tanithryudo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tanithryudo) wrote2024-09-10 10:01 pm
tanithryudo) wrote2024-09-10 10:01 pm
Entry tags:
HSR Patch 2.5 impressions
Finally finished both the main Hoolay storyline, and the subsequent Wardance event quest. Jotting down some first impressions...
The storytelling I think is pretty stable and in line with the quality of the other 2.x chapters. That is, nothing egregrious stood out while playing, and the progression from segment to segment flowed ok. Focus characters of the patch got their moments to shine. The most obvious whys and wherefores were covered for. So, it was pretty good, IMO.
It's a short and straightforward story. We're shown the stuff happening, even where our protagonists are not present. So none of that mysterious speaking in riddles stuff that may or may not pay off shtick from Luofu 1.x or Penacony arcs.
The general online response I've seen so far (aside from the obvious haters and nitpickers), have generally been positive too. The only criticism I've seen from both the EN and CN side is that it's illogical for Jiaoqiu to have come out of the whole thing alive and "merely" blind.
I have to wonder if originally they meant for Jiaoqiu to be a 4 star character and die during this story. But when he became a 5 star, they had to write him to survive. (Because having a limited banner char who gets killed off, and thus no further appearances in future stories, after the banner ends would probably cause the people who pulled him for the design/backstory to riot.)
Now, it's obviously not a great piece of literature or anything like that. And if you want to nitpick, there are a lot of problems that can be found. But then, that could be said about any and all of HSR's stories.
Especially, the details that interact with the worldbuilding and setting setup, especially for what appears to be a complex "work-in-progress" as the Xianzhou Alliance, is an obvious problem area. I am still no clearer as to how the various government departments/factions/titles interact. Huaiyan seems to imply that Jing Yuan does have some sort of "command" over the 6 charioteer departments. But 6 divisions imply that Cloud Knight is one of them, so I guess he's referring to the Arbiter-General position being above them? But then he also seems to imply that this role can also be temporarily handed off to another Arbiter-General, as he was sitting in for Jing Yuan in that role while the 3 generals were splitting their work. Isn't this like the equivalent making the head of state of another kingdom your imperial regent? Bwah?
And then there's the whole stuff with Vidyadhara and Preceptor Taoran. Mentioned that stuff in the comment here.
What I didn't like about the main story is actually the constant switching of POV characters. It was fine in Penacony, because it only happened a few times. But here, it seemed like we're constantly switching POV, and then doing just a few fights, and then switching again. It's annoying, because each time it replaces the first slot of my team, and then I have to change the rest of my team setup. This also results in me losing any technique buffs I had up previously, which leads to using up a lot of technique point consumables. I mean, sure, it's not like I ever run low on this... but it just feels annoying after a while.
Like, I can get behind the fact that it's a good mechanism to let people try out new banner characters in overworld combat. But there's only 2 characters you need to do that for: Feixiao and Lingsha. There's absolutely no reason to force us to slot Yanqing, Yunli, or Jiaoqiu in the team, considering the former sucks and the latter two aren't up to be pulled. -_-
That said, playing Lingsha has confirmed my initial plans not to pull for her (not that I will have the tickets to pull for her next banner). She seems only good for superbreak teams with Firefly (which I don't have). As a generic healer, she can't even match my ancient 1.x Luocha.
Feixiao, OTOH, is pretty nice as a DPS. She's going to be the one I concentrate on building next.
Eh... back to story. The Wardance event story I feel dragged on, even though I think it is probably the same length as March's training event. Most likely the reason I feel this is because... who the fuck cares about Luca? I mean, out of all the Belobog characters, he's probably at the bottom of the list of recognizable names. He doesn't even show up in the main Belobog story, just one side quest. So why is he getting a whole event that might as well be Luca Companion Quest v2? >_<
Yes, I get that his backstory as a fighting ring guy fits with the whole martial arts tournament setup of the Wardance. Yes, I get that Hoyo is trying to tell the story of the ultimate underdog climbing their way up the ranks, and it's hard to cast someone like Seele or Gepard as that much of an underdog competitor, even if they are a whole lot more popular as characters that people likely prefer to see. But. But. Why do you chose now of all times to use logic rather than marketing statistics?
There are a few parts of the Wardance story that I liked. The bit featuring the Caretwheel Temple. The appearance by Mr. Tails. Even the somewhat friendly/antagonistic relationship with Topaz. Just...not the main part with Luca.
And, like, I get the obvious Olympic memes and stuff in the Wardance. Hoyo overplaying with memes is nothing new. BTW, reading CN player responses to the story... it seems like people are drawing ties with the early day CN participation in the Olympics? Em. Have to wonder if that was what Hoyo was trying to get players to emphasize with? I mean, CN is currently contender for #1 spot in the Olympics. Yes there is discrimination, with regards to drug tests and stuff. But it's really hard to say CN is still the underdog. Do people still see themselves as such? Honestly curious.
