The Shimmering Voyage Vol. 5 marks the greatest moment in a series of panegyrics, conjoined with contending reactions at times. Via the official Genshin Impact Twitter page, 59 tracks in support of the Version 5.0 update of the game were announced for release across three discs. For some, infuriated players wax lyrical about the Bakunawa OST while others think that downpouring dialogue is a well-judged means of hypnotizing away their doubts.
Fine, let’s walk a bit between the layers of spectacle-The album is spread across three acts: “Joy Upon the Endless Summer Draft”, “Fate Drawn Asunder” and “Luck That Leaps Through the Doom” by HOYO-MiX. The links to Spotify and Apple Music fluttered under the replies, so indulge yourself if theater-esque orchestral scores with a tint of fantasy is the medicine in your lifeblood. Players like LukasHesketh are screaming the roof down for the Bakunawa OST like it was the second coming of video game music, but then there is ZuhairAhna86438, calling most of it “mid” except for that one banger. Classic Genshin: never the tag of unanimous opinion attached.
And this is where the story takes a turn. The focus should have essentially been the release of the music, but several comments took the route of an old grievance about too much dialogue. CHIBI CHEF 🔥🧪 TOXIC ORDER VTUBER (yes, I’m not kidding) ranted about how characters won’t stop yapping. “Whether the character is main, or side or doesn’t even want anything… they talk too much,” demanding a real skip-button, not a half-baked kind of one. Which certainly makes sense. Even DessertMaster, who admitted during the conversation that he enjoyed most of the dialogue this patch, had to come to the conclusion that the verbosity is a perennial problem.
Then, iflairr_ dropped a random Natlan mention with the cryptic “Goodbye natlan :(” as if mourning a region we haven’t fully started exploring yet. And while Splitzblue celebrated for the OST, the back realization dawned that some tracks were left out. Classic Genshin: always time for some nitpicking.
Well, what’s the verdict? The Shimmering Voyage Vol. 5 is out, and the music slaps most of the time, with the Genshin community perpetually chaotic. Some have been digging the vibes, some have been complaining, and some are still waiting for that uncoming skip button. If you really want to have some good game music going down, go for it. That is, of course, if you are stuck in Dialogue Hell; well, you can cry along to the OST while clicking through.
And, the next time this happens is either or never: world-class skip feature, please? Until then, Paimon would force-feed us with endless explanations, and it is only getting worse. Stay strong, Travelers.
