From the colorful open-world exploration to the unique character designs and fun team building options, there’s much to enjoy about HoYoverse’s hugely successful game, Genshin Impact. Boss Rush Network writers Michaela, Jou Lee, and Ren Lee sat down to discuss how we first got into the game, our favorite characters, story moments, and more.
How did you get into Genshin Impact, and how long have you been playing?
Michaela El-Ters
I discovered Genshin Impact through my roommate towards the end of 2020. He recommended it since he was looking for another open-world game akin to Breath of the Wild, and with Genshin Impact’s many similarities to the juggernaut, it seemed like a perfect fit. I started playing shortly after him, and I had a great time, although I’m pretty casual. It’s not unusual for me to pick it up for a few months and then drop it for just as long, but the new characters and regions keep me coming back.
Jou Lee Yang
I actually found Genshin Impact through the mobile Apple Store. It was being advertised as a new, open-world game, and I was really wanting a bigger game to occupy my time with. I think I started playing just a few days after its release. Although I am a more casual player and have been on and off a few patches, I’ve been playing for the last three years.
Ren Lee
Right when the game was released, I had a friend who was in love with Venti, and I got curious about where he was from. She told me he was from the game Genshin Impact, and I gave it a shot. I joined during the second banner in version 1.0 when Klee was being promoted. I’ve been playing ever since.
What do you like about Genshin Impact?
Michaela El-Ters
The thing I like the most about Genshin Impact is the team-building and exploring the open world. I’ve always loved the RPG aspects of building my party and teams in other games like Final Fantasy, and here it’s no different. I enjoy trying new team compositions and elemental reactions as well. Then, of course, the overworld is beautiful. Each region is visually distinct, with unique geography, bright colors and established communities and cultures.
Jou Lee Yang
I am in love with the game’s overall design. The world is beautiful and exciting to explore. Each region feels like a fresh breath of air–so diverse from one another. I’m always in awe of HoYoverse’s character designs. I don’t think I’ve seen a single character yet where I’ve found their design bland or too similar to another character.
Ren Lee
I love open world games that have puzzles and exploration. The main thing that kept me with the game was its characters and their designs. The different regions are beautiful and include their own soundtracks which I listen to when I’m not even playing the game. Another aspect that I love is how collaborative the game is. Throughout the game’s run, I’ve preferred co-op options when defeating bosses or simply exploring.
Who’s your favorite character?
Michaela El-Ters
My favorite character, hands down, is Kaedehara Kazuha. I remember being captivated by his character’s tragic backstory and present-day conflict in Inazuma after I watched his story trailer for the first time. I appreciated his involvement in the main story of the Inazuma arc, and I think he’s one of the most fleshed-out and interesting characters in the game.
I adore everything about Kazuha: his character design is aesthetically pleasing and unique; the English voice acting by Mark Whitten is distinct and a perfect fit for his personality, and he’s fun to play both in combat and exploration. One day, with enough Primogems and a bit of luck, I will consider unlocking all of his Constellations because he’s been in my party since Version 1.6, and I don’t see him ever leaving.
Jou Lee Yang
My favorite character, after much deliberation, would probably be Diluc. He was the first 5-star character I pulled in the game, and I’ve kept him in my team rotations since. I quite enjoy his playstyle, and I loved his introduction in the game. His entrance in the story line with one of the first longer cutscenes really solidified my love for the game.
Ren Lee
My favorite character is definitely Albedo. He was my first 5-star, and I pulled him on Christmas Day in 2020. At the time, I didn’t understand how pity or wishing worked that well. I think I got lucky. He’s one of my strongest characters and he makes my weaker ones look stronger than they actually are when his elemental skill is down. I love his backstory, his personality, and the events he’s shown up in were my favorite.
Which region in Genshin Impact is your favorite to explore?
Michaela El-Ters
While I enjoyed Inazuma for its story, and the exploration felt pretty dangerous, I didn’t love using the boat to get to each island. Side quests often barred complete investigation of these islands, and many were incredibly tedious and long to resolve. Because of that, my favorite region to explore is Liyue. I love the variety of landscapes and the verticality across the Liyue region. The music is also lovely and serene. I continue to explore and find new treasure chests all the time.
