#hsr will be the death of me i NEED ACHERON

[psychopas-s]

in a weird way, it feels nice staying up until 4 am grinding for mats in a game again

[almea]

What do you mean I need to use Harmony Stelle....

I just said I don't have relics or trace materials for her.

Are you going to have mercy on me and make this boss fight extra easy?

[spaceyprincely]

Boothill observations and theorys(?):

⚠️‼️Cw// leaks + possible 2.1 spoilers‼️⚠️

Hello tumblr I thought I’d share some observations I’ve made about boothill, an upcoming 5 star character. Particularly his name and how it relates to his cowboy aesthetic as well as his possible backstory. I also want to theorize his situation with Acheron as well. Well I’m not exactly an expert on theory’s so I doubt mine counts but I’ll share what interests me on boothill!

Boot Hill, Name origin:

First off, what is a “boothill”?

“Boothill” or “Boot Hill” are a type of cemetery most commonly referred to in western parts of the United States and America. What makes this cemetery unique is its association with cowboys, specifically ones that died in violent non natural fashion like shooting or hanging, “died with their boots on”.

How does this relate to Honkai star rail boothill.

- boothill is based of the typical western American cowboy , with the outfit, his accent , usage of guns, etc. so we have that connection .

- The HSR wiki says that he’s specifically a cyberborg. Cyborgs are typically depicted as robot human hybrid characters. Some cyborg characters like robocop and cyborg (dc comics) have backstories of becoming a cyborg by having had either died and came back to life through technology or damaged their human body greatly to the point they replace with artificial robot tech.

- Boothill in leaked eilodons shows his naked body. However you can quickly noticed his body is human. Not robotic like what we’ve been officially shown.

- Contrast this with his lightcone art, boothill has only part of his robot body. It looks like he’s being operated on.

- So how does this his name relate to his possible backstory

- As previously iterated, boothill is a name for cemetery of cowboys that died in violent ways. Pair this with how the leaked content having a human body which insinuates that he was at some point a human.

- So what I theorize: Most likely case is that boothill died/ got heavily injured, most likely due to a fight, so much that his only chance to survive was to make him a cyborg. The name boothill fits because he probably died in his boots (I’ll assume for now it happened on the job, maybe his job was the same before and after?).

- Interestingly There’s a leaked description of his lightcones. I’m not 100% sure about how true it is so I’ll have to take it with a grain of salt. However it details on him coming back to life after almost embracing death.

- - If boothill died, who killed him?

There isnt much to hint at who is to blame for cause of him becoming cyborg so far, given he’s a new character with little information.

At this moment, my best guess is the ipc which characters including topaz and aventurine are in. Boothill is revealed to not like the IPC as revealed in his introduction post. However there’s an interesting thing we need to observe.

- Notice how it states “the target of his revenge”, meaning the ipc most likely wronged him in some. I wonder if the ipc is the ones responsible for his death and transformation to being a cyberborg. But it’s likely it could be another reason for his distaste.

About Acheron

Cw/ this part gets into partial spoilers for 2.1 trailblazer main story quest

black swan receives a call from boothill. The call is immediately clear he is threatening Acheron with death.

- his tension with her seems very extreme to the point where hell even go after people affiliated with her when he threatened black swan under the impression she’s was working with her. And saying she shouldn’t exist.

do I think she was behind his death?

Unlike with the ipc one, I’m not really sure. I personally think that this possibility has less weight to it and there might be another reason for his dislike towards her. But it wouldn’t be surprising considering aventurine claims she brings death and finality.

- like aventurine, Boothill knows that Acheron isn’t an actual galaxy ranger however boothill himself is a galaxy ranger. Since Acheron is falsely claiming she’s a galaxy ranger, could this possibly cause tension with the actual galaxy rangers and her to be a target for them? I don’t really have much to theorize much more but would like to hear what others think

[tthelady]

2.1 spoilers ahead!

Now that I had time to sit on what happened in 2.1 and gather my thoughts. I just want to say that 2.1 has been the best patch so far. In 2.0 HSR did a wonderful job showing all these different fractions within Penacony and how every single one of them had their own agendas. In 2.1 we got to see what their agendas were and how they were going to/are playing out.

The different POVs were a wonderful and amazing addition to the story. It was really nice being able to see and play the same story from another character's perspective.

Aventurine was by far the best character in Penacony for me. The way his story was told was amazing and being to play from his POV allowed us so much more insight into his character. The way his backstory was told, the way he planned to "kill" himself, and the way he finally came to terms with his own past, present, and future were so good some parts of his story genuinely brought tears to my eyes. Seeing Acheron come to the realization of his plan and taking away harmony's curse off of him and giving him a second chance and an out from the IPC I don't even have words to describe how much I loved that scene. There's also his and ratio's relationship I loved every second of their interactions. Their plan for ratio to betray him, ratio giving medicine to aventurine to use when he's close to death god every second of their interaction was amazing I could go on forever about them. I am very excited to see where his story will go on from here.

There's also the fact we got to hear Boothill's voice and holy shit I'm so excited to see him! The interactions between Acheron and Welt had me hooked I desperately need more interactions between them.

