#actually i really want to go back to inazuma i think; exploration there is kinda hell but the events have lowkey been fun | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

captainadwen · 2 years

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my investment in genshin this time around has been much much shorter lived than expected

this is just a sleep-deprived 5 am rant bc i cannot sleep

i mean, part of it might be spoilers but also the lack of building up to plot that I missed (since my friend played some of the story while using my account as an alt). the issue is that i dont care enough about inazuma’s plot to look it up and see what happened. like ive met ei. i did her second quest. i know enough about raiden shogun to guess. i dont give a single fuck about kujo sara so watching her short-lived fallout from ideology is frankly unappealing. kokomi i liked only bc of a fancomic and the in-game version is much more disappointing. i still forget gorou exists. doing kazuha’s quest is frankly wasting the time i spend alive. i think there’s other characters in inazuma but i keep forgetting who they are so it’s like, whatever

why are itto and shinobu the only two characters from inazuma i actually like???

it is just impossible for me to be invested in inazuma story, and the same issue is happening in sumeru. sumeru the problem is a mix of spoilers but also that i am SO DONE with the traveler having three personality traits

1. i single-handedly saved countries. pay my allies no mind. isn’t it great i owned the jade chamber and that the anemo god is still awol and whatever the fuck went down in inazuma?

2. busybody

3. omg, sUCH a HERo

i really hate it!!!

every time i think im getting invested the focus shifts from characters and their interactions (i thought!!! little sick rich lady and body guard pyro lady and dancer hydro lady had a nice thing going on!!!) back to the traveler and their bullshit quest to go see the dendro archon (for what???? honestly if the writers REALLY cared about the story the motivation would stop being flimsy-ass lets travel teyvat uhuhuh and more ‘that dainsleif fellow is my closest link to finding my awol sibling and if i cannot find my sibling or the god that yeeted us here then by GOLLY i will track dainsleif and other khaen’riah survivors/relics across teyvat until i find one of them again)

(which like!!! could work really well for inazuma and sumeru bc 1. vision stopping might be sus enough for traveler to suspect abyss involvement. but also they got hit really bad by the cataclysm and 2. i havent done the quest yet but there’s a huge-ass ruin guard??? just lying around??? also the irminsul tree links whatnot)

MY POINT IS

i really hate that there’s no motivation to travel around and i hate the boastful traveler and i hate paimon’s screechy voice (i went back to see clips of mond and her voice is SO MUCH LESS SCREECHY) and i really, really fucking despise the grinding

why does every new character need a specific artifact. why do we have to grind so much. if i want to use any of my cast of characters i have to grind the fuck out of them first or they die in three seconds or do nothing. heaven forbid your character scale off anything but attack or hp with how rare things like energy recharge are. like

i thought it was just that i disliked fighting games. im kinda bad at them. and i dont like genshin fighting. i keep wanting to play a ton of rpgs (assasin’s creed, mass effect), but i get tired thinking about fighting. but then i realized, im like 40+ runs in on hades and still going strong. and that game is pure combat.

i just hate games where the combat feels meaningless

at least in hades i know each run brings me slowly closer to escaping the underworld. in genshin after grinding for a full hour (a bit longer than a long slow run in hades) i’ll be lucky if i got anything of use. maybe if you just fight bosses for ascension materials. otherwise get fucked

it just exhausts me and not even puzzles or exploration can make me not feel tired at the idea of playing (And god, i hate the aranara quest run around collecting seeds things.... it could be worse but it could also just be lile. a puzzle instead of dash dash dash con)

anyway i think imma take another break, probably shorter since genshin is what i play when i am bored simply bc its there and easy and i can quit after 5 mins with zero progress lost. a realization brough to you by the realization i was only logging in to get primos for nahida, who i have not met and whom spoilers did not endear me to (also she’s a kid character and except for klee i universally am extremely indifferent to them), whom i was told is “ultra good” for fighting and spiral. and who i’d still have to build up. on the off chance i win 50/50

yeah, no

#anyway the fact that every genshin player who likes the characters and the story just has an elaborate version of the plot and characterizat #where things are actually good #explains a lot about the hugely disparate characterization styles in fic and comic #aLSO ON THAT NOTE #the huge cast of pullable characters from the get-go is such a bad move story-wise #bc u do not have enough time to get invested in a character before they ship you off to the next money grub #like i get why they do it #gatcha game and all #but like #mond and liyue each kept a cast with you side-by-side from the start #mond it was jean starters diluc and venti #so 6 characters #and liyue it was childe and zhongli #so 2 #and the others got peppered in as needed #but inazuma kept punting you off to new gatcha waifu every three scenes and sumeru is doing the same #ffs

