The only thing I am hesitant about is that Natlan seems like it will have a lot of African and South American influence, and also it will be the nation of war...I just hope they don't view native cultures as warlike or barbaric or/mash up poc native cultures into one country.
@@ItsYOgirl803I mean even the french didnt like the idea their food being mixed up with english food in fontaine yet no one seems to be phased by that. Its really not your place to choose whether someone is overreacting or not. Especially when you don’t share any of these cultures that are, to be frank, being mishandled. How can you take different cultures and mash it all up and expect everyone to receive it nicely? Some cultures have been struggling through years of misinformation and being told the line “They’re all similar anyway.” With a shrug. In times like these, its better to *listen* to the opinions of everyone. But never, ever, tell someone they’re overreacting over something as significant as their identity. Even if you share the same.
I REALLY hope there is diversity in Natlan. Apparently there are 6 tribes in Natlan alongside the Nation being massive. We know Iansan (the girl from the trailer) is one diverse character. I have so many primogems saved up for the diverse characters. From a character design perspective I think the Natlan cast will fail if there is not significant diversity between the tribes. IT NEEDS TO BE MORE THEN JUST CLOTHING. However the pyro archon design has been leaked and she is white with a Spanish design. I think they are going to upset a portion of the global audience if nearly everyone is white. Hoyoverse are colourist but Natlan is a chance for them to redeem themselves. However given that we are yet to see a Natlan character in game I am not hopeful. The region is a complete enigma. Hoyoverse has a track record across their game to be quite colourist. Now there are alot of darkskin characters in the game. They are just NPCs... A few token side characters is not enough. In conclusion Natlan is quite literally our last chance to see any meaningful diversity in the game. Snezhnaya will not have any diversity.
You mean to tell me the dozens of hours Hoyo spent studying South Asian and Middle Eastern culture, Hoyoverse did not see one darker skinned person. Same thing with Penacony. All that time researching Jazz culture and not one Black character in the entire playable roster
I just want to point out that most of the regions in genshin are multicultural and multinational with only mainland liyue and mainland inazuma being mononational Mondstadt- europe in general (the character names are from different places in europe. Mondstadt city has german architecture but there are greek style ruins in mondstadt) Liyue- china Chasm- mongolia Chenyu vale- China Inazuma- japan Enkanomiya- atlantis + japanese folklore Sumeru- persian empire Fontaine- europe and maybe north america (character names are from various places. The word oceanid is greek in origin) Also i think natlan will be post colonial as it has both native and african references and one of its archons is called murata which is spanish. The spanish references could imply that there are some pale characters in natlan especially if we consider the theories that bennet is from natlan
That is interesting, I think people just tend to be more touchy on the topic of certain representations due to the fact that they always get over-looked and misrepresented. I have no problems with multicultural countries, I just want them to actually look multicultural from the playable character we get.
You're 100% wrong about sumeru though. Sumeru's a mix of South Asia, Egypt and Middle East. The forest region is heavily India inspired, the desert right after's Egypt and the 2 deserts on 4.4 and 6 being middle east
My two cents: people saying that this is a fantasy game and skin tone shouldn’t matter but like, why is having different skin tones a problem then? This is a fantasy lol. These people were conditioned to think like this. And they can’t say, “this and that can’t have a different skin tone because they won’t sell”….as if characters like Yoimiya, Kokomi, Baizhu, Eula sold well on their banners and reruns. They’re pulling excuses out of their asses 😂. It’s hilarious.
True, it´s a fantasy so anything goes, if hoyo wanted to give a character any color under the sun as skin tone it would still be fine like how Sigewinne could have had pale blue skin, but they draw the line at actual dark skin people getting proper representation. I´m sure if hoyo released a character like Neuvillette (important to the story and meta breaking) but made him dark skinned he would still sell just fine, there´s more that goes into a character banner sales
Honestly, after Sumeru I’m moderating my expectations going into Natlan. It’s kinda hard to be excited for all of it but I’m at least looking forward to the world building and cultural design of the region itself as well as the story and music. As for visual representation I’m not holding my breath on HYV expanding their range of skin tones for playable characters past the 4-5 tones they seem to be determined to stick to.