Anyways, regarding the tie in between Belobog and the Xianzhou... I realize this was probably set up from the inception, since the coincidence of both places having major crisis events around 700 years ago is too much to be coincidence from a narrative point of view. But, it still gives me the feeling of "what a small world we move in". Though, honestly, I guess I should've been used to this, considering how much a lot of characters get reused all over the place to save designing new NPCs. (Poor Argenti, the brick that keeps getting shoved everywhere that needs a deux ex machina.)
Along with that, specifically regarding Jing Yuan, I feel like the poor guy has been relegated to background exposition tool for the whole update. Yes, this is because this patch is specifically meant to sell Feixiao, and thus she needs to have the limelight, and thus the other two generals, as her only equals, thus must be far from the limelight...
His part in the main story, is understandable, since he is the only one who can give a lot of the backstory and politics on what happened with Hoolay's original capture and incarceration. But at the end of the Wardance event, where he talks about his buddy the ancient hero from Belobog is... eh. Feels a bit shoved in there.
(Also, I want to make a note here. There's nothing in the story that states Igor whatsisname is Luca's ancestor. Jing Yuan used the term "descendant/后代" once, and clearly he's referring to a very general, generational inheritance sense. There's nothing that confirms an actual biological relationship with Luca. They just look similar and both just happen have a bionic arm.)
Anyway, 2.5 ended with us supposedly leaving the Luofu. But earlier in the main story cutscenes, it showed that Ruan Mei had arrived with Tingyun. I am not sure if 2.6 will involve flash backs to what happened there with our protagonist involved. Or if it's going to be just POV change of stuff that happened without our protagonists present. Or maybe we'll come back for them in 2.7?
The limited banner for 2.6 is confirmed to be Rappa, and the setting Penacony. The banners for 2.7 are most likely going to be Sunday and Tingyun (unknown in which order).
Personally, I am waiting for Aventurine to come up for reruns. As well as Dr. Ratio, because I want to get his lightcone. Whether or not I will have enough pulls by then... eh. We'll see.
The storytelling I think is pretty stable and in line with the quality of the other 2.x chapters. That is, nothing egregrious stood out while playing, and the progression from segment to segment flowed ok. Focus characters of the patch got their moments to shine. The most obvious whys and wherefores were covered for. So, it was pretty good, IMO.
It's a short and straightforward story. We're shown the stuff happening, even where our protagonists are not present. So none of that mysterious speaking in riddles stuff that may or may not pay off shtick from Luofu 1.x or Penacony arcs.
The general online response I've seen so far (aside from the obvious haters and nitpickers), have generally been positive too. The only criticism I've seen from both the EN and CN side is that it's illogical for Jiaoqiu to have come out of the whole thing alive and "merely" blind.
I have to wonder if originally they meant for Jiaoqiu to be a 4 star character and die during this story. But when he became a 5 star, they had to write him to survive. (Because having a limited banner char who gets killed off, and thus no further appearances in future stories, after the banner ends would probably cause the people who pulled him for the design/backstory to riot.)
Now, it's obviously not a great piece of literature or anything like that. And if you want to nitpick, there are a lot of problems that can be found. But then, that could be said about any and all of HSR's stories.
Especially, the details that interact with the worldbuilding and setting setup, especially for what appears to be a complex "work-in-progress" as the Xianzhou Alliance, is an obvious problem area. I am still no clearer as to how the various government departments/factions/titles interact. Huaiyan seems to imply that Jing Yuan does have some sort of "command" over the 6 charioteer departments. But 6 divisions imply that Cloud Knight is one of them, so I guess he's referring to the Arbiter-General position being above them? But then he also seems to imply that this role can also be temporarily handed off to another Arbiter-General, as he was sitting in for Jing Yuan in that role while the 3 generals were splitting their work. Isn't this like the equivalent making the head of state of another kingdom your imperial regent? Bwah?
And then there's the whole stuff with Vidyadhara and Preceptor Taoran. Mentioned that stuff in the comment here.
What I didn't like about the main story is actually the constant switching of POV characters. It was fine in Penacony, because it only happened a few times. But here, it seemed like we're constantly switching POV, and then doing just a few fights, and then switching again. It's annoying, because each time it replaces the first slot of my team, and then I have to change the rest of my team setup. This also results in me losing any technique buffs I had up previously, which leads to using up a lot of technique point consumables. I mean, sure, it's not like I ever run low on this... but it just feels annoying after a while.
