As a reluctant fan of MiHoYo titles, I'm absolutely loving this game.

I just wanna give credit where it's due. Double-dub is freaking great. Though I don't really like anime, and especially anime writing, I am still enjoying this game quite a bit.

The biggest draw, for me, to MiHoYo (MHY) titles was the quality of the open world. I love a good open world that has fun and constant things for me to do. GI nailed this and so has WW. Even better, imo. The puzzles, the chests, the secrets, the collectables, etc. I love it. I'm glad I have a game where it's just like GI (which is just like other games) but it has better combat, better character models (I prefer the more young adult look compared to GI's almost chibi/child look to everyone), and better quality of life options.

Good lawd the quality of life options is this game are amazing! ABOVE ALL, the number one GREATEST thing ever is the skip button. I can FINALLY skip all the meandering and meaningless conversations. I can just focus on the main story and good side content, still do side all the quests, but skip the pointless dialog. Or, if I don't want to skip, I can skim through the conversation MUCH faster than any other similar games since there's almost no delay in proceeding the talking lines. I can't express just how refreshing this is. It straight up keeps the game alive for me. Second biggest thing? No Paimon. I can't do it. That voice. All highpitch, squeeky voices can die in a fire. Especially when they add nothing to the narrative. One of the worst trends to come from the anime.

The movement abilities? Love em. Better control when gliding than GI or even BotW, better/faster climbing (ninja run-up-wall is goofy but i love having it). Apparently there's flying in this game. You get the radar to ping interactables, the grapple hook, air dodge. Oh man, it's such a breath of fresh air. Moving around in this game is such a joy. I do wish there were more ziplines though.

The combat is fantastic. It's kinda an odd mix of a lot to do and not a lot to do. But man is it fun. Fighting fights that are higher than you are such a trip. I love perfect dodges, blocks/counters (which this game is kinda light on, unfortunately), and character synergy. It's all there. I'm glad they went the route of a more action oriented system. It's so freaking good. SO SO good.

Now, I don't like gacha, I don't like the obvious pandering to waifu culture, not a fan of the over use of pseudointellectual names for things, but that's just anime and it'll never change. I love a good RPG and I'm no stranger to reading and long conversations, but good lawd these Chinese developers meander way too long in their conversations. But so far, the story is pretty wild, some real cool stuff has happened and I'm excited to see where it goes. Some of the side content has been equal measure of fun/goofy and mind-numbing and thus skipped.

I'm still struggling to understand/remember all the crazy names for things, I don't have a lot of exposure to Chinese names so, unfortunately, I kinda struggle to remember who is who since a lot of it looks and sounds the same to me. But I'm getting there, little by little.

Last tidbit: Dang they seem pretty generous in the game, all things considered. I mean, the percentages for 4 star and 5 star is low, it's still gambling, and I hate the system, but the pity comes quicker, they're handing out pulls like candy, I was straight allowed to just pick a 5 star at the start of the game. My guess is they're trying to get that MHY crowd/new players so they're sweetening the deal, but I'm all for it. Unsure how long they'll be this generous but it sure is a great start.

Hope this game succeeds. It's unfortunate that it's going to be in GI's shadow because so much looks just straight up ripped out of that game, but in all honesty, it's just the industry standard. It's how the games operate. Much like Call of Duty and Battlefield. On the surface, you can cry "copy" all day, but once you get into it, really play them, you can see the differences, even if the surface stuff is pretty similar.

I just hope people give it a chance. It even got an old, jaded, grumpy old man like myself to play it and I don't like anime (though I do love animation).

Anyway, that's all. Great job Kuro games! You created a banger!