Thank you so much for saying this! It’s true that the Genshin community is quick to deem something as racist and orientalist in the game and I can indeed say there are many mistakes in Sumeru. There should definitely be more variations in darker skin tones for playable characters. However the fans need to learn not to rely on groupthink and form their own opinions as well as those well-versed in the cultures represented in game. I’m glad you mentioned cultural diversification not being based solely on skin tone. I know there have been questionable leaks but for the hottest region in Teyvat, there really is no other excuse for not including darker skin tones. As for the region itself, I’m so excited for the dragons as well as what kind of war is going on there. Especially when we hear of npcs wanting to take vacations there despite all that fighting going on.
i completley understand the desire for a non white archon but we have to remember that mexico and the rest of LATAM was colonized, just like teyvat by celestia. so if the archon represents celestia it makes perfect sence for them to be white like all the other archons and the rest of the people can be a mix of colors just like neuvillete said that dragons and humans coexist in LATAM people are mixed and the mayority is not fully originary nor european.
It's a fictional fantasy game. They could make characters whatever skin colors they want for whatever reason they want if they chose to. They have that creative freedom. So don't make excuses for them. If they truly wanted to make an archon brown skinned they would and Natlan is the perfect opportunity because it makes absolute sense based on the region, lore and environment. But they are an extremely colorist company as the creators and many people working at hoyoverse come from a culture deeply rooted with a long history and present day of colorism and racism. That's the real reason why they won't.
@@zaraplays7210 The lore we have on Natlan is that it's a region that is “red-hot passion, both in name and climate.” Naturally ethnicities from hotter climates usually have darken and tanned skin. All characters we've seen from Natlan from the manga and Teyvat teaser have brown skin. And the descendants or "children of Murata" we saw from the genshin manga like Vennessa had tanned skin and red hair similar to the appearance of their Archon. We don't know who the current pyro archon is but it's still relevant.
Yeah dont expect natlan archon to have dark skin as from the name alone we csn expect a himeko expa, and I think the diehard chinese himeko fans may not be too happy if they make such a change as giving her dark skin
Sorry to burst your bubble but you shouldn’t be expecting himeko lol. “Murata” doesn’t exist. It was a mistranslation. The correct translation was Mu-Natlan.
I remember seeing something online of what the Pyro archon looks like and I’m worried for the backlash that’ll occur when she is officially revealed (I use she because so far whenever the Pyro archon has been referenced they are always tied with she/her pronouns)
I really like your accent, where are you from? Asking this after watching the video, which is very nice, but I'll admit, I had a hard time following a few times because you speak fast at times. I honestly had no idea there was an uproar in representation when Sumeru dropped. Only thing I remember when it came to complaints was the desert region of Sumeru since the ratio of Desert and Rainforest is pretty one-sided when you think about it. I will say cast wise, Sumeru has my fav group so far if I am being honest (and I have recently caught up with the main story). Alhaitham is still my main husbando lol. I would be shocked if the Pyro Archon did not have at least a tanned skin tone. We do have one char design, that one Natlan char from the Teyvat preview video, so I think there's hope. And while I've never read it, in the Genshin manga, there's a char from Natlan who ends up in Mondstadt and she had dark tan skin from the pictures I've seen. And if West African influences are included, here's hoping for some good dark skin tones. There's plenty of variety when it comes to dark skin too, like you could go Grace Jones dark or someone who's mixed like Mariah Carey. While I'll admit, I was more excited for Fontaine due to my French ancestry (and I love French culture), I am still looking forward to Natlan. While I do live in the USA, I live in South Central Texas that has a strong Hispanic culture to it, so I am familiar with the Mesoamerican and Spanish culture. I think Spain got mentioned as an influence too, but I could be wrong. We'll just have to wait and see what Natlan brings, culture wise hmm?
Thank you for this video! I just hope that when they drop more darker skinned characters that they don't receive the same treatment like Xinyan, Dehya, etc. It will be very telling if nothing changes...
They sell characters, and light skin is more popular than dark skin despite some people screaming for diversity. There's a reason why k-pop idols are so popular.
they can make the archon dark without making them very dark, its still hoyo (edit: i would still want them to make her really dark but i think the maximum is dehya or kaeya skintone (sadly))
Chinese players don't pull for black characters because they're black. They don't pull for them because Hoyoverse is dedicated to purposely sabotages their kits
@@Danny-mp8dqthat's true. I've seen alot of Chinese players complaining during the Dehya controversy. Chinese players are begging for diversity. They wanna experience other cultures too, like anybody but they're not gonna throw their money away blindly
@@AratakiBullPowerSiddo1 I think Genshin players already forgot that Chinese players literally donated money to charity because they liked Dehya that much and hoped that she was good Hoyoverse can release a black character tomorrow, and Chinese players would absolutely jump with joy and start theorizing potential teams with them
Sumeru was amazing. The majority of the community was and is happy with it, especially globally, which is what matters. White girl leftists thinking everyone is dark brown there is what brought the nontroversies to Sumeru and is bringing them to Natlan. As an actual Latin American I'm excited to see Natlan, and I'm glad Genshin isn't DEI slop cuz y'all kill games!
