The best story so far? Fontaine Archon Quest Review!

I thought the same thing about Furina at the ending! So much that it was distracting from other parts of the conclusion. Her words “the prophecy was wrong?” Even paints the idea that she has no idea how she was successful in playing her role to subvert it.

I found two aspects of the story to be both refreshing and very well used: Arlecchino isn't the big secret baddie of the region and the Fatui are not the ones wrecking havoc, and also, the threat this time felt existencial almost, like the entire nation was at risk just from existing, and we couldn't do anything. I should also add that we (the Traveler) didn't have the role of the savior was refreshing as well, we're not helping the world, the people and the archon all the time. I don't like that we're almost tasked with saving every region we walk across. I agree with Chapter 3 and 4, I couldn't care less about the fortress, and the final cutscene was the only part that was actually good and, while I agree we didn't have a closure for Furina, I think we're seeing her being treated more like a savior and an actual idol in the stories that follow the AQ, and yeah, I'm sure her 2nd story quest is going to be cathartic. Here's hoping that Arlecchino gets more screen time, she seems so cool

I think a big theme in Genshin is about the strength of humanity and being stripped of humanity is depicted as one of the worst things that can happen to someone (like what happened to the Khaen’rians). Past archon quests have tried to show this by featuring characters like Teppei and Dunyarzad. Maybe Shenhe too even though she is a vision user, she proves in the story that humanity will be fine without the adepti. These characters actions play a role in changing the state of their nation. Fontaine I feel has done the best job of showing the strength of humanity by having their “archon”, the center character of the quest, turn out to be a non-vision wielding human who despite that manage to save their nation from Celestia themselves through the strength of her will. Gaining recognition from the other archons. Fontaine also has the story of the hydro sovereign turn into a human which in this new form, he comes to understand and appreciate humanity enough to eventually protect them from the primordial sea twice.

Ooo, I didn't even realize that the reason I loved Fontaine's archon quests so much was all the backstory on characters! But you're soooo right!

I’m always surprised how people wanted more Furina at the end. I thought leaving her out was a brilliant writing decision. The whole point is to finally get her out of the spotlight and give her some time to herself, and the story structurally reflecting that was, I thought, a great choice. Her other stuff was clearly being put into her story quest - and it was.

I felt like we needed one more archon quest to flesh out the ending more. We had 2 court focused quests, then 2 jail quests and then suddenly THE END. Im honestly not sure how more people didn't find the last one rushed.

I enjoyed all of Fontaine, if they're on the same par as Sumeru to me is yet to be determined because Sumeru was honestly the story that touched my heart the most. BUT - I do love Fontaine and the reason I love Fontaine is that the connections that I've seen between their games stories is starting to be very overtly visible to me. My interest in the overall arc and story they were building in Genshin is what made me try Honkai Impact 3rd (and fall in love with the story) because I've been so interested in what they're trying to tell as the overall story here. Also fully agree with 3&4 - the prison arc fell flat and left me with soooo many questions (many of which about Sigewinne because please tell me how she's a melusine that looks human? make it make sense to me!), no answers, or answers that were given in a way that didn't feel as connected. I would have loved to have been given the same connected feeling with the main Prison crew rather than a very repetitive (and confusing) map layout. I was heartbroken that Furina didn't get a chance to get anything more than a throw away line with Focalors. That's the thank you she truly needed, they've had leyline ghosts come visit others in the past why couldn't the ghost of Focalors thank her for all she'd done? It wouldn't be the first disconnected consciousness there's been. Makoto did it - but she had help from Istaroth so maybe that's what was missing? The help of anyone with any godly like primordial power? I hope so much for a second story quest for Furina where the people actually appreciate what she gave up for them. What happened to the poor is heartbreaking but I hope there's a moment where the people of Poisson can say "hey, you know we hate what happened here but we understand that you couldn't do anything at the time." I guess I want the growth from the people? Furina outwardly grew even if she still has that bratty side due to acting as a brat for so long, what she allowed people to see showed growth. I think that's one of the reasons I didn't connect as much with the stories in the Archon Quests until we got to Sumeru. I loved them from a lore perspective and the history they were building for the game but there was something missing until we got to Nahida. There was true emotional depth that started to flourish there and despite the middle acts of this series, I feel like they're building on it in Fontaine. I can't wait for more story 👏

I loved the little symbolic meanings in Fontaine's arc, like how Furina's "bluff" in the Travail where she seeks to judge other gods is taken out of context. It's very well done even if some of them didn't land, but I'm biased towards Furina since the beginning so I didn't really "hate" her lmaooo, and it really just elevated my love for her more by the end of Act V. Hoyo really needs to do storylines where we actually get to experience the characters story first hand (Like Furina's POV etc), instead of happening "off screen". Genshin had always have massive world building and lore crumbs, but not showing it directly hinders the experience and really robs the story of its potential. All and all, Fontaine as a whole isn't perfect, but that Act V makes up for it and is definitely my favourite Archon Quest and Patch for the game.

