Got to finished the first two acts of the Summer Event. WOOOOOOOOOO, Bennett content at long last, after so many years! It was all very sweet, we are truly being fed with the whole summer package. Might do a more in depth look after the whole thing is done, depends on whether I feel like it, but it's all really good so far.
5.8 spoilers (Sunspray Summer Resort) from here on out. (I apologize, it ended up much longer than I thought)
One thing that really surprised me was that Bennett seemed to have lost (at least part of) his bad luck. I really didn't think they were going to do that, much less from the get-go, but it's nice to see this man finally be treated well. I still don't quite think it's from him leaving Natlan, mainly due to The Tale of Qoyllor and Ukuku. I'm a little unsure if his bad luck went away partway through or when he arrived to Natlan, as the first entires he has in his travel journal notes how he didn't miss the ferry. I guess it depends on whether he started the journal the day he started heading out or the day he arrived in Natlan, though I'm inclined to think the former. Plus, from his statement of Asha not being found anywhere else, it's clear he's done some adventuring around Natlan before he headed to the resort. He literally was just having regular luck and it brought tears to the Traveler and Paimon's eyes, my heart. Also it looks like Mualani was responsible for his outfit after all, nice.
Staring at that "Sun" ritual they were doing. I know a Tale of Qoyllor and Ukuku or Tale of Kuntur mention when I see one (or I'm delusional, but the Kuntur thing is the one thing I think is 100% related to Bennett). They did mention it was for the gods, despite Natlan not having any, but while doing it said it was for the Pyro Archon. At this point, with how much Natlan text referred to the Pyro Archons as gods I'm not sure if they are referring to other gods or just the Pyro Archon specifically. Also makes me wonder if some ritual was done in the past beforehand, considering it was about getting rid of negative energy and bringing positive energy, with something going wrong. Regardless, it was very sweet that Bennett decided to wish for the people of Natlan's happiness, and then to wish that his dads do well, he really doesn't seem to wish anything for himself. It's consistent with his Birthday 2024 Shorts Art where he did consider wishing he wouldn't be unlucky (and only for that year) before quickly switching to wishing his dads were good.
Speaking of, love love love all the mentions of Bennett's dads. I was worried that they would brush them off, but they actually gave us quite a bit on them, and confirmed the number too! 7, a lucky number, haha. I honestly never thought they would give a determined number, we can finally stop guessing about it. He also mentioned the fact that he was unlucky and an orphan pretty early on to Chasca and Mualani, like in his voice lines you actually have to build up some friendship before he says anything about it to the Traveler. And in the Ballads and Brews event, it was apparently the first time Klee and Razor found out Bennett was adopted, despite knowing him for years. It shows some growth, less shame, very good for him.
And man, Bennett is really not used to people being nice to him, we literally brought him to tears twice out of shear happiness.
Also, was I the only one that noticed that twice they angled it so that the broken moon would be visible? Especially during the moment where Bennett was talking about missing home and wondering if the others were seeing the same sky.
Onward to Act II, going through all the attractions one by one was fun. And getting to see Bennett just be a normal person was so sweet, he really is fine with just doing mundane things. (Until something bad happens and he goes straight to blaming himself). Also the section at Colorful Cliffs was literally a Turf War from Splatoon, you can't convince me otherwise. Although, I am questioning if his bad luck really is all gone, it at least does seem weaker, but the finish line moved, there was that whole part with Abyssal monsters in Chasca's section, and when getting some drinks there was some Whopperflowers (Dang, I sound like the people in universe blaming him for every bad thing). I'm really not sure if the better luck is Venti's doing, sure I think he would treat Bennett to something as good as that but then why wait so long, and why dodge the question? Venti also recited Bennett's Windblume Poem from 1.4! Specifically the first three lines, which talk about the Mare Jivari, and he did look a little melancholic there...
There was also those notes we found during Chasca's section, and I think it's pretty safe to say the author is Bennett's mother with him clearly being the one getting lore here, and the talk of a husband and child to come. They were adventures too, very cool, and seem to come from the Masters of the Night-Wind and Collective of Plenty, the two tribes with the most association with Bennett so far. I'm afraid that the area Anja recommended for one last adventure may have been the Mare Jivari, it is noted that the notes themselves have to be extremely old. The area even had cobwebs, and Bennett himself said it was likely to be long before the resort was even built. Strangely, if you decide to head back to the cave area, it's all blocked off by rocks again (either that or I got lost, but I did pin the area down). Anyway, the Mare Jivari seems like a good bet, whole Bennett's constellation being there and the time shenanigans.
There was also an NPC in the Me and Dew area, Tlapalli, who has a dialogue branch about the Mare Jivari. According to her, it disappeared 20 years ago point-blank, although there have been adventurers that claim to enter an area similar to it since then. As she continues "Apparently, there was more than one strange little pocket like this. People came to call them 'Mare Enthymena'. They say it's like the Mare Jivari casting a shadow of itself into our world. But in the last few years, there haven't been any sightings of the Mare Enthymena..." This makes me wonder if we'll actually end a Mare Enthymena this time around and that's why we won't be able to explore the whole Mare Jivari. Honestly I got nothing as to why those haven't appeared recently.
But back to the notes, Macani (the husband) was said to be from the Collective of Plenty and I found his whole attitude very similar to Bennett. This is notable because the Asha buddy that was traveling around with us actually is wearing a Collective of Plenty belt, and it was pointed out how Bennett actually seemed to understand him quite well. Couple that with Bennett talking about his dads in Act I and the camera panning to the Asha, I'm not really having a good feeling about this.
In general the first two Acts were very sweet and fluffy, I really do love them and seeing everyone interact. Although it does make me more scared for the angst to come, something is going to happen when we go collect our prize, I can feel it.
(Also we get it Hoyo, someone is watching us, just reveal who ??? is)
Also, also, all the photos are peak, I love them very much.