The way 2.1 ended has me so excited for 2.2. I never expected Gallagher to be excused of "killing" Robin it was an unexpected twist but I loved it very much. I have so many questions after that ending did Gallagher kill sunday? Is Gallagher truly responsible for the murders that have been happening in penacony? What happened to Robin? Where is Robin? Overall I can't wait for 2.2!!!

[grislyintentions]

|| HSR 2.2 Commentary ||

[ Contains: Spoilers and screenshots, memokeeper lore, the Trailblazer and changes in Elio's approach to scripting, symbolism reflecting "death" and Acheron, discussions between the roles of "elder sibling" and "younger sibling" dynamics reflected in Sunday and Robin, cult mentality and religious grooming (from dream master) + a whole lot of spaghetti speculation, similarities and parallels between Sunday and Yaoshi]

Mimetic organisms:

The nature of mimetic organisms refer to organisms who exhibit or are defined by their ability to imitate or mimic. Given that and Boothill's explanation, what other organisms out there are considered mimetic too? Could some of the Masked Fools be tangentially associated with mimetics? Do History Fictionologists like Gallagher count?

Trailblazer and symbolism

In an update rife with topics surrounding death and life symbolism, dreams/reality, ideals etc, this particular line strikes me as an interesting thing to include. We were given a lot of representations of death in repeated imagery of birds plummeting/dying on the ground, Acheron's comparisons to Nihility, the black/white river of nothingness. As well as repeated imagery of "life" as well in the form of hands cradling a bird, the use of "Embryo" in Sunday's Aeon...emanatingness, the use of Memoria and creating dreams.

Given this in mind, it adds more weight to Firefly's dialogue. Could the Trailblazer's existence already be influencing the "inevitablity" of the end? Making the impossible possible seems very incredibly in tune for them.

River of "Death"

Many religions have different concepts surrounding death, one of the more common ones shared is it being represented as a river.

In chinese culture, those believing the concept of reincarnation would often hear about Meng po. Spirits awaiting that are often given a bowl of medicinal soup to drink before they depart- this soup functions to erase one's past memories and history.

There are also depictions where the deceased wade into the river and with that, their memories are gradually eroded painlessly. Once they reach the shore on the other end, they would be reincarnated as a new living being.

Then there is the side Acheron faces. Does this count as their version of Purgatory? Where sinners are sent to endure endless rotations of karmic punishment, repeating the same cycles until they can one day receive penance, let go of past grievances and be reincarnated? This would render Acheron's duties as similar to the guards 牛头马面 who escort spirits to their sentencing.

Parallels between Sunday and Yaoshi

What strikes me as there bearing similarities is that Sunday and Yaoshi both care for humanity in a way that makes them far removed from 'being' human.

Sunday's obsession with Order leading to the ideal state of peace dehumanises and ignores the wants, opinions, needs of others. He firmly believes that he is doing the right thing even if it is at a great cost.

With reference to Shuhu the Emanator from the "Thousand-Handed Merciful Medicus' Salvation" document found on the Xianzhou, Yaoshi imparts the teaching that death is the root of suffering. Hence they gifted them the Ambrosial Arbor with the notion that it dispels death and it's troubles. Longevity and immortality has been historically a part of humanity's pursuit and desire. Yaoshi comprehends that yet can never comprehend how their actions can also cause harm to humanity as they see it as a form of salvation.

Sunday blessed by the abundance as a treat? :3c /j unless

Cult Mentality

It is very important for me to bring up how I think it's heavily implied that Sunday's ideals were a product of extensive cult-like grooming by the Dreammaster.

Much as implied within the Penacony arc, the dream-master remained an elusive figure until the very end. All mentions of them carry heavy weight of how influential they are- even the siblings are in their debt so to speak.

The nature of their Order reflects a culture of control, coercion and religious brainwashing. Adding onto the fact that they as well mentioned that of the both siblings, one of them will embrace the Order until the "very end".

The siblings spent a large part of their childhood under the caretaking of the dream-master. As such, it's no surprise that they would hold significant influence over them. Even as a child, we can see that Robin and Sunday's views on the injured bird are vastly different.

While this may be their natural personality differences, it can also be an early hint of "tests" where the dream-master selects the child that would be more susceptible to their teachings.

Sibling Dynamics

An early childhood spent with only each other for company can foster a sense of codependency and early maturity in siblings. Even in society today, expectations and culture are quite different between the eldest and youngest.

The eldest sibling is typically almost always regarded as the one who has to 'set a good example', 'take care of and protect' their younger siblings. Taken in extreme settings, this often develops into overprotectiveness, being overbearing/controlling, or becoming a 'parent' more than a sibling.

We can see semblances of such behaviour from Sunday with regards to Robin. His need to shelter her from the brutality of reality, his loss of composure and rationality upon her 'demise' to the point he places himself/is willing to be 'attacked', his desire to 'cage' her safely after her sustaining an injury on one of her peace-keeping journeys to other planets.

Whereas Robin as the younger sibling grew to be more perceptive than Sunday thought her to be. She may seem idealistic but this does not mean she is overly dreamy or sheltered. She has to try harder to break through the established dynamic between her and her brother, trying to bridge that gap and be recognised as someone equally able to extend compassion/care to him too. She displays the grief of feeling alienated and unable to reach out to her brother (as a lot of younger siblings tend to feel) or change his ideals but also the resilience of continuing to try.

