Why Do We Love and Hate Elemental Magic?

I feel like an alternate solution to the second issue might just be to change the setting? The clichés are probably due at least in part to how people view the elements in our real world— fire can be uncontrollable, and destructive; water can stop the fire and be calm. If your setting is on a tiny island constantly buffeted by storms, rough seas, and rain, water isn’t associated with niceness and calm anymore. It’s a powerful unpredictable stormy force. Fire can’t stand up to the torrential downfall outside. It’s not fiery, hot-tempered and destructive— it’s small and precious and warm.

It’s worth noting that in the lore, mages do actually exist without necessarily being tied to visions (or even elements). Mona’s divination powers for example are completely separate from her hydro vision, Albedo’s alchemy comes from a nation that isn’t tied to any of the seven elements, and while Signora gets half her power from delusions (artificial visions), her other half comes from her study of ancient volatile magic. So while Genshin’s magic is more accessible to a variety of characters, it also has more traditional mages (as well as people like Xiao and Yae Miko who are supernatural beings naturally imbued with different elements, or Childe who harnesses abyssal powers from harsh training).

"How can Genshin screw up in story telling sometimes when they make so much money" You could ask that question so many large companies. Truth is, the most talented writers are busy writing their own story and hard to purchase with money. Also they have improved since Sumeru. But Genshin's worldbuilding and lore are definitely awesome.

The thing I like about Genshin’s elemental system is that is tied not just to gameplay, but also to the characters and the world around it. The nations ruled by the respective archon have their own set of ideals that correspond well enough to the elements they represent

I've never really thought of vision holders as mages even though they technically are, likely because yeah they don't fit into the regular archetypes of Mages and Wizards with magic. Interesting video, very insightful.

I like how elemental magic in Genshin Impact isn't just limited to the creation and manipulation of nature's natural elements. It's also energy projection, illusion manifestation, telekinesis, teleportation, elemental mimicry, telepathy and even pocket dimension generation.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this channel grew big. It has good production, a good script, and good ideas.

One theory about how character receive their Vision is their back story all have some kind of “theme.” For example, Electro generally have characters that view the world differently or anemo infamously have characters who have experienced some kind of loss of a loved one or close one and became isolated in some way. It’s not always like that but that’s the theiry

7:31 I just wanted to correct this (maybe you knew and kept things generic by referring to the power of this world like "Gods", but anyway). A minority of people can obtain Visions only because of some sort of genetic predisposition or something like that, the details are a secret. Gods don't give Visions, that's a common misconception in the world of Teyvat itself, hence why a lot of players still believe it, even though it's false (I mean players often don't even read the dialogues, so that's not surprising). From the dialogue with Venti after the Mondstadt Arc: Venti: As you know, Visions are external magical foci that only a small minority of people possess. They use these Visions to channel elemental power. Venti: In truth, every wielder of a Vision is one who can attain godhood and ascend to Celestia. We call such people allogenes. Paimon: Allogenes? Paimon's never heard of them before. Venti: Hehe, that's because this is a secret that only archons are privy to. We don't need primitive tools like Visions. Venti: Instead, each archon has an internal magical focus that resonates directly with Celestia itself... known as a Gnosis. [...] From Raiden's line "About the Visions": Raiden: Really? So in all this time, no new Electro Visions have appeared in the outside world? Well, what I can say on this topic is subject to certain constraints, but... it is not by my will that Visions are granted or denied. The key is people's desire, and... well, there's another side to it too. Btw it doesn't really change the content of the video, I just wanted to avoid misinformation on Genshin's lore. Nice video so far!

Ah, this is very inspiring for a writer who has struggled to move past the cliched and shackled ways of handling elements. More videos like this, please :)

found this video from a genshin subreddit, and wanted to thank you for your analysis! Interesting how many magical systems have same 3 traits, and i loved how you analyse the genshin's elemental magic! Not gona lie, when you first mentioned the hybrid system of magic, i thought that you would mention genshin's two different system : the elemental via the vision and the pure magic. The magic is something that isn't mentioned much, but in the world of genshin some people knows how to use magic, that are unrelated to the elemental vision. There are witches, for example, and i think one of Amber's voicelines mention that Lisa tought her some magic. Probably if u look into it you would find more mentions of non-elemental magic in the world of genshin. Again, thank you for your work, that was an interesting video!

