Reviewing Monsters: Genshin Impact, Part 15: Nod-Krai

I've been slacking on playing Genshin Impact, although it is still probably the only mobile game that I play around to explore and muck around while in transit or as a 'fiddle game' in calls. Which is a bit ironic because I do feel like they've finally gotten the hang of handling the story mode and tying it into a lot of the myth arcs that has been built up across the various versions. In another world, in a better world with no microtransactions and no pressure to constantly pump out regular content, games like these would be multiple expansions that you keep adding to a base game or something. Oh well. 

In this year, the story goes to the semi-autonomous area of Nod-Krai, based on the Baltic Sea regions -- instead of what was initially promised and foreshadowed -- Snezhnaya, nation of one of the primary antagonists of the story, the Russian-inspired Fatui. But Nod-Krai is extremely interesting as a Fatui-controlled region with a surprisingly touching and well-done (if a bit overlong) handling of the local 'Moon Goddess'. 

Not here to talk about the story, though, but the monsters, as usual! I think it took the whole year of Nod-Krai quests for me to sit down and talk about all the monsters. Unlike Natlan, the region just doesn't have a particularly strong monster focus and the game's leaning more towards story and exploration this time around. 

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Oprichniki

With a Fatui-controlled region, of course we get a bunch of brand-new Fatui enemies since evrey one we've had before are all technically elite troops sent out to other nations outside of Snezhnaya and gather information or resources for the Tsartisa. In Nod-krai, the weaker troops are called the Oprichniki, borrowing their names from real-world 16th-century Russian state policy force. Which is more or less what they do, enforcing the peace and Snezhnayan interests in this region they are occupying. Pretty neat uniforms, and they come in various versions with different wacky gadgets. Because one of the softer themes in Nod-Krai is the advancement of technology, which translates to magical steampunk? 

We've got the Bombardier that runs around throwing adorable Zelda-esque cartoon bombs, the Grenadiers that carry big chunky grenade launchers, Support Troopers with shields, Line Troopers that carry chunky bayonets, Medics that carry 'healing staff' (which even the game lampshades as being not very useful) and Vanguards that carry... giant wrenches? To clear obstacles, whatever they may be. 

Like the tribal warriors from Natlan, I really don't have much to say about these weaker humanoid enemies which are really just remixes of each other. Cute weapons, though. 

Oprichniki Elite

A fair bit cooler are the elites, with the Thunderblitz Gvardiya being my favourite. That's a really cool modified uniform, and she walks around with two giant gatling guns with ammo reels being fed into it. That's cool. The elite Oprichniki are nobles or particularly talented commoners that proved themselves in the academy. All the Oprichniki also wear masks, by the way, fitting with the general mask theme of the Fatui. 

We've got the Fireblade Shock Trooper who also has a pretty cool outfit, helped mainly by that giant spear-ending-in-a-sword. Cool scarf, too. The Hailstorm Cannoneer reminds me of the bigger, bulkier Hydro/Cryo Fatui troopers in older versions, although a lot less exaggerated. They bring around giant shield-like emplacements that can transform into cannons to attack. 

Landcruisers

The other type of common enemy is the Landcruisers, which are mix-and-match robots. They're neat, I suppose, but I really don't have much to say about them. They either have a cute gatling gun as the top half, or a spinning buzzsaw. And they either have tank treads at the bottom, or two waddling chicken legs. Respectively, they are the Force Recon Scout, Force Recon Storm, Close Combat Storm and Close Combat Scout. 

The lore notes that these autonomous Landcruisers are named such because they apply the principles of naval combat to land battles. I don't think naval battles involve mechs with buzzsaws, but okay, sure. These smaller ones all are noted to have varying lesser roles, like scouts, storming enemy positions, or going through difficult terrain. 

Elite Landcruisers

The Elite Landcruisers are upgraded a fair bit more, although I like that the gatling guns and buzzsaws are taken almost directly from the weaker versions. The chassis has been replaced with a more armoured design that looks like an angry face, and two of them have gotten little propulsor jets to fly around. Respectively, these are the Force Recon Ground Effect, Cutting-Edge Fire-Support Ground Effect, Cutting-Edge All-Purpose Scout and Cutting-Edge All-Purpose Storm.