While I understand that some people went overboard criticizing hoyoverse for their actions it is still perfectly acceptable to want dark skinned characters in a game that takes inspiration from cultures with people that have darker skin tones, no one said every Sumeru character had to be dark, just more would have been nice. Lastly, just because you are fine with it, doesn´t mean no one else is allowed to ask for better representation.
Why should they care about there characters being black or any other race. It's a narrative that is being spun to make so many characters so cultures and so on will never or probably never be represented properly due to this alone unless it somewhat makes sense like the emirites or deya who lived in the desert and etc and will get dark skin. And also not every character need to represent the culture as not everyone who lives in a nation wants to participare know about or even maybe even avoid there culture. Cause personally I do not care unless the story is good and there are good looking designs and the characters are somewhat relatable in what they do that makes you connect with them. I suppose represntation is an important thing because there are things that perhaps inspired certain things but that is all that it is inspirations being written into a narrative. Does a character need to have the same skin colour as me for me to feel represented.
I found it really jarring and that the story really did suffer because of the colourism. Like you said, it makes sense for people in the desert to have dark skin because of the sun exposure and stuff. I was expecting people to look browner in the Sumeru chapter. Just seemed unrealistic that Dehya is pretty much the closest thing to a brown character in the entire region and it seemed that even with her they made her skin tone pretty light. In the end it is fiction, but it seemed to defy what I would expect from having visited many of the places that Sumeru clearly took inspiration from. So no, a character doesn't need to have the same skin colour, but if they are deliberately making people lighter when it makes sense based on the real life region to do so, it makes me wonder why they chose to do it.
@@Sanjuro333the fact theres actively dark skinned people who were born and raised in forests in real life proves that this is really an active choice rooted in colourism. They had the choice to for both parts of sumeru but came out with an unbaked cake. Not to mention the NPCS being the only form of truly dark skin characters. Showing they do know how to put that on their playable characters (including hair likes braids etc) I’d rather they just never did (make npcs dark) because it shows they whole fully believe any character that isnt pale, wont sell well. Maybe not in china, but everywhere else? Im 100% sure they’d do just as well.
@@The1andonlysharpshooter probably not because we do not know the statistics for how much a character would sell if they were brown it is not even black its brown. Plus I am pretty sure they would not base a character selling more because they are brown because isn't that colourism.
Skin tone matters buddy. It's a big part of cultural diversity and representation, which is one of the biggest themes of Genshin, especially for selling their characters Just because "you" don't get why it matters, doesn't means it doesn't matters to the other millions of people playing this game. People who got hooked in through the cultural aspects of the game want to see their cultures, including people with the skin tones, represented in the game. If you don't get why people care about it, cool. However, you don't have the right to tell others that they shouldn't, just like how we don't have the right to tell you you should
@@AratakiBullPowerSiddo1 @righteouskingsiddhartha7751 That is fair. Although I will say this hoyoverse or mihoyo although a big company is still a company trying to make profits so they would have statistics saying which character does better in sales with merchandise and people who use money in the game so vote with your wallet I suppose for equity or fairness and I hope that if a black character or brown gets added and they in particular if they don't have a strong kit and so on people will not complain cause they do that for many characters overall more equity may suit things bettter. I do care when it comes to history and the original folklore etc being created in a live action form cause those things should be accurate to history itself once it has not been decided to be water down or perhaps be mixed in with a narrative focus and finally if you want a game or story with black characters why do you not make it yourself and see whether or not it becomes famous and see how fast it will grow or crash and burn because for a particluar big company like hoyoverse. These things have alot of planning so black or brown or other character of different cultures linked to a certain skin collour will eventually be added.
Sumeru was fine. West needs to chill on branding everything. Racism only exists in the West. The East practices natural sweet racism. It means it existed since ancient times and is part of the culture. We may call a black person black but that doesn't make us any superior. they are just different from us and we accept that as fact. But when it comes to art form a white guy can draw whatever the hell they want there is no obligation to represent another race of which he is not a part of. The same goes for black guys. Stop expecting games to represent every race and just enjoy the story.
