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It doesn’t just affect Valko either, as some people have pointed out this will inevitably affect the main story and overall lore. As Valko’s main story release was supposed to involve EVER. Something that affects every love interest. They did this instead of actually addressing the concerns most people have. Such as there being no easy way to grind diamonds and the lack of main story updates. Something Valko would’ve definitely helped with. As he would’ve gotten his addition to the end game battle modes, his plushie/meow badges collection and all of his new memories and audios. All of which have diamond rewards attached to them. People had already bought tickets for his anime expo stuff. Some people spent money in anticipation for his release. Just for Infold to cancel his release and all the events related to him mere days before it was meant to happen.

That’s not even mentioning them essentially throwing all the hard work the animators, characters designers, voice actors, writers, motion capture actors and marketing team did in the trash.

Meanwhile HSR players are complaining that two beloved characters are getting more than just a kit upgrade and a skin.

I cannot stress how upsetting it is to see all that hard work go to waste just to turn and see such comparatively silly complaints. Hoyoverse is certainly not perfect. I have many criticisms of them and their decisions over the years but I can semi confidently say they would never make half of the bafflingly bad decisions Infold has made. First the Infinity Nikki update that broke the game and changed the entire start of the game to accommodate one new feature most players only seemed to use for like a week from what I saw on social media (I had already stopped playing by that point). Now this.

I was actually getting a little excited for Valko despite my initial reaction being meh. His trailer changed my mind quite a bit. I don’t know if I’ll actually stop playing the game but this has certainly affected my enjoyment of it. I just changed my iPad background and widgets for this reason. I really liked the background with my mc and the widgets I had picked. Three were the cat ones for Xavier, Rafayel and Sylus while the other two were pictures of mc and Xavier respectively, both of which I really liked. This just sucks for everyone that isn’t, excuse my language, a bitter selfish bitch who believes their feelings matter more than the hard work and time of what is likely hundreds of people.

Diluc failed to protect his father’s caravan and fellow knights from Ursa the drake, his father had to step in to protect him, he did that using a delusion something he should’ve never have had access to, Diluc then had to either watch his father die in his arms or mercy kill him (what actually happened is a bit unclear), the threat is ultimately neutralized by a fatui harbringer.

Before he can even process any of this his brother, the person he trusted more than anyone else in the world, tells him that he is a spy and has been lying to both Diluc and Crepus since the beginning, in a grief stricken fit of rage he permanently scars his brother and almost kills him before realizing in horror what he has done. When he goes to the knights to make sure that his father gets the proper acknowledgements, Eroch, one of his father’s closest friends and someone who’s probably been like an uncle to Diluc his entire life, tells him that a mere business man can’t outshine the knights. The people who should’ve put a stop to Eroch weren’t there or were unable to do so, the people he probably looked up to and relied on his entire life failed both him and Crepus when they needed them the most.

But no Kaeya losing his brother because of his own poorly thought out actions in response to losing Crepus is more important. Never mind the fact that he was instrumental in exposing Eroch’s schemes, thus getting his revenge and closure.

Everything Diluc believed in was destroyed in a few days to a week. Every person he trusted except for Elzer, Adeline and probably the rest of the staff at Dawn Winery betrayed his trust in some way, intentionally or not, in the immediate aftermath of the death of his father instead of being there and supporting him. He lost the majority of his support system in probably less than a week after his father died in his arms at 18 years old.

Maybe Mondstadt assumes Kaeya wasn’t as badly affected isn’t because they secretly hate him but because he covered up most of the grief. He carried on mostly as normal while Diluc quit the knights and then disappeared without a word. Most people would assume the brother who stayed and was seemingly able to move on handled the grief better than the one who seemingly out of the blue left everything behind without a word. Diluc leaving the knights after Eroch’s betrayal was exposed probably made a lot of sense to most people, him up and leaving Mondstadt without a word? Completely out of character for someone like Diluc, especially pre his entire world view being crushed into a billion irreparable pieces thing.

Kaeya has never been an open person, why would that change after he revealed to Diluc that he was a spy? Varka being the one to acknowledge how Kaeya was also badly affected by everything isn’t strange. He was close to all three of them and can probably pick up on things people who weren’t as close to them can’t.