TLDR: Sunday is not the villain. Just misguided and traumatised. Robin is not a weak, gullible girl who needs to be rescued. She is the representation of hope.

[ravenlexis]

HSR 2.2 Rant

spoilers ahead so don't read if you're not done with the mission!

first, since this is the easiest thing to talk about, the boss fight? the three robots (past, present, future) and aventurine's boss fight were harder than sunday's.

second, i feel deprived of ratio content. i need more of his appearance and lore, pls and thank you. a short talk (THAT'S NOT EVEN REAL) and a millisecond cameo isn't enough, i need to know exactly how much this man figured penacony out. (DORMANCY AND DEATH MENTION IN 2.1 WHEN NO ONE ELSE OTHER THAN GALLAGHER KNEW WTF RATIO)

also, speaking of, gallagher and misha are gone and i am in pain™. they're both fragments of other people but they're very much real in my heart. 🥹

BUT AVENTURINE'S ALIVE SO I'M CELEBRATING THAT.

dan heng literally got so anxious bcs he couldn't reach out to his family in the dream that he contemplated calling one of the busiest men we've been introduced to so far, he's so real for that.

ACHERON LEADS A LONELY LIFE WTF SHE DESERVES TO BE REMEMBERED AND CHERISHED AND CARED FOR AND LOVED.

boothill and black swan coming along on the express only for it to be revealed that everything was a lie??? i got excited for nothing. 😞

ngl i am not fond of firefly. she's an interesting character and i especially like her interaction with blade but ever since 2.0 i was suspicious of her and felt like the game just shoved me into liking her (which me, being the avoidant lil bish that i am, do not appreciate). i felt so justified in my suspicion of her when she was revealed to be lying about who she actually is.

robin is so sincere and gentle since she was a kid and i genuinely panicked when sunday implied that he kept her away along with welt somewhere. i hope she'll be okay and that we'll get an update on her in the future stories.

sunday is such a complex character. i don't like him but he was misguided and he experienced a lot of things that seemed to cement his (faulty) logic on what a peaceful paradise is. kinda unclear whether he's alive or not but he's a very interesting character.

tldr: PENACONY WAS A ROLLERCOASTER THAT GAVE ME TRUST ISSUES AND MADE ME SUS OF EVERYONE. THIS ARC IS AMAZING.

i am excited to see what's going to happen next, especially bcs of the cliffhanger with aventurine and boothill but for now imma take a long nap after all that.

[vryivs]

time for the hsr update liveblog

im gonna sob. jing yuan is such a Dad. yanqing is such a Son

thinking so much about yanqing being forced to act older than his age but getting to let loose and actually be a kid when it comes to the things hes interested in

i love him

"miss march" LOOK AT MY POLITE SON!!! LOOK AT HIM!!!!!!

save my son from bureaucracy. and also from my daughter

ok why does huaiyan have and old man model when its canon that xianzhou natives dont physically age

hes old enough to be blades master so hes not an outworlder. what gives

he talks like a man who's had to spend extended time listening to the ramblings of a toddler and now is fazed by nothing

fu hua please give these old men a break

the fact yanqing looks to jing yuan to answer questions... oh baby

also jing yuan is so proud of him its so cute

hes so polite. even though she stole yanzhuo

oh yunli is an ASSHOLE

'you lost your sword because you were unfocused and now you have to fight me to get it back instead of expecting me to hand it over'

lmao the dad voice came out

i really like how its clear that yanqing is a lot more even tempered now. he only even entertains the idea of fighting yunli when she directly challenges him (after insulting him too!)

and when jing yuan warns him he immediately steps back

baby's first diplomatic mission

yunli darling i think yanzhuo is scared because it was possessed by a demon, not because yanqing is mean

this is so sweet. he really is jing yuans son

and remembering blades comment that jing yuan was a hothead as a kid. oh man. the parallels. oh boy

ok im not crazy. thank god

JING YUAN LORE

man it must be crazy for huaiyan to see this rebellious kid who became a knight against his parents wishes eventually succeed teng xiao and grow into one of the best generals the xianzhou has seen

i am ignoring the death flags yet again

hes so sincere its adorable

ok bestie cool it down. you have bigger fish to fry

I AM IGNORING THE DEATH FLAGS

jing yuan you cant die. he will be orphaned AGAIN

i dont know if he can take that

the parallel of jing yuan being told hes overthinking things by huaiyan and yanqing overthinking jing yuan

he is literally jing yuans mini me its so cute

yanqing, dan heng and jing yuan all sharing the same thoughts. i love their dynamic. they are the understanderrrrrs

MISTER DAN HENG

sobs

man yanqing is too young to be implicated in political intri-

hang on. if the abundance yanqing theory is true its gonna look real bad on jing yuan for looking after him. and like. that would be the ideal twist for this

but its only a continuance its fine nothing too important will happen

i hope

YANQING STEPPING IN TO PROTECT LINGSHA HES SO CUTE

hes good boy. jing yuan raised him well

this is maybe the first praise he's had to his face like. ever

at least in the entire game

well now we know why jing yuan was so uneasy

huaiyan's remark was so pointed jesus.

im curious to see where they'll go with this because i bet jy feels guilty as all hell

yes yunli thats what trauma does. and adding to it by insulting him and confiscating his property will totally help

she is so. 13. this is a 13yo

its striking me that yunli is everything yanqing haters claim that he is

i really hope yunli gets some character development. i can see all the yanqing stans realising this ^ and talking smack about her.