Agree with everything you said. The first two chapters are my favourites among the all the archon quests. They were mysterious and exciting. Meropide was a slog, and I could not wait to get over with it. The idea was great, but the implementation was terrible. And we barely interacted or get to know anything about the main gacha character of the patch (Wrio), it was so weird. The last chapter was too long in my opinion, yet some things were still rushed. Having the whole flood thing in a short cinematic and then walking out of the opera seeing nothing of it felt so silly. Some things were not explained properly, like when Neuvilette forgave the sins of the people, I had no clue what's going on, I had to google it after the quest. While Furina's story was quite said, I could not connect with it on the same level as with Nahida's and Rukkhadevata's story. If I had to rank the chapters, then 4.0 > 4.2 > 4.1 with a huge gap between each of them. And overall Sumeru > Fontaine.

You summed up my thoughts perfectly! I also felt a bit unsatisfied at the end, but I couldn't quite understand why as overall I really enjoyed it - but the lack of satisfying conclusion with Furina makes so much sense for how I was feeling! And yeah meropide was a bit of a slog..! Luckily it was bearable for me as I did it in 20 min bites with breakfast every morning haha The cutscene at the end of act 3 is one of my favourites though

Man! I loved this analysis, there's so much that clicked on me, into lore feeling a little out of place there I've been thinking Fontaine would have been tough for many, as it's more of a totally different story I mean, I highly suspect there's so many retcons there, like i.e. Rhodeia dialogues, The energy problems, polluted waters, Oceanids fled from new archon, the 2 Arlecchinos, hard burocratic law system, the 2 towns like piltover and zaun, But I... Silenced the thoughts to collaborate with the story I've been hearing, As I always had the theory that, Genshin writers force themselves a LOT, to not be predictable, a 90% percent sure, not even honkai hypothesis works well to predict Nice vid! ✌️✨

Yes I made it this far and I could listen to you ramble for hours. Your tone of voice, your pacing and your well thought out content is just spot on! 😊 Thank you for pointing out about the ending. I felt disappointed not meeting Furina and felt something was missing. I would have so loved to see a scene where Furina meets "Mirror Me" one last time saying how proud she was. The fortress act was slow.... but it did give me a sense of feeling trapped. I get a sense it was the intended purpose... although risky to do. The Furina/Focalor dance was amazing. I loved it how Traveller witnesses Furina while Neuvillette witnesses Focalor. That whole scene was pure magic for me. Overall, I also think it lived up to the hype.

Something I don't see a lot of talk about is the prophecy. I really enjoyed the idea of the prophecy and how the story hyped it up as something that could not be avoided. Like for example when we talk to the mage "N", she literally says "lol there's no way guys can stop this and the prophecy will always come true without exception". I think this makes the story feel like there are more stakes instead just having another fatui harbinger as the main villain. Also the conversation with "N" she says that all hope should not be lost and that something is happening in the background that we don't know about yet. I think this was also well done since it makes the player question previous events or plot points to see if they missed something. In any good story, major events should have a clear link to the conclusion and should feel purposeful. With the exception of act 3, the prophecy managed to link most of what we learned and did in Fontaine nicely together.

good video! pretty much agree with most things i have heard people speculate that act 3 with boring routine is supposed to make you feel like real life prison and that it represents Furina's routine almost samsara like life. some of the major hints to this is Traveler investigating Childe situation(who is heavily related to the Narwhal and naturally the prophecy) while Furina was investigating prophecy but in the end Traveler didn't really discover anything of worth to solve the case but instead Neuvillette came in and ended the meropide conflict then and there, similar to Furina who was investigating the prophecy but she couldn't find the solution. Another major point being her backstory opera having writings denoting the days gone by just like how prisoners do. if this is true and it was intended then that's great, makes it seem less worthless but that doesn't mean i won't hate this section because i don't feel like it was intended to be liked similar to how Furina's life was torture, so was this section of the story. as for no conclusion and catharsis for Furina in Archon quest feels like Ei situation all over again because her conclusion in Inazuma archon quest felt non-cathartic while her 2nd story quest did. same here with Furina because her story quest has that catharsis for me and i hope her 2nd story quest is going to have even bigger catharsis.

Sumeru has the best Archon story for me. I lost interest with the Fontaine archon quest during the prison Act and when I found out what Fontaine citizens really are, I didn't care abt everyone anymore.

