month_in_virgin_impact_for_virgins(1)

hi, from the depths of gamer hell. it's been many months but I have only been playing this game for a monthish. some genshin discussion will follow I guess. I’ll cover…< playing the game as the guy who’s playing the game >

the thing about games, versus games and plot, versus games and gameplay, is that like regardless of whether I get into something for the plot/characters, if I play it all that matters to me is the gameplay. ar41 rn...

so in terms of characters I have [in order of summonings]: free6 + xingqiu + c5 xiangling + xinyan + c1 lisa + razor + beidou + c1 razor + venti.
>I was pulling on venti banner for sucrose, but like I didn’t get sucrose [Tears] and I realized I Did Not have the ability nor reason to raise sucrose if I got her [since I now have Venti], so I stopped pulling. but pulling venti was nice, if only because it completely saved me from hitting pity and getting motherfucking CHILDE while pulling for Rosaria [I’ll have….a grand total of….20 wishes for Rosaria, more or less by the time that banner comes around. okay more but not more by much].

in terms of people I am leveling up and considering for my team [ranked in order of priority]:

venti

a5 lvl.70 / windblume ode (r5, lvl80) / 2p scholar, 2p instructor, 4* anemo goblet
>completely via rng luck he is the character with the best dmg on my team rn. I think everything he has rolled crit rate and dmg, and then rolled into crit dmg. it's like 40:90 rate:dmg. he also has pretty insane er... about 170%... it's so funny, this shit can literally kill a man.. that's bc again, all his artifacts substats also rolled into er.
>6k crits with his e. which is pretty good at the level I’m at rn. For me. it's 7k with a swirled element. and thennn....800 crits on every hit of his ult....again with like 400 for whatever swirled element
>he makes domains and overworld mobs so easy... and he’s alright for other stuff. I did a full boss breakdown on twitter but like, other than childe there's no point bringing him to most bosses.
>I think...I have the most fun playing with him bc it's a lot of dodging and masterful placement (lol) ... the aim function of his q is very, interesting. also the suction ability is also very interesting. it feels wildly inconsistent at times, but it's probably me not paying attention to mob levels 
>I really wanna try solo-ing childe with him but like, his normal attacks are lvl1 atm and I have 4 other characters that need ballad books and gold books, so. do think he could hit pretty consistent damage tho.

xinyan

a4 lvl70 / skyrider greatsword (r5, lvl70) / 2p glad, 5* phys% goblet.
>I’m considering the switch to making her a burst dps… because … I have Razor also. Her auto attacks are deffo slower compared to him, but she’s fun!!! And also MY LOVE!!! Also the sole reason I switched my game to jpn dub. her jpn voice just suits her so much more than her eng voice I seriously need to have talks with whoever gave her a country accent. Kill yourself. 
>she's slow, but she's fun to play with...like ummm.. a lot of her attacks cause her to buckle, so it's an interesting experience! plus her lines for her e are so cute....she is sooo cuuute. does set everything around her on fire though which is not as convenient but it's okay...
>her burst can do sooo much dmg so I seriously need to run way more er on her....I was thinking of switching her to sac. greatsword but mora....resources....etc.....
>she has some of my only 5* artifacts....but they're so bad...like substat wise....I'm sorry baby I'll do better. her normal attack damage is pretty underwhelming esp with the wl change....Artifacts...

razor

a4 lvl60 / prototype aminus (r1, lvl70) / 2p berserker(?), electro goblet
>my babyyyyy...he is not a wolf he is not a boy he is razor….. razorrrrr…..I need everyone to love razor Right Now. I need there to be an in game event where everyone in mond just tells razor they love him and give him kisses and hugs. Best boy for real. I just…. RAZOR.
>Pre-venti, with electro golbet, his hold e did the most dmg among my teams skills …. That sweet sweet 4k…. Sorry if you’re like at a6 and farming artifacts with maxed out talents these numbers seem pathetic af as if it’s my fault.
>he does really comparable dmg to xinyan with like what he has...which is nice but also pain...not great with auto attacking on him + dash cancelling, but I'm pretty good at using his burst now....
>all I do with him is hold e though, you'll never catch me pressing e. that sweet sweet aoe dmg. and also so useful for mining 

