From Sea to Shore

Namely, from the seas of Fontaine to the shores of Natlan, plus some other places.

I went back to Genshin between writing sessions looking to ascend my Escoffier, then I snagged a Chiori to go with my Xilonen, and wanted to pre-farm for Skirk. Of course, aside from material farming, I needed to replenish my primogem stocks for Skirk after so many pulls for Esc. and Chiori.

This started with getting the Natlan sigil-dump to level 40 for 'gems and then well, I never did max the Fontaine version either and hey, the last Shrine of the Depths is gated behind the last level of the Statue of the Seven so I need Hydroculi...

The end result is that I have now hit 100% exploration on all of Natlan, the Sacred Mountain, the Sea of Ages, and finally, after so bloody long - Fontaine. Then, to top it off I went back and cleared out Chenyu Vale too!

Fontaine was slow, the underwater exploration is a bit slower and the lack of intermittent voice lines makes it an unbroken slog in places. At least above ground you get the occasional character line to celebrate treasure chests or because you're hammering sprint. Underwater you get none of that and I did find I missed it.

Still cleared it all out though. Even the 8 treasure maps and everything. Got Pahsiv her branches and all that as well, helped all the melusines, the whole 9 yards.

The Sacred Mountain areas had some great vistas, and the end of our trials with our little Saurian buddy were very emotional. The idea of making the right choice even when knowing you'll never again be able to speak to your friend, to truly communicate and be understood or even understand them, to know that they will move on and leave you behind one day - and then choosing to go through with it without a second's hesitation. Wow. Genshin might occasionally be a little casual or fumble a plotline but sometimes the storytelling really does come through.

The scenery certainly comes through, I really loved the visuals of the entire region and questline. Here's to hoping Nod Krai looks as show stopping when it needs to!

I do have a soft spot, probably because it really hits the aesthetic I think of for Peak Fiction, for Chenyu Vale though.

The visual design of the entire region is just spot on for a softer style of Adeptus-focused story. None of the big, war of the realm scale of conflict that the original Liyue story and even event stories like the battle with Osial's companion, just a village in need of help and an adventure in search of solutions. A small enough cast you can remember all of them and give a damn, decent characterisation and did I mention how good it al looks? Totally want to put some of these shots in PF, but it'd maybe be a little derivative. Pity, because that village shot is exactly what I'll need for later in the story!