I feel you... especially that last part, heh. I originally started playing it on its release to keep my friend company - he's really into the anime aesthetic, I am not. I have never even played a gacha game in my life.

Something about Genshin is just so strangely charming, though. I cannot stress enough how much I love the music and the latest region especially has been such a wonderful audio-visual experience, which is probably what makes me stick around. There are few characters I genuinely enjoy from a writing/design perspective that not having to chase the gacha is a bonus, but it certainly makes the ones I pick all the more special to me. :)

Something I also appreciate is that Mihoyo/Hoyoverse is constantly making updates on a 6 week basis. 6 weeks! One could argue that quality of life and new features suffer for it, but I think it's impressive that they manage to keep a game stable and mostly problem-free on such a tight schedule. And the orchestras they make happen are wonderful. For all its shortcomings, I am... positively surprised.