kaeya

xingqiu

a3, lvl50 / skyrider sword (r5, lvl40), / 5* hydro goblet...
>my baby… I learned how to fight the oceaneid for him <3 <3 I need to level him but I am not levelling him LOL.
>Ik he's like the best support in the game. not why I'm building him tho. I just love his character concept so bad he's just a little guy. he's so fucking funny. guy has best friend who'd die for him and he's like, yes yes we're true friends, I'd traverse with you to the ends of the world, now chongyun did you know *blatantly lies to him*. you're going to kill him xq, you're seriously going to kill him
>there's this meme of him...i think...it's just >my liege *backflips* ...and that's literally all he is
>omg I didn't know what his burst actually did the first while I had him for and I was like 'this is such a useless burst' so I never used it, but I know better now. 10/10 one of the best bursts in the game. god I wish any of my xl constellations from hu tao banner was for him.... ;-;

xiangling

a4 lvl.60 / dragonsbane (r1, lvl 20) / 4* pyro cup
guoba and pyro resonance. that’s what my c5 xiangling does. I know her thing is beyblade and it’s good I just am not running enough er on her to have it up as often as I need it.
>also I did finally get another pyro dmg cup, but I haven't levelled it so, her cup flip flops between her and amber and it's all dependent on if I remember to switch it.....
>I rolled c4 xl before I even got to abyss 3-3....just think about that...my gacha luck is seriously so bad I truly only roll characters and weapons I already have....

amber

a4 lvl67 / prototype crescent (r1, lvl60) / 2p martial artist
>honestly, I’m debating on this.... Like I really Really want to make her work...I just suck so bad. So really it’s my fault for not being better. I will change I will improve.
>amber charged attack go brr... that's what I use her for. good with ruin guards and eye of storms. pretty bad everywhere else... ruin hunters kill me so easily but that's on me.
>update: upgraded my skills for staggering ruin guards/ruin hunters, I

some assorted notes:

• I use venti/kaeya/razor/xinyan [they’re keyed in that order] the most, really really solid team with good synergy imo... depending on enemy resistance and type either venti/kaeya/razor will get switched out for xiangling/amber, 
• girls who are only trying to use superconduct but 9 times out of 10 are setting overloaded...raise your hand! 
• I have two favonious swords. yeah I pulled a second one. useful because this just means I have one for kaeya and one for xq now <3 praying I pull a sac. sword tho bc it would be so much more useful on xq
• I think after Rosaria I will channel my energy into WEAPON BANNERS. other than a diluc, there are not many other characters I wanna play with... tho like I do need klee. for cuteness overload. and albedo just cuz he looks fun to play. but the chances for reruns......ah...not looking great....

anyway, there's so much shit to do in this game. which is apparently a problem for people at the endgame where there isn't shit to do...but like I've been playing for a month and like I'm pretty close ish to endgame and it feels like there's still a lot to do... I'm going to write a different post about my fave characters/agendas/lore-sms.... 

assorted genshin lore that I'm obsessed with

everything is ripped from the genshin fandom wiki or the honeyhunterworld database.

jewels
the true star of the post has to be from the shivada jade series. this is the material for cyro characters. basically, you use slivers to make fragments to make chunks to make a gemstone, and as you jump up a step in that ladder, more text is added

"Sorry..."
"...to also have you shoulder the grievances of the world."
"Since you could endure my bitter cold, you must have the desire to burn? Then, burn away the old world for me."

first of all I just think this is so good...it's so haunting to click on the fragment and just read the 'Sorry...', just immediately moving, especially if you've been primed with all the frost-related lore in the game already [blizzard strayer lore]. the chunk then gives you the second line, which I think is also quite tugging because of 'to also have you' and then when you finally make a gemstone [which will take a while in-game], it's an apology as well for the coldness of (...) ...it's all... Ah... Ahhhh. Ah. thematically it hits on a lot of things I like. from the genshin fandom wiki: in the original chinese, the title is 'Grieving/Lamenting Ice' ... again, Ah, Of Course.

the other gems also get lore and lines, but I think the jade has the best one, and comparable, though not as good is: the agnidus agate series:

"A pilgrimage for a wish; a battle to earn a name..."
"Burnt to cinders for a dream."
"If the intention yet remains, achieved ██'s truth he has."

it's blacked out I'm assuming in-game as well as on both wikis; original title is 'burning wish' ... the >burnt to cinders for a dream, yet the intention remains< that's Literally What It's About...losing everything you are for your goal. always epic.


moving on from the gemstones to...

weapon ascension materials
the dandelion gladiator series, which goes fetters > chains > shackles > dream:
 

