#hoyoverse should actually just stop making things

[ratshells]

Genshin devs after making the same pasty ass characters but doing enough research to give them names related to the cultures they’re supposed to represent

[taylorman2274]

We Care About You

For the past couple of days, you've been sacrificing sleep to spend more time playing Genshin. The people of Teyvat take notice and do not approve.

Content Warning(s): Liyue Archon Quest Spoilers

Notes: SAGAU; GN!Reader; First Story; Inexperienced Writer

Word Count: 1.5k

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You honestly should've seen it coming.

There were too many hints that told you what was about to happen, but you either didn't notice them or ignored them entirely.

Now you're about to fall into unconsciousness against your will, all because someone within Teyvat cared about your well-being.

"How is this even possible?" you pondered before you finally fell into sweet unconsciousness.

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The first hint happened so quick you almost missed it.

You were a couple of minutes removed from logging into the game and had just started working on your second of four daily commissions.

As you were teleporting to Dadaupa Gorge to help Wyatt look for his key, you noticed an unusual message on the loading screen.

Sleep

When night falls, make sure that you get plenty of rest!

You were lucky that you were a fast reader or else you wouldn't have been able to read that message in time.

At first, you didn't know what to think of it. Sure, Hoyoverse could've easily added it into the game, but you didn't see them ever doing such a thing. Additionally, you've never seen anyone else experience this message before.

"Probably something new," you guessed before gliding on down to speak with Wyatt.

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The second hint was a bit more noticeable than the first.

After completing Wyatt's commission, you were on your way to Falcon Coast to defeat some hilichurls. It was approaching nighttime in Teyvat when Paimon suddenly said:

"It's getting pretty late. Paimon thinks that we should go to bed soon."

You stopped gliding forward for a brief moment in slight surprise. It only took a few seconds for you to snap back to reality before pausing the game to save what airtime you had left.

"I can see a new line of text being possible, but a new voice line?" you contemplated. Like the last hint, you really didn't know what to think of it. If it was only one new voice line that got added into the game, you guess you shouldn't see that as a big surprise.

"Today has certainly been weird," you added before unpausing the game.

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It wasn't until the third hint that you started to think that something was wrong.

After defeating the two waves of hilichurls, your last commission had you beat up some cryo slimes near the Dawn Winery. You teleported to the Anemo Archon statue, grabbed a couple of Windwheel Asters, and began to glide down to the water.

However, just as you were about to pass the Dawn Winery, you began to hear a sweet melody coming from the building. This wasn't the theme you were used to hearing when you were near the Dawn Winery, so being the curious person you were, you took a quick detour to the building.

As you approached the building, the melody began increasing in volume. Furthermore, as you moved your camera you noticed the sound gradually shifting volume in-between your right and left ears.

"Wait, this isn't just a soundtrack? Someone's actually playing this?" you questioned, speaking aloud for the first time. You rarely speak your thoughts aloud, finding such an action to be awkward, but you felt that the situation warranted such a reaction out of you.

After a bit of wandering and camera movement, you pinpointed the source of the sound coming from the roof. Starting from the front of the building, you climbed up the wall and onto the balcony. You moved the camera around, trying to see if you could get a better view of the roof, and after a while, you found the source of the melody.

Venti the bard was currently straddling the roof beam with his back against the spire right near where the Anemoculus used to be. He had his eyes closed as he was playing the soothing melody on his lyre. If he noticed you, he took no note of it as he continued to play.

"Okay, now things are getting weird," you began to monologue to yourself. "I can somewhat explain a new loading screen message and a new voice line, but a new audio played by a character who is never supposed to be seen outside of archon quests and events? A change as big as this would've surely been advertised by Hoyoverse on social media, right? So why does it feel like I'm the first person to have discovered this? Do I consider this to be a bug or a glitch?"

However, as you continued to think to yourself, Venti continued to play his melody. As the melody dragged on and on, you began to yawn and feel your eyes growing heavy.

"Hold on. Is this melody...making me sleepy?”

Music notes began to fade in and out as they floated from Venti's lyre to your player character.

"I can't fall asleep just yet! I still need to finish my commissions!" you proclaimed before leaping off the balcony and continuing your way down to the beach. "Ooh! I also may need to travel to some domains and farm for materials."

You missed the fourth hint while you jogged away from the winery. Had you looked back at Venti, you would have noticed that he stopped playing the melody before sighing with a slight frown on his face.

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After completing all of your dailies, you decided to take a change of scenery and meet up with Liyue Katherine.

"I still need to go to Wanmin Restaurant and trigger that Beetle event. Plus, the crafting table is just around the corner for me to craft some Condensed Resin!"

You were too distracted by the crafting table to notice the fifth hint of the day. Had you kept your eye at Third-Round Knockout, you would've noticed the former Geo Archon getting up from his table and walking over to you.

Having finished crafting your Condensed Resin, you began to head over to Wanmin Restaurant. But before you could...

"Traveler! A quick moment of your time, please."

Startled by the sudden attention, you flicked your camera behind you to find Zhongli approaching your player character.

"It has been a while since we last had a chat. I was hoping you would accompany me while I head to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to retire for the night. We can catch up with each other while we walk."

Too many thoughts were running through your head for you to give a proper response, not that any prompt showed up anyway. Zhongli took your inactivity as a sign of acceptance.

"Good. Let us be on our way then."

Zhongli started to walk past you, which didn't help your thoughts at all.

When his feet hit the ground, there was no visible space between the sole of his shoes and the ground. You never saw any of his clothes clip through any part of his body. In fact, you swear you saw a few wrinkles.

"Everything about him is too detailed. The walking animation, the clothes, the collision, the hitboxes; there is no way in hell everything should be so... fluid."

You started to think whether or not you should go through with his request. However, before you could make a decision, the game decided to make one for you.

The Traveler moved... but your hands were off the keyboard.

"WOAH Woah Woah woah..." You repeated as you backed your chair away from the computer. Now you were starting to think that your game was broken. You quickly scooched your chair back closer to your computer and were about to Alt+F4 outta there before...

"I would refrain from doing that."

You stopped what you were doing and looked up at the screen. Did you miss something that the Traveler did?

"As much as we all love to have you around, we know better than to have you overstay your welcome when you are clearly tired."

...That didn't sound like he was talking to the Traveler.

"I admire your persistence, but you leave me no choice, [Y/N]."

"Oh sh-."

Before you could finish your sentence, a loud buzzing sound suddenly played from your computer speaker. Almost immediately, you could feel yourself about to fade to unconsciousness. You quickly stood up and covered your ears as you tried to fight it, wondering how in the hell this sound was affecting you despite having heard it before in Sumeru. Unfortunately, the noise continued to grow louder and louder until you could no longer stand on your own two feet. You slowly slumped to the floor as the sound began to lower in volume, sensing that its job was done.

You honestly should've seen it coming.

There were too many hints that told you what was about to happen, but you either didn't notice them or ignored them entirely.

Now you're about to fall into unconsciousness against your will, all because someone within Teyvat cared about your well-being.

"How is this even possible?" you pondered before you finally fell into sweet unconsciousness.

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Author Side Notes: I know that I'm not the best writer in the world, but this idea for a SAGAU story I had continued to grow and grow until I felt like I could connect all of the plot points by myself.

If anyone is willing to rewrite or even possibly continue this story, I'm all down for it. I just wanted to see if people like this sort of scenario.

I also have more ideas for SAGAU stories if anyone wants to hear them.

[pareidoliasys]

I love ZZZ and I love Hi3, Part 1 and Part 2, can we please stop comparing them and also stop shitting on Part 2 I'm so tired, I have so many thoughts and I'm tired and sleepy and might! Delete this in the morning who knows, maybe my thoughts will change by then. I'm just. So exhausted of this

Positivity at the end regardless. It's not all hurt and doom and gloom

- A story that is life changing and completely stunning with some of my favourite characters of all time

Things Honkai Impact 3rd is:

- An 8 year old game with a structure originally built to run on the mobile devices of the time which does make it stiff to play at times but still makes it an absolute wonder

- Doing it's best building off the clunky original code base of the game

- Continuing to make great stories with Part 2 while trying to make it's own identity as a new Era of Honkai Impact

Things Honkai Impact 3rd is not:

- Failing to live up to its past with the new part, there's been 3 chapters and most of the people I see complaining about it haven't played more than the first chapter and even if they have they look at it with such a clouded and negative lense, the part 2 story is WONDERFUL and it just gets better with each chapter

- The Worse ZZZ, Honkai Impact is and always has been its own thing in comparison to EVERY Hoyoverse game to come after it, even Honkai Star Rail is not like Honkai Impact at all.

