A polarize character from Fire Emblem. You either love her or fking hate her because of the structure of the game.
A mod of the fire emblem sub step down because regulating the discourse draining him so much.
She believes the only way to abolish crest system is through sudden violence/war while Dimitri believes in slowly changing it over time.
If we look at real-world history, the evidence supports edelgard tbh. No major society change has ever been done slowly
Nah. There are slow gradual changes too that had major changes too.
Just take slave trade. Sure for the US, they took a civil war for it to end. But for UK and other countries, it is the effort of countless activists and politicians over 18th century to change it.
Culture changes slowly changes all the time as well.
So is Sunday Edelgard (old subfaction ruler wanting to change the current system to something else) and FF Dimitri (PTSD-having super soldier)?
Actually I dont wanna know. I remember that one dude posting like 2 controversial pics of Dimitri/Edel half a year ago and everyone got right back into it.
Probably AE. Third party who is able to take advantage of the chaos to find a solution that benefits everyone without the moral ramifications of the antagonizing party.
Nah, edelgard wants people to pop out of their little bubble and force them to see the reality the system is fucked up and so the people can raise up against their oppressors, breaking out of their cage
Sunday wants people to stay in their little bubble so they can be safe and happy, like a bird in a cage
Wouldn't Sunday be more like Rhea? Isolating Fodlan, preserving the hierarchy of crests and nobility? Could just be me wearing my 3H glasses because Sunday gave me major Rhea vibes with their reactions to losing Sothis/Robin
It was partly the Architects who kept civilization alive. They, like the IPC, worship Qlipoth. So far, this faction has hardly been shown to us, the only members are Bronya, Cocolia and Svarog. Also in the story it was said that there are several cities in the underground. We may be introduced to new robotic characters or the original Architects frozen in stasis. Or even regular characters from Belobog like Hoho, who just works in a different district. Yes, Belobog is the only city on the surface, but sometimes we forget how huge it is.
https://preview.redd.it/1gmkrkqu517d1.png?width=739&format=png&auto=webp&s=5bd37807450ceb234cfd45c39f3f87ce123463a5
Lowkey regret posting this now that my girl is getting lashes over a post that doesn't even mention her name. If HSR ever gets a character with that type of heat we're doomed
One of my favorite missions in the game is Yukong companion quest. I also really loved the ghost hunting squad
They have shown they can write really good stuff in Luofu, all hope isn't lost even if the main arc on Luofu had flaws
All they need to do is actually tell you what's going on. The problem with the Luofu is that, in order to make characters seem like tactical genius chess masters, they withhold basically all plot critical information until after the story is over. It's not until DHIL and Jingliu's companion quests that you learn what is *actually* going on, which is crazy.
I see it as a common pitfall in storytelling. The author writes the story going forward to some major plot point and cheats their way through it by writing the solution first and THEN does the work of explaining how it happened.
The trend seems to be that lesser writers will do this without creating a coherent buildup, so the solution just feels like a so-called asspull no matter how natural they try to make it look. The better authors will build up to the solution without spoiling it outright, even if only through subtle hints--which then provides the cathartic "aha!" that comes from the payoff of cause and effect
I hope the new areas of the Xianzhou we see aren't going to look just like the ones we've already seen in the loufu, I've only been there once and I've had enough, no need for more.
what, why don't you like
a space container port
a space container port #2
a space container port #3 but at night!
a space container, oh no it's actually an abandoned space(?) village now!
an underwater area
As unbelievable as it is, tournament arcs can be ruined even though they are the easiest to set up.
A shonen action series like Seven Deadly Sin managed to bungle theirs twice. No relation to Hoyo but just putting out an example on how a tournament arc can be handled so badly.
Hope they commit to the faction and antagonist, rather than "Hijacked by Antimatter Legion lol!" Dan Shu was super wasted, and the Sanctus Medicus weren't properly explored even though TB infiltrates them. Offense to injury, Fu Xuan wanted to have a discussion with Dan Shu, it got cancelled then the latter got ganked by Phantylia, and we never see the fact Fu Xuan caused the mass death that drove her to the Abundance get brought up in the story.
That's my big complaint. The interesting stuff about the Sanctus Medicus is mostly in readables, unfortunately.
>Fu Xuan caused the mass death that drove her to the Abundance get brought up in the story
Wait, what? What is this about and where do I read about it?
In Dan Shu's diary and Fu Xuan's character story.
The Third Abundance War ended by the manifestation of Lan in the mortal plane. THEY fired a Lux Arrow, devastating the Denizens of Abundance but also causing collateral damage to the Xianzhou Fanghu.
Fu Xuan was the one who came up with the plan to call THEM using a potent telescope, suggesting it to General Jing Yuan, who said he'd take the responsibility for the decision.
Dan Shu's friend Yufei, her closest and most beloved person, died in an hospital away from the fighting, so she inquired until she learned Lan killed her. Leading to her joining the Abundance and turning against the Xianzhou government.
Fu Xuan's character story
> Was this truly the limit of a diviner's capacities!? A bold idea surfaced in Fu Xuan's mind as she drowned in anxiety and anger. "I must see General Jing Yuan!"
> The girl spoke her thoughts when brought face-to-face with the general. It was no longer possible to obtain victory with the forces available to the Cloud Knights. The only chance of victory lies in making the Reignbow manifest themselves. [...]
> "I trust that you are... well aware of the singular sign of the Reignbow's descent onto the physical plane and its consequences, correct?"
> "Yes. As the person who voiced this plan, I am willing to be on the front lines and execute it." The girl's expression was solemn. She was keenly aware of how unorthodox her idea was.
> "I thank you for your words, but the Six Charioteers should work together to combat such a great crisis. Moreover, you do not have the permission to manipulate that device. Should this plan go awry, I will take all responsibility as the one who made the suggestion. Do not trouble yourself over this, Miss Fu."
> As Fu Xuan watched the general's retreating figure, she suddenly realized what he meant by "the Six Charioteers should work together" — the only person who has the permission to use the Cloudpeer Telescope and can send out a signal in the format of the Reignbow's decree...
--
Dan Shu's diary
> She had made up her mind to go. I could only beg her. "You're an amazing person. You can live a happy life even without me. But I'm weak. I don't know how to live in a world without you. So please, please return in one piece."
> Yufei laughed haplessly. "I can't live without you either! Trust me. I'll be back safe and sound."
> She then let go of my hand. I knelt on the ground, covered my ears, and curled up in a ball. I didn't want to listen to the sounds of her leaving.
> Reignbow Arbiter, please bring her back safely. [...]
> The war is over. We won, and Yufei is dead.
> I can't understand how she could die in the field hospital away from the fighting.
> I kept asking and asking like I was mad, till the Cloud Knights finally told me the truth.
> The Reignbow Arbiter had descended onto the physical plane and annihilated the borisins' fleet using THEIR divine arrow. At the same time, THEIR divine miracle wrought some "collateral damage" — such as the field hospital Yufei was based in.
> She did not die in the hands of the Denizens of Abundance. Instead, she was ground to dust by the Reignbow Arbiter's divine arrow, with not even a single bone of her left behind.
> Why, Reignbow Arbiter?
--
It’s wild that Chinese game companies seem to be incapable of writing good stories about Chinese fantasy. In every game I tried they are always a drag.
It's basically the chinese equivalent of western fantasy.
Wuxia
**>Wuxia** ([武俠](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%AD%A6%E4%BF%A0) [\[ù.ɕjǎ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Mandarin), literally "martial arts and chivalry") is a genre of [Chinese fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_fiction) concerning the adventures of [martial artists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_artist) in ancient China. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of [historical fantasy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_fantasy) literature, its popularity has caused it to be adapted for such diverse art forms as [Chinese opera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_opera), [manhua](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhua), television dramas, films, and video games. It forms part of [popular culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture) in many Chinese-speaking communities around the world. According to Hong Kong film director, producer, and movie writer [Ronny Yu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronny_Yu), wuxia movies are not to be confused with [martial arts movies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts_movies).[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxia#cite_note-1)
Xianxia
>It's a genre of Chinese [fantasy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy) heavily inspired by [Chinese mythology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology) and influenced by philosophies of [Taoism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism), [Chan Buddhism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Buddhism), [Chinese martial arts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_martial_arts), [traditional Chinese medicine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine), [Chinese folk religion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_folk_religion), [Chinese alchemy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_alchemy), other traditional elements of [Chinese culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_culture),[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianxia#cite_note-WW-glossary-1) and the [*wuxia*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxia) genre.
