The animated visuals you see... those are places in the game. The game looks like that. You can run around there, you can explore. And the amazing music accompanies your adventure. When they play a theme and they show you an animated background (for eg seeing pieces of a city or town) that's the musical theme for that area. That's what you hear ingame when you're exploring there. Forget about the combat, and the stats, the enemies, the game is all about running around in and exploring a gorgeous world. Each region having its own aesthetics, color scheme and real life inspiration with a fantastical twist. And of course each region has its own music to go with it. It's open-world, which means you can freely walk from one end of the map to the other, and when you physically step into another region, the music changes along with it. And there are areas within the regions that have their own theme, such as Dawn Winery.

@BrianCarreraShaw

6 ай бұрын

What's even amazing is that you can experience this on mobile. It's not limited to a very good gaming PC. What a miracle of a game, hope it gets better from here.

@kevinirmiter3669

6 ай бұрын

Also it's free. You don't need to pay a single cent to play it.

@MechFrankaTLieu

5 ай бұрын

And all the characters back story and side show , it's a saying that telling a good story made a show and this game certainly so

@kitdyson9468

5 ай бұрын

@@MechFrankaTLieu The guitarist was standing in a place that there is wind in the game and his hair was blowing. That is how accurate the game locations are.

@ReptilianTeaDrinker

5 ай бұрын

@@BrianCarreraShaw It's on Playstation as well, I think. :D

Basically, this is a game about traveling. You visit different regions in the game that are inspired by different cultures of our world. And in each place there's a different pieces accompanying you. Depending on the weather, time of the day and the danger. Battle themes are usually in a loop, while the other pieces switch between one another. It's an amazing experience to travel around and feeling all the music of the world. There's so much love out into it.

@zhuzh3l1c4

5 ай бұрын

I believe it's also crucial to say that you can travel freely between them, and they're not like levels, but are actual regions. And yes, the map is in fact gigantic.

I highly recommend checking out the Live Concert they did in Shanghai "Genshin Impact Orchestral Concert 2023"! Yes, it was actually a live performance, which is insane for the quality it has. The concert was recently posted on youtube. The concert is quite long, so even if it's not a video and you do it in your free time, it's worth listening to.

@frappuchieno

5 ай бұрын

YESSS

@FlamingTuna

5 ай бұрын

yes its so good

@nicholasxwang

5 ай бұрын

this comment is so underrated 😭

@geogodzhongli

5 ай бұрын

yes, I'm going to the concert performance in London this Thursday with a friend of mine, can't wait! I'll be checking out the shanghai performance after my visit

If you're gonna keep doing videogame music, you think we could get a playlist for all of them in one place? Would be cool.

@Doug.Helvering

6 ай бұрын

Good idea! Coming soon.

@Necrom6

6 ай бұрын

@@Doug.Helvering Thanks doug, appreciate it.

Hi Doug! If you'd like to watch a proper stage setting, they recently released their recording of the live performance in Shanghai. I managed to go to the concert in Singapore but it doesn't compare whatsoever to what China was treated to. I hope one day you can sit down and record your reaction to that concert.

there's a meme in the genshin community about how hoyoverse, who are the makers of genshin and other games similar to it, is actually just a misuc company that also makes games on the side because their music is just always so on point. the music they made for honkai imapct 3rd, genshin impact, and honkai star rail are unassailable in my opinion. character themes, area themes, combat music, boss music, background music, they just don't miss. even most of the fan made music in the hoyofair streams are definitely bangers imo.

@cedricmichaud552

6 ай бұрын

I also wish to see him explore Honkai Impact 3rd music too, with maybe the cutscenes with the songs. Genshin has this more orchestral music, which fit the game and its exploration, while Honkai Impact 3rd has more electronical/pop music that goes with the more fast-paced gameplay.

@pimpin3603

6 ай бұрын

@@cedricmichaud552 i think he should just stick to genshin considering he's a "classical composer"

@LieshaCichol

5 ай бұрын

I usually say, this's how your gacha money is being used.

@cedricmichaud552

5 ай бұрын

@@pimpin3603 true

The American game music establishment refused to nominate Genshin music for best gaming music thus far.

