Unexpectedly, two years later, "Genshin Impact" will become an extremely terrifying money-making monster, with countless fans around the world, and its game quality will continue to improve with the update.

In August 2019, Shanghai, ChinaJoy, I was in a long queue to participate in the first trial of a game. During the long wait, I found that there were many players in the team holding Nintendo Switch, and there was even a brother COS Link in front. Thinking of the popularity of this game at that time, I still felt quite ridiculous. Just one day later, a player smashed his PS4 at the game booth to express his anger, which caused a lot of response. The game at the center of this controversial storm is " Genshin Impact ".

I have always been full of curiosity for those controversial games. However, during the live trial of CJ, I encountered a very ridiculous level design problem within a few minutes. This problem is so basic that it makes people speechless (mentioned below). At that time, I didn’t know what kind of business model will be adopted after "Genshin Impact" is officially launched. I simply believe that with such rough qualities, this game may not be able to escape the fate of dying.

html I never expected that "Genshin Impact" two years later became a terrifying money-making monster, with countless fans around the world, and the game quality will continue to improve with the update. Back to the present, when I played the 3.0 version of Sumeru, I was a little dazed for a moment: Is this really the "Genshin Impact" I tried back then?

Due to various complex factors, the discussion of "Genshin Impact" in the Chinese console game circle is basically limited to playing memes, and discussions on content rarely appear. I always feel that it is worse than a fierce debate. After more than two years, the bloody storm has slowly faded away. I think it may be time to sit down and discuss this game seriously. If you are a bystander and want to understand the current situation of this game, its development history and advantages and disadvantages, this article may provide some reference, but in the final analysis it is just my own opinion. Regardless of whether you agree or not, you can discuss it rationally.

Exploration design: Use money to make growth and evolution

mentioned above, two years ago, I encountered very low-level design problems when I first met "Genshin Impact". Specifically, in the dungeon, players need to fly to the platform opposite the cliff. The initial version can only take off through the upward airflow, then turn on the glider and slowly glide to the opposite side. But at this time, it is very likely that he will be forced to land on a stone platform below the platform because of lack of energy. The dungeon cannot climb up, and there are air walls near the stone platform, and you can't even commit suicide and go back to the storage point. So the game is stuck and you can only exit and start over.

When I showed this problem to the production team, they looked very at a loss, and then explained that the team had no experience in developing such games and did not know how to deal with it in many places. Although the attitude is sincere, this little thing reveals the biggest problem in the original version of Genshin Impact: Since there is almost no experience, the design level of maps and exploration is too low.

is a game that opens the world adventure, and exploring high freedom in huge scenes is the absolute core. Although Mond, the first map of "Genshin Impact", is a country of freedom in the plot, but it is a barren wasteland in terms of gameplay experience. After the short main story ended, the only thing that can be played is to open treasure chests all over the mountains and fields and look for collections.

Since there is no mechanism design that matches the exploration of the big map, my play process is like boiled water: when I see a treasure chest, I can get it by running up and clearing the surrounding monsters; when I encounter a high-level collector, I slowly climb up and get it. The few puzzles are to use the corresponding attributes to light up the surrounding pillars, or shoot the flying slimes in the sky with bows and arrows.

It can be said that the early exploration and collection experience of the game was approaching a smooth branch line, with the pale "hoe the earth" on the map, everything was placed in front of you, without surprises or surprises. "Bored" is my first impression of "Genshin Impact".

However, the RPG category where "Genshin Impact" is located is beyond my expectations for players' evaluation of it.I remember one time when I was discussing the pros and cons of "Genshin Impact" with an old second-dimensional mobile game player, his evaluation made me unable to refute, "The wife of the paper man who was drawn can actually run and jump, which is simply a huge merit!"

At that time, I realized that there is indeed a blue ocean that I don't understand, waiting for the emergence of such a game. Later facts proved that this is true. Relying on the "Krypton Gold Energy Bullet" of players around the world, the turnover of "Genshin Impact" exceeded 4 billion yuan in the first month after its launch, and it became the world's highest-paid game in the first year. What surprised me was that after making huge profits, the game did not lie flat, but started a path of evolution.

's commercial success has attracted talents from all walks of life to join the game production team, including many developers with well-known 3A game development experience. Their successive additions have also led the level design of "Genshin Impact" to develop in the direction of normal games. The "Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain" version of

1.2 introduces a temperature system, limiting the player's freedom of exploration through cold blood loss, and combining with the heat supplement of the mobile fairy to form a direction prompt, and consciously guiding the strategy route for the first time; the 2.0 new map "Raise Wife" has added a scene hook lock and portal system. After touching the mine seed, you can use the facilities to move quickly. Although there are fewer open locations, compared to the clumsy movement method of the upward airflow and glider at the beginning, the exploration has become much refreshing.

