People are like "Ew that's a child you sickos!" but like, bruh - Look at that thing. There is nothing human about those proportions. This isn't a human child. It's some kind of hideous changeling, a humanoid abomination from beyond the stars sent to infiltrate our world, subvert our governments, and presumably steal all our brains to be put in jars for further study. The fact that it doesn't reflexively trigger the uncanny valley response is horrific in and of itself. It's already overcome our instinctual defense against infiltration. It's already in our homes and the halls of government. It's already won.

(I know the lizard people from space control our government thing is a white supremacist dog whistle for Jewish people. I actually spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not to post this because the whole genre of "Alien infiltrators" stories is so tied up in white supremacy, anti-communism, anti-immigration, racism, and so forth. But, eh. Dumb jokes about Genshin probably aren't harmful? But feel free to call me out if you think I should take it down or that there's aspects I'm missing.)

  • GorbinOutOverHere [comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I wish genshin impact were a real rpg and not some stupid gacha waifu collector bullshit wasting a game that's way too good for it

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Some of my friends are saying it has the best story they've ever encountered. Sucks that it's monetized all to hell and back. Maybe someone will figure out how to run pirate servers or something.

      • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Some of my friends are saying it has the best story they’ve ever encountered.

        im gonna say this as a weeb

        it may be the best story our friends ever encountered but that probably tells us more about the genre than the story itself

        • TreadOnMe [none/use name]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I was just about to say this. Anime and manga stories are pretty much straight up put it in my veins trash, with the only actually good ones being ones that are deconstructing the story tropes in the other 99%.

          This is because these games and shows are quite literally made for a primary audience of children. Doesn't mean it still can't be fun, but like, the story will rarely be that reflective or deep.

      • edge [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Maybe someone will figure out how to run pirate servers or something.

        https://github.com/Grasscutters/Grasscutter

      • UnicodeHamSic [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        The monetization is actually way better than normal which is the sad part. For the most part the game is perfectly playable without putting any money in

        • SaniFlush [any, any]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Yeah, China has hard and fast rules for how exploitative a Gacha game is allowed to be. Genshin is right on the bleeding edge of that limit, of course.

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          2 years ago

          I haven't touched it because my ADHD treat loving ass can't help but putting down for cosmetics and shit no matter how bad an idea it is, doubly so when I'm depressed and think nothing matters and I just want some dopamine. : p

      • UnicodeHamSic [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I dunno I feel like the bit of the story I played through was mid. Writing wise at least. However for the big boss of the first story ark I was literally pogging the entire time. So I can see someone coming away with such a high opinion. Consistently above average with great moments is a wild success compared to normal games.

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Idk, man. One reason why it does so well stems from the fact that it really is a good game. Basically MMO-Legend of Zelda.

      Yeah, the Gacha mechanics and the engagement pressure is annoying. But after you get past that, you've got a huge open world that's multi-player friendly. The story is engaging. The voice-acting is sold. The visuals are stunning. The cultural pastiche is adorable.

      The only thing you're really getting grifted on is aesthetics. I sunk a few dozen hours into it and never really had the desire to spend a dime. If this was the worst thing a F2P game ever did, they wouldn't have such a shitty reputation.

      • GorbinOutOverHere [comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        One reason why it does so well stems from the fact that it really is a good game. Basically MMO-Legend of Zelda.

        Yeah, that's why I hate it so much. It would be so good if it were just a fucking mmorpg but I have 0 desire to play one where I'm not "my character," I'm collecting 1000 waifus to play as. I hate that shit.

        • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I have 0 desire to play one where I’m not “my character,” I’m collecting 1000 waifus to play as.

          I mean, you are functionally the central character. That's who the story revolves around. You've just got companions that you can swap to for their respective power sets and for the completion of sidequests. Its no different than any Final Fantasy game, save that you can only access one character at a time rather than your whole team at once.