they definitely paid way more money to whoever wrote the Act 3 Sumeru main story. but i treat the game as a journey not as a storytelling, so i just enjoy the flow with self-insert as the traveler. besides the great world building and how much effort they put into the detail to make it feels alive, the elemental reaction system is also what makes me still play this game for almost 3 years now

just a bit of a correction, dendro is not only a plant power, si more of a "reality and memory powers" and so the powers of dendro is more about nature than ONLY plants, actually the dendro god skill are based in computers tropes than nature

One of the current theories as to how your get a specific type of Vision is that it has to do, at least in part, with your history, but that still leaves a huge amount of room for different personalities or character growth. Like, I think that every Anemo character has lost someone close to them, but no one is going to mistake the nervous introvert Sucrose with the teasingly analytical Heizou or the twisted Wanderer, despite them also all using the same weapon class. Similarly, Pyro characters seem to be very career oriented, but that ranges from funeral directors, to chefs, to housekeepers/fixers, and former military captain Diluc is still a powerful pyro user, but he's gotten disillusioned with the job he was dedicated to at the time he got his Vision and has since quit and become a vigilante instead.

I love it when new types of elemental systems are created. When it's different from the usual fire/water/plant cycle. I also write and in my universe I've been trying to make "magic" more scientific. One doesn't just create water pulses out of nothing, but rather has to utilise what already exists. Say for example condensing the water in the air to form a bubble of water. I'm aware that it has been done before but I still think it's neat. My story puts most focus on a different type of "magic" which could be tied more to biology. Take light and dark for example. If a creature is light or dark depends on its species and its habitat. Like how we call owls nocturnal because they hunt at night. There's also an "element" in my world called demonic, and it works like a genetic trait. It changes the appearance and abilities of the one with the trait (just how genes code our appearance and personality) and it can be passed on though offspring or it can be acquired thought certain means. But unlike in most cases, demonic does not equal bad/evil. Just how light doesn't necessarily mean good. Every "element" exists on a spectrum and cannot be defined by one type of behaviour (but it doesn't mean stereotypes don't exist). There are even some species that ARE their own magic system, such as the dragons. I'm trying not to ramble too much so this explanation is super unpolished 😅 In short, there are many tiers and categories of forces in my world, some of them are elemental which are inspired by physics, while others are more like traits based on biology. Some are even closer to concepts like what makes up the world itself (space, time, life death etc) which can't normally be controlled by anyone.

I get why you said it was more game play/design related - but your analysis of weakness/resistance and Genshin's magic really inspired me with my world building. Conflict is really hard for me to generate - and I think that answered several of the problems I was facing and opened up a new world of possibilities for me <3

I'm glad this video exists. I also have an elemental magic system as well but I tried tweaking them to stand out, but with purposes. In my magic system, each element represents a theme of personal, philosophical developed in which the more you understand an element and what they represent, the more you are enlightened by it. For example: Fire is the elemental of Change, as one can alter almost any material into whatever the need by "cindering", they lean that changes are a part of life, for good or bad, and that knowing what you can and cannot change will help you become a better person. Or how Earth is an element of growth, patience, and/or maternity. To not rush or force anything but to wait and give care to what you're doing so that the seed you planted will become a mighty oak, so to speak. Air is about clearing your mind and finding joy or peace in anything like playing or singing in the rain. Water is about finding ways to adapt and to thrive when in a difficult situation or different environment. Im still working out the details, but essentially, each ekement has like one singular ability, but it's how you apply that ability that makes it stand out. Like you have to get creative with your techniques or develop strategies to use your magic effectively.

What you mentioned kinda sums up why I haven't gotten too tired of genshin. Mostly on the hard magic system part, creating different dances or rotations for the characters I collect is endlessly fun for me and it becomes an extra fulfilling challenge to incorporate not so popular units into established rotations to see how the dance can change.

Found this on the genshin subreddit but your content seems really interesting. I've been struggling with my worldbuilding lol

seems the developers are also getting more and more creative when associating elements with their god's ideology, The first two chapters (wind as freedom and earth as protection) are stereotypical, but they chose Eternity in contrast of brief thunder and lightning (which turns out the "eternity" is to cherish the transient and dynamic nature of ever evolving human society) and associating Grass with computer science and dreams is something beyond my expectation, but quite logical if you think about it. Hence the Matrix references everywhere.