Kaeya got his closure when he exposed Eroch. Diluc didn’t. Kaeya was unfortunately already somewhat world weary. Diluc still had a somewhat naive trust in the good of the world. Kaeya lost alot that day but not more than Diluc.

I’m tired of people painting Kaeya as this innocent victim whose screen time gets eaten up by Diluc. They both handled losing Crepus badly, it affected them both immensely. But Kaeya has gotten much more screen time over the years. Not only has he appeared in more events, he has both a story quest and a hangout.

Hoyo finally giving Diluc something resembling proper closure starting with Varka’s return to Mondstadt is long overdue in my opinion. Kaeya is already set to be instrumental for whatever they have planned for Khaenriah. Diluc getting in comparison small things like being revealed as a potential heir of the Knight of Boreas title and getting some closure in regards to the single most important event in his life, doesn’t take anything away from Kaeya.

Kaeya has other interesting storylines yet to be explored, Crepus’ death while important isn’t the most pivotal part of his character. It is on the other hand the catalyst that made Diluc who he is today and the reason he established a connection to Nefer and the Voynich Guild, among other things such as becoming the Fatui’s very own boogeyman.

They are allowed to be their own characters and have important stories without the other. I think it’s essential that they do. Also adding Kaeya as an important character in Lohen’s story quest alongside both Diluc and Varka would just make the quest about them rather than Lohen.

Diluc also has some interesting parallels to Lohen. Both were victims of Eroch and Dottore’s schemes, they are/were both talented young knights who quickly rose through ranks to be offered/given the title of captain at very young ages, they both turned to using forces they shouldn’t have in pursuit of revenge or power. Overall Diluc’s story makes a more interesting foil to Lohen’s than Kaeya’s in my opinion. Lohen also seems to really respect Diluc and wants him to rejoin the knights. His voiceline saying Diluc has a shot at being the oldest knight, indicates to me that he thinks Diluc could last an active knight for a very long time.

I do want end this by saying I don’t dislike Kaeya. I like him quite alot actually. It’s just that I am so fucking tired of Diluc being painted as the bad guy or the one who gets more attention from hoyo when neither of those things are true. Kaeya isn’t the bad guy either to be clear, they were both teenagers who made really dumb choices in a moment of immense grief and unnecessary feelings of guilt. Kaeya has on the other hand gotten more attention from hoyo. He is in heavily featured in two summer events and he is the only character to be given both a story quest and a hangout. He also makes alot of small appearances in a bunch of events, more often than Diluc if my memory serves correctly.

Notice how Xavier doesn’t even have 10k likes yet? So in the future if a Xavier main has a crash out I will consider that valid for this reason alone.

I fucking get it Nintendo is the devil and Steam is Jesus reborn. Sorry I’m just tired of seeing this everywhere. Is Nintendo a perfect company that never does anything shitty? Obviously no but people shit on them for sake of doing more often than not.

I’ll start with the claims that they brick the Switch 2 if you plug in pirating hardware. This has been debunked they don’t stop you from using the console, they just restrict online access. That is by definition not bricking a console. Also they are well within their legal right to do so since you broke the terms of service, you know that thing that is essentially a legal contract, that you agreed to when setting up the console. They are just enforcing the rules they set in place and you agreed to follow. So no them enforcing the terms of service is not stealing. Because yes I saw a video last year where someone straight claimed that Nintendo blocking online access after someone inserted a pirating chip into their Switch 2 was them stealing from this person.

I agree that key cards are bullshit especially with the price of som games like Resident Evil 9 costs like 700 to 800 kr (Swedish Kr) for the Switch 2 depending on where I buy it. That much money for a plastic case and a code? Yeah no thanks. I prefer buying things physically if I can but not having an actual physical game cartridge for that price is where I draw the line. I bought Pokopia digitally for this reason it’s the only Pokemon game that I don’t own a physical copy of while also being one of my favorites.

Nintendo wasn’t the first game company to try to make sharing games and buying second hand more difficult. That goes to Microsoft remember the Xbox one? Yeah they tried that all the way back then. Nintendo tend to get shit for things Sony and Microsoft have either already done or are currently doing.

