#honkai impact 3rd spoilers

[kiameiposts]

The Girlfriends ft. Bronya

The reunion of the council of lesbians.

[herrscherofmagic]

long and spoiler-y and messy summary of my many thoughts on HI3rd Part 2 Chapter 7:

first of all, what the fuck, Helia??

second, the snowy battlefield scenes were probably the single most fundamentally "Honkai" story scenes that Mihoyo's written in like... the last 4 years or so.

Like, I don't think Mihoyo's ever gone that far before to show us just how deadly Honkai (or in this case, the "Calamity") truly is to the average soldier, and even the "supersoliders".

In most of Honkai's story, we follow incredibly powerful and skilled characters. Even in her weak moments like in Arc City, Kiana still had extraordinary endurance and stamina. And we rarely actually ever fought alongside ordinary valkyries. The only two instances I can think of would be Arc City and Coral City, and both of those were from the perspective of said super-powerful valkyries fighting alongside the weaker troops.

But here, on that snowy battlefield... it was something completely different.

The battlefield ambience with the audible & visible cannonfire in the background, the burning buildings, the corpses of civilians and soldiers alike amidst swarms of monsters... visually, it still has the style of an anime gacha game, but I could close my eyes and just listen to the sound and picture the scene in my mind so, so viscerally.

It gives me all the same feeling that I felt all those years ago when I played games like Halo: Reach, which had a similar "squad of elite soldiers fighting swarms of monsters on a dying world" theme but with a gritty & realistic visual style and writing.

This might've been one of the most well-constructed visual sequences in almost all of HI3rd's gameplay stages. Obviously cinematics would look prettier, but when talking about *actual gameplay* where you control a character, I don't think anything else comes even close to being so immersive of the scene that the story is telling to us.

For once, it really felt like this was a WAR. not a superhero comic book, but a story of ordinary humans struggling violently in vain against a greater power, incomprehensible to all.

third, to reiterate and also elaborate: what the FUCK, Helia!?

That was an absolute roller-coaster of emotions, especially because I did the first 2/3rds of Chapter 6 last night and saved the rest of Chapter 6 & then all of Chapter 7 for tonight. So I had only a brief break to do some other stuff at the end of Chapter 6 and dove right into Chapter 7, and had to process all of those feelings and scenes one right after the other. no giant several-week break to process everything T_T

Obviously Coralie's death was spoiled for me like a month and a half or two months ago, because CN server is far ahead and because it happened at the end of last version. But I still didn't expect it to play out THAT way, which came as a shock to me because I somehow didn't come across that specific part of the spoilers.

And the entire character arc Helia went through (well it seems like she's still got a ways to go) was just... holy shit. good lord. Mihoyo, what have you done!?? (/pos)

I don't really know if I'd call Helia a hero or a villain, or if it's even possible to cram her into that dichotomy at this point. I guess antihero might be the best way to describe her, but even that doesn't quite feel right.

It's clear to me that even if she somehow ends up "back to normal" in the future, she's obviously never gonna be quite the same. But I'm incredibly intrigued as to just how Wrong™ she'll end up being at the end of all this.

Like, even after all that she went through she reaffirmed her duty as a Valkyrie and her desire to avoid innocents, but she also still has that growing lack of empathy and cold attitude. She's no longer quite so mindlessly fanatical, but I find it hard to imagine she'll ever become so upright and kind as she once was.

So I honestly can't say I see her becoming a villain that would ultimately threaten the rest of the cast and bring harm to Luoxing or Earth... but I doubt she'll ever truly fit in with the ideal of a hero that she's always longed to be.

I'm sure there's still SOME potential development that will bring her into a "heroic" state, especially she ultimately hasn't ever committed such a grave sin as murdering an innocent person (unlike a certain Definitely Not Helia™ we've met). I'm sure she COULD still end up idolizing Durandal and striving to be a great Valkyrie.

But it also feels like there's a different path for her that none of the rest of the cast would dare to take, a path that doesn't bring her into being an antagonist but which still deviates far from the model Valkyrie we've been shown for all these years (from Durandal to Rita to Kiana and so on).

I honestly really like this sort of "cold but still fundamentally just" version of Helia. She's flawed but still willing to do what is right, even if she is doing it for entirely selfish reasons now.

In a way she now reminds me a bit of Lantern, but in an almost more cruel way. Lantern was always a dangerous person when on the hunt, but outside of her narrowly-focused combat mindspace she was always fairly calm and even gentle at times. Helia feels like a more chaotic and reckless form of Lantern now, and I really like seeing that because it's such an incredible contrast to all the other Valkyrie stuff we've seen before.

Point being, I absolutely ADORE this story arc and I'm blown away by just how far Mihoyo diverged from the stereotypical image of what a Valkyrie is supposed to be. We've had so many characters in the Hoyoverse (whether Honkai or Genshin or ZZZ) that were antagonistic or villainous at times, but I don't think we ever had any that were as unfeeling as Helia was in this story arc.

