>>536066496
It's high fantasy looking sci fi that appeals to people that signed up for a primarily fantasy coded game. Nod Krai's hub city looks like a dieselpunk shanty town, Fontaine was Victorianesque steampunk gearslop without the steam power, Natlan was a terribly hamfisted mix of primitive tribal culture and thin veneer of modern urban culture and fashion haphazardly slapped on. Mondstat was as modern as anything should have looked in game and it's low tech level gets a pass for being a starter region. Those belly dancer outfits and elemental animal summons fit nicely with the romanticized Oriental designs from Inazuma and Liyue while showing how relics of a lost culture can look advanced and mysterious despite being ancient. I thought the sages tech was a bit overdone, but considering everything we came across exploring the desert it felt justified the more I experienced the region. Fontaine wasn't too much of a stretch after that, I wasn't thrilled but I didn't hate it. Things felt more rudimentary and mechanical than the Sumeru tech so it wasn't abrasive. They completely fumbled Natlan by merging too much into one region. They absolutely should not have all lived in adobe buildings with fire sconces. Dragon tech was introduced too late into the version and it was completely underutilized. A text blurb saying Xilonen used it to build stuff doesn't justify her inventions looking so disparate. I agree they shouldn't have gone completely tribal cave dweller, nor full on modern day urbanism. My problem is how badly they failed at combining the two ideas into something that felt organic, especially considering how well they pulled it off in Sumeru. Schizo theory time, but what other games did Hoyo have to worry about back when designing Sumeru? Concepts of Star Rail? They definitely put a shitload more effort into the 3.0 version than 5.0. By then they had HSR and ZZZ taking up talent and resources. It's no wonder it felt as phoned in as it did.