- Deserving of being completely shit on constantly, criticism is fine but I've not seen any good cases of that in months, I actually do have my own criticisms of hi3 part two even if it's been my entire life since it came out but nobody approaches it critically nowadays because they're too stuck in part 1

Things Zenless Zone Zero is:

- The best combat I've played in a while for a gacha game

- Full of really fun characters and designs with amazing and fluid character animation

- A game that came out around two days ago and barely has given us enough to make a proper judgement on the quality of the story.

Things Zenless Zone Zero is not:

- A HONKAI IMPACT 3RD REPLACEMENT

- A GAME THAT SHOULD BE COMPARED TO AN 8 YEAR OLD GAME CONSTANTLY JUST TO CLOWN ON THE OLD GAME

Can we please. Judge ZZZ on its own merits without making people feel shit for enjoying Honkai Impact 3rd and especially for liking Part 2. I don't even want ZZZ to be in the same category of games as the other Hoyoverse games, please, let it be it's own thing so we can just enjoy it for what it is, super ultra fun.

I hate continually seeing people I Look Up To in the Honkai Impact 3rd community using part 2 as a punching bag for not immediately having the most engaging first chapter ever when we ALL know how bad Hi3 was before Chapter 9, so many people go out of their way just to explain to newcomers that it gets good by chapter 9 and how the early chapters suck and you have to read several Manga just for anything to make sense.

Give Part 2 the love it deserves, stick with it for longer that one or two chapters, play through the third chapter and wait with the rest of us for chapter 4 through 6 and beyond, if it continues to disappoint you that's fair but please stop thinking of it like Part 1. It's not Part 1, it's not Part 1.5 and definitely not something like Part 1.5 the second, it's a new story that has its own characters and its own dynamics and its own story to tell with characters who have an incredible amount of depth to them, like Thelema and Songque.

I love Honkai Impact Part 1, I love Honkai Impact Part 2 and I love Zenless Zone Zero. Can we just enjoy our own things without constant negativity with all the comparisons. It's so so so tiring. These are amazing worlds that touch the hearts of so many and that.. Is what should be focused on.

We should focus on the lives that these stories change, the people who were made better by the experiences these games gave them. Focus on the amazing artists in these communities that feed everyone amazing works of all kinds and focus on the passion behind both the people working behind the games and the passion of the people playing them. That's what deserves the focus here, not lashing out with negativity when there's good in the world like this.

I wouldn't be where I am in life without Honkai Impact 3rd. And I am forever grateful that I now get to be here to experience ZZZ with the people I love who I met because of Hi3.

That's what's most important to me in the end.

[maybeamiles]

Okay so something happened in the Honkai Star Rail community that really bothered me and I'm trying to put into words what makes me so upset about it.

So Hoyoverse recently hired a new voice actor named Chris Niosi to voice one of their new characters. He is no longer voicing this character. The reason he is no longer voicing this character is because a bunch of people found out that in 2019 Niosi released a shitty internet apology for being abusive to people in his personal life in response to callout posts on Twitter and Tumblr. During this time he also violated an NDA about a role he played in Fire Emblem 3 Houses, and was replaced with Zach Aguilar. He did not face any criminal charges for this behavior, but it is a thing that happened. Naturally people are upset about this and kept asking for him to be fired, and some VA's stood up for him claiming he'd changed, and fans began to lash out against them too. Niosi ended up resigning, and Hoyoverse will hire a new voice actor.

So far, it seems this controversy has not affected his work. Since 2019 he's played Reigen Arataka in Season 3 of Mob Psycho 100 and was an NPC in Genshin Impact.

Now I have a few problems with the community reaction to all this:

Problem number 1: I spent way too much time in the Dream SMP fandom, and have heard way too much bullshit about people being abusers in their personal lives to be ok with any of this. Like part of the reason Dream SMP was so awful is that every other week there would be a new post along the lines of "Dream is the Worst! Here are 7 Heavily Censored Screenshots To Prove Why!" This stuff instantly activates my "I don't like this" senses, I have a very bad reaction to these things.

Problem Number 2: He's a fucking actor. Just because he now has a bit of fame in the community doesn't mean he's somehow more worthy of criticism than he was before. Hell, he still has work in the industry. Just go look up his IMDB. The only reason it matters more in Star Rail is because a lot of the Hoyoverse VA's make extra money off of being Hoyoverse VA's, like how Dan Heng's VA gets the other Star Rail VA's together to do music covers. Even then, he's WORKED WITH HOYOVERSE BEFORE. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT HE'S NOW VOICING A PLAYABLE CHARACTER INSTEAD OF AN NPC.

Problem number 3: Personally, I don't see what online abuse allegations from 2019 have to do with his role as a Voice Actor. Would working at McDonald's or in a less flashy job stop him from hurting people? No! Now, if I was hiring him, I would be nervous about that NDA violation, or that the abuse allegations might flare up into a PR disaster (like they ACTUALLY DID). I might not hire him for a major role. I might take concerns about his mistreatment of his colleagues more seriously. He might not be a Good Face for my company. But, at the end of the day, he is still a Guy Doing a Job, parasociality be dammned, and not doing This Job will not make anything better for the people he hurt.

(Also your (and my) favorite game has like, one not-pale dude in it and is made by a huge dev team that probably has shitty people in it just because that's what happens when you get a large enough group of people together but like heyyyyy let's all jump onto boogeyman of the week now shall we?)

(now, concerns about parasociality I do respect. Hoyoverse VA's are VERY parasocial, and tend to make a bit of extra money from fans by doing cool Hoyoverse VA things. But most people are like ABUSER = BAD AND GROSS and... ugh onto the next slide).

Problem number 4: ABUSER = BAD AND GROSS is a stupid black-and-white mindset and I think everyone who has this mindset should grow the fuck up. People can and do get better, I know people who have gotten better, people who it would be really fucked up of me to stop speaking to because of things I wasn't even alive for, when I don't even know the people who were hurt. People who have already had enough guilt and now need the space to live again. Hell, I've hurt people. You can't divide people into "good" and "bad" and you have to make room for change because if you do not you will hurt someone badly and that mindset will either break you with guilt or turn you into one of the "bad" people without even realizing it. (i reblogged earlier a comic about this exact phenomenon go read it)

At the end of the day I do think it was a good thing Niosi resigned because jesus fucking christ this was a PR disaster, and I would have hated to see him do something like Elliot Ghindi and use the parasociality of Hoyoverse fans to hurt more people (which is just a possibility, not something Niosi has actually done), but I don't think the internet Hate Mob was a good thing. I think bringing up someone's irrelevant personal details into their work life is a universally bad thing and even though he's a semi-public figure, nobody's private life should be exposed like that. There are court systems for a Fucking Reason and I know that they are flawed but also I genuinely believe that this whole internet tradition of making "callout posts" and stuff is incredibly toxic and abusive and I don't want it to keep happening in the fandoms I'm in.

[iloveyanderes]

New year's gift to you and me:

Overanalyzed yandere Columbina and arlecchino.

There is no doubt in my mind that these two bishes would work together. If there's anything hoyoverse is good at it is confirming characters are gay without actually confirming it.

From watching hundreds of videos of people talking about the harbingers, It seems like arlecchino is a mother type figure to many people. Childe's voice line says that she's someone who does not seem trustworthy or loyal, scaramouches says that we should definitely be cautious of her and the she puts on a facade meaning she'll probably act nice to us at first. As much as I love the thought of her being in Fontaine it's way more likely she'll be in natlan with her soldier theme. More time to save for her c6 I guess. The leaks from twitter says that she's a control freak and demands perfection. Taking all of this together I think she would be a controlling yandere, someone that puts you beneath her, while slowly training you to act the way she wants. My personal headcanon is that she's really into corporal punishments, often bending you over her knees and swapping your bottom until your crying for her to stop. Another thing is she would keep you close at all times, your not allowed to look at anyone but her and doing so would make her very angry, let's say you'd probably get out with a broken bone. I personally don't like writing nswf but I occasionally add little bits but I totally think she'd use edging as a punishment if you liked sex.

Columbina is a bit harder to work with I know there's some leaks from twitter but I forgot them so if someone could tell me it be very appreciated. In the fatui video she's litterly just singing which makes me think she has some sort of power with her voice, she also appears to be a little sassy because of what she said to dottore at the end of the video. Both childe's and scaramouches voice lines state that she is very dangerous with scaramouche hinting that she looks very weak at first sight but is really really strong. Like arlecchino taking this together I imagine her to be the type of yandere to lure you in, making you think that she is innocent and the moment you realize she's not it'll be far too late. Totally the type to kidnap you and force you to fatui harbinger meetings, goes out of her way to scare you and even trick you into doing things so she can punish you. In a way her punishments are way worse then arlecchino's. No you don't get hurt physically she messes with your mind, forcing you to watch your worst nightmares while your screams haunt everyone while she's gleefully singing a terrifying song. Demanding cuddler, if your not in bed cuddling her when she demands it things will get a bit bloody, if you can't fall asleep don't worry she'll force fully sing you to sleep. I like to imagine she'd put you to sleep eternally, putting you under a curse so you'll never wake up and she'll keep you as a cute obedient dolly.

