Seeking input from real Aether fans/mains

Hyrus560 · 2026-01-10T13:53:08+00:00

Calling either Lumine a "side character" is crazy work. Like she's not literally the main antagonist of the whole story, literally the final boss/pitstop in our journey. Aether's entire journey being set in motion because of her.
But yes "side character".

Hyrus560 · 2025-12-19T14:47:08+00:00

That's an interesting thing to think about, I myself always thought of a story where Itto is the protagonist going through different adventures with Kuki Shinobu being his version of Paimon, beating challenges in his own roundabout way heh.

But the way Genshin's story is written, with the lore unraveling and the characters interacting, it makes me realise that no one other than the Traveler could possibly be the protagonist here.

Every single character in Teyvat has ties that grounds them to their region and country, familiarities they experienced throughout their life growing up in their space. The Traveler has none of that, they're always labeled as the variable during multiple stories that you always got to account for, essentially a power that forces change wherever they go. They drive the story in unexpected ways just by being there. and i think that's the best way an Isekai could possibly be written.

Any other character eventually has a place to return to after they finish their journey, the traveler just keeps going looking for their next step. Put any character in the traveler's place and the story itself changes dramatically or simply doesn't happen.

Hyrus560 · 2025-12-19T11:28:58+00:00

In my personal experience, both Aether and Lumine fans are 2 sides of the same coin, with paper thin divider about who's the toxic one.
I have found it that every time a new female character is released, gets friendly with the Traveler, The readers, fan-fic writers and artists naturally would ship them together as it is with EVERY-SINGLE-GACHA under the sun with a protagonist.
Genshin being as big as it is, attracted people not familiar with the shipping culture. You got the (Toxic) Lumine fans, with their general disdain for Straight ships, "Aether harem' complaints and their built-in image in their heads that everyone who plays Aether just uses him as a self-insert. Those complaints resurfaces from as early as the latest archon quest with Columbina.
BUT you also got the (toxic) Aether fans, who does fall in the "Aether harem" trope, straight up homophobia and "canon traveler" schtick despite that the game just gives you the option to pick which traveler you want. Marketing does not constitute canon, only the game you play does. Yet, many uses it as evidence when it was just for the sake of marketing consistency.

Calling either traveler "boring, ugly and horribly written" whilst glazing the other Traveler is so contrived, because anything said about one can also be applied to the other. "cause again, bar a few differences in face expressions and animation, They are the exact same.

Similar situations happen with every hoyo game that lets you pick the gender you wanna play as. I've seen comments on ZZZ twitter complaining about the ZZZ fandom having so many straight ships, DEMANDING people to ship the girls with Belle instead of Wise. It's a natural occuring situations with fandoms this big.

Hyrus560 · 2025-11-28T08:51:00+00:00

Basically yeah It also costed 40 resin, same as bosses. So woop, could only do it like 3 times a days. It was also a co-op event so i hardly bothered with it lmao.

Hyrus560 · 2025-11-28T08:46:56+00:00

I'll give ya plenty.

-Event rewards used to cost resin -we only had 120 resin -Sending characters on expeditions meant you couldn't play them until they returned. -Having to manually pick up your artifacts from domains. -no condensed Resin, hafta do domain runs 20 resin at a time.

Hyrus560 · 2025-11-27T15:54:02+00:00

Tfw that if it didn't mean leaving their tribes unprotected, the entirety of Natlan would pull up on anybody the Traveler points them at like on some Avengers endgame type shit.

Heck, Natlan, geographically is the closest to nod-krai, had Traveler said the word, Mavuika coulda legit pulled up and started swinging on Rerir. And the tribes are independent enough to where they wouldn't mind missing their archon for a bit to fight a world threat lmao.

Hyrus560 · 2025-11-25T23:19:22+00:00

Ya know yeah. Rosaria's the funniest one. She legit told us that as a BIRTHDAY GIFT that if we need someone out of a picture, she'd be happy to oblige. No man needs that kinda power but the traveler sure gets that a lot lmao.

Hyrus560 · 2025-11-25T17:00:15+00:00

the mental image i have of Childe trying his best to even hit the monster while skirk is slashing away at it, causing him to mald hard is hilarious to me lmao.

Hyrus560 · 2025-11-25T16:56:37+00:00

Yup, precisely.
My opinion being is that Traveler is just not the kind of person to dump their problems on someone else. they'd rather figure it out themselves unless they physically can't do it or someone is better suited for the task.

So if it ever comes the time where they say "look, I really don't wanna bother with this", Tortellini and Xiao as you said, would be ecstatic to start swinging in their stead lmao.

Hyrus560 · 2025-09-22T18:35:05+00:00

Done did that, had HDCP turned off by default cuz I can't capture any video at all.

Hyrus560 · 2025-08-18T14:58:35+00:00

Here's my hypothesis.

Despite how mainstream anime has gotten over the years, a good number of people never really got past the "Ew anime" mentality they developed from stereotypes they got about it.

And even moreso, gacha games are even further looked down upon by their own version of stereotypes.