I mean, more or less what I said above applies to all of them. They sure are mechas with a lot of impressive weaponry strapped onto them! 

The Wild Hunt

Finally, we get into a non-Fatui monster. The Wild Hunt is one of the primary natural antagonists that the people of Nod-Krai have been struggling with. Based on a recurring monster type that appears in a lot of European myths, the Wild Hunt is the form that the dark energies of the Abyss specifically take in Nod-Krai, appearing as shambling humanoids with parts of their upper bodies replaced with purple, cracked energy and their heads manifesting as will-o-wisps. We've seen the Abyss appear and mimic bodies and personalities (particularly in Natlan, but also several times in older regions) but the phenomenon is particularly egregious in Nod-Krai.

Most of those that are consumed and lost to the Abyss turn into ghouls known as Wilderness Exiles, which are the ones that look like regular humans. But sometimes they go super-big, with their upper body hulking out and growing multiple abyssal spikes. I like that their face is just half of a shattered mask and a mass of feathers. These Wilderness Hunters are reanimated from 'champions of a lost ancient kingdoms', whereas the Exiles wear clothes of contemporary Nod-Krai Lightkeeper soldiers. 

We actually find out the origin story behind the Wild Hunt, tied to the ancient kingdom of Khaen'riah and their role in the ancient Cataclysm, but I do like that there's a lot of in-universe speculation about the nature of the Wild Hunt and why the Abyss is particularly active and vicious in the region of Nod-Krai. 

Fisher of Hidden Depths

There is also a new 'natural' Abyssal monster so we're not just fighting Rifthounds all the time, and it's called the Fisher of Hidden Depths. They're big Abyssal ostriches, but with really jagged anime spikes as wings and whatnot. The description notes that this might be tied to a philosopher who described humans as 'featherless bipeds' to distinguish mankind from animals, and that these Fishers of Hidden Depths appear to be a mockery of that simplified definition of humans. 

I don't have much to say about these guys, they're cool Abyssal monsters but also feel a bit too... simple? They are 'just' ostriches and doesn't quite scream 'Abyssal' the way the Rifthounds and Tenebrous Mimiflora do. I like the variety, but they just seem a bit 'too' mundane. 

Frostnight Scion

We'll cover all seven of these guys together. The Frostnight Scions are released in staggered order across the various Nod-Krai updates, but we eventually get all seven elements -- Electro (Gleaming Charge), Dendro (Tangled Vines), Pyro (Blazing Brilliance), Cryo (Ice Crystal), Hydro (Surging Currents), Anemo (Veiled Cloudchaser) and Geo (Gilded Sunshard). 

The Frostnight Scions are all described as elegant elemental life-forms with immense elemental affinity, creating this vaguely deer-like body layout. They've got massive, almost halo-like bone growths around their head, and a lot of spikes and horns all over. The Electro, Dendro and Hydro variants have long tails that end up in weapon-like growths, while the other four have wings or wing-like appendages that float around their spine. All of them can enter a brief 'super mode' that can be removed by attacking them with their own elements. Which... I'm not sure what the logic is behind that, but okay.

These Scions are... not particularly interesting to me visually. Impressive, for sure, but they do blend together a lot and feel a bit less interesting compared to how fun the Sumeru corrupted beasts or the Saurians in Natlan were. The lore is interesting enough, with how these Scions should have existed and predated the arrival of the elements into Teyvat (a core part of the lore explored in these versions) but have still ended up 'tainting their purity' by absorbing the elements. They do look impressive, but they also paradoxically feel a lot less 'elemental' than something like the Hypostases by dint of just looking like rather basic anime horse monsters. There is some lore noting that they used to exist before the world's elemental system is established, and could have left but chose to remain out of an ancient pact to guard the tribes that once worshipped the Moons. All right. 

