Natlan v1 Tester Review part.2

Characters

Although many are already familiar with the appearance of the new characters, their designs feel quite different from those in the original Genshin Impact.

For example, Kachina performs b-boying in her idle animation, Mualani does energetic dances, and Kinich projects holographic screens from wrist. 

Each new region in Genshin Impact brings a fresh aesthetic, but this time the distinction feels even more pronounced. 

Kachina, for instance, feels less like a typical Genshin Impact "loli" character and more like a girl from another game. 

The overall vibe of Natlan is bright and whimsical, reminiscent of Pokémon or light-hearted other mobile games.

To make the new mechanics like the "Nightsoul" gauge and unique character stacks more intuitive, the UI has been redesigned. 

This, combined with the character designs, makes the update feel distinctly "un-Genshin-like". 

Whether this is a strength or a weakness depends on personal preference, but I think HoYoverse has made a bold and risky decision.

Character Abilities

Natlan characters share common terms and concepts in their skills such as Nightsoul, Nightsoul’s Blessing, Nightsoul Burst, Nightsoul Transmission, Phlogiston, area with Phlogiston, liquid Phlogiston, etc. 

One issue is that the game doesn’t explicitly explain what these terms mean within the character’s skill descriptions. 

Even now, I find it difficult to fully understand all of these concepts.

Here's a basic understanding I've gathered

Nightsoul: A unique energy used by Natlan characters.

Nightsoul’s Blessing: A transformation state utilizing Nightsoul.

Nightsoul Transmission: A special movement skill for Natlan characters that activates during certain actions like dashing, jumping, or being airborne.

Phlogiston: Energy that can be obtained and used only in Natlan.

While these concepts might be explained in a tutorial when the update goes live, the current lack of information makes it challenging to grasp the full extent of these mechanics. 

Understanding these key terms is crucial since they play a significant role in character skills. 

Unlike Fontaine's Pneumousia, which had minimal impact on combat mechanics, Natlan’s characters heavily rely on Nightsoul Burst as a condition for passive traits.

Another complication is the variability in skill duration for characters like Kachina and Mualani, whose E skills act as both movement and transformation abilities, unlike Kinich’s skill which has a set duration. 

This variability, influenced by factors like constellations or traits that increase Nightsoul point capacity, makes it difficult to determine the exact skill duration without external resources or trial and error. 

It would be helpful to have clear indicators of Nightsoul consumption per second or per action.

Nightsoul Transmission

Nightsoul Transmission allows a character to dash, climb, or enter certain states to switch to a Natlan character who then appears in a Nightsoul’s Blessing state, akin to using their E skill. 

All current Natlan characters' E skills offer mobility, and using Nightsoul Transmission, they retain most of their combat abilities. 

When Nightsoul point depletes, characters can extend their state using Phlogiston, though this introduces inconvenience, particularly in monitoring Phlogiston usage.

For instance, Kinich’s web-swinging is enjoyable, and Kachina’s rapid climbing is handy, but Mualani’s simple ground movement feels less compelling. 

Given that Phlogiston is required to activate these abilities, they are exclusive to Natlan, making them unavailable in other regions.

Kinich

Kinich can web-swing from the air using Nightsoul Transmission or by holding E, but only twice. 

This swinging ability covers significant distances quickly and can reach heights similar to Wanderer, making Kinich well-suited for exploring Natlan’s numerous cliffs.

However, outside Natlan, Kinich’s team utility remains high as web-swinging does not depend on terrain features and offers some airborne basic attacks.

In combat, Kinich’s style involves swinging towards enemies and building stacks for powerful attacks. 

While the web-swinging offers evasion, its freedom can make targeting challenging, leading to disorientation.

The swinging mechanics might cause motion sickness for some players.

Kinich’s Q skill is especially unique, except him, all effects transforming into pixel art.

This pixelated aesthetic, including a pixel dragon breathing pixel fire, can be jarring yet amusing, diverging from Genshin Impact’s typical style. 

Kinich synergizes well with characters like Emilie and Furina, though her movement often clashes with static buffs like Bennett’s field.

Mualani

Mualani’s movement skill, a short dash with E, resembles Arlecchino’s charged attack but is shorter in distance and duration outside Natlan.

In combat, her E involves dashing into enemies to build stacks for a three-hit combo followed by a basic attack. 

This repetitive and less impactful approach makes her less fun to play, especially when her E’s duration is brief.

Her gameplay relies heavily on the three-stack combo, and missing an attack is a significant setback. 

Despite high damage potential, her mechanics felt so boring, reminiscent of early Eula testing.

Kachina

Kachina is a 4-star Geo DPS, it seems challenging to include this character in any team unless you need to scale cliffs in Natlan.

She can climb cliffs and move quickly on the ground, although she slower than Sayu but faster than Kirara. 

While kachina don't consume stamina, their duration outside Natlan is somewhat short. 

If you don't particularly dislike cliffs, I recommend using Sayu outside of Natlan. 

In Natlan, consuming Phlogiston increases their duration, and kachina can emerge while climbing cliffs so she making quite valuable for exploration.

In combat, it appears that activating both E and Q and attacking is the primary strategy. 

However, due to the lack of inherent buff abilities, there doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to include them as a sub-DPS in a team. 

The combat dynamics were quite enjoyable; using E for a long press to mount and then jumping down with the drill felt like a trampoline, which was fun. 

However, like Mualani, the duration is quite short, so you'll need at least C2 to enjoy it properly.

Natlan Exploration

Natlan is located to the left of Sumeru Desert, characterized by cliffs and underground maps. 

Exploration felt similar to the Sumeru Desert, with many cliffs and a significant underground component. 

Kinich was useful for Exploration, but the abundance of cliffs and the need for stamina management might make exploration stressful without unlocking waypoints quickly.

Phlogiston is found at waypoints and interaction points, is essential for Natlan character abilities, like Chasm’s Lumenstone energys. 

Without proper Phlogiston management, characters might fall short during crucial moments, adding a layer of inconvenience.

A notable feature is transforming into a Sauri through certain interactions, though this felt like a temporary movement gimmick rather than a permanent feature. 

While it offers free roaming, running is disabled, making Sauri form impractical for regular travel.

Upon entering Natlan, players can adopt a baby dragon, similar to naming the Traveler, leading to world quests revolving around it. 

These quests might feel obligatory during exploration, adding to the sense of forced engagement.

Despite the grandeur of initial views, the map didn’t feel particularly memorable due to its resemblance to existing environments. 

Dialogue during early quests felt out of place, with interactions sometimes disjointed or unnatural. 

Later legendary quests were smoother but still exhibited minor inconsistencies.

Overall Impressions

Natlan characters bring a fresh, albeit polarizing, experience to Genshin Impact. 

Their unique mechanics might offer a novel experience for some players while feeling overly complicated for others.

The map itself did not stand out significantly. Initial impressions might be grand, but subsequent exploration felt familiar. 

The addition of movement skills to all Natlan characters is intriguing, though its success remains uncertain. 

Kinich’s abilities were a highlight, but Mualani’s design could have benefited from a different approach.

While water traversal is an advantage, many fast travel characters outperform Mualani on land, making her less appealing. 

The exclusive abilities tied to Natlan characters might feel like a blatant revenue strategy, contrasting with previous regions.

World Level

Raising the World Level to 9 offers marginal benefits like increased boss drop rates but significantly stronger monsters and tougher World Bosses.

Without adapting strategies, players might find the challenge overwhelming, requiring more attention to enemy patterns and tactics.