Why Genshin’s Lore and World-Building works.
People generally recognise that Genshin has good lore and worldbuilding, but rarely people examine what makes it so good. I want to highlight a specific part of Genshin’s world, and that is its use of history.
Genshin deals with 3 main areas of Teyvat’s history: the Cataclysm era, the Archon War era, and the Dragon era. Rather than the events of these eras be described to us, Genshin creates stories out of them.
Stormterror’s Lair could easily be described as “An abandoned city from years past”, and it would serve the main story fine. But instead, we get a story created from it, with characters, and a narrative that makes them compelling and tragic. We see a similar thing in the desert with the Deshret, Nabu Malikata and Rukkhadevata trio, with the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, with the Dragon civilisation, with the conflicts in Archon War Inazuma, with Dragonspine, and many more examples.
The exploration of characters that we don’t even see on screen in Genshin is unprecedented; some completely off-screen characters have better writing and are more fleshed out than some playable characters. Like I’ve seen so much discussion about the Voyager and Koitar, and they aren’t even mentioned in the main story quest.
It makes the world feel alive and immersive, just like our own. We explore these histories through adventures, books, murals, and architecture, all of which reminisce real life processes. And like our own history, we see certain inconsistencies and fabrications in the in-game history. And from this, interesting irl theories can be applied here (I saw a twt post talk about how Edward Tylor’s survivals can be applied to the Moon Sister’s portrayals). It‘s very cool stuff, and got a lot of depth to it.
The way that the devs have constructed the world of Teyvat is just phenomenal. Hats off to them honestly.
Genshin deals with 3 main areas of Teyvat’s history: the Cataclysm era, the Archon War era, and the Dragon era. Rather than the events of these eras be described to us, Genshin creates stories out of them.
Stormterror’s Lair could easily be described as “An abandoned city from years past”, and it would serve the main story fine. But instead, we get a story created from it, with characters, and a narrative that makes them compelling and tragic. We see a similar thing in the desert with the Deshret, Nabu Malikata and Rukkhadevata trio, with the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, with the Dragon civilisation, with the conflicts in Archon War Inazuma, with Dragonspine, and many more examples.
The exploration of characters that we don’t even see on screen in Genshin is unprecedented; some completely off-screen characters have better writing and are more fleshed out than some playable characters. Like I’ve seen so much discussion about the Voyager and Koitar, and they aren’t even mentioned in the main story quest.
It makes the world feel alive and immersive, just like our own. We explore these histories through adventures, books, murals, and architecture, all of which reminisce real life processes. And like our own history, we see certain inconsistencies and fabrications in the in-game history. And from this, interesting irl theories can be applied here (I saw a twt post talk about how Edward Tylor’s survivals can be applied to the Moon Sister’s portrayals). It‘s very cool stuff, and got a lot of depth to it.
The way that the devs have constructed the world of Teyvat is just phenomenal. Hats off to them honestly.
Commentaires
The dendro archon while not stated is implied to have died and been replaced with their existence retconned via irmunsul. Evidence is that story of rukkha feels similar to what happened with nahida. Rukkha was said to intervene with the abyss and upon spending her power turned into a kid, lo and behold when nahida retcon rukkha, the story we get supposedly claims that nahida is rukkha reborn which we know isn't true so by all accounts nahida could be 3rd archon or even further down the line.
Fontaine depending how you look at it could also qualify as we go egeria, focalors then furina. But you could also say furina is focalors.
Natlan is most obvious they have several pyro archons due to being human probably going 10 plus.
Remains of her influence predate her Archonhood (Her Chair in the Oasis says RUKDVTA, for example. This predates her being Archon, so even if she were a retcon of someone else, she would still be first Dendro Archon, and Nahida second.)
As for Hydro, Furina was technically never the Hydro Archon, and even if she also technically was, she is just part of Focalor, making Focalor still second Hydro Archon.
Pyro is obviously the exception.
And recent books confirm that the Tsaritsa is second Cryo Archon, after her father.
