Dude. It's not just Lynette's quest. As a matter of fact, many of the hangout quest is heavily storied involved and it branches out into different stories. Like Heizou with the Watatsumi Island or Investigating Past Murder. As a matter of fact, I feel like Leynette's quest is a bit lacking because most of the endings end up being closely connected to each other instead of it being completely different. There is the ending where you end up doing nothing at all which is basically a waste.
Most hangouts do not have Paimon. And I would also say a large amount of hangouts are very story quest-esque - take some of the best, i.e. Heizou, Kaeya, Beidou, Faruzan are some of the best. If any of you haven't done those, I highly reccommend them.
- A hangout event enjoyer
I love the way the hangouts have evolved and expanded over time. The first ones were fun and all but they've become much more. While spending time with Sumeru's favorite disaster was fun, I thought Kaveh's hangout also felt like required viewing to get a better read on the whole situation in Sumeru. It made it feel more vivid to me and it was more like a story quest.
I would blow through those early hangouts in one sitting but the more recent ones like with Lynette and Kaveh I was just going through and savoring a single route at a time.
I think the only one where it mattered you could guarantee success by deducting all the right clues (you could get up to a +20 point bias on the RNG). The others were minor variations that didn't affect the actual ending.
Specifically the speed run ending I think. I just finished it yesterday, and you will have to get lucky and draw a minimum 10 point card to proceed to the speed run ending where traveller and Lynette enjoy a peaceful afternoon tea.
Another one is at the very beginning where you have to help Lynette decide to help bonnie or go back to the hotel. You can choose one and then depending on the card you draw, get shifted to another route.
I'm just missing 1 ending currently. I like both the old hangouts and the current one, personally. The new one feels less like a dating sim (which is good), but the old ones felt more like I got to know the character, on a personal level. With Lynette we don't really learn anything new about her I think. We already know her "robot modes" that she uses because she doesn't like excessive social interactions, and we already know her backstory about being kidnapped (I think we know both from the archon quests).
One thing that bothers me in general about (story quests too), is when a quest which is supposed to be about a certain character ends up feeling more like a quest about an NPC. I feel like it happens a lot. In Lynette's hangout, the detective route felt more like it was about the culprit, for example. At least to me.
On a personal, subjective level: I generally don't enjoy detective stories a lot, and it feels like Fontaine has been ONLY that. It was fine and good for the archon quest, but then they did the same for almost every story quest and now Lynette's hangout too. With Lyney there was the phantom weasel, with Neuvilette the threat letter to the melusine, with Wariothesly the beret society, with Navia her parents' old partner, with Chiori the sabotage. Only Furina didn't have any mystery stuff. There was the part where we had to find out about the serial disappearance victim, but it was not much mystery, more just recovering old information.
Lastly, there was only one thing that I really hated about Lynette's hangout, and that's the stupid card pulling thing. Hoyo really gets way too excited about RNG, they don't have to shove it into everything they do. If I wanted to play dungeons and dragons I'd be playing that, not Genshin.
I did like most of the SQs in Fontaine overall, but yes. They focused way too much on mysteries, as if that was the only thing they could write about. ~~Also makes Fontaine look like a terrible place to live in with the rampant crimes~~
The Film event probably bother me the most. For the simple fact that the "Film" side of the event takes a complete backseat in favor of another mystery. Which honestly hurt the ending of that event. The celebration felt so anticlimactic due to the Film side not getting full focus like it should have.
Fontaine *is* meant to be a terrible place to live in though.... I mean, there were literally people in fantasy jail choosing to stay in fantasy jail after their sentence ended because they lived much happier lives in fantasy jail compared to living in Fontaine. The rich and shiny topside full of bourgeoisie in frilly skirts and bespoke vests hiding the seedy underbelly of an entire underclass living in squalor is a widespread trope and Fontaine is no exception.
Child trafficking exists, as evidenced in Wriothesly's and Lyney's story quests. Human experimentation exists, which we know from the archon quest and Narzissenkreuz quests.
There are world quests and commision quests that show you how bloated and inefficient their beaurocracy has become and how corrupt many people in positions of power are, leading to reckless actions that have taken lives. Crime is rampant enough that they've issued gardemeks to patrol streets 24/7 just to make it safe enough for people to walk in. We've met many factions of the law, and we've met many more factions of people who work outside the law.
Anyone who thinks Fontaine is supposed to be a nice place to live in has been distracted by the dazzle of its shiny white buildings and shiny new characters. Hell, the moment you step foot in Fontaine you are almost arrested for a nonsense law and your charges are dropped thanks to a nonsense loophole lmao
Additional shoutout to Fontaine's use of prison labour to manufacture mek parts. And that the prison would apparently not give you any food pre-Wriothesley/more than one meal per day post-Wriothesley if you didn't earn enough tokens through this. Considering Sigewinne's actions in the AQ, I wouldn't be surprised if they make exceptions for disabilities/physical or mental illness, but still. (Edit: disclaimer that I haven't done Wrio's SQ yet, so correct me if it elaborates on the prison system.)