I also think them taking down Pokemon rom hacks and fan games, copyright striking videos of moded gameplay and genuinely cool passion projects is bad. They should just let these things exist.

As for the Palworld lawsuit. I don’t think trying to copyright a gameplay mechanic was good, but if someone basically advertised their product by taking designs your staff made and changed them just enough to avoid a lawsuit, you would also be pissed. Those designs were so obvious in their intent. I also want to add that I’ve seen allegations they stole a fan made Pokemon design is that also okay then since it’s technically Pokemon if true?

This idea that they don’t want competition for Pokemon is also bullshit. When Yokai Watch first launched in the US and Europe Nintendo had a massive marketing campaign for it, it was also extremely popular in Japan before that. That’s not even mentioning the fact that Digimon games are on the Switch or all the clearly Pokemon inspired indie games they are fine with.

What makes Palworld different? They took Nintendo and Game Freaks copyrighted designs and slightly changed them for a marketing stunt. I’m not talking about having creatures with the same real world inspiration, I’m talking obviously copied designs. If you want games similar to Pokemon were the devs have artistic integrity and respect their games enough to not use controversy to promote it, look up Moonstone Island, Cassette Beasts, Ooblets and Patch Quest. If you just want to see the design I recommend Lockstin and Gnoggins videos on the games where he goes through and explains the designs and their origins.

What pisses me off more than anything is that Palworld didn’t need to do this to promote the game. It’s clearly a decent enough game that people who played seems to genuinely like and some of the original designs that I’ve seen are good. Calling it Pokemon but with guns would’ve been enough. It might’ve even led to the Pokemon fans, that because of the stunt they pulled will not touch the game, actually playing it. The devs valued short term attention rather than trusting in the quality of their game. It might’ve even made it onto the Switch if they hadn’t done that.

Another an important detail often left out is that Nintendo started pursuing legal action after Sony invested in Palworld and it developers. They probably only kept an eye on them until they got funding from another big corporation.

Is Nintendo without flaw or above critique? No but alot of the loudest critics don’t actually care. They see Nintendo as an easy target because they don’t try to hide what they’re doing most of the time.

Steam from what I’ve seen is a decent enough company that seems to value their costumers. Do I think them bending knee to payment processors last year and removing a lot of their 18+ titles, that realistically included alot of queer games and games trying portray traumatic experiences, was bad? Yes but them inadvertently censoring these stories, because a far right christian mom group brought a few truly disgusting games to the publics attention, is never brought up or criticized. Is Steam a monopoly? In my personal opinion they are close to it. They are the biggest pc gaming platform which means if they ban a game it’s going to be very difficult for that dev team to find success. The fact they value their costumers and have a, in my opinion, frightening control of what games are and aren’t allowed to be easily accessed and played by the public can co exist.

If I had access to a good gaming laptop and a controller use with it (because I cannot use a keyboard to play games for the life of me), I would be using steam but I don’t. I think the eshop needs some sort of overhaul because the amount AI slop I see every time I look at it is genuinely upsetting. Nintendo needs to regulate the use of gen AI on their platform. As for the critiques I’ve seen some parents level at Nintendo, use the parental controls. It’s not the job Nintendo or anyone else to control what your child sees on a digital store front meant for all ages, including adults. If you don’t know how to effectively use the parental controls look it up. Parent your damn kids instead of making it everyone else’s problem that you didn’t do your due diligence as a parent.

You aren’t allowed to enjoy a Nintendo title, especially Pokemon, online without someone who a hasn’t played a single game saying you settle for less. Things non Nintendo exclusive titles get away with Nintendo titles get criticized for.

I saw one review of Pokopia where the person clearly didn’t like it. That’s fine but his criticisms were that the gameplay loop felt repetitive, that there were some weird camera angles at times and some clipping. Let’s start with the gameplay loop, that’s a subjective opinion but Pokopia made it clear what type genre it fell into from the start. If you don’t like Stardew Valley or Minecraft you’re not going to like Pokopia’s gameplay. Onto the camera angles and clipping, I’m gonna be honest I paused the video and just stared at the screen before asking myself if he ever played a game before. Most triple A titles on Playstation and Xbox have these problems it’s gonna happen with every game that isn’t 2D. Why is this even a critique for the this game when I guarantee if this guy reviewed RE9 he would not have these criticisms for it.

