#respily

[missrespily]

I want to pre-emptively apologize for the person I will become the moment we see Olruggio in the anime outside of the OP

[missrespily]

So I finally finished Amphoreus and I am an emotional mess right now. God what a beautiful story. I don't think any game I've ever played before has ever made me ugly cry as hard as this god damn live service mobile gacha game but here we are. For all its flaws, Amphoreus and Honkai: Star Rail are now permanently etched into my heart as one of my favourite stories and games I've ever had the privilege to play. I'm so sad it's over but I loved the ending and thought it fit so well with the themes of Amphoreus.

I also noticed that since 3.4, I have developed a Pavlovian response to seeing Phainon wherein anytime I saw him in the story, BAM instant tears lmao. Joshua Waters killed it and Phainon is officially one of my favourite video game characters PERIOD. Cyrene also made me ugly cry, I always loved her design but she is also up there for one of my favourite HSR characters ever. Overall my favourite Chrysos heirs (not counting Phainon and Cyrene) are definitely Anaxa and Aglaea though- both of then are so gorgeous and so interesting, and their dynamic was hilarious which made me love them even more. 3.5 was an interesting patch (Hysilens was definitely interesting and I like how much I didn't like Cerydra which is so refreshing imo- I enjoy characters that make me conflicted due to how well-written and realistic they are. I felt the same for the IPC Stoneheart characters too so I love that the HSR writers aren't afraid to have characters that are hard to sit with), and 3.6 made me love Dan Heng even more (didn't think it was possible since I literally picked up the game because of him and Boothill but yeah) and now the Astral Express Trio are one of my favourite trios in any form of media ever. I love how unsettling and creepy Evernight was, that was an absolute 10/10.

Finally 3.7 was so much better than I thought it would be- again, this is why I will never take what people say online seriously especially regarding HSR. I loved the entire patch so much. There were definitely parts where I was confused but by the end I was clutching my metaphoric pearls and sobbing into my pillow (they really kept twisting the knife with the entire Cyrene/Demiurge/PhiLia093 sequence and then that animated short oof). Overall I am so glad I picked up this game over two years ago now and got to experience Amphoreus (I'm also glad I waited for all the EN VAs to come back- having everything voiced definitely helped with the immersion). I almost wish I could erase my memories and experience it all over again lol. I don't know how Planarcadia will ever be able to top Amphoreus for me but that's honestly okay- the story of the Flame-Chase and the Chrysos Heirs was supposed a special and emotional story, I think a shorter and more lighthearted world like how Planarcadia seems to be is needed imo (granted I'm still salty about the yellow trees but I haven't played the story so maybe it'll win me over). I however won't touch 4.0 or later patches until all the characters are voiced though, so hopefully I don't have to wait months like I did for Amphoreus lol (I know Welt is missing some voicelines and the Trailblazer, but hopefully they can get that sorted out soon. I also know that Welt has a new VA so I'm definitely curious to see how he sounds)

[missrespily]

I just finished 3.4 and Phainon had me ugly crying throughout the entire story like what the actual fuck. What the hell were they cooking with Amphoreus because that patch was insanity and wouldn't let me have any emotional breaks because it just kept going and twisting the knife in deeper. What the fuck. I am NOT OKAY (in all seriousness that was the best story patch HSR has ever done and I will never recover)

[missrespily]

I'm in 3.3 and so far Amphoreus has genuinely made me cry with every patch. 3.0 I cried over Gnaeus and Nikador's story, 3.1 Mydei made me cry and Tribbie genuinely fucked me up, 3.2 made me love Castorice and her story (I was NOT ready for that animation I had to take a break to dry my tears after), and I'm not even close to halfway through 3.3 and FRICKING AGLAEA MY GOD. I was actually sobbing out loud and had to stop playing for like 2 days to recover and I'm just starting it again (also I love Cipher which means she's definitely going to make me cry too cause of course she will). I'm terrified for upcoming patches cause literally HOW is Amphoreus already messing me up this badly and I'm not even halfway through this damn world

[missrespily]