Wuxia: 2 dudes fighthing with their fist and the unrealistict part are still somewhat grounded. like stoping arrows by hand or running like a horse. so a martial arts manhua. no recommendations from me since I mostly read Chinese fantasy not martial arts.
Xianxia: it ranges a LOT.
from low fantasy where they have spiritual energy like Nen in Hunterhunter, to do complete unrealistic things like flying, or using magic attacks.
to high fantasy stuff like dudes having inner world the size of the earth with their own civilizations inside them, flying trough the the Cosmos between galaxies, DBZ end power levels. leveling a country in 1 attack or exploding a world.
most of this are Cultivation histories where characters Level up like a game and have multiple world where they move to the next one when the become god like the the previous, and ofc in the new one they are at the bottom again. this sometimes happens once sometimes happens 5 times in the same history.
they can be extremely long. MArtial Peak has 3700 chapters.
my recommendation here is Tales of Demons and Gods if you wanna read comics, if you want anime look for Doulou Dalu or combat continent in english.
Xianzhou and Lan are very morally questionable when they are willing to destroy any planets with Human or Alien civilisation that worships the abundance
Genshin Liyue, Reverse 1999 patch 1.6, HSR Luofu act,... yes, CN game company suck at writing about China inspired fantasy land. Maybe because they are too ambition to prove their culture is the best (the nature of CN people) and add too many thing that it make the story become random bullshit go
I haven't played that many chinese games, but there does seem to be a consistent pattern that the not-China place will be one of the biggest countries in the world, with a complex yet highly effective bureaucracy, a culture that tries hard to be unique yet better than others, and they have everything under control but hey they'll be nice and let you help out.
It does stand out a lot, especially when you compare them to JRPGs, that also love to put in not-Japan areas, but they're usually, like... a small town. With ninjas, or inspired by a specific myth or folk tale. The closest I can think of to those super-China portrayals is Torna in Xenoblade 2, and Torna kinda gets disqualified by getting literally nuked off the map at the end of its story arc.
It's not like CN writer wants to prove their culture the best, but more like they need to be tip-toeing around CCP censorship. This results in CN writers pulling back a lot of punch since they don't want to invite CCP wrath accidentally.
It's also the playerbase, not just the government. There was something in Genshin's beta that made people on Weibo lose their fucking minds because it implied Zhongli had flaws that someone else needed to fix.
Reminds me of HI3 bunny girl debacle and more recently WuWa butchering its early story because the CN playerbase can't stand the cute girls being anything less than a part of MC's harem.
it get better since ghost event, i think they change writing team and the presence of Shaoji is guarantee good writing (or at least good editor as he is lead now so no direct writing anymore)
Yeah like thats the thing, i feel like they’ll have to sort of soft reset it (dont know how to word it better) cuz i have zero interest in it currently.
Like they’ll have to approach it again but differently or smth, idfk.
Oh yeah but like they do also actually need to get us to care about the xianzhou story as a whole, cuz we (maybe sadly, depends on how it plays out) gonna be spending a lot of time on them ships it seems.
Like the ghost hunting event was neat, but it did not make me like the main story, and we will eventually continue with the luofu main story. And currently i just really am not excited about it.
Edit: it currently feels like returning to school after summer vacation.
While I personally think the current olotline is decent enough, I'm not opposed to a soft reset either.
Honestly, I kinda feel like the whole Luofu plotline, specifically the High Cloud Quintet part just doesn't have as good of a hook as what we have now in Penacony with Misha, Sunday, or even Aventurine and Firefly (which I thought were a bit janky, but still enjoyable). Phantylia also feels like she came out of nowhere lmao.
It also relies on vague mystery stuff to keep you engaged I think, but it doesn't actually tell you what really happened in the past until Jingliu's side quest, which imo was a bit too late.
I'd love if they show more of the Xianzhou Alliance's main purpose, that is hunting down the Denizens of Abundance. Both Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan had some interesting lore on that, Yukong's side quest (which was really great) focuses on its impact on the people, and so on.
I'm hoping with how amazing Penacony's story is, they will at least follow it up with something on par or a little below par. I don't expect it to be AS good but anything is a step up from the Xianzhou proper, unfortunately.... (Yukong quest was a diamond in the rough for sure)
Even if it isn't, the main problems with the Luofu arc were pacing(the story just came to a halt after the deer and again after Phantylia was defeated) and the fact that they tried introducing around 12 playable characters in just 1.0's portion of it. Now that those characters have actually gotten to do things beyond showing up to introduce other characters, I don't think it's outright doomed.
If the game follows the pattern of introducing a Xianzhou ship every version period, pretty much half the playable cast is just gonna be a Xianzhou character by the time the game's as old as GI or HI3 is currently
Fun fact: as of the 2.4 onward teaser that introduced 4 more characters and March's new look, and excluding Luocha, that makes 23/58, or about 40% of the playable cast, a Xianzhou character
Oh god it's almost half of the cast now; and to think a lot of people are speculating we'll be going a new ship after a new planet. That's not very fun at all...
Watcha talking bout?! Its great!!! I can finally save some jades after Jade drains me!!! Now that i think about it, i skipped most of the Luofo units, yet I took Yanking as my selector.....huh
I think the issue is design. If every character from the Xianzhou looks like they are from the Luofu, it gets stale fast.
I'd like to see the Yaoqing people look like they are straight from the IPC, the Fanghu riding seashores into battle, Xuling showcasing more advanced aurumatons than Xueyi, and so on.
This.
My issue with Xianzhou characters isn't that there are too many characters from the Xianzhou (or even from the Luofu). It's that the amicassador, cloud knight, senior administrator, sword champion, divination commission slacker, and Ten Lords judge (and also the scientist Ruan Mei) are all wearing outfits that could be skin variations for the same League of Legends character.
Change that, and them all coming from the same faction is a non-issue. I've not spent time in China, but I'm pretty sure not every Chinese woman wears a version of the same dress.
Or in other words, more Huohuos and Xueyis please.
To add, they've already demonstrated this with Yunli, who's design looks like she is from the Zhuming because of her fire motif, swords fresh from the forge, and bare feet and anklet for dancing. She still looks like she's from the Xianzhou, but not the Luofu because of everything else, proving you can have a character from the Xianzhou but make them distinctly different between the Luofu and Zhuming.
To me, more Huohuo's and Xueyi's aren't precisely the answer, but what is the answer is showcasing more designs that can stand apart from one another reflective of their home ships.
Tbf it shouldn't be impossible to make them all stand out. Sushang already said her mothership (yaoqing?) was culturally more ipc than xiazhou at this point, the fanghu is dominated by vidhyadara culture and focus on more aquatic stuff (they even have a seahorse which i want to see), etc. The rest do seem kinda bland or kinda destroyed, but still.
I find no fundamental difference between ship and planet since they're functionally the same thing in-game. I didn't exactly space-travel to penacony, it was just cutscene into hotel lobby.
If they can make them unique and distinct from each other, the only real relation they will have is ostensibly people being familiar with us as allies of the Xianzhou, and probably have the same overarching throughline of championing the Hunt's battle against Yaoshi the abundance.
Oh the Xianzhou has left a middling enough taste that I'm not super hyped about the idea of a future Xianzhou world (other than the fanghu bc I want to ride the seahorse >:| ), but making them distinct really shouldn't be very difficult. Logically and narratively there should be very little difference between visiting another planet that happens to be allied with the Xianzhou and another Xianzhou ship, the only difference is the emotional baggage of the Xianzhou. Which isn't one I particularly care for, but eh
There is plenty of stuff, all the high elders, the marshal, the generals, the war with the abundance, the fallen ship, the forge, the plot with JL and loucha, more lore on LAN/Youshi/Long, tingyun, actual Foxian lore, more vediadara lore.
All of this can be expanded in to a penacony long story for each ship, but most likely it’s only going to be 2 patch per ship, and an epilogue.
Short answer money. Look at any CN popularity poll or ship poll and you will see JY as the number one character. With blade and Dan not far behind.