I’ll stop expecting it when they’ve become uninterested in shoving our cultures and hair and skin into the game for non playable characters. Then proceeding to be very against giving the same treatment to playable characters. But thats not happening. I don’t understand. Do you expect people to just play only white people? You do know most games come from the west and east, right? You do know a heavy amount of different types of people live in both of those places? Right? Thats like living and having families worth of generations in a country, and 9/10 you’ve picked up a book, game, show, where you followed a white lead. If you yourself aren’t white and you’re completely fine with it and doesn’t question it, ask yourself why. Why are you so comfortable with allowing understanding and sympathising and learning only a specific type of shoes? You dont ever think maybe you want to see what someone of a certain other background might navigate this situation like? Does it make you uncomfortable that you might have to process another experience that isn’t safe? The thought of saying “black should make for black and white should make for white” is the most backwards thinking and I’ll tell you why. If you allow that thought to consume everyone do you know what happens? World War 1. World War 2. World war 3. Thinking selfishly only for ourselves leads to disaster and dehumanisation. It leats to separation and apartheids. It leads to fighting among each other in countries that are already mixed. Theres families that are no longer homogeneous. Mixed with all kind if races, and you’re telling me, that this kid of this family has to accept not seeing himself in others that look like him, but his brother *doesnt* ever have to ask or think about any of that because he sees himself in everything. Delete that thinking. Its things like that that bring forward things like genocide in gaza. And if you seriously dont see the connection, do a bit of homework. Ask yourself why you think focusing on your own race its own needs is inherently destructive. Lastly, get real friends. People you openly talk to about stuff. Rather than just rave or play games with. None of that “i have a friend whose *blank*” shit. Explore and understand all types of different people online and in real life. And you’ll soon learn why that thought process is ill rooted.
@@The1andonlysharpshooter U seriously writing a Book in a youtube comment. Man u need a doctor.🤣 Racism and ur obsession to make point have fked ur brains.
I assure you racism doesn't only exist in the west, just because something is part of other people´s cultures doesn't mean it is alright to do and above criticism. For example, certain Arab cultures used to bury their daughters alive because sons were more valued, does this being a part of their culture make it correct? No, of course not, cultures should evolve and fix harmful rhetorics. Also hoyoverse could have just not included Sumeru at all, instead they choose to pick parts of the culture they want into their world without properly representing those cultures through the actual playable characters, I enjoy the story but one can enjoy something and still criticize it.
@@asabiexplains Killing and portraying something is completely different. Comparing an art to some extreme evils is just politics. Art depends on the artist. Genshin is free to play u don't like don't play. Stop trying to tell people what to feel and what to like. When it comes to Merder Arabs don't even come close to the inhuman practices that the West follows till date.
Okay wow all of that was just brain dead stupid. Racism DOES exist in the east and in fact it is WORSE. In many places (especially japan and china) it is LEGAL to discriminate against people who are foreign. You’re either super infantilizing eastern culture (which is racism) or you’re just blind. “NatUrAl SwEeT RaCisM” shut the fuck up.
Yeah it really is lmao, thought i wouldn't mind for more dark skinned characters instead of just white ones, complaining about a fantasy game that just take some inspirations and not the whole culture is just dumb, especially since they think just a character having dark skin is an accurate representation of their culture, or atleast based on Sumeru's controversy it seems they think like that, there so much more things in Sumeru that do thoses culture justice instead of just the skin colour
A game doens't need to literally be the real world to have brown people in it. A fantasy game isn't anybody's personal escape from minorities. Throw a balck person into Fontaine or Mondstadt and i guarantee you that these "it's just a fantasy game" mfer's will be singing a completely different tune
stop over use racism, just enjoy the game, Asian people racist by nature you cannot change it. Aladdin lives “in a city of the cities in China.” Illustrations of the tales from the Victorian era depict the story and its characters as Chinese.
It's not by nature it's a social construct. Of course nothing will change if people stay quiet. People need to speak out about these things to see progressive changes
@@tete-rh5xo not to burst your bubble, but i doubt this sort of change is possible by asking representation on a game, changing the social issues of an entire culture through a game is not easy.
@@alanfran I agree it's not easy and dont worry there's no bubble to burst, I don't have any high expectations for them anymore as I've already seen what they're like
The only thing I am hesitant about is that Natlan seems like it will have a lot of African and South American influence, and also it will be the nation of war...I just hope they don't view native cultures as warlike or barbaric or/mash up poc native cultures into one country.
I honestly don’t think they mean in that way, I think even if they DID do that, they wouldn’t mean it in that way. I think your overreacting :>
@@ItsYOgirl803I mean even the french didnt like the idea their food being mixed up with english food in fontaine yet no one seems to be phased by that.
Its really not your place to choose whether someone is overreacting or not. Especially when you don’t share any of these cultures that are, to be frank, being mishandled.