Radiant Antelope

A lot more interesting are the 'Radiant Beasts', a group of creatures that are mutated -- or probably evolved -- by growing in a location where the Ancient Moon's power is so powerful, allowing them to harness the energies of the Moon and granting them power to wield the elements. The Radiant Antelope is an over-the-top antelope with the power to harness lightning, with lots of spikes and spines across its body and an impressive set of horns. They go around onto cliffs to attract bolts of lightning to temper their bodies. 

You do see regular antelopes and deer running around Nod-Krai, so it's quite neat to see the comparison between a regular version and a moon-transformed Radiant version. 

Radiant Lunapod

The Radiant Lunapod is a version mutated from a squid, and it scuttles around on the beaches with its tentacles. Its 'head' is not just armoured, however, and it's very clear from the animations that the two 'shield-spikes' are held in place, levitating around a thinner drill-like rocky portion attached to the Lunapod's head. The Lunapod is a mutated version of a local squid-in-a-snail-shell creature called the 'Atapetra Conch', which are ambient creatures that glorp around Nod-Krai's beaches alongside the surprising return of the crabs from Fontaine. I actually kind of wished that some of these radiants beasts would draw on some of the harmless wildlife from older regions! 

Radiant Bladehorn

The Radiant Bladehorn is probably my favourite, since it changes so much from the base 'Blunthorn Rhino' and becomes something quite impressive, with its armour plates looking a lot more exaggerated and having a gigantic forward-facing horn. I've seen this form be compared to the Elasmotherium, which... fair enough, that's a cool comparison. The Bladehorn's associated element is Anemo, which isn't something you'd immediately associate with a monstrous rhinoceros. 

Radiant Glacial Wolf

Added a couple versions later is the Radiant Glacial Wolf, mutated from local wolves and are turned into monstrous, bulky werewolves with ice-rune gauntlets. Werewolves are neat, even if they don't exactly have the usual lore associated with werewolves. There is a nice bit of lore significance as well since it's revealed that the ice wolf weekly boss from Mondstadt, Lupus Boreas, actually hails from Nod-Krai and likely started off his life as one of these Radiant Glacial Wolves. 

Domain Keeper

The 'Domain Keepers' debuted in a new area in Mondstadt, the 'Temple of Space' that our character can travel to. As the game slowly moves from mundane politics and elemental monsters to more celestial beings, the Temple of Space is an interesting showcase of the more heavenly aspects of Teyvat. The Temple of Space is abandoned by its goddess; but it was initially meant to be a repository of all the best cultures and innovations that humanity has to offer, and those that were deemed 'worthy' enough would be granted immortality in this new heavens. Except when you bring a bunch of artists, authors and philosophers and give them infinite time, well... they're going to keep creating. 

The Shade/God/Angel of Space has disappeared, and her minions, these lesser angels, are left confused to try and keep the status quo, and end up oppressing these ascended artists and authors; a far better take on the 'enforced stagnant eternity' story than what we got in Inazuma. 

These Domain Keepers are 'shadow construct' born from the overflows of the mighty primordial beings, and are essentially lesser angels (the 'real' angels manifest as regular anime people).  The Domain Keepers are identified as 'eyes', and I like their design. They're mostly dormant as these orbs, but then activate a single limb that extends in a sword, and its end sprouts a feathery angel wing. Some variants sprout darker 'fallen angel' wings instead. I like that their design is playing a bit of a riff on the 'biblically accurate', non-humanoid angels.

Throughout the world quest, some quest-unique variations of the Domain Keepers appear -- some with two angel wings, some with two 'devil' wings, some with extra rings or whatever -- but are otherwise basically the same thing. 

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BOSSES:

Knuckle Duckle

We've got a fair bit of 'world bosses' this time around. We'll start off with Knuckle Duckle, which is created by one of the main characters in Nod-Krai, resident child prodigy and scrap metal inventor Aino. A lot of the puzzles in Nod-Krai's early areas involve these robots, but one of them is a huge 'battle simulator' that has the head of a duck, summons a bunch of little hover-ducks, and has a hammer and a chainsaw for hands... and a giant boxing glove in its stomach.  

It's not my favourite design, but it does have a unique vibe that separates it from Genshin's many other robotic monsters. Aino has a very child-like sense of aesthetics, and this does have the vibe of being a 'toy duck that punches'. Not much to really say here, it's cute.

