Dare I say that I miss Natlan
With Nod Krai AQ more or less done, and after I took a kind of forced pause from the game, man, are we past the hate? How do you feel about Natlan looking back?
The world quest was so much hype. I really have a thing for those kinds of stories, the patriotism, the hope despite the adversity, even the color red, there were so many memorable moments. Exploration wise i likee it a lot as well, Sumeru is still my favorite region, and since 3.0 Natlan has been the only region that has managed to create that sense of being completely lost in the world. Not that Fontaine or Nod Krai were bad, but especially the latter everything's so dense, so close together you really don't feel that way. And then the world quests, the entirety of the lore about the Dragons was so so good, that region below the volcano really did make me feel a lot of nostalgia for Enkanomiya or the Chasm.
I get it that the modernism might be a bit off to some, and there was ofc the entire representation thing, but looking back I really do kinda miss it
The world quest was so much hype. I really have a thing for those kinds of stories, the patriotism, the hope despite the adversity, even the color red, there were so many memorable moments. Exploration wise i likee it a lot as well, Sumeru is still my favorite region, and since 3.0 Natlan has been the only region that has managed to create that sense of being completely lost in the world. Not that Fontaine or Nod Krai were bad, but especially the latter everything's so dense, so close together you really don't feel that way. And then the world quests, the entirety of the lore about the Dragons was so so good, that region below the volcano really did make me feel a lot of nostalgia for Enkanomiya or the Chasm.
I get it that the modernism might be a bit off to some, and there was ofc the entire representation thing, but looking back I really do kinda miss it
Commentaires
It’s not that I hate Natlan or anything — it just doesn’t capture that “classic fantasy anime” type style and feel like all the other regions and expansion areas have been able to.
Natlan hatred is stupid
Maybe bums who don't like interacting with the game wouldn't know.
What a dumb comment.
Natlan characters in natlan pissed me off when moving and exploring because your swap and then BAM NIGHTSOUL TRANSMISSION and they'd shoot off and fuck up whatever I'm trying to do.
Should really try to find a therapist at this point.
Areas I miss: Mondstadt (Especially Dragonspine), Inazuma, Enkanomiya, Sumeru Desert, Fontaine.
Areas I don't miss: Liyue, The Chasm, Sumeru Jungle, Natlan.
The quest had it's Moments but wasn't great for me overall.
The mobility of Characters felt forced and required to even explore without struggling at every end since even dinos are not always where you would want them. But outside of natlan those exploration gimmicks were also pretty useless in most cases while also making combat feel very unrelaxing especially with mualanis tight e attack windows to get all 3 attacks done
There were definitely some decent things but overall it's just the weakest region for me with the by far worst archon.
Give me a fucking break bro.
In addition the regions design was overall more fitting and enemies felt like actual enemies and not just harmless animals to slaughter.
Man literally saved the whole region, yet the rich woman who easily rebuilt the floating palace after a year was "more impactful"?
You are Hilichurl brained
Ah the only way of ignoring dissent for you is to block everyone, good for you.
Part of the reason my kinich got so much use
I never experienced Natlan when it was the current content and so most tribes are on reputation 2 (except the Flower-Feather Clan (one of my favorites)).
To me personally (as a more sensitive person) Natlan really was beautiful for its storytelling, drama, but also just the nation itself. I often "cried" a bit during the story, sometimes because it literally was sad (Chuychu) or out of happiness (Kachina).
edit: My opinion mostly comes from the story and some side quests...but also because my favorites come from this nation (Kachina (especially her), Mualani, Chaska...). Maybe if I wasn't so focused on catching up and flying through all nations my favorite would have fallen on Fontaine
It was also probably the only region where I had to sit with each expansion for around 2-3 patches to fully take in and explore all of it.
But for Natlan itself, I mainly miss the world quests and excitement I had for the Cinder City expansion. That was when I really noticed just how much better world quests had gotten.
To me, Natlan was a region of high highs and low lows. But when it was fun, it was REALLY fun.
My biggest issue with Natlan is the Conceptual Design of both the Nation and the Characters. I applaud them for not giving us a war-torn barren vulcanic Nation, because i like concepts that don't take the obvious route, but the technogically advanced amusement park masking as a pseudo-prehistoric Pokemon game wasn't it.
I understood Kachina's Drill and Mualani's surf toy in de context of the nation's setting and lore, and Kinich's whole Video Game theme was a fun gimmick, but they really lost me at flying revolvers, Motorbikes and Roller skates. The concepts are all over the place. Xilonen is a blacksmith AND a DJ AND a cheetah AND a skatergirl and all of that is shoved into her design and kit. They could have used that for 3 different Character kits. Or the 500 year old grandma who has the personality and social skills of a 14 year old otaku shut-in who reads manga but is somehow one of the most powerful and respected people in the Nation of War. And don't even get me started on the Collective of Plenty and its Characters.