btw. dont do that. thats my 13yo edgy emo daughter

FEIXIAO IS SO HOT

well. i guess i do need a wind dps

oh my god shes so hot. oh my god

hes so excited to see her this is so cute

hey. she. she kinda looks like kiana. now that i think about it. with her hair like that and the blue eyes

ok its fine they dont share a va. false alarm. no kiana yet

bur GOD does she make me nostalgic for the og

kiana would absolutely say this

acheron come get your girl

DIPLOMACY KING!!!!

fearing how westerners will react to him being ticked off by yunli because they dont understance face

every girlboss must have her malewife

this warms my heart

she really is kaslana coded

[mymarifae]

HI I just happened to have stumbled upon your account and got very excited to see someone talking about the story for this HSR update because I’m still processing!! I know you’ve mainly been talking about Aventurine (understandably so), but I’d love to know your thoughts on the conversation between him and Acheron. Idk something about that scene really stuck to me through everything. I think it reveals so much about each of them as individuals and even their relationship? But yea how did you see it and what are your thoughts and

i loved it! like i said, i really, really, really enjoyed the way she shunned the nihility despite her position as an emanator. that was thematically perfect. she's a "raiden mei" who lost her "kiana" (and subsequently, her home, her planet, and everything she knew). she has been engulfed by despair, plagued by loss on an unimaginable scale. it would be so easy for her to drown in the nihility - to lose herself in the pointlessness and unfairness of it all... but she doesn't. she actively chooses to value life and individual choices. when aventurine starts talking about the nihility enveloping everyone and always being There, she tells him it's pointless. "it" not as in life, but as in the nihility itself.

and she's right! if it's always there, then what's the point in paying it any mind? that energy is better put into cherishing the time you do have to be alive. life matters because it always comes to an end. like, remember the xianzhou? yeah.

everything she had to say about endings and death is basically my own perspective on the matter. so that was really gratifying ^^ it's not a perspective i often see explored to the extent hsr did, because like i've said before... many stories are afraid to go prodding at the idea of death. many people are terrified of it. but like... why bother with that? it's there, it will happen to all of us, that's fine, i don't mind, i'm not going to despair over it. because the journey and the memories we make along the way are what matters

(good old red text blending in badly with this alternate color palette of hers... "And because of this, the 'end' will thus reveal a completely different meaning.")

she really was the perfect person to convey this. not just because of the subversion of the entire philosophy of nihilism - i think aventurine needed to hear it all. from her specifically. hard to keep arguing that life is pointless because it always ends in death when an emanator of nihility tells you that's not true. he hasn't valued his own life since... well . ever, it seems. even in his childhood he was ready to gamble it all away (the flashback where he risks his life to retrieve his sister's necklace)

his current gamble isn't over yet. he managed to stay one step ahead of sunday and provoked acheron into attacking him and getting him to this "other side" of the memory zone/dreamscape. but now he has to get out - and from what i understand, this is the part where all those official deaths on penacony's record happened. it wasn't them being "killed" in the dreamscape; it was their attempt to leave this "other side." if he can do it, i think he'll come out with a new appreciation for his life and a new sense of peace - and perhaps some freedom from the IPC, finally. the other stonehearts seem to think he's actually dead, right? here's his chance to slip free. which is the real reason why he went this far in the first place, btw :)

[kurogane2512]

Started playing HSR again for the upcoming Mei Acheron and decided to have a more neutral and optimistic approach this time, last time I was very hung up on Cocolia and couldn't get past 3 days of playing as I dreaded the outcome. Well, ironically, this time I dread the outcome even more cause I keep seeing how things could have been done differently and there was no need to kill her.

Having written so many alternate route fics for Signora, I see Cocolia the same way and kept having ideas of doing things differently at certain points. I do acknowledge her death is far better set up and executed, but she as a character still had so much more to explore and develop that the mission didn't because we were barely with her. All that time spent running around in the Underworld could very well have been devoted to Cocolia instead, and to let mc understand her pov so they try to save her instead of being so against her.

Still, I do believe I can play past this now and move on to other things. She is going to remain a failed potential for me, and I don't think there is any scope for her revival unlike Signora. I still won't be writing too many HSR fics, as usual Himeko and Cocolia are 100% welcome and others depend on the prompt. Thank you for reading :)

[danauschaewon]

main story spoilers from honkai star rail 2.0, play it before reading this commentary

something that annoys me in commentary about acheron's off screen execution of duke inferno is how some people think that it's "wasted potential" for him to be killed off screen instead of being made playable.

firstly, penacony (and hsr in general) is a story building towards the ultimate battle against/victory over the destruction. that's the future that the elio has foreseen and the plan which they direct the stellaron hunters to carry out (actions that include the creation of us as the mc). it's up to shaoji to decide what characters are potentially relevant or irrelevant to that overall destination (and I can't see the annihilation gang being anything more than a nuisance that opposes the overall theme of defeating the destruction).