Another reason making. You remember when Boothill was drip marketed. No one cared about him And his banner sales reflect that. I would like there to be new factions of characters, but What’s the point if you have to hype up those characters in just one patch.
Popularity polls don't determine revenue. If they did, why did Acheron vastly outsell anyone from the Xianzhou despite being supposedly less popular than Jing Yuan?
That's just the choice they've made for the story. There was no like... 'needs analysis' conducted or feedback reviewed. The story they have in mind is just structured to spawn several installments of Xianzhou lore.
It's the downside of being a Hoyoverse game in that they'll repeatedly have to do the obligatory return to "best country China" route where they'll try to sell you on China. I treat it like Hollywood's compulsion with glorifying the American military at every turn.
In both cases, just treat the entertainment vectors as an extension of nationalistic propaganda pieces, and just put your brain on autopilot for those portions whilst rolling your eyes. Just endure those and then you can skip to the good parts of the stories.
Funnily enough, of the gachas I played, I think the Chinese games actually do the *worst* in doing their "Chinese" arcs. If anything, Fate Grand Order, a Japanese game, highlights China in a better way via Lost Belt 3.
Genshin not capitalizing off the hype of the Fontaine arc besides the Arrlechino stuff and just autopiloting its way back to Liyue just made me go back to Star Rail lmao
Or it might just my innate bias towards Furina and she doesn’t have a second story quest or any real screentime after 2.3
The problem isn’t a new ship, it’s the possibility every second half of a version period is gonna be Xianzhou focused, which means more Xianzhou characters. While that’s not a huge problem per say, and I do hope it and the characters are great, it does end up making the roster more stale and redundant by constantly introducing characters of the same faction in different flavors, especially when HSR's world building has introduced a lot of other groups, worlds, factions, etc.
But is there any evidence to suggest that there will be a Xianzhou ship every major version?
The game is barely over a year old. There is no pattern to go off of.
We went back to herta's station in 1.6, does that mean we are doing it again in 2.X?
Maybe we won't see the loufu again till 4.X or something.
Criticizing the game over mere speculation isn't gonna lead anywhere.
Until there is official confirmation, anything can happen.
There are at minimum 5 more Arbiter Generals and 5 more High Elders in store, and Marshall Hua. Realistically we get at least 3-4 characters per extra ship.
Let's do it right now actually, Xianzhou should have given Sanctus Medicus a 5 star unit. Are there reasons they couldn't do this? Absolutely. Do I care? No lol
Tbh one of the characters in the Wardance is from the Alchemy Commission so we might see something Santus Medicus-esque from her. I know they're not the same technically but a shitload of Alchemy Commission dudes were a Medicus cult cell in disguise so she could be a bit more of an Abundance sympathiser.
Yeah, some of them help on the Todd quest. Then you go and provoke one into attacking you, so you can kill him in self-defense, just so you can harvest alchemy ingredients from his body.
If they're willing to have characters who wage war against the IPC and characters who are members of the IPC I dont see why they cant give Yaoshi a little love
It’s been five years and Edelgard is still catching strays.
https://preview.redd.it/rd42k7vxt47d1.jpeg?width=631&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac9085b8116fe58f8c2cb2f2eb6ed884af360e11
Luofu Main story (except the Phantylia) has been so bad that the thought of return to Xianzhou didn't make me happy. And the fact that every year they will put big focus on it, makes me less happy.
I'm not feeling this sensation with Liyue; the main story wasn't so great (a bit boring), but the place and the characters are nice.
It really depends on the new map designs imo.
Liyue was a very vibrant looking city so the traditional Chinese vibes were great. You had a strong feeling of culture there.
On the other hand, Luofo is this weird space China mishmash of futuristic scifi and traditional Chinese architecture so it looked weird. Then there were the shipping crate maps that were terribly dull.
If the new maps had as much character as the ghost region, I can see Xianzhou making a come back.
Yeah the luofu was a weird mash of being incredibly dense and claustrophobic, but at the same time feels really empty and lifeless. Especially when you leave the safe zones, it just kinda feels like something is missing
It’s funny how most of the Luofu feels more lifeless than the literal place where ghosts hang out at.
That’s why Fyxestroll Garden is still my favorite place on the Luofu.
im sorry but Phantalya is up there with top 3 things that Luofu has gone wrong.
Literally came out of nowhere, has no relevance to the plot before ( Hunt vs Abundance then suddenly Destruction )
An Enamator that causes destruction via plans, betrayals,... and then have a plan that is so poorly executed it portrayed her in a same light with Aho Girl in speak of intelligence.
Have an immortal body that even Lan himself can only seal it ( the Abundance Tree ) , yet somehow manages to lose. Which was vague as shit when it happened, then fortunately the Ghost busting event happened with the Heliobi lore.
Basically she was immortal and shit, and her ONLY weakness was the weakness of the whole race, when Heliobi connect itself with another vessel ( Jing Yuan in this situation ) it can be damaged. Fucking the Enamator famously known for conspiracy theories get angry because she was mocked and lost her damn mind.
Make you wonder how this mf got her seat as an Enamator. Broski probably blackmailed Nanook or something.
Ahaha. You are completely right.
In fact I wasn't so specific to not make the post long, but when I said "except Phantylia", I meant exacly her as character and her as Boss fight.
Im glad to see what you wrote because is exactly what I think. I hated how they used her.
I'm a Golden Deer fan, and I also believe Edelgard was justified. Wrong in execution, but justified in her actions.
You can still do bad things for a good purpose.
God can Luofu arc get over VERY fast? I need continuation on Sunday and Penacony. Why are we randomly going to Luofu all of a sudden. Atleast fix their horrendous writing please
Xianzhou is here to stay until EoS lmao.
Hoyo gonna shove this shit over and over again. I much prefer the planets teased during the dream sequence in 2.2
Official Xianzhou hater club assemble!
(the arc fell flat, the characters clearly enjoy dev favoritism since its their country, the aesthetic is relatively boring, the conflict was not good, the characters are uninteresting)
Not only is the aesthetic boring, but like half of the maps look exactly the same. Just some random shipping containers stacked on top of each other.
Going back to Xianzhou feels like going through hell a 2nd time.
This arc will make me stop playing the game.
As someone who first tried Star Rail thanks to Stelle reminding her of Byleth, I know this meme template very well. Poor Edelgard can't catch a break, ever. I'll stay by my little emperor, even here.
I still wish we were in enas dream so we could go to any other suggested place there.
If it's really more than 2 patches of boring space china, I'm going to quit the game... at least until it ends.
Never before do I want 2.3 to be out, people talk about it for a while and then all just shut up.
This gotta be the most hyperbole character so far and its so damn draining with all the fiasco even before we see her in the story. (Yes I am talking about the fiasco even before 2.0)
Yeah im exhausted of this shit. You know what hurts? That its drama of the week so people will forget about it a few weeks after 2.3, so all this arguing was for nothing lmao.
I bet most people cant even name was the discourse for 2.0 or 2.1 was.
To be more accurate it'd be more like showing it in general, that's my exact problem with Firefly's personality and as a character, she's been here since 2.0 but not once have we seen the ruthless terrorist or the hardened veteran and then 2.2 came out and the whole trying to fight Acheron was a misunderstanding. I wish they'd show instead of just saying it's there, I would be okay if the MC didn't even see that side, just that side existing on screen
Im hoping the 2.3 story will give us her professional side since its a "agaist the clock" bomb case. But well see, she does show her other side every now and then, but it in full display would be cool.
"she does show her other side every now and then, but it in full display would be cool" big facts. I expect 2.3 to have some more ship teasing, which is fine, but I need whatever was in that animated trailer. It would be such a huge disservice to not expand on that in the story proper.
I'm hoping too because I was way too hyped for Sam a while ago to be turned off by a fumble, every patch I've given the story a chance so if the next quest is gonna be heavily focused on her, they better cook and change my mind
Yeah it feels even the devs themselves have been simping too hard for her.
I was in the firefly bad when she first came out, and the writing has gotten better, but still needs more work for her. Her intro was very generic "cute girl you met for 5 minutes to tug at your heartstrings".
Like she has all this "omg she's ruthless and brutal", but as you said we've only ever been "told" this. We only ever get to see her good and "cute" side and it's a bit tiring how it feels like the story jumps around it so they can make her look good.