How can you take different cultures and mash it all up and expect everyone to receive it nicely? Some cultures have been struggling through years of misinformation and being told the line “They’re all similar anyway.” With a shrug.
In times like these, its better to *listen* to the opinions of everyone. But never, ever, tell someone they’re overreacting over something as significant as their identity. Even if you share the same.
@@The1andonlysharpshootercalm down no one cares bro just play the game
@@The1andonlysharpshooterit’s an Asian game Asian people be racist as fuck they don’t care if some white people think its racist bro
@@saiweeks5907 say that to a chinese player and they will tear you to shreds lol
I REALLY hope there is diversity in Natlan. Apparently there are 6 tribes in Natlan alongside the Nation being massive. We know Iansan (the girl from the trailer) is one diverse character. I have so many primogems saved up for the diverse characters. From a character design perspective I think the Natlan cast will fail if there is not significant diversity between the tribes. IT NEEDS TO BE MORE THEN JUST CLOTHING.
However the pyro archon design has been leaked and she is white with a Spanish design. I think they are going to upset a portion of the global audience if nearly everyone is white. Hoyoverse are colourist but Natlan is a chance for them to redeem themselves. However given that we are yet to see a Natlan character in game I am not hopeful. The region is a complete enigma.
Hoyoverse has a track record across their game to be quite colourist. Now there are alot of darkskin characters in the game. They are just NPCs... A few token side characters is not enough.
In conclusion Natlan is quite literally our last chance to see any meaningful diversity in the game. Snezhnaya will not have any diversity.
Normies
I refuse to get my hopes up
You mean to tell me the dozens of hours Hoyo spent studying South Asian and Middle Eastern culture, Hoyoverse did not see one darker skinned person. Same thing with Penacony. All that time researching Jazz culture and not one Black character in the entire playable roster
I just want to point out that most of the regions in genshin are multicultural and multinational with only mainland liyue and mainland inazuma being mononational
Mondstadt- europe in general (the character names are from different places in europe. Mondstadt city has german architecture but there are greek style ruins in mondstadt)
Liyue- china
Chasm- mongolia
Chenyu vale- China
Inazuma- japan
Enkanomiya- atlantis + japanese folklore
Sumeru- persian empire
Fontaine- europe and maybe north america (character names are from various places. The word oceanid is greek in origin)
Also i think natlan will be post colonial as it has both native and african references and one of its archons is called murata which is spanish. The spanish references could imply that there are some pale characters in natlan especially if we consider the theories that bennet is from natlan
That is interesting, I think people just tend to be more touchy on the topic of certain representations due to the fact that they always get over-looked and misrepresented. I have no problems with multicultural countries, I just want them to actually look multicultural from the playable character we get.
You're 100% wrong about sumeru though. Sumeru's a mix of South Asia, Egypt and Middle East. The forest region is heavily India inspired, the desert right after's Egypt and the 2 deserts on 4.4 and 6 being middle east
My two cents: people saying that this is a fantasy game and skin tone shouldn’t matter but like, why is having different skin tones a problem then? This is a fantasy lol.
These people were conditioned to think like this. And they can’t say, “this and that can’t have a different skin tone because they won’t sell”….as if characters like Yoimiya, Kokomi, Baizhu, Eula sold well on their banners and reruns. They’re pulling excuses out of their asses 😂. It’s hilarious.
True, it´s a fantasy so anything goes, if hoyo wanted to give a character any color under the sun as skin tone it would still be fine like how Sigewinne could have had pale blue skin, but they draw the line at actual dark skin people getting proper representation. I´m sure if hoyo released a character like Neuvillette (important to the story and meta breaking) but made him dark skinned he would still sell just fine, there´s more that goes into a character banner sales
Honestly, after Sumeru I’m moderating my expectations going into Natlan. It’s kinda hard to be excited for all of it but I’m at least looking forward to the world building and cultural design of the region itself as well as the story and music.
As for visual representation I’m not holding my breath on HYV expanding their range of skin tones for playable characters past the 4-5 tones they seem to be determined to stick to.
Thank you so much for saying this! It’s true that the Genshin community is quick to deem something as racist and orientalist in the game and I can indeed say there are many mistakes in Sumeru. There should definitely be more variations in darker skin tones for playable characters. However the fans need to learn not to rely on groupthink and form their own opinions as well as those well-versed in the cultures represented in game. I’m glad you mentioned cultural diversification not being based solely on skin tone.
I know there have been questionable leaks but for the hottest region in Teyvat, there really is no other excuse for not including darker skin tones.