secondly, on a metaworldbuilding level, it's frankly demeaning of a story to have any interesting character be playable or even appear directly. it cheapens and flattens the worldbuilding when only a few dozen characters are relevant in a game about THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE??? think of how stupid that the fate of the entire star wars universe (prequels, originals and sequels) all are just about a few generations of skywalkers; does not a single other person in that entire fictional universe have any agency/ability to control their own destiny??? (it can still be good, fun fiction but I personally dislike it because I disagree with the very premise that only a few important individuals in the entire universe matter and the rest of us are just irrelevant)

i remember similarly watching a genshin video essay where the essayist complained that there was too much focus on npcs... genshin is meant to be an immersive, high realism fantasy rpg: if you only came across other vision holders and everyone else was basically irrelevant, THAT WORLD WILL FEEL FAKE!! because reality doesn't work like that??

obviously, one could argue that fiction can't perfectly maintain the realism of 'nothing happens for any particular reason' or bring up chekhov's gun. but providing depth, mystery, uncertainty and constant unreliable narrators isn't "irrelevant" to a story, it gives the narrative life and immersion. we are literally playing a game set in an advanced space faring universe as explorers/trailblazers: there must be an entire universe's complexity to actually explore. the devs even deliberately created an aeon to embody the inherent mystery of the honkai universe, the enigmata (which can give them way more narrative flexibility in lore and prevent conflicting lore to become plotholes, allowing us to remain immersed).

surely not every single important evil character in the entire universe can be defeated by us: we need things like inferno's death via acheron to feel the honkai universe has depth and would still exist, even when we close our narrative eyes. anyways, the annihilation gang still exists presumably, only duke inferno is known to be dead, they'll probably turn up looking for revenge, organically feeding into the story.

anyways rant over

[narwhalandchill]

hsr 2.1 kit leaks

ok idk how but even w the preliminary aventurine kit leaks i didnt register before seeing a comment on how he would actually just shred in herta+himeko FUA teams for PF too and im just? obsessed actually i Love this

like PF is already in that weird place where sustains are kinda good still but kinda useless but aventurine being an actual FUA sub dps in addition to his shielding is just? so fucking good and will go so well with the never ending follow up after follow up death spiral that himeko and herta inherently bring to PF it should be a massacre 💀💀 i cant wait

anyway his kit looks sick i rly love how its designed. ACTUAL sub dps potential in a sustain finally 😭😭 and how much crit rate (40%) he gets just from reaching 3600 def is just? so delicious. obviously the fact that he will want crit, def, spd and possibly eff res too means you kinda need to invest hard into his build to rly get the most out of him but i love that blonde fucker so. yeah ill commit. i farmed my ass off for my fu xuan to be as stacked as she is i Will do it again 🫡🫡

the eff res hes giving to the team is actually massive too ?? CC immunity to himself when his passive effect is up? shields on skill no ult dependency and shield stacking on teammates being attacked and FUAs (and like. hes not dependent on FUA teams lmao its just going to boost him) just like that???

AND hes fast as fuck somehow like what 😭😭😭😭 bro looks stacked as hell i hope he stays strong. aventurine with that 106 speed rly out there running from the consequences of his antics 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️💀

anyway wow im hype for this bastard i Cannot wait for his animations

as for acheron im. somewhat interested? but not like too pressed abt it for now. her stacking mechanic seems interesting and ive already seen the asset leaks for her red ultimate state (which is like 700% better than her base design) but if you only see that design for a v short time idk how much itll motivate me to get her.

the lack of LC options definitely hurts like. all i realistically have for her is s3 GNSW but thats on kafka rn. ig if i got acheron i prolly wouldnt be running them at the same time but its still food for thought ig

also she really copied neuvillettes homework for that nihility team passive HSJSJSKSKF idk how i feel abt it like w our current cast it kinda feels pretty tricky to genuinely get a strong team going for an actual max stack team for acheron. like run her with pela and what? guinaifen? ig we will see what shes all abt

ig i just dont feel as much of an incentive for a lightning dps for now w kafka but eh i might go for acheron still. i do have a guarantee tho so it might be nice to save it for aventurine straight up bc then i could maybe go for his LC since it gets him even more sub dps potential but who knows

ig only gripe w aventurine (which isnt that big of deal rly) is the current lack of FUA charas like idm building ratio eventually even having daniel (and them having such heavy synergy is very funny. renheng could never 💀) n i could see myself maybe getting topaz even if im not a huge fan of her character (tho i do think shes well written; my mixed feelings r a result of her being complex) but idk. i hope we get more leaks for upcoming FUA charas.

obviously theres xueyi but her FUAs arent That frequent and unironically i wouldnt Want someone like aventurine w his likely frequent FUAs on her team eating away the toughness bar from her so itd only really work against enemies who are quantum weak but not imaginary. but worth thinking abt still. at least herta n himeko will be a guaranteed PF synergy for him so thats hype

and most important of all: def mainstat with double crit we are so back. relics with double crit that half rolled into def we are so back. etc etc etc

[ravensmusings]

2.2 stuff

This is your spoiler warning, DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS FOR HSR'S 2.2 UPDATE If your still reading, welcome to my random thoughts and reactions during this update

So... where to begin with this update Death wasn't actually death I guess is a good start. Firefly's alive and I'm just glad we're safe Misha's a meme of a past trailblazer.. (And for the sake of my trailblazer only account I'm counting him as one) This, led me to wondering, how the fuck was he in the hotel at the start. Cuz memes cant leave the dreamscape I assumed it was just something the devs forgot