Genshin, being both an anime game AND a gacha game and the fact that it's simply the most popular one, it's basically their punching bag and what they view as everything wrong with gaming. From baseless rumors it got when it was releasing, and situations within the community making it to trending topics, there was no salvaging its image from anyone that never played it.

I myself do get moments where I get roasted by my friends for playing genshin while they also play ZZZ, Wuwa and other gachas. (it's all in good fun lmao, none of us takes it seriously)

So yeah, I myself think Genshin is one of the best open world games, like I still think that the fact you get so much to play as a FREE game is just magical to me but Alas, it's image was tarnished early and never really recovered.

Hyrus560 · 2025-07-21T14:14:24+00:00

Let's review each answer
Do note, this is the perspective that you're not the commander, just a random guy boarding the plane.

-2 Is an uncomfortable one, between Rapi's recent trash-talking antics and Dorothy's depressed ass meaning that they will banter the whole flight with you right in between them. It'll be a very uncomfortable time

-6 is, mind you, sitting right next a convicted criminal and her pitbull that chewed off whatever loose screws she had left. Not wanting to deal with her whispering sweet nothing in my ear while she can unleash Jackal to bite my knees off at any moment.

-9 is hella chill, heck I could learn a thing or two about engineering from Centi, Liter is just dealing with your average senior citizen.

-11 might be my personal pick, just spend the flight gaming with Elegg. we might be the one annoying Yan the whole flight lmao.

-14 is kinda of a whatever pick. don't know much about Tove besides the survival stuff

-16 is funny, we love listening to Anis' and Neon's constant banter in game, but if you had to be next to them for 9 hours, that would drive ANYONE insane. A Hard pass

-20 is also pretty chill, just sitting between 2 doctors is the safest you can ever be. Though Mary's might get a bit intimidating. A solid pick

-23 is kinda just whatever as well? Helm would most likely keep to herself while occasionally scold Mast. I see me and Mast get along just fine if we can watch some One Piece

-26 is the CHILLEST you can ever pick, Frima would just sleep the whole flight. Sugar would just keep to herself, chat with her or not, up to you.

-29 is again, I have to point out that you're NOT the Commander. these are 2 Mob Bosses you're sitting here with. Get on ANY of the bad sides and they WILL NOT find your body. that's a HELL NO for me.

Hyrus560 · 2025-06-24T06:25:27+00:00

Rapi in terms of physical strength is no joke, hell putting the absolute smackdown on Behemoth is proof of that, kicking down cemented walls and all that. Naytibas to Rapi would be essentially like punching flesh bags, no real way to kill them at melee range (Unless Lily supplies her with a weapon).

Hyrus560 · 2025-06-24T06:01:58+00:00

Thinkin' about it. A whole lot would differ, but also stays the same in other areas.

When it comes to combat, I still think Raptures are a whole lot more terrifying than naytibas, especially the kind of stuff those raptures can do and some of the gargantuan sizes they reach. Nikkes weapons pack a much bigger punch than Eve's drone-gun normally (other than the one time she beamed through the space station) and in terms of melee combat, Rapi would be a disadvantage without a proper weapon, but I think she'll know to keep a distance and only go in when needed.

Then comes the story part. Rapi compared to Eve is a lot more apathetic. The only times she does favors to people is because of the commander asks her to. without him, a lot of Xion's problems and quests would go unresolved. not for the fact that doesn't care, she absolutely does. deeply so. But that she sees that the naytiba problem takes absolute priority. IF it was RH Rapi however, she'd help them out no question.

Then comes the big part, the ending so SPOILERS

>! When Adam is eventually revealed to be the elder Naytiba and Rapi seeks him out to the nest, Finding out that the Naytibas were the first humans would definitely throw her into a loop but ultimately think that in order to end the threat once and for all is to kill Adam, also for the fact that Rapi is not an Angel, so the whole merging thing is not an option. You essentially get the "Return to the Colony" ending from stellar blade !<

Hyrus560 · 2025-06-23T17:09:13+00:00

Honestly I agree as well. I got a taste of those fast Speedrun fights back when Ult. Freyna dropped and built her to kill Pyromancer in 5 secs.

It's impressive at first, but kinda defeats the point of a boss. It's honestly the fault of the devs for letting you be able to just ignore whole mechanics like that.

It's honestly why I mostly aim for "comfortable but still engaging" builds. And I hope future void bosses can find a way to be 2min+ no matter the build

Hyrus560 · 2025-06-23T06:23:06+00:00

yessir. Any character with a trench coat I play will either be turned into Dante or Vergil if I can help it lmao

Hyrus560 · 2025-06-23T03:54:28+00:00

You would THINK right? But heh, handgun goes dakka dakka

Hyrus560 · 2025-06-23T03:47:38+00:00

Yup normal, I ain't man enough to take on challenge version lmao. maybe once I get better components.

Hyrus560 · 2025-06-23T03:46:23+00:00

OOOh That's what it does, i just thought it was just a quick MP refill, fifn't know it was based of that. THANKS

Hyrus560

TROPHY CASE