As for the region itself, I’m so excited for the dragons as well as what kind of war is going on there. Especially when we hear of npcs wanting to take vacations there despite all that fighting going on.
i completley understand the desire for a non white archon but we have to remember that mexico and the rest of LATAM was colonized, just like teyvat by celestia. so if the archon represents celestia it makes perfect sence for them to be white like all the other archons and the rest of the people can be a mix of colors just like neuvillete said that dragons and humans coexist in LATAM people are mixed and the mayority is not fully originary nor european.
It's a fictional fantasy game. They could make characters whatever skin colors they want for whatever reason they want if they chose to. They have that creative freedom. So don't make excuses for them. If they truly wanted to make an archon brown skinned they would and Natlan is the perfect opportunity because it makes absolute sense based on the region, lore and environment. But they are an extremely colorist company as the creators and many people working at hoyoverse come from a culture deeply rooted with a long history and present day of colorism and racism. That's the real reason why they won't.
@@tete-rh5xo I would love to see a brown archon and I do agree natlan is our last chance but lorewise it doesn't make any sense
@@tete-rh5xoexactly and it really is based on colorist preferences
@@zaraplays7210 The lore we have on Natlan is that it's a region that is “red-hot passion, both in name and climate.” Naturally ethnicities from hotter climates usually have darken and tanned skin. All characters we've seen from Natlan from the manga and Teyvat teaser have brown skin. And the descendants or "children of Murata" we saw from the genshin manga like Vennessa had tanned skin and red hair similar to the appearance of their Archon. We don't know who the current pyro archon is but it's still relevant.
@@tete-rh5xo yeah for sure people will be mixed, just not the archon
Yeah dont expect natlan archon to have dark skin as from the name alone we csn expect a himeko expa, and I think the diehard chinese himeko fans may not be too happy if they make such a change as giving her dark skin
Sorry to burst your bubble but you shouldn’t be expecting himeko lol.
“Murata” doesn’t exist. It was a mistranslation. The correct translation was Mu-Natlan.
I remember seeing something online of what the Pyro archon looks like and I’m worried for the backlash that’ll occur when she is officially revealed (I use she because so far whenever the Pyro archon has been referenced they are always tied with she/her pronouns)
I really like your accent, where are you from? Asking this after watching the video, which is very nice, but I'll admit, I had a hard time following a few times because you speak fast at times.
I honestly had no idea there was an uproar in representation when Sumeru dropped. Only thing I remember when it came to complaints was the desert region of Sumeru since the ratio of Desert and Rainforest is pretty one-sided when you think about it. I will say cast wise, Sumeru has my fav group so far if I am being honest (and I have recently caught up with the main story). Alhaitham is still my main husbando lol.
I would be shocked if the Pyro Archon did not have at least a tanned skin tone. We do have one char design, that one Natlan char from the Teyvat preview video, so I think there's hope. And while I've never read it, in the Genshin manga, there's a char from Natlan who ends up in Mondstadt and she had dark tan skin from the pictures I've seen. And if West African influences are included, here's hoping for some good dark skin tones. There's plenty of variety when it comes to dark skin too, like you could go Grace Jones dark or someone who's mixed like Mariah Carey.
While I'll admit, I was more excited for Fontaine due to my French ancestry (and I love French culture), I am still looking forward to Natlan. While I do live in the USA, I live in South Central Texas that has a strong Hispanic culture to it, so I am familiar with the Mesoamerican and Spanish culture. I think Spain got mentioned as an influence too, but I could be wrong.
We'll just have to wait and see what Natlan brings, culture wise hmm?
Thank you for this video! I just hope that when they drop more darker skinned characters that they don't receive the same treatment like Xinyan, Dehya, etc. It will be very telling if nothing changes...
I just hope it's not EXPOSITION galore. Show don't tell PLS
2:25 thank you!
They sell characters, and light skin is more popular than dark skin despite some people screaming for diversity. There's a reason why k-pop idols are so popular.
they can make the archon dark without making them very dark, its still hoyo (edit: i would still want them to make her really dark but i think the maximum is dehya or kaeya skintone (sadly))
Chinese players don't pull for black characters because they're black. They don't pull for them because Hoyoverse is dedicated to purposely sabotages their kits
@@Danny-mp8dqthat's true. I've seen alot of Chinese players complaining during the Dehya controversy. Chinese players are begging for diversity. They wanna experience other cultures too, like anybody but they're not gonna throw their money away blindly
@@AratakiBullPowerSiddo1
I think Genshin players already forgot that Chinese players literally donated money to charity because they liked Dehya that much and hoped that she was good
Hoyoverse can release a black character tomorrow, and Chinese players would absolutely jump with joy and start theorizing potential teams with them
haha..about that....(murata leaks..)