Arlecchino and Columbina working together headcanons: these two are hopelessly in love, I love to think the arlecchino will bride carry Columbina with a love sick smile on your face, while blood is covered on both of them. Arlecchino worships Columbina, anything for her. ANYTHING. Eventually they get a little board, they need something to coddle, something to torment, something a little human. Then you come along a cute little niave innocent weak human. Arlecchino found you first, quickly taking you to her orphanage and making you a servant, she quickly drills into you that obedience is the number one thing and to do otherwise will have consequences, very serious consequences. One day Columbina comes to see arlecchino and decides to make you her new pet. Suddenly being kidnapped by some weird angel women freaks you out a lot but seeing arlecchino there will freak you out even more. Basically there the perfect wives and your there dog or cat to do whatever they want. Columbina switches between coddling you to tormenting you.

Whose more likely to do certain things?

Whose more likely to kill you? Columbina, like a said earlier she's perfectly fine turning you into a dolly even if that doll is lifeless.

Whose more scary? Columbina, unlike arlecchino who immediately gives away just how scary she is Columbina hides it, making It a lot hard to predict what she'll do.

Whose shed more blood for you: arlecchino, arlecchino is a lot more likely to travel out of sneznayha so she's definitely had more access to people that have messed with you, Columbina doesn't appear to like travel so she can really only kill people in snezhneya

Most likely to let you go: arlecchino. They say when a divine being has found something they like they will never let it go so Columbina is not letting you go. Arlecchino has a chance to betray the fatui so she might have a change of heart and let you go.

Whose more likely to kidnap you: Columbina no questions asked.

Whose more likely to kill another harbinger if they got close to you: arlecchino: Columbina has a large tolerance and most of the time she really doesn't care. I can imagine arlecchino killing Childe or pantalone if they got to close to you.

Nswf questions

Who tops: most of the time arlecchino she's probably the handsome women that refuses to be on the bottom. Columbina is mostly a bottom, except for some very selective times where she goes a little crazy and wow I pray for your bottom half when that happens.

Edging or overstimulation: edging both of them, sadism. No other words needed.

Prompts for yandere arlecchino:

Yandere arlecchino x servant reader: when arlecchino first became a harbinger you were the first servant assigned to her, instead of taking advantage like other people would do you helped her out and gained a large amount of respect for you, soon enough she kept you closer then everyone else and monopolized all your time, keeping a very tight lesh on you.

Yandere arlecchino x Rosalyn reader, some people ship them and I can kinda understand. Imagine coming home after getting you butt beat by the raiden shogun and arlecchino is suddenly protective of you. In the trailer arlecchino defended signoria meaning they were either close or arlecchino had respected her greatly. Going with the first originally arlecchino had thought you were super strong, still does but thinks of you a little more fragile, she'd shut anyone up that even thinks about talking bad about you and remind the harbingers that you got two out of the seven gnosis's whenever they insult you for getting beating by the Shogun.

Prompt for yandere Columbina:

People say that she is an angel and I believe that, maybe she originally worked for someone with a bunch of other people before realizing some was wrong and leaving them. Imagine you were one of her colleagues and you were super nice to her, you also had no idea about the corrupt organization your were working for so she thought of you as a pure innocent person unsuitable for work. So when she betrayed that organization and joined the fatui she dragged you down with her, never letting you leave her side.

Prompt for yandere arlecchino & columbina

Yandere arlecchino & Columbina x tsaritsa reader. With a heart so noble and pure the two of them have nothing but absolute respect and awe for you. Your ice cold beautie is comparable to no amount of words. Your their saviour and unlike normal yandere arlecchino & Columbina who see you below them they now see you above them. They worship you and will do anything to help you with your goal.

Imma have to end it here, my creative mind has been drained and I'm kinda tired from staying up for news years.

I suddenly had the will to do this so consider it a gift. Also have a happy 2023 it's still 2022 over where I am.

[lyss-sketchbox]

if u saw the new trailer whats ur opinion?

im very excited for skirk,,,,

OH BUDDY YOUVE OPENED THE FLOODGATES CUZ IVE BEEN SPAMMING MY FRIEND WITH THEORIES LIKE HFJDJDJDJ I WAS SCREAMING THE ENTIRE TIME

Obvious spoilers for the fontaine archon quest in general for my thoughts and interpretations

Okay FIRST OF ALL NEUVI SENTENCING FURINA TO DEATH.

Okay so refer to what neuvi said at the end of Act 4 where 'all sovereigns are not im full dragonhood and it can only happen IF THEIR ARCHON DISAPPEARS'. I was hoping that Furina would somehow relinquish the gnosis or her godhood to Neuvi to let him be full dragonhood and stop the flood and WELL THIS LINES UP.

1) arlecchino did say furina was not archon like or has something wrong with her, 2) her playable character model HAS A VISION!!!!!!! 3) Iirc but her promo art, the one with the white bg with nation symbols on it, people say that it didnt have the symbols an archon would.

She's DEFINITELY losing her godhood here somehow and man. MAN IM SO EXCITED TO SEE HOW THIS PLAYS OUT

Second of all FURINA or should i say the HYDRO ARCHON as a whole

She sounded MAD when she stated she wanted to use her own trial to show the world the true meaning of justice. This leads me to believe that focalors DOES have some sort of multiple sides/personalities to her. Especially with her announcing HER OWN TRIAL through the 3rd person.

And well one of these sides is either Egeria's manifestation or furinas actual 'TRUE lady justice' side. A bit of a stretch but one of the official art in the livestream is multiple depictions of furina so it can be a lil nudge ya know.

NEUVILLETTE!!!! NEUVI NEUVI NEUVI!!!

MAN ID KILL TO SEE THIS MAN IN ACTION FULLY ANIMATED, LET HIM BE FULL DRAGON AND KICK ASS!!!!! IM BEGGING YOU HOYOVERSE LET HIM BE MORE AWESOME!!!!

Okay this man definitely was acquainted to Egeria in some way and this extends to Furina as well (BECAUSE HE LOOKS SO SAD LIKE WHAT HAPPENED TO CRACK THIS MANS FACADE). I like to believe that Egeria and Neuvi might have a sort of Mentor/mentee/passing of the torch relationship. Because in so far everytime we hear Egeria, she talks to neuvi as if to hope that he will learn to understand humanity or learn his purpose or find SOMETHING (i forgot exactly what she says). But yeah he clearly holds her to high regard and that sentiment might extend to furina either because Egeria entrusted Neuvi with Furina, his loyalty to Egeria and Fontaine, or Furina just reminded him of Egeria and regardless of the trial still didn't want harm to come to his archon.

Okay a step back, we know that neuvi has holes about his past when he came to the world as the sovereign successor. And his line (i think its his idk) 'i seem to remember now... this trial is...' could be a call back of something Egeria told him from the past.

I firmly believe that this prophecy was actually a trial for NEUVILLETTE and not FURINA. It could be a final trial for him and his understanding of his position as chief justice and humanity. WHICH would tie into Egeria's line

and neuvi's line

Finally the GNOSIS

Okay the most obvious place is in the Oratrice. I feel like because Egeria isn't truly dead (from the who Amrita thing), it's possible that she lives in the Oratrice where she guides Neuvi and Furina. That's why it seems like it has its own conciousness and agenda. It's why it falsely accused Childe (and presumably Furina too). It might be why neuvi i think says this.

Anyways theres NO WAY the gnosis is staying in the oratrice lmao. There's bound to be a power transfer, the oratrice might be dead or dismantled because of its previous 'wrong' accusation for childe. And well im very much hoping it goes to Neuvi where he'll finally have his own meaning of Justice and no longer needs the assistance of the Oratrice to make judgements

I dont have much to say about Skirk, im most certainly looking forward to skirk childe interaction. Im guessing shes there at the abyss side either for the Narssizkruenz (fack spelling) ordo relation or well.. the gnosis. Im taking a random guess that she and the abyss might take away the gnosis to prevent celestia from descending early because fontaine is giving back the power they stole from a sovereign back to him.

