The events of Nod-Krai have reached their peak with Genshin Impact – Version Luna IV. As Dottore is basking in his newly stolen Lunar power, Traveler and their friends go through painstaking plans on how to defeat him and return Columbina – and vice versa, since defeating him without her is an impossible task. Meanwhile, the Mood Maiden herself is going on her own journey of discovery.
When it comes to a massive boss battle that serves as the pinnacle of the region, there are always surrounding questions: did the battle and the stakes look realistic enough (within the confines of the universe, of course); was the villain treated with respect or simply discarded and thrown away?; and, especially when it comes to gachas, was the protagonist either completely useless in confrontation or overpowered so much that the lore had to bend backwards to explain their involvement?
Let’s go over all of these and more!
At the end of Version Luna III, Dottore managed to snatch two Moon Marrows, stealing the power of the Eternal Moon and the Iridescent Moon. In order to prevent him from obtaining Trilunar authority at that moment, Columbina jumped into the Moon Reflection, a chaotic space that previously tore Rerir apart, and vanished, briefly putting his plans on hold.
In the beginning of the new Version, The Traveler, Arlecchino, Sandrone, and the rest set out to the northern research lab to confront the Doctor, but were easily defeated and had to retreat. Once Dottore managed to create an artificial Moon Marrow, he received great power more ancient than those of the Archons or even the Shades, getting a certain degree of control over Space, Time, Life and Death.
Moreover, he managed to capture the Traveler and could easily kill them – if he wasn’t more interested in having a Descender join his experiment. But, despite all the sweet talking, threatening, cajoling and reasoning, the Traveler was quite steadfast in opposing the Doctor, even if joining would have immediately solved all their problems and reunited the protagonist with the Abyss Twin.
As Dottore’s experimental zones spread across the region, citizens of Nod-Krai were being evacuated to Natlan and Snezhnaya, while the Tsaritsa allowed her Harbingers to use power to stop the Doctor, the one behind the Palestar Edict and the resurrection of Rerir. The Cryo Archon was unaware of these matters, which brands Dottore a traitor to the Fatui and to Snezhnaya.
However, while the main plot relevance belongs to Traveler, Dottore and Columbina, the rest of the characters are not left without involvement: Durin, Albedo and the Wanderer explored the expanding areas of Dottore’s influence; Varka and the Knights built defensive structures that slowed their progress; Flins, Illuga and the Lightkeepers aided the evacuation; Nicole allowed for distant communication; Sandrone worked on the world formula to figure out how to proceed; and so on.
Nefer used her special abilities to track down Traveler, which allowed the Wanderer to quickly snatch the protagonist from Dottore. Knowing that there is nowhere to run filled the Doctor with enough confidence to not even pursue the runaways or track down Columbina’s friends – he was more interested in seeing what they were going to do instead. After all, his curse prevented them from leaving Nod-Krai, and so a confrontation was inevitable.
Splitting the Traveler, Columbina, and the rest of the characters in separate groups is the best thing Genshin could have done for the story development. For once, without Paimon being there, the Traveler got to be their own character instead of a bland silent self-insert. Admittedly, we had been hearing their voice throughout Nod-Krai more than in any other region, but having the protagonist directly interact with the region’s antagonist and show their character and beliefs had been extremely beneficial as a whole.
It was also quite refreshing for the game to focus equally on the protagonist, the Version’s main character, antagonist and an ensemble of other PoV’s, instead of closely following the Traveler like the most special hero they are, the center of Teyvat and the universe beyond, the way both ZZZ and HSR had been treating their protagonists lately.
A similar thing can be said about Columbina. Previously, I had compared her to Genshin’s version of Cyrene, and while the quest bits have had certain similarities with HSR’s Version 3.7, especially with the whole “travel back in time to patch the causality and affect the future”, her part in Luna IV had greatly endeared me to her character while 3.7 greatly disappointed me in Cyrene.
Instead of keeping to her worrisome early portrayal of a somewhat childish and naive waifu glued at the hip to the Traveler, she had a lengthy journey of self-discovery that had her interacting with Rerir, Tholindis and the Three Moon Sisters, and actively searching for a way out, attempting to help her friends from the past even when it deeply pained her.
