Genshin Impact: How The Pity System Works

But as alluded to near the beginning of this review, Genshin Impact does falter at the point where it seems the game is destined for undeniably phenomenal heights. Not entirely a deal-breaker or one that takes the player completely out of the accomplished immersion of its world or even its combat. But when totted up, does signal a game that could've used a bit more checking-over. When it comes to tackling some of the more technical components, Genshin Impact drops the ball one too many times. Even if you were to disregard the nature of the narrative or the way in which a group of characters can, at their worst, talk extensively (and absently off-screen worst of all), there's a notable disconnect when the game, for example, continues to refer to your male sibling character as "she" or "her." It isn't the only basic error that crops up with many an instance of dialogue cutting off mid-conversation, not matching up with what's written on-screen and at one point, a mere line of dialogue getting stuck on-screen for the rest of one's play session.

Of the many screen captures and countless hours of recorded footage during one's playtime in Genshin Impact, it's been a difficult task finding the ideal visuals to best sum up the current racking up of 25-or-so hours. In a way that's both accurately representative, but also that which offers an insight into some of the more emergent and thus personal highlights. If you've been keeping tabs on this latest free-to-play title by China-based miHoYo, you may well have come across (or perhaps knowingly used) some of its more dismissive or undermining labels. A Breath of the Wild clone has been the more "popular" descriptor being thrown about, but even the premise of a game whose model falls more in line with the current Gacha format may already be enough to turn anyone away.


Chronicled Wish pulls use Intertwined Fates, and feature the same pity system where a five-star is guaranteed at 90 pulls, though with this, it applies to both characters and weapons. Four-stars are guaranteed every ten pulls. Also like normal banners, the five-star pull works on a 50/50 system. However, instead of being 50% the featured character/weapon and 50% a Standard Banner character/weapon, the Chronicled Wish uses a new mechanic called Chronicled P

While there's a period around ten hours in where the showering of XP, resources and crafting material shrinks to that of a trickle, credit where credit's due. Genshin Impact is not as predatory or as manipulative with progression as this kind of business model may allude towards. Yes, that's not to say that the meager doling out of Primagems (one of the many form of currencies) doesn't eventually devolve from dismissive, to a touch annoying, to downright aggravating. Not least because in-Slg Game Maps achievements and challenges also suffer from this same deliberate smidgen of an offering. So little in the way of crucial currency; obviously it's an attempt to further coax players to the in-game shop where everything, including the potential pull of a four-star (maybe even five-star) weapon or new character dangles in front of you. Another ten pulls and you're sure to get it this time.


The remedy here is to take note of World Levels where difficulty spikes alongside rewards - usually World Levels 3 to 4, or 5 to 6. Since they have Ascension Quests that players need to accomplish, they can use this leeway to power-level their team. In order to properly prepare for the World Level advancement, players are advised to pre-farm all the Materials they need for characters to level up, level up their Talents, and Ascend. Likewise, if possible, players should look for the best builds of their current comps and identify their recommended Artifacts - of which players should also try to hunt them down and pre-farm their Materials. This way, players can face enemies with their characters at their best-possible bui

Though the story elements won't be to everyone's taste -- and as such, the efforts the game makes to inject a sense of drama and interpretation stakes can fall flat and veer into being completely off-putting -- the sheer breadth and scale that Genshin Impact offers means that the brief lows in no way impact on the many lofty highs offered up. A free-to-play game whose content rivals the more higher-budgeted AAA releases of the past few years. Where miHoYo's inspirations and references may be a little too on-the-nose or obvious in parts, it's similarly made up for via its wealth of content and of an exploration element that is well designed, but more importantly brilliantly emergent. In one moment, it might be the intrigue of a distant landmark, or in another the wild and flashy power-trip that is its elemental-based combat. Wherever it takes you, Genshin Impact is a more-than-convincing proposition, not least for those adamant on never spending a single cent in-game. The grind to get there may not always feel wholly natural or that players are genuinely being left to wander without restraint, but Genshin Impact's meticulous approach to environment design above all pulls through in many wonderful ways. Crafting one of the year's more immersive and surprisingly rich open-world RPGs.