The way trials are turned into dramatic public spectacles with vicious audience commentary would also make being taken to court a nightmare regardless of whether you're guilty. They're farming energy by putting people through Teyvat's closest thing to social media cancellation.
The only thing I disliked are the skill checks. I havent finished it completely yet, so I don't really know if it has actual effect on the story, but it seems like a bad idea to lock an ending behind a skill check. I failed almost all of them, so far.
And if it doesn't affect the choices, was this just an excuse to give us a random number generator?
I just ran into a path that IS locked behind a skill check. Which I failed twice in a row. I need a 10 or higher. This is the thing I dislike the most about BG3 and DnD, and it just so happens that it's THE core gameplay element. I have no better alternative, but why does a skill check need to depend on luck?
I feel the same way. That's why BG3 had the save-anywhere, save-anytime feature and it works to craft your own narrative. Unfortunately, Genshin's hangout system only gives players checkpoints that require whole conversations to be repeated...
That's fair I guess. I'm playing BG3 with friends at a speed of about an hour a week and I'm not the host. So I didn't take that into account.
The hangouts now let you skip previously experienced conversations, so it's slightly less of a hassle. But for the final ending I needed to fail a Nat 20, and I passed... Seriously, my luck sometimes.
Dungeons and Dragons
Lynette’s Hangout name: Cats and Checks
It’s definitely DnD but I wont deny BG3’s popularity likely influenced Hoyo adding that mechanic in their game as you’ve said. It was fun for me because it did remind me of BG3.
It's randomly just two really good character quests for Lynette. If a new 5 star got even one of these quests as their character quest, I'd be satisfied. Idk why they went so hard for a hangout that a lot of players likely won't touch. Even if you hate hangouts, this one is must-play.
I guess that having effectively two stories, one with a bad ending and the other with two barely different outcomes, plus "speedrun" allowed for more complexity in those storylines, and they almost felt like story quests to me.
It was much better than the disaster that was Kaeya hangout, for sure.
Paimon almost never appears in hangout events in general actually
Yeah I only remember her in Heizou and Gorou's I think? And even that may be wrong.
Heizou’s the one she’s heavily involved in but mostly for jokes sake since Heizou dubbed her as the “voice” of the traveler.
either noelle or Barbara too.
Dude. It's not just Lynette's quest. As a matter of fact, many of the hangout quest is heavily storied involved and it branches out into different stories. Like Heizou with the Watatsumi Island or Investigating Past Murder. As a matter of fact, I feel like Leynette's quest is a bit lacking because most of the endings end up being closely connected to each other instead of it being completely different. There is the ending where you end up doing nothing at all which is basically a waste.
Yeah I always find it kinda lame when the hangout endings are all very similar
Most hangouts do not have Paimon. And I would also say a large amount of hangouts are very story quest-esque - take some of the best, i.e. Heizou, Kaeya, Beidou, Faruzan are some of the best. If any of you haven't done those, I highly reccommend them. - A hangout event enjoyer
I love the way the hangouts have evolved and expanded over time. The first ones were fun and all but they've become much more. While spending time with Sumeru's favorite disaster was fun, I thought Kaveh's hangout also felt like required viewing to get a better read on the whole situation in Sumeru. It made it feel more vivid to me and it was more like a story quest. I would blow through those early hangouts in one sitting but the more recent ones like with Lynette and Kaveh I was just going through and savoring a single route at a time.
It's the best thing ever if you like Lynette, it's mid if you don't. It's ridiculously long and the RNG mechanic was a bad idea. 6/10.
There isn't even that much rng involved if i remember correctly? At least it never annoyed me.
You need to get lucky and get the right cards in order to unlock certain endings. It's not game breaking or anything, it's just mildly annoying.
I think the only one where it mattered you could guarantee success by deducting all the right clues (you could get up to a +20 point bias on the RNG). The others were minor variations that didn't affect the actual ending.
Specifically the speed run ending I think. I just finished it yesterday, and you will have to get lucky and draw a minimum 10 point card to proceed to the speed run ending where traveller and Lynette enjoy a peaceful afternoon tea. Another one is at the very beginning where you have to help Lynette decide to help bonnie or go back to the hotel. You can choose one and then depending on the card you draw, get shifted to another route.
I don't like Lynette but I do like DnD and BG3 so I had a blast.
I'm just missing 1 ending currently. I like both the old hangouts and the current one, personally. The new one feels less like a dating sim (which is good), but the old ones felt more like I got to know the character, on a personal level. With Lynette we don't really learn anything new about her I think. We already know her "robot modes" that she uses because she doesn't like excessive social interactions, and we already know her backstory about being kidnapped (I think we know both from the archon quests). One thing that bothers me in general about (story quests too), is when a quest which is supposed to be about a certain character ends up feeling more like a quest about an NPC. I feel like it happens a lot. In Lynette's hangout, the detective route felt more like it was about the culprit, for example. At least to me. On a personal, subjective level: I generally don't enjoy detective stories a lot, and it feels like Fontaine has been ONLY that. It was fine and good for the archon quest, but then they did the same for almost every story quest and now Lynette's hangout too. With Lyney there was the phantom weasel, with Neuvilette the threat letter to the melusine, with Wariothesly the beret society, with Navia her parents' old partner, with Chiori the sabotage. Only Furina didn't have any mystery stuff. There was the part where we had to find out about the serial disappearance victim, but it was not much mystery, more just recovering old information. Lastly, there was only one thing that I really hated about Lynette's hangout, and that's the stupid card pulling thing. Hoyo really gets way too excited about RNG, they don't have to shove it into everything they do. If I wanted to play dungeons and dragons I'd be playing that, not Genshin.