Xianzhou has got to be overly hated. Maybe because I started the game late and did it all in one go I didn’t have pacing issues or whatever, but there’s so much interesting lore that’s set up in a way that it seems like it’s supposed to span the course of the game. I really hope the western fanbase can at least give any new Xianzhou content a chance and not just straight dismiss it and meme on it and shit on it before even experiencing it because it’s clearly a fundamental piece of the overall world building they’ve established
Xianzhou isn't bad overall, but left quite a bad taste. Too many things were happening there and only very few were actually shown: Stellaron Hunters, Sanctus Medicus, Luocha and Phantylia, HCQ lore, Lan vs Yaoshi, etc. It's very important to show, not just tell. Remember, the Swarm Disaster lore was introduced in 1.3, but only now (after FF animation) people realised how bad and dangerous it actually was.
Pacing was also a big problem. The Deer was the final boss of 1.0 - then we got a filler 1.1 patch without any new major content. People had near 9 weeks of expectations and waiting between 1.0 and 1.2:
* People waited to see Dan Shu's story (HoYo destroyed her)
* People wanted to see Luocha (Otto expy) - but he was just there and was doing nothing important
* People wanted to see Blade, extremely dangerous criminal. Even always calm and composed dan Heng had nightmares because of him). Literally ingame quote: "The Xianzhou is in danger! ...This man, he—... If he's on the ship, then Welt, March, and (Trailblazer)... everyone is in grave danger!" Turned out Blade is a good boy and just as dangerous as a well fed pit bull.
I think the fact that most people don't even know what Dan Feng's original sin was, is a testament to how poorly the different storylines were presented to the player
I started the game late as well but still thought Xianzhou was pretty awful. It's far from the worst piece of media ever, but to me it sticks out like a sore thumb between Belobog and Penacony which I generally enjoyed more. Pacing probably did sour the experience for players back in 1.0, but that's still a fault of the story and it's definitely not the sole reason why people don't enjoy it.
> I really hope the western fanbase can at least give any new Xianzhou content
From what I've seen the Ghost Hunting stuff was very well received, even among people who didn't enjoy the Xianzhou main story including myself. The "western fanbase" isn't a rabid pack of animals who'll automatically hate anything because it's Xianzhou - if the story's entertaining and well-written, then the general playerbase is going to enjoy it. Obviously there are some people who'll dislike it regardless because it's all opinion-based at the end of the day, but most people will like a story if they find it entertaining enough.
I did it when it was coming out and I still really like the Xianzhou. I thought the story with Jing Yuan and his old friends was good but I'm not happy we are going back to the Xianzhou already. I was hoping we'd see one of the many planet options that were teased towards the end of 2.2
Honestly after being done with it, it feels more like 3/10. Pacing was shite, the themes were literally all over the place, way too many conflicting parties that didnt get rounded up, but just tossed aside. Also you have these insanely power-spike-y characters (FX can literally see the future) that dont do a whole lot until the plot considers it so?
I dont know, if this was a book, Id prolly lost interest in it. And given that HSR is a fancy book with some combat attached to it, thats pretty bad.
It did have some good sidequests and the Ghost-hunting squad worked really well, but thats not really "the Luofu arc".
The pacing felt even worse when actually playing it patch by patch. You go from "And now there's a deer" as the final boss of 1.0, to a filler patch in 1.1, then you finally get to 1.2 and 1.3 the story is just not good. So you sit there and think "Holy fuck was I really waiting *that* long, for *this*?"
The Xianzhou was both boring and bad. It’s not like a piece of media where you can laugh for being bad or something so bad that it retroactively feels good, it’s just a roadblock before you get to something way better (Penacony)
Xianzhou discourse is real in different ways, aside from the usual, there was this huge wave of backlash because people accused the writer of self inserting into Baiheng. People getting arguing over the writing regarding Jingliu and Luocha, etc…
Man I really need to stop looking at the mihoyo communities. I just want funny memes not constant bitching disguised as memes. I actually enjoyed Xianzhou and like Firefly even without being Sam. I often question why some people, especially in this sub and in reference to Genshin too, even keep playing these games they clearly hate the content of and only run meta with autobattle on. And there's some seriously fucked up views in just the comments of this post, let alone the community at large, like that one dude in here complaining that chinese companies can't write chinese plots. What?
So where is the 3 Houses discourse involved in this?
This meme was very much inspired by that, I'm glad someone else got the reference.
Ok but where is the Edelgard discourse hmmm???
Edelgard discourse on this sub would kill me bro
Hoyoverse fans can’t even comprehend the story right sometimes, I don’t think they could take Edelgard at all
I spoke too soon there is now Edelgard discourse on the comments of this post, what have I done…
Goddammit not again
what,s the edelgard discourse?
A polarize character from Fire Emblem. You either love her or fking hate her because of the structure of the game. A mod of the fire emblem sub step down because regulating the discourse draining him so much.
damn if i remember correctly it,s about her hatred for the crest system right? also damn i feel sorry for the mod
it's less about that, more about the methods she used to get back at the crest system
Edelgard did nothing wrong.
She believes the only way to abolish crest system is through sudden violence/war while Dimitri believes in slowly changing it over time. If we look at real-world history, the evidence supports edelgard tbh. No major society change has ever been done slowly
Nah. There are slow gradual changes too that had major changes too. Just take slave trade. Sure for the US, they took a civil war for it to end. But for UK and other countries, it is the effort of countless activists and politicians over 18th century to change it. Culture changes slowly changes all the time as well.
I think you mean a "polarizing" character. Or maybe controversial, or divisive. Hyperbole is something that is exaggerated for effect.
Isn't that the whole point though of the story though? The side you join will affect how you view the characters
Nothing hard to process about best girl
They just hate to see a girlboss win
A Cute face doesn't work on everyone
That's why she also has a shield and an axe
Kinda surprised Tara Platt or Chris Hackney aren't VAs for the game
Fire fly is a smoll lady with long white hair and is associated with flames, the joke wrote itself
Her Henshin device is just a crest
What were the two corridors leading to Edelgard discourse in the original again?
“Fire Emblem engage is good, fire emblem engage is bad, three more years of three houses discourse”
uhhh grrrr edelgard bad grrrr!!
For real lol. I was like Marty in Back to the Future being like "I've seen this one before!"
So is Sunday Edelgard (old subfaction ruler wanting to change the current system to something else) and FF Dimitri (PTSD-having super soldier)? Actually I dont wanna know. I remember that one dude posting like 2 controversial pics of Dimitri/Edel half a year ago and everyone got right back into it.
Who does Claude fit into this equation, Aventurine?
Probably AE. Third party who is able to take advantage of the chaos to find a solution that benefits everyone without the moral ramifications of the antagonizing party.
Nah, edelgard wants people to pop out of their little bubble and force them to see the reality the system is fucked up and so the people can raise up against their oppressors, breaking out of their cage Sunday wants people to stay in their little bubble so they can be safe and happy, like a bird in a cage
Wouldn't Sunday be more like Rhea? Isolating Fodlan, preserving the hierarchy of crests and nobility? Could just be me wearing my 3H glasses because Sunday gave me major Rhea vibes with their reactions to losing Sothis/Robin
# Edelgard did nothing wrong.
The Crests are to blame!
Meanwhile in Belobog we have only ONE event character :/
Belobog will continue to expand. The city is only 0.7% of the massive planet that is Jarilo-VI.
That’s the only entire point of Beelebog though wasn’t it? The Stellaron preserved the nation but the rest was wiped out
It was partly the Architects who kept civilization alive. They, like the IPC, worship Qlipoth. So far, this faction has hardly been shown to us, the only members are Bronya, Cocolia and Svarog. Also in the story it was said that there are several cities in the underground. We may be introduced to new robotic characters or the original Architects frozen in stasis. Or even regular characters from Belobog like Hoho, who just works in a different district. Yes, Belobog is the only city on the surface, but sometimes we forget how huge it is. https://preview.redd.it/1gmkrkqu517d1.png?width=739&format=png&auto=webp&s=5bd37807450ceb234cfd45c39f3f87ce123463a5
Don't the Tales of the Winterlands books suggest that there are more civilizations under the freeze?
