starry-briar

[starry-briar]

I really hope they don’t make Rhinedottir a fundamentally good person I think that would suck. I need her to be a little fucked up. I need her to be smart enough to know the consequences of her actions and still do them because she’s just Like That

[starry-briar]

sometimes I worry that I'm flanderising [Steambird reporter] Charlotte and that there are actually deeper notes to her than "truth bomb!1".

Then the game reassures me that no, it's fine, this is genuinely a comic relief character. Stumbled into a high stakes sting operation? Flash bulb on, gotta get that fill lighting. Receiving a journalism award? Not if she can land a front page exclusive on award committee corruption.

^ to be clear these are both canon now afaict

[starry-briar]

Elaborate in the tags, maybe even link your fic if you're able to! I like seeing what people's driving force to write fic is, because it always seems to be different depending on who you ask.

[starry-briar]

something to be said for how gacha writing is good enough to get you hooked and invested in a character but never goes much deeper or lets them commit, develop and grow. but hey it's effective in creating crazy dedicated fans and cashflow

[starry-briar]

Aether space wound thoughts 🌌

I forgot I never posted this here, so here it is now

[starry-briar]

something about albedo intentionally detaching himself from dorian and durin, refusing to confront the risk he sees in himself re: sq1, and in doing that making himself the 'perfect child'... albedo who's just like his mother in his endeavours for perfection, albedo who's just like his siblings in his desire to prove himself... albedo who's used this whole quest to detach himself from them only to end up being just like them!! he's just like them!!

[starry-briar]

What makes someone a "person"? This is a fairly central question to Paralogism.

In spite of the game sometimes being sympathetic to non-humans, the more I think about it, the more I don't think I like where its going with its answer.

[starry-briar]

So, let's compare my predictions to how the quest actually played out.

Needless to say, this will contain spoilers for the entirety of the 5.6 Archon Quest, Paralogism.

As I’ve said before about the 2.3 Shadows Amidst Snowstorm event, the main takeaway was probably supposed to be the dead things on the mountain are coming back to life. This process has likely continued in the years since that event.

Pretty much exactly spot on.

There’s at least one impostor Albedo that hung around after the event ended. It may have been specifically Subject 2, but it’s also possible that Durin was fed multiple failed prototypes that have since come back.

Half-right. There are more impostors, but they aren't other failed prototypes like Subject 2 was.

Genshin Impact has steadfastly refused to let any of its playable characters be truly morally gray – just look at how hard it went on trying to portray Arlecchino as a good person – so there is no way Albedo actually killed another human. One caveat: the game, like many other video games, seems perfectly happy to declare certain groups of humanoids to be ontollogically acceptable to kill (e.g. hilichurls), and I wouldn’t be surprised if the impostors end up falling into that category. It’s also possible that there are more whopperflowers and/or other monsters that have been given human shape, and Albedo killed one of these. If the murderer wasn’t Albedo, it was one of the impostors. The improper disposal of human remains was definitely Albedo, but again these will turn out to not actually be “human”, at least as the game defines it.

Yeah. That is in fact exactly what happened. There was even a part of the quest that blatantly said almost exactly what I did: the impostors don't count as human and are therefore perfectly OK to kill.

While I didn't directly state it, but I wasn't expecting the entire trial to be a sham orchestrated by not only Albedo but also the rest of the Knights of Favonius.

The monsters invading Mondstadt and synthetic beings becoming corrupted by the Abyss? A red herring, mostly. It will be the work of one of the impostors and/or something else raised from the dead on Dragonspine.

Called it.

(A particularly vexing but very real possibility: this is still as close as we’ll ever get to the “Albedo destroys Mondstadt” storyline teased in 1.2.)

Seeing the tone of the conclusion...I'm pretty sure that this is what they're going for. His line about destroying Mondstadt referred to his own insecurities about being a creation of Rhinedottir rather than foreshadowing for something that is likely to happen.

Now for the rot13'ed parts, un-rot13'ed:

The improperly disposed of remains were either prototypes for Durin's new body or will be used to create that body.