Like, I can get behind the fact that it's a good mechanism to let people try out new banner characters in overworld combat. But there's only 2 characters you need to do that for: Feixiao and Lingsha. There's absolutely no reason to force us to slot Yanqing, Yunli, or Jiaoqiu in the team, considering the former sucks and the latter two aren't up to be pulled. -_-
That said, playing Lingsha has confirmed my initial plans not to pull for her (not that I will have the tickets to pull for her next banner). She seems only good for superbreak teams with Firefly (which I don't have). As a generic healer, she can't even match my ancient 1.x Luocha.
Feixiao, OTOH, is pretty nice as a DPS. She's going to be the one I concentrate on building next.
Eh... back to story. The Wardance event story I feel dragged on, even though I think it is probably the same length as March's training event. Most likely the reason I feel this is because... who the fuck cares about Luca? I mean, out of all the Belobog characters, he's probably at the bottom of the list of recognizable names. He doesn't even show up in the main Belobog story, just one side quest. So why is he getting a whole event that might as well be Luca Companion Quest v2? >_<
Yes, I get that his backstory as a fighting ring guy fits with the whole martial arts tournament setup of the Wardance. Yes, I get that Hoyo is trying to tell the story of the ultimate underdog climbing their way up the ranks, and it's hard to cast someone like Seele or Gepard as that much of an underdog competitor, even if they are a whole lot more popular as characters that people likely prefer to see. But. But. Why do you chose now of all times to use logic rather than marketing statistics?
There are a few parts of the Wardance story that I liked. The bit featuring the Caretwheel Temple. The appearance by Mr. Tails. Even the somewhat friendly/antagonistic relationship with Topaz. Just...not the main part with Luca.
And, like, I get the obvious Olympic memes and stuff in the Wardance. Hoyo overplaying with memes is nothing new. BTW, reading CN player responses to the story... it seems like people are drawing ties with the early day CN participation in the Olympics? Em. Have to wonder if that was what Hoyo was trying to get players to emphasize with? I mean, CN is currently contender for #1 spot in the Olympics. Yes there is discrimination, with regards to drug tests and stuff. But it's really hard to say CN is still the underdog. Do people still see themselves as such? Honestly curious.
Anyways, regarding the tie in between Belobog and the Xianzhou... I realize this was probably set up from the inception, since the coincidence of both places having major crisis events around 700 years ago is too much to be coincidence from a narrative point of view. But, it still gives me the feeling of "what a small world we move in". Though, honestly, I guess I should've been used to this, considering how much a lot of characters get reused all over the place to save designing new NPCs. (Poor Argenti, the brick that keeps getting shoved everywhere that needs a deux ex machina.)
Along with that, specifically regarding Jing Yuan, I feel like the poor guy has been relegated to background exposition tool for the whole update. Yes, this is because this patch is specifically meant to sell Feixiao, and thus she needs to have the limelight, and thus the other two generals, as her only equals, thus must be far from the limelight...
His part in the main story, is understandable, since he is the only one who can give a lot of the backstory and politics on what happened with Hoolay's original capture and incarceration. But at the end of the Wardance event, where he talks about his buddy the ancient hero from Belobog is... eh. Feels a bit shoved in there.
(Also, I want to make a note here. There's nothing in the story that states Igor whatsisname is Luca's ancestor. Jing Yuan used the term "descendant/后代" once, and clearly he's referring to a very general, generational inheritance sense. There's nothing that confirms an actual biological relationship with Luca. They just look similar and both just happen have a bionic arm.)
Anyway, 2.5 ended with us supposedly leaving the Luofu. But earlier in the main story cutscenes, it showed that Ruan Mei had arrived with Tingyun. I am not sure if 2.6 will involve flash backs to what happened there with our protagonist involved. Or if it's going to be just POV change of stuff that happened without our protagonists present. Or maybe we'll come back for them in 2.7?
The limited banner for 2.6 is confirmed to be Rappa, and the setting Penacony. The banners for 2.7 are most likely going to be Sunday and Tingyun (unknown in which order).
Personally, I am waiting for Aventurine to come up for reruns. As well as Dr. Ratio, because I want to get his lightcone. Whether or not I will have enough pulls by then... eh. We'll see.
no subject
Ah yes, event plots... Need to find cutscenes for 2.4 stuff...
Huh. Illogical or simply not emotionally satisfying? What's the context?
Arbiter-general seems to be acting as the "feudal lord" is consistent with how it's talked about in previous parts of the story.
The way I'm conceptualizing it is a Zhou style feudal system with greater control from the son-of-heaven. Aka, Marshal is the effective king. Each Arbiter-General serves as the feudal lord with the ship as their fiefdom. Technically the Marshal still have ultimate say over everything, but the fief (ship) essentially is being run by the lords (arbiter-generals). I'm trying to see if there's documentation of 诸侯 ever taking over power of a close relation's fiefdom (since most of them were siblings), but that's basically a good way to lose your fiefdom, so probably not.