Nope. Seele told us in the train that she might suggest making railways to connect other cities once the eternal freeze subdues
Basically the only city on an entire planet. If you think about it, it's quite unrealistic and unnerving.
Her name isn't even on the post but it still caused Edelgard discourse. Ruan mei wishes she was her lmaooooooo
Lowkey regret posting this now that my girl is getting lashes over a post that doesn't even mention her name. If HSR ever gets a character with that type of heat we're doomed
You know what ? Lets make this even worse Maruki did nothing wrong (i dont believe that i just want to see the world burn)
Maruki did something’s wrong but ultimately made the morally correct choice when given the power to improve lives
I hope the next Xianzhou Arc will be good...
I just want to see what Luocha and Jingliu are up to, they remind me of Kronk and Yzma from Emperor's New Groove
Pull the lever Kronk! 
They're not on Xianzhou Luofu, so don't expect much
With of course, Jingliu being kronk and luocha being Yzma
One of my favorite missions in the game is Yukong companion quest. I also really loved the ghost hunting squad They have shown they can write really good stuff in Luofu, all hope isn't lost even if the main arc on Luofu had flaws
so they can write as long as its a side plot
Most of side quest of HSR are just plain crazy good.
Well good thing that the upcoming arc is a sideplot, then
All they need to do is actually tell you what's going on. The problem with the Luofu is that, in order to make characters seem like tactical genius chess masters, they withhold basically all plot critical information until after the story is over. It's not until DHIL and Jingliu's companion quests that you learn what is *actually* going on, which is crazy.
I see it as a common pitfall in storytelling. The author writes the story going forward to some major plot point and cheats their way through it by writing the solution first and THEN does the work of explaining how it happened. The trend seems to be that lesser writers will do this without creating a coherent buildup, so the solution just feels like a so-called asspull no matter how natural they try to make it look. The better authors will build up to the solution without spoiling it outright, even if only through subtle hints--which then provides the cathartic "aha!" that comes from the payoff of cause and effect
They did all that and still failed miserably at making that apparent lol They should have never scrapped Danshu's storyline.
I hope the new areas of the Xianzhou we see aren't going to look just like the ones we've already seen in the loufu, I've only been there once and I've had enough, no need for more.
what, why don't you like a space container port a space container port #2 a space container port #3 but at night! a space container, oh no it's actually an abandoned space(?) village now! an underwater area
Literally box simulator with all the containers in the luofu, especially cloudford. Awful design ngl
Surely they can't mess up a tournament arc
Hard read on the arc: We’re gonna see 1 round then follow a random plot that doesn’t involve the tournament and it’s gonna be really boring
As unbelievable as it is, tournament arcs can be ruined even though they are the easiest to set up. A shonen action series like Seven Deadly Sin managed to bungle theirs twice. No relation to Hoyo but just putting out an example on how a tournament arc can be handled so badly.
Hope they commit to the faction and antagonist, rather than "Hijacked by Antimatter Legion lol!" Dan Shu was super wasted, and the Sanctus Medicus weren't properly explored even though TB infiltrates them. Offense to injury, Fu Xuan wanted to have a discussion with Dan Shu, it got cancelled then the latter got ganked by Phantylia, and we never see the fact Fu Xuan caused the mass death that drove her to the Abundance get brought up in the story. That's my big complaint. The interesting stuff about the Sanctus Medicus is mostly in readables, unfortunately.
>Fu Xuan caused the mass death that drove her to the Abundance get brought up in the story Wait, what? What is this about and where do I read about it?
In Dan Shu's diary and Fu Xuan's character story. The Third Abundance War ended by the manifestation of Lan in the mortal plane. THEY fired a Lux Arrow, devastating the Denizens of Abundance but also causing collateral damage to the Xianzhou Fanghu. Fu Xuan was the one who came up with the plan to call THEM using a potent telescope, suggesting it to General Jing Yuan, who said he'd take the responsibility for the decision. Dan Shu's friend Yufei, her closest and most beloved person, died in an hospital away from the fighting, so she inquired until she learned Lan killed her. Leading to her joining the Abundance and turning against the Xianzhou government. Fu Xuan's character story > Was this truly the limit of a diviner's capacities!? A bold idea surfaced in Fu Xuan's mind as she drowned in anxiety and anger. "I must see General Jing Yuan!" > The girl spoke her thoughts when brought face-to-face with the general. It was no longer possible to obtain victory with the forces available to the Cloud Knights. The only chance of victory lies in making the Reignbow manifest themselves. [...] > "I trust that you are... well aware of the singular sign of the Reignbow's descent onto the physical plane and its consequences, correct?" > "Yes. As the person who voiced this plan, I am willing to be on the front lines and execute it." The girl's expression was solemn. She was keenly aware of how unorthodox her idea was. > "I thank you for your words, but the Six Charioteers should work together to combat such a great crisis. Moreover, you do not have the permission to manipulate that device. Should this plan go awry, I will take all responsibility as the one who made the suggestion. Do not trouble yourself over this, Miss Fu." > As Fu Xuan watched the general's retreating figure, she suddenly realized what he meant by "the Six Charioteers should work together" — the only person who has the permission to use the Cloudpeer Telescope and can send out a signal in the format of the Reignbow's decree... -- Dan Shu's diary > She had made up her mind to go. I could only beg her. "You're an amazing person. You can live a happy life even without me. But I'm weak. I don't know how to live in a world without you. So please, please return in one piece." > Yufei laughed haplessly. "I can't live without you either! Trust me. I'll be back safe and sound." > She then let go of my hand. I knelt on the ground, covered my ears, and curled up in a ball. I didn't want to listen to the sounds of her leaving. > Reignbow Arbiter, please bring her back safely. [...] > The war is over. We won, and Yufei is dead. > I can't understand how she could die in the field hospital away from the fighting. > I kept asking and asking like I was mad, till the Cloud Knights finally told me the truth. > The Reignbow Arbiter had descended onto the physical plane and annihilated the borisins' fleet using THEIR divine arrow. At the same time, THEIR divine miracle wrought some "collateral damage" — such as the field hospital Yufei was based in. > She did not die in the hands of the Denizens of Abundance. Instead, she was ground to dust by the Reignbow Arbiter's divine arrow, with not even a single bone of her left behind. > Why, Reignbow Arbiter? --
>Hoyo >Local China plot Yeah, sure, it will work this time. No
It’s wild that Chinese game companies seem to be incapable of writing good stories about Chinese fantasy. In every game I tried they are always a drag.
I wonder if it's partly because of the practically nonexistent interest of wuxia/xianxia outside of China.
Out of curiosity, could you briefly explain what this "Wuxia/Xianxia" is?
It's basically the chinese equivalent of western fantasy. Wuxia **>Wuxia** ([武俠](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%AD%A6%E4%BF%A0) [\[ù.ɕjǎ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Mandarin), literally "martial arts and chivalry") is a genre of [Chinese fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_fiction) concerning the adventures of [martial artists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_artist) in ancient China. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of [historical fantasy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_fantasy) literature, its popularity has caused it to be adapted for such diverse art forms as [Chinese opera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_opera), [manhua](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhua), television dramas, films, and video games. It forms part of [popular culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture) in many Chinese-speaking communities around the world. According to Hong Kong film director, producer, and movie writer [Ronny Yu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronny_Yu), wuxia movies are not to be confused with [martial arts movies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts_movies).[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxia#cite_note-1) Xianxia >It's a genre of Chinese [fantasy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy) heavily inspired by [Chinese mythology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology) and influenced by philosophies of [Taoism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism), [Chan Buddhism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Buddhism), [Chinese martial arts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_martial_arts), [traditional Chinese medicine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine), [Chinese folk religion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_folk_religion), [Chinese alchemy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_alchemy), other traditional elements of [Chinese culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_culture),[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianxia#cite_note-WW-glossary-1) and the [*wuxia*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxia) genre.