In addition, starting from "Raise Wife", the utilization rate and content filling rate of maps have also increased significantly. The empty scenes have been reduced, the caves and underground have space for people to explore, and the overall sense of layering of the map has been improved. In terms of puzzle solving, the repeated boring process of opening treasure chests has also added mechanisms corresponding to the map, such as the corresponding melting of ice and snow in the snow mountains, the corresponding power of the thunder and lightning of the rice wife, the alternation of day and night in Yuanxia Palace, etc. It is no longer simply brainless unlocking, but the process of opening treasure chests changes as much as possible.

As for the encyclopedia of a series of evolutions, it is the latest 3.0 version "Summer". This new map has a vast area and a large terrain height difference. The sky is full of hooks and lock points. Most places can be quickly reached. Where you can only climb to reach, flowers that will supplement your physical strength will definitely be set up. The design of forcing energy to interrupt the game experience in the past no longer exists.

Players can often find bouncing mushrooms near high slopes. They can adjust the bounce height through elemental reactions to reach a height, which also speeds up the movement speed on the map. Puzzle solving has also added new ways such as stepping on the grid to bloom and purifying withered areas, which correspond to the forest theme.

As for how to guide players in the open world, Xumi adopted a very conservative approach - plot guidance. Through a super-large branch "Forest Book", players can walk through the entire map step by step as the task is unlocked. Although it is not as clever as the snow mountain's mechanism guidance, it is also the first time that they have truly used tasks to drive exploration, so that players know what they should do.

Sumer's adjustment to the game mechanism has also changed some of my original understanding of "Genshin Impact". Although there are many disadvantages in continuing to operate this business model, the original shortcomings of the game can be corrected through version updates. Compared with traditional single-player games, it can only be evolved by sequels. "Genshin Impact" has indeed grasped this and quickly converted a small part of the huge profits into an improvement in the game experience.

If the reputation counterattack of " Unmanned Deep Space " back then originated from the production team's belief that he knew shame and then brave, then the changes in "Genshin Impact" are more like realism born under the benign commercial operation. They have never experienced a sudden death on release, and there is no word-of-mouth crisis among their fans. They just use the money they earn to keep the game running continuously. Admittedly, in the eyes of traditional gamers, this behavior is not worthy of praise, but it is obviously a positive cycle for the development of the game.

Story plot: From the second-dimensional eight-legged essay to Brahma Yimeng

In addition to the progress in map exploration, the plot improvement of the Sumeru version is also impressive.Even if you don’t play this game, you can realize that it is a very “two-dimensional” game when you see the character. stereotypes follow one after another: soft pornography, selling character, not paying attention to plot, etc. Unfortunately, these stereotypes are almost perfectly consistent with the performance of Genshin Impact.

The world view setting of this work is mixed with many interesting elements in mysticism, such as Solomon Demon, Gnostic Myth, etc., which can reasonably support a good story, but the main line of "Genshin Impact" has been criticized by players, and the content updated every time is pitifully small. The plot of a few hours is like a inferior light novel . The common routines are one after another, making people feel angry and unable to skip it, and they are very jailed.

On the other hand plots related to the game characters have completely different performances from the main line. Perhaps because the character design is well done enough, it is easier to guide players to enter the perspective of their wife/husband, and thus promote the flow of the card pool. The game has spent a lot of effort to design characters. Each character's personal branch not only has a full dubbing, but also has a far better difference in the story content than the main line. Excellent clips like "The Goddess Split View" can even shape the character's characteristics through the charm of traditional culture.

Under such design logic, the abnormal experience is also filled with the play: it doesn’t matter if the main line is bad, and the side line enters the brain to sell the role. It is in line with the rationality of maximizing the interests of Krypton gold games, but it also divides the players who want to experience the story seriously. "Imperial" is the biggest feeling this game has always given me.

has a comparison of the previous versions. When I first played the plot of Sumeru, my first feeling was "shock". First of all, the duration of the main plot, which rose directly from 3 or 4 hours to 12 hours. The content volume alone killed all previous versions in seconds, and this was just the first area in the Sumi area. Although it still cannot be skipped, this does not mean that the player will have to be in prison for 12 hours, because the plot this time is completely unstoppable.

Given that some of the fun in the plot of Sumi is derived from reasoning, this article will not do spoilers here and only talk about some personal feelings. The whole story revolves around the Zen theme of "virtuality", and a "reincarnation" drama was performed on a small but exquisite stage.

