#i dislike dori’s design more than yours but i remembered that she exists after i wrote this so oh well

[clearcloudlesssky]

LEAST favorite genshin character? (if you say diluc i will sob)

ok you know who it really is, but for your sake i’ll pick someone else

zhongli.

QUICK PREFACE I’M NO EXPERT ON TRADITIONAL CHINESE CLOTHING — THIS IS MY UNCULTURED TAKE. PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I SAY ANYTHING INCORRECT OR LORE INACCURATE.

also no hate to people who do like him, this is just a personal opinion

first off, he evokes one of my character design pet-peeves, the rat tail. again. he looks as if he was intended to have short hair, then some hoyo dev looked and said “no, we need him to have long hair.” and so they took a ponytail glued to a pin and rammed it into the back of his head. it makes no sense. if he’s going to have a ponytail, make it work with the rest of his head. i don’t mind short locks in the front, but not like this.

secondly i just. kind of feel like his design in general is a bit boring? like not nahida level boring, that’s near impossible to beat, but boring considering his character.

like yes, there’s the classic genshin detailing and elaborateness, but it feels a bit detached to me? ultimately it just boils down to a suit. they try to make it look more interesting via the geo patterns, and they hint a little bit towards the inhuman (dragon?) elements of his character via the scales, but just. that’s it?? boring. there’s character designs by hoyo that do so much better at connecting the details to the character, while tying in culture and making it interesting.

plus, i get that his thing is that he’s “trying to blend with modern humans”, and that can sort of justify the suit? like maybe you can explain it away with themes of modernization and moving away from the past/into the future, but still. it’s really boring the way they did it. this is a fantasy game, and they slapped the geo archon in a boring suit. it just doesn’t feel like it meshes well with his story at all.

i’d kill for some more dragon to peek out of his design. also just, if he was really trying to blend into modern day liyue, why a suit? literally 99% of native liyue NPCs that we meet and see are wearing clothing that orients more towards traditional wear, so in my opinion, zhongli’s (seemingly western) suit actually makes him stand out.

also hoyo is capable of blending traditional outfits with suits and make it sort of work (ex ayato. the sleeves are kinda goofy though), so zhongli’s suit kind of makes me want to laugh. plus like, what does it reflect about his character? why that particular suit? like you can argue that it makes him look gentlemanly, and hints towards a non-physical trade, but what else? why a suit? ANSWER ME HOYO.

also this is why zhongli is never beating the cockroach allegations.

i’ve rambled about design stuff for awhile so i’ll just wrap it up by saying that his actions during the archon quest kind of turned me off. i’m aware that literally everyone says that “he was watching, if anything went wrong he would have stepped in” but like. it doesn’t really change the fact that he placed liyue into danger. “he was on the sidelines” doesn’t reassure me.

tldr his outfit doesn’t really make sense to me, and his archon quest actions kinda turned me off

ok i just remembered dori exists and i also somewhat dislike her but i already wrote this so…

#zhongli #genshin impact #genshin liyue #rex lapis #zhongli kinda sucks… #to be fair though i can’t actually find it in me to hate any genshin characters #mild dislike at most #none are totally intolerable to me #sorry zhongli this is a objective design take #i dislike dori’s design more than yours but i remembered that she exists after i wrote this so oh well #answering asks #ash!! #zhongli genshin impact