21:43 - The koto is a Japanese zither but these are Chinese instruments! This instrument is called the Guqin and I can list the other instruments too! :D 21:50 - Erhu 21:54 - Pipa 21:58 - Guzheng, it's in the same family as the koto because it's actually the ancestor of the koto! 22:04 - Dizi

@michaelnurge1652

6 ай бұрын

I believe that flute is called a shakuhachi (it's been a while since my world music class in college though). It's an extremely expressive instrument. There's a whole genre of koto / shakuhachi music in Japan, which that piano seemed to make a reference to in its duet with the shakuhachi. That lady's language sounded like Chinese, and the instruments were mostly Chinese as you note. There's a tradition of composers sometimes reaching out from the standard orchestral lineup if they want a different sound, but there's a lot of standardization too; it's nice to see something that blends a lot of things really well.

@md_vandenberg

6 ай бұрын

@@michaelnurge1652 The woman singing is Yang Yang, a Chinese opera singer. She is the singing voice for the character Yun Jin, who is also an opera performer.

@ab-wu9tt

6 ай бұрын

@@michaelnurge1652 That's not shakuhachi. That is probably the yuping flute, which is a Chinese musical instrument. The koto and shukuhachi, which are Japanese instruments, will be used in the third part of the orchestra.

@andrewofthevu

6 ай бұрын

@@michaelnurge1652 Yeaaah I'm not as knowledgeable with wind instruments but I believe it was the Dizi because the songs starting after 12:55 were from a region in Genshin Impact called Liyue which is Chinese-inspired, so all the traditional instruments are Chinese so I don't think it's a shakuhachi. :D And yeah the lady is a traditional Chinese opera singer! She's amazing! But Genshin Impact does have performances that use the koto, shakuhachi, and shamisen because they have a Japanese-inspired region called Inzauma! I highly recommend that symphony performance and the other ones as well!

@user-os6hc4co1z

6 ай бұрын

​@@andrewofthevu中国长笛类的乐器很多，比如尺八就是中国古代乐器，有个日本的纪录片就是讲尺八回归故乡的故事，亚洲很多国家都受到古代中国文化的影响，所以很多东西是一样的，只不过中国最后一个朝代是外来民族统治，所以又融合很多不同的东西

Looking forward for you to react to the 4th movement. Definitely my favorite part of the concert. All of them were great though, I wish you've seen the whole thing.

if you want to watch a real concert, they uploaded one recently holded in Shangai, is in my opinion the best one they have done, so definetly recommend checking it out if you want to hear a more genuine and direct sound

For a real life presentation you could check the "Genshin Impact Orchestral Concert 2023 Official Shanghai Performance Recording" that is avalable in their channel "Genshin Impact"

shanghai live performance of genshin impact concert has more melody in each piece. I highly recommend to take a look, because is more real and unbelievably beautiful

@bigman415

6 ай бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/hJuXsbOoXbffj6w.htmlsi=fp9waFTIFz8zMJBc here’s the link to the Shanghai live concert of genshin impact

There's another concert that was played live back in Shanghai and was posted 2 weeks ago (i think). Down here is the link to the video. It's one hour if you'd like to watch it. I highly recommend listening to the ost of three regions you haven't listened yet (Inazuma, Sumeru and Fontaine). Sumeru was so well done with the middle eastern and south asian music. Feel free to check it out if you'd like to! kzread.info/dash/bejne/hJuXsbOoXbffj6w.htmlsi=mJLI103tXwYZXJAL

The amazing thing about this music is that it's literally played as you hear it in the game. I was a huge fan of Nobuo Uematsu's work on the Final Fantasy series and was floored when they converted it to be played by an orchestra. Genshins OST however is created straight into the format of several setups and orchestral grandeur. Developed a huge respect to the game and company because of this!

What? They actually sponsored this dude for a reaction video? That's amazing . That PR team is doing proper work and actually finding really smart people

More Genshin, hell yeah, thank you!