Why are basic things that happen in every 3D game only a problem when it Pokemon/Nintendo? This is my biggest issue and what this post largely boils down to. It took years for Betheseda to be widely criticized for the awful state they release their games in, Game Freak does it one time with Pokemon and should give up on making games. Scarlet and Violet clearly needed more time but that’s one game released in an unfinished state compared to the many Betheseda games released in the same if not worse condition. No bad textures don’t count as unfinished in my opinion.

My point with post was not to defend Nintendo from rightful criticism or to say Steam is actually really bad. I stand by that all corporations should be criticized and questioned when it’s deserved. What gets to me is the fact that it’s a trend to shit on Nintendo therefore they cannot do anything right. No one ever brings up the fact that unlike Sony and Microsoft they aren’t doing mass layoffs, last I heard anyway.

Spoiler warning for New Titans and a trigger warning as I will have to touch upon themes of sexual assault.

I have only read up until chapter 101 so these opinions are going change in the future and no spoilers please.

Gabimaru

I love him. I love how much he loves Yui, when he started describing her in attempt to prove she is real I literally said “When did this turn into a shoujo romance?”. His relationships with both Sagiri and Yuzuriha are some of my favourite.

Sagiri

In my opinion her writing blows every JJK female character (except maybe Maki) out of the water in the first three episodes alone. Her struggles as a female samurai are well explored in my opinion. The way her skill in swordsmanship is one of the first things we truly get to know about her is amazing. Them mentioning that the only reason she is the lowest ranked among the Asaemon sent to the island is because she is a woman. And women aren’t allowed to be in positions of power and the ability to lead the Yamada clan is one of the factors considered in the rankings. If they judged on pure skill she’d rank higher than several of her male peers. Sagiri is also allowed to be important and relevant to the plot outside of her relationship to Gabimaru. Which I mention because since some other shonens don’t do that and according to certain people a female character can still be well written even if she isn’t relevant to the plot outside the male main character. Her naivety and genuine belief in the good of people in comparison to Gabimaru and Yuzuriha is understandable and importantly she isn’t treated as lesser than because of it. She is still competent. Also her and Yuzuriha are married thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Yuzuriha

Much like Sagiri she is allowed be an actual character with an arc independent of the male main character. She repeatedly is shown to prioritise her own life but is able to care about others. The moment where she comforts Senta is one of my favourites because it shows that prioritising your own survival doesn’t make you incapable of caring for the life of others. I love her but I often struggle to explain how I feel in writing so forgive how short this is.

Mei

My daughter. Her speaking with Ju Fa about him being able to feel Tao Fa’s pain is genuinely so good. Same as Yuzuriha I adore her but can’t really put why into writing, so sorry for the short section.

Senta

Cool dude. He dies early on but I think the fact that he, Sagiri and Fuchi seem to be closest of the Asaemon initially sent to the island makes so much sense. The three of them feel like outliers among the Asaemon we meet. Sagiri being one of the only two female samurai we meet combined with her ability to empathise with people and their circumstances. Senta only being an executioner because his family wanted him to be one, when in reality he wanted to be an artist. Fuchi’s obsession with human anatomy and developing medicine, something that is traditionally done by the women of the Yamada clan. Their friendship makes sense and I wish we got to see more of it.

Fuchi

Love this little guy. I have decided that he is autistic because I can (I am diagnosed with both Autism and ADHD). His grief over Senta making him realise the importance of life is so important, because unlike some other characters, he gains a deeper understanding of the world because of it. Also him telling Shugen that being a criminal doesn’t mean evil is my favourite moment from him. Also I may spoil my opinion here but, Fuck You Shugen Go Rot In Hell.