..... BOY WAS I WRONG BUT WE'LL GET TO THAT LATER

ARGENTI WAS UNEXPECTED AND HILARIOUS. Hope they fix the voice acting bug but still .......I'm mildly pissed they thew my man welt yang into baby jail with Robin. I was hoping that he'd get more screentime And, OH THERE'S THE LOFU. THANKS DAN HENG FOR SUMMONING THEM TO SAVE OUR ASSES Its..... over already? I mean I'm taking the good ending but the ipc and the intelegensia guild helping us this easily is... weird And welt agress with me, now IM SUS Huh, credits, DANG THEY FULL NAMED WELT Why the heck is Acheron ???. Wait she did mention its not her true name.. and cuz we don't know march's its also ??? OH ITS A FAKEOUT HI BLACK SWAN SO MISHA WAS IMPORTANT ....of course her name is Raiden Mei. THere's something in between but its still Raiden Mei. Like Bronya and Seele ig Im glad we didn't actually use the abacus, we might need it even more in the future ....... DID WE JUST RUN OVER SUNDAY WITH THE TRAIN?? DID POMPOM JUST RUN OVER SUNDAY HELL YES ......and now its over fr. Well, that was nice BOOTHILL THREATENING ADVENTURINE WHAT- And that's everything. All of my very confused screaming has been removed for better reading

[e17omm]

Interesting. Welp, lots of thoughts about HSR 2.2 below.

Lots of thoughts so Ill start with a checklist.

Firefly: good so far. It doesnt seem like she hates her life being trapped in the SAM suit, and thats good. I was worried they were going to make her despise having to be Sam. Seems that she can survive for a while without the suit, which I find fine.

Now as long as they make her fight AS Sam and they wont really have screwed up anything with her. Not everyone needs to have superpowers. Let Firefly's powers come through Sam. She'll be a really unique character that way. Seriously, who else fights using a mechanical body armor like an anime Iron Man in a Hoyoverse game? I'd have no issues with Firefly then.

Well, except one thing, but I'll get to that later.

Now, the fucking plot twist? Holy shit. This really went from "that was kinda anticlimactic. We really went from "we do the cool thing" to "someone else does the cool thing" to "we pass out before we see the cool thing" like, really? Everythings solved and we're already ready to leave? We get on the train, have a chat with everyone, vote on where to go. And (presses hands together in front of my mouth) holy fucking shit.

My one issue is that I wish they actually ended the 2.2 story after the plot twist reveal. Of all the "cliffhangers" and "plot twists" they have tried to do, THIS WAS THE SPOT TO DO IT. THIS WAS IT. This was HUGE. Its in the third Penacony mission, so it would have avoided that thing with "oh yeah you totally wiped out the Herrscher of Dominance halfway through the second chapter" thing. Like, this is the end. We're done. We won and are leaving. In the 3rd story mission. This was THE moment to reveal the plot twist, just barely start it to not leave everyone confused, and then end it and save it for a 4th story mission in 2.3

But it was way too short. It was way too easy to just, get all the crucial pieces and solve the puzzle. We started Act 3 of the story and it only lasted like 20 minutes. It really could have done with SOME difficulty in getting all the important pieces to solve everything.

But we just learn about the plot twist, everyone important groups up, and we fight the final boss. Just like that.

Next on the list, Acheron! Or should I say, Raiden Mei? When that shadow asked for her name, I was PRAYING that Hoyo knew what they were doing, and they did! They didnt skimp out on it! Didnt go the whole "I have lost my memory of it" which would have been such a cop-out. But nope! They did it!

And the Honkai music? Fuck I had chills. And this is pure nostalgia of the best parts of HI3. Those parts were so good that you remember the music and the feelings you had with those notes.

I cant remember much of the music at the later stages of HI3. The story just hasnt grabbed me like chapters 5 to 25 did. (Hoyo should take notes of their own work, ngl)

Now... onto "Death"

"Death" might be the WORST character design I have ever seen. Not from the looks, but from their role in the story and how Hoyo uses it.

A shady character shows up, pulls out a gun, and shoots another character in the head. And later you tell me that that wasnt actually a murder? Bullshit. Get that garbage out of here.

And you know the worst part? ONE SCENE is what ruined "Death" for me.

Firefly's "Death" scene. Delete it. It ruins so much. She is the only one we see "Death" "killing". Why. She's not dead. Why did you show that "Death" "kills" like that? Who sat down and wrote that part? Literally just make us not see this scene and heavily imply that it killed her like they implied that "Death" killed everyone else and this would've been fine!

I can buy that Robin and Sunday are alive because we see neither of them dying. Robin is off-screen and Sunday is hidden from the camera.

But we saw a death when it killed Firefly.

Next time someone is shot in the head on screen I will be expecting it to be an imposter, a stunt actor, an illision, or WHATEVER ELSE. BECAUSE EVEN WHEN THEY SHOW DEATH THEY CHICKEN OUT. AND ALL THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF FIREFLY'S TRACES DISAPPEARED RIGHT BEFORE WE COULD SEE HER. WE COULD EVEN SEE "DEATH" SNEAKING AWAY AS WE ENTER THE ROOM. BUT DONT SHOW THE DEED BEING DONE.