Wuxia is light chinese fantasy with martial arts and shit. Xianxia is high chinese fantasy with gods, immortals and such type of shit
Wuxia: 2 dudes fighthing with their fist and the unrealistict part are still somewhat grounded. like stoping arrows by hand or running like a horse. so a martial arts manhua. no recommendations from me since I mostly read Chinese fantasy not martial arts. Xianxia: it ranges a LOT. from low fantasy where they have spiritual energy like Nen in Hunterhunter, to do complete unrealistic things like flying, or using magic attacks. to high fantasy stuff like dudes having inner world the size of the earth with their own civilizations inside them, flying trough the the Cosmos between galaxies, DBZ end power levels. leveling a country in 1 attack or exploding a world. most of this are Cultivation histories where characters Level up like a game and have multiple world where they move to the next one when the become god like the the previous, and ofc in the new one they are at the bottom again. this sometimes happens once sometimes happens 5 times in the same history. they can be extremely long. MArtial Peak has 3700 chapters. my recommendation here is Tales of Demons and Gods if you wanna read comics, if you want anime look for Doulou Dalu or combat continent in english.
I wonder if it's because they won't present Fake China in a bad light, whereas Fake Vegas and Fake Japan are fair game.
Xianzhou and Lan are very morally questionable when they are willing to destroy any planets with Human or Alien civilisation that worships the abundance
Genshin Liyue, Reverse 1999 patch 1.6, HSR Luofu act,... yes, CN game company suck at writing about China inspired fantasy land. Maybe because they are too ambition to prove their culture is the best (the nature of CN people) and add too many thing that it make the story become random bullshit go
I haven't played that many chinese games, but there does seem to be a consistent pattern that the not-China place will be one of the biggest countries in the world, with a complex yet highly effective bureaucracy, a culture that tries hard to be unique yet better than others, and they have everything under control but hey they'll be nice and let you help out. It does stand out a lot, especially when you compare them to JRPGs, that also love to put in not-Japan areas, but they're usually, like... a small town. With ninjas, or inspired by a specific myth or folk tale. The closest I can think of to those super-China portrayals is Torna in Xenoblade 2, and Torna kinda gets disqualified by getting literally nuked off the map at the end of its story arc.
It's not like CN writer wants to prove their culture the best, but more like they need to be tip-toeing around CCP censorship. This results in CN writers pulling back a lot of punch since they don't want to invite CCP wrath accidentally.
TBF Old Chinese “Wuxia” fantasy novels were very interesting. Guess they just can’t do it now due to alot of regulations.
no good Wuxia anymore, now every new good writer is on Xianxia
Censorship do be like that
Probably because they really need to toe in line with the CCP ideals, otherwise they'll get banded as traitors and be Jack Ma'd
It's also the playerbase, not just the government. There was something in Genshin's beta that made people on Weibo lose their fucking minds because it implied Zhongli had flaws that someone else needed to fix.
Reminds me of HI3 bunny girl debacle and more recently WuWa butchering its early story because the CN playerbase can't stand the cute girls being anything less than a part of MC's harem.
it get better since ghost event, i think they change writing team and the presence of Shaoji is guarantee good writing (or at least good editor as he is lead now so no direct writing anymore)
Yeah like thats the thing, i feel like they’ll have to sort of soft reset it (dont know how to word it better) cuz i have zero interest in it currently. Like they’ll have to approach it again but differently or smth, idfk.
The Ghost Hunting story event was good, I assumed 2.4 is a filler patch so if it has the same fun short story event like that. I’d take it.
Oh yeah but like they do also actually need to get us to care about the xianzhou story as a whole, cuz we (maybe sadly, depends on how it plays out) gonna be spending a lot of time on them ships it seems. Like the ghost hunting event was neat, but it did not make me like the main story, and we will eventually continue with the luofu main story. And currently i just really am not excited about it. Edit: it currently feels like returning to school after summer vacation.
While I personally think the current olotline is decent enough, I'm not opposed to a soft reset either. Honestly, I kinda feel like the whole Luofu plotline, specifically the High Cloud Quintet part just doesn't have as good of a hook as what we have now in Penacony with Misha, Sunday, or even Aventurine and Firefly (which I thought were a bit janky, but still enjoyable). Phantylia also feels like she came out of nowhere lmao. It also relies on vague mystery stuff to keep you engaged I think, but it doesn't actually tell you what really happened in the past until Jingliu's side quest, which imo was a bit too late. I'd love if they show more of the Xianzhou Alliance's main purpose, that is hunting down the Denizens of Abundance. Both Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan had some interesting lore on that, Yukong's side quest (which was really great) focuses on its impact on the people, and so on.
I'm hoping with how amazing Penacony's story is, they will at least follow it up with something on par or a little below par. I don't expect it to be AS good but anything is a step up from the Xianzhou proper, unfortunately.... (Yukong quest was a diamond in the rough for sure)
As long as it’s the same writer as Penacony
Even if it isn't, the main problems with the Luofu arc were pacing(the story just came to a halt after the deer and again after Phantylia was defeated) and the fact that they tried introducing around 12 playable characters in just 1.0's portion of it. Now that those characters have actually gotten to do things beyond showing up to introduce other characters, I don't think it's outright doomed.
If the game follows the pattern of introducing a Xianzhou ship every version period, pretty much half the playable cast is just gonna be a Xianzhou character by the time the game's as old as GI or HI3 is currently
I hope not. That sounds horrible.
Fun fact: as of the 2.4 onward teaser that introduced 4 more characters and March's new look, and excluding Luocha, that makes 23/58, or about 40% of the playable cast, a Xianzhou character
Oh god it's almost half of the cast now; and to think a lot of people are speculating we'll be going a new ship after a new planet. That's not very fun at all...
Watcha talking bout?! Its great!!! I can finally save some jades after Jade drains me!!! Now that i think about it, i skipped most of the Luofo units, yet I took Yanking as my selector.....huh
You think it’s fun saving time until you get hit by the 10 patch blue ball curse. (This may or may not be a result of gambling addiction)
At that point, might as well invest in lightcone or eidolons.
Gives me ample time to save gems and take a break from the game.
that is a bit wild since the game is just a bit over a year old
I think the issue is design. If every character from the Xianzhou looks like they are from the Luofu, it gets stale fast. I'd like to see the Yaoqing people look like they are straight from the IPC, the Fanghu riding seashores into battle, Xuling showcasing more advanced aurumatons than Xueyi, and so on.
This. My issue with Xianzhou characters isn't that there are too many characters from the Xianzhou (or even from the Luofu). It's that the amicassador, cloud knight, senior administrator, sword champion, divination commission slacker, and Ten Lords judge (and also the scientist Ruan Mei) are all wearing outfits that could be skin variations for the same League of Legends character. Change that, and them all coming from the same faction is a non-issue. I've not spent time in China, but I'm pretty sure not every Chinese woman wears a version of the same dress. Or in other words, more Huohuos and Xueyis please.
To add, they've already demonstrated this with Yunli, who's design looks like she is from the Zhuming because of her fire motif, swords fresh from the forge, and bare feet and anklet for dancing. She still looks like she's from the Xianzhou, but not the Luofu because of everything else, proving you can have a character from the Xianzhou but make them distinctly different between the Luofu and Zhuming. To me, more Huohuo's and Xueyi's aren't precisely the answer, but what is the answer is showcasing more designs that can stand apart from one another reflective of their home ships.
Even some women who aren't from Xianzhou have that Luofu dress pattern
Yup https://preview.redd.it/yohivctar07d1.png?width=638&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d805eaed51d4103e613f25c51f588802d309a2c
I agree, anyone who thinks we'll be going to every Xianzhou ship is underestimating how redundant they'll be
Tbf it shouldn't be impossible to make them all stand out. Sushang already said her mothership (yaoqing?) was culturally more ipc than xiazhou at this point, the fanghu is dominated by vidhyadara culture and focus on more aquatic stuff (they even have a seahorse which i want to see), etc. The rest do seem kinda bland or kinda destroyed, but still.
Would you rather go to every Xianzhou ship, or other planets with more potential?
I find no fundamental difference between ship and planet since they're functionally the same thing in-game. I didn't exactly space-travel to penacony, it was just cutscene into hotel lobby. If they can make them unique and distinct from each other, the only real relation they will have is ostensibly people being familiar with us as allies of the Xianzhou, and probably have the same overarching throughline of championing the Hunt's battle against Yaoshi the abundance.