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holdharmonysacred · 2 years

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i need to finish the last part of the latest main story quest in genshin, but so far I do have to agree with everyone else who played it that, in terms of writing mechanics and quality, the Sumeru arc as a whole is really really good. The writers ditching the three-act-structure and “every scene must always be from the Traveler’s POV, if the Traveler isn’t there then we don’t see it” is a massive boon, and whoever’s writing the questline is extremely skilled when it comes to setting up and firing off chekhov’s guns. The most I have when it comes to mechanical complaints is that acts 1, 3, and 4 all reek a little too much of “we are fucking around with a bunch of smaller adventures and dawdling on the main goal so that we can seed plot elements for when things start to pop off in acts 2 and 5″, but the quests are otherwise good enough that I can forgive it.

I would like to see the Sumeru arc writers like. Go back and do a rewrite of the Liyue arc honestly. I know Inazuma’s the one that always gets brought up as bad writing, and to be fair that arc at bare minimum needed the actual-5-act space that Sumeru got, but Liyue just feels super underdeveloped in its own main story. It’s got the Adepti VS Qixing plot going on, but it honestly kinda does nothing because they never really explore the Qixing and their issues and the hints of “maybe the Qixing are corrupt rulers who we can’t trust to govern without the Adepti keeping an eye on them” never go anywhere. And a lot of the environmental storytelling details that establish that Liyue Harbor’s wealth and prosperity comes at the cost of all the other towns slowly dying are restricted to literally just environmental storytelling, nobody outside of the Qingce area really talks about “yeah all the rural towns collapsed because everyone moved away to where the money went”. Liyue Harbor itself is literally divided into a rich area and a poor area, but it’s literally just set dressing as far as the game is concerned. It’d be super nice to see an expanded rewrite of the Liyue quests that explores that a little more and gives the conclusion of “we’re going to bet on Liyue being able to get its shit together without divine intervention” some actual weight.

My only other beef mechanically is I think it’s kind of a waste that the Sumeru arc and the trailers leading up to it reveal that the Dottore actually has a bajillion clones of himself at all different ages running around getting up to some hot bullshit, and in the same arc that’s introduced in he ends up getting forced into deleting all his alts and the most we get to hear of them is them all going “What the fuck?!” as they get sent to the void. That just feels like a waste in terms of character potential if that ends up permanent instead of him sneaking around to go rebuild some more clones. I know Dottore got leaked to be playable, so I wonder if the playable Dottore will be a rebuilt clone who wants to kick his alt’s ass in revenge for his deletion, because otherwise the clones thing is just “??????????”.

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kyinpeachichu · 3 years

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Genshin impact boys reaction to showing them your magical serenitea pot

===================================================Basically their reaction when you show them a whole adeptal world of your own inside something that can fit in a bag. Characters mentioned: Diluc; Kaeya; Childe/tartaglia; Zhongli; Bennett; Xiao; Kazuha; Albedo. ====================================================

Diluc:

"Your house? I never knew you actually had a place to stay."

- Aaaannnndddddd he turns you down cuz he's busy at the moment.

- You had to ask him a few times but he pretty much turned you down every time.

-He didn't mean anything bad by it. He really was just busy. He still is the dark knight hero after all.

- When he had free time though, he was sitting by himself in his room, and he feels like he's forgetting something.

- Then he remembered you and he thought "Well I have free time now. It would be interesting to see where the traveler lives."

- He went out to find you, and when he did, he brought it up.