...

Onto the final boss. ... Its... I mean, the boss fight is neat. Um, not sure if Hoyo now thinks that "big thing is intimidating" but this boss was just kinda, eh.

We've already defeated two big things with Cocolia's (now our) mecha, and then Phantylia. And now this sympthony thing.

Uh, Hoyo does know that big doesnt immediately equal "intimidating" or "scary" or "impressive", right? I just wanna be sure. Because this boss is none of that.

Uh the music also get a bit too pop-star-y? Its not bad, I just feel like it goes against the tone of what the story wanted this moment to feel like.

I also wish that Acheron actually did something to help in the end. She kinda just "eh well you can fight now. Me? Byeeeee~" I know that she had a glory moment in 2.1, but like, come on. Sunday just gives up fighting because we told him that people dream in order to wake up. Which doesnt sound philosophical enough to me to make Sunday have a freaking reality check and fall from the platform in shock and defeat.

Hoyo has really been trying to make so much of their stories in the Honkaiverse have a higher meaning and be a matter on philosophy, and then they keep asking why birds fly and I am so fucking tired of it.

Like, this is all they got and its not even a joke.

So, yeah. I kinda really wanted IX to show up and just, consume Penacony. That would've been cool and been decently foreshadowed. Could have had everyone go numb or like, whatever happens to us when we get close to IX in the Simulated Universe, and then have most people try to scramble to the ships to gtfo, and then have IX appear and consume the place.

But as long as we head to the Edo Star next, I'll be happy.

A place under attack by the Antimatter Legion and their distress signal recently went out? Send me there. Right now. Not even a question. I want to see the Antimatter Legion actually live up to what everyone has said about them. Dont fucking bait me on this Hoyo.

Oh yeah, another thing before I finish this!

Where are our ability to hear Stellarons? Did Hoyo forget that we can hear the voice of Stellarons? That is like, one of the most interesting parts about the Trailblazer!

Imagine a world where we get to Penacony in 2.0, and everything's fine and the same as it was. Except... we can hear the voice of a Stellaron. But, there's no signs of it. There's no Fragmentums. There's no sign of it at all. But we keep hearing its voice.

It could have slowly told us the story of Penacony over the course of these three patches so that we didn't have to get a history lesson before the climax of the story.

It would have easily added some mystery and questions while basically requiring no changes to the current story. Is there a Stellaron on Penacony, or are WE the only Stellaron on Penacony?

Speaking of the Stellaron inside of us... It has barely mattered after Belobog...

Hoyo... This should be a big deal throughout the story. Herta is shocked that a human body can host a Stellaron. We can hear the voices of other Stellarons. We could go nuclear if it goes out of control. Why has it not really mattered after Belobog? Hoyo, this isnt something you should just wave off like you have been doing with the Traveler's ability to wield 5 of the 7 elements. Dont make the same mistake twice.

This is dragging out, but I just keep remembering more things!

Hoyo, please dont tell me that you are unable to make long-term stories anymore. Everything has been self-contained recently. And sure, you've TRIED to make it feel like it has a larger impact, but in the end it always hasnt.

HI3 Part 1.5? It MIGHT be important later. I dunno if Vita has any importance at all to part 2 so far. All the regions in GI are basically self contained. You could take Mondstadt Traveler and toss them straight into Fontaine and you would basically not have to change them at all. All of HSR has also been rather self-contained. Happy that Dan didnt actually call the Luofu, that would have just made this all seem even more miniscule and also extremely convenient.

But... Remember when Himeko fucking died and the next 16 chapters was the fallout of that? Remember when we could have big story moments that still mattered for more than 3 months of real time?

Penacony's story is over, and I dont think that anything that happened here will have any impact on the next destination. Did we even actually pick up any new crewmembers?! Please tell me that the cowboy and Black Swan actually joins us for a while. You Chekhov's Gun'd it all the way back in Belobog!

So in short. I liked Penacony act 2 and 3 a lot. Not close to anything in HI3 chapters 5 to 25, but it was good. Could have been a lot better with (imo) rather small changes.

Also wtf is up with Hoyo's budget allocations? They put so much budget into the filler generic battle part of act 3. That was so much effort put into just filler. What's up with that?

[gems1g]

HSR thoughts (about Penacony) under the cut.

I got the reveal about Firefly right. Yeah, still don't trust her. Anyway.

Loved the main quests so far, more than the Luofu. I had a feeling it was going that way for Gallagher, but the ending with Sunday surprised me.

Loved Aventurine here, I hope they do more POV switches for future quests. Sorry Acheron, skipping you this time. I just need to bring that IPC gambler and his light cone home, since I need a good shielder too.

I was thinking, is the devil in velvet Aventurine, or Gallagher? It can be Aventurine considering he took to the stage in the final battle for this part of the quest, and the curtains in a stage / theater are traditionally velvet (or velour). But I think it can also refer to Gallagher - and the curtains here are a metaphor (how I interpreted it: he hides behind the curtains, so to speak, of other people's identities and that of being a hound with a penchant for mixing drinks).

