miHoYo previewed the upcoming (September 1st) 2.1 update for Genshin Impact with the release of the following trailer.
2.1 focuses on the remaining storyline for Inazuma including the last two islands in the region and includes the release of the 3rd archon, the Raiden Shogun (aka Narukami Ogosho, Baal, and as of this trailer, her seemingly real name, Ei), as a playable character.
Her character model (when leaked a few months ago) turned out to be ironically interesting to me since she bore a striking resemblance to the character that I’ve long used as my avatar profile; Momohime (百姬 ももひめ) from Muramasa: The Demon Blade (more specifically from Pandemonium of the Demon Blade). Momohime’s affiliation in that game is with the Narukami clan (the Raiden Shogun in Genshin Impact rules over Narukami Island and is also known as Narukami Ogosho).
The coincidences are even more apparent because the JP seiyuu for Momohime is the same JP seiyuu for the Raiden Shogun, Miyuki Sawashiro. The entirety of Inazuma is also relevant for myself since it is loosely based on Japan (the warring factions period of feudal Japan to be more exact) which is my ancestral homeland. All of this drove my interest in making sure I have enough Primogems to acquire her (when that banner goes live in less than two weeks) because there really is nothing quite like playing a character that you’ve long had this affinity with in terms design aesthetics and potentially their game play. It remains to be seen if she will replace Zhongli as my most favorite character in the game.
There’s this very strange dichotomy that I have with Genshin Impact; there’s many components I love (the game world, the design and aesthetics of that world, the combat, the character designs, the story and lore, the exploration, the music) which is offset by the gacha based design (which itself affects how you acquire and level characters) for it’s business model. You can still level characters the old fashion way but the XP gained by monster kills is ridiculously low to be a practical way of leveling. Additionally, there is nothing tradable (a core tenet with RPG’s). Despite that gacha aspect of the game, it is currently the only game I am playing right now that is scratching those itches that have been missing for awhile.