Gantetsusai

Funny old man. Joking aside Fuchi using him as an example of being a criminal doesn’t being evil is so special. The way he reacted when him, Gabimaru and Fuchi found out about what happened to Mei is amazing. He is a pervert not a rapist. Him being genuinely upset about Fuchi’s death and shocked that Shugen would cut down his own friend proves Fuchi’s point perfectly. He shows more upset about it than Izusu does. I like that his first reaction to Sagiri suggesting they team up with her is no fucking way. He, rightfully so, doesn’t trust the ally of the man willing to kill his own friend over them having more nuanced opinion about criminals.

Genji (the misogynist if you don’t remember him)

I think the reminder should explain how I feel about his character. Him being encouraging towards Isuzu doesn’t change much for me. She is clearly considered as more masculine than Sagiri, so his traditional (misogynistic) standard doesn’t apply to her. I have my opinions on that obviously but I will save that for her section. I cheered when he died and no I don’t regret doing that.

Aza Brothers

They get their own section as I can’t really separate them. I love that Chobe’s main drive is and has always been Touma. Touma getting stronger to aid Chobe is equally important. I am always a sucker for a good sibling relationship in any media (see my obsession with Ragbros, the Kamisato siblings and the ninja twins and all the royals in Fire Emblem Fates)

Nurugai

My daughter. If she doesn’t survive I will sue for emotional damages. I will fight anyone who dares to lay a hand on her. Fuck the Shogunate, existing isn’t a crime. My favourite moment so far is her gathering the courage to back and help Shion. Best father/daughter duo.

Tenza

You will be missed dearly. One of the only reasonable people apparently. Love him not much more to say.

Shion

My Husband. Same thing as Nurugai. Did I initially doubt him when he questioned Tenza’s protection of Nurugai? Yes but he redeemed himself thank god. His monologue when fighting Zhu Jin is so sad. Him giving up his title of samurai because he realised that he’d rather spend the rest of his life helping Nurugai find somewhere to live without being discriminated against. I love him.

Isuzu

I have mixed feelings on her. On one hand yes strong woman with an interesting backstory, on the other her devotion to Shugen even after finding out he killed Fuchi makes me mad. I understand that Shugen stood up for her but her presumably (based on her devotion to the child murderer) thinking that it’s okay for a child to be killed simply because she born to a group of people that didn’t want to bow down to the shogunate is troubling. Especially considering she is from a similar background. She has been discriminated against for her skin colour and height but is okay with worshipping a man that thinks anyone labeled a criminal should be killed on sight and is you know a child murderer (though it’s likely that much like Sagiri and Fuchi she doesn’t know about that part). Even if that crime is existing. She could have very easily ended up in Nurugai’s place but that doesn’t seem to cross her mind. She thinks that the law is more important than thinking for yourself. I think that’s all I can say for now.

Shugen

The character that made me want to write this post. Eizen couldn’t have taught this maniac what nuance is? I think my opinion is clear from how I spoke about in previous sections. Maybe he changes and understands that nuance is fucking thing I don’t know but for now fuck him. He killed children, literal babies because their parents happened to be criminals and then had the nerve to claim all criminals in the island should be executed on the spot. Half of them haven’t done anything near as morally corrupt as killing children. Gabimaru and Yuzuriha were born into this lifestyle, they didn’t have a choice in becoming killers. The Aza brothers came from a good family they only became bandits because their father was executed and they were left to fend for themselves as a result. Gantetsusai destroyed the entrance to some rich guys mansion, he isn’t here because he killed people but then Shugen would be fine with that since those killings had some sort of okay from the shogunate. Again Nurugai’s crime is existing. According to him killing is fine if the Shogun ordered it. Also I want to remind everyone that the child murders were his choice, the only orders he received were to kill the actual criminals not their families. Just the fact that the Yamada clan brushed that detail under the rug and actively avoids discussing all the details says enough. Again Sagiri and Fuchi weren’t told the full story until Shion told everyone in the cave. Yuzuriha and Gantetsusai correctly point out that Shugen’s biggest achievement being referred to as an incident doesn’t sound good. Him killing someone he claimed to care about simply because they now had a different opinion on how criminals should be treated is horrible. This is person Isuzu worships. The person she claims is impartial and doesn’t judge good and evil. Reminder that again he killed children because their parents were criminals and that means they will also grow up to become criminals. He thought all the criminals that the Yamada Clan executes should be decapitated with dull and damaged blades for maximum pain. He isn’t impartial and does in facts judge good and evil, she is just wrong. In his eyes Akaza from Demon Slayer would have deserved to be executed for stealing, it wouldn’t have mattered that he only did it so he could afford his dad’s medicine. He would be a criminal sentenced to death and therefore deserved to die a slow and painful death. Someone who doesn’t judge good or evil wouldn’t kill children or say that anyone set to be executed deserves to be killed because the government said so. They wouldn’t kill their friend because they thought differently and went against the orders of the shogunate. I’ll give him the bare minimum praise for not being misogynistic though. Good job you did the bare fucking minimum.

