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Star Rail 2.4 patch thoughts
Aug. 1st, 2024 06:30 pmThe Good: The storytelling has improved. It's like they took all the feedback players had against the old 1.0-1.3 patches to heart, and learned from them to make the Penacony and now the new Xianzhou update. The storytelling is tight, with the relevant information directly presented to us instead of hidden in separate side quests or readables/item descriptions.
The political tension lurking beneath the surface of the Xianzhou is also well done, laid out clear enough for us to get the basics of, but still leaving room for complexity as if we're just looking at the tip of the iceberg. The fact that the upcoming crisis we're gonna deal with appears to be a xanatos gambit/conspiracy mashup from at least 3 factions (or more?) gives a good sense of suspense (at least for me), and balances out the fact that 3 arbiter generals + protagonist party which really takes the suspense out of any direct combat scenario (we've curb-stomped grander boss-fights).
Also, I hear the new Hunt-class March 7 is pretty buff, and has at least 2 ways she can be built, as either normal sub-DPS or in a break build. That's pretty awesome, and I am looking forward to slowly building mine (probably as sub-DPS since I have more leftover gear for that build).
The two major side quests that came with the patch was also well done. The story behind March's sword training is hilarious: Skott of the IPC is...well, hard to put into words to describe him, but definitely hilarious for the player. The companion quest for Yunli was quite moving, though not for anything related to Yunli, but the story told by the magic sword was well told and a gold mine of lore info.
The Meh: The characterization we've seen of Yunli so far does not make me want to pull for her. I don't feel she's outright bratty as some haters see her on various forums, but she's definitely... a kid. Like, the way she thinks and acts is immature and what I would expect of a kid. Which is fine, and IC. But... I don't play this game to raise kids. So.
Also, I am conflicted about Yanqing. The characterization in the story is pretty good, and he's clearly matured since we saw in the 1.2 patch. We see the officer side of him who has learned to reign in his temper and deal with politics and diplomacy. But... He still sucks for gameplay, and I ended up pulling his 3rd eidolon from the standard banner, when any other character would've been strictly better. -_- *sigh*
Undecided: Feixiao looks fine and her characterization is ok, but doesn't blow me out of the water or anything. She is a wind element main-DPS to fill the hole in my teams...but I hear mixed reviews of her kit online. Some say she's great, some say she sucks, some say you have to get E2 be decent... I dunno. It's possible her kit hasn't even been finalized yet, so I can wait and see.
Ling Sha's visual design looked really nice on the preview art, but in character, she looks...like a clone of Sparkle with a neater haircut. Also reminds me of Yuuko from xxxHolic. I dunno, will hold off until I learn more about her kit and how her bunny pet will show up in combat before making any pull plans.
The Bad: The updated killed any inclinations I had of pulling Jiaoqiu in the second half of the banner. Just... this dude has nothing resembling Zhuge Liang except for his fan. His characterization is barely above that of a NPC and his attitude... eh. Doesn't feel like he's got the "excellence" to be a 5 star, honestly.
His fellow emissary from the Yaoqing, Moze, is somewhat similar. Though at least this guy is only a 4 star. I don't see what people like about this guy though, since his performance in the story so far is...somewhat lacking. Talks big but doesn't really back any of it up. I'm thinking it's more due to the design being from Impact 3rd?
( Main Story Lore )
( Side Quest Lore )
( Addendum: Side Quest timeline )
( Musings )
JY x DH slash: Eh... other people have collected the evidence and made the analysis. I don't feel like repeating this work. So will just link some stuff I've found here...
https://2532355088.lofter.com/post/1e22df10_2bc6bf7e2
https://xieshi83733.lofter.com/post/4cbe9fa7_2bc6bf1c5
https://heisuigui.lofter.com/post/30cdc103_2bc6bc152
https://shinian00807.lofter.com/post/31908c0e_2bc6cd04e
Addendum: Misc stuff
Found this post which shows proof that less than 5 months passed between the Stellaron Crisis on the Luofu, and the start of this patch (Lingsha just recently arrived).