Super-Heavy Landrover: Mechanized Fortress

A version of the Super-Heavy Landrover without weapons cameo'd in an early world quest for Nod-Krai, before appearing afterwards as a world boss. The Super-Heavy Landrover: Mechanized Fortress is essentially a much, much bigger versions of the Landcruisers, with four legs, much larger versions of the cannons and buzzsaws they wield, and a body that's massive and meant to be a platform to carry items or personnel. As the story goes, this was originally designed for civilian use, to transport heavy items or as construction, but the Fatui version that we fight has heavy weapons mounted on it. It looks visually neat, but again, not the most exciting monster. 

Radiant Moonfly

The Radiant Moonfly is probably my favourite of the world bosses in that it doesn't feel derivative of something already in the overworld. By its name and classification, it falls under the same group of 'radiant beasts' like the antelope or lunapod, but the Moonfly is a strange creature that doesn't exactly correspond to any creature except maybe the Crystalfly. It's not just a giant butterfly either, as it's encountered with its wings completely retracted, being a bipedal, arm-less humanoid with a strange feathered head before the crystal-butterfly wings erupt out as the combat continues. the result is a rather interesting design that looks quite unique. 

There's sadly not much lore, though, only mentions that the Moonfly's shape isn't something that should be normally maintained -- and only through the power of the Moon that the Moonfly is able to maintain its unnatural form. 

Radiant Moongecko

Likewise, the Radiant Moongecko initially appears nestled within a massive layer of segmented constructs -- which are the orange geo constructs identical to its tail. It's an interesting combination of the gimmick of a gecko being able to detach its tail, as well as the idea of Geo constructs growing and expanding within the game. Indeed, the Moongecko will constantly summon more and more of these constructs and scuttle around it as it moves around the boss fight. 

We do actually see the regular geckos in the overworld that aren't 'radiant', and they are very tiny. This one is quite a cool variation of it, and the idea of the Geo power being essentially elemental-organic parts that behave as precisely as mechanical components is a neat one. Lore notes that they once lived in the surface world, but were driven underground. Some primal instinct still remains, however, and they feed on rock and soil suffused with lunar radiance on nights of the full moon.

Frostnight Herra

The Frostnight Herra is essentially the 'boss' version of the Frostnight Scion, with more elaborate wings and tail and halos. They're basically just pegasi with Final Fantasy style fancy greebles. I find the design to be quite pleasant looking, just like I do with the Scions... but otherwise not much else. 

The Frostnight Herra (and Scions) were born in ages past before all the elemental system and the Moons' fall happened. Without going too much into the lore, this does mean that they are 'sacred beasts lost to this world', working off a different combat system than what we are used to, and this is manifested into gameplay as the ability to be completely immune to the element used to damage them the most during the first phase of the battle.

Lord of the Hidden Depths: Whisperer of Nightmares

We've got a Abyssal monster, the Lord of the Hidden Depths: Whisperer of Nightmares. It's a mass of Abyssal energy that takes the form of a quadrupedal beast -- which seems to be somewhat mimicking the horse-like forms of the Scion/Herra? The front legs are more clawed, and I like the mass of rock-like claw collar around the Whisperer of Nightmares' head. The neck and head is a giant eye-orb that reminds me of the Thunderbird or the plant Abyss enemies. In combat it leaps around like a frenetic panther, lashing around with its tail and sometimes summoning Fishers to help it. 

The Whisperer is forced to take this form because it must 'obey the rules' of the world it's trying to invade. Otherwise, they can merely linger on the edges of reality and whisper madness into the world. The creature mostly attacks with its whip/scythe-like tails, but otherwise it is just a weird-looking quasi-dinosaurian Abyss monster. I do like that we have more variety in the Abyss creatures beyond just Wolfhounds, though! 

The Open-Eyed

The boss in the Temple of Space area are two lesser angels Nihilita and Melanta -- named after nihility and melancholy, two aspects of humanity that the Shade of Space cannot comprehend. One of them sticks around as a boss you can farm, while the other is killed during the storyline to free the trapped people. 