Although this type of theme has been used by countless film and television game works, the story of Sumeru has not been killed by the sense of déjà vu of various works. The improvement of narrative techniques makes this plot different from the previous two-dimensional eight-part essay. Whenever players want to question the "BUG" in the script, the game will always take the lead in making assumptions and overturn them. A large number of detailed foreshadowings fill the common setting loopholes in the reincarnation works, slowly convince people and immerse themselves in it. In the end, almost all the foreshadowing details are taken back, and the plot experience is very complete.

The cultural attributes carried by "Sumeri" are also complementary to the plot. The word Sumeri itself originates from the concept in Buddhism. This version of the stage also chose ancient India as the prototype, and incorporated the elements of the surrounding Persia and Middle East countries. It is combined with the exotic music (also the most stable highlight of this game's performance), making people feel in a unique cultural experience.

There are many Hinduism thinking about things like reality, which happens to be consistent with the mirror flowers, water and moon discussed in the plot of Sumeru. Although it is far from reaching the great wisdom discussed in the scriptures, it is enough even if it is superficial. Brahma is the same as the cycle of reincarnation, and some images will not appear abrupt only when discussed in a specific environment. This is also the most important existence significance of the "Summeru" area.

In addition, the large-scale side mission "Forest Book" mentioned above not only has excellent performance in the guidance function, but also is a very distinctive script. Compared to the seriousness of the main line of Sumeru, the story of the Forest Book is like a beautiful fairy tale. We must learn about the forest with countless lovely Lannaro, restore the forest, and finally witness their return to the forest. It takes about 15 hours to complete this task line, which is comparable to the length of the main line.

Overall, even if the game content of Xumi does not include branch exploration, it has reached 30 hours, even more than the one-week duration of some traditional stand-alone games.If the evolution of "Genshin Impact" in the exploration of the world is moving forward quickly, its breakthrough in plot and narrative can be said to be a step ahead. Compared with its previous poor performance, it is simply incredible. I personally look forward to the subsequent plot maintaining the same level.

Krish gold system: the selling point of the game, the weakness of human nature

mentioned earlier the evolution of the 3.0 version of "Genshin Impact" in story and map design. Now let's turn our perspective and see its core system and the many "evils" surrounding this system.

We all know that "Genshin Impact" is a "free" game, but the reality is that 99% of players are not able to get free during the game, one by one, one by one, 648, making this game break the revenue record again and again. Krypton gold games generally have characteristics that stimulate people's desire to consume. "Genshin Impact" obviously did more thoroughly and "excellent" in this regard, which makes people unable to help but spend money on krypton gold than other similar types. To interpret the principle of money-making in the game, you must understand its combat system.

"Genshin Impact" has had a battle system that focuses on elemental reactions since version 1.0. Specifically, 4 characters can be placed in the player team, each character has corresponding element attributes. The skill hits the target and attaches attributes to it. Switching the character to use another element attack can generate element reactions.

Except for some elements, the elements can react in pairs, and a total of more than ten different results can be produced, such as increasing damage evaporation/melting, causing stiffness and ejection, creating shield crystallization, etc. The application of these reactions involves relatively hard-core techniques. For example, fire is a weak element compared to water. The order of attachment between the two will produce completely different damage numbers due to consumption reactions. Some characters need to switch skills at a specific time, otherwise there will be a connection and disconnection. Although there are relatively complex operating thresholds, if you can correctly understand this system, you can basically get out of the state of scraping.

There are two problems emerging here. One is that compared with other traditional ARPG, which mainly creates combat advantages and growth values ​​through avoidance/anti-counter resistance, the combat system of "Genshin Impact" is more "automatic". After mastering the core system and proficiency in the techniques, the damage number will be increased. Enemies and BOSS are more like wooden stakes for practice output. Although there are some mechanisms for players to deal with from time to time, they will eventually be crushed and killed in seconds, without impressive battles. This is also a problem that "Genshin Impact" cannot solve even in the latest version.

The second problem is that under the intentional guidance of the game, players will more or less pursue damage numbers, and the krypton gold system plays its role in this situation.