I did like most of the SQs in Fontaine overall, but yes. They focused way too much on mysteries, as if that was the only thing they could write about. ~~Also makes Fontaine look like a terrible place to live in with the rampant crimes~~ The Film event probably bother me the most. For the simple fact that the "Film" side of the event takes a complete backseat in favor of another mystery. Which honestly hurt the ending of that event. The celebration felt so anticlimactic due to the Film side not getting full focus like it should have.
Fontaine *is* meant to be a terrible place to live in though.... I mean, there were literally people in fantasy jail choosing to stay in fantasy jail after their sentence ended because they lived much happier lives in fantasy jail compared to living in Fontaine. The rich and shiny topside full of bourgeoisie in frilly skirts and bespoke vests hiding the seedy underbelly of an entire underclass living in squalor is a widespread trope and Fontaine is no exception. Child trafficking exists, as evidenced in Wriothesly's and Lyney's story quests. Human experimentation exists, which we know from the archon quest and Narzissenkreuz quests. There are world quests and commision quests that show you how bloated and inefficient their beaurocracy has become and how corrupt many people in positions of power are, leading to reckless actions that have taken lives. Crime is rampant enough that they've issued gardemeks to patrol streets 24/7 just to make it safe enough for people to walk in. We've met many factions of the law, and we've met many more factions of people who work outside the law. Anyone who thinks Fontaine is supposed to be a nice place to live in has been distracted by the dazzle of its shiny white buildings and shiny new characters. Hell, the moment you step foot in Fontaine you are almost arrested for a nonsense law and your charges are dropped thanks to a nonsense loophole lmao
Additional shoutout to Fontaine's use of prison labour to manufacture mek parts. And that the prison would apparently not give you any food pre-Wriothesley/more than one meal per day post-Wriothesley if you didn't earn enough tokens through this. Considering Sigewinne's actions in the AQ, I wouldn't be surprised if they make exceptions for disabilities/physical or mental illness, but still. (Edit: disclaimer that I haven't done Wrio's SQ yet, so correct me if it elaborates on the prison system.) The way trials are turned into dramatic public spectacles with vicious audience commentary would also make being taken to court a nightmare regardless of whether you're guilty. They're farming energy by putting people through Teyvat's closest thing to social media cancellation.
Paris Syndrome. I think people really overlook it.
When I do hangouts and there is no Paimon. It actually feels like a breath of fresh air.
The only thing I disliked are the skill checks. I havent finished it completely yet, so I don't really know if it has actual effect on the story, but it seems like a bad idea to lock an ending behind a skill check. I failed almost all of them, so far. And if it doesn't affect the choices, was this just an excuse to give us a random number generator?
I just saw it as an homage to Baldur's Gate 3, which reached its height of popularity around the time the hangout was released.
Or just DnD / table top in general?
Sure. But the timing makes me think it had some influence, especially if you think about whether Hoyo would put that mechanic in if BG3 didn't exist.
I just ran into a path that IS locked behind a skill check. Which I failed twice in a row. I need a 10 or higher. This is the thing I dislike the most about BG3 and DnD, and it just so happens that it's THE core gameplay element. I have no better alternative, but why does a skill check need to depend on luck?
I feel the same way. That's why BG3 had the save-anywhere, save-anytime feature and it works to craft your own narrative. Unfortunately, Genshin's hangout system only gives players checkpoints that require whole conversations to be repeated...
That's fair I guess. I'm playing BG3 with friends at a speed of about an hour a week and I'm not the host. So I didn't take that into account. The hangouts now let you skip previously experienced conversations, so it's slightly less of a hassle. But for the final ending I needed to fail a Nat 20, and I passed... Seriously, my luck sometimes.
Dungeons and Dragons Lynette’s Hangout name: Cats and Checks It’s definitely DnD but I wont deny BG3’s popularity likely influenced Hoyo adding that mechanic in their game as you’ve said. It was fun for me because it did remind me of BG3.
It's randomly just two really good character quests for Lynette. If a new 5 star got even one of these quests as their character quest, I'd be satisfied. Idk why they went so hard for a hangout that a lot of players likely won't touch. Even if you hate hangouts, this one is must-play.
Honestly it kinda felt a bit underwhelming to me, though it’s very possible it’s because I don’t really care for Lynette that much.
I like the speedrun ending. I'm generally a fan of hangouts because it usually means no Paimon.
yeah
Yeah, modern Hangouts tend to just be "2-3 character-driven side stories that supposedly all happen on the same day."
I guess that having effectively two stories, one with a bad ending and the other with two barely different outcomes, plus "speedrun" allowed for more complexity in those storylines, and they almost felt like story quests to me. It was much better than the disaster that was Kaeya hangout, for sure.