'The Open-Eyed' does have a pretty cool design. On the base side, it looks like just a weird humanoid angel with maybe a cyclopic, robotic eye. But just like its Domain Keeper minions, it's only got one big wing on its left side, while it has only got lesser 'skirt' wings on the right side. Instead, the Open-Eyed's right arm and its 'legs' are all made up of black cubes -- black cubes that are associated with the Cataclysm and the Unknown God that uses these dimension cubes to fight. This marks the Open-Eyed as a specific minion of the Shade of Space, making the aesthetic choice quite fitting. This also allows the Open-Eyed to fill in a trope of a 'half-angel, half-devil' enemy without going the obvious and using purple Abyss-shadow energy for the nth time, but to give us something different aesthetically. 

The Open-Eyed is noted to be essentially programmed with ultimate obedience and loyalty to the will of the one above... but is now in a strange 'eternal punishment', because the behaviour of its master, the Ruler of Space, is inconsistent with the stated rules of Celestia. This does translate to the Open-Eyed kind of ranting while you fight it, although not as much as some of the other humanoid bosses!

Il Dottore

The 'weekly boss' -- and ultimate final villain for the Nod-Krai arc -- is the second Harbinger, Il Dottore. Dottore is one of the earliest named villains in the series, who has menaced so many characters and allies throughout the history of the game. It was a great narrative and storyline moment to finally meet him in combat, particularly since he goes around being a gigantic douchebag in Nod-Krai. He also attempts to ascend into godhood. I could write quite a bit about how I feel about Il Dottore ever since he showed up in the prequel comics, and his huge role in Sumeru, the buildup across the next two regions, and finally in Nod-Krai. 

...but there really isn't a whole ton to say about the boss fight. It's just a dude floating around with a lot of anime greebles flying behind him, and he summons a lot of huge explosive cosmic attacks. Very cool to see, very cool to fight. The context behind his powers is... not the best build-up for an arc villain, but sure. It ultimately is just a bunch of big anime explosions and dimensional stuff that doesn't really impress me; I honestly am disappointed that we barely get any of his 'manipulates a bunch of floating murder-syringes' that his more humanoid form uses in some quest-specific battles and cutscenes. Instead, he makes big light explosions and laser beams and dimensional clones. It ties, I suppose, to how he gets this power, and how he's trying to be a 'new world' with some kinda-digital electric lines or whatever, but I really feel like we could've had something cool with a mad scientist boss, and he just gets reduced to a generic unthemed 'god in human form' enemy. 

It is kind of disappointing, especially compared to the 'ice cocoon into fire moth' Signora and the very puppet-themed Scaramouche fight, and even Arlecchino had some spider and angel themes to her attacks. Dottore is just everything I complained about some of the bosses that just launch big flashy energy blasts, but attached to a character they actually had decent theming and buildup around. Shame, that.  

Reviewing Monsters: Genshin Impact, Part 14: Natlan 3

It's been a bit since we've talked about Genshin Impact, have we not? Well, I've still been playing it on and off, although I still have quite a bit of story to catch up on. A lot of the newer Archon Quests are at least following up on a lot of storylines seeded since way back in the earliest patches, which I really do like. 

But as usual, we're mostly concerned about monsters in this blog and this review series. With the 5.4 to 5.7 patches of Genshin, we get introduced to our last tribe in Natlan, the Electro-element, wrestler-themed Collective of Plenty who hang out in their own little island away from the mainland of Natlan, thus completing our six Natlan tribes. Without further ado, we're going with the monsters!

[This covers 5.4 to 5.7]

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Regular Enemies:

Tatankasaurus

Our new tribe's Saurian companion are the Tatankasaurus, or (Rhino-ryuu/rhinosaurus in Japanese), who are based on Ceratopsian dinosaurs from real life. As with the other five tribes we've seen, they come in baby and adult forms, and the games very freely have them be adorable and valued pets and companions for all the Teteocan tribe members we meet... and we also are expected to slaughter them for materials. Just like all the other Saurians, you can 'indwell' adult Tatankasaurus to solve the environmental puzzles. The gimmick with the Tatantaksaurus is that they can get into a jog and then a battering run, allowing them to smash through volcanic rock and run up certain ramps.

