Loving your videos! I agree with your take. I started in February 2022 (which I think is 2.4). I remember Liyue (not the Chasm) and Mondstadt could be explored at your own pace - I think at AR 20 the world is open. And I loved it. Want to go climb that Mountain (Dragon Spine)? Sure. It's dangerous, and you're limited only by the environment, not the quests. Nothing stops you from going right to the peak... except the lack of knowing how to get there and having a party capable of doing it. It genuinely felt rewarding to discover what was there and to brave the unknown. The first time I ever got to the peak of Dragon Spine I felt like I accomplished something because I wasn't led there: I found it / discovered it on my own by exploring the mountain for hours. When a quest takes you there, it's more curated, but we're a little more deprived of the same discoveries nowadays.
In my opinion, exploration has not gotten worse, just more complex. Mondstadt and Liyue are the starting regions and are designed so that the player can spend hours doing whatever they want to get interested in the game. From there, when the game has your attention, increasingly complex and immersive levels of exploration begin to be introduced to keep the experience fresh. - Inazuma is hostile and dangerous, as you have to think quickly and adapt to whatever is affecting each island. - Sumeru is reasonably peaceful but the jungles are a labyrinth where at every turn you can find a Mushroom or a Mercenary, until you arrive in the Desert and out of nowhere the game turns into an Indiana Jones movie where you unearth the past of an ancient civilization lost in the sands of time. - In Fontaine the aquatic exploration alone makes the region the most unique of all, with the surface being full of natural beauty and the results of scientific experiments and past disasters. So I'd say the game is simply evolving and trying new things, and while it's completely within your rights to prefer the simpler, more straight-to-the-point exploration of early gameplay, to say it's gotten worse isn't quite fair (+ Nostalgia is a hell of a drug )
Hey, thanks for returning to watch the second video, I recognized your name from the other one 😊 I do want to clarify, I definitely still mostly enjoy the current iteration of exploration, but there's a part of me that definitely misses that simpler and more quantity focused exploration from back then and I wish at least some of the newer regions had something like it. Comparing the size of like, base Fontaine vs base Liyue is a massive difference, and makes me wonder how large/small Natlan is going to be when it releases.
I was much the same as you except even then i wasnt ready to tey the game cause i was mobile so i more came into the game around last year and including doing all events i wrnt hard grindinf for raiden(shouldve gone for her weapon like i wanted to but i checked sites and people said going for weapons should never be done unless both characters are in ur possession so i dead went and got yoimiya first)
![[5.1] Phlogiston and the Abyss - A Genshin Impact Theory](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Z2p0gV-5J4Y/mqdefault.jpg)
![[5.1] Phlogiston and the Abyss - A Genshin Impact Theory](/img/tr.png)
Loving your videos!
I agree with your take. I started in February 2022 (which I think is 2.4). I remember Liyue (not the Chasm) and Mondstadt could be explored at your own pace - I think at AR 20 the world is open. And I loved it. Want to go climb that Mountain (Dragon Spine)? Sure. It's dangerous, and you're limited only by the environment, not the quests. Nothing stops you from going right to the peak... except the lack of knowing how to get there and having a party capable of doing it.
It genuinely felt rewarding to discover what was there and to brave the unknown. The first time I ever got to the peak of Dragon Spine I felt like I accomplished something because I wasn't led there: I found it / discovered it on my own by exploring the mountain for hours. When a quest takes you there, it's more curated, but we're a little more deprived of the same discoveries nowadays.
In my opinion, exploration has not gotten worse, just more complex.
Mondstadt and Liyue are the starting regions and are designed so that the player can spend hours doing whatever they want to get interested in the game.
From there, when the game has your attention, increasingly complex and immersive levels of exploration begin to be introduced to keep the experience fresh.
- Inazuma is hostile and dangerous, as you have to think quickly and adapt to whatever is affecting each island.
- Sumeru is reasonably peaceful but the jungles are a labyrinth where at every turn you can find a Mushroom or a Mercenary, until you arrive in the Desert and out of nowhere the game turns into an Indiana Jones movie where you unearth the past of an ancient civilization lost in the sands of time.
- In Fontaine the aquatic exploration alone makes the region the most unique of all, with the surface being full of natural beauty and the results of scientific experiments and past disasters.
So I'd say the game is simply evolving and trying new things, and while it's completely within your rights to prefer the simpler, more straight-to-the-point exploration of early gameplay, to say it's gotten worse isn't quite fair
(+ Nostalgia is a hell of a drug )
Hey, thanks for returning to watch the second video, I recognized your name from the other one 😊
I do want to clarify, I definitely still mostly enjoy the current iteration of exploration, but there's a part of me that definitely misses that simpler and more quantity focused exploration from back then and I wish at least some of the newer regions had something like it. Comparing the size of like, base Fontaine vs base Liyue is a massive difference, and makes me wonder how large/small Natlan is going to be when it releases.
I like your take and fl2ur's take. You're both right. :)
I was much the same as you except even then i wasnt ready to tey the game cause i was mobile so i more came into the game around last year and including doing all events i wrnt hard grindinf for raiden(shouldve gone for her weapon like i wanted to but i checked sites and people said going for weapons should never be done unless both characters are in ur possession so i dead went and got yoimiya first)