#probably won't know more until the archon quest becomes available

[insurged]

until hoyo gives us more info on capitano, for now, i really like the theory that he could be the bloodstained knight who pledges himself to the abyss order of khaenri'ah...

[gold-rhine]

Would you recommend Playing Star Rail to anyone? Why or why not?

no, i wouldn't. my own dislike of turn based games aside, here are the reasons:

1.Way too little content. Right now there are basically two regions and a starter area. Each has like 6-8 maps, every map is just corridors with like 10-11 chests and couple of puzzles on some maps. You go through basically all of it during main quests. They just released second half of the second archon quest. There are like some side quests, but they play pretty quickly. You can go through all of this in like a week max if you play slowly and bc some quests\puzzles are time-locked to make them feel longer.

There is simulated universe, which is fun at the start, but once you build your characters and figure out best buffs, it also becomes boring, because it's the same enemies in the same corridors. I enjoyed it for like a week, and now I play it once a week for rewards and thats it, which takes like 40 min.

There is also like hsr's equivalent of abyss. Idk, you can theoretically replay same fights over and over there until you get 3 stars, but like. I mean, if that's your cup of tea, I'm not kinkshaming, but personally I play through it once and that's it. so like. another hour in a week mb.

2.So, once you burn through available content, there is literally nothing to do but grind resources. I explain to you my daily routine:

1.log in. Do daily rewards missions for primos.

2.use autoplay to grind resources. mb upgrade characters if you can

3.log off.

because there is no exploration in hsr, there is literally nothing to do but replay abyss and simulated universe over and over

3.Again, because there is no exploration and limited number of quests, it's literally impossible to get primos if you want them without spending. You can only get them from daily rewards (like 60 I think?) and events. Like, if you already did quests and abyss, that's it, you can't get even one wish per day. say what u want about genshin, but if you actually play the game, you can get 2-5 wishes daily just from exploration and quests. And there are roughly bazillion more quests in genshin, bc it's a huge game that was out for years. I have 100% exploration on my main account in every region and I still have like 20 quests and hangouts not done there despite playing for like 1,5 years.

so in genshin, if you want a character and you spent your free event wishes etc, you can grind the primos for free. I know, bc I do on my new f2p acc, like you can get like 100 wishes per banner which guarantees at least one 5 star. I started Kazuha's banner with 0 savings. spent 30 whishes on kazuha and then 70 on alhaitham and then stopped pulling bc i didn't want to main alhaitham again lol, so probably could get another 5 star on hard pity.

In hsr, you can do nothing, but spend money. Like, I started Luocha banner with 15 wishes saved and at the end of his banner I was at 70 pity. I couldn't even get to 5 star pity. I happened to get him on the last day on 73 pity and win 50-50. But if I didn't, I couldn't go grind like in genshin, I could just spend.

So I think gatcha monetization feels much more predatory in hsr bc once you're through very limited content, you're out of options.

TLDR: play this game if you, like me, need to waste time and only have your phone on you. Like I'm often bored at work, this is why I make shitposts on tumblr and have several other time-wasting apps. Also make sure you're won't be tempted to spend money on gacha. Please don't spend money on this game guys. Its turn based, its easier than genshin, you literally DO NOT NEED strong characters to play, and like. Paying money so game can auto-play itself is just insane to me. Please don't. You can find cool looking anime art on the internet for free.

Don't play otherwise.

[zorkaya-moved]

so should zarina actually be made into the sage of amurta to be overseen by nahida/cyno/alhaitham or should she be on her own?

I will have both paths available in interactions but for her story quest, I'm thinking over what can be done and how to write it out. for plot reasons ofc.

because if she becomes the sage, she is closer to nahida and has more work and will be 'chained' to a specific place and will not be allowed to leave without explicit permission. it will only be disclosed between a small group of people like those who took part in the archon quest and in her quest (so kaveh and naphis are included too but people like dehya are up to discussion, dunyarzad and nilou won't know until plotted out; it's more about people who took part in zar's quests).

if zarina gets out after the end of act ii as she expected, then she wil be on her own and will be back to dive into the abyss, be a menace, but probably will have to hide from those who took part in her intro quest and her story quests and possibly traveler, which limits interactions.

tbqh I think making her a sage (until new sages are chosen) would be the best choice for future interactions and having her interact with other people + characters like nahida or cyno or tighnari or alhaitham would be easily able to speak with her regarding the abyss, her experiments, and who she is in reality. also being like 'we have ot keep a watch on you' because yes let's go. the sage path does limit certain other interactions with fatui but that's a problem I'll solve with time and creativity.