Jou Lee Yang
My favorite region to explore had to have been Enkanomiya. When I watched the livestream announcing Enaknomiya’s release, I was a huge fan of the aesthetic. It was the place where I really took a lot of time to explore without actively using any gadgets to search for treasure chests or looking up guides to help me figure out what else I could do in that region. I ended up finding out most things myself with very few spoilers. It was groundbreaking for the lore of Teyvat as well and is still frequently used in a lot of theory videos today because of the lore found in that region.
Ren Lee
Dragonspine has to be my favorite region to explore. I’ve traveled through those mountains multiple times helping other players with the “In the Mountains” quest. I became an unofficial Dragonspine tour guide after I completed it myself. As Albedo is my favorite character, I do hold a bit of bias towards the area, too. Though, recently with the 4.0 update, Fontaine is quickly becoming a favorite because of the underwater exploration.
What’s your favorite team build and Elemental reactions?
Michaela El-Ters
My favorite team is Kazuha, Kokomi, Ayaka, and Alhaitham. It’s a duo-Freeze and Bloom team, which is fun. My rotation is as follows: I swap to Kokomi and set her jellyfish on the field, preferably as close to my enemies as possible. Then I switch to Ayaka and unleash her Elemental Skill to freeze everything. After that, I have Kazuha swirl the Cryo and Hydro using his Elemental Skill and Burst; then, I switch to Alhaitham and apply Dendro and Bloom to my opponents.
Even though I’m not a huge fan of how long Bloom Cores take to detonate, it’s devastating if any enemies are still alive by the time they get set off. This build has been effective in boss fights and the Spiral Abyss challenges.
Jou Lee Yang
One of my favorite teams to play right now is Zhongli, Xingqiu, Chongyun, and Kaeya. I absolutely love Freeze reactions, and it also meant I had a team with much less needed investment in comparison to other teams I play. I’ve been using Kaeya since Day 1 and Zhongli was one of the first characters I actually began looking at guides for to figure out how to build characters in Genshin Impact. They’re one of my Spiral Abyss teams that usually gets me through the floors.
Ren Lee
My current favorite team consists of Wanderer, Heizou, Albedo, and Zhongli, which I have dubbed “Mortal Kombat”. It doesn’t include my favorite elemental reaction (Vaporize), but having Wanderer and Heizou punch and kick their way through enemies is too satisfying. Albedo gives them the extra Geo damage while Zhongli’s shield protects them from the close combat style. This team also benefits from the Elemental Resonance effects, Impetuous Winds and Enduring Rock.
What’s your favorite story arc or moment in Genshin Impact so far?
Michaela El-Ters
My favorite story arc in Genshin Impact so far has to be “Chapter II: Omnipresence Over Mortals Archon Quest” in Inazuma. I loved this entire story arc from the word go. For the first time, the god of the region is pretty hostile, and you’re not welcome there. As a result, exploring Inazuma brings a sense of danger and tension. The conflict of Raiden Shogun stealing people’s Visions was compelling and exciting, and the civil war and uprising added to the stakes.
The story felt epic and memorable, but if I have to pick a defining moment of the arc, it has to be when Kazuha activates the Vision of his deceased friend and uses it to protect the Traveler after they emerge from battle with the Raiden Shogun. Outside of feeling nervous that my favorite character might not make it out of the fight, it also introduced the exciting possibility of someone having more than one Vision. We’ve never seen another character activate a second Vision since. However, it’s a compelling possibility that could have neat implications if HoYoverse decided to revisit it.
Jou Lee Yang
My favorite story moment that really stands out in my memory is the first Lantern Rite. I was highly anticipating Xiao’s release to the point that he was the first character I spent money in the game for. I stopped playing the game for a while, burnt out because I found myself rushing through and not enjoying it as much because of that.
That first Lantern Rite holds a special place in my heart as being the event that welcomed me back into the game and resurging my love for it. It was this event that really pushed me to believe that Genshin would blow up and become much larger and better than I ever thought it would be, especially as a game adapted for mobile devices.
Ren Lee
The “We Will Be Reunited” Archon Quest is one of my favorites. I remember it being eerie and pulls the story to a darker tone when Traveler and Paimon discover a defiled Barbatos statue in the Mt. Aocang area. Not only does the quest reveal anticipated information, it introduces a plot twist that many players weren’t expecting.
