#and i'm like 7/8 through the star rail quest

[violetsareblue-selfships]

good morning!! <333

[iamcassian]

Okay warning I'm a tiny bit biased because I am in love with this game. This is also all my opinions.

I didn't play any of the previous Honkai games and I'm not lost. The lore is really complex and intricate, but I picked it up alright. This may be because I am feral about all lore, but each to their own.

2. Yes, in my opinion. There's also lots of silly dialogue, and the Trailblazer has more personality. You can give them a personality that you pick through the variable dialogue options. Unlike Traveler, who is pretty much 2-D in the sense of wanting to help everyone.

3. There's different types of exploration. Genshin is more world-traveling, and Honkai: Star Rail is a little different. You get achievements for rooting through garbage cans. There's more interactable objects. For example, in Belobog's main story quest, there's an option to observe a wardrobe, and when you observe it, there's a whole mini-story about your fantasies in the wardrobe.

4. Luka is an amputee, and pretty much everyone in Penacony are the gayest people I've ever seen. I think there's implied romance between two guys (marriage I think) in Xianzhou Luofu main story quest (can't say who because it'll spoil the quest). Black Swan and Acheron are also super implied to be canon. Robin is another character with serious queer-coding. Yes, Firefly has a disease but it's kinda like a curse too!

5. YES. THERE IS. I'm so feral about that lore. There are SO MANY secret identity characters!!

6. Sunday and the Order is all I need to say. I believe in Penacony there's quite a few religious themes, specifically revolving around Sunday and Ena (the Order).

7. H:SR is a lot more modern than Genshin, but I really like it. It gives a different aspect to the game that's a bit refreshing to me? There are a few places that are bright and colorful, but it is definitely a lot more mordern.

8. It is turn-based, and there's an auto-battle feature that you can use (most of the time) as well. The fights are a bit harder than Genshin in my opinion, but I enjoy it. It's easier to multitask while you're playing too. You can pause the fight as well. During team lineup, it doesn't matter if you're standing still or have been discovered by the enemy, you can immediately change your team, which is helpful. Also, my favorite thing; every character, no matter four or five star, has a detailed, interesting Ultimate Attack!!

I hope this helps, and if you decide to download Honkai: Star Rail, you have lots of fun!!

Would I enjoy Honkai: Starrail?

So I was just thinking how between Genshin and HSR, it's a shame that I don't see of the dragons being women (Genshin has Apep, but she's not playable and we don't even know what she looks like when she's not covered by a sandstorm so I'm not sure she counts) and then I find out Hsr is getting a new character, Lingsha, and she's a dragon!

Maybe this is what finally convinces me to sign up. But as interesting as the lore is, I'm not convinced. Below are some things I'm concerned about, and would like answers to before I get sucked into another gacha game:

I didn't play Honkai Impact or any of the previous games. I'm vaguely aware of some white-haired (robot? I think?) lady named Kiana who vaguely resembles Genshin's Unkown God and ascends to be some sort of cosmic deity herself. I'm also aware of some red-haired lady who died in some sort of tragic sacrifice, and I think there's an item of hers on display somewhere in hsr as an easter egg. And the Herscherr of the Wind (whatever that is) Wendy, Venti's counterpart, died too. But besides that, I have no context. Without having played previous Honkai games, would I be incredibly lost, even if I got caught up on the limited-time events that I missed?

I've heard Hoyo favors Hsr, and it's better in storytelling: for example, the Trailblazer is more plot-relevant than the Traveler, and unlike Genshin, hsr playable characters are actually standing around the map as npcs, and the player can interact with them, even when there's not some quest that just finished. And that the map feels more alive because of that. Is that true?

I love open-world games. Never before have I played something like Genshin. In a lot of games I'm used to playing, you have to stay on the specific path that's relevant to the main story. You cannot climb on top of that house. You cannot even walk into the forest off the path. Genshin, however, lets you go everywhere. Who cares if it's relevant to the plot? You can climb on top of that house, you can go to the top of that mountain. Most of the time, there's a chest up there or an achievement for making it that high up. I'm told hsr is not like that at all. The Trailblazer can't even jump. Would I still enjoy it? How limited is the exploration exactly?

I also love Genshin's representation of queer and disabled people, both in npcs and in playable characters (admittedly some of it is subtext). There's Arlecchino and Zhongli with their gender fluidity, there's Wanderer with his trans allegory, there's Venti who was described as non binary to the voice actor, there's Lyney and Gorou and Furina and many others who wear a bit of the opposite gender's clothes, there's eimiko and kavetham and beiguang with all of their subtext. There's Dunyarazard and Collei and Baizhu who are chronically ill, there's Chiori and Albedo and Alhaitham who are probably autistic. Etc. I've heard Firefly is disabled (chronically ill with a curse or something?) and I know Ratiorine is a popular ship (I'm attached already). But how close to canon is all that? Are there lots of queer and disabled characters?

I also love secret identities as a trope. My favorite archons are the ones who spend their time pretending to not be archons. I love Kaeya's angst about secretly having been sent as a spy, and Albedo secretly being not-human who may be forced to kill everyone he loves, and how both of them may or may not be scared of the Archon, and yet the archon in question seems to like them. Love that drama. Are there characters with similar Secret Identity drama in hsr?

I love the religious themes and how one theme central to Genshin's story is how gods (and god-adjacent non-human characters) are still people, with flaws and fears and basic social needs. It's sweet. Does hsr have similar themes of divine beings being human at heart?

I also love the escapism of Genshin -it's bright and colorful, both in marketing and in the open-world itself. Also, there's no internet or cell phones or anything. I know that if you pause hsr, whatever character you're currently playing as pulls out their phone. I've heard Penacony compared to the tourist areas of Las Vegas (derogatory). It looks so grey. Is hsr truly so much more grey and modern compared to Genshin? Is it just as escapist?

I feel a similar amount of freedom in Genshin's combat system. I'm told Hsr's system is turn-based, and you the player barely have to press any buttons during those moments. Would I find that fun?

I don't need another gacha game, and I definitely don't have the same amount of time to devote to hsr and I already do genshin. But still, I'm hoping for people to prove my misconceptions wrong.