I do like the design of the Tatankasaurus, with the legs and head having a somewhat furry (or maybe downy feather?) consistency. They do still have a beak, but not the nose-horns that the common Triceratops would have. Their head crests splay out into two nice growths that look rather impressive as an adult, with the in-game descriptions noting that they have multiple layers of horn-crests. There's also some green growths, and I wonder if those are meant to be moss growing on the creature? Not the biggest fan of the weird purple-gemstone growths it has as an adult, though. 

I think this is one of my favourite ones where it's not just a slightly more anime-ified version of a real-life animal like the Qucusaur or Iktomisaur, but also not feel like a bit over-the-top 'Pokemon/Digimon mascot' the way the Yumkasaur and Tepetlisaur feel like. I like this one a fair bit. 

Collective of Plenty Warriors

Our tribe, the Collective of Plenty (or Teteocan) are purple and wield Electro. The tribe is themed around farming and... bodybuilding, for some reason? Some of the main characters and unique NPCs are specifically themed around wrestlers, which is certainly a strange choice to make, but not an unwelcome one. This leads to all the Teteocan warriors posing like they're flexing, are given names like 'Wrestler' and 'Grappler' although sadly they don't actually have wrestling moves in their animations. I get it, all the human enemies are just reskins of each other, but I did feel like it's a bit of a wasted opportunity. 

Otherwise, I don't have much to say about them. As usual, the more powerful versions wear masks fashioned after their tribal dinosaur. 

Thundering Wayob Manifestation

Another new Natlan tribe, and we get another new Wayob Manifestation. All of these are honestly quite similar to each other... I like the general 'weird angel' vibe of the Wayobs, but other than acknowledging the coolness of the wing-eyes, I don't think I have much to say here. The lore does note that the Thundering Wayob used to wrestle with the Collective of Plenty's tribal warriors, but sadlty that doesn't actually translate to them having any wrestling themed moves. 

Furnace Shell Mountain Weasel

Another brand-new enemy is a fire-themed enemy called a 'Furnace Shell Mountain Weasel'. Whew, that's a bit of a mouthful! Weasels have been showing up in Genshin since the very first version of the game, running around as little critters that drop meat. Well, this guy is a full-blown monster, looking more like a demonic fox monster more than an actual weasel. Apparently the energies of the volcano that the Teteocan tribe live around has mutated the local weasels... but they also have attached to them parts of the Source Mechanisms -- the ancient ceramic-looking robots that are unique to Natlan. All Furnace Shell Weasels have one of these rings around their necks, so I think that's not so much a hypothesis as an explanation. 

More interesting than the ring is that all of these Furnace Shell Weasels have tails that expand into a massive demonic claw holding one of the robotic cores of these Source Mechanisms. The archive notes that the weasel goes around consuming other creatures rich in Phlogiston (the local magic energy) and accumulates power in that 'shell'. This allows it to unleash powerful fire attacks, and even burrow underground and become a mechanical turret as part of its attack. Honestly, a relatively refreshing new enemy model. 

Except it's not a happy situation for the weasel, however, and one of the adventure book descriptions make it very clear that it's not a symbiosis, and the Source Mechanism is using the energies to control the weasel as a host. That's so interesting, but there's not a single quest or NPC in the entire game that mentions this. But this little tidbit that goes against the other explanation for the creature makes it so much more infinitely interesting to me. 

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Bosses:

Lava Dragon Statue

Each new patch comes with a new overworld boss, and we've got a rather expected enemy in the Lava Dragon Statue. Essentially the 'boss' version of the lava elementals we saw at the release of Natlan, the Lava Dragon Statue was first shown to us in trailers and promotional material as the picture on the right. It's a giant serpentine dragon head made up of molten lava and rock. Pretty standard stuff, isn't it? Impressive, but it's not exactly anything to write home about. We've seen fire elementals in other fantasy media before. 