It's hard to find the exact words for it, but as someone that's played through nearly all of the story for Genshin, and Star Rail, AND ZZZ, not a single character felt like they hit quite the same antihero/villain vibes that Helia has hit in this story.

And to clarify, I'm NOT counting the scenes of the snowy battlefield as being explicitly "Helia". I know that those aren't the true experiences of Helia Erdös, after all.

But even when we just look at her behavior in the Dreamseeker system, when it's actually Helia in control, there's so much more cruelty in her behavior now: cruelty to herself, and to a lesser extent to others. It's her willingness to harm herself for power, and her contempt for others who stand in her way, and the way she has become so comfortable with battle now.

I really want to see what's going to happen next time she interacts with Durandal, now. I think what'd be most interesting to me personally is if Helia ultimately reaffirms her duty & identity as a Valkyrie, but completely drops any pretense of wanting to become a "hero" like Durandal.

A version of Helia where she doesn't even try to pretend to truly care about other people, but who will still fight for all that is beautiful in the world regardless of what others think of her. Someone who grows composed and calm but in a way that is not so much tranquil and peaceful, but rather cold and calculating.

If Coralie truly does come back, I can't help but wonder how she, too, would react to this new Helia. I imagine she'd still care for Helia, but it might be difficult for her to come to terms with this. It'd probably be upsetting for her, but perhaps Helia would find a way to connect in a more genuine manner with Coralie despite the change of heart she's had.

It's just... a lot. It's been a lot to process, I still need more time to process it, but I wanted to get these thoughts out now.

Though, at least I finally caught up w/ the story and found the motivation to share these thoughts before the next story comes out on CN.

Can't wait for the CN server to update and get their new story and for the rest of us to get flooded with more spoilers, weeks before we get to play the story for ourselves. yippee! /violentlysarcastic

When all is said and done, I really enjoyed these last two chapters. I still ultimately hold the opinion that Part 2 should've been a standalone game, but I can still appreciate what great work Mihoyo has done with Part 2 as-is.

I really enjoy that dynamic with Helia and Coralie, and all that Helia's gone through with Coralie now. This really might end up being one of my favorite story arcs, up there along with the SSHC arc, Arc City, Thunders Over Nagazora, etc.

[lunaefall]

The Honkai Impact 3rd Sapphics Club

[ultimate-tragic-couples-showdown]

Round 1a - Poll 2

Samwise Gamgee & Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings) vs Kiana Kaslana & Raiden Mei (Honkai Impact 3rd)

[anantaru]

your average honkai impact 3rd experience (by yoru):

mario kart with hua

villain i totally would

just running around and hoping i don't die

watching hua mothering

[endlesslytired]

i cannot get over what happened in the latest chapter but i suree can meme about it

[sanquisorbae]

I am very sorry for saying this

but

Himeko's death would not touch me without Nightglow in the background. It just wouldn't. They didn't let me get to know her well enough for it to do so. We barely got anything about her besides "she's a mentor figure who likes to drink I guess and we banter with her regularly" before a chapter in which she goes on a mission and dies.

But Nightglow? I heard it before I played the game and it got tears from me. Yes, I did know about Himeko dying in hi3rd, but I bet it would impact me just as much without that knowledge. So thank you, hoyomix and Tanya Chua, for all the emotional impact of chapter 9 (and if the dialogue writing won't improve, at least I know hoyomix got me down the line)

[haruhar-u]

my YouTube did my dirty

it played the link click op (still not over the ending of season 2) AND THEN Nightglow…bro 13 year old me was crying over Himeko with that song

[inkymari]

honkai spoilers

so. honkai impact 3rd chapter 35 act 2.

[moontheoretist]

#holy SHIT thank you for this#to have it written out in one place is a blessing tysm I can finally wrap my head around this concept#since I started Part 2 I just kept conceptualizing it as Mars Bubble Universe#and for some reason never explicitly realized that the bubble universes were created FROM the Finality blowing it up#ANDDDD the way that time - on the real planet in the Proper World - would continue.#meaning Part 1 and 2 exist in like.. two COMPLETELY differing timelines… billions of years apart#ohhhhhhh that is so cooool#hhhhh that is fascinating#ty for this 🙏 you are a godsend#honkai impact 3rd#honkai impact 3rd part 2#hi3rd#hi3rd part 2#hi3#honkai part 2

Firstly, thank you and you are welcome.

Secondly, I wouldn't say they exist in differing timelines but at the same time you are also not wrong. The only difference is that the time has stopped for Bubble universes of Mars. I think some charas even stated that outloud that time doesn't flow. But at the same time it was also said that Langqiu exists in a state it does for 100 years and we can even visit its past via the Box of Memories and Time. I don't know how exactly does it work and if time truly is stagnant for that world and doesn't move forwards, but we know that Shus are the only ones that can live for 100 years due to their authorities and we even have Songque say that she wouldn't be alive now if she wasn't a Shu which means that people still do age even though the world in their Bubble Universe possibly stopped moving forward with them in time.

