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The story
Genshin Impact’s anniversary livestream announced a free giveaway of a limited 5-star character and a Nintendo Switch version, sparking discussion on 5channel’s Hardware & Industry (Geha) board. The stream’s peak concurrent viewership was around 110,000, with some users noting that numbers have been diluted and sluggish since simulcasting began on X (formerly Twitter). Thread posters were split on whether the game’s open-world exploration freedom really makes it “a better Zelda,” while opinions also diverged on the main story quests (Archon Quests) — sparking further debate over whether a skip function is needed, and over “Star Rail-ification,” a term for the trend of power creep in character stats.
First-ever free giveaway of a limited 5-star character
Source: video.twimg.com / Original article here
What people said
Right? Isn't the whole point that you're supposed to be rescuing your sibling?
Why are we just sightseeing?
Seriously, when? The Switch 2 is already out.
There's nothing like Stasis or other physics-based puzzle mechanics — you literally just walk across the map, so I have zero idea where it's supposedly "better."
Because you're traveling around searching for your sibling.
You already found them, but they've gone full dark side and turned hostile.
Even after finding your sibling, or learning where they are, you just head off to another nation anyway.
Zelda leans into action and pure gameplay fun,
while Genshin is more of a story-reading RPG.
If it's a story-reading RPG, isn't Star Rail just better for that?
The open-world part was a slog, especially the walking around and collecting field items.
In Star Rail, the Onparosu arc drags on way too long.
Even if it has to be long, Nadokurai length would've been fine.
Sorry, I wouldn't know — I quit around Penacony.
Length-wise I thought that arc was already long, so is this one even longer than that?
unlike a certain Persona game.
It already betrayed PlayStation the moment it went to Xbox, but if it lands on Switch people are gonna lose their minds.
I'd be way happier if they just gave out a standard 5-star weapon.
The new Traveler's Sword was genuinely good.
I want something like that for every weapon type.
Wait, seriously? This Chinese gacha game that nobody even wants is the "last hope"?
Handing out an outdated character for free means there's another round of power creep coming.
Team comps have basically been forced ever since Nadokurai, making it hard to build anything outside that one combo.
That's driving players away, so I don't think this Star Rail-ification path has much of a future left…
Lol, even the character designs are starting to look like Star Rail's.
But there are character buffs now too, so it might be better than the Natlan era.
The Neuvillette-to-Mavuika stretch was probably the darkest period for gaps between characters.
Surely at least better than a State of Play?
About 110,000.
Ever since they started simulcasting on X, the concurrent count got cut in half.
If you skip the Archon Quests, isn't there no point playing Genshin at all?
Same goes for any gacha game — once you want to skip the main story, it's time to graduate from it.
It's not that it's long, it's that the story's boring — that's why it puts you to sleep.
Honestly, Genshin is just tedious in a bunch of ways as a gacha game.
but including the side stories, Genshin's writing is generally rated pretty highly, isn't it?
If you're calling Genshin's story garbage, then the stories in Zelda, Monster Hunter, or FF16 would be a joke by comparison.
Rated highly by who, exactly? I've never once heard anyone praise Genshin's story.
If the main story is trash, what's even left to praise?
If it's so well-regarded, you should be able to say exactly what makes it good, right?
It's good as a whole, so it's too much to break down — that's the point.
You're the one who brought it up, so you should be the one listing what's boring about it.
And don't just go copy-pasting from somewhere else.
Background and Key Points of Debate
Genshin Impact is an open-world RPG developed by China’s HoYoverse (formerly miHoYo), and because it shares character-building and gacha mechanics with the studio’s other title, Honkai: Star Rail, players have coined the term “Star Rail-ification” to describe trends like giving away outdated characters for free and the steady creep of power inflation. The thread’s disagreement centered on two main points. The first was whether the game’s open-world exploration freedom really earns it the label “a better Zelda” compared to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with pushback citing the lack of physics-based puzzle mechanics as evidence against the comparison. The second was the evaluation of the main quest line (Archon Quests), with some demanding a skip function due to its length and tedium, against others arguing that, including the side stories, the writing deserves a high rating overall. The thread also noted that the livestream’s concurrent viewer numbers have become harder to compare directly since simulcasting on X began, as the audience is now split across platforms.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware & Industry / Geha) thread “[Breaking] Genshin Impact Drops Massive Announcement at Anniversary Broadcast wwwwwwwwwwwww — Set to Dominate Trends“.
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