Mostly wrong. IIRC the remains helped Albedo research human transmutation, but they weren't directly involved in the process.

The people hoping for an Albedo and/or Durin weekly boss at some point will likely be disappointed. However, based on one leaked line, I wouldn't be surprised if we get Rhinedottir as a weekly boss eventually (definitely not in 5.6, though).

The jury is still out on this one. Obviously. But seriously, Rhinedottir did WHAT? I am still curious where they intend to go with her character.

I might follow up with more thoughts later. I did like the quest overall, but it is frustrating how Genshin Impact doesn't really allow its playable characters to be deeply flawed or morally ambiguous, particularly in ways that impact the story.

My actual predictions for the 5.6 archon quest, just because it will be fun to look back and see if I was right. This contains open discussion of material in the trailer; spoilers based on leaks will be rot13'ed.

As I've said before about the 2.3 Shadows Amidst Snowstorm event, the main takeaway was probably supposed to be the dead things on the mountain are coming back to life. This process has likely continued in the years since that event.

There's at least one impostor Albedo that hung around after the event ended. It may have been specifically Subject 2, but it's also possible that Durin was fed multiple failed prototypes that have since come back.

Genshin Impact has steadfastly refused to let any of its playable characters be truly morally gray -- just look at how hard it went on trying to portray Arlecchino as a good person -- so there is no way Albedo actually killed another human. One caveat: the game, like many other video games, seems perfectly happy to declare certain groups of humanoids to be ontollogically acceptable to kill (e.g. hilichurls), and I wouldn't be surprised if the impostors end up falling into that category. It's also possible that there are more whopperflowers and/or other monsters that have been given human shape, and Albedo killed one of these.

If the murderer wasn't Albedo, it was one of the impostors.

The improper disposal of human remains was definitely Albedo, but again these will turn out to not actually be "human", at least as the game defines it.

The monsters invading Mondstadt and synthetic beings becoming corrupted by the Abyss? A red herring, mostly. It will be the work of one of the impostors and/or something else raised from the dead on Dragonspine.

(A particularly vexing but very real possibility: this is still as close as we'll ever get to the "Albedo destroys Mondstadt" storyline teased in 1.2.)

Now for speculation based on leaks (again, rot13'ed):

Gur vzcebcreyl qvfcbfrq bs erznvaf jrer rvgure cebgbglcrf sbe Qheva'f arj obql be jvyy or hfrq gb perngr gung obql.

Gur crbcyr ubcvat sbe na Nyorqb naq/be Qheva jrrxyl obff ng fbzr cbvag jvyy yvxryl or qvfnccbvagrq. Ubjrire, onfrq ba bar yrnxrq yvar, V jbhyqa'g or fhecevfrq vs jr trg Euvarqbggve nf n jrrxyl obff riraghnyyl (qrsvavgryl abg va 5.6, gubhtu).

To sum up, I expect the quest to have a number of twists and turns that nonetheless don't upset the status quo too much or introduce much in the way of moral ambiguity, at least for its playable characters.

[starry-briar]

Actually wait if the end up requiring a government ID for the age verification that they're apparently rolling out, then this absolutely will be my goodbye to Genshin Impact.

I wasn't intending to do the quest tonight...but then Genshin came back online an hour earlier than expected. So, the quest is done.

Overall, it wasn't a bad quest -- probably one of the better ones, in fact. It fits well with the themes and general patterns that Genshin Impact has established so far, for good and ill.

...come to think of it, it would also make for the perfect note to officially quit Genshin Impact on. So.

...

One bit of advice: you may want to bring Charlotte, if you have her, for photo taking during the special story sequences.

[starry-briar]

I wasn't intending to do the quest tonight...but then Genshin came back online an hour earlier than expected. So, the quest is done.

Overall, it wasn't a bad quest -- probably one of the better ones, in fact. It fits well with the themes and general patterns that Genshin Impact has established so far, for good and ill.

...come to think of it, it would also make for the perfect note to officially quit Genshin Impact on. So.

...