You'd have to actively dislike anything from Hoyo if anyone says they can't find a song they like, the songs... even the ones that aren't as popular are just good and such fun to listen to. I can't help but smile

@kirameka

5 ай бұрын

My boyfriend actively dislikes Genshin and anime in general but even he admits that music in Genshin slaps

we need a part 2 of this

Early! Pretty awesome that they reached out to you. I've only seen them do youtube sponsorships for the game itself rather than the musical performances. These tracks (and the scenic backgrounds) are all from the game, which gives some context as to why their duration is so short; since you're traversing so many different spaces and situations all the time, the soundtrack is meant to adapt quickly to whatever you're experiencing. You might be listening to a slow, relaxing tune while walking around, only to run into some hostile enemy and have it be immediately replaced by a more fast paced track instead. It makes for a very different approach to composition than you'd hear anywhere else.

@clinsen8576

6 ай бұрын

I guess it's because this person actually knows his stuff and pays attention to details instead of just blandly reacting and saying nothing of value. If I personally was working for Hoyoverse, I'd reach out to Doug too.

@bobbywibowo

5 ай бұрын

They'd actually sponsor some existing Genshin CCs for watchalongs of the concerts in the past, though they'd simply act as just that, watchalongs. For this year though, aside from Doug, Marco Meatball was also sponsored for this symphonic orchestra video! I do wonder if there are other music commentators that got sponsored but I didn't know of.

27:05 I'm guessing they went with the same approach as The Mandalorian Basically surrounded by a gigantic, semicircle screen, and with the camera movements synced up with the animations. That naturally lights up the actors by the lights of the screen itself, without any further effects.

@masherjoker25

5 ай бұрын

Yes, It's on their studio and they actually used it on v3.1, v4.0 and v4.1 special program. they use the screen to give the illusion of vast background while Da Wei is talking with the other staffs.

I believe that Genshin Impact at this point may have largest soundtrack of any videogame ever just by sheer volume of tracks and length. As you said, these are essentially just vignettes taken from the game. I recognize some of these as being somewhat condensed versions of parts of the OST and obviously there are many, many more pieces. As for how they managed the lighting, I would guess that they probably used something like the StageCraft system which was used for the Mandalorian. It's essentially a massive wraparound screen that plays video that can do dynamic lighting for the set/stage. That seems to me like the most practical way to achieve the effects they did for this production.

The usage of local cultural musical instruments for their musics are their core strength. I was blown away when the usage of Sitar in orchestral performance.

Lovers Oath is probably my favorite OST track in the early game. There's a version with Fenale Voice and it's incredibly soothing and heartbreaking at the same time.

@_HuaCheng

5 ай бұрын

Yep.. I cried when they played Lover's oath during the concert 🥲

That was really nice!!! It would be cool to see what you think of the remaining 3 movements!!! 😀

Oh wow! Unexpected but great reaction video! Genshin concerts are great, nice to see you reacting to it.

Wow didn't expect this. Amazing to see you react to this beautiful concert ❤

Not really a player of this game, but the scores are darn enjoyable to listen to and it actually got a cool story on top of that ❤ And there's so much to listen to, too and it's honestly quite nice quality music, too, especially considering it's a free to play game as well 😊

Really happy to see this on your channel. Fun fact: there are over 900 music tracks in Genshin Impact, and if you bought all of the 20+ soundtrack albums and played them back to back you would have more than 24 hours of music to listen to! The soundtrack of the game is dynamic, with each location in the game having several tracks that will be played at random, the tracklist changing if you enter into another area, and also at certain times of day (in-game time). There are battle themes that will kick in when combat occurs, and each playable character also has their own theme that is used in a promotional video when they are added to the game - the track written for Klee was at the end of the 1st movement, for example.

Can’t wait to see you react to the other movements

I always enjoy hearing something new. A nice start to the weekend. :) Cheers for the new year and much happiness. :)

Just as with Nightwish before, I recently got to attend a Genshin Concert, in the Golden Hall of Vienna of all places, and - quite like Nightwish - it was a life-changing event. In part because of the acoustics in the Hall, which are... they defy explanation. You need to experience it for yourself, it its unlike anything I have ever witnessed, and I went to quite a few concert halls in my admittedly rather short life thus far. But the Music is magical. Yu-Peng Chen (the main composer for most of the Games seemingly endless catalogue of a soundtrack) has clearly taken care to create stunning music filled with passion, with depth and grandeur unlike most other game soundtracks ive heard. Because the music of each of the 7 nations draws on the given nations theme, and because said theme is based in a culture extant in real life, listening to the different movements also means you get to experience different cultures from all across the globe. The Musical Journey becomes a metaphor for the real journey, the journey through the game for journeying the world and all it has to offer. From the European walls of Mondstadt, city of freedom to the Halls of Judgement and the Opera Epiclese in the french city of Fontaine, this game and its music are a delightful voyage of discovery and, at the end, deep gratitude for the splendors this life has to offer.

