With how tense everything has been in the world since 2020 (or even 2017) I need to balance out my more negative blog postings with more semi-positive ones, if with some slight frustration tied to them. I love Genshin Impact, I love the characters within them, I also however see people being weird with them to which I have to spotlight a few things here and there just to make note of them. No matter what hobby I go into, whether it be Star Wars, Busou Shinki, Frame Arm Girl, Genshin Impact, EUFA (PS3), Pokemon, Gundam you always have these folks blinded by the ‘meta’ stats to which they tend to ignore what they personally find fun to only go for what “technically” ends up being “the best” in the game. The “best” is whatever you end up personally accomplishing.
For the context of Genshin Impact people dislike Noelle, Yanfei, Kokomi, and even Yae Miko, to which I’ll be spotlighting them quickly here in a quick blog posting. There has however been a noticable uptick in interest in them as certain elements are pointed out by the community
General Sales Graph:
This graph is now out-dated, though relevant to Kokomi’s section below. Maybe even for Yoimiya for when people were high on some weird substance shaming people into not acquiring them. People forgot the simple rule of “obtain characters which call out to you”, or do what I do and obtain all of them, or try to.
Statistics obviously differ with time, while also missing other platforms and actual relevant information.
Yanfei:
Yanfei is an overly special character to me, also because she was among my first characters I’ve summoned when aiming for Ayaka when returning to Genshin Impact. At first I assumed she was “trash”, something I redeemed myself of from that toxic mentality after having Ayaka free me of my newbie shackles. Not to sound like your typical keyboard warrior, just that the negative mindset mindset I had of Yanfei being horrible was also influenced by me desiring Ayaka to which I was tunnel visioned on another character over another. I whaled and whaled having obtained Yanfei to then eventually obtain Ayaka; Played Ayaka first, then Yanfei. I would gradually find out how glorious Yanfei actually was, and is as a character while others would ‘Meta-Slave’ themselves to other characters.
Yanfei has saved me from so many situations by being the sole party member keeping my team alive. She would even solo various situations for me. She fought mobs, mini-bosses, bosses, while also de-escalating various situations into smaller more manageable situations. Her falling stamp allows mob control, her shield helps her tank; She does a nice amount of damage with her three skill types. She’s also a close-medium ranged character. She mainly teams up with Ayaka, Noelle, and whoever the 4th party member is at the time ranging from Keqing, Yoimiya, Kokomi, Barbara, or whoever I need at the time. She is my main DPS, tank of the party, doing the most chaos easily pairing up with Ayaka and Noelle.
Without Yanfei I would be pretty much screwed in my time in Genshin Impact. I’ve seen time and again how people are stumped about how to add her into their team while also constantly asking others how to play the game without playing the game their way, hence the ‘Meta-slave’ comment. I wasn’t the one to coin it, I will however use it openly. Not to be arrogant, just sucks to be those people who have others dictate how they should play their own game for them.
Yanfei is a good filter showing who plays by feeling and who plays the game in a hollow manner. There are people who are trapped in their Meta prison when it comes to being unable to figure out how to use Yanfei.
Sangonomiya Kokomi:
Kokomi’s regal-like nature always caught others attention before her wishing period. We all admired her until she dropped into gacha, to which people blindly hated on her. People hollowly noted how she was “useless”, “pointless”, among other weird claims. From admiration, to false hate & regret, to longing for a re-run of obtaining her now that people have finally found a use for her, something which she had from the get-go. Meta-slaves, basically. They only want her now after the fact during the second re-run. I had her from when she first released, though sadly was unable to use her simply for not having the proper artifacts and equipment, something she has now thanks to how much I grind for materials.
People regretted and regretted noting her as being “useless”, something half of those folks are now doubling back on. They saw she can heal, do various types of damage, now wanting her for her new-found stat bonuses. The hilarity.
Kokomi is adorable, majestic, and divine. She is special in her own ‘fishy’ ways. She may be “odd”, that however comes from her being ‘fishy’, or even a ‘dragon’ type character having come from the depths of the Teyvat’s earth. There is however one major flaw I have with Kokomi, something which Ayaka wins hands down. That’s being able to float on water longer than 10 seconds, something Kokomi needs her special to be built up and unleashed. As someone not being a meta-slave I’m curious if Ayaka’s floating on water can be placed onto Kokomi in future updates. Maybe Kokomi is meant to walk on water for only 10 seconds.
Imagine not playing the game your way, not using the characters your way, to then having to rely on ‘Meta-slaves’ (spreadsheet gamers) instead to play the game for you. That’s how people watch various TV shows these days, that’s how people play games, and that is how people even play Genshin Impact not being able to play their way. Everything has to be about stats to which they become a prisoner to their own craziness. For the time I played EUFA on PS3 I’ve noted people asking “what is the best nation” to which people replied ‘France’. They would solely play France, not any other nation. I played as Slovakia having some of the best times. Even one online match I managed to have fun against a major nation in EUFA, a soccer game. People need to learn to play for their own enjoyment, not others.