Jikka

Like him so far, excited to see more of him. Not much more to say.

Tensen

Like with the brothers they get to share a section. I like them, my favourites are maybe predictably Tao Fa and Ju Fa. Ran and Mu Dan were cool, Zhu Jin is okay, Rien and Gui Fa are interesting so far. Not much to say, they’re interesting villains.

There are gonna be spoilers for several manhwa so proceed with caution

This spawned from a kinda unrelated post. Someone sent an anonymous ask to a blog I follow on here bringing up the writing of female characters in Genshin, comparing it to the writing of a female villain in another series. Now as to not go on an rant about this character and the issues surrounding them. First because it’s actually not relevant to what I wanted to rant about, second the fans of this character have a history of stalking and doxing anyone who criticizes her.

Long story short, the biggest issue with this character is that her actions would in any other game, even within the franchise she’s from, she would be the villain. For some reason though (the devs started to like her during development) the narrative actively tries to justify her violent conquest of an entire continent and her discrimination of the survivors of a genocide, it also tries to blame one of said survivors for everything that’s ever gone wrong in the story and all the trauma that this character went through. The survivor in question had nothing to do with the trauma in question and the ones actually responsible are the same people who committed the genocide previously mentioned.

Before this gets out of hand, the clear issue is the lack of accountability and justification of her actions. The actual catalyst for this rant are the comments, as the blog in question doesn’t play Genshin they couldn’t comment on that part but someone in the comments did. I agreed with most of the comment/comment thread that formed.

TLDR being that the characters the anon might have been were referring to and the issue they seemed to have, came down to the fandom taking opinions about two characters we hadn’t even met at that point as gospel and running with it. Making up a version of them that didn’t maych what we actually got and then getting upset that their made up version wasn’t canon.

Then someone brought up how Ei is just badly written waifu bait.

I just kinda lost it. For years now people have been spreading this narrative that Ei never took accountability for anything she did. Which I can prove is false by simply pulling up the transcript from the end of her first story quest, you know the one people claim is nothing but a fan service date story

How convenient that the entire last third of this story quest that actually tackles the issues people have is never brought up or discussed. Could it be that the fandom simply stopped reading after they lost interest and skipped through the most important part of the quest? Do they purposefully ignore it because it would invalidate a lot of their arguments? Could it be that most people didn’t read actually read it and took what a few people said as gospel? It’s probably a combination of all three with a little sprinkling of misogyny on top.

Does Hoyoverse reduce interesting female characters to waifu bait? Yes. It unfortunately happened to both Mizuki and Citlali. Yes I’m still upset they made Citlali obsessed with the traveller.

Also Ayaka exists, this is isn’t hate to be clear. If if you disagree with me explain why the event story for her skin is that she is insecure about the outfit chosen for by a popularity vote. The traveller is the only one that can help her feel confident about wearing it and hosting the competition during the event. Hers is the only one that is like that. Lisa’s skin which was in the same patch was a gift from her old classmates at the akademiya, Ningguang’s and Keqing’s were special outfits custom ordered made by Ningguang for lantern rite, Fischl’s skin is related to the story of that years summer event and her storyline in it, Ganyu’s and Shenhe’s were a gift from their mother figure to wear for lantern rite, Kirara’s and Nilou’s were again based their roles in the story of that years summer event. I didn’t go through every skin but I think I made my point.