- You were so excited and happy when you pulled out your teapot from your inventory..... that it confused him for a second.

- "Oh... uh, I didn't know you collected antiques too Traveler. Is that a new decoration you found for you home?"

- To be honest he thought the teapot looked kinda normal, and it didn't have any historic value by the looks of it. But he didn't want to be rude and question your tastes.

- You looked at him for a second before remembering that you actually have to explain

- "Oh, right. This may be a little confusing but...... this teapot, is my house......"

- Diluc was just straight up confused. He didn’t know what to say. "Uh..... I see....."

- But you didn't let him wait and you let him your teapot home.

- He was surprised of course, but at the same time, he somehow knew something like this could happen to you.

- He was in awe, but he didn't show it. (Much to your disappointment)

Kaeya

"Oh my, Are you inviting me over? Well what gives me the right to say no?"

- you were happy he said yes almost immediately.

- "So, where do we go?" / "Oh, we dont need to go anywhere. My house is riigghhttt- Here!"

- He was surprised when you dug through you inventory and pulled out a teapot.

- He was confused but he didn't say anything.

-You didn't waste time pulling him into your humble abode~

- You turned to see his reaction, and you were happy to see it

- He showed more reaction than Diluc did. His one un-covered eye was open wide and his mouth was ajar. But he didn't let out so much as a gasp.

- After that he laughed and said "You never cease to amaze me Traveler."

Childe/Tartaglia/Ajax

"Sure, I dont have anything to do at the moment."

- and just like that, he agreed

- Being a rich bank owner- (*cough* sugar daddy), you can bet his home in snezhnaya will be a friggin mansion.

- He doesn't expect your house to be a mansion though. But if he sees that it's just an old shed, he's gonna buy you one.

- "So where is this home of yours?"

- You pulled out your teapot from the inventory and he didn't seem surprised.

- But he did wonder what that teapot was for.

- When you finally showed him what it was for, he definitely didn't expect a whole terrain. Much less the mansion infront of him.

- it was smaller than the one he had back home, but it was still a mansion.

- His face was full of wonder than with shock or surprise.

- "I gotta say comrade, when you said you we aking me to your house, I definitely did not expect this."

Zhongli:

"Your house you say. Well I dont have a reason to decline right?"

- To be fair, being an archon who associated with the adepti, he wasn't surprised and immediately knew the second you pulled out a teapot.

- However, the thing that surprised him most was how one of these fell into your hands.

- He cant assumed you found one on your travels. No adeptus would be so foolish as to leave something like this around for a human to find.

- Anyways, when you were both inside he immediately knew who gave it to you.

- "Ah, I see, it was madame Ping who gave thus to you."

- "How did you know?"

- "I feel a certain..... presence of hers. Also, the terrain seems to have her touch."

- He was pleased with how well decorated the place was. (Assuming you didn't fill the place with pine folding screens)

- (He was considering getting one too because he's probably too broke to get a place of his own)

- (But lets leave it to the imagination and hope he's living with Childe in the meantime)

Bennett:

"Oh, you have a house? Gotta say, since you were a traveler, I didnt actually expect you to have a place to stay. Sure I'll visit your house!"

- You dug through your inventory and presented him a teapot

- "Woah whats that? An artifact?" / "Nope, this is where I live."

- Then lo and behold your very own world!

- His eyes were ✨sparkling✨

- Probably have the best reaction out of everyone.

- "Wooaahhhh!!!! Traveler..... you live here?!? I-in the teapot?!? This is a teapot!?!"

- The boy was so excited, running around the place and exploring the whole place!

- He almost didn't even notice the giant mansion that was actually the place where you stayed.

- When you let him inside he was even more excited.

- He asked if he could stay the night before he was even aware he said it.

- And you let him, even gave the guy an extra room.

- "I gotta say traveler, you really are lucky to have a home right in your bag! And I'm lucky to be invited here. Thanks so much!"

- such a sweet boi

Xiao

"Perhaps I can spare some time. Alright, I'll come for a visit."

- Well he was alot easier to convince than you thought

- Actually no you had to find him all over liyue and whenever you did find him, he'd be too busy.

