Does anybody feel like since Natlan(and even more now during Nod-krai) that tall female characters are made to be oddly impersonal towards Aether?
Especially in Teapot and "About Us" lines. They're less about talking to Aether and more minor details about things we already know. Like Lauma liking nature. I miss when Friendship and Teapot lines showcased how much they care about Aether.
I started playing Genshin because of Shenhe's character and how close she became to Aether. The shift with only tall female characters being more and more platonic towards Aether is ruining my enjoyment of the game and investment in the story. Despite having more than 3200 hours on it, I just don't feel like playing any new content as most of it is just disappointing and tedious.
Lately it's like Hoyo wants to cater to tourists instead. Any tall, attractive,(or god forbid)busty female character is purposely written badly to push them away from Aether.
Lauma in particular proceeded to ignore Aether's existence for most of the Archon quests after her release patch and even in the current event. Whenever she or another tall female character is about to show up, I always think (Oh boy, can't wait to see how impersonal they act with Aether now) and I get proven right 99% of the time nowadays.
Nefer, Zi Bai, etc feel the same. Like we're not getting any Lisas, Yae Mikos, Shenhes, Navias, Raiden Eis anymore.
Which feels weird as they've also been more liberal in making them more attractive. Lauma has a massive bust and her outfit leaves little to the imagination, so why is she so bland towards Aether? She simps over Columbina most of the time and talks to Paimon instead of Aether.
Not to mention that Alice is most likely gonna be playable, and will be the first playable character that's already in a relationship and has a biological child. Feels like such a waste that her design is a fun-loving, super hot Elf Witch. A rather shitty way to break the trend of playable characters not having romantic partners. I even skipped over the memory call back event because of Alice being so involved in it and gushing about her husband.
The previous event Mondstadt where you made drinks for characters did happily suprise me with how Lisa was practically flirting with Aether the entire time. It was a real breath of fresh air!
I was rather soured by how she was fawning over Durin in his story quest to the point I'm not gonna bother finishing it.
And in Natlan, shorther female character like Citlali get very blatantly intimate moments with Aether, but ones like Xilonen are more like "Oh it's you. Do this for me. You're still here?". Yet Xilonen is one of the most attractive designed characters in the game.
I am open to being wrong on this. In fact, I'd prefer to be wrong.
But I just felt like sharing my frustrations in a place where I hopefully won't be grouped up on by a bunch of waifu-hating tourists.