| 1 | !![=YMMVs=] with their own pages: |
| 2 | [[index]] |
| 3 | * [[AwesomeMusic/HonkaiStarRail Awesome Music]] |
| 4 | * [[GameBreaker/HonkaiStarRail Game Breaker]] |
| 5 | * [[Memes/HonkaiStarRail Memetic Mutation]] |
| 6 | [[/index]] |
| 7 | |
| 8 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | [[folder:A-D]] |
| 11 | * AccidentalInnuendo: Aventurine gives us a few. |
| 12 | --> "I thought you knew… Didn't you say you had me pegged?" |
| 13 | --> "Doctor... You're huge!" |
| 14 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: |
| 15 | ** In Serval’s Companion Mission, she announces her plan to join the Astral Express to Bronya and Gepard, and both of them seemingly support her decision. However, at the end of the mission, Serval changes her mind [[spoiler:after encountering a physical manifestation of Cocolia’s feelings about her]], with Serval realizing that she was trying to run away from her problems in Belobog. This however begs the question of just ''how'' supportive Bronya and Gepard were of Serval’s initial decision to leave with the Astral Express. Was their support of her decision genuine, or was it a case of ReversePsychology, since they know that Serval is a BadLiar, and that she was trying to run from her problems rather than face them head on? Not helping is that many things that happened in the mission [[ContrivedCoincidence happen to go against her thought of running away from her problems in Belobog]], so much that at one point she thinks that Gepard is guilt-tripping her to stay. He, at least, makes it clear he's worried about her when you talk to him privately, then later says to her directly that "running away doesn't solve the problem"[[note]]the context was that she's running away from Landau house because of her disagreement with her father, but it can also be applicable to her current decision of leaving Belobog[[/note]] and how he's not trying to change her mind, but he needs to make sure she really thought things through and isn't just trying to run away from her problems, and he also seemingly alludes to himself and Serval when he's talking to a rescued pair of siblings, particularly about how they should protect each other; she calls him out for said speech, but he claims that it was how he has always felt. |
| 16 | ** In Kafka’s companion mission, she plays a game with the Trailblazer, where they each ask each other a question, and they alternate between telling the truth and telling a lie. It's ambiguous which ones are truths and which ones are lies to some extent, but you can see that she has some "tells" when lying to you or feels upset or pleased by your answers. [[spoiler: You can also determine if her previous answer was true if you ask "1+1=2" as your final question, but also sacrifice an opportunity to ask the last question regarding you, her, or Blade. She even says that it's a clever question, but asks if it was worth it.]] To what degree her answers are valid or true, however, is the more ambiguous part. Some of her answers that are [[spoiler: long contain different statements and a few players speculate if it's a case of a truth within a lie or the other way around.]] One of her lines during a session break has Kafka say that it's not whether you're lying or telling a truth that is important, rather, she's looking for something else about the Trailblazer. [[spoiler: You can tell that she can tell if you're lying or breaking the rules of the game based on her expressions. But towards other situations like lying to Yanqing about mindcontrolling Trailblazer, she has no problem and is quick to come up with a cover.]] |
| 17 | ** The Stellaron Hunters in general. Are they really a gang of [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned]] but unrepentant criminals, or are they actually [[AntiHero anti-heroes]] who pose as criminals to hide their true intentions? The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9yIlGpgCus The Jepella Rebellion