While story quests are supplementary material and not part of the main story, I believe that giving Lyney and Lynette's backstory a special focus in their story quest worked better for the flow of the Archon Quest. Besides, their operations as the Fatui were a vital part of the Meropide plot. 11:30 This similar sort of plot ends up being used for the backstory of Fontaine around 400-500 years ago. That backstory explains why Fontaine, as a region, is structured as it is. I completely agree that the whole setup with Meropide's mysteries was not worth it at all. Like you said, I wish the Traveller and twins' investigation into the truth was more exciting. However, I absolutely loved the confrontation between Lyney and Wriothesley, and the Fatui siblings were the absolute highlight of that plot. When the evacuation scene began, I completely forgot about the boredom and awkwardness of the time spent in Meropide. Additionally, I really appreciated that the inmates were not dehumanised and dangerous criminals, and instead formed a community together. For me, it served as a communal/socialist contrast to the capitalistic world on the surface, where the gap between the rich and poor only grows. In the real world, many of those who are wealthy tend to believe that paying taxes is optional, and people are poor because they deserve it. Similarly, a lot of crime is a result of poverty and people not being able to provide for themselves. It's even a stated reason why prisoners often stay in the Fortress of Meropide. Tl;dr, the Fortress was portrayed as more dangerous than it actually was on purpose. The community aspect of Meropide could have definitely been portrayed better, but the meaning has not gotten lost on me. Overall, I really loved your analysis and explanation of why this Archon Quest worked extremely well for the most part. The emotional core and backstories of being a central part of the story is exactly why I've been pulling for a lot of them. Meanwhile, I skipped a lot of early characters because I just didn't feel connected to them. The old Archon quests failed to make me get attached to them. The Fatui siblings and Navia are my favourites in Fontaine, but I appreciate and care for each and every one of them. I was also a huge fan of Roses and Muskets event, and while I don't think Wanderer was retconned or fully redeemed, I have the same hopes as you do for the future stories Genshin will bring. Thanks for the video!

I only really have one personal gripe, particularly with how they handled Childe at the very very end of the archon quest. He has been my favourite character since starting the game until Wriothesley was introduced, but Childe’s lore is still my favourite character lore in genshin. The whole archon quest, I was wondering where he was and wondering how we would get him back… only for him to be thrown through a portal and not even addressed until Neuvilette casually stated he was on his way back to Snezchnaya. Like- I was fully convinced he had genuinely just been thrown back into the abyss until Neuvilette said that. Nothing about that final cutscene with him even indicated he had returned, nor did Skirk actually state what she had done when she threw him through that bloody portal. I am really happy with the lore we got for Childe in the Fontaine archon quest, but his final few moments in the quest were the most disappointing for me. It didn’t feel like a proper conclusion nor fulfilling at all in the slightest, and that actually really upset me. It was extremely vague in visuals, and there was a huge lack of “show, not tell”, and even “telling, not showing” until the final 2 minutes of the quest.

Your analysis was spot on for me. I was sooo hyped for the fortress segment because I also thought it would be a jail break/sneak around the prison type of thing, but it felt really bland. Even the reveal was nothing special, it was just someone selling soda in the prison, which was a huge let down. The rest of the archon quest was a banger though, one of the best imo

This is what's interesting to me about the contrast of storytelling pacing & intensity between version 4.0 and 4.1. Just like how we want to write storytelling in music, it cannot be the same pacing all the way. This is because we want to avoid a monotonous composition that exist in a lot of modern music, where once you have felt the incredible pacing of the first half, the second half of the music is basically more or less the same thing. This kind of problem will take away the highlight of importance that was given to Act 1 & 2 if only Act 3 & 4 had the same pacing. Act 3 & 4 serves as the "calm compositions" in storytelling in parallel to how it would've been done in musical storytelling. Again to say, this made sure that the points that were highlighted in Act 1 & 2 to not be overshadowed by the intense pacing that fortunately didn't happen during Act 3 & 4. The writers want to make sure that the story between these two versions can easily be distinguished from one another. That's why I think it is such an incredible decision that they made which I didn't thought about until I watch this video.

I will be honest - if I had to recall what happened in the last of the Fontaine archon quest after the whale appear, I could not. it was just so confusing and a little bit convoluted. I realise they wanted that bit OMG moment but it didn't quite hit me like that. The moment between Neuvi and Focalors ("you're a devious one, Focalors...") still sends shivers down my spine - literally one of the hardest hitting quotes in genshin for me. but besides that, it wasn't that memorable for me. maybe because I didn't really connect with Furina throughout the quest? and I still don't really care for her character, or maybe because the quest was so. insanely. detailed. and soooo extensive. all the court things and whatevert, I felt like we stayed in each of the places for way too long, making me zone out. I dunno, just some thoughts 💙