One bit of advice: you may want to bring Charlotte, if you have her, for photo taking during the special story sequences.

[starry-briar]

solitary confinement

[starry-briar]

we're going back to mond and while i'm worried for kaeya characterization i'm equally worried for jean. can this quest finally set her writing free from whatever mondstadter ideals she is beholden to :'D ? i can't exactly place my finger on it but the underlying messages the story tries to give out with her character irks me. she deserves better. with frederica slowly but surely being made softer and defanged for the lack of a better word i'm scared that this is all jean will ever get to be.

You’re not the only one who got that feeling from her writing - I’ve had my own thoughts about how badly she was screwed by it before too. And I’ve seen people say that her troubles get ignored because of misogyny - and while they’re right that there’s misogyny on the writers’ part affecting her portrayal, it’s actually more messed up than her issues being ignored. This kind of thing is actually very idealized in girls, especially high achieving girls in Chinese communities. In the beginning, the game was pretty much stated to be for otakus by otakus (in the 13-18 age range mainly), and that’s why the Traveler power fantasy comes off as being an obnoxious middle school hall monitor (specifically the kind who gives everyone else shit for messing up slightly while not paying any mind when they do it themselves) with a companion who never leaves you and can even agree with you no matter how fucked up you can be to other people. It’s also why so many portrayals of the female (and even a lot of the male) characters felt so off during the game’s first released - they’re meant to appeal to that fantasy in some way, and it leads to so many messed up portrayals of trauma survivors in the game as well. (Which leads to some fucked up shit, like how people who can’t say “no” are held up as the pinnacle of niceness and perfection - incel mentality type crap)

In Jean’s case, the messed up part about her portrayal is that it wasn’t brushed over by the devs or even a lot of the Chinese fandom (and the western fandom considering how many people irl there were raised to be people pleasers and overworkers in their youth). They do notice and it’s completely idealized instead of being recognized as an actual issue. She’s portrayed as being in an ideal life even as she works to the point of sacrificing her health (which a lot of my own peers consider admirable and thus won’t criticize even if they notice it), is soooo nice that she can’t say no to people who are giving her things that they should perfectly be able to do themselves (this is instantly uncomfortable if you’re a woman who’s had to deal with weaponized incompetence in some way), and many of the people who admire her spend more time going “poor Jean :(“ to the Traveler and calling her an inspiration than actually taking action to call out the people who are making her life harder or truly showing her that it’s safe to step back and take things slow (like how, for example, Kaveh and Clorinde’s friend circles are actually shown doing). The Traveler and Paimon also often add to this problem - because in this power fantasy the ideal relationship means not rocking the boat with such a high achieving person who admires you so much /s. It’s all treated like a sign that she was raised correctly and is perfect (TM), which is why Frederica also never seems to be called out in any way. She’s meant to be portrayed as well-meaning despite the extremes she went to in raising Jean, and even in the way other knights talk about her there’s something off (Phonia says that Frederica will definitely get a captain’s position when she returns from the expedition while all the other knights are destined to be cogs in a machine - and Hoyo looked at that and went “oh yeah, not messed up at all”). The game treats like she achieved something amazing (TM) by raising Jean the way she did because if your daughter turned out like this it’s great right? And because Jean is meeting both her mother and Mondstadt’s cultural standards, it’s another reason they don’t see anything wrong with how she was raised - which is absolutely as messed up as it sounds. It’s why I’m always so harsh when Hoyo portrays characters like this in a positive manner, because I do have cultural context for why they’re portrayed this way and have firsthand experience of how much these messages can hurt people both in and out of Chinese communities.