But then you walk up to the arena where it is, and instead of a giant lava dragon, you see a pudgy little rock-golem guy with stubby arms and legs. It almost looks like a goofier version of Breath of the Wild's Talus monsters. And when you fight the Lava Dragon Statue, it actually runs around in its awkward stubby-leg rock golem mode for a majority of the fight, even getting stuck in the ground and flailing its legs uselessly. That giant serpent-lava-mode is its super mode that it doesn't access until it takes a certain amount of specific elemental damage, and it constantly pops in and out of its shell. That makes it a fair bit more charming than just being a big angry lava demon. 

There is some lore about how the Lava Dragon Statue is actually the result of a failed experiment by the ancient dragon civilization that ruled Natlan, the same civilization that made all these Source Mechanism robots. The dragons had been trying to use magical flame to create a new race of humans... but all that was created were 'hollow shells whose nominal lifeforce granted them no more consciousness than a stone'. So these aren't exactly lava elementals or sentient magma, but empty dolls that were originally meant to be a new human race! ...and you'd think that they would have a quest around this, but nope, we don't get that, either. Come on, Natlan!

Secret Source Automaton: Overseer Device

This one actually debuted in an earlier patch as a quest-exclusive boss. One of the first bosses in Natlan is the Configuration Device, which goes from being a weird mass of ancient-punk mechanical pieces into a giant dragon claw. This Overseer Device, meanwhile, takes the rough form of a dragon head, although it mostly just spins around shooting lasers. 

It's mostly an annoying gimmick boss, where you need to use Cryo attacks to cool down its overheating reactor to stun it. The lore notes that this is apparently the overseer of the many other Secret Source mechas we've been seeing all throughout Natlan with artificial, phlogiston-engineered intelligence. Which, surprisingly enough, did not go full Skynet on their creators.

Instead, they just hang out in their ruins and guard ancient dragon technology. As mentioned above,  we actually get to see the full form of the Overseer and Configuration Device bosses in a quest-exclusive boss fight, called the Primeval Source Dragon Mech where the dragon head and dragon arms make like the rough shape of a disconnected mass of dragon pieces. That's actually quite cool, and even though it appears only for the quest I do like that they made the head into a 'proper' boss later on. 

The Game Before the Gate

One of the patches brings us back to Mondstadt, where through one thing or other, we get into a bit of a test with the local mysterious witch guild, the Hexenzirkel. To prove our worth in that quest, one of the members tosses us into a chessboard, Alice in Wonderland style, and have us fight a giant, ornate chess king piece. And that's the first phase of the fight. 'The Game Before the Gate' (a mouthful name) initially has us just wailing on the king piece while it summons its minions all around it, many of whom attack similarly to chess patterns... and some that don't, leading to comical  scenes like the King standing on a rook and using it as a little roller-blade throughout the board. As a fan of chess, I do appreciate this boss. 

As you beat down the King piece's HP, the Queen shows up and it becomes a dual boss, with the Queen of course having a whole bag of tricks and missiles, like detonating all the chess pieces that a Queen could legally step on; or summoning blades and storms of fiery daggers. It's typical video-game-boss stuff, but the chess motif is fun enough for me. 

This is a weekly boss, though,  which means we get a second phase. At which point we're thrown off the chess board and into a generic boss fight chamber. Like something from Persona 3 or something, the two King and Queen pieces transform into quite neat-looking mecha-knights. And they speak and ham things up quite a bit, too, which I do appreciate. There are still some chess motifs here and there, although not exactly as much or as faithful to the chess game as the original. 

In this fight, the King is characterized as a Pyro-wielding warrior with a giant greatblade, while the Queen is like a wizard that summons Electro and Hydro attacks... and even does a one-hit-kill gimmick where she summons giant tidal waves from all sides around you. Which has nothing to do with chess, but it's neat. They both have different health bars, and depending on the amount of health the other piece has, they will either resurrect their spouse or go into a berserk state. 

Anyway, it's a bit of an unexpected boss fight. I do like chess motifs, there's a story reason for them (even if that story reason is 'witches having fun') and they put in a fair amount of effort for their animations. I like them!