          You get a handful of these characters as the story progresses by default. But because every one has to be specially equipped and upgraded, I tended to focus on the four with their particular element specialization, then maybe grab one or two more if I was particularly impressed by their powerset. I'm not an obsessive completionist (particularly in MMOs), so I wasn't trying to get every single character by any stretch. And, in many ways, it was preferable to the traditional MMO system in which you'd have to start a new character from Level 1 if you wanted to try out a different role. In Genshin, you just have a team-wide Level, and the only thing you fuss about is the gear and upgrades to your specialty skills.

          In the end, the game was more accessible and engaging than WoW, even. And that game was at the peak of the MMO industry for the better part of a decade.

          If I actually had friends who played MMOs regularly and I didn't have $X/mo to throw at a game, it would have been a natural top pick for me. But I don't have time for MMOs, I don't have friends with time for MMOs, and I don't really care about dropping $20/mo on a game. The game still isn't as good as, say, Guild Wars or Star Wars: The Old Republic. But at the Free-on-Point-of-Entry price point, its hard to ignore.

          • GorbinOutOverHere [comrade/them]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Its no different than any Final Fantasy game, save that you can only access one character at a time rather than your whole team at once.

            Yeah i don't want that in an mmorpg, Iv wanna play 1 character at a time not have this whole thing going on

  • 1000IslandStare [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Reject Paimon.

    Return to Pixie from SMT supremacy. Not only is she a floating thing that accompanies you, but she's also one of the strongest demons in Nocturne. PLUS, she has the body proportions of an adult so I CAN have se REDACTED BY :volcel-judge:

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Just jerk off to Julia Roberts's Tinkerbell from the 1991 movie Hook, like a normal person.

      • 1000IslandStare [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Julia Roberts’s Tinkerbell

        Not even close. No leotard and not even close to the level of character as Pixie from SMT.

  • Grownbravy [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Watching anime through 09-to present, i barely noticed how the aesthetic direction morphed into monstrous little changelings

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Moe goes back to at least the 70s, i think. It might just be what's currently popular on western facing social media. Popular shoes like naruto, bleach, one piece, attack on the jews titan, don't have weird deformed chibi characters, while other shoes have a bunch of them.

  • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    But, eh. Dumb jokes about Genshin probably aren’t harmful? But feel free to call me out if you think I should take it down or that there’s aspects I’m missing.

    As long as you're aware its a dumb joke then really nobody actually cares, its words into the void.

    Now for the people that actually want to once again use "return to the glorious days of 1985" as the basis of their anti-anime perpetual struggle session I say good luck with that. Complaining about anime proportions is often an entrance into discussing pedo shit, which is fine and a good discussion to have for those that are not familiar with these issues. But otherwise don't make the mistake of thinking this is anything but a fringe opinion.

    You can have modern anime without pedo shit, in fact most of the industry is about as mild as the rest of western media. Most people are in fact not pedos, please don't make the mistake of labeling an entire country as full of pedos, it is all realy, realy cringe coming from westerners.

    The problem, and yes its a real problem, is that the pedo and outrageous shit gets way too much visibility making it seem much more main stream than it is.

    Once again reminds me of that phd paper or whatever of the researcher thinking the recent uptick is because of Japanese "culture". Like open a damn history book etc etc.

  • Eris235 [undecided]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I can sometimes see the appeal in overdone eastern RPG aesthetics, even if I do prefer far more understated designs, like artistically. Like

    But good god, Genshin Impact just looks so, instinctively revolting to me. Its not as openly and unashamedly horny as, say, FATE. But that visual appeal does like, trigger my uncanny valley or something.

    Though, I get a similar vibe from a lot of Vtuber designs, which also seem crazy popular, so I guess its just not for me.

  • CrispyFern [fae/faer, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I don't trust paimon at all

    Why do the Tanuki call her "spymon"?

    Why does she dodge every question about her identity or origin?

    Why does her outfit have the aesthetics of Celestia?

    Why did Dottore's "knock out anyone who isn't a god" device cause her to fall to the ground, when normally she is depicted as sleeping while floating?

    Mark my words, Paimon is a Guoba-fied Sustainer of Heavenly Principles :pepe-silvia:

  • Frank [he/him, he/him]
    hexagon
    ·
    2 years ago

    Personal note: i always confuse Paimon with Pangerbon from The Secret of Kells