Either you dont count Furina, meaning it ended at 2 with Focalor.
Or you do count Furina, and since she is part of Focalor (the mortal part) it ended at 2 with Focalor.
Why does everyone think the archons are providing visions when they occasionally walk around humans and can even be questioned but when you ask them they vehemently deny it?
Why bring these questions up in game only to quietly drop it without answers?
>Severely wounded in the great war of vengeance, the usurper had their functions ruined, and could no longer use their absolute authority to suppress the original order of this world. To continue to subdue and control the resentments and loathing of the world, the usurper and one who came after created the Gnoses together. So it came to be that an order was made to be upheld, and thus did humans come to only possess these seven remembrances, and all fragments of the primordial were driven to devour each other.
>From that day on, **whenever a person's wishes reached the heavens, the seven overseers of the material realm were duty-bound to grant them a gift.** Though they might know nothing of who or what wish had stepped into the threshold of the sacred, the **Seven Archons still had to impart a shattered shard of their mastery to that person.** And when one so gifted completed their duty... the gift the gods would receive in return would be more abundant still.
>Neuvillette obeys no edict from the heavens, but he does acknowledge human will. So he too set aside parts of himself, as like unto the dragon-treasure hoards of old, awaiting valiant humans to come and claim them.
According to Neuvillette's character lore, the Archons are duty-bound by HP to grant Visions, which explains Inazuma and the electro vision situation.
So yeah, Archons seen as being underpowered compared to other heavenly gods like the shades is literally canon. Even Ronova says that the cryo archon has paltry powers
So Basically Ei's definition/Idle was changed for a while thus no one resonated with Idle thus the Electro Vision acquirements conditions never met during them time.
If someone has a similar Idle of Eternity like Ei back then maybe they would have gotten Electro Vision.
It's at least how we phrased it when we asked Ei about it in her voice over line.
>**About the Vision**
>*Really? So in all this time,* ***no new Electro Visions have appeared in the outside world?*** *Well, what I can say on this topic is subject to certain constraints, but... it is not by my will that Visions are granted or denied. The key is people's desire, and... well, there's another side to it too.*
The world quest Endless Research also outright states it's a global halt.
>Alrani: *Wait. Don't you know?* ***It seems that nobody has obtained an Electro Vision for a whole year now.***
>Alrani: *I've heard that the Akademiya has been researching this matter for a while now, and they have concluded that the lack of Electro Visions granted to mortals is the will of the Electro Archon.*
>Alrani: *I've also heard it said that Inazuma's Electro Archon has proclaimed a "Vision Hunt Decree," which has aimed to confiscate the majority of all Visions from Vision wielders throughout Inazuma.*
>
I will probably get slack for this, but the way that Hoyo have built up Teyvat is very reminiscent of the way Tolkien built up Middle-Earth and Ea. Ofc I don’t think Teyvat is near that quality, but the structure of the way both worlds are created, and the level of depth of worldbuilding are quite similar.
As a complete tangent, something else I've always found neat about the narrative is that the Traveler has always known things that the audience does not.
And yeah I really like that too. There’s certain implicit things about the Traveller that help diminish them from being a total self-insert. They’re a fascinating character to analyse, if you go really deep.
* Mondstadt <- Old/Decarabian's Monstadt <- Arcadia +/- Sal Vindagnyr
* Liyue <- Guili Assembly <- Lang Xuan
* Fontaine <- Remuria <- Meropis
* Natlan <- Natlan <- Natlantea
\- Fontaine should also have Ys below Meropis too. Which probably where King Remus found Sybilla.
\- Natlantea (Dragon) -> Natlantea (Ancestral Plain/Night Kingdom) -> Ochkanatlan Empire -> Natlan
In Inazuma there are Unified Civilization of Tsurumi (Pre-Kapacir) and Delphi Pytho (Enkanomiya)
Who tf were Koitar and the Voyager again?