Curious about the dormancy Ratio said though - is it a coma? A soul death? Removal of emotions and will? Or it's literally becoming dormant, a state where time stops for a person and they remain unaware of anything and everything? It certainly isn't the physical, end-of-all-things end that death literally is. Because that is what happened to Aventurine, and he will surely be back, if he can make it through that (I feel he would, it's strongly hinted by his future self, Acheron, and himself at the end of this part of the main quest). Though I hope he won't get himself involved in the end game and just live a nice life somewhere else with the rare message to the Trailblazer here and there.😂 I feel it's a coma though, I remember there was a dialog about someone else or a guest dying and they never woke up (or I might be misremembering, need to recheck the wiki).

So excited for what's next, because:

Jade is coming to Penacony to finish what Aventurine started

Now that Sunday's "dead", I think the truth about the "deaths" will finally be revealed, and I'm curious about his involvement in the next part

Boothill's probably going to show up and challenge Acheron or straight up just try and kill her

More Gallagher involvement

We are going to get the Harmony trailblazer next patch I think

I'm also loving the bartending event right now, makes me want to stock up on my liquor. 😂 Just an occasional drinker, I mostly have wines right now, I want to stock up on some of the harder ones and make myself something nice. I love Siobhan.🥹

[twilightbloom]

Just got done with the 2.0 HSR patch main story (still have to do some side quests) and holy shit it was a rollercoaster, spoilers below

Penacony was trippy as hell, which I could already guess from the trailers but some scenes in the dream were straight out of a shroom hallucination, horrifying visions included

I really really love the atmosphere and the vibes, the Xianzhou Luofu unfortunately ended up not being that interesting to me apart from a few characters (I still think Liyue got the feel better of the two region/worlds) and Penacony was a much needed change.

But even more than the ambience I enjoyed the characters; Aventurine is very interesting, and thankfully looks like he got hit with the morally gray stick better than Topaz was so far. Acheron is even more of a question mark, and the beginning scene made me go "HUH?" and she oscillates between being calm and... whatever that was... in a heartbeat. I still don't really care about her design that much, she's probs my least fave Mei alt/expy out of the MHYCU, but her personality is super intriguing.

BS is the one that left me with least of an impression, maybe because she has her cards close to her chest but she doesn't seem like a bad person and honestly her animations and design are beautiful. Sparkle is a straight up psychopath and her impersonating Sunday's dead (?) sister to rile him up was quite the dark moment. Plus her words to Aventurine... Girlie's unhinged but not in a "I see ghosts" Jingliu way but in a "I'm going to make everyone regret crossing paths with me" way and I love that for her 😭

And Firefly... I already wanted to pull her before knowing anything against her bc her color scheme and design are super pretty, but I wonder what the hell happened to her? Her death was a bit too sudden, but if they seriously pulled that and are going to make her playable Himeko style it's going to be a return to the roots for MHY making us suffer.

Anyway the writing on Penacony was much more unhinged in general and I love it. We were a bit pinballed between Penacony characters with not much time to hang out with the crew, but that's okay - we still have a lot of story to comb through. Can't wait to see Sparkle going around being a little chaos gremlin again!

[ouchkocho]

𖦹 INTRO!! :D

edit: i’ll use #— 𖦹 ouchkochoposts to tag my posts since they’ll probably be lost in my reblogs

You can call me snow or laylay!

please don’t be weird!!!

i know snow is probably a basic name😭😭 but I like snow:3 you can also call me laylay if you want!! laylay is a nickname of mine. I speak SOME spanish but not a lot, I spoke more spanish when I was younger. I haven’t started school yet so I’ll probably be active a lot. I use she/they:D

I like jujutsu kaisen, demon slayer, sakamoto days, honkai star rail, genshin impact(kinda), bungou stray dogs, my hero academia, dead plate, elevator hitch, cold front, eloquent Countenance, MARRIED IN RED I LOVE MARRIED IN RED OMGG, sk8 the infinity, death note, seraph to the end, mob psycho 100, kaiju no 8, soul eater, project sekai, ensemble stars, tbhk, link click, fairy tail, WIND BREAKER, blue lock and madoka magica.

my favorite characters:D

jjk— yuki, yuji, yuta, toge, megumi, maki and nobara, SHOKO, SHOKO, SHOKO OMGGG

kny/ds— inosuke, zenitsu, tanjiro, mitsuri, shinobu, obanai, muichiro, aoi, kanao my gf😜

sakamoto days— shin, lu, natsuki, AKIRA, rion:3, nagamo

hsr— acheron, robin, march 7th, jiaoqiu, yunli, yanqing, argenti

genshin impact— furina, kazuha

bsd— kyouka, kenji, ranpo, yosano , fyodor

mha— uraraka, aizawa, nejire, amajiki

dead plate— manon

elevator hitch— protag, coworker:3

cold front— winnie, augustine

eloquent countenance— angelica, forcas

married in red— Bok-su, Myeong-hoon:(

sk8 the infinity— reki, miya

Death note— misa,

Mob psycho 100— ritsu

Kaiju no 8— hoshina, narumi

Soul eater— maka, crona

project sekai— emu, tsukasa, rui, nene, airi, an, kanade, mafuyu, saki, honami, ichika, shiho, minori, shizuku, kohane, ena, mizuki

ensemble stars— ritsu, tsukasa, leo, natsume, hajime, mika, kohaku, hiyori

tbhk— aoi akane, nene, hanako, mitsuba

I’ll probably add more stuff but for now that’s it!

I need more mutuals:(