Love the comment about breaking through the traditinist and introducing contemporary instruments to create something new. Genshin has 7 nations and each of the 5 movements are based on each nation. The first is inspired by Germany and the second by China. So we have a lovely set of different styles of world music that mixes old and new and east and west

Beautiful music. So much art in this. Thank you. I look forward to hearing more.

24:30 they were like, "uuuh lets incorporate traditional chinese opera" and then absolutely killed it

I'm so happy another musical expert got hooked on Genshin amazing music 😀

Genshin Impact is an open world game where players get to travel around and explore different regions. So the musics are like the theme of each scenes, characters, and locations. I personally like the movement 4 of the Sumeru region the most. So I want to see you listen to that and the rest of the concert as well.

need a part 2

Such a great reaction, thank you so much once again!

Some of the songs are character themes, others are ones u hear in the open world when u go to these specific places in specific times, others in cutscenes...

I like it. More genshin!

mr.doug please i beg , please more of this TT_TT, do you know mr. doug , they have all concert also the live concert too. orchestral music and traditional music saved. in this game, there are 7 region (recently 5) and each respective region based on our real life nation/region. like in this video , you watched 2 of this 2 region representation. the 1st is mondstad based on germany. and the 2nd is Liyue based on china. the music they used also used traditonal music based on the region. please mr. doug more of this i really love this

im so glad you reacted to this! i love genshin and its music and so cool to hear your insights on it 🥰 Hope you react to the rest of the concert, its amazing 🔥 And yes i hope you download and play the game, its great!

Can you imagine? They made this for a free game. Damn.

I strongly recommend watching their video of the 'Sumeru Live Symphony Performance', you might also like 'Hustle and Bustle of Ormos', pretty much everything from their Sumeru region is amazing. Yet another is 'Die Mittsommernacht-Fantasie', from their summer event. The most recent nation to be released in the game is Fontaine, one that you would probably enjoy from there is 'Raven Gloss of Darkness'.

Part 2 please

If you want to see Genshin Impact music in a truly live setting, you should definitely do a reaction to the official live recording of the recent orchestral concert held in Shanghai - "Genshin Impact Orchestral Concert 2023"! It's amazing to see It all on a live stage with an audience!

Loved seeing you geuinely having fun watching the concert.

You recognized a 4-mallet marimba; so rare. I played marimba in my youth, but the last time I had my hands on one was 40 years ago. Thanks for your detailed analysis!

Tysm for ur reactions..., I'll wait for the next one!!!! Really made my day!! God bless!!

I am both surprised and not surprised that you got contacted by hoyo to make a video on genshin

Hi Doug! I found your channel through this video, and I would really enjoy your reaction to movements 3 and 5 (Japanese and French/Italian? inspirations respectively) I would especially enjoy seeing your reaction to the music as one would encounter it when playing. I have been playing genshin impact since about a month after it's release in 2020, and I love the story of the game. I certainly do recommend it! You should know that Genshin Impact is a live service game, meaning that more story/a fun event is released every 6 weeks for the game.

I expect they were either surrounded by hi-fidelity screens so "naturally lit" or they were on a green screen stage and all the lighting was done in editing

I cant wait for the rest of the rest of the concert

genshin's live concerts are amazing, really a treat to hear and see ❤

This is absolutely gorgeous!

I very much hope you will do videos on the other 3 parts too. It was an enjoyable watch.

few notes, -the animation you are talking about are all In game locations, like you can recreate those scenes if you go there, -the music you hear are all ingame musics , it switches between day/night/battle. -hoyoverse is actually a music company disguised as a game company (fan theory).

Pls check the Shanghai concert as well.. it was live on stage

Oh no. You should have watched the Shanghai Concert in Mercedez Benz stadium! Its in Genshin's official youtube page.

You gotta do Inazuma Symphony, is amazing.

I CAN'T GET OVER THE LIGHTING EITHER!!!