At every turn Ayaka is the character some people claim Ei to be. A strong capable woman, who despite having shown this constantly needs the support of the protagonist. Nevermind her older brother whom is perfectly capable of being a supportive, no we need the protagonist. The reason I liked the film festival event so much was because the focus for Ayaka’s character wasn’t on her relationship with traveller. Rather it focused on her developing a friendship with Chevreuse.

Now to my claim of double standards. Some of these examples will probably upset some people but I simply don’t care at this point.

Zhongli worked with the Fatui to unseal an old sea god, which led to probably hundreds of people being injured or dying not to mention the property damage that most likely led to a lot of people losing their jobs and homes. All so that he could test if the people of Liyue could handle themselves without him. Also I do want to point out that if the using the jade chamber as a bomb plan failed, Ningguang and Keqing would have probably died. Because I don’t personally see any the adepti present, except Xiao and Ganyu, prioritizing the lives of two humans over their own. Even if Zhongli swoops in and kills Osial, Liyue’s government is gonna be left scrambling to recover not only from the loss of two of their highest ranking officials but also all the death and destruction that Osial attack caused. Not to mention said sea gods wife being understandably pissed about her husband being killed, leading to her lying in wait to attack when Ningguang finally rebuilt the jade chamber. While they knew it was coming this time and were prepared, we don’t know how many of the millelith and Beidou’s got injured or potentially died during the battle. Zhongli may have also fucked up the economy because he forgot about it when planning his retirement. The fact that he did this is never brought up or discussed, he never seems to show remorse for all the damage he caused to the people Liyue, just so he could retire.

Childe the one who actually did the unsealing is more upset that he was kept out of the loop about Zhongli’s involvement, than any of the death and destruction he caused. He never shows hesitation in following the Tsaritsa’s orders, infact his biggest issue with Arlecchino in his voice line about her is that she isn’t 100% totally loyal to the Tsaritsa. This is more of a personal issue for me. In his story quest he actively puts his little brother in danger by bringing him to one of Dottore’s abandoned research facilities, one filled with ruin guards that suprise activate.

Everything Scaramouche ever fucking did. Let’s list them out.

Went on a generational murder spree, ruined the reputation and livelihood of the families he went on a generational muder spree against, abused his subordinates as a harbinger, helped cause and fuel a civil war, gave out delusions that ended up killing several of rebellion’s soldiers, helped with the putting the entirety of Sumeru city in an never ending samsara that probably killed quite a few people who couldn’t withstand the pressure of it, almost killed Tighnari while he was protecting Haypasia from Dottore’s men, every crime he committed without remorse while in the fatui.

Is he a victim? Yes. Does that excuse all the death and destruction he caused? No. Many of the families whose life he ruined still haven’t recovered from him tampering with the sword blue prints or the many deaths he caused. The people who died as a result of the delusions he helped distribute won’t come back to life. The only reason he felt any regret was because he found he’d been tricked into thinking someone he trusted betrayed him. His first response wasn’t to attempt to make amends, no it was erase his own existence. Which didn’t work out the way he wanted, these things still happened. The only difference now is that they are attributed to some nameless npc.

He is also lacks any introspective in my opinion, he complains about how Ei never took accountability for abandoning him in his voice lines. How the fuck is she supposed to take accountability for the hurt she caused someone she doesn’t remember exists? Scaramouche’s own actions is the reason he’ll never get any accountability from Ei. He claims Yae Miko doesn’t care about humans, probably because from his perspective she ignored his plea for help on Tatarsuna. Which is wrong, she didn’t ignore him. She sent people out there to investigate but Dottore convinced them everything was fine. Sorry if I don’t take his opinions on other characters seriously, considering he tries talk shit about Nahida. One of only people to ever show genuine care about him and be honest with about her intentions.

Ei isn’t perfect. She’s done alot of bad things that but I do want to clear up some misconceptions and straight up lies about her.

No she didn’t know the true extent of the harm caused by the vision hunt decree or the civil war. She isn’t omniscient, she only knew what the puppet knew. Hence this line from her first story quest.

No she didn’t try to execute Thoma, because yes someone has claimed that in a comment section. Inazuma wasn’t closed off for decades or hundreds of years like some people seems to think. How do I know this? Shinobu was graduate and accept her law degree in Liyue because Inazuma closed its borders when she was visiting before graduation. So unless Shinobu is secretly a long lived species and Liyue law schools hold your degree for hundreds of years, it isn’t possible.