I overall enjoyed exploring Natlan because like the rest of Genshin it is a beautiful Nation, but as a real-life Designer and from that point of view, it was a huge mess.
And you draw the line at motorcycles and rollerskates? Fucking really
Xinyan is not a good example but even her guitar is "Liyue-fied" and the design inspired by asian instruments(it looks like a Shamisen, I don't know the name of the chinese equivalent). Pyrotechnics are basically a chinese invention. If you disregard the southern accent, her character concept is believable in the context of the world.
Making corn pop in a hot container isn't a 21st century invention and for the Boba... i also don't think it makes much sense but it a funny little idle detail. Ayato's combat animations and personality aren't built around it.
Wuthering Waves has a character that uses a bike and skates in her animations. And it makes sense. It is authentic and believable in the context of the setting and the story.
So yes, in Genshin i draw the line at Motorbikes and skating DJs. Especially in a Nation with clay huts and tribal culture.
Phlogiston was fully explained as a concept. Mavuika's bike is ancient dragon technology. Maybe in the future it will be further integrated into the society.
The tribal people also have their own personalized items that they use for mobility.
God forbid a character have more than one occupation. Xilonen is completely fine as a character and concept.
Xilonen's rollerskates and Mav's cycle don't look like their modern counterparts either.
You're just talking out of your ass whenever it comes to Natlan. Give it a break, the world of Genshin isn't ruined. Stop being dramatic as fuck.
And knowing what we know of the lore, a bike or a DJ set is really quite nothing to what the Dragons created.
Ever since Sumeru, they have been moving away from the fantasy setting, so I really didn't feel weirded out. But to which their own.
Really, the fact that everyone, including you, has a different problem with it, tells me its more subjective than it is objective
- that natlan is objectively different, whether we like it or not
- that it was never the level of technology nor who has access on it
But just like the other guy who keeps shitting on everyone who didnt like natlan, you seem like you wouldnt get it either
The fact that there's no homogenic piece of criticism about the "modernism" tells me that its more subjective than it is objetive. If something was clearly bad, everyone would agree that that specifically was bad. There's no such widespread agreement in the criticism of Natlan's modernism. Again, this isn't necessarily bad, I just don't like people pretending they are objectively, categorically right.
Also, no need for the "I'm above you" mentality
Or maybe you did realize it at some point and just refuse to admit it because that would mean you were wrong the whole time
At times like this Im curious how old some people who keep arguing about this are to not understand something so basic
Design and aesthetics of natlan are objectively different from how devs presented technologies (that we are familiar in real life) in other nations. It can be still subjective to us players, but it doesnt change such fact. Its the truth. Just look at things that came before Natlan.
Sumeru has internet and a server
Ruin guards are robots
Scara made a mecha
Kirara’s courier service etc
What I mentioned above are things we are familiar with in other games and in real life but never looked out of place in genshin because devs made a great job incorporating their designs to fit the aesthetics and theme of the region. Even Ayato’s boba looked alright.
Natlan suffers because it came after Fontaine (and Sumeru for the story and writing). Fontaine’s entire design (music, architecture, NPCs, playable characters) is peak and on point. It is clear what the theme was, steam punk, victorian, French. It was clean, it was neat.
Natlan is the opposite, its as if their goal is to actually make it different for the sake of being different. It is messy, colorful, and opposite of what was describe to us before.
To add, when the designs of Kachina, Mualani and Kinich was revealed, majority is saying they looked like from ZZZ and not genshin. Dont get me wrong, they looked great on a vacuum, but most of them looked out of place in their own tribes. Kinich wears a mechanic overall and is full of gadgets (I know the lore dont come at me), Xilo has booty shorts, Mav has an undisguised motorbike and Ororon wears a goddamn ripped jeans and sneakers straight from the department store. The contrast between these playable characters to their surroundings didnt help either.
It is what most people are pointing at, such things are easily noticeable because we see them exactly like that on everyday life, so they stand out and they start to break immersion. That is just horrible design execution compared to what came before it. But like I said, objectively different can still be subjectively good, lots of players also love the bike, because they say its different. Meanwhile, nobody praises Mualani’s design even though it was clever blend of modern object in a tribal theme, probably because thats what we are used to. Of the playable Natlan characters, she represents her tribe the best.
Edit: didnt realize it became a wall of text, i swear i thought it was just three paragraphs
I truthfully never got the hate and feel a lot of it was spurred on by the online think tank mentality.
For example, objectively Nod Krai has a lot of worse aspects but people don't seem to complain nearly as much. The characters kits are a step back, exploration is lacking, area doesn't get room to breathe, forced to pull two characters, Lunar is ultra limited in both reactions and no 4*, character quests shoved into AQ, most brutal end game, meta warping characters...
Yet the group mentality is Nod Krai peak!! It's really comical to me and just shows how unfortunately weak minded our world is.
