Originally uploaded to Bilibili.tv
Elysian Realm. With Illusive Realm limiters. And zero exploration. And pretty much nothing like the highly praised Labyrinth Warriors or Star Rail's version the Simulated Universe or even the super old Honkai Impact version, Matrix Space Raid.
I don't know. I suppose at least it is endgame content so that's a plus. It's also very very annoyingly difficult so that should make hardcore gamers happy because it isn't the same old Spiral Abyss.
But on a personal level I did not enjoy any part of the gameplay of this new feature. What I did notice was the similarities to other features I had played before. As previously noted it's just like Honkai Impact's Elysian Realm, pretty much a bunch of fights where you get to pick random buffs in between each and then the fights get progressively harder. Wuthering Wave's Illusive Realm is like this too but each fight takes place on a small stage with a few things you can explore. However you're limited to only a single character and there are achievements where you need to use specific characters and if you're not good with them or they're just not good then it increases the difficulty. What Imaginarium Theater did was take the worst parts of these, put them into their witch's cauldron, double double toil and trouble and then put a flaming bow on their new baby.
Just like Illusive Realm you're limited to "season" cast members which are then further limited by both your level (but the enemies are not) and also by a 2 use stamina limit. Therefore the point is that you need to build up as many of your own characters as possible because there's a feature called "supporting cast" where you can bring on some of your characters too. However those characters cost points to randomly get so pretty much all of your characters had better be very good because you are forced to pick I think 12 of them and any of them can be randomly selected. If lets say you only have 8 good characters then you have to fill the remaining spots with 4 less than well developed characters and if they get picked then you just spent a large amount of points on nothing that can help you. What this ultimately means is that this is a whale feature or a game mode that only works if you've spent money on the game. As an example my Neuvillette can do around 10000 damage per hit which is already really good. A whale Neuvillette can do about 70000 per hit. That means I'd have to hit 6 more times to get in the same damage that they could with a single hit. One of the conditions of this game mode is a time limit so if I need to do 7x the amount of hits to do the same damage I will not be able to get it done.
On top of that you're confined to a single room the whole time. Yes that room has your characters that you used so you can talk to them and they have unique lines not found anywhere else. The room is also very nicely decorated and the story behind the room relates to some deep lore for the game. However the game mode itself is just like Elysian Realm. There's a battle stage and in between each battle you get a bunch of cards to pick from which is either the next battle or buffs you can pick before you enter that battle. All of the buffs (like getting one of your supporting cast) cost points which you get from winning the battles and you get more by winning the conditions for each battle. Again those conditions can only be achieved if your characters are very good.
Now I bring all this up because none of this was what players had asked for nor is it what they've been shown to enjoy. In Honkai Impact there was another game mode called Matrix Space Raid. In Honkai Star Rail there's a game mode called Simulated Universe. And in Wuthering Waves Illusive Realm's better features relate to these two game modes. The major feature is a large maze-like map that features battles within it. You run around this maze and take on the enemies which can provide buffs once they've been defeated. You can also find treasure or bonuses throughout the maze so you're encouraged to check all the corners which also means you'll run into most if not all the battles. (in Illusive Realm you have to do all the battles to progress) Some of these battles are bosses or mini-bosses which are difficult but if you have been accumulating buffs you should be fine even if your team wasn't that good. In Illusive Realm for example most of your buffs will power up your Echo and the Echo can't be damaged so if you have buffs that lower its cooldown time, increase its damage output, add additional damage when the Echo is in use or just upgrade the Echo to be able to do even stronger hits then you're practically invincible. The challenge is getting your Echo (and any other abilities) to those extents and also watching which enemies you face at any given time. If you pick the wrong one like a strong enemy before you're fully buffed then you'll likely lose. Simulated Universe is even more straightforward. You're just redoing a map from the main story that you've already done but with stronger enemies that give you buffs until you reach the boss.
The thing is Genshin already had this feature. It was called Labyrinth Warriors and was temporarily available about 3 years ago. It had it all. Big maze with stuff hiding in the corners for you to explore. You got buffs in some rooms or after fighting a group of enemies. There were also traps and "curses" aka debuffs if you accidentally step on the wrong places. The buffs could sometimes make your guys much stronger and so you could pick any of your characters. In fact the enemies run off of your current level so even the hardest difficulty works with how strong you could get at that level and not at the highest possible level. This means all players can accomplish it as long as they do their best. And finally, no time limits. You have all the time you need to get things done meaning it doesn't matter if your Neuvillette can't go 70000 damage every hit. Just take 7x as long as the ones that can. The trick is to not die before then which is more of a skill thing or even an experience thing than a money thing.
So that's where I stand with this new game mode miHoYo's added to Genshin Impact. What about you guys? Are you enjoying Imaginarium Theater? What are the parts about it that you like? Dislike? What would you improve?
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