Also I don't know if you did the latest Archon quest, so here is a spoiler just in case >!when the Moons talked about punishment issued by the Heavenly Principles, and how Canon guided the Hyperboreans, what they forgot to mention was that Hyperboria was kinda the headquarters of the Rebellion where they with the help of the Voyager build a Tower of Babylon esque stuff as well as weapons to attack the heavens. Oh and the Hyperboreans were big into slavery and stuff as well. The Moons having all that power are incompetent and ignorant of lots of things.!<
Another amazing thing is how things seem to be hinted at years ago in hindsight (or rather devs had the foresight to add new things grounded in previous lore). For example this year’s Lantern Rite story involves a mythical toad that swallows the moon, and I’m told there’s a place in Liyue since 1.0 that has toad statues.
This in particular is insane on their part. The clock in the NZKZ ordo has the three moons iconography, and the only one lit up is the Frost Moon, as it is the only one still around. The murals in Tsurumi Island also foreshadow the Tonatiuh and the Moon Sisters appearances (the horns). Or the similarities in architecture between the different unified civilisation ruins. You can go on for days.
The way that Genshin dovetails its lore and worldbuilding really really well throughout nations, and as a holistic project.
What makes them better than actual playable characters if they aren't even included in story quests? (Ignore this question if OP was using hyperbole)
I agree that the lore is good but my god can the storytelling feel really shitty most of the time.
I’d say they are better than some playable characters because of the exploration and the depth they get. They’re both quite well fleshed out as characters, and there’s a real tragedy in Koitar and Seutervoinen’s failed rebellion against the Heavenly Principles.
I do agree on the storytelling point, but Nod Krai has been improving that a lot. Personally I’ve never felt it too big of an issue, but I really do enjoy Hoyo’s philosophical rambling dialogue so it’s just a matter of taste imo.
>I do agree on the storytelling point, but Nod Krai has been improving that a lot.
To each their own, I personally think that sumeru was the peak of genshin storytelling. But, Nod krai had better characters , I especially loved the characterization of lauma,flins and rerir.
Ah, right I forgot about that. Poor khaerians learnt that the hard way.
>Especially so when Xiuhcoatl tried to come in contact with them multiple times only to get ghosted each time.
Which readable was this mentioned in?
E.g. the idea that "the world is ending, so we should put our minds in an artificial construct" pops up in Deshret, Narcissenkreuz, Remuria, Dragons, etc.
That is so true. I rarely see this kind of approach in other games. To make it even more interesting, the most consistent parts are hidden in poems, children’s stories, hymns, and so on, where you need to decipher them to even understand what they’re saying. This leads to more discussion and fan theories outside the game
It adds so much meaning to books and stories at the start of the game that we might have dismissed as juvenile and an in-game children‘s book.
It’s just really really unique, and a really cool way of recontextualising something many people would readily dismiss, and it makes a lot of sense too. The way that Genshin use themes of innocence and childhood in general is really well done.
I'm even somewhat jealous of people who can keep track of everything and understand shit, especially nowadays.
This is a never-ending live service game that's stretched over years and years. I remember myself caring very much about the story at the beginning when I started playing in Jan 2021. I never played a gacha game before so I mostly treated Genshin like an open-world RPG with some strange quirk of "pulling for characters". Everything was new and every little details grabbed interest. It was like that for about year, maybe 1.5 years.
But then time passes, LIFE happens, game becomes very big. At first I stopped caring about unvoiced quests with random NPCs - they are forgotten in two days anyways. Then a break happened when Fontaine came put - I never started that Archon quest and the feel of the weight of it and how long it will take to go through that story stops me from starting it, but the game allowed to start Natlan right away, so I moved on. I have some Fontaine characters, but the story is a forever unknown to me. Natlan was fun, but then the new region started to get closer, and I understood that I don't really care once again. I already forgot the older lore, some pieces missing, and there's no way to reach the level on engagment that was at the start.