This was really pleasant to hear! Great video! Happy new Year, btw. 😃👍

Thank you so much for this. As someone who has been both a musician and a nerd my entire life, I love seeing people from the more traditional side of music dipping their toes into gaming and anime music more. It’s so fun to see those two realms collide, and I’m so thankful that people like you are acknowledging the talent and skill that goes into these kinds of music. Keep it up! Also, side note, but you remind me so much of my college voice teacher and that just makes me smile every time I watch your videos. ☺️

I hope you do a video for all the remaining movements. They are all really amazing.

Glad they reached out to you and hopefully gave you some dough for this video lol. You can probably find the longer versions or the full-concerts on youtube as well.

Doug this was recorded in the same type of studio where Disney films "The Mandalorian". The entire roof and back surrounding walls are screens. This accurately reproduces the light of what is on the screens.

Thank you! I hope you will react to the previous concerts, they had longer versions and a lot of other pieces that I just adore with my whole heart🥰

One thing that has always struck me about the music in Genshin, beyond the cultural variety, is the steadily evolving instrument variety. As symphonic music has evolved, or rather hasn't in some aspects over the centuries, It has been slow to adopt new or exotic instruments. A good example is the saxophone which despite being 180 years old and widespread has remained mostly absent from symphonic orchestrations, instead only really coming to prominence in the big band era or with jazz bands. Genshin is an example of how instrumentation can be experimented with in ways that allows your traditional strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion to be mixed with the timbre and tonality of more modern instruments like modern drum kits, electric guitars, and the plethora of culturally distinct instruments from around the world.

movements 3-5 happen to be my favorites of the concert, though I am really looking forward to seeing what you have to say about movement 4 (there is some crazy stuff going on).

I would love to see your react to Michiru Yamane's works, she's a composer for games like Castlevania and Skullgirls. I would also love to see how you react to ZUN's music, he makes ost for his game series Touhou Project and there are some interesting pieces too, like "Hartmann's Youkai Girl" and "Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke"

Always love how accepting you are of new music presented in new ways from across all mediums. Would love to see you do one for the recent Honkai Star Rail symphony that the creators of this one put together, personally I found it to be more story book in it's presentation and flowing from one track to the next. Obviously lacking context of the characters or moments that the songs pull from the games loses some of the meaning but I do appreciate how much of a spectacle they make of these performances.

26:33 if you want to see a full symphony concert, they did one in Shanghai that is also on their KZread channel :D

Can't wait to see the continuation of this

so good

Please do the Shanghai concert recording that was posted recently on the same channel! I think it would provide everything you're asking for! (i.e. length & traditional setting)

You should check out the "Genshin orchestral concert recording shanghai performance" its on youtube and its live

This was really fun!

This video led me to your channel for the first time. I loved your reaction and enthusiasm to the music of one of my favourite games. Picking more genshin music for you to indulge in tho? Where to start? There is so much! Many different areas with different real world influences and instruments. As a musician myself, I can't help but love delving into new areas to find out what music I will find. Great video, I'm gonna check out more

21:52 Erhu Funnily enough, I ordered one recently and it arrived just 2 days ago

@hundvd_7

6 ай бұрын

And by the way, you are "right" that the previous one is a koto, but this is specifically the Chinese variation: guzheng

It was recorded on an XR screen, which was popularised around 2021 I think, it’s like a Green Screen but more accurate to as it won’t reflect green on reflective surfaces or make it so you can’t have green ornaments in frame. It’s actually getting more and more popular for video game companies to stream such content as well outside of its intended use for movies

Just aside… have you listened to Rick Wakeman’s “Journey to the center of the earth”?

The music in Genshin is amazing! Incredible work and talented people. I really appreciate it

part2 please!

Waiting next parts)

Love your videos so much!! Looking forward to more genshin reactions in the future, but if that's not happening it's alright I'm already grateful for the ones you've already made, enjoyed it very much❤ And also I personally hope you'll listen to the enkanomia music from genshin, it's so beautiful, full of sorrow, longing for a saving that would never come... When you listen to it it feels like you're alone in the void but it's so breathtaking and beautiful that it doesn't even sadden you. It's especially great to listen to when you know the story behind this place, just hits differently But even without this knowledge it's really nice

watch the one in Shanghai.. it's real orchestral concert...