And another thing to point out is that even with other parents and adults in Mondstadt, they’re almost equally as messed up as Frederica and Jean but like them, aren’t portrayed as such - which could also somewhat explain why no one’s ever called her out or questioned her (and makes me wonder why so many Mondstadt adopts x character from another nation is portrayed as an ideal life for them by so much of the fandom when almost every adult is fucked up and has canonically messed up their kids in some way). I’ve talked about how Crepus refused to deal with his insecure feelings to the point of it affecting Diluc and Kaeya and leading up to his death and the rift between his boys before. But I have several questions about Seamus’s parenting skills too considering Barbara doesn’t live with Frederica anymore and still ended up with a similar overworking and shame in telling someone “no” that Jean has. The Lawrences…self explanatory. Alice…also self explanatory. Draff’s drinking and inability to face his guilt and other feelings not only affects Timmie, but Diona as well. Huffman and Mika’s parents are also portrayed as loving and attentive even though they’re not even in the picture most of the time, Mika has serious anxiety over failing to meet standards and often has to take care of his drunk older brother. Even some of the current gen of adults, like Lisa, Eula, Diluc, Rosaria, etc talk a huge game about being unconventional but ultimately don’t do much to address the worst underlying issues in Mondstadt. And far too many grown adults think nothing of piling work onto a teen girl (Noelle), even asking her for help in matters that she should not be held responsible for (why do you need Noelle to help you with your relationship problems Beatrice??). Again, a lot of the CN and international fandom does notice this and brushes it off because it’s just something they’re familiar with, but I guess since I’ve never really fit standards both in Chinese communities and western ones, this type of stuff never struck me as inspirational or amazing. And with even how so many women in Chinese communities are speaking up about how this exact type of treatment they received growing up caused them to burn out and have their needs be neglected by everyone around them in recent years, it feels even more jarring that Hoyoverse hasn’t taken notice and written Jean more respectfully.

Thanks for sharing that with me, and I hope Jean gets better content in 5.6 too.

[starry-briar]

My actual predictions for the 5.6 archon quest, just because it will be fun to look back and see if I was right. This contains open discussion of material in the trailer; spoilers based on leaks will be rot13'ed.

As I've said before about the 2.3 Shadows Amidst Snowstorm event, the main takeaway was probably supposed to be the dead things on the mountain are coming back to life. This process has likely continued in the years since that event.

There's at least one impostor Albedo that hung around after the event ended. It may have been specifically Subject 2, but it's also possible that Durin was fed multiple failed prototypes that have since come back.

Genshin Impact has steadfastly refused to let any of its playable characters be truly morally gray -- just look at how hard it went on trying to portray Arlecchino as a good person -- so there is no way Albedo actually killed another human. One caveat: the game, like many other video games, seems perfectly happy to declare certain groups of humanoids to be ontollogically acceptable to kill (e.g. hilichurls), and I wouldn't be surprised if the impostors end up falling into that category. It's also possible that there are more whopperflowers and/or other monsters that have been given human shape, and Albedo killed one of these.

If the murderer wasn't Albedo, it was one of the impostors.

The improper disposal of human remains was definitely Albedo, but again these will turn out to not actually be "human", at least as the game defines it.

The monsters invading Mondstadt and synthetic beings becoming corrupted by the Abyss? A red herring, mostly. It will be the work of one of the impostors and/or something else raised from the dead on Dragonspine.

(A particularly vexing but very real possibility: this is still as close as we'll ever get to the "Albedo destroys Mondstadt" storyline teased in 1.2.)

Now for speculation based on leaks (again, rot13'ed):

Gur vzcebcreyl qvfcbfrq bs erznvaf jrer rvgure cebgbglcrf sbe Qheva'f arj obql be jvyy or hfrq gb perngr gung obql.

Gur crbcyr ubcvat sbe na Nyorqb naq/be Qheva jrrxyl obff ng fbzr cbvag jvyy yvxryl or qvfnccbvagrq. Ubjrire, onfrq ba bar yrnxrq yvar, V jbhyqa'g or fhecevfrq vs jr trg Euvarqbggve nf n jrrxyl obff riraghnyyl (qrsvavgryl abg va 5.6, gubhtu).

To sum up, I expect the quest to have a number of twists and turns that nonetheless don't upset the status quo too much or introduce much in the way of moral ambiguity, at least for its playable characters.

[starry-briar]

The nightmare at the end of a journey

[starry-briar]

At the end of the nightmare was the warm sun

[starry-briar]

Pursuing dust

[starry-briar]