Genshin Impact Luna VIII - Welcome back home Sandrone! Now yuri!
Genshin Impact Luna VIII, the last of the Luna series versions, is out today with the much-awaited reunion with Sandrone (Marionette Guillotin) after the catastrophic battle against Dottore. Honestly, the hype was at its peak for me and I was ready for it to disappoint me because of that, but it all turned out alright.
The story starts strong with various scenes of Citlali, who was a central piece of this event, and—whoa—they upped the animations greatly to the point that I was wondering if I had jumped into the wrong game. Between Nod Krai's initial improvements and this, it feels like the game is finally moving on to reach new heights.
Of course, we had the usual host of old characters appearing; this is a Fontaine-based area, so the ever-present Furina, Navia, Charlotte, and Chevreuse were there, but also many others with lesser roles. It's one of the things I like about Genshin Impact: they really reuse their characters and make them feel "alive."
Of course, the main character of the story was Sandrone, going through her past to find the truth behind the "legacy" of Alain. It was nice to see their home and how all this connected with the whole Narzissenkreuz side quest. I really suggest everyone give it a shot; it's a very long side quest, but it's worth every second and gives more insight into the whole story behind Alain and the other people you'll see mentioned here.
If Sandrone was the protagonist, then Columbina was clearly the heroine. She noticed multiple times that something was afoot, but Sandrone wasn't sure what the best way to meet her again was. The moment when Sandrone broke through and just pulled Columbina into her arms was so emotional and yuri that I was squealing.
I also liked the scene where Columbina started to talk in front of Alain's grave; it's like they're not even hiding it. It's clearly the "I'll take care of her right now" scene that we've seen in many anime, with the main heroine talking to the deceased parents of the protagonist. They can't spell it out loud, but...
There's so much more I would like to talk about, like Pulonia's fate, the whole technology aspect of robots in this world, and the Rene angle during the battle against the giant Oceanid, but that would just be me rambling. Go and experience it yourself because it's worth it.
I'm not fully sure, as I focused on the event immediately as I logged in (after rolling for Sandrone, of course), but apparently there's also a continuation of the main story to connect to Snezhnaya. If that's true, I'll give it a shot later and may come back with another post on this blog.
Either way, now we wait until Snezhnaya in late August, and I'm really excited to know what will await us there. The design of the Tsaritsa turned out alright, and there's a good chance we're going to see the Shades in action too. Genshin has never been better, and it's a testament to how well the game has been managed by Hoyoverse.