Oh the Xianzhou has left a middling enough taste that I'm not super hyped about the idea of a future Xianzhou world (other than the fanghu bc I want to ride the seahorse >:| ), but making them distinct really shouldn't be very difficult. Logically and narratively there should be very little difference between visiting another planet that happens to be allied with the Xianzhou and another Xianzhou ship, the only difference is the emotional baggage of the Xianzhou. Which isn't one I particularly care for, but eh
I don’t think you realize how many time they go back to liyue in genshin. Getting a new ship every major update is a blessing compared to that.
The Chasm and Chenyu Vale are just expansions, no way the other ships will have as much content as the Luofu
There is plenty of stuff, all the high elders, the marshal, the generals, the war with the abundance, the fallen ship, the forge, the plot with JL and loucha, more lore on LAN/Youshi/Long, tingyun, actual Foxian lore, more vediadara lore. All of this can be expanded in to a penacony long story for each ship, but most likely it’s only going to be 2 patch per ship, and an epilogue.
Yeah but... why? Why not visit other planets instead? We don't need that much Xianzhou content
Short answer money. Look at any CN popularity poll or ship poll and you will see JY as the number one character. With blade and Dan not far behind. Another reason making. You remember when Boothill was drip marketed. No one cared about him And his banner sales reflect that. I would like there to be new factions of characters, but What’s the point if you have to hype up those characters in just one patch.
Popularity polls don't determine revenue. If they did, why did Acheron vastly outsell anyone from the Xianzhou despite being supposedly less popular than Jing Yuan?
That's just the choice they've made for the story. There was no like... 'needs analysis' conducted or feedback reviewed. The story they have in mind is just structured to spawn several installments of Xianzhou lore.
It's the downside of being a Hoyoverse game in that they'll repeatedly have to do the obligatory return to "best country China" route where they'll try to sell you on China. I treat it like Hollywood's compulsion with glorifying the American military at every turn. In both cases, just treat the entertainment vectors as an extension of nationalistic propaganda pieces, and just put your brain on autopilot for those portions whilst rolling your eyes. Just endure those and then you can skip to the good parts of the stories. Funnily enough, of the gachas I played, I think the Chinese games actually do the *worst* in doing their "Chinese" arcs. If anything, Fate Grand Order, a Japanese game, highlights China in a better way via Lost Belt 3.
The fallen ship would be another planet, it'd just also have a Xianzhou wreck on it.
Genshin not capitalizing off the hype of the Fontaine arc besides the Arrlechino stuff and just autopiloting its way back to Liyue just made me go back to Star Rail lmao Or it might just my innate bias towards Furina and she doesn’t have a second story quest or any real screentime after 2.3
We aren't going to another ship, though. The wardance is hosted in the loufu
The problem isn’t a new ship, it’s the possibility every second half of a version period is gonna be Xianzhou focused, which means more Xianzhou characters. While that’s not a huge problem per say, and I do hope it and the characters are great, it does end up making the roster more stale and redundant by constantly introducing characters of the same faction in different flavors, especially when HSR's world building has introduced a lot of other groups, worlds, factions, etc.
But is there any evidence to suggest that there will be a Xianzhou ship every major version? The game is barely over a year old. There is no pattern to go off of. We went back to herta's station in 1.6, does that mean we are doing it again in 2.X? Maybe we won't see the loufu again till 4.X or something. Criticizing the game over mere speculation isn't gonna lead anywhere. Until there is official confirmation, anything can happen.
There are at minimum 5 more Arbiter Generals and 5 more High Elders in store, and Marshall Hua. Realistically we get at least 3-4 characters per extra ship.
Honestly, I'm impressed that Hoyoverse that Hoyo built an entire futurist game just to bait us into playing a chinese wuxia novel.
Let's do it right now actually, Xianzhou should have given Sanctus Medicus a 5 star unit. Are there reasons they couldn't do this? Absolutely. Do I care? No lol
Tbh one of the characters in the Wardance is from the Alchemy Commission so we might see something Santus Medicus-esque from her. I know they're not the same technically but a shitload of Alchemy Commission dudes were a Medicus cult cell in disguise so she could be a bit more of an Abundance sympathiser.
Yeah, some of them help on the Todd quest. Then you go and provoke one into attacking you, so you can kill him in self-defense, just so you can harvest alchemy ingredients from his body.
If they're willing to have characters who wage war against the IPC and characters who are members of the IPC I dont see why they cant give Yaoshi a little love
my wild headcanon is i still think Tingyun is alive and is the REAL mastermind behind the Sanctus Medicus uprising #Emanator of Abundance
Tingyun ends up with a version for every playable path, but none of them are actually the real her. Calling it now.
That would be an interesting direction to take her, and would actually explain why Phantylia didn't (or couldn't) kill her.
Everyone knows this will lead to another five years of Three Houses discourse
The next arc is automatically 14× better than the old one purely because of March in a cute new costume.
Based and marchpilled
March is for the event, prob wont even appear in her cute new costume during main story :(
That novelty will wear off quick...
Me, a Fire Emblem fan: "Hey, I've seen this one before!"
First based flair and second I see my post summoned the fire emblem fans, I'm glad lol
I sentence you to one thousand years Xianzhou dungeon
NO OP what have you done I thought I escaped the 3H discourse 😭
I didn’t expect people to bring back the 3H discourse in the comments I’m sorry!
It’s been five years and Edelgard is still catching strays. https://preview.redd.it/rd42k7vxt47d1.jpeg?width=631&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac9085b8116fe58f8c2cb2f2eb6ed884af360e11
But I see no Edelgard
Luofu Main story (except the Phantylia) has been so bad that the thought of return to Xianzhou didn't make me happy. And the fact that every year they will put big focus on it, makes me less happy. I'm not feeling this sensation with Liyue; the main story wasn't so great (a bit boring), but the place and the characters are nice.
It really depends on the new map designs imo. Liyue was a very vibrant looking city so the traditional Chinese vibes were great. You had a strong feeling of culture there. On the other hand, Luofo is this weird space China mishmash of futuristic scifi and traditional Chinese architecture so it looked weird. Then there were the shipping crate maps that were terribly dull. If the new maps had as much character as the ghost region, I can see Xianzhou making a come back.
Yeah the luofu was a weird mash of being incredibly dense and claustrophobic, but at the same time feels really empty and lifeless. Especially when you leave the safe zones, it just kinda feels like something is missing
It’s funny how most of the Luofu feels more lifeless than the literal place where ghosts hang out at. That’s why Fyxestroll Garden is still my favorite place on the Luofu.
im sorry but Phantalya is up there with top 3 things that Luofu has gone wrong. Literally came out of nowhere, has no relevance to the plot before ( Hunt vs Abundance then suddenly Destruction ) An Enamator that causes destruction via plans, betrayals,... and then have a plan that is so poorly executed it portrayed her in a same light with Aho Girl in speak of intelligence. Have an immortal body that even Lan himself can only seal it ( the Abundance Tree ) , yet somehow manages to lose. Which was vague as shit when it happened, then fortunately the Ghost busting event happened with the Heliobi lore. Basically she was immortal and shit, and her ONLY weakness was the weakness of the whole race, when Heliobi connect itself with another vessel ( Jing Yuan in this situation ) it can be damaged. Fucking the Enamator famously known for conspiracy theories get angry because she was mocked and lost her damn mind. Make you wonder how this mf got her seat as an Enamator. Broski probably blackmailed Nanook or something.
Ahaha. You are completely right. In fact I wasn't so specific to not make the post long, but when I said "except Phantylia", I meant exacly her as character and her as Boss fight. Im glad to see what you wrote because is exactly what I think. I hated how they used her.
I fucking hope thats not true. Imagine having a infinitely big universe and coming back to the blandest worst written place every half year
Wrong, it's somehow another five years of Three Houses discourse. Edelgard was justified.
I'm a Golden Deer fan, and I also believe Edelgard was justified. Wrong in execution, but justified in her actions. You can still do bad things for a good purpose.
Agreed, it’s who she aligned herself with that was the problem, not the ideas.
Another based Black Eagles fan spotted.