- This is like, the 6th time you asked him

- "Where is it? Is it somewhere within Liyue?"

- You got your teapot and he was confused for a second but immediately knew what it was later.

- before he could say anything you were both inside.

- He was more or less the same as Zhongli. Being an adeptus himself, he had an idea on what was going on, but was surprised you had access to this kind of adeptal magic.

- So sadly, he didn't have the best reaction except for: "Huh, I didn't know you had access to an adeptal world like this. Much less make it your home."

- "Do you like it Xiao?" / "Well ...I suppose it is quite peaceful here."

Kazuha

"An invitation to the home of the traveler who saved Inazuma? Well, it's not like the wind tells me not to."

- He had to ask permission from Beidou first before leaving. She didn't mind.

- "So traveler, where's this humble home of yours?"

- While still on Beidou's ship (cuz thats where he was), you took out your teapot, and he looked quiet puzzled.

- "Fogive me but, is there something you need with this teapot?"

- You let him in (the crew on the ship didn't even notice)

- He was amazed yes. His face looked like he was watching a firework show.

- It was night time in your teapot so the stars were out.

- "Amazing, a whole entire world, all to yourself, inside a simple trinket that a person could turn a blind eye on if it were at a flea market.

And to think suck a world could fit inside a bag, and in the palm of our hands. Traveler, you have always been one to be full of surprises."

- Aw god his poetic speech is just 👌👌👌 (and I'm putting in more)

- he closed his eyes and inhaled the air, listening for the slightest gust of wind. (Yes there is wind the the teapot I think, I do see the grass blowing)

- "It's quiet here, so peaceful. It feels like it's completely safe here. I could find the nearest rock and doze off right now. It's beautiful here traveler. Do you mind if I stay here, just a little longer."

- Boi you can live here for the rest of your life more rent free than Mona if you'd like!

Albedo

"Huh, I never thought a traveler would have the need for place to settle in and sit still for a period of time. But sure, I'd like to see your house. I'm not too busy at the moment"

- You were in his research place right in dragonspine when you asked him.

- He began to clean up his things and getting ready to go, but then you told him that wasn't necessary.

- "Hm? Aren't we leaving?"

- You brought out your teapot, and he looked at it like it you were holding a baby bird.

- "strange, why would we need a teapot traveler?"

- without any further explination you grinned and then you brought him in.

- He was in awe.

- his eyes widened slightly while his mouth fell ajar. But other than that, he was quiet.

- "Amazing, traveler, may I be so bold to ask on what sort of alchemy you used to create this? Or maybe, this isn't alchemy at all....."

- He was more curious about every explination there is to be made than the actual place you two were at.

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dourpeep · 3 years

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just realized I haven’t talked to you in a while </3 how are you ?

aaaand , what are your thoughts abt the inazuma quests ( if you’ve done them ) and do you think it will affect how we continue to other nations ? considering that word of our ( or traveler’s ) actions spread quickly , I wonder if anything that will transpire in inazuma will make the archons of the other nations reluctant to help us. im curious about what you think ^^

- kreide 🪶

IT'S ALRIGHT KREIDEEEE

I ended up also diving deep into my personal musings about what mightttt happen but aidhfoaieh yes anyway-

I've been doing alright, a little down but nothing toooo bad nodnod

And oh my g o d I'm in love with all the new things that they have introduced! The puzzles, longer world quests that have deeper story?? Ahhhh I can't even begin--

There's just so much depth that they've added in, same thing w/ the weekly reputation quests. The rep quests include having to fight stuff now instead of things more like errands which is lovely--it feels more well-rounded, ig?

As for exploration, it's incredible what they've done since! You can really tell that they've done a lot of work and considering w/ how Dragonspine was received by the players and reallyyy implemented those new ideas and made great use of space. Not to mention the new domains (limited and not)? They're absolutely brilliant and the design + atmosphere is fantastic.

I also really appreciated that the things such as the balethunder aren't permanent...though I also have to say that I love the environmental danger like sheer cold in Dragonspine!!