"Genshin Impact" has three "special" designs in terms of krypton gold. First of all, it is limited to disaster. In addition to the initial few ordinary pool characters, the new 5-star characters must be limited pools, which means that if you fail to draw the desired character in the current card pool, you can only wait until the replica in half a year. Some of these characters will even unlock brand new game mechanisms. For example, Wendy can allow players to fly directly to the sky for a certain height, and have a more royal experience in exploration. Such design undoubtedly forces the demand for possessing certain characters.

is the second is the horoscope system. To put it bluntly, the same character will gradually unlock new abilities after being drawn several times, and there are similar designs in other similar games. However, the ability improvement of Genshin Impact is amazing. In addition to increasing damage, it also has advantages such as canceling the use of skills and increasing the second life. It directly changes the performance of a character from the mechanic level. It is not enough to draw one, and it also requires luring players to draw a specific number.

Finally, the weapon system. The 5-star weapons that are of great help to improve the character's strength are drawn out. Although 4-star weapons can be used instead, there is still a certain gap compared to 5-star weapons, and the appearance is not as good as 5-star weapons for the character. Taking three-pronged approach, the strength gap between Krypton and Krypton is huge. According to the horoscope and weapon configuration of the same character, several strategies for different Krypton gold classes will appear.

It can be said that the pursuit of character strength has continuously stimulated players' desire to draw cards, and the krypton gold system of "Genshin Impact" has achieved great success. I counted the friends around me who continued to play "Genshin Impact" and basically no krypton money is less than 2,000 yuan, which has to be said to be very scary.

So, if you don’t spend any money at all, can you play "Genshin Impact"?

The answer is yes. Not only is the main body free, but there is no internal setting of elements that cannot advance the process without recharging money. If the 4-star characters with extremely low threshold are matched properly, they can still produce crushing output. In addition, "Genshin Impact" does not have PVP or guild battles, and the pursuit of damage increase is not that urgent. Krypton can deal 1 million damage in one set of operations, while civilians can only deal 200,000 in medium training, but the BOSS only has 200,000 health. The only difference between the two is efficiency and the pursuit of numbers.

Take my personal experience as an example. During the 1 year-long game, I only bought 3 monthly cards (to speed up to get the trophy as soon as possible), and the total cost is about 100 yuan. Since the lineup created by a guaranteed 5-star team can pass the level, I believe that 0 krypton players can do it.

However, in order to maintain micro-krypton, I gave up the full character illustration, completely cut it from the weapon pool, and also cut off my thoughts about the zodiac. I had to spend a lot of time hoeing the earth to obtain card draw resources. It can be said that it was the result of "hard practice".

is a free game. If you want to achieve the word "free", you must use extreme restraint or even sacrifices to experience to maintain a relatively healthy input-output ratio. It is really ironic. In my opinion, the krypton gold system of "Genshin Impact" perfectly interprets the famous saying "free is the most expensive".

Finally, a little thought about "Genshin Impact"

"Genshin Impact" gives me the feeling of being complex and contradictory, so it is difficult for me to briefly describe what kind of game it is in a few sentences.

Is it a krypton gold mobile game? Yes, neither. Although it can run on a mobile phone, its not-so-light action system and good optimization power determine that its best experience platform is mid-to-high-end PCs and consoles; unlike Krypton gold mobile games with generally low production power, "Genshin Impact"'s production power is so powerful that it can even crush most traditional Japanese similar games at present.

Is it an open world game? Yes, neither. When I explore the map every time the main line is updated, "Genshin Impact" is obviously a standard open world game; however, once the main line is opened and the long training period is entered, the endless daily life and the behavior of restricting players with physical strength have completely become the special design of the mobile game, and the word "openness" is gone. The long-term operation of

gives Genshin Impact the opportunity to continuously improve various design problems, but this operation method that requires high-intensity production of new content has prompted it to produce a large number of activities with low completion levels to fill the gap in . What is even more controversial is that "Genshin Impact" for the mechanisms and art of other game works. Although the proportion of content of the game itself has been diluted over the years, the debate on the margin of plagiarism has never stopped today.

In my opinion, "Genshin Impact" is like a pot of Indian curry, integrating countless contents together, blurring the game concepts and mechanisms, stirring up the boundary between good and bad, and breaking the circle barriers between groups. Its advantages and disadvantages are as numerous as its disadvantages. Those who accept it and those who hate it have their own opinions, and over time it turns into fierce quarrels. I think these debates may not only bring bad results. They will make our understanding of games clearer, and actively think about unsolved issues will also promote the development of the game industry in disguise. Compared to avoiding talking, I think rational communication is more meaningful.

Return to this latest version of Sumeru, the progress of map design and plot narrative has made the shortcomings of "Genshin Impact" less and less, which is obviously a good thing. If this progressive trend is maintained, perhaps one day in the future, this game will be accepted by more players? I dare not speak nonsense about this, I just hope that version 3.0 can become the first step for "Genshin Impact" to move towards a normal game.