The Cyrene doomposting is so weird to me- yes her kit isn't the best in terms of pure meta but it's honestly not as bad as people are making it out to be (plus I'm a firm believer in pulling characters not because of meta but because you like them, either personality-wise or design-wise or both- pulling only for meta does not look enjoyable at all). I also remember that for over a year, people were begging Hoyo to have team buffs based on factions and I think the devs are testing that out with Cyrene and yet all I see online about it is "omg she'll age so badly because she only supports chrysos heirs" like what??? Isn't that the point??? It makes sense for faction buff testing as well as lore-wise for her character, but it's also not the only thing she can do- she works best with chrysos heirs but is able to buff other units too (E0 skill adds 24% true dmg to original dmg dealt by all other units, and when she does activate her ult it's an immediate dmg increase by 20% for all other units plus an additonal 40% dmg boost to whoever she supports with her ult)

From her animations to each individual and unique buff she gives to other chrysos heirs, it's obvious to me that a lot of thought went into her overall standing among other 3X characters- again, yes her ult kit could definitely be improved but then you'd have people rising up anyways about powercreep and how she'd ruin the game like they did for Castorice (heck even Acheron back then got so much flack for her ult charge but also for being too strong like wtf)

The bow skin is absolutely greedy af but it's also something that is clearly dedicated for those who will whale for Cyrene anyways, plus it's not like the bow skin changes much besides a few minor details for her ult animations. At the end of the day, HSR is a gacha game and gacha games are always predatory in nature (that all being said though no one is being forced to spend money on any character and if you know how to play your teams and units well, clearing content story-wise isn't too difficult- endgame content is definitely different but being obsessed with 0-cycling everything does not seem fun at all)

Overall, Cyrene isn't a bad unit- she is a niche unit which means she isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea which is fine. I personally will be pulling for her because she's pretty and has even prettier animations which is good enough for me (plus it gives me more units to continue buffing the absolute shit out of Anaxa and Aglaea which is all I need). People need to stop with all this doomposting, Hoyo execs do NOT care about people crying online. If Cyrene really is so bad and people feel like Hoyo is being shitty, then let the pull counts speak for themselves- don't pull for her, simple as that. If Cyrene's numbers don't do as well as Hoyo wants them to and they feel the hit, then goal accomplished

Call me a Hoyo shill or whatever, I don't think shit is that deep. HSR is literally just a game (and this is coming from me, who loves HSR immensely) and as long as it remains a gacha, Hoyo will continue to milk it for all its worth. The best way to play HSR is to pull for who you like, engage with the story, and stop stressing about meta; if you don't care for any of that and the game isn't bringing you fun or enjoyment, then don't play it (even if you spent money on the game, it's not worth it to keep playing if you don't experience joy from it). Numbers talk and money is the univeral language. The moment the story mode becomes impossible to clear without certain units, then we have a real game breaking problem IF it ever happens

[missrespily]

I'm playing the Fate collab before 3.4 for HSR but holy fuck am I excited for 4.0 sorely for Aha. Nihilux my queen you would have loved Ao3.

I'm also curious to see how much they removed/changed regarding Planarcadia since everyone kinda already knew it was supposed to be a Japanese-based region (Edo Star/Benzaitengoku) before politics unfortunately got in the way. It'll be interesting to see how much of the story they had to change as well (you can't tell me that Nihilux wasn't a mangaka first that was then changed to comic artist to appease the CCP)

Head canon/theorizing going forwards:

I can't help but hope that Planarcadia is like a cover and Benzaitengoku will be revealed as the real planet later on once things cool down between China and Japan; it would be so cool if after the hypothetical reveal, all the locations switch back to their original textures before HSR devs had to change them–kinda like how Amphoreus has the separate day and night maps for the same locations. I think it's such a pity that the devs had to remove and replace certain elements that they had planned for months, if not an entire year in advance–it would be nice if we get to see the original idea by the end of Planarcadia

[missrespily]

Do y'all ever get to the point where like you're so tired of negativity and criticisms towards stuff you like that you just block people. Like everyone is entitled to their own opinions and you absolutely don't have to like what I like but damn I'm gonna block you if you shit on the stuff I like or have takes that I do not agree with

[missrespily]

Tell me how ever since 3.0 dropped, any character I've pulled for (which is all of them mind you I must collect them all) I have hit max pity, lost my 50-50, or both. Amphoreus is NOT treating me well 😭