Ever since Tower of Fantasy came out, gamers who have a particular liking for gacha games like Genshin Impact have been comparing both in all their aspects.
As someone who started playing Genshin around the first few months of its release, I tried my hand at Tower of Fantasy at launch. After getting some hours in Tower of Fantasy, here are 10 reasons why I find Genshin Impact to be better than Tower of Fantasy.
There’s a lot to unpack here especially since I find Tower of Fantasy to be filled with potential. But it just didn’t live up to its name of being the “Genshin Killer” as Hotta Studio tried to hype up their MMORPG’s release.
10 reasons why Genshin Impact is definitely better than Tower of Fantasy
1. Map
The first thing I’d like to point out is the difference between both games’ maps. When I first logged onto Tower of Fantasy and played through the opening sequence, I was blown away by how big the map was. Comparing it to Genshin Impact, the map in ToF looked better at first sight.
But when I started exploring, that’s when I started feeling how empty the place felt. Sure, you have the ability to explore every nook and cranny of the map in ToF, but was that enough?
Unlike in Genshin Impact, there’s a chance you’ll stumble upon something hidden from view. Hotta Studio should have worked on making the map more lively before they released Tower of Fantasy.
2. World Design
Taking a closer look at the map of both games, Genshin Impact is a winner with Tower of Fantasy trailing far behind. It’s no secret that HoYoverse takes inspiration for its world design from various cultures all over the world.
That alone makes them win over Tower of Fantasy in that aspect. The world design in ToF is bland. Yes, it’s futuristic but there really isn’t anything special to it. As I said, ToF’s world is vast but if you take the time to explore, it gets lonely after a while.
It gives you no excitement when you explore the world. The overall world design in Tower of Fantasy also falls behind Genshin Impact in terms of players’ desires to explore. Stumbling upon ruins in ToF isn’t as exciting and don’t get me started on the challenges in the ruins.
Unlike in Genshin Impact, the puzzles are easier to solve in Tower of Fantasy. Although solving puzzles in Genshin Impact for rewards can be a chore, it gets your brain juices flowing. I guess that’s what I was looking for in ToF as I took on ruins and puzzles.
3. Artifacts/Matrix System
I have to admit that the artifact system in Genshin Impact isn’t perfect. Aside from the ridiculous prayer you have to offer to the RNG Gods to roll for the perfect artifact stats, the grind it takes gets exhausting.
As I entered the land of Aesperia after downloading Tower of Fantasy, it just became a nightmare for me all over again when I tried learning about the matrix system.
The matrix system in ToF is honestly very confusing and there’s just a lot to take in.Matrices vary in the sense that you can only equip them with the right weapon.
At least HoYoverse is somehow doing something to clean up their artifact system. That’s another reason why Genshin Impact is turning out to be better than Tower of Fantasy.
With the addition of seeing which artifact stats work best with the character you’re building, it reduces the effort you put into grinding every Domain for the perfect artifact.
4. Balance in rewards
If we’re talking about generosity here, Tower of Fantasy wins over Genshin Impact by a mile. Unfortunately, what I’m referring to in terms of balance is the longevity of the rewards you get for participating in the gacha system of these games.
I was one of the players who loved how generous Tower of Fantasy was especially during the week of its release. You could easily earn enough in-game currency to pull on their gacha banners by opening up loot boxes across the map in ToF. You could also choose which SSR weapon you wanted in ToF if you participated in their newcomer event.
But I think that was Tower of Fantasy’s downfall.
See, Genshin Impact finds a way to balance the rewards it gives you in your pulls. Considering longevity, Genshin Impact characters released in its first year are still relevant to this day. Some five-star characters highly in demand by Travelers are Ganyu and Xiao because of their high DMG capabilities.
The SSR weapons you can get in ToF by pulling on their banners, I’m not sure if they’ll still be relevant in future updates. Genshin Impact may be a bit stingy with their rewards, but they make sure that any character you pulled for in the past is still relevant.
5. Character relatability
Speaking of Genshin Impact characters, I believe this is what HoYoverse has been perfecting since day one. You can easily relate or get attached to characters in Genshin Impact, no matter if they’re an NPC or they’re playable.
Travelers who already finished the Inazuma quests felt emotional with the whole Teppei thing even if he was an NPC. You’ll also find yourself feeling for more characters as you get to know more about their stories.
Tower of Fantasy fails to overtake Genshin Impact in this aspect, though. Even after trying to stick to just the main story of Tower of Fantasy, I feel like there’s something missing. The game gives me no reason to feel for Zeke, Shirli, or any of the other characters in ToF.
6. Character personality
In connection to that, it might sound harsh but I don’t find any depth in the characters in Tower of Fantasy. Sure, it had me gasping in the first few minutes of Shirli’s fate unfolding. But it just wasn’t enough to make me emotionally invested unlike with Genshin Impact.
