Yeah, agree. I'm close to a point where I'd probably be burning out on the game, just as it's kind of going "hey, it's not worth it to play more than roughly an hour."

Very curious to see how they will expand the map. Disappointed the original 1.1 rumor that a region the same size as the first 2 didn't pan out, but if they switch between smaller intersticial map pieces and larger ones on a 2-3 month cycle, that could be pretty cool.

If they only planning on releasing a new major region every 6 months or longer, esp. after making $100mil in 3 weeks, that's less cool... but time will tell. I don't think I'll play this for 3 years, but I'll probably keep it going for 1 and change.

After another week of play I think the shitty gacha elements (and bad luck) may push me away. I've gone through all my easy/free 10-pulls and have very little to show for it. One 5-star character I'm not sure I like that much, a bunch of OK 4-star characters, none of the big flashy characters they show off in the campaign. And now that I've burned through the starting currency and most easy sources, at the standard currency rates it's looking like I'll be only able to do a big set of wishes once a week or so. Pretty depressing.

I'm lucky I don't have the gambling impulses that cause me to spend money to counter the bad luck, but instead for these types of games a string of bad luck does tend to push me away entirely. I'll probably keep going with the main campaign and exploring, but trying to engage long-term with whatever high-end stuff they drop or trying to build a high-power team doesn't seem in the cards.

I initially stayed away from this game due the gacha elements, but then I watched the Quick Look, it looked fun, and I decided to give it a go. Really enjoying it so far. Currently Adventure Rank 23, got a good party of lvl 40 characters with lvl 40 weapons, I've beaten Stormterror but haven't yet initiated the next main story mission, and still have a bunch of other quests to do, not to mentions collectibles to gather all over the map, etc. I'll be interested to see how I feel about it once I clear all the content and there's only recurring stuff like chest routes and daily challenges and domains to do. Maybe I'll lose interest at that point, but it's hard for me to say right now.

Regarding the gacha. First, I ended up with some very good luck, which helps. I pulled Venti on something like my third ten-pull, and just now also got Diluc. Also got Xiangling, Razor, and Barbara, along with a number of other four-stars that I haven't really used so far. The only other characters I don't have that I think I even care about are Fischl and Qiqi... I assume Fischl will come to me eventually with a little patience since she's a four-star. As for Qiqi, she would be awfully nice to have, but eh, I can live without her. My stable of characters is pretty good already. And I've still only spent--in total--$5 (on the extra login bonus thingy for 30 days). Not too shabby!

Second, even if I hadn't gotten lucky, this game doesn't really entice me to spend money the same way that some other gacha games have. I can sum up the reasons for that thusly: (1) the rates are truly abysmal, (2) four-star characters are totally viable anyway, and (3) any challenge can be overcome without five-star characters with enough patient grinding and a little skill. In contrast, Another Eden--a turn-based gacha RPG--ended up sucking hundreds of dollars out of my wallet due to going the opposite direction on all of these things: (1) rates are far better than here, about ten times the chance to get a five-star character (1.2% for a specific featured character, around 6% for some five-star character), (2) five-stars are the only worthwhile characters in end-game, the four-star ones may as well not exist for how worthless they are, and (3) as a turn-based game, no amount of skill can overcome the fact that some characters are just light-years better than others. And the power creep is real... the devs for that game keep releasing even more characters that you feel you just have to have.

In short, I learned from Another Eden that I'm prone to spending too much money on this nonsense given the right circumstances, which is why I stayed away from Genshin Impact at first. But upon checking it out, I'm glad to say that for me I don't think this one has the hooks to make me fall for that kind of crap again. I can just enjoy the gameplay for as long as it amuses me without feeling any real pull to dump cash into it. But clearly this formula is enticing at least some people out there, based on how much money it's apparently making...

I...kind of don't like it. It's not terrible, and it looks nice, but it's boring. The combat lacks impact and variety, the story is maybe the worst I've experienced in a video game in a very long time (zero good characters, everything is painfully paint by numbers) and it has so many annoying and impenetrable systems.

They shower you with currency when you start, mostly through the mail, so I pulled a 5 star character in a wish pull and I have a decent sized roster to mess around with but that just means they are all bland in their own way.

Climbing isn't fun. Gliding isn't fun. The puzzles aren't fun. The music is...pretty good but not like some Ys bangers. It feels a lot like a not good gacha infested Ys game (the modern Ys games also feature a party swap combat system) that looks much nicer than that series but can't compete with the visceral combat.

It's also pretty slow paced.

I may boot it up from time to time just to mess around because it's a decent "turn your brain off and listen to a podcast game" but I can't see myself investing in it and all the purchases are way overpriced so I don't think it will be getting my cash unless it offers some kind of better value down the road.