Genshin Impact would be an amazing game if it came out as ONE big completed piece. From my point of view, I can't see how engagement into the story can possibly work over such a long period of time. So now this game just more of a habit, also fun exploration, a bit of FOMO and partly memories of how engaging it once was. There's no way to take it seriously anymore, I played only 1 AQ from Nod Krai and struggle to start the new part because there will be a lot more long barely interesting yapping with no Skip Button - which would be ESPECIALLY handy in non-Archon Quests, some sleepy girl is very lonely and very sad, the sky is not real (somehow it's a known fact from previous quests I dunno) and yada yada.
Just give me the Skip with short summaries, new maps, some primos and some brand new character to pull once or twice a year and fock off, please game? I mean, sorry, the Too Long and Too Big To Be Engaging Game.
This game is like reading a very detailed and very immersive book, but stretched over a very long period of time, so you either must have an insane amount of engagement, or re-read parts often to keep track and story structure in you head. If not, it's just a fun reading exersize once in a while, also the illustrations between the pages are cool
All of that above seems to be very random and not on topic of the post, sorry, but what you've written pushed me into the thoughts :D
That said, I do agree that a skip button would definitely help. Its puzzling why they haven’t released that feature yet though.
1. Good Roadmap
2. Good first start
3. Good cash flow
4. Year Gap for world building but can keep active player + money (slow pwc)
As you said, it's divided into three eras... and mainly those eras. I like hanging around the Genshin wiki's lore chat and there it's basically become a meme how much they hate the phrase "500 years ago" because of how much SHIT happens in the Cataclysm. It's why I love Ochkanatlan so much because it's a rare instance of something happening in these largely dead spaces between these three hyper important eras.
The reason I don't see this as world building is because this shit is IMPORTANT. People call it "lore" but what it really is is the main plot. Without most of this background information you really would be lost and it's clear they really want you to know about it. Traveler randomly knows stuff from there even if you haven't done these quests or interacted with these books because knowing what a Sovereign IS is really important. Hell it's why Nod-Krai exists, so Nicole can say "by the way Nibelung exists, I really should be smited (smote?) for saying this like the people in Enka but you really gotta get up to speed to know wtf we're building to". Stuff that should be mandatory isn't and stuff that's important for context is locked behind gacha rolls. "Go on google" I came to experience a game not read the wiki.
Meanwhile the actual lore is... lacking. Ever since post-Sumeru the irrelevant aspects of world building just sort of walked off. Characters barely do anything offscreen and are now entirely invested in what's relevant to the plot (In V1, an item tells us how Tartaglia's hobbies alone can influence the economy, in V5 we spend an entire AQ with Capitano and all we're told is "his aura and hype is so insane man, no idea what he does for a living but he's so cool"; rather than be allowed to be going on a globe trotting adventure taking out the abyss, Mondstadt's expedition spent 5 years solely to get to Nod-Krai when Thoma's mother did that in a matter of months). All eggs have to be in one basket, they can't do anything else to make the world feel alive, they can only do what we feel the effects of onscreen. The most we get in Fontaine (which has some of the most annoying writing for me given Neuvi was foreshadowed in inazuma meanwhile all the stuff in Sumeru about it being a polluted hellscape with dirty water and an impending energy crisis vanished the moment we got there) the very few "irrelevant" parts (in quotes because really that's just supplementing the Rene and Jakob stuff which is extremely plot important) really just highlight how weird their world building is, that the poor living in the sewers yet Neuvi, supposedly a paragon of justice, doesn't care for their impoverished assess and is too busy investigating the great rain conspiracy for the Melusines.
What world building we did get back in the day now raises more questions than answer with newer developments. Trivial systems like how the Fatui handles recruitment no longer lines up with what has happened and makes everything feel smaller for it. It's not a retcon (as how it is incorrectly used to mean a narrative contradiction that has sadly replaced the original meaning), but it does remind you, "Oh yeah, this isn't a world, it's a story being told within a game that'll probably die with it".
In short, hoyo, please give us more "Sandrone told off Javert once", more history that isn't linked to the Cataclysm. Please, make your world feel alive. That it continued before us... and it'll continue after.