Sure, it still ended in self-sacrifice. But, where other characters in similar situations used their sacrifices as a way to save everyone at their own expense, Columbina’s came as an ultimate bargaining chip with fate, trusting her friends to follow the plan and ensuring that she will be there when it matters the most. Having learned that there is no way to escape the prison alive, Columbina split herself: her body turned into Kuuvahki that blessed Nod-Krai; a part of her soul was sacrificed to create Luonnotar and anchor her to the current events and the Traveler; and she hid her newly acquired Trilunar authority within the Frost Moon, the only surviving moon.
Once her body, soul and authority are reunited, she will be able to return and help her friends take on Dottore. Between her messages found by Nefer and Sandrone’s calculations of the World Formula processed with the help of the Wanderer’s puppet core, Traveler and friends got a plan of actions. Now it was just pulling it off against the opponent that is fast approaching the levels beyond gods and dragons, which brings us to the final boss fight.
Do I consider the latest Archon Quest perfect? No, not at all, but it is the best that Genshin has come up with so far. Still, let’s go about some things that didn’t work out as well as they could have.
First things first, the power of friendship. I know a lot of players had cringed hard at the Avengers, Assemble! moment at the end of the final battle, especially when Columbina dropped the epic “It’s not about fate, it’s about friends and family” – but, to be honest, I was neither surprised nor perturbed. Genshin had been largely a wholesome fairytale (with some pretty messed up stuff in world quests and various notes scattered around the world), and this approach had been a staple from the beginning.
Mondstadt? Power of friendship, literally, even saved the evil dragon – and another one in just the previous version. Liyue? Power of friendship, human potential and Ningguang’s fat purse (twice). Inazuma? Literal power of friendship and human wishes lighting up the sky and all that, and so on, this is nothing new.
The more important part is how it played out – and in my mind, with the exception of this one single phrase, the entire battle had been one of the most cinematic yet. In fact, I’d say that Dottore overall is about the fourth boss that had been feeling genuinely threatening – with the other three being Raiden Shogun, Shouki no Kami (Scaramouche in his fake god era), Arlecchino, and now Dottore.
I have enjoyed that the Doctor was not given some tearjerking backstory about how the world and the Akademiya had failed him, or he had a difficult childhood, or something of the sort. Not getting a chance to redeem him or at least feel bad for fighting him, Dottore is simply shamelessly evil, arrogant, frighteningly intelligent and self-aware about these facts, and that’s great.
With the lack of fanfare about his supposed “passing” the game is telegraphing extremely hard that both him and Sandrone will be back at a later point. I’m still waiting for him to burn that tree, you know!
However, the same cannot really be said about the Fatui as an organization. From the beginning of the game, the Fatui had been set up as a mid-game antagonist – someone for players to look forward to fighting until the powerscaling will inevitably move beyond human enemies to the likes of Dragon Sovereigns, Shades, Celestial Gods, and the Primordial One, eventually.
The early portrayal of the organization at large and its members was noticeably more, let’s say, morally gray. You have Tartaglia ready to unleash an ancient monster and drown Liyue just to get Morax out of hiding, there is the whole situation with the Delusions on Watatsumi Island and the Fatui heating up the conflict with the Narukami, and much more.
However, since around Sumeru, the writing took a different turn. Instead, all of these troubling elements had been pinned on various dissidents and members to be portrayed as evil, while smaller things are outright ignored:
- Tartaglia’s involvement in Liyue had been largely forgotten about, in fact Arlecchino and him even joked about it in the recent storyline;
- The Delusion situation in Inazuma is pinned on Signora and Dottore (as he took Wanderer’s place in the events of the region after the latter removed himself from Irminsul);
- The Fatui agents under Arlecchino that were to restart the conflict between Watatsumi and Narukami were explained away as the loyalists of the previous Knave, Crucabena (World Quest series “The Very Special Fortune Slip”, Sangonomiya Kokomi’s character story quest);
- Anything and everything that the Wanderer has done is handwaved away since he’s now a whole new person and the Traveler’s friend, and Traveler’s friends are all good people, if only slightly rude and straightforward from time to time;
- Arlecchino’s assassinations around Fontaine and the attack on Furina? Never brought up, the less the Traveler knows, the better;
- Similar case with Sandrone – despite her ripping a man’s tongue out and driving him insane (World Quest series “Questioning Melusine and Answering Machine”) and her people harassing Lauma and Frostmoon Scions for months before the Traveler’s arrival.
- Capitano… Well, you know, the strongest of the Fatui Harbingers lost to Mavuika in combat, and then nobly sacrificed his immortal life to save hers, Natlan at large, and bring peace to his people.