From their perspective the Bubble Universe (World) is showing the outside cosmos as per the state it was when civilisation on Mars still existed and 100 years after that, so for Earth it was 1 billion years in the past way before the Past Earth Era even existed. So it somewhat mirrors the state of their solar system at that point in time. You could probably think about it as a pocket of spacetime continuum that is detached from the wider universe's flow of time, which means they're not aware that 1 billion years have passed outside their worlds. If it was Dragon Ball universe we would say they're in 2 different dimensions with different time speeds. So 100 years for Langqiu and Oxia would be around 1 billion years for Earth, but in Honkai Universe it doesn't exactly work like that. I feel like most bubble universes we visited in the game were like moments in time eternally captured like in a photo. But at the same time the life living there was still continuing. The only exception I can think of is bubble universe of the Moon where we meet Dr MEI. It doesn't feel like the life is living there like it does on others but at the same time it's also a moment captured in time. And a very convenient one at that becauce it helps us in fight against Finality.

Which means that your "different timeline" technically is also right. The only difference is that you simply come back to the regular time flow when you leave the bubble universe, so you don't need any fancy tech like what TVA uses in Loki TV show or timetravel machine to travel in between the "timelines". You just enter it like a house through the Sea of Quanta where it's floating, anchored to Mars (the dead planet). You can enter the Sea via some place on Mars: i.e. Helia and Coralie being sucked into the Sea via investigating a sign of an ancient civilization, possibly some kind of ruins still left standing after the apocalypse.

It's not the same type of differing timelines like in any other medium we know but at the same time it fulfills similar principles of the parallel worlds. I think the metaphor of video game saves describes it best. Every Bubble Universe (World) is like a separate save in a game.

So as you have noticed: yes Finality is impacting each planet in the solar system separately. I also didn't realize at first that the scenes shown during Senadina's and Dreamseekers dance cutscene at the start of Part 2 were of Finality nuking Mars (tho planet that fell on Mars looked suspiciously like the cacoon of Finality). Finality is like a very nasty type of a mad scientist hell-bent on experimenting ain't it?

BTW the newest update threw a shadow (hehe, pun intented lol) on some of the stuff I said before. It has gone crazier than it was before.

SPOILERS

Well it turns out Shadow doesn't exist in symbiosis with people of Langqiu and that there is actually a Will of Shadow that simply waited for an opportune moment to collect on all the dept that people of Langqiu accumulated thorought all those 100 years of Fear Gathering. On top of that it was also revealed that Anchor of the Apocalypse in Langqiu is a fake and that the real one was pushed outside by Baiji and when he did that it created a Bubble Universe of Oxia artificially.

*spoilers alert*

I started playing Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2 and DAMN it's so fucking interesting! LIKE SUPER NEAT. Imagine that 1 billion years ago there was a civilisation on Mars that got anihillated by something (*cough cough* Finality *cough cough*) but then several bubble universes are created around it with people in them and because the Sea of Quanta distorts time they didn't live this billion of years that the rest of the planets in Solar System did, no, they lived barely a 100 years since the catastrophe so from THEIR point of view Earth is still just a "blue planet with no civilisation" which means that our planet already has oceans but probably only filled with amoebas and not any other type of life, just bacterias as life on Earth appeared 3.7 billion years ago, but it takes a LONG TIME for life to actually evolve so even 1 billion years ago Earth doesn't really have anything to show off. While from the point of view of Earth - Mars (Luoxing) is DEAD for so long that we didn't even entertain the possibility that civilisation was EVER there to begin with (even if it was probable considering that Venus also had civilisation before it got destroyed too as Honkai Impact 3rd follows the multiverse logic of "1 planet = 1 universe"). Which all and of itself is SO COOL. Because it both is scientifically accurate, but also super Sci-Fi with bubble universes floating in the Sea of Quanta, anchored to Mars and protected not to sink into the Sea completely, with Honkai Energy just existing and PEOPLE LIVING IN HARMONY WITH SHADOW THINGIES GIVING OFF HONKAI ENERGY.

[121231212i]

Star rail & Honkai Impact 3rd | Do you get Deja Vu?

[kiameiposts]

A familiar presence 🤨

[herrscherofmagic]

Spoilers for Honkai 3rd Part 2- Chapter 44, Act 1

I edited the Lantern library scene over the "bad ending" dialogue path. Original recording & subtitles are by Matt Is Playing on Youtube! The bad-ending clip is here, and here's the full length video of their story playthrough.

[lunaefall]

Bruh

[ultimate-tragic-couples-showdown]

Revival Round - Poll 13

Gregory House & James Wilson (House MD) vs Kiana Kaslana & Raiden Mei (Honkai Impact 3rd) vs Ryo Asuka & Akira Fudo (Devil Man)

[anantaru]

AAAAAAA A A A AAA SIRIN MY LOVE THIS IS AMAZING