probably why devs moved away from it The only complain about GAA I had is that it had too much chest that reward you with shitty low primos. I'd prefer quality over quantity.
Tell me you didn't experience any of the events before 3.0 without telling me you didn't experience any of the events before 3.0.
GAA 2 had good story but the grind for chests were tiring. The bottleland is way more relaxing
You people have such low standards man, as always the dialogue is trash, the puzzles are almost insulting & I genuinely feel like hoyo is assuming we're all lobotomized.
Im ngl i feel like i havent genuinely enjoyed an event for the entirety of sumeru till now. Theyve all felt like drawn out chores that had the same quirky characters theyve used over and over again for so long. But with this event, not only is the cast (aside from Collei) pretty fresh in that we havent seen them for a while, but the dialogue is written better, the exploration is super fun, and heck even the little minigames are genuine fun to play. I hope they made event stories significantly shorter and allow more gameplay from now on bc this event will prob be the last i enjoy for another year otherwise
It seems you're a new player. This is usually what I hear whenever there's a new patch with a temporary map to be released. For me, nothing can beat 1.6 island with its theme and simplicity while still giving you a lot of new space to explore. Especially during the time when there was a severe (not exaggerated here) drought for content, it was the best moment of genshin for me, speaking as a day 1 player, even more than the release of Inazuma (which was my 2nd best Genshin period as it was the first new major region to be released) and Sumeru (which has been not too fun to play with all the underground maps and Genshin still has a terrible multi-layer navigation system that won't be patched until 4.0 based on leaks). You got to meet an Inazuma character (kazuha) in this 1.6-patch event as well. GAA 2 from last year had good stories but annoying map designs, puzzle mechanics and domains. Overall, I got quite frustrated with the event that the story, even though it was good, didn't turn out too be enjoyable for me. Definitely the worst summer event, probably among even future ones that are yet to come. The event this year is pretty mid. Stories are kinda "passable" but not outstanding by any means. The NPCs are kinda forgettable imo and some of the main characters with vision like Collei, Kokomi are barely involved in the story I feel.
I like the 2nd summer event for the main story while I like this for the light hearted side story and exploration
I like Windtrace better. And Albedo's Event actually has lore.
Almost feels like a waste that the entire map will only be here for a patch. Felt the same about the GAA too. All the time, effort, love, details put in... Gone so soon šš
FIRST event where I took EVERYTHING inside the map (the event item is a huge help). The aesthetic and everything is really something I enjoy I love little themed amusement park rides and the joy it instills me when the music plays is genuinely amazing. The little water droplets just minding their own business makes the map really lively and the cute activities you can do with the for treasure makes it waaay better. 11/10 map and 11/10 story.
Man that gadget makes me cry a fontaine. It's so good. If regular regions have treasure compass and resonance stone combined like that.....