I will say that if I were a kid with a PS4 looking for something free to play I would probably be relatively happy with this. A playable action RPG with good graphics for the sky high price of free? If you have a ton of time and not a ton of money that's a great deal. But while I am price conscious with games I am also time conscious and have a huge backlog.

I haven't been addicted to a game in what seems like years. Probably since the original Destiny. I can't put the game down. I just hit Adventure rank 25 and have barely touched the Lyrie.

I found it very chill in the beginning. I had no issues taking out enemies or dying. Once the world level hit 1 and/or enemies started to show up around level 30 did I start having fun with the combat.

My character pulls have been okay, I did pull quite a few 4* weapons. If I knew about rerolling (can you even do that on PS4?) before spending about 20 hours in the, I probably would have tried that.

My main 4 - Traveller (anemo), Razor, Xiangling & Barbera. I had a nice team that swapped Kaeya with Barbera. But once the enemies/bosses/challenges became more difficult, I needed a healer to stay alive.

I did start a game on PC to see who I would pull. - Razor, Beidou, Fischl, Xiangling and just before Sucrose. This is all with maybe 3 hours of play and 0 money spent. When I eventually hit a wall on PS4 I might play more on PC, just for a different character experience.

Still waiting for my first 5* but I'm loving it.

This game pretty much took over my life the moment it came out.

I've now beaten the last Release story quest (AR 37, characters in the level 60-70 range). The only major challenge left at this point is the Spiral Abyss (aptly named I think), though there are a couple of tougher domains I still haven't beaten I think.

I'm still playing several hours a day, though that will probably start to tail off now. But I'll definitely be back when more content starts coming out, and expect to at least log in to do dailies for a good while yet.

It's just a really nice cozy run around and whack some mobs sort of a game. If they do have the remaining 5 countries to roll out over the next year or whatever that'd be amazing as the game really shines when you're exploring new areas most of all. They seem to have a pretty strong revenue stream so I'm hopeful.

I'm really not bothered by the stamina system myself, the game doesn't gate you out when you're out of resin like most games I've played that have similar systems, you just can't do the really high reward activities that need resin to unlock the prizes.

You're still free to go kill mobs for upgrade mats, find chests and mining nodes(which do respawn), take on the procedural quests that the game throws up and so on. I'll often do a domain or leyline, and then just wander off in a random direction and spend the next half hour killing hilicurls etc.

I hope they make the next battlepass a bit jucier though, only having one weapon and just upgrading mats besides that is a bit meh.

I downloaded this game about 3 weeks ago after hearing Jan and Jeff talking about it on the Bombcast. I never thought this is something that would keep me interested for long, but I'm keeping up with it still, mainly because I find it really relaxing.

This game really surprised me. I rarely click with free to play games, let alone gacha games, but this is definitely something different. Gameplay is engaging and deep... enough. Nothing groundbreaking but it has a good flow and it is very fun. Exploring the world feels great and, at least for the time being, still inspires me to chase various landmarks/chests/spirits etc...

I also really love the way it looks. The openworld can be a bit repetitive and bland, but all of the more designed areas like the cities, villages and other special landmarks can look stunning. The interior of the cathedral in Mondstadt comes to mind with the lighting from the windows, colors, reflections on the floor... so great!

Also, it might sound like a hot take, but the music of this game should at least be talked about in the GOTY deliberations. It's very subtle, but it fits the world perfectly and it is very well done! Exploring the world feels awesome with it in the background, especially in Liyue - the flutes and the traditional string instruments are so relaxing and just... nice.

The gacha element is the only thing that really rubs me the wrong way. Though, for what it's worth, I have not spent a dime on this and have not really felt the need to. I don't really care about the top tier characters and weapons. I know that the endgame is a terrible grind, but I'm not there yet and I predict that by the time I do I'll have spent dozens of hours into it and will probably put it down until more substantial content is added.

Welp. After a hot and heavy week or two, I've now not touched the game for a week.

Once you're done exploring, playing this game feels slightly more onerous than the typical gatcha game. I think that's because most gatchas are stage-based and menu-based, so if I want to do my mindless daily grind activity, I just tap the screen two or three times and I'm in combat. Here I often have to run a minute or two to the grind, which registers to me as filler. That's double true for gathering ascension mats. Back during the honeymoon period, I remember wishing dearly for more resin so I could run more dungeons and stuff. Now the idea of running a mat dungeon more than once or twice a day is unthinkable.

I dunno, I think the core gameplay is solid, but paradoxically the full-featured nature of Genshin is what's pushing me away right now. I might be back when there's new land to explore.