ANYWAYS IM HYPED IM SO INSANE WAAAAAAAAAA

[crystallinestars]

Hello! I'm back for another rant :)

I was still thinking about Mihoyo's tendency to pair characters and play the ambiguity game to make more money and something I've noticed is that people will jump through sooo many hoops to defend the company. ''oh they can't be explicit because of censorship'', ''oh it's China, their culture is different!'' or even ''stupid entitled westerners always complaining about things they don't even try to understand smh 🙄''

Now, while I can agree that censorship and culture should be taken into account when talking about these games, I also feel like it's a bit disingenuous and lowkey patronising to chalk it all up to ''the Chinese are just all like that lol''

Like, why are we so vehemently defending a company that makes millions (if not billions) through ship teasing, as you've put before? Censorship does not change the fact that the development that characters get in these games (especially Genshin) goes out the window every other event or as soon as the main story is finished. And whenever I hear someone talk about censorship, I always think about Mo Dao Zu Shi (granted, the situation was different in its case so we should take it with a grain of salt) where its donghua and drama adaptations where indeed censored (but they were much more explicit than whatever's going on in Hoyoverse), yet the novel (the source material) had many MANY chapters with its two male leads going at it

I admit that I've been feeling a bit salty recently (because I feel like people only care about coding when it comes to the 'great' questions of ''OK but do these two men FUCK? How many times a day do they go at it and who's the woman in this ship??'' Meanwhile nobody ever talks about different dynamics, asexuality and aromanticism are seen as boring, and oh lord does bisexuality seem to be often treated as a trump card to say ''ok but this character is at least 50% gay'') and I also don't know that much about how everything works in China, but idk, I guess my point is that if they wanted to make ships canon, they WOULD (or could) find a way to do so

Anyway, your recent posts and asks also got me thinking and I guess I wanted to show you some support! I've seen your bio and I think it's a really smart move on your part to be clear on what you don't feel comfortable with from the get go. It can definitely be awkward when you have to tell someone that's just really excited to share their thoughts on something they enjoy that you're not interested and you'd rather not talk about this AT ALL. And it really does not help that popular ships tend to attract a lot of unhinged behaviour 😑 It's really refreshing to come across content creators like you, who are very clear in their boundaries and write such thoughtful fics

Once again, I hope you will be left to do your own thing in peace and that you'll keep finding ways and solutions for you to enjoy your favourite works without feeling alienated 💜

(And hopefully one day I will learn how to type short rants 😅)

Haha, short rants don't exist, Anon! It's perfectly okay to type long rants to me, I don't mind. If anything, I relish in them. As someone who rants and complains a lot myself, I welcome it when someone else does it. 😊 (I mean, just look at the length of my reply. I am not any better than you, dear Anon)

Lord, the "Mihoyo can't show explicit gay ships because of the CCP censorship" excuse grates on my nerves, as well. Censorship of homosexuality is definitely a thing in China, and it can sometimes be very horrible, but that's not what's stopping Mihoyo from making certain ships canon. They got way with a lot of lesbian ships in Honkai 3rd (though admittedly they had to tone it down once new laws were implemented, but the fact remains that at some point they were able to be blatant about their ships), and if we're talking actual coding, then Jeht being lesbian-coded is a thing that exists! If it was such a huge deal, I feel like Mihoyo would have either been way more subtle about it or not included these things at all.

It's just my personal opinion, but I'm certain that the reason Mihoyo doesn't make any ship canon is for the sake of making money. They need to sell characters, and the best way to do that is to allow players to enjoy characters the way they want. Assigning a specific sexuality or canon ship will crush the interpretations some players have about a character, and make that character unappealing. It would negatively impact their sales. Keeping things vague and only giving teases of the most popular ships seems to be the ideal marketing tactic for them. It panders to a lot more people this way and keeps most of them happy (however, the fact remains that they ignore a particular demographic of women, though that's a story for another time).

Regarding your reasons why people whip out the "coding" card... YOU ARE SO RIGHT! People only use sexuality coding as a way to "prove" their gay ship is canon and discredit any BG pairing. And they focus on things like one guy being muscular and the other more slender, and then assigning traditionally masculine and feminine traits to them, respectively. I could go on a whole separate rant about this topic, but I'll spare you the wall of text. Feminizing one of the guys in a gay ship is one of my biggest pet peeves, especially when it's OOC for the character.

One thing I noticed is that sexuality often gets used as a convenient tool to suit the needs of certain shippers instead of being used for actual diversity.

I can't tell you the amount of times I saw a sexuality tier list where the aromantic and asexual rows were treated as trash bins where people tossed the characters they didn't care about. There's no actual thought put into the sorting, and that's very unfair to actual aro and ace persons.

As for bisexuality... it's such a polarizing topic in fandoms. It's seen as a good thing when you have a canonical BG pairing, because then you can claim one or both are bi and therefore are also attracted to the same sex (as you said, they're "at last 50% gay" and can be shipped in gay pairings). However, if you have a non-canon BL or GL ship, saying one or both characters are bi is tantamount to treason. How dare you suggest they can be attracted to the opposite sex? That's erasing the gay representation!

Basically, bisexuality, much like the term "coding", gets treated like a tool that's allowed to exist only when it's convenient to a person, instead of as an actual sexuality real people have. I feel like bi, aroace, and pansexual people get shafted hard in fandoms in general.

Anyways, thank you for your support, Anon! I mentioned it in another post, but putting your likes and dislikes in the bio is a common practice in the Eastern part of the world, and I chose to copy that. I think it's a good way to meet people with similar interests while also letting those who have opposite interests avoid you. If the BL Anon had checked my bio first before following me, he could have spared himself some trouble haha. Sadly, it seems that many don't look at bios 😢

Thank you for your nice sentiments! I'm fairly confident that I won't be harassed, especially not in the reader-insert community, but I appreciate the thought! And hopefully I can find a way to combat the alienation... If not, then I'll simply uninstall both HSR and Genshin and find games that actually pander to me 😅

May you stay happy and free of harassment as well, dear Anon! 💚

[fatuismooches]

Omg i'm so happy you loved my brainrot about Tsaritsa and Fragile Reader interactions 😭 and i'm back with more!

Pretty sure i saw your post stating you had finished Fontaine's AQ but just in case:

SPOILERS WARNING!!!

Alright. Can we talk about Freminet? About "Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, don't cry!"?

After the AQ and all the hints presented, it has become more or less clear - Enkanomiya's prophesy turned out to be true and Neuvillette is the reincarnated Hydro Sovereign. Neuv may not be the Archon, but who is stopping us from creating wholesome headcanons?

So, if Neuv experiencing strong emotions such as grief, sadness or self-doubt causes a rain to fall in Fontaine... What about Tsaritsa's heartache causing sweeping blizzards that last days, weeks, MONTHS, sowing chaos in the nation of cryo?

What if Snezhnayans have a similar saying? What if House of Hearth children were taught a somewhat re-phrased saying to comfort their "Mother" - Tsaritsa? (I feel like if orphans call Arlecchino "Father", like Lyney did in AQ, then presumably, Tsaritsa should be "Mother". They are also given surnames of Snezhevich (male) or Snezhevna (female), which basically translates as son/daughter of snow!)

Tsaritsa is wholesome. Harbingers are wholesome. And hoyoverse is telling me i have to wait 2 more years to meet the rest of their family? They better feed me crumbs of official lore or else i will starve 😭😭

- 🐺

UGH YES!!! CANON!! Poor Tsaritsa though :( As much as she doesn't want her people or nation to suffer, she can't help the icy winds that howl through the land and pound against windows, or the snow that stands knee-deep. Yet many of the citizens still feel pity for their suffering Archon despite the situation.

I really like that idea! With her whole thing probably being the God of love it would make sense that she is looked on as a sort of mother figure who is supposed to be loving and nurturing to her people (despite Dainsleif saying otherwise.) And I actually didn't realize that part about the surnames until I looked it up, that's pretty cool!

And yup, 🐺 anon me and you will be waiting 2+ years to see her and the other Harbingers. 😓 Honestly I don't even know how going to Snezhnaya will play out considering we're the Fatui's enemies and I'm sure the Tsaritsa doesn't think very fondly of the Traveler lol

[gluffering]

12 16 and 19 for any media of your choice?

12: the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

As must as I want to point at an F/O that I don't see the fandom talk about as much.. let's be real most people on my F/O list aren't unpopular.

I know the question is essentially "character that is unpopular because people don't like them but you do" instead of "character who's unpopular because people don't KNOW THEM" but fuck it.

CYBERSIX THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE. From the 1999 animated show that lasted like.. a single season before being canned. Idk shit about the comics and I intend to keep it that way, I read like 5 pages of it and decided that was enough for me LOL. Anyway she is so cool I love her.

I don't even remember the episodes super well other than concepts and stuff (the Youtube videos I used to watch this ages ago have DEFINITELY been removed by now) but I adore her.

During the day she has a male disguise who's called Adrian Seidelman and like

She's my bigender awakening. Side note but the theme song for this show is gorgeous, I had that shit on LOOP for a while.