HoYoverse is able to capitalize on the emotions of its players by making sure each character in the game has a personality. The Genshin Impact community is filled with Travelers who have favorites among the characters.
There’s also that age-old discussion of whether or not the Raiden Shogun is a good person. Some find the decisions she’s made are rational, while there are some who dislike her because of the Vision Hunt Decree or ‘eliminating’ Kazuha’s friend.
7. Character design
Another thing I absolutely love about Genshin Impact is the thought they put into creating characters. Aside from the interesting stories they give to each character, the overall designs truly blow me away every time I notice something new about a character’s design.
Most Genshin Impact theorists absolutely love analyzing a character’s design. From their outfits down to the things they do like attacking, these always play a part in the theories.
One of my favorite theories is Kaeya being a Cryo Abyss Mage.
Travelers propose that Kaeya’s entire kit resembles that of an Abyss Mage in Genshin Impact.It’s no secret that he’s from Khaenri’ah, but there’s definitely more than meets the eye with the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius.
I just didn’t find this same passion put into the characters in Tower of Fantasy. That could be my bias talking, but nothing blew me away when I saw the character designs of units in ToF. For players like me who played Genshin before moving on to ToF, I’m sure you observed the same thing, too.
8. Enemies
While we’re on the topic of character design, there’s definitely a stark difference in the enemies of both games. I guess for a game that was claiming to be the “Genshin Killer”, Tower of Fantasy failed to make its enemies unique.
There is no flavor to the enemies you can fight against in Tower of Fantasy. It’s like they’re just there for you to test your DMG. The design of enemies in ToF is.. average. Nothing special there for Wanderers.
Compared to Genshin Impact enemies, ToF needs to step it up a bit.Aside from the challenges all the enemies in Genshin Impact can give you, their overall design is also interesting.HoYoverse pays attention to the littlest detail that even the enemies have backstories.
Travelers who already completed the Chasm storyline in Genshin Impact know what I mean. After that quest, a part of me always hesitated to fight against hilichurls and other enemies. I’d rather have my characters run away from them whenever I could just run past them.
It’s impressive how much planning HoYoverse has been doing to Genshin Impact that they even give backstories to enemies.
9. Overall story and lore
Another not-so-impressive thing I observed in Tower of Fantasy is the game’s story. I think Hotta Studio tried coming up with something that would appeal to gamers, but they didn’t execute it pretty well. After finishing the opening quests and getting to know (I don’t think I did) the characters, you’re just left to your own devices.
I had high hopes for the game, especially after all the hype it received in the days leading up to its release. But alas, Tower of Fantasy just features a generic plot that doesn’t even let you connect with the main characters. Sure, something happened to Shirli, and Zeke being the good brother he is, wants to do whatever it takes to save her.
But the game doesn’t give us a reason to completely sympathize with what Zeke’s going through. They didn’t add anything new to the mix. Genshin on the other hand… oh, I could go on for days and talk about the game’s rich lore.
Of course, I’m not going to. If you’re still on the fence about trying out Genshin Impact, I highly suggest you do it for the game’s story. It’s so intricate and well-thought-of that you’ll even find yourself asking from time to time, how is this game free?!
10. Gameplay
Lastly, the gameplay of Genshin Impact is, in my opinion, better compared to Tower of Fantasy. I’m not going to lie, I liked the animations of attacks you can cast in Tower of Fantasy. There’s also the ability to slow time down if you time your dodge properly, and I really enjoyed that.
But Genshin Impact’s overall gameplay takes the crown for this because of how rich it is. The Elemental Reactions you get from mixing attacks from different characters are so satisfying, especially attacks like Swirl. You can add in a Pyro or Electro attack as you cast attacks like Sucrose’s Elemental Burst and watch the magic happen.
This is something Tower of Fantasy wasn’t able to perfect. There are also Elements in Tower of Fantasy but they just aren’t as effective as Genshin Impact’s way of combining Elements.
The movement in Tower of Fantasy also needs a bit of polishing, if I were to be honest. There’s still a bit of “wonkiness” to how characters move in Tower of Fantasy and you’ll see what I mean if you try gliding or climbing.
Genshin Impact is definitely the better game over Tower of Fantasy — for now
Overall, the hit gacha game from HoYoverse definitely outshines Tower of Fantasy in a lot of ways. I feel like Tower of Fantasy could have used more time in the development stage instead of Hotta Studio trying to release it to the public as soon as possible.
It’s obvious that Tower of Fantasy is a game with potential, but I think the devs were too eager to put it out there. The combat system is promising and they are definitely on the right track putting out an MMORPG gacha game to rival Genshin Impact.
Alas, they fell short on a couple of things that hopefully get resolved in future updates. Maybe I’ll give Tower of Fantasy another shot after a few months, who knows? But for now, I’ll be busy exploring the latest Sumeru region in Genshin Impact.