As for our actions as a traveler and how it'd effect the views of the other archons, this is something I've been really mulling over lately. We know very little about the upcoming region's archons save for a few little tidbits. We know that Sumero's Archon is the youngest (therefore, I assume will be inexperienced in juxtaposition with what ideal they represent, Wisdom), we also know that Fontaine's Archon has high guard and distrusts/is wary of the other Archons but also is incredibly wary of Celestia (once more leads into the idea...what exactly is it that Celestia holds over the Seven? What is Venti and Zhongli and the others scared of?)

That being said...I kinda feel like most, if not all, the Archons will actually err on the side of the Traveler. There will no doubt be complications (such as the Traveler being a threat to Baal's ideal of eternity), but I feel overall it'll mostly end up with the traveler winning them over.

The thing I'm rather interested in, though, is what we'll see in Natlan. We know that the Pyro Archon's associated ideal is war. I'm curious about Murats stance on the whole thing. After all, pursuing what we, the traveler, is pursing is an outright declaration of war against Celestia. Im thinking there may actually be a detachment of the idea and what Murata will want. Namely, that the Pyro Archon will actually not wish to be involved at all due to the destructive nature of war (ironically, fire is destructive and they are the God of War).

Continuing, there clearly is a trend of the Archons and their ideals clashing.

Venti not using his status (technically a bind of his freedom) so that his people may live their lives as they decide, Zhongli essentially terminating his own contract as the God of Contracts to retire, Baal and her eternity clashing directly with the idea of Electro (instantaneous, intense, short-lived).

ALSO ALSO ALSO GOING BACK TO HOW IT RELATES TO INAZUMA

I kinda feel like, at least with how the stuff is going so far that it'll have a positive effect on our future endeavors.

((spoilers for Inazuma story/world quests))

So far, all of the things we have been doing in Inazuma relate to also directly purifying the land and areas of great importance. Despite our currently bad standing with the Electro Archon, Baal, I feel like there's certainly more to what's going on that what it seems.

After all, it's also hinted that Yae is one of the Kitsune spirits (I'm assuming the sky?? Though I've yet to think more on this, but I have some lingering thoughts on both the earth and sky kitsune)...but I digress. We'll probably return to this another time when I have my thoughts more concrete.

Anyway, continuing.

I think that we will eventually aid in the purification of Inazuma's land (ending with Tsurumi). I realized that, in a sense, that the descriptions of Baal somewhat remind me of the effects of what happened to the vision holders who had their visions taken.

Namely the cold unfeeling nature she exhibits. Of course this easily can be her personality. BUT I feel like she's definitely changed.

Speaking of...Yae Miko implies that Baal at one point was focused on the future. The bit that she mentions with "focus on the way ahead". Immediately after, she follows that with the doubt, anxiety, and the declension into incredible paranoia that the master swordsman is experiencing only to comment that a certain friend of hers suffers the same.

We know that Baal and Yae Miko are considered good friends, so we can safely assume she is who Yae is speaking of.

Thus the idea that Baal is no longer the way that she used to be and is taking all of these very drastic measures in a sort of overly-defensive precaution in fear of what may happen (or perhaps even has happened).

That being said...back to the previous point about Inazuma and purification.

I've been wondering if the miasma with the Sacred Sakura, the tainting of the Thunder Sakura, Mikage Furnace, and whatever is going on with Tsurumi have to do with her as well as her decisions to close down Inazuma + the Vision Hunt Decree. Whether it is fear sprouted that has made her realize that there is no true eternity or if the positioning of the land effected her directly...we don't know for sure.

But taking into consideration what I've typed out, I have a feeling that we're going to help with also 'purifying' or at least helping soothe whatever is going on with Baal herself. Something along these lines.

#anon asks #kreide 🪶 anon #sprout's theories #theories #genshin impact theories #inazuma #baal #archon theories

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soybeeftacos · 3 years

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A Long Rant and Mediocre Analysis of the Future of My Beloved Jinteki Faction, by scd.

I have been thinking about Jinteki and the impending rotation of a lot of Jinteki cards...