16: you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Pretty much any trope, headcanon or characterization that prioritises the fantasy over the character themselves. I could probably be ok with almost any trope if it suits the characters and it's written well (with obvious exceptions).

Ships are included in this. ESPECIALLY when the existence of the ship makes it clear that the shipper fundamentally misunderstands one/both/all characters that are a part of it. Blade X Dan Heng, I'm looking at you. If people could just stop bullshitting all over the place just because characters have tension with each other, that would be so awesome (mostly not related to the Dan Heng x Blade slight, just something else about ships that bugs me).

19: you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

I was a little ashamed about my Meta Knight fixation when I first had it, but I am hashtag over that shit.

Technically not a part of the question, but there's a bit of guilt whenever I get into a Hoyoverse game or just games in general that clearly have colourism (at the minimum) issues. It's kind of hard not to be when gacha games are like "WE'RE RELEASING A NEW 5 STAR!!" and it's another fucker who's so white you'd think they were ILL.

Genshin is particularly egregious for this, because what do you mean you're using their cultures yet there isn't a single black playable character? Not even ONE?? Give me a fucking break. This is one of the reasons why I take long breaks when I play these games because it's honest to god distracting. Beyond the fact that it's racist as fuck, how do they not understand that having almost every character who's the same colour as my WALL breaks the immersion? What the balls.

..

.. also blonde men.

[blackidyll]

I was tagged by the lovely @saint--claire for this! (❁´◡`❁)

3 Ships I have so many ships that I can mention, so I'll just do one each for three arbitrary categories.

1) Ship I'm reading: IceMav from the Top Gun movies. I mentioned this before, but I needed both movies to fall in love with this pairing so hard. Like if I watched the movies individually I would be interested but not this much - but throw in the fact that they canonically have 30+ years of history and TGM made it very clear that their bond has gotten even stronger over the years *chef's kiss*. Rivals to wingmen! Ice as Mav's guardian angel! Mav was the only one Ice trusted to teach the kids so they could all come back home alive! Mav pounding his wings onto Ice's coffin!!! The angst from Ice's canonical death adds a sort of realistic bittersweetness that makes the ship somehow more appealing to me. But also, because real life is depressing enough as it is, I'm happily rolling in OG!TG wingmen era fics and found family MavDad/IcePops and Dagger kids AUs forever.

2) Ship I've written: Halfdain from Genshin Impact. I like a lot of Genshin characters and relationships (both romantic and familial), but Halfdain was the one that broke my two-year pandemic lockdown writer's block. Halfdan literally appears onscreen for like three minutes, but his loyalty to Dainsleif! He followed Dainsleif's final command for 500 years! He remembered and recognized Dain even when his memories should have completely eroded away! He believed in Dain so much. And Dain! How he recognized Halfdan even in his shadowy husk state! The way his eyes flickered and he smiled the gentlest smile for Halfdan! The hand clasp in the flashback, and the Black Serpent salute! Halfdan's fate is also what inspired me so much - I was so distraught at the fact that Halfdan dies and they couldn't be together despite everything they've been through, I broke my own writer's block to fix things. Tragic endings what? I WILL FIX THEM WITH FIC. This is probably the rarest pairing I ship (<50 works on AO3), but I love them so much.

3) Free choice: 00Q from the Daniel Craig James Bond films. So, I've kind of stopped writing for them. However, I see a pattern with my current ships and like.. I haven't actually watched No Time To Die, but I know what happens to Bond. And going by my track record, I'll either write my own fix-it fic or I'll look for all the fix-it fics. And that's why I still haven't watched NTTD: 1) i'm not quite ready for things to end, and 2) I don't want to risk switching hyperfixations, so I'm procrastinating on it. But 00Q will always have a special place in my heart, both for how long I was actively in the fandom for, and for how much I grew as a writer writing for them.

First Ship I'm probably aging myself right here, but considering the timing of when I got into fandom it's either Yuki Sohma/Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket or KakaIru from Naruto.

Last movie Enola Holmes 2. I enjoyed it!

Last song Hoyoverse just dropped The Stellar Moments Vol 3 album and I've been listening to it while writing this. My favourites are Chapter of a New Era (Yunjin's theme), Storm Chaser (Heizou's theme), Evening Luxury (Diluc and Fischl's outfit teaser) and Surasthana Fantasia (Nahida's theme).

Currently reading Uhhhh.. I have far too many fic tabs opened, but two IceMav fics that I'm actively following are As Lions by @qin-ling (Time travel fic! The angst of Mav's now unreturnable original timeline and his Ice's death, but also hope in the form of getting to save Goose and befriending '86 Ice again!) and ICE - In Case of Emergencies by @derpinathebrave (post-breakup IceMav where Ice gets called as Mav's emergency contact after an accident. The title is already excellent but also the writing is impeccable).

Also I have a ton of Sandman fics opened before my brain took a sharp dive into TG fandom, so here's a fic I was halfway through: We have all the time in the world (a great exploration of Dreamling throughout their once-a-century-meet ups, where Dream is slightly more in-tuned to his feelings for Hob).

Currently watching I just finished watching Season 3 of Mob Psycho 100. I (surprisingly) did not cry at the ending but the moment 99 (the season 1 OP) played in the final episode? Oo, good chills, it was so excellently done.

Currently consuming All the Chinese New Year snacks. Actually, I can't eat most snacks yet because we're saving them for 初一 . But you know what you can't save for too long? Mandarin oranges. So many mandarin oranges. This is the best season for mandarin orange lovers :D

Currently craving Milk tea (not boba. Just tea and milk variants, no tapioca pearls or other toppings).

Tagging @qserasera, @no-gorms, @solowinged, @kamicom (welcome back!), but only if you feel up to it. And if anyone else would like to pick this up, please feel free!

[throwaway-yandere]

I must say I am opposed to that. I mean what is a yanfic without chaos spouting from everywhere. I've read so much genshin yanfics that I've became a little immune to the fluff fics not to say that the writers are at fault as there are many beautiful fanfics out there,plus some fluff here and there is good, but to say that yandere content is my favourite is an understandment, as I can proudly (or not so proudly) say that I've read like 80-90 % of the yandere genshin fics out there and I'm still searching for more so to say that I'm dedicated is not so strong of a word. I went off topic anyway I like the trill,the excitement and most importantly the element of unpredictability that comes from the yanfics, as concepts that you bring helps enriching the fic for example the OCMC fic, never have I ever read a yan!Mafia genshin fic with such creativity as yours and votes thing is a plus one for that. and the sagau Au fic with yandere lumine and dainsleif close view to the life of the reader in comparison to others, just when I thought that there couldn't be anything other to add in this AU you've blown my mind just remembering dain put a smile in my face I'm glad I got someone to simp with for him, it's sad that there so little yandere content for our dear traumatised twilight sword , he is my favourite character and I hope hoyoverse will grace us dain's simp with some little crumbs in the coming update and hopefully he will become playable, like the scaranation got their favourite little gremlin we dainsnation will continue to survive on hopium till he comes.

On another note would you mind teasing us a little about that got chosen in the event. And if I remember correctly you don't know who to chose for kazuha, is there is there is another idol that you got a little tricky to mach with some anons and if yes do you mind disclosing?

If you're still sick I hope you get better, get some rest and stay hydrated 😊

-🌠 anon

Snippet draft of chap 2 (gonna drop this here just in case I won't finish the fic t-t, I want someone who appreciates it to see it.):

"Cut it out, Alberich." Dainsleif quipped.

The Bough Keeper finally found himself a seat and invited himself in. He shot a quick glance your way, looking for how bad your reaction was. You were more indifferent than what he expected. Kaeya grinned. He quietly thought the situation sounded like a build up for a great joke.

Three Khaenri'ahns walk into a bar…

"Oh, sorry old Capt'n– that seat is taken.'

Dainsleif glared, scowling at Kaeya's obviously fake patience and sympathy. "Stop lying."

"I'm being serious. I reserved a seat for my dear brother, you see, and you're interrupting."

Dainsleif looked at you, hesitating on whether he should argue that if he was saying the truth, then you would also be intruding. He opened his mouth, before shutting it.

He closed his eyes and hummed. Of course, Dainsleif wouldn't do anything to slight your hono–

"... Then aren't they also interrupting?" 

He pointed at you. Your eyes widened, and so did Kaeya's.

"Oh? OH?" Kaeya gasped dramatically. "You're… actually talking back against them? Against Your Grace?"

"Unbelievable…" You noted, your throat still strained.

Dainsleif scowled and took your glass.

"You're not drinking."

You gripped it back, quick and unrelenting, subsequently making your hand wrapped around his. You glared.

"Don't get cocky, Twilight Sword."

"I wouldn't if you weren't so reckless." He said. "For all your years of rumination, you still haven't learned a thing or two about self-defense. Or even how to take care of yourself."