Do you have a favorite boss fight?
Michaela El-Ters
My favorite boss fight is Raiden Shogun, specifically the second fight during the Inazuma Archon Quest. Story-wise, it’s a fantastic moment, but I also love the backdrop for this battle. It drips with atmosphere, and it’s entertaining and somewhat challenging. The Inazuma story arc builds to this central conflict with Raiden Shogun, and the fight appropriately illustrates her formidable fighting power. The only downside is that you can’t replay this specific iteration of the fight later.
Jou Lee Yang
My favorite boss fight has to be Childe. Although I love all the other bosses and the new mechanics they introduced to combat, the introduction of Childe’s boss fight really stuck with me. He’s one of my favorite bosses to test my builds with and to DPS check when I’m out of resin and wanting something to do. A close second would be the new boss, the Icewind Suite. I absolutely love their dynamic and although they aren’t a tough boss for me to beat, I adore their design and animations.
Ren Lee
I fought the Primo Geovishap a lot for both Hu Tao and Xiao. At first, I found defeating it annoying, but it became fun overtime. I love using a shield at the perfect time and seeing a big chunk of its health disappear when I successfully deflect its attack. I also like that the Primo Geovishap changes elements every time you fight it. I never go in with the same team. The only constant is bringing Zhongli along.
Is there anything you’d like to see Genshin Impact change?
Michaela El-Ters
The resource grinding is increasingly tedious at higher levels. Players spend countless hours grinding for resources to level up their characters, and it’s a very time-consuming, monotonous process. Because of that, I wish there was a way to trade resources with other players, similar to Final Fantasy XIV. There’d have to be some limits, but if you could trade even basic resources like Sango Pearls or Noctilucous Jades, it would reduce the amount of excessive resource farming. If HoYoverse raises the level cap again someday, balancing the resources better will go a long way to keeping players engaged instead of overwhelmed.
I also find the Wishing RNG to be pretty brutal. The character banners are slightly better than the weapons banner, but it’s still unforgiving. Fire Emblem: Heroes enables players to pick Legendary Heroes each year, and I wish Genshin Impact would implement a similar system. Even Honkai: Star Rail, another HoYoverse game, has a banner that after you spend a certain amount of wishes, you get to pick your desired character from the list. It’s a nice compromise that I think Genshin Impact could benefit from. I understand there’s a luck aspect to the gacha system, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be impossible, either.
Jou Lee Yang
I play Honkai: Star Rail, another one of HoYoverse’s games, as well, and it has a lot of features implemented or going to be implemented that I wish HoYoverse would also give Genshin Impact. I would love an increase in Adventure Rank because that would also mean an increase of world levels. It’s not difficult to survive in the overworld, so most combat is over pretty quickly in my opinion. An increase of the overworld would help older players like myself who do have fully built teams that would enjoy the challenge of tankier mobs.
Furthermore, I’d love an increase in resin or at least in condensed resin caps. As the game grows and more characters are developed, it is hard to keep up with building characters. It took me about a year to really build up my current teams that I have and make sure they’re all adequately equipped so that I could take them into Spiral Abyss without getting totally wiped out. It would help tremendously in the long run as Genshin Impact nears the end of its story with five out of seven nations released. That’s five whole nations with its own characters, bosses, artifacts, and more that requires a lot of resin to get through. A little more resin would definitely help.
Ren Lee
Before the 4.0 update, my main issues with exploration was how the map didn’t reveal underground areas. With Sumeru, there were too many locations and teleports that required us to travel through hidden parts of the map, and it was hard to navigate. Now, HoYoverse has added a layered map and it has helped a lot, and I’m glad they listened to that feedback.
Currently, the changes I would like to see involve artifact farming. I’ve spent too much resin for little reward, and I want to see changes being made in that area. Another minor change that would be nice is the option to skip dialogue. Sometimes I want to speed through quests, but it’s not at all possible. I do understand that dialogue is important to certain quests, but the option would be nice in world quests at least.
What are your thoughts on Genshin Impact? Do you have a favorite story moment or character that you prefer to play? Do you think the Wish RNG is unforgiving or balanced? Let us know in the comments, or join us on Boss Rush Discord!
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