: )
Sumeru was amazing. The majority of the community was and is happy with it, especially globally, which is what matters.
White girl leftists thinking everyone is dark brown there is what brought the nontroversies to Sumeru and is bringing them to Natlan. As an actual Latin American I'm excited to see Natlan, and I'm glad Genshin isn't DEI slop cuz y'all kill games!
While I understand that some people went overboard criticizing hoyoverse for their actions it is still perfectly acceptable to want dark skinned characters in a game that takes inspiration from cultures with people that have darker skin tones, no one said every Sumeru character had to be dark, just more would have been nice.
Lastly, just because you are fine with it, doesn´t mean no one else is allowed to ask for better representation.
A rich man with all the money can always brag about how the poor shouldn't cry for wage increase until he actually gets in their shoes
Why should they care about there characters being black or any other race. It's a narrative that is being spun to make so many characters so cultures and so on will never or probably never be represented properly due to this alone unless it somewhat makes sense like the emirites or deya who lived in the desert and etc and will get dark skin. And also not every character need to represent the culture as not everyone who lives in a nation wants to participare know about or even maybe even avoid there culture. Cause personally I do not care unless the story is good and there are good looking designs and the characters are somewhat relatable in what they do that makes you connect with them. I suppose represntation is an important thing because there are things that perhaps inspired certain things but that is all that it is inspirations being written into a narrative. Does a character need to have the same skin colour as me for me to feel represented.
I found it really jarring and that the story really did suffer because of the colourism. Like you said, it makes sense for people in the desert to have dark skin because of the sun exposure and stuff. I was expecting people to look browner in the Sumeru chapter. Just seemed unrealistic that Dehya is pretty much the closest thing to a brown character in the entire region and it seemed that even with her they made her skin tone pretty light. In the end it is fiction, but it seemed to defy what I would expect from having visited many of the places that Sumeru clearly took inspiration from. So no, a character doesn't need to have the same skin colour, but if they are deliberately making people lighter when it makes sense based on the real life region to do so, it makes me wonder why they chose to do it.
@@Sanjuro333the fact theres actively dark skinned people who were born and raised in forests in real life proves that this is really an active choice rooted in colourism.
They had the choice to for both parts of sumeru but came out with an unbaked cake.
Not to mention the NPCS being the only form of truly dark skin characters. Showing they do know how to put that on their playable characters (including hair likes braids etc)
I’d rather they just never did (make npcs dark) because it shows they whole fully believe any character that isnt pale, wont sell well.
Maybe not in china, but everywhere else? Im 100% sure they’d do just as well.
@@The1andonlysharpshooter probably not because we do not know the statistics for how much a character would sell if they were brown it is not even black its brown. Plus I am pretty sure they would not base a character selling more because they are brown because isn't that colourism.
Skin tone matters buddy. It's a big part of cultural diversity and representation, which is one of the biggest themes of Genshin, especially for selling their characters
Just because "you" don't get why it matters, doesn't means it doesn't matters to the other millions of people playing this game. People who got hooked in through the cultural aspects of the game want to see their cultures, including people with the skin tones, represented in the game.
If you don't get why people care about it, cool. However, you don't have the right to tell others that they shouldn't, just like how we don't have the right to tell you you should
@@AratakiBullPowerSiddo1 @righteouskingsiddhartha7751 That is fair. Although I will say this hoyoverse or mihoyo although a big company is still a company trying to make profits so they would have statistics saying which character does better in sales with merchandise and people who use money in the game so vote with your wallet I suppose for equity or fairness and I hope that if a black character or brown gets added and they in particular if they don't have a strong kit and so on people will not complain cause they do that for many characters overall more equity may suit things bettter. I do care when it comes to history and the original folklore etc being created in a live action form cause those things should be accurate to history itself once it has not been decided to be water down or perhaps be mixed in with a narrative focus and finally if you want a game or story with black characters why do you not make it yourself and see whether or not it becomes famous and see how fast it will grow or crash and burn because for a particluar big company like hoyoverse. These things have alot of planning so black or brown or other character of different cultures linked to a certain skin collour will eventually be added.
Sumeru was fine. West needs to chill on branding everything. Racism only exists in the West. The East practices natural sweet racism. It means it existed since ancient times and is part of the culture. We may call a black person black but that doesn't make us any superior. they are just different from us and we accept that as fact. But when it comes to art form a white guy can draw whatever the hell they want there is no obligation to represent another race of which he is not a part of. The same goes for black guys. Stop expecting games to represent every race and just enjoy the story.