"Oh?" Kaeya couldn't help but let out some monosyllabic responses. He watched as the two of you fought over what is technically the drink he paid for. It felt like he was missing half of the conversation even though he's at the front row seat of everything.

"We dueled, and Lord (Y/n) lost."

You sent him a dirty look. Snitch. Braggart. Asshole.

"I'm not the one who brought a sword to a dagger fight."

"A sword and a dagger are all but weapons. What matters most is the determination of those who wield it."

"All I hear are excuses, you cheat."

"You didn't exactly warn me that we'll be crossing blades."

"Horseshit. I threw a glove at y–"

"Sorry, I'm blind in my left eye. Corruption and all."

You stiffened and his retort effectively silenced the table like a spell. Kaeya stole his shot back and sipped it, not looking at the both of you. Your shoulders fell and you subconsciously covered your mouth. Shit. You didn't know that.

Dainsleif sighed, laughing humorlessly.

"I'm only joking... Of course."

-----------------------------

Okay now back to me simping

I went "OH MY GOD HYSHUM APPRECIATION AAHHHHH" in a yell-whisper dhsjsksoa •́⁠ ⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠,⁠•̀ JDISOSK OKAY I'M SORRY I'M JUST VERY HAPPY TO SEE A FELLOW DAINSLEIF SIMP UWUWUWU–

Anyways I'm putting a read more here because it is too embarrassing to have people go "you are so unhinged for dain" so I'm just gonna put this here lmaolmaolmao

There we go. Anyways–

HE'S MY FAVORITE (obviously, ansy.) BUT UNFORTUNATELY NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE LOVE HIM AS MUCH AS WE DO (⁠ ⁠≧⁠Д⁠≦⁠) I LOVE HIS VOICE IN ALL LANGUAGES LIKE KENJIRO TSUDA??? YURI LOWENTHAL– PLS I ADMIT I DON'T KNOW HIS KOREAN AND CHINESE VAS PART WORKS BUT THEY ARE BOTH SO 😩👌👌

JEIWO I AM SORRY I LOVE THIS MAN A LOT JSKSKAKAIA I'M ACE AND I JUST RECENTLY FOUND OUT THAT YEAH, I DO ACTUALLY WANT TO UNIRONICALLY KISS DAINSLEIF AND MY FRIENDS ARE FRICKING MAKING FUN OF ME FOR IT (⁠ᗒ⁠ᗩ⁠ᗕ⁠) SORRY I JUST. UEISIS. I MIGHT EVEN LOVE HIM MORE THAN DIMITRI AND UH OH THAT'S NOT GOOD–

Hysteric Humanoid is actually the most fave fic I've written while "No" - Albedo is the most personal one. I just adore the idea of a reader who's stuck with a guilty yan who thinks they're protecting them by not following their instructions.

Also, I just don't think EVERYONE would love you if you're reincarnated as a creator– much more if you're the "impostor." I just don't think it's a realistic expectation, so I was planning on having people like Ayato, who knows you're the creator AND STILL HATES YOU lmao. Sadly, a dainsleif fic just doesn't get attention *sigh* doesn't mean I love him any less, but if writing other characters is what makes people happy then I'll selfishly keep dain to myself lololol <3333 luv him so much it hurts sometimes. Yandere!Dain is always described as someone so reluctant BUT WHAT IF HE WAS FERAL HUH????? WHAT IF HE BREAKS MY LEGS AND TELL ME NOT TO DO ANYTHING STUPID??? WHY NOT???? WHY N O T??? IDC HYSHUM!DAIN IS A SARCASTIC MFER WHO JUST DOESN'T LISTEN TO CREATOR/IMPOSTOR!READER ANYMORE–

Oh i forgot to explain why "no" is the most personal lolol. I think it's kinda obvious but this is the only reader i wrote that i actually relate to and based most of my struggles with. Not cuz I'm an albedo simp (funnily enough, I'm not that into him) it's cuz I was not feeling mentally well and writing this fic helped me a ton. That's why I kinda laugh bitterly when I see comments that that reader is really complex because yeah. That's supposed to be a character that's similar to me huhu. But I'm glad I also saw some others go "omg i see some similarities between this reader and i" because it makes me feel less alone in a way

Hol tf on why am i telling you this dusisosoa this is what finding a fellow dainsleif simp does to a mfer–

Anyways I hope you enjoyed the HysHum crumbs 🌠 anon I'm sorry for dumping that on yOU HAHAHAHA IF IT HELPS I'M NO LONGER IN "THE BIG SAD" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[thefurbyddenfruit]

The reason people dont like genshin isnt because of story despite how much its talked about. Thats because the story is only talked about by players who have already decided they will keep playing.

People who tried the game and decided to leave usually stop because they hate the gacha system/rage quit when they didnt get a character they wanted, grinding for materials and artifacts, their world got to difficult for them to keep up with, and their moral dilemma of playing a game that does things they disagree with.

1st reason cannot be helped. Some people just need to change their mindset about things and something else ill say for reason 4

2nd reason is valid HOWEVER you do not need to level your characters all the way to max to be able to get through the story. There is a minimum yes but you dont need to max your characters

And that all ties in with reason 3, YOU DONT NEED TO KEEP ADVANCING YOUR WORLD LEVEL. IF YOU WANT TO YOU SHOULD MAX YOUR CHARACTERS TO THEIR CURRENT LIMIT AT THE LOWER LEVELS AND DO THIS FOR EVERY WORLD LEVEL. This way you arent struggleing for 20 mins trying to fucking fight the oceanid with your low lvl characters with shit talents (happened to me) in general your gaming experience goes alot smoother if you take your timelvling your characters AND WORLD LVL which is optional after a certain point but even before then you dont have to rush archon quests.

And lastly for reason 4, you do not have to agree with the buisness practices of mihoyo/hoyoverse to like the game. You do not need to spend money on genshin to enjoy the game. And you dont have to agree with how they handle content in the game to like the game in general. Alot of people got really mad with how they handled the skin tones of the people from sumeru

It was mostly americans

But you still have to keep in mind this is a game company in china. They had to perma change some characters outfits for CN players because of chinese laws. China is also their main and largest userbase. They will cater towards what the majority want. This goes for everything not just skin colors. Is this right? In america, no. But personally I don't speak about what's right and wrong for other countries. What's okay here isn't okay elsewhere and sometimes you have to respect that decision even if you don't personally agree with it.

Ultimately its your own decision to leave the game for these reasons, but to say its trash is unreasonable. Genshin on its own is a good game. Its a high quality game for free. The characters you want arent unobtainable. None of them are payment locked it just means youll have to be patient if you dont want to spend money.

Grinding mats and artifacts actually isnt that hard it just gets boring and repetitive if you do it alone. But if your patient with lvling it shouldn't be hard to get through

These are the real reasons people stop playing and honestly no point in arguing with them because obviously this isnt the kind of game they would be interested in in the first place if they are struggling.

You bring a lot of good points to the table but many people I know who stopped playing Genshin was actually because the story was getting boring. A close friend of mine hasn't even played past AR15 because she found the tutorial quests to be boring af. My bf is stuck in Inazuma rn because the story can drag a bit there. Inazuma was my least favorite as well. That's what my post was originally about.

I'm also semi f2p aka I only pay for the battle pass occasionally and the welkin moon. Sometimes not getting a character after man pulls can be frustrating but I also love the gacha mechanic

Tbh mihoyo lost that "We're just a little ol company in china and the laws say we can't have any black people in our games" when they literally made a playable Honkai character black. It's not that they can't. They just didn't want to.

I've been playing at word level 6 for a while cuz I don't make enough damage. (I hate grinding alone) It really hasn't bothered me that much when it comes to general gameplay but it does come to bite you in the butt when doing for example certain events or the abyss sometimes

[mdhwrites]

It Makes No Sense That I Like Honkai Star Rail

So this blog is going to be positive but I thought I'd start with how BIZARRE it is that I like this game... at all. Back in 2016, I played a lot of mobile games. It was how I passed my days in class while suffering from depression. This included a lot of mobile games of ALL varieties. You can think of it? I have probably tried it. I spent a year like that...

And entirely burnt out. Not just on the bad ones but on free to play games pretty much altogether. Weirder still is that the style of game I NEVER got into? Gacha games. I found the progression annoying more than anything else and the pull system not enticing. Even now, I easily will tell you that the Gacha system is still probably the thing I dislike most about Star Rail.

So... Why do I like it?

*shrug* I just do. I literally can't quantify why which for someone like me just feels kind of weird and so I kind of wanted to get it out of the way ahead of time by sharing this odd anecdote.

BUT with that out of the way, what is Honkai Star Rail?