Another characteristic of Zhou political structure is the concept of state as family. Aka, the fief (state) is also the lord's family property. If we apply that to Xianzhou, it could mean each ship functions also as the arbiter-generals' fiefdom, then potentially they could house sit for each other...? With the Marshal stepping in if anyone tries to abuse the trust?
It's honestly a freaking hodge-podge system and I doubt the writers clarified it in their notes.
Why wait until 2 months after Olympics is over to release this? It's not like the Olympics schedule isn't already out 4 years in advance. They have plenty of time to time their release to coincide with the Games if this was their intent...
Current normal people attitude towards Olympics seems to be "who the fuck cares we have bigger worries" so I think gamers are stretching here.
Siiigh. I just don't trust these writers to pull this off.
I mean he's been exposition tool for basically everything Luofu related. We've never gotten his PoV ever, I don't think. His role seems to be act mysterious, reveal some important facts, give Dan Heng a push, exposite some more. Even though he's being targeted politically, this was apparently all part of his plan? I get writing smart people is hard, but this is lazy AF.
Ugh. I have genuinely zero interest in Penacony. The whole dream hotel shtick and sophomoric attempts at "philosophy" is immensely boring. HSR doesn't have any actual interesting insights into the human condition, they might as well stick to "evil magistrates" and "corruption" because the moralizing there is simple and straightforward.
Every time they expand on a character they ruin said character....
no subject
So Jiaoqiu was captured by the jailbreaker party last patch, right? Hoolay is shown this patch to be perfectly willing to kill people in his path. He has his followers start massacring civilians on the streets, just as a distraction/cover for him to get onto the Skysplitter (the refurbished ship used for the Wardance). And then right before they set that off, Hoolay decides to use Jiaoqiu for a traditional Borisin blood-drinking ceremony.
Then after all the fight sequence parts are over, we're told that the people on the streets fighting and cleaning up after the Borisin canon fodder, found Jiaoqiu's body which was only "near death". Then after the efforts of Bailu and Lingsha, he was recovered except for his eyesight. We see him standing and and talking at the Alchemy Commission not too long afterwards.
Some people feel his being able to survive and come out of this whole thing alive is a copout, and that him dying would be more of an emotional impact on Feixiao and Moze. Other people feel that even if he survived, they should've shown him to be in more critical condition, maybe bedridden for the entire aftermath, and not on his feet so soon afterwards.
> Why wait until 2 months after Olympics is over to release this?
I mean, the main trailblaze storyline takes precedence over the "continuance" mini-stories. And the first part usually takes up to 3-4 patches to happen. In this case Penacony 2.0-2.3 took most of a year. And by the time 2.4 started it was already August, and they still needed a patch to set stuff up before the actual tournament happened in 2.5.
I don't think they intended to have the patch coincide with the Games. It's more likely that writers were inspired by the recent Games when they were writing the event. Because they sure stuff a lot of memes from that event into it.
> I have genuinely zero interest in Penacony. The whole dream hotel shtick and sophomoric attempts at "philosophy" is immensely boring.
Unfortunately, the larger portion of the playerbase liked the Penacony arc as their first place. Just like there's a lot of people out there who think Sunday has a valid point, and are looking forward to his playable character just going by the design (his kit hasn't been revealed yet other than that he's going to be single target buffer).
no subject
Yeah, my question was rhetorical. Memes stuffing is just that. Trying to read 演武仪典 as intentionally meant to be HSR version of Olympics is stupid.
Sunday being another reason I don't think "can't kill a five star character" is part of the reason Jiaoqiu lives.
That said, is Sunday due to getting more plot or is he just a PC with the plot moving elsewhere?
Yeah, well, like I said, gamers have poor taste and wouldn't know a good story from a shit one. I'll stick to obsessing over the Luofu arc and ignore the rest of HSR plot.
no subject
Sunday was never in a position where his life was ever in danger though.
> That said, is Sunday due to getting more plot or is he just a PC with the plot moving elsewhere?
Sunday is rumored to be joining either the Stellaron Hunters or the Astral Express...not sure how reliable that is though. A lot of people are looking forward to it if true. I am not. -_-
> Yeah, well, like I said, gamers have poor taste and wouldn't know a good story from a shit one.
But the writing of future stories is more likely to be impacted by the player response to previous arcs, though...
no subject
The party fights him as a final boss...how much more endangered does one's life need to be?
Yeah, another indication of bad writing. Rather than writing the story set up by previous plot points, they're writing to suit player wants, which doesn't stay consistent to the pervious written material.
no subject
The fight takes place in the Dream. It's literally impossible to die there.
And the goal of the fight was to disrupt The Order's Dream and release the people he stuck there, not to kill him.