We also know that the main quest of Penacony took place within 48 hours. In other words, our various filler missions and side quests in between chapters took up the majority of time, looks like. =P
The political tension lurking beneath the surface of the Xianzhou is also well done, laid out clear enough for us to get the basics of, but still leaving room for complexity as if we're just looking at the tip of the iceberg. The fact that the upcoming crisis we're gonna deal with appears to be a xanatos gambit/conspiracy mashup from at least 3 factions (or more?) gives a good sense of suspense (at least for me), and balances out the fact that 3 arbiter generals + protagonist party which really takes the suspense out of any direct combat scenario (we've curb-stomped grander boss-fights).
Also, I hear the new Hunt-class March 7 is pretty buff, and has at least 2 ways she can be built, as either normal sub-DPS or in a break build. That's pretty awesome, and I am looking forward to slowly building mine (probably as sub-DPS since I have more leftover gear for that build).
The two major side quests that came with the patch was also well done. The story behind March's sword training is hilarious: Skott of the IPC is...well, hard to put into words to describe him, but definitely hilarious for the player. The companion quest for Yunli was quite moving, though not for anything related to Yunli, but the story told by the magic sword was well told and a gold mine of lore info.
The Meh: The characterization we've seen of Yunli so far does not make me want to pull for her. I don't feel she's outright bratty as some haters see her on various forums, but she's definitely... a kid. Like, the way she thinks and acts is immature and what I would expect of a kid. Which is fine, and IC. But... I don't play this game to raise kids. So.
Also, I am conflicted about Yanqing. The characterization in the story is pretty good, and he's clearly matured since we saw in the 1.2 patch. We see the officer side of him who has learned to reign in his temper and deal with politics and diplomacy. But... He still sucks for gameplay, and I ended up pulling his 3rd eidolon from the standard banner, when any other character would've been strictly better. -_- *sigh*
Undecided: Feixiao looks fine and her characterization is ok, but doesn't blow me out of the water or anything. She is a wind element main-DPS to fill the hole in my teams...but I hear mixed reviews of her kit online. Some say she's great, some say she sucks, some say you have to get E2 be decent... I dunno. It's possible her kit hasn't even been finalized yet, so I can wait and see.
Ling Sha's visual design looked really nice on the preview art, but in character, she looks...like a clone of Sparkle with a neater haircut. Also reminds me of Yuuko from xxxHolic. I dunno, will hold off until I learn more about her kit and how her bunny pet will show up in combat before making any pull plans.
The Bad: The updated killed any inclinations I had of pulling Jiaoqiu in the second half of the banner. Just... this dude has nothing resembling Zhuge Liang except for his fan. His characterization is barely above that of a NPC and his attitude... eh. Doesn't feel like he's got the "excellence" to be a 5 star, honestly.
His fellow emissary from the Yaoqing, Moze, is somewhat similar. Though at least this guy is only a 4 star. I don't see what people like about this guy though, since his performance in the story so far is...somewhat lacking. Talks big but doesn't really back any of it up. I'm thinking it's more due to the design being from Impact 3rd?
( Main Story Lore )
( Side Quest Lore )
( Addendum: Side Quest timeline )
( Musings )
JY x DH slash: Eh... other people have collected the evidence and made the analysis. I don't feel like repeating this work. So will just link some stuff I've found here...
https://2532355088.lofter.com/post/1e22df10_2bc6bf7e2
https://xieshi83733.lofter.com/post/4cbe9fa7_2bc6bf1c5
https://heisuigui.lofter.com/post/30cdc103_2bc6bc152
https://shinian00807.lofter.com/post/31908c0e_2bc6cd04e
Addendum: Misc stuff
Found this post which shows proof that less than 5 months passed between the Stellaron Crisis on the Luofu, and the start of this patch (Lingsha just recently arrived).
We also know that the main quest of Penacony took place within 48 hours. In other words, our various filler missions and side quests in between chapters took up the majority of time, looks like. =P