It is a turn based, gacha RPG with cute waifus, lolis, twinks and... Well, I'd say buff men but really it's just like average dude or tall twink still. Body type variety is not Hoyoverse's strongsuit. If someone calls someone in any of their games THICC smack them. People should not be allowed to lie after all.

The combat system itself will immediately be familiar to almost anyone who has ever watched a Youtube video sponsored by RAID SHADOW LEGENDS! So, you know, like 80% of all digital video out there. The big difference is... It's actually turn based. You can turn on auto battle but at its core, it is genuinely turn based and has a turn bar akin to Final Fantasy X and every character has a speed stat that determines where they go on it. Otherwise, everyone has a basic attack, a skill, an ultimate that charges as they do things or take damage, a talent and a technique. The talent is just a passive gimmick to the character to help them stand out more usually, such as a way they trigger additional attacks, buffs they gain during a fight, etc. like that. The basic attack does what you think it does with one little caveat:

It gives a skill point. This is where the fact that it's genuinely turn based I think actually does allow it some real complexity. See, skills are always your character's better moves. They're the ones with special abilities and don't need the charge time of Ultimates (which you can activate at literally any time). However, you need a skill point so you need to balance these skills with basic attacks and how characters move on the turn order bar can really help or hinder this depending on how hungry to use their skills some characters are.

The final big complexity of the combat is that every enemy has elemental weaknesses and every character represents one element. If a character hits an enemy's weakness, it lowers a stamina bar on them until it shatters, causing the opponent to take a lot of damage, get a debuff of some sort that correlates to the element, and pushes them down on the turn order. It can also stop things like charge attacks that enemies put up or if an enemy specifically is watching for certain types of actions, they no longer pay attention while broken like this. Timing them and going for them is genuinely a large part of the strategy and helps make sure that you have at least some variety in your team.

That's because while every character only has five core traits, and only three of which can actually be used in combat, let alone the fact that EVERYONE'S basic attacks are the same, the game still gets a TON out of its systems. As an example to encourage new players: One of the starting characters is called March 7th. She's a bubbly sweetheart who's a bit of an airhead but she's also the first tank that you'll get. Her ability lets her throw on shields onto others that commonly equal about half their health if you're specing her into defense and twice between turns, if an enemy attacks someone with a shield, she retaliates with effectively her basic attack. She can also shield herself and there were a LOT of early challenges I could tackle without proper preparation just because the enemy quite literally couldn't kill March and she could literally wait them out. And she is literally one of the first THREE characters you begin the game with.

I literally cleared the first two WORLDS without ever having to really change my team composition from the starting crew. Hell, besides the main character, I've only VERY recently (literally last couple weeks) started using any of the 5 stars I'd gotten because I liked how my four stars handled situations more. And that's also a nice element to the game: It's complex but it's not mean. It doesn't have no challenge but if have an alright grasp on turn based strategy, you'll be more than fine for all but end game content. I am horribly unoptimized compared to what my teams could be but because I didn't actively make wrong decisions, I've done plenty well.

The gameplay is genuinely just GOOD. Shame that that's the only thing I can be entirely positive about.

The writing in the game isn't bad. Sometimes it even manages to be great like when they looked at Final Fantasy 14 Heavensward and went "What if we tried that but with no dragons?" That's not entirely fair, classist divides and rulers gone mad are nothing new but Jarilo 6, the world after the tutorial world, is the best written part of the game HANDS DOWN and it's kind of clear what the main thrust of its tropes are. Worse yet, this scifi game's best tropes are commonly most associated with fantasy and Jarilo 6's setting is the one closest to just being either modern or Victorian in tone, while also having knights, which is just a constant problem for the game. The third planet barely ever feels like scifi despite it being literally a ship the size of planet. Instead it mostly comes across as sky Venice with Chinese designs and culture.

Even if you ignore that it is supposed to not literally just be Genshin Impact again though, the writing rarely impresses. The tutorial is just straight up awful. Fantasy and Scifi both have proper noun problems and just the exposition said before you get control of your character, which is like ten minutes at most (if you DON'T read the dozens of documents lying around), isn't a soup. It's a garbage pile. The amount of terms and concepts they expect the player to just immediately get is AWFUL. The third planet of the game suffers similarly where it has so much exposition to cram in that key plot elements don't get properly explained as to what they actually are except in SIDE CONTENT. Jarilo 6, unsurprisingly, actually for the most part doesn't have a ton of unique proper nouns and hey, it also has the tightest and most coherent story because of it. This is mostly because it leans into Star Rail's proper writing strength: Characters.

The companion quests of the game are some of the best pieces of content in the game period. Sometimes they're playing an old trope straight but really well, like the quest that's just The Gift of the Magi, sometimes they'll have fun twists and sometimes it'll just be a neat look at one of the characters in the cast. Regardless of what it is, they clearly get more love than the common sidequest which while they may have some nice flavor is usually about exactly what you expect from a free to play game of this size.

So if this is the mid part of the game... What do I actually dislike? Well... Everything that are the hallmarks of a free to play gacha game. The progression just kind of sucks ass. Now to be fair, you can actually keep a pretty good sized roster of characters up to where the game wants you for pretty much all the main game content that exists currently. I would say until level 70, the game rewards a player enough that you still need to make choices, you can't level literally every character, but you can do it. Getting past 70 on the other hand... Well, let me put it this way: Just to be ALLOWED to level a five star character takes 21 HOURS worth of energy. And only for that level limit break. It takes well over a day for ONE CHARACTER to have the right to level up to 80, the game's current level cap. With guides I've seen, it takes 12 DAYS worth of grinding just the money farm option in the game to, by it alone admittedly, get the credits to be able to upgrade a 5 star characters abilities to max. None of this includes the resources to level them up, because grinding fights is practically meaningless for exp, their six pieces of equipment that need to be leveled up, their specialty piece of equipment you need to also get to level 80, the OTHER resources you have to grind in order to level up the character's abilities, etc. etc.

Like honestly, genuinely, I don't think the gacha is the worst part of this game. The resource grind, that will keep any ftp gamer locked down (I'm a light spender as I've bought a few battlepasses) at all times to try and get stronger to challenge the highest difficulty content, is VERY REAL. The plus side is that this stuff doesn't take a lot of time out of your day... But it does take time. Every day. Because that is just how the live service, free to play game works.

Which kind of brings me back to how I began this with: Why do I like this game? I DESPISE these sorts of grinds that feel so self defeating with how much they take. With the time they consume to see no improvement. To just get stonewalled on progress as I have to sit and wait and that is still at the core of the game because that is simply the business model they have.

But I like it and unlike back when I played for about a month and a half when it came out, I suspect I'll be sticking with it longer this time. That it's just my way to kill time nowadays. It's a game I genuinely like. Heck, my current goals are actually to make it so I get a five star soon that makes DoT teams go from good to GREAT because that just seems like a fun way to direct my energy currently.

And because I do want this to potentially convince some people to possibly check it out: Star Rail is giving a LOT of bonuses away for having won a lot of awards, including Mobile Game of the Year from the Game Awards. These include free pulls and, in roughly a month, a free five star character to all players, something Hoyoverse's other HUGE game Genshin Impact has literally never done yet. So now is a pretty good time to get on board if you're interested.

OH SON OF A BITCH I FORGOT ABOUT ALL THE GIRLS WHO COME OFF AS LESBIA-

======+++++======

I still need to get Bronya to go alongside my Seele (who is the five star I've used from almost effectively when the game launched since she was the first premium 5 star character). Just give me my frozen lesbians game! T-T

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[rapifessor]

It’s that time again.

Time to talk about the most recent Special Program. This one was pretty short, so there’s not much to talk about, but regardless I think there’s some pretty cool stuff.

First of all, the new weekly boss, where Scaramouche gets in a giant robot and becomes a god. I’m a sucker for a good boss fight, and I don’t think this one will disappoint. It’s visually impressive and conceptually different from other fights, particularly in its second phase where the boss becomes completely immune to damage by normal means. Should be a lot of fun.

Nahida

I’ve already talked about Layla in great detail so instead the focus here will be on Nahida, who I’m also quite excited for. Her abilities are the most unique we’ve ever seen and she seems to have enormous potential.

Nahida’s Elemental Skill is the star of the show here. You can aim it as you would Charged Attacks with a bow character, and it has its own viewfinder that marks enemies within it and links them together. Doing this lets Nahida fire additional attacks when marked opponents are hit by Dendro Cores, but that’s not the part that’s interesting.

What really makes Nahida’s Elemental Skill stand out is its non-combat applications. Similar to how Zhongli and others’ Elemental Skills have additional utility, Nahida’s can collect harvestable items just by targeting them with the viewfinder and putting them directly into your inventory. It’s not exactly a game-changer, but it’s useful and incredibly unique.