She didn’t see Scaramouche as a failure, at least not in the way many people seem to think. He was always a prototype. The point of the puppet was to make the people of Inazuma believe Makoto was still alive. He was a failure because the puppet needed to be an emotionless machine she could program however she needed. Scaramouche gained emotions when he came in contact with the gnosis.

Also why would Ei have the short male puppet take her place, rather than the puppet that looks like her and Makoto. The idea that he was meant to have the gnosis is either something he convinced himself was the truth or Dottore planted that idea in his head.

Ei was still consumed by her grief. She had in a very short amount time lost her two remaining best friends. Having to kill one of them herself and discovering the death of the other after returning to Inazuma, right after her twin sister died in her arms. Before she could even begin to process any of this she is put in charge of ruling entire nation. Most people would probably make some pretty bad choices in this situation. She wasn’t in a place to care for another living being. Could she had done something other than put him in shrine and seemingly forget about him? Yes, do I see why that didn’t happen? Also yes. She did what she thought was best. Now it wasn’t the best course of action she could’ve taken. Why not have Yae Miko take him? She wanted Ei to kill him. Not the best option either. Ei was planning on transferring her consciousness into a sword that supposed to be placed into the actual replacement puppet, she couldn’t have cared him herself.

Point is Ei isn’t perfect, but unlike alot of popular male characters she shows actual remorse and accountability. She didn’t open up Inazuma quickly because that would be extremely irresponsible. She instead slowly opened the borders so that the country could adjust to changes at it’s own pace. Kazuha avoids her in the hide and seek event from a few years ago. She isn’t forgiven but is rather working to undo as much of the harm as she can. The last big Inazuma event was literally about her confronting the death of Chiyo. At the end of the Itto rock and roll event, Ei and Miko talk about how Dvorak’s music seemed comment on the war and how Ei plans to respond. She says that she probably won’t be able to give him the answer he’s looking for but that that they must avoid another war at all costs. That the people cannot be made to suffer like that again. Miko then asks what if a bigger war comes to pass. Ei responds with that if it cannot be avoided, she will have no choice but to fight.

Hoyo has repeatedly shown Ei’s growth as a character and everything she does to atone for her mistakes. Despite this people still like to paint her as waifu bait that never changed or took proper accountability. All the while they let male characters who have done just as bad if not worse than her, show next to remorse or do the bare fucking minimum gets praised to heavens.

Scaramouche’s victims can’t decide how they feel about him or if they forgive him, because they don’t remember him. He never has to face them as the reason for their hurt. He gets to play the mysterious scholar named Hat Guy, not Scaramouche the former harbinger. They will never truly get closure from him because he selfishly took that option away from them in his guilt, then proceeds to complain that he won’t closure from his mother. Whom is actively putting in the work to undo the harm she caused.

The fandom, particularly Scaramouche fans, treat Ei (and Furina but that’s another discussion entirely) with this vitriol they never aim towards any of the male characters. It’s been going on for years. Ei’s development could hit them in the face and they would still deny it. Scaramouche is allowed to do bad things due to trauma but if Ei does it she’s crucified for it.

This fandom is so misogynistic sometimes it’s scary. It’s one of the biggest reasons I’ve distanced myself from the fandom.

The lack of simple reading comprehension in this fandom frustrates me. They will look at Rerir helping to commit a genocide against the crimson moon dynasty. Then turn around and say that all of Khaenria’h, including innocent civilians and children, deserved to be destroyed and it’s people cursed to turn into monsters because of a genocide most of them didn’t know about and had nothing to do with. Then when told why this way of thinking is a fucking problem they defend it.

Genshin doesn’t always tackle it’s darker plot points as well as I’d like, but the fandoms tendency to look at a statement that is as unambiguous as you can get and still somehow misinterpret it is astounding.

You can like a character that has done bad things. Hell you can like Dottore for all I care, I don’t see why but to each their own. You can still acknowledge their flaws and mistakes, that doesn’t mean you like them any less than the person next to you who doesn’t do that.