You gotta see the fontaine music, I suggest rondeau des fleurs et des rapieres, which is also from genshin, based on french-like region, or gilded runner, which uses fibonacci sequence for it's tempo (more of an arabic motive), or duel in the mist, which is mixing japanese and western music very cleanly. You can pretty much pick out any musical composition from this game, and it will blow your mind by how beautiful it is.

I really love the music in this game ^ ^

9:17 so essentially all the music you hear in the first movement is from version 1.0 which was released in 2020. They update the game every 6th week and we’re now in version 4.3. Every song you hear is either from a in-game location, character theme, boss battle or cutscene. Upon release the game had approx. 150 tracks. As of now, they have released 913 tracks on streaming platforms, and that’s not even all the music (the latest music always stay in-game some time before releasing on streaming-platforms)

Can’t wait for you to react to the next part.

It was great to hear your breakdown of the music. As a longtime gamer, I feel like Genshin is the first game in a long time to invest so much effort into the music of the game. Some other commenter probably already explained to you - each piece is from a different location in the game. The game is primarily open space that you can ~freely explore around in; moving between set "zones" will change the music (and these are the backgrounds you see). The playable characters (such as the girl in red at 11:05, Klee, who is a playful young girl; and 14:13, Hutao, who is both a prankster and a director of a funeral parlor--the ghost is her companion!) each have their own theme song (and video introductions, which you can find on KZread as well!) The Traveler (the boy in blonde hair at the start) can be considered the "main character", as the game roughly follows his journey through the world; I believe he has his own motif, which also gets snuck into the battle themes for every zone. Although many of the other playable characters also have motifs as well, which sometimes get inserted into other characters' themes (for example, if those two characters have a close relationship, to match an "introduction" video for the character). Someone probably mentioned this too from La Signora's theme -- Genshin takes a lot of inspiration from real-world cultures. Movement 1 is the land named "Mondstadt", inspired by Germany; Movement 2 is the land named "Liyue" inspired by China; and so on. There's so much worldbuilding, and the effort they put into the music makes it all that much more immersive. It's wonderful. And this game can be played on a smartphone!! You don't even need a whole "gamer PC" or anything!

@katl8825

5 ай бұрын

18:45 -- Traveler's motif is that series of four notes (repeated twice at this time stamp) if I remember correctly? Anyways! They've released orchestral performances for each of the areas -- if you go through the comments of those, you will see many comments breaking down the traditional instruments used. My favorite area performance so far is Sumeru (kzread.info/dash/bejne/iKaElc6IY8StdMo.html) which draws inspiration from what used to be Sumer, i.e. modern day Middle East area.

Can’t wait for the rest of the reactions

can't wait for the next three movements video

to get the lighting on teh performers so accurate it's possible they didnt use greenscreen on the walls, but actual LED screens !!

Devastation and Redemption makes me cry every time.

This is the online concert for the game , there is an offline concert that they've posted awhile ago.

It's so nostalgic and made me cry. I started this game three years ago.

I sadly fell out of love with the game itself but i will still always come back for the music. The games world consists of multiple regions all inspired by reallife locations and each of the regions uses instruments of its reallife counterpart. This gives each region a very very unique feeling and brings for example traditional Chinese sounds to such a huge audience the might have never otherwise. i with more games would celebrate their music in such a way.

still waiting on part 2! 😭

My favorite part is third, which is about Japan-themed area in the game. Inazuma shines eternal! However, every single bit of music in that game is gorgeous and unique. The only problem with this concert is it briefly cover up only like 1/30 of all musics in game =) for example, there is no Enkanomia music themes at all, and i sometimes just travel there to listen its calm and sad bits. Good part is every single track is avaliable on youtube anyway. For the game itself, it have some minor flaws, but people get used to them very fast. Combat is very fun and accesible in the same time, stories are from good to excelent, lore hole is as deep as you want it to be (for instance one time i ended up deciphering texts on town bilboards to read some eldritch scripts radomly appeared in deep cavern). You can play the game any amount of time you want, and mobile version is best of open world game expirience you can have on mobile for this time. Most issues centered around english voice for some certain characters and early story is quite slow-paced.