Unpopular opinion: AQ needs more breaks

I feel like I’m gonna be in the minority here but one thing that sucks about these archon quests now are the pacing.

Maybe it’s always been a train wreck, hearing since 2.0 that AQ was too “rushed” or 3.0 side quests were too long.

But the fact that we can’t escape a cutscene at least 2-3 hours into the quest, is what’s making me take a point off of Genshin’s storytelling. I don’t remember it being this bad until now. Why did they decide to do this?

We really thought we were getting quality of life when they announced they’ll have notifications warning us that the story was gonna be a long haul so be prepared. They never said that it’s never gonna stop until it’s finished by like tomorrow (sarcasm).

Again I’m not complaining about the story, it was absolute cinema! I’m talking more about the game design. Genshin’s game design always acts like it takes one step forward and two steps back. It’s just frustrating.

I haven’t even finished the story yet. I’m gonna have to skip some dialogue depending on how far back it saved my progress which was like what, the beginning of the quest?

Overall, with all that said, I hope we can all collectively add on the next survey to add more breaks in the future quests or very very hot take (please don’t hurt me)… a skip button with short descriptions similar to HSR.

If it’s gonna take that long, I feel like it’s only fair to give players an option to speed it up and play through the story how they feel like.

Ok I’m ready for pitch forks and torches-

Voir le contenu lié

Commentaires

perfectchaos832026-01-14 23:09

You can take a break every time you control a character by quitting the 'domain'. The problem is they don't make that quite apparent

Riersa2026-01-14 23:16

Every time you control your character, every time there is loud teleporting sound, every time there is door of resurrection message, every time there is saving on bottom right, you can safely quit on all of those places.

Neracca2026-01-16 07:42

> Every time you control your character, every time there is loud teleporting sound

Not everyone can hear

> every time there is door of resurrection message

Not that common!

> every time there is saving on bottom right

Very small and way off to the corner.

fiersome082026-01-14 23:18

>But the fact that we can’t escape a cutscene at least 2-3 hours into the quest

You can. Each time you regain control, you’re able to exit the domain or the quest. However, I agree about the pacing, and I’m referring to the pacing of the story

Wyrmaster192026-01-14 23:19

Judging by the last 24 hrs on this reddit, and the posts when the last AQ dropped, the least popular part of your opinion is calling it an "unpopular opinion"

demonspawns_ghost2026-01-14 23:26

All AQ chapters up to now have been divided into several acts and those divided into sub quests. You could do one or two quests a day then go explore the region or do whatever else you wanted to do. The quests would generally steer you through the world anyway so you could do some exploration while competing quests, which was great.

Now, for some reason, they have decided to make you do the whole thing in one sitting without ever going through the new area. Flins even mentions a location in the new area but I had no idea what he was talking about because I decided to do the AQ first, assuming they would have us travel through the area as they have always done. I don't know why they didn't do it this time but it really annoyed me.

Sharlizarda2026-01-15 04:47

Same

There was one point where I got positioned near a tp, tried to run to unlock it before starting the dialogue, but ofc the cut scene started anyway and I never was able to unlock it.

I have always explored first and then found myself being taken everywhere as part of the quest, so like you I thought I'd let the quest lead me this time. Bad idea!

Ke5_Jun2026-01-14 23:28

AQ doesn’t need more breaks; it needs to **tell you when you can break more often**.

There are tons of points where you can stop and start right where you left off later, but the game doesn’t make it clear when this is possible.

Classic-Pea68152026-01-14 23:42

Yeah I guess there is a noise? But sone of us have to play on mute or very quiet sometimes so I don’t know when that happens lol.

Neracca2026-01-16 07:41

So if you're deaf you're screwed?

OmniOnly2026-01-14 23:58

There’s a break every scene change.

Ke5_Jun2026-01-15 00:03

And the game doesn’t tell you this directly. It’s something players had to find out and tell others.

kaibigangoso2026-01-15 01:32

They added the “Saving” loading screen but that’s pretty much it. I agree that it should be more direct like “Checkpoint reached” or something before a new scene starts

Neracca2026-01-16 07:40

> I agree that it should be more direct like “Checkpoint reached”

YES.

Neracca2026-01-16 07:40

And nothing in game outright says so.

Winterborne19862026-01-15 00:08

I saw the little door symbol when regaining control over a character but it always said about being in story mode and May have to repeat some scenes, so I assumed i I shouldn't click it 🙈

Ke5_Jun2026-01-15 00:10

I think if you are at the start of a segment, it shouldn’t tell you the “leaving here will make you start over from the start”, because it confuses players into thinking they need to do everything again. Even though they are actually **at** the start of a new segment and quitting would bring them back to where they currently are.

Sorry-Candidate-51922026-01-14 23:40

whenever it says saving on bottom right

Classic-Pea68152026-01-14 23:42

I have been feeling that way for the last few AQ. I love the game but I have shit to do and can’t always sit for a few hours at a time.

leylensxx2026-01-15 00:00

there are breaks! I had to quit the game sometime after a cutscene during a boss fight and when I went back it brought me back just right there

SUSredditruser2026-01-15 00:43

Yes I agree, I just started true moon but I expected to just be dropped on the overworld for a minute, not be send into the next scene;>! a tea party with Sandrone and Arle. !<Was a perfect place for a break but I have to just close the ps5 app mid scene, to end the session.

Other than that story has been good, the pacing of the content however could be a little better. Doesn't feel good to be stuck in instanced content for hours, despite the warning I still don't expect it to be 3 hours.

RandomEOS2026-01-15 01:14

mf be blind when they literally throw you a saving screen

Budget-Emu-13652026-01-15 01:50

It has breaks. I can't count how many time I log off because I have other things to do. Whenever there's a "saving" symbol on the down right corner, that means you can break. Even then, you can just log off and log in again without even having to continue the quest (it was made in a way that it acts kinda like a domain). The problem is the game not telling you any of this

Kingrion9k2026-01-15 02:49

I think there were plenty of breaks, it is just the breaks were not blatant to us, which they definitely should be.

Mean-Razzmatazz15542026-01-15 02:58

It was honestly not that long, even if it gives you no breaks, only 4 hours is easy to get through

R0gueA2026-01-15 05:34

It is if you don't have kids, not everyone can play 4 consecutive hours straight.

Mean-Razzmatazz15542026-01-15 05:44

Not my fault people decided to ruin there lives

7Accel2026-01-15 05:29

Weird. Ive been in and out of archon quest. Always.