I’ll stop expecting it when they’ve become uninterested in shoving our cultures and hair and skin into the game for non playable characters. Then proceeding to be very against giving the same treatment to playable characters. But thats not happening.
I don’t understand. Do you expect people to just play only white people? You do know most games come from the west and east, right? You do know a heavy amount of different types of people live in both of those places? Right?
Thats like living and having families worth of generations in a country, and 9/10 you’ve picked up a book, game, show, where you followed a white lead.
If you yourself aren’t white and you’re completely fine with it and doesn’t question it, ask yourself why. Why are you so comfortable with allowing understanding and sympathising and learning only a specific type of shoes? You dont ever think maybe you want to see what someone of a certain other background might navigate this situation like? Does it make you uncomfortable that you might have to process another experience that isn’t safe?
The thought of saying “black should make for black and white should make for white” is the most backwards thinking and I’ll tell you why.
If you allow that thought to consume everyone do you know what happens? World War 1. World War 2. World war 3. Thinking selfishly only for ourselves leads to disaster and dehumanisation. It leats to separation and apartheids. It leads to fighting among each other in countries that are already mixed.
Theres families that are no longer homogeneous. Mixed with all kind if races, and you’re telling me, that this kid of this family has to accept not seeing himself in others that look like him, but his brother *doesnt* ever have to ask or think about any of that because he sees himself in everything.
Delete that thinking. Its things like that that bring forward things like genocide in gaza. And if you seriously dont see the connection, do a bit of homework. Ask yourself why you think focusing on your own race its own needs is inherently destructive.
Lastly, get real friends. People you openly talk to about stuff. Rather than just rave or play games with. None of that “i have a friend whose *blank*” shit. Explore and understand all types of different people online and in real life. And you’ll soon learn why that thought process is ill rooted.
@@The1andonlysharpshooter U seriously writing a Book in a youtube comment. Man u need a doctor.🤣 Racism and ur obsession to make point have fked ur brains.
I assure you racism doesn't only exist in the west, just because something is part of other people´s cultures doesn't mean it is alright to do and above criticism.
For example, certain Arab cultures used to bury their daughters alive because sons were more valued, does this being a part of their culture make it correct? No, of course not, cultures should evolve and fix harmful rhetorics. Also hoyoverse could have just not included Sumeru at all, instead they choose to pick parts of the culture they want into their world without properly representing those cultures through the actual playable characters, I enjoy the story but one can enjoy something and still criticize it.
@@asabiexplains Killing and portraying something is completely different. Comparing an art to some extreme evils is just politics. Art depends on the artist. Genshin is free to play u don't like don't play. Stop trying to tell people what to feel and what to like. When it comes to Merder Arabs don't even come close to the inhuman practices that the West follows till date.
Okay wow all of that was just brain dead stupid. Racism DOES exist in the east and in fact it is WORSE. In many places (especially japan and china) it is LEGAL to discriminate against people who are foreign. You’re either super infantilizing eastern culture (which is racism) or you’re just blind. “NatUrAl SwEeT RaCisM” shut the fuck up.
I think that being mad at 'orientalism' in a fantasy game that only takes inspiration from the real world, without recreating it, is silly.
Yeah it really is lmao, thought i wouldn't mind for more dark skinned characters instead of just white ones, complaining about a fantasy game that just take some inspirations and not the whole culture is just dumb, especially since they think just a character having dark skin is an accurate representation of their culture, or atleast based on Sumeru's controversy it seems they think like that, there so much more things in Sumeru that do thoses culture justice instead of just the skin colour
Being upset that your culture isn´t being properly represented is a valid thing to feel, it might be fantasy but it is taking from real life cultures.
A game doens't need to literally be the real world to have brown people in it. A fantasy game isn't anybody's personal escape from minorities. Throw a balck person into Fontaine or Mondstadt and i guarantee you that these "it's just a fantasy game" mfer's will be singing a completely different tune
stop over use racism, just enjoy the game, Asian people racist by nature you cannot change it. Aladdin lives “in a city of the cities in China.” Illustrations of the tales from the Victorian era depict the story and its characters as Chinese.
It's not by nature it's a social construct. Of course nothing will change if people stay quiet. People need to speak out about these things to see progressive changes
"just let them be racist its in their nature" is probably one of the most racist statements ive read
@@tete-rh5xo not to burst your bubble, but i doubt this sort of change is possible by asking representation on a game, changing the social issues of an entire culture through a game is not easy.
@@alanfran I agree it's not easy and dont worry there's no bubble to burst, I don't have any high expectations for them anymore as I've already seen what they're like