The organization that was made to look as a group of highly ambitious individuals that have adopted the approach of “the end justifies the means” is really no more.
Before, people were wondering who would take Mavuika’s Gnosis by force, since it is still in her possession – with the popular ideas being both Dottore and Columbina. But, at the moment, it seems like she will simply lend it to the Traveler to use as a bargaining chip in Snezhnaya unless Pierro personally sets out to retrieve it. After all Capitano is gone, Dottore is (temporarily) gone, Columbina is no longer a Fatuus, Arlecchino and below likely won’t be able to fight her for the Gnosis anyhow.
The only remaining Harbingers we haven’t met are: Pierro (the director, a former royal mage of Khaenri’ah), Pulcinella (Number Five, a politician of unknown battle prowess) and Pantalone (Number Nine, a banker and seemingly a non-combatant). This change in the Fatui at large also has consequences for how the Tsaritsa will be seen – at the moment she seems cold, sharp and withdrawn, but also without any real idea what her own people are doing.
But Tsaritsa’s portrayal is something for the future and for the plotline of Snezhnaya. Do you know who is actually looking like frauds right here, right now? That’s right, the Heavenly Principles and the Shades.
Since very early in Genshin Impact, there was always the threat of a Celestial Nail looming somewhere above our heads, with the whispered promise that if the Traveler and the rest of the characters don’t behave, the Heavenly Principles will wake up and punish them. We also know that the rest of the Shades are active – Ronova, the Shade of Death, showed up to collect during the Natlan Archon Quest.
Are they being fashionably late or something? The Tsaritsa is hoarding the Gnoses of the rest of the Seven… or is it Six now, with the Throne of Hydro being destroyed in Fontaine and the divine authority returning to the reborn Hydro Sovereign? Mavuika had briefly broken through the false firmament, giving everyone a glimpse at the destroyed moons beyond Teyvat’s skies. The Captain bargained with the Shade of Death, pushing her into breaking the rules one way or another.
And now we have a fake god that broke the skies again, a new Trilunar Goddess, and the Frost Moon literally being dragged through the firmament and to Teyvat while a Descender is going loose. No? Still nothing? At this point I rather believe that Focalors and Furina didn’t need to go through all the trouble over the last 500 years, it’s not like Celestia really cares anymore.
Columbina claiming the Trilunar authority also raises another question. Originally, the powers of the Life, Death, Space and Time (now wielded by Shades) had belonged to the moons… Now that Columbina got them back, what does that mean for the Shades? Do they share the authority with her now? Do they have priority? Or is it the Dragon Sovereigns vs Archons situation all over again?
While most characters got their spot in the limelight, so far Varka feels like he had gotten the short end of the stick. Not only did the man have to sit it out this time with the exception of 5 seconds in the final cutscene, it is also implied that his entire expedition from Mondstadt that had lasted for years was all about Wild Hunt.
Sure, the Abyss is a cunning enemy that encroaches on Teyvat from all sides, from Mondstadt to Nod-Krai. However, did it really require the Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius to gather about 80% of his force, all horses, and a grand amount of supplies and settle out at the expense of his own country? I hope the reason Varka got shafted this time is that HoYoverse has big plans for him in the upcoming versions, so I will reserve my judgement at the moment, but it does not look good if taken at face value.
With him hinting at the return of the expedition and perhaps making Jean the actual Grandmaster going forward, I hope we see a lot of him in the future versions and perhaps world quests.
Speaking of World Quests, the latest Archon Quest proves their importance all over again. In fact, I’d say that the Narzissenkreuz quest series should have been among the main quests of Fontaine over the entire Meropide Keep bit.
The Genshin Impact team really loves hiding important worldbuilding details and lore explanations in the optional side content. Some of the most impressive (subjectively, of course) include the aforementioned Narzissenkreuz quest chain and Remuria in Fontaine, Golden Slumber + Khvarena of Good and Evil in Sumeru, the Tsurumi quest series and the entirety of Enkanomiya (Before Sun and Moon!) in Inazuma, and so on.
This seems like something worth exploring in a World Quest / Character Story, right, Raiden Ei?
Of course, Nod-Krai continues the tradition. While the main quest has just enough context on its own, there is important worldbuilding and lore going on behind the scenes that is only explored in the World Quests, in-game books and weapon/artifact descriptions. Nod-Krai’s hidden (well, not so much hidden as not easily accessible as it is entirely within in-game reading material) background lore explores the times of Hyperborea, First Angel Koitar, the Voyager Seutervoinen (who is potentially another Descender predating even the Heavenly Principles), and the war that followed.
