Natlan Impressions

5.4

With Varesa, Iansan, and the Collective of Plenty in 5.5, I'm thinking in 5.6 we'll get Skirk and the chef girl, plus a Fontaine Traveler Chapter/Interlude (like how last year's was in Sumeru). Skirk said she'd get back to Neuvillette on the 3rd Descender--meaning she'll return to Fontaine at some point, since he's not likely to leave it--and we conveniently have an extra Fontainian character in the lineup.

Then 5.7 can release Mare Jivari, Dahlia, and Ifa. Mare Jivari is related to Mondstadt through Bennett, but as a Natlan subregion is related to Natlan, so this might segue nicely into Dahlia and Ifa.

This neatly places all the teased characters. If they end up doing a 5.8 summer event, they can put in the 17th character for this cycle.

Pre-5.3

2025/02/15 edit: removed comment on Natlan characters' gameplay

2025/01/25 edit: embedded Bluesky post of the teaser of upcoming characters from the 5.3 Special Program, and moved in lingering questions previously attached to a Bluesky comment

Natlan

Pros

• new puzzles are fun (Monetoo, Saurians, graffiti)
• strong main story
• the "little one" side quests are cute
• camerawork, poses, and expressions in quests have improved

Cons

• side stories/world quests are having text/localization quality issues again (typos, spotty or lacking character (NPC) voice, infodump-y, lacking editing in general) - mostly in the longer quest chains with Ochkanatlan and the Sage.
• spotty English voice over for main and event quests (VA strike?)
• The Natlan playable cast doesn't feel as close, which might affect event writing in the future.

On the Natlan cast:

The individual character writing in the main quest was good, but the characters after the starter trio feel isolated from the other playable characters (Xilonen, Chasca, Mavuika, Iansan, and to a lesser extent, Ororon+Citlali; and then Ifa and Varesa haven't had much/any screentime). I'd say it's the tribal split, but Kachina, Mualani, and Kinich are great friends anyway; and characters within a tribe (Xilonen & Kachina; Ifa & Chasca) aren't necessarily best friends either.

The stories within the tribes (Tribal Chronicles) are good, but rely on NPCs to round out each tribe. Since event stories tend to rely on the playable cast interacting with each other, I'm thinking this could lead to awkward events in the future. On the other hand, Mihoyo could always treat the playable cast as newly acquainted after the AQ. Then there won't be weird meet-and-greets like with Kaeya & Dainslief (Kaeya's hangouts) or Collei & Eula (& Kokomi) (3.X summer event).

Now second half seems to be rounding out the cast with... a Mondstadt character, an Inazuma character, a Fontaine character, and Skirk from the Abyss? (see 5.3 Special Program) (There's also possibly room for a Harbinger, like Capitano, but he's not really from Natlan despite featuring in their story.)

So the actual number of characters from Natlan ends up rather small, especially since I suspect these new characters will not be integrated into Natlan.

In the next six months, the Traveler will get to know them one by one, and intertwine with their fates...

#GenshinImpact

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— Genshin Impact EN (@genshinimpact-en.bsky.social) Dec 20, 2024 at 7:13 AM

Lingering questions: lingering questions not included in the blogpost:

can skirk save genshin from post-lantern rite churn this year?

What's with the hodgepodge of characters from other nations in second half?

what are they going to do about Tribal Chronicles in the future if they add 5-star Natlan chars?