I'm still using Xilonen, Mualani and Mavuika to explore everything. Flins and Nefer feel so slow in comparsion.
Natlan was definitely over hated. Even the meta was better back then, lunar is so much more oppressive than nightsoul was.
Character designs? Unnatural and jarring, they look like they're part of a ZZZ collab and don't fit Genshin's aesthetic at all. Exploration? Too streamlined and the dinosaurs were clunky as hell, completely broke the flow of gameplay. Story? Basic power of friendship shenanigans and entirely predictable, I didn't feel anything. The only cool part was Capitano's introduction and fight with Mavuika, but both of them ended up being completely wasted as characters later on.
Saying this like most of Genshin's story wasn't already predictable as is. FGO lostbelt 6 clears every single genshin chapter in terms of actual writing anyway.
Natlan was plot driven and simple, but at least it was enjoyable. More than 90% of yapfest Fontaine.
Exploration being streamlined isnt a flaw, they made it easier and you're
How in the ever loving fuck was Capitano wasted?
Mavuika didn't get a ton of characterization but getting yet another archon with some deep seated trauma or sob story would have been repetitive from the last three. So I get why they didn't bother. She serves the story well.
The AQ wasn’t the best, but it was enjoyable, especially the 5.1 AQ. The WQ is the best WQ so far, and exploration was fun. I thought nothing could beat underwater exploration, but they proved me wrong. It’s also the first region that made me want to 100% everything
Natlan doesn't have many highs but also doesn't have many lows unlike the previous regions. So for me the good outweighs the bad
i really enjoyed the nature of the story: it felt like a love letter to shonen in a really fun way. you meet kachina, she's adorable and endearing, and you join her to watch her fight in the Classic Shonen Anime Fighting Tournament Arc. everyone in natlan watches out for each other (more or less, obviously there are bad apples and we see them all the time). i understand some people like arguing and fighting in the character groups, but natlan made it clear from the start that there was no room for that: they all had to have each other's back in the war against the abyss. i think they did a good job nonetheless endearing you to everyone - seeing kachina finally win the tournament, Atea's death, Chuychu's death... i found myself quite attached to natlan's cast overall. they were competent, but not to the point of omnipotence or perfection (we'll get there). they were friendly, but not to the point of utter ridiculousness or feeling overtly sanitised. they were all good - though standouts for me are definitely citlali, kachina, mualani, xilonen, and...
mavuika. contrary to the common consensus online, i think mavuika is one of genshin's strongest written characters and definitely part of the reason i loved natlan so much lol. mavuika stands out amongst the cast of archons as one who plays the role of archon to perfection. she's that age old saying: be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. her arc is so beautifully understated and she's like a microcosm of natlan as a whole, just with some details changed to reflect the fact that she is the archon of a region on the brink of total fucking annihilation who took a last-minute gamble against all odds to have her cake and eat it too. she's equal parts selfish and selfless; she's bull-headed, maybe even arrogant, but with the power to back it up; she's driven, determined, a perfectionist, a great leader, and so fucking **tired**, man.
death after death after death after death, failure after failure, waiting for the heroes to awaken. her family is gone; her friends are gone; the places of Natlan don't even look the same to her anymore. the guilt of knowing she might have made the wrong choice, but knowing at every step that she just cannot hesitate, and certainly not **show** her hesitation, because her people are relying on her and what little morale they have needs to be protected. then, she's doing **all** of this with the knowledge (and hope...) that she's going to finally die at the end. she was content to die a hero, save natlan and not even reap the benefits or rewards, or enjoy her victory. it's only when capitano outsmarts her and proposes a better solution - one that also includes her unplanned survival - that she has to figure out what the fuck to do with herself. what is mavuika's ideal now that war has ended? what does natlan stand for? mavuika is genshin's biggest hypocrite and when you really grapple with that (her decision to reject capitano's plan, but her willingness to burn her own memories of her friends to save others; her talks of self-worth, the value of resting, the importance of friendship, but her own lack of identity outside of **helping** others or combat). the nation of war enters peace, and its archon **should** be happy, but all she feels is relief.
after ei, nahida, and furina (all incompetent archons in differing ways - deception, mental blocks/self-worth issues, and complete powerlessness) it was nice to get an archon who embodied what a god should be like. mavuikas sq put it best - in war, there's no time to feel hopeless or tired. anyone who reads this line as mavuika saying she objectively 100% does not feel these feelings is **falling for the facade** of the perfect leader she puts on. to criticise her for being perfect is to fall for camouflage, particularly when the game calls out her flaws multiple times, both major flaws (her debate with capitano or her convo with citlali/traveler pre-ronova) or minor flaws (xilonen crashout). she has those feelings, she feels them, but she just has to set them aside and move on. in war, there's no time.
.... with all that said, though, the massive flying DJ set DID take me out a little bit. maybe that was a step too far. but i'll forgive it since it was post-abyss war i guess.