As many have, I eagerly anticipate the upcoming System Update and System Gateway releases from NISEI. I’ve not been the hugest fan of Ashes, to put it mildly, especially their ID design. As someone on the Green Level Clearance Discord said the other day (I forget who, sorry), it’s almost as if they made every Runner a different kind of Shaper. And the Corps are, by and large, uncompetitive and overly fiddly for my tastes — oh, how I wish Hyoubu Institute was any good! I’m dipping my toes back into Standard after a few years away, and have lately been trying to get my head around what’s coming around the corner, especially since beyond Engram Flush and LaCosta Grid, I don’t see a ton to be excited about in recent Jinteki cards.

Then it dawned on me, with the upcoming replacement of SC2019, Honor & Profit, and the SanSan Cycle, we are actually losing a lot of Jinteki cards. This hit me most the most at the level of identities. On the potential chopping block are: Jinteki: Personal Evolution, Jinteki: Replication Perfection, Harmony Medtech, Nisei Division, Tennin Institute, Jinteki Biotech, and Chronos Protocol. Add in that Mti Mwekundu and Jinteki: Potential Unleashed are currently banned, this leaves the competitive pool as of System Gateway/System Update: one of the above identities (if the rumors that System Update will have only one Corp ID per faction are true), the new Jinteki ID in System Gateway, then Pālanā Foods, AgInfusion, and Saraswati. No other legal Jinteki IDs. I understand that the first two are solid glacier choices, and I actually quite like Saraswati, but I want more and more variety.

So it’s a bit of a bummer for my favorite faction, which has had goofy FA Tennin decks, Punitive Medtech techs, Complete Image Chronos Protocol kill decks, lots and lots of different PE decks. Will we see the death of the Jinteki I loved? Or will it rise again from the proverbial coffin of rotation? (Yes, this was all an elaborate justification for using the old GIF above that I think Eric Caoili made many years ago).

I’m basically just sick of Jinteki glacier. It’s never been fun for me, nor does it feel like what the faction should be primarily “about.” Jinteki’s current state as a glacier faction primarily has as much to do with what’s been banned as much as what’s been printed (LaCosta, for instance). If there are enough net damage cards in the pool, someone will make yet another new version of the caustic “Potatoes” deck and then NISEI will ban a bunch of the most troublesome cards again. Ignoring currents, there are five Jinteki cards on the current banlist, which is tied with Weyland for the most — followed by four NBN cards, two HB cards, and four neutrals.

If System Update has only one Corp ID per faction, as the recent rumor has stated, then I’ll be bummed out. If it’s true, I fully expect that Personal Evolution will be the one to stick around. It’s always been at least marginally playable, it does something different (a net damage tax), and it’s intelligible for new players. But what other cards stick around? What else should stick around? I thought I’d look and see what cards are actually going to rotate and which ones I was most upset about. What I found was actually a little surprising to me — while I claim I love this faction, I’m, uh, not going to miss many of these! I’ve gone through below and identified from SC2019, Honor & Profit, and the SanSan Cycle all of the cards that I suspect just can’t go and/or I’d be real sad if they did.

From the pool of SC2019 Cards, here’s what I’d hold onto:

Jinteki: Personal Evolution Nisei Mk II Fetal AI Philotic Entanglement Project Junebug Ronin Snare! Neural EMP

All of these are such key cards to me, I just can’t see Jinteki without nearly all of them. Fetal AI, Philotic and Ronin are possibly marginal, but I think NISEI really made the right call bringing Fetal back (t’s a beautiful card on a number of levels); Philotic being limited to 1-per-deck has always made it a fun surprise and/or a welcome 3/2 in the faction; and without Ronin or a suitable combo-kill replacement, I don’t see the faction moving beyond just glacier decks. Can you imagine Netrunner without Snare!? Or NISEI getting rid of Nisei Mk II? Personal Evolution, Neural EMP, Junebug — these have always been faction-defining cards to me, and I don’t see NISEI being foolish enough to mess with that.

So, what would I lose from SC2019?