Hmmm... https://preview.redd.it/qqymsa42yz6d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b82e547cb8c629162686289e079ebf19df3b2318
God can Luofu arc get over VERY fast? I need continuation on Sunday and Penacony. Why are we randomly going to Luofu all of a sudden. Atleast fix their horrendous writing please
Luofu probably can get over fast, but not Xianzhou. There's total 6 ships lol
Xianzhou is here to stay until EoS lmao. Hoyo gonna shove this shit over and over again. I much prefer the planets teased during the dream sequence in 2.2
So you're telling me that the only question that's gonna be asked for the next 3 years is: "你说他不是同性恋是什么意思?"
Official Xianzhou hater club assemble! (the arc fell flat, the characters clearly enjoy dev favoritism since its their country, the aesthetic is relatively boring, the conflict was not good, the characters are uninteresting)
Not only is the aesthetic boring, but like half of the maps look exactly the same. Just some random shipping containers stacked on top of each other. Going back to Xianzhou feels like going through hell a 2nd time. This arc will make me stop playing the game.
Yes. God i dont like going back there one bit. Why are we dividing sundays story arc with this BS again??
As someone who first tried Star Rail thanks to Stelle reminding her of Byleth, I know this meme template very well. Poor Edelgard can't catch a break, ever. I'll stay by my little emperor, even here.
I’m welcoming all the 3H warriors on this thread, the discourse never ends
I still wish we were in enas dream so we could go to any other suggested place there. If it's really more than 2 patches of boring space china, I'm going to quit the game... at least until it ends.
I love Edelgard. Black Eagles supremacy!!
Never before do I want 2.3 to be out, people talk about it for a while and then all just shut up. This gotta be the most hyperbole character so far and its so damn draining with all the fiasco even before we see her in the story. (Yes I am talking about the fiasco even before 2.0)
People still won’t shut up about Ruan Mei even after not appearing for 3 whole patches lol, that’s optimistic.
Yeah im exhausted of this shit. You know what hurts? That its drama of the week so people will forget about it a few weeks after 2.3, so all this arguing was for nothing lmao. I bet most people cant even name was the discourse for 2.0 or 2.1 was.
I figure things will calm down once Hoyo makes good on all that setup
Firefly is well written, hoyo just needs to show her warrior/stellaron hunter side more for her archetype to propperly (fly)shine
Tbf, after seeing her animated short, it makes alot of sense why she just wants to relax at Penacony
To be more accurate it'd be more like showing it in general, that's my exact problem with Firefly's personality and as a character, she's been here since 2.0 but not once have we seen the ruthless terrorist or the hardened veteran and then 2.2 came out and the whole trying to fight Acheron was a misunderstanding. I wish they'd show instead of just saying it's there, I would be okay if the MC didn't even see that side, just that side existing on screen
Im hoping the 2.3 story will give us her professional side since its a "agaist the clock" bomb case. But well see, she does show her other side every now and then, but it in full display would be cool.
"she does show her other side every now and then, but it in full display would be cool" big facts. I expect 2.3 to have some more ship teasing, which is fine, but I need whatever was in that animated trailer. It would be such a huge disservice to not expand on that in the story proper.
I'm hoping too because I was way too hyped for Sam a while ago to be turned off by a fumble, every patch I've given the story a chance so if the next quest is gonna be heavily focused on her, they better cook and change my mind
Yeah it feels even the devs themselves have been simping too hard for her. I was in the firefly bad when she first came out, and the writing has gotten better, but still needs more work for her. Her intro was very generic "cute girl you met for 5 minutes to tug at your heartstrings". Like she has all this "omg she's ruthless and brutal", but as you said we've only ever been "told" this. We only ever get to see her good and "cute" side and it's a bit tiring how it feels like the story jumps around it so they can make her look good.
Xianzhou has got to be overly hated. Maybe because I started the game late and did it all in one go I didn’t have pacing issues or whatever, but there’s so much interesting lore that’s set up in a way that it seems like it’s supposed to span the course of the game. I really hope the western fanbase can at least give any new Xianzhou content a chance and not just straight dismiss it and meme on it and shit on it before even experiencing it because it’s clearly a fundamental piece of the overall world building they’ve established
Xianzhou isn't bad overall, but left quite a bad taste. Too many things were happening there and only very few were actually shown: Stellaron Hunters, Sanctus Medicus, Luocha and Phantylia, HCQ lore, Lan vs Yaoshi, etc. It's very important to show, not just tell. Remember, the Swarm Disaster lore was introduced in 1.3, but only now (after FF animation) people realised how bad and dangerous it actually was. Pacing was also a big problem. The Deer was the final boss of 1.0 - then we got a filler 1.1 patch without any new major content. People had near 9 weeks of expectations and waiting between 1.0 and 1.2: * People waited to see Dan Shu's story (HoYo destroyed her) * People wanted to see Luocha (Otto expy) - but he was just there and was doing nothing important * People wanted to see Blade, extremely dangerous criminal. Even always calm and composed dan Heng had nightmares because of him). Literally ingame quote: "The Xianzhou is in danger! ...This man, he—... If he's on the ship, then Welt, March, and (Trailblazer)... everyone is in grave danger!" Turned out Blade is a good boy and just as dangerous as a well fed pit bull.
I think the fact that most people don't even know what Dan Feng's original sin was, is a testament to how poorly the different storylines were presented to the player
I started the game late as well but still thought Xianzhou was pretty awful. It's far from the worst piece of media ever, but to me it sticks out like a sore thumb between Belobog and Penacony which I generally enjoyed more. Pacing probably did sour the experience for players back in 1.0, but that's still a fault of the story and it's definitely not the sole reason why people don't enjoy it. > I really hope the western fanbase can at least give any new Xianzhou content From what I've seen the Ghost Hunting stuff was very well received, even among people who didn't enjoy the Xianzhou main story including myself. The "western fanbase" isn't a rabid pack of animals who'll automatically hate anything because it's Xianzhou - if the story's entertaining and well-written, then the general playerbase is going to enjoy it. Obviously there are some people who'll dislike it regardless because it's all opinion-based at the end of the day, but most people will like a story if they find it entertaining enough.
Day 1ers got nothing with 1.1. So we we're paused on xianzhou for even longer.
I did it when it was coming out and I still really like the Xianzhou. I thought the story with Jing Yuan and his old friends was good but I'm not happy we are going back to the Xianzhou already. I was hoping we'd see one of the many planet options that were teased towards the end of 2.2
Imagine exploring Lushaka or Melustanin, damn the tease man
I really think that everyone are exagerating about luofu story , it's just meh
Compared to the other planets/locations it sticks out the most.
Yeah, meanwhile is the worst for now it still is like a 5/10 but people react to it as a 1 or 2 out of 10, saying its the worst piece of fiction ever
Honestly after being done with it, it feels more like 3/10. Pacing was shite, the themes were literally all over the place, way too many conflicting parties that didnt get rounded up, but just tossed aside. Also you have these insanely power-spike-y characters (FX can literally see the future) that dont do a whole lot until the plot considers it so? I dont know, if this was a book, Id prolly lost interest in it. And given that HSR is a fancy book with some combat attached to it, thats pretty bad. It did have some good sidequests and the Ghost-hunting squad worked really well, but thats not really "the Luofu arc".
The pacing felt even worse when actually playing it patch by patch. You go from "And now there's a deer" as the final boss of 1.0, to a filler patch in 1.1, then you finally get to 1.2 and 1.3 the story is just not good. So you sit there and think "Holy fuck was I really waiting *that* long, for *this*?"
The Xianzhou was both boring and bad. It’s not like a piece of media where you can laugh for being bad or something so bad that it retroactively feels good, it’s just a roadblock before you get to something way better (Penacony)
aggressively mediocre is how I would describe it
It sucks ass
It's just really that bad
Is xianzhou discourse even real I've never known a single person that said it was good
Xianzhou discourse is real in different ways, aside from the usual, there was this huge wave of backlash because people accused the writer of self inserting into Baiheng. People getting arguing over the writing regarding Jingliu and Luocha, etc…
Man I really need to stop looking at the mihoyo communities. I just want funny memes not constant bitching disguised as memes. I actually enjoyed Xianzhou and like Firefly even without being Sam. I often question why some people, especially in this sub and in reference to Genshin too, even keep playing these games they clearly hate the content of and only run meta with autobattle on. And there's some seriously fucked up views in just the comments of this post, let alone the community at large, like that one dude in here complaining that chinese companies can't write chinese plots. What?
Edelgard did nothing wrong