On the other hand, you can do the world quests and learn of the Frostmoon Scions’ ancient past that includes genetic engineering, their connection to Reed Miller and the Treasure Hoarders, and just who are Solovei and Rauthvangi. Crumbs regarding the first Cryo Archon, Belyi Tsar Monomakh Snezhnyi, are scattered around as well.
I hope that HoYoverse makes it easier to follow these long, intertwined world quest chains and voices (some of) them as well. They contain a wealth of narrative goodness, but actually following in the order the developers had in mind and finding enough of the context within the game’s notes, descriptions and books can be more challenging than beating the endgame.
Being interested in the game’s lore shouldn’t require you to follow loretubers or lore-related Reddit subs in order to make sure you didn’t miss a book that was added 3 patches ago to an older expansion and provides context you’re currently missing. Or perhaps there was a time-limited event that is now gone and can only be viewed through YouTube, like the Mikawa Flower Festival?
For a certain period of time during the Natlan era, I was starting to consider dropping or at least significantly lowering Genshin in my list of priorities. However, with its new refined approach to storytelling and exploration, the current lack of hype surrounding Honkai: Star Rail (despite the new region releasing in less than a month), and the overall Season 2 of Zenless Zone Zero, Genshin is back to the top of my personal gacha list.
The plot fo Nod-Krai is much easier to digest than Amphoreus (with all the weirder bits hidden in the world quests mentioned above). It also feels like it puts narrative above the gacha, with the game aiming to tell a cohesive story with characters playing certain roles – taking the main stage, then leaving for a time, showing up again, shuffling around, and so on. Meanwhile, ZZZ and WuWa have chosen the approach of character-based storytelling. The game attempts to sell you a character with all its might over a period of a single patch, maybe two, then throws them away and brings out a new shiny, all the while pandering to the protagonists. This approach has proven to be less than popular with the games’ respective communities.
Let’s quickly compare HSR and Luna IV in their similar story beats: Lygus had abducted the Trailblazer into Exomyth while Dottore had kidnapped the Traveler, both trying to chat the protagonists up to explain and join their causes. However, while the Traveler’s disappearance gave the rest of the characters a chance to shine and work on their own, Trailblazer got hit with “a thousand years passed, everyone died without you” instead (with the exception of Madam Herta, the peerless gem, the unrivaled genius, the inimitable beauty, and her sidekick Screwllum).
It did work to drive home how strong of an opponent Lygus is, but it also stole the only chance from Cyrene to bond with other Chrysos Heirs, any connection they could have had remained off-screen or hidden inside character stories, dialogues and As I’ve Written. After all, it wasn’t about her or other Chrysos Heirs, it was about the new Deliverer, the Trailblazer, and Lygus as the big bad.
Cyrene’s own real connections only really existed with Phainon (until the wild Astral Express appeared), herself – PhiLia – and with the protagonist, and the final patch only further focused on the Trailblazer being oh-so-special. Columbina was in a better position from the beginning, having friends from the Fatui and actually being allowed to form connections with others. Being locked away from the Traveler and the rest only further spurred her to grow as her own person, having a chance to converse with Rerir and Tholindis, and seek answers from the Three Moon Sisters.
The game is also slowly venturing into exploring more customization and unique character animations. The Traveler has received a free skin with higher texture resolutions, better hair, eyes, and the color pallette swapped between the twins. Although, Genshin still frequently disregards if you have it equipped or not and swaps back to the default not only for cutscenes (which is expected), but also for normal dialogues as well.
Meanwhile, Columbina is quite the animation powercreep on her own with her unique walk, run, jump and so on. From now on, players are going to be expecting more care to go into characters’ models and animations, at the very least for the very expected and teased heroes like Varka, the Tsaritsa, and so on. Hopefully, the older Archons get skins in which they’ll receive such special treatment, too.
Personally, I still hope that winged characters like Durin, Kujou Sara (who?) and Nicole will get unique gliding animations. In other “not holding your breath” wishes, more Hexerei-like buffs for other factions. Knights of Favonius with Varka coming home and getting new drills going, the Shogunate with Raiden Ei and Yae Miko preparing for the referenced “war to come” and so on.