The best part is that it doesn’t stop there. Apparently Nahida’s skill can do a variety of other things that were hinted at by the Special Program hosts. What they all are is a mystery at this time, but knowing that there might be all sorts of crazy shit you can do with it has me really excited.

As for her Elemental Burst, it’s not as ground-breaking as her skill by any means but it’s quite interesting in its own right. Its AoE is massive and it has a ton of different effects based on your party composition, which adds a lot of depth and variety to Nahida’s potential teams. You can choose to max out her burst’s duration or the damage/speed of her Elemental Skill’s marking effect, or mix and match different bonus effects.

Other Stuff

Honestly, there’s not much to really go over here. The new events are kinda whatever, although Layla will be making an appearance in the version’s main event so that’s nice. Can’t actually get her until the second half of the update though.

The one thing I did think was really cool was the new Serenitea Pot copying system. It lets you copy other peoples’ realm layouts, which is great if you just want something that looks nice and you don’t want to take the time to design it yourself. Not sure if I’ll make use of it, but it’s certainly a nice feature.

And that about wraps it up. The Special Program this time around was pretty standard fare, as HoYoverse decided to go back to their original formula with the panel of hosts. This has its benefits though, at least for an English-speaking audience. The VAs on the panel may be cringe at times but the information is easier to understand and digest in this format.

[skorchinq]

ok ok two more to complete the released set:zhongli and baal for the bingo?

Wasted potential solely because NEITHER of his story quests talk about Guizhong. Please I need Guizhong lore. The ruins are not enough I want to hear about her from Zhongli directly. Sir please tell me about your dead wife

Why do people think Zhongli is hot. He is literally a grandpa. Why are you thirsting over grandpappy. He is just sitting here telling you absurdly long and detailed stories about ye olden days while he waits for his tea to finish brewing (which takes six hours). Be polite

I'm assuming when you say Baal you mean Ei/Beelzebul and not the actual Baal/Makoto, but just in case I was wrong (and also bc I want to) I'll do Makoto as well

Ei first tho:

Everyone keeps complaining about the Inazuma archon quest and her Act I story quest but it's like. What did you all think was going to happen. What do you think would have made the most sense narratively.

"the shogun should've had an unshakable will and been impossible to convince" so you think the resistance should have LOST? You think the Traveler should have left with the sakoku and vision hunt decrees still in place? Because that would be super unsatisfying.

Also, we've known that her will is shakable crom the very beginning!? We were explicitly told that the vision hunt and sakoku decrees have been in place for a year. A SINGLE YEAR. THE SHOGUN HAS BEEN RULING FOR CENTURIES. Obviously something must have shaken her will for her to change the way she runs things so suddenly and drastically! So it stood to reason that it would be possible to shake her will again, convince her that there is a better way to deal with the problem than how she is currently.

And then the reason ended up being "fatui said so". Which I do think is bullshit but it's not what most people complain about from what I've seen so.

Honestly tho I'm not actually convinced that was truly the only reason. I don't think they would have swayed her so easily under normal circumstances. I do have a theory about what unusual circumstances allowed her to be convinced...

We already know that the Archons know more about the twins and the Abyss Order than they let on. And if we look at the timeline for the twins' time in Teyvat...

Twins arrive > Abyss twin wakes up > they travel with Dainsleif and befriend Khaenriah > Cataclysm happens and Khaenriah is destroyed > Traveler wakes up during the cataclysm > twins reunite and decide to just go (Khaenriah has already been destroyed so there's nothing left for Abyss twin anyway) > Unknown God stops them and puts them in stasis > ~500 years pass > Abyss twin wakes up first, again > they discover the people of Khaenriah survived as the Abyss Order, and agrees to work with them to restore Khaenriah > they come up with the plan to control Dvalin (among other plans) > Traveler wakes shortly after they put this plan into action

Knowing this, "a little over a year before the traveler arrives in Inazuma" is definitely a plausible timeframe for when the Abyss twin woke up again.

Could it be possible that Ei was so easily swayed into allowing the Shogun Puppet to put the Sakoku and vision hunt decrees in place because she was put super on edge by the Abyss twin's recent awakening?

Come to think of it, iirc it's never specified whether Makoto went to Khaenriah to fight for or against them during the cataclysm. If she was acting under Celestia's orders, and fighting against Khaenriah, then it's possible that the Abyss twin might've even been the one who killed her... Yeah, that would definitely make Ei paranoid.

Tbh I think the idea of the Abyss twin being Makoto's killer is a bit of a stretch (possible, but a stretch), but Ei being on edge bc of the Abyss twin is definitely possible imo. If not that, then I'm sure there's some other reason... Hoyoverse will tell us what it was eventually... Probably...

Anyways. That was my thing on the Archon quest. I'm also mad about people reducing her Act I story quest to "stupid date quest"!

She has literally been trapped in her mind palace for centuries and only just made the decision to connect more with her people. Literally what could possibly be a better way to do that than going out and actually interacting with said people.

Also that's literally only the first half of it? The latter half is her dealing with the political aftermath of the tri-commision's corruption as its ruler. It had that cool duel! That you all seemed to forget about! :/

And then on the opposite end of the spectrum there's the people who basically infantilise her. I'm not even going to elaborate on that one. :/ Just. No

Ok I'm done now. Onto Makoto!

She is so cool. She is Ei's smarter nicer funnier more popular twin who is also. Dead

While Ei is goth jock, Makoto is prep nerd. Opposites in every way <3

I spent so much time writing about Ei that my brain is fried TTOTT

[seelestia]

sldfkjsf that's good then i shall not hold back my urges to ramble >:3

yeah that sounds about right. or maybe they just want to consume more of the same type of content?? ig it is interesting to see how different writers tackle the same concept differently, but still, it feels disrespectful 🥲 

hoyoverse be like: hmmm how do we make this character interesting? what will make people love them? how can we make it so that they'll want to pull and whale for this character? ah yes, make their backstory tragic!!!

i get it about the last line being like… the last punch in the face LOL idk it just feels right to close things off with a bang!! totally get you, it makes so much sense hehe

albedo oh nooo ;w; ok but i can also see him get even more into alchemy because i mean he's a homunculus…. he can 'revitalize' dead branches with alchemy… and he's read records about people getting brought back to life in the nearby nation…. so surely… surely someone as brilliant-minded as him should be able to revive you! …. is what he thinks as he buries himself into research papers and lost journals and sacred texts. nobody can stop him or tell him to stop. he won't stop until his body gives out, in which case it is also a favorable outcome for him because then he'll get to be with you again :) wow that got dark ignore that sldkfjlsdf

heheh look forward for it the next time your ask opens up~

also gasP THEME CHANGE! SO PRETTY *w* i see heizou... everyone keeps falling for him left and right these days, hmmm.... detective should be under arrest for stealing so many hearts >:|

- 💠

ofc~ i'm always down for rambles and i have a habit of adding onto them too, so we make a good and chaotic??? jfkekkdkfs match >:)

ah, i get where that disrespectfulness comes from, but i think we don't need much of a complex reason. just simple consideration for the content creator's feelings is enough of a reason already !! ;(

hoyoverse and their little mixing pot. you see the biggest jar on the shelf and it has trauma taped on it. but there are actually more and more stocks of it in the storage room. (/j)

( tw: reviving a dead person + lore about the abyss and albedo's master, rhinedottir. )

ah, yes, the reverse side of alchemy. like the course of life, a beginning always comes with an end. but if you're capable, what is stopping you from adding another beginning to that end?

personally, i think albedo wouldn't let himself give in so easily to the thought of dwelling into that part of alchemy to simply bring you back. a thought whispers, "it'd be worth it, you'd be here by his side." — but why does he hesitate? perhaps, albedo is reminded of his own master, rhinedottir and the abyssal monsters that came to be from her creations (even him).

after all, from past observations, it seems the abyss is naturally attracted to the ambition in one's heart (similarly to rhinedottir with her passion for alchemy and tartaglia when he fell into the abyss as a young kid); albedo is one of the, if not, the closest person acquainted with alchemy on the whole of teyvat next to his master. but this doesn't mean he is immune to the abyss; no, far from it, he has always been at risk and your existence is— was, the last thread holding him back.

but now, you're gone and albedo feels himself falling through an endless space. if he gives in and manages to bring you back, would he have been corrupted by the abyss by then?

but for now, the chief alchemist has some self-control. unless he lets his emotions take him too far... he will continue to drift in the fall, mourning the loss of you. or will he risk everything? only time will tell.

that was dark indeed but i expected nothing less from my harbinger of tears ;(

hehe, yes, the new heizou + red and peach theme~ this one comes off stronger than my previous one, that's for sure !! anon, i too beg for the answer to the same question because why do i want an enemies/co-workers to lovers trope with this silly man??? what a heart stealer 🚶 (/lh)