"It's a human thing to exaggerate on a hero's story, even to the point of elevating the fetters that once bound the hero to the level of an enemy of true freedom. As a result, these fetters were granted extraordinary powers."
"The chains that once bound the great hero Vennessa. In truth, all gladiators would have worn chains in that era, and Vennessa was but one of them."
"Vennessa was not truly bound by her chains. If she had so wished, no ordinary physical constraints forged in Mondstadt could have held her, for the land there yielded no ore of exceptional quality, nor did it possess the divine flame of her ancestral home.
She was only bound by her responsibility to take care of her tribespeople."
"Vennessa was freed from her slavery, but that which constrained her only grew greater - from her tribesmen to all of Mondstadt, and even to the concept of freedom itself, extending to the whole world.
What she really hoped for, in truth, was that the world might grow stronger."
 

first of all can I just say, The Jean Paralleling in Dream. I think where Vennessa rose and where Jean is failing, is the want for the others to be stronger versus want for yourself to be stronger. Vennessa realizing that true freedom for her could only be granted if the people could rely on themselves, versus Jean forsaking the freedom she's sworn to protect and chaining herself with the thought that the only way for Free Mondstadt is if she's strong enough to keep it as such. anyway...this is just really delicious lore about how these objects came to be and what each step truly meant... again just this part: "It's a human thing to exaggerate on a hero's story, (...) In truth, all gladiators would have worn chains in that era, and Vennessa was but one of them."

boreal wolf series: milk tooth > cracked tooth > (...) > nostalgia:
 

"In the past, the gods had the responsibility to love all people, which made Andrius quite the oddball for only adopting abandoned babies and accepting wanderers."
"The life of a wolf is not without violence; broken bones or cracked teeth are nothing special.
Andrius found humans to be a disappointment, but believed babies to be innocent. If both the wolf pack and the adopted children chose each other, then they become a Lupical, a fated family."
"The Wolf King, believing itself to despise humans, thought itself unable to envision a happy life for humanity, making it unworthy of becoming the Lord of the Winds of the world. Therefore, it chose to disappear. Yet, in truth, it gazed on the ones the world abandoned ever so gently."
 

I think this is umm... all the Razor love seeping out..Idk reading this and knowing that RAZOR was one of those innocent babies, that RAZOR learnt Lupical from him, that RAZOR is such a creature, a human, that Andrius gazes upon gently... razor's animation where he.. the wolf spirit comes and he's so happy and then it goes and his gaze goes sad and then he returns to his usual glare+frown..... my baby.
I'll touch on it later...but like ahhh the Wolf of the North's lore is so cool imo... a vessel made of ice and wind.....

a Xiao reference (Lustrous Stone from Guyun): "To the informed, Guyun Stone Forest is not some miraculous sight on the sea to behold, but the cemetery of the former gods of Liyue. Hatred and filth have periodically raised up from it, but all have been subdued by a demon-conquering young man." ... um again My Baby (2)

special talent materials
Spirit Locket of Boreas
 

"A bit of the Great Wolf King of the North's power drawn from its soul. This land was once a realm of sub-zero blizzards and ice storms filled with razor-sharp ice shards, all at the command of Boreas. In its final moments, it finally realized the chilling north wind could only extinguish life, not nurture it; therefore, Boreas let its powers freely flow into the land to protect it and its inhabitants."

ah this always gets to me... again < your own destruction to the end of your purpose > ... the users being fischl/sucrose/ningguang/kaeya...the unsubtlty at it's finest. ningguang prime example, having to give up the jade chamber, a symbol of her status in liyue, as well as the place most sacred to her in every aspect [what she loves the most, what all her success has accumulated to] to save Liyue... it's just insane. in similar lines, both sucrose and fischl have very childish ideals/delusions [sucrose's wonderland/Prinzessin] to cope with their situations, and the implication that they'll have to give up on those to face their realities... and well, Kaeya. kya. you know how it is.

Shadow of the Warrior
 

"It is the product of a will to fight that has been honed over countless slaughters.
If humans do indeed have destinies, then his must surely have been twisted by such deeds. Why else, then, would he always be at the heart of every conflict?"
 

...yes this is the buttplug, but also this being used for ganyu and xiao... yes they're both 00, but also the two adepti who have fought in the past archon wars...and still stay by the sides of humans to assist and protect them....aaahhhh

 

artifacts...deserve their own post. as do weapons but I'm not as inclined to read the lore of every weapon. still I will because some are seriously beautifully named 'skyward harp', 'lost prayer to the sacred winds', 'memory of dust' ... like insane... to me.