Characters are as good as you make them, how you use them, and how you behave. Kokomi, when paired with Ayaka, is able to freeze enemies while healing. Barbara when teamed with Ayaka is able to do similar. It’s all in how you find your various play styles, something no AI in ‘Phantasy Star Online 2’ shall ever replicate. AI always kills my main character when used as a support companion, something I’m able to avoid by reading the situation. I’ve had weird builds on my characters to only which I was able to play; Everybody plays differently.
Hearing people cry about Kokomi is how I see people playing as the AI in PSO2. Granted, her ‘walking on water’ flaw is the only major flaw I have with her. She is “fragile” only for being a figurehead in a leadership role of her area, Watatsumi Island/Shrine.
Yoimiya:
Yoimiya has also been that odd character out when it came to community hive minding. People disliked her for very obscure reasonings, even going as far as claiming she’s not as good as other bow-type characters. While useless to others, especially the Meta-slaves, I’ve had Yoimiya help me out on boss specific battles, those 1-to-1 battles. She’s of course difficult to use in large encounters, though easier to defeat lower encounter mobs for obvious reasonings. I went with her simply because I enjoyed her character style, her nature, and then her ‘underdog’ status caused by the community. When someone hates characters I have to see why, something which I now disagree with the community for. Basically, the Genshin Impact community is toxic through-and-through not allowing Pixiv artists from various nations to draw in various ways.
I’m able to use her timed skilled to do swift damage, while her special is something I’m trying to figure out. She’s able to quickly knock out mobs, if handled properly. She also is highly handy for puzzles, knocking enemies off tall structures, and for eye candy when firing her burst into the air. Fireworks!
People simply found her “weak”, were swayed by mob-mentality, and simply missed out, as they had with Kokomi. Yoimiya’s entry is a quick one for being short and simple on reasoning and dissatisfaction. She’s been a main part of my active party. Kokomi may have a flaw walking on water, Yoimiya has none to which I could see.
Noelle:
Noelle is a harder character to get a read on when it comes gauging how much the community dislikes her. Noelle doesn’t have her own musical theme, she was noted to be of a ‘lesser status’, among other odd issues which doesn’t come across fully in wording. Many people would much rather have Barbara, or ironically Kokomi over Noelle. Similar to how people couldn’t allegedly figure out how to use Yanfei, they also were unsure how to use Noelle in their party as I, and others managed. She saved me during commissions, various common fights, even the overly brutal and now-nostalgic memory of fighting Tartaglia in the Mora chamber. She would tank, heal, and do damage, something which I admire about her. My build may be funky, she however kept my party alive time after time. Sometimes things were simply too much (bit off more than she could chew). She would however do her best when boss gimmicks wouldn’t ruin her grounded healing.
I understand her flaw well, even becoming frustrated by it, with how flying and hovering mobs would avoid while trying to heal. There would be times I would pair her up with either Barbara, or even Kokomi. Sometimes having more healers ends up helping you out even more.
Her flaws tend to be more simplistic, though that may have been done intentionally (or coincidentally) making note of her semi-naive nature as an over-worked knightly Maid with roses keeping her secrets truly secret.
Noelle, Jeane, Kokomi, Yoimiya, & Yanfei seem to always be the odd one out in this overly toxic Genshin community. And on a random note I’m going to end off this blog posting with this “toxic” comment from the aftermath on the Hoyolabs app.
The OP basically shared 4 images to which various folks would whine about the characters age and lewdness factor, something which is genuinely a non-issue. Too many people whining and moaning about the age, the lewdness, and how they’re always offended by something to which I praised one person for being “the sanest of the bunch”. Unsure if the whole posting was deleted, or simply the reply.
Fakers shall always be fakers; Meta-slaves shall always be victims to their own greed. Those who play Genshin for their own fun and amusement get the most out of their game, not those with hidden agendas. I’m no spreadsheet gamer, I simply play for the fun of it. I love the music, I love the lore, and I just explore the world doing things at my own pace. Sometimes the game does piss me off when I have to grind for things in a timed fashion in a daily manner, otherwise it’s a great game. I love doing everything at my own pace, something thing game does allow in its own simplistic manner. It’s a gorgeous diamond in the rough. The rough parts? Sometimes too restrictive, too harsh, events are too quickly timed, and the community tends to be rotten to the core. Everything else? It’s fine.
I’m a bit useless in an argument because I can’t really explain my reasoning clearly. People find that hard to understand, so instead, I try to just get on with my work in my own way. But then they call me stubborn. All I try to do is convince people with results instead of trying to talk them round… Is that really stubborn of me? – Noelle