Jinteki: Replicating Perfection Sundew Hokusai Grid Celebrity Gift Trick of Light Himitsu-Bako Wall of Thorns Lotus Field Yagura Neural Katana Swordsman Tsurugi

A lot of great cards here, but push come to shove, I could lose any of them. I’ll miss all of these if they all go, and I won’t be sad if any are kept (other than maybe RP, as I think there are better options, if NISEI has more than one core Jinteki ID in System Update; see below).

Onward and on to the Honor & Profit Cards:

Psychic Field Mushin No Shin Komainu

This genuinely surprised me! I had expected that there would be many, many more Honor & Profit cards I’d want to keep. As a Jinteki lover, I’ve played with all of the cards in this box (with the possible exception of NeoTokyo Grid), but only Psychic Field, Mushin, and Komainu seemed obvious keepers to me. Now, now, I’m sure there’s some group of people out there who think Mushin is "bad” and I understand that, but without Mushin there needs to be something I want there to be something that has a similar effect — Saraswati is kinda it, but it’s also the ID itself and Mushin as an ID is not the same. I think Mushin needs to be kept to help facilitate the shell game Jinteki that has been a staple since Hinkes’ Cambridge PE. In the online play world of Jinteki.net, many people would love to see mind games and traps leave the game entirely, but I don’t think NISEI does (given that they kept Cerebral Overwriter in Uprising). Psychic Field, I’d keep, partially to facilitate this but also as a necessary, hard 419 counter — a counter on a mechanical vector that is not just about money and math. Komainu is a beautiful piece of ice, and one I’d love to see stay in the game.

So, what are we losing if I ruled NISEI?

Harmony Medtech Nisei Division Tennin Institute House of Knives Medical Breakthrough The Future Perfect Chairman Hiro Mental Health Clinic Shi.Kyū Tenma Line Cerebral Cast Medical Research Fundraiser Inazuma Pup Shiro Susanoo-no-Mikoto NeoTokyo Grid Tori Hanzō

Ouch. There are a lot of almost-keepers here. House of Knives, TFP, Tennin, Pup, and Susanoo, are all cards I’d love to see stick around but frankly, I don’t think they really need to. TFP is a great defensive agenda but we already have some fantastic defensive agendas in the faction (and I’d love to see what NISEI cooks up for other defensive Jinteki 5/3s). House of Knives is a great card and maybe it should stick around, I dunno, but perhaps there’s more interesting space to explore in net-damaging 3/1s (plus, we just got Sting! somewhat recently). These remaining ice don’t get a lot of play, even if they once did (like Pup); I’d be happy to see any of them stick around, but I’d also like to see new ideas. So, they can all go.

What about the SanSan Cycle? I’d keep:

Jinteki Biotech: Life Imagined Crick Cortex Lock Marcus Batty An Offer You Can’t Refuse

Okay, whoa, there’s actually an ID in here! Yeah, I love Biotech, even if I haven’t played it in a long time. I feel like Biotech needed just another couple of cards to make the other non-Brewery flip sides workable. I’d love to see NISEI attempt to fix an ID rather than just rotate it. Crick and Cortex Lock seem like such solid, interesting ice that I wouldn’t want to lose either — Cortex Lock is of course a wonderful facechecking ice, good early game ice that was only really ever a problem during the Mti meta. I’ve always loved the positional ice of that cycle, and Crick is lovely. Batty is too fun to ignore and is versatile for multiple decks, and is not stifling like other defensive upgrades. And An Offer You Can’t Refuse — clearly the weirdest, least-played card of this entire post — I just want to keep it around, for the novelty of forcing a run on the Corp’s turn and its related rules confusions. And for the memes.

What would we lose?

Genetic Resequencing Ancestral Imager Allele Repression Genetics Pavilion Lockdown It’s a Trap! Clairvoyant Monitor Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-Mapping Recruiting Trip Valley Grid

Not a lot here that I really care about, I guess? Genetics Pavilion is probably the one I’d miss the most, not that it’s had much play since Wyldside rotated. And Chronos Protocol — I’m glad it got a brief moment to shine in the sun of Complete Image, but I’m not going to miss it otherwise. Maybe Allele Repression, but frankly, Genotyping, Preemptive Action, etc. have shown that Operation-based card recycling is the best way to go post-Jackson. The rest of these cards were, I think, pretty mediocre design; I’m surprised at how little wheat to chaff there was in SanSan for Jinteki, as my memory is quite different!

And, of course, with the release of System Update, we’ll presumably get some other old cards resurfacing that we haven’t seen in a while. I certainly hope NISEI gets aggressive and interesting with these choices, as I think they did a pretty good job with SC2019 (even if I found Core Experience to be a slog of a format). I’m excited at the options of what from the original core, Genesis, Spin, and Lunar might resurface. If it were up to me, here are the four cards that I would bring back:

Hostile Infrastructure Shock! Edge of World Industrial Genomics

Okay, okay, Hostile Infrastructure won’t be popular, but I love it. It’s expensive to rez and with SanSan gone there won’t be the old Breaker Bay Grid cheese to get it rezzed for free. It’s been back in the meta with Salvaged Memories for a bit now and doesn’t appear to be the scourge of the meta, so why not just keep it? More importantly, I’d love to see Shock! come back — it felt infinitely more fair than Breached Dome with a similar (albeit costlier to trash) effect. Edge of World was a jank-enabler that I would love to see again (perhaps because I’m currently playing Retrunner with these old cards again), and then there’s ... Industrial Genomics.

Okay, okay, okay, I hear you, “IG bad.” It’s a mean, mean, Bad People Play It™ identity that made you cry real bad that one time. It did the same to me once, too! I get that perspective, but if we are going to choose a Jinteki ID that is very functionally different than Personal Evolution to complement it in System Update, I’d like one that facilitates the kinds of play IG does. Biotech fits that bill, but frankly, Biotech unless it gets the card support will just be another Brewery kill ID, and I’m not sure NISEI are thinking that’s worth keeping. I’m being hopelessly optimistic that we’ll be getting three Jinteki IDs when System Gateway and Update drop rather than just two, and if I had to choose between Biotech and IG, I’m going IG every time.

Now, with Kakurenbo in the cardpool, a return of IG just can’t happen; so... ban Kakurenbo! It is a ridiculous card that was, seemingly, mainly designed for IG to play in Eternal. I can’t see any other good use for it, at least. Bring back the old IG from before Bio-Ethics prison. Bring back Shock! Hell, even go ahead and ban Bio-Ethics — gasp, I can’t believe I’m typing such blashemy — and give us something that can open up new kinds of play with this interesting, classic, and overly-maligned ID. Industrial Genomics was a weird thing of beauty, and it deserves another run. Laugh at me all you want, you know I’m right.

One more thing — what about Caprice Nisei? Shouldn’t she be discussed? Nah, she gets no love from me, simply because of the playstyle she empowers. Caprice is of course a great and meta-defining card — for glacier! But haven’t we had enough of glacier by now? Like, two years of mainly glacier Jinteki? And I’m the lord of my own barely-read blog fiefdom; I decree that if you really want a psi game to protect your agenda, you should just go play Hyoubu Precog Manifold.

Anyway, just some thoughts by someone who doesn’t play any Standard but wants to do more. I started writing this thinking it was about the dire state of Jinteki, but I’m now left thinking there’s actually a much smaller set of must-keep Jinteki cards than I initially thought. Granted, most of them are non-ice cards, and that’s a problem here — only a handful of ice here seem really necessary to keep. And maybe that’s what this is about; encouraging more deckbuilding that has little to do with building remotes.

I’m most concerned about IDs. Keeping PE and either Biotech or IG would make me personally happy, and Tennin would be an acceptable “sure, why not.” There’s a lot of potential for Jinteki to move into more forms of play that aren’t so glacier-heavy, and I’m hopeful about that. I do think what they do in System Gateway and System Update will need to address the loss of Jinteki cards, but perhaps not as seriously as I had feared when I started writing this.

Anyway, I’d love to hear any reactions to this. Long Live Chairman Hiro!

#netrunner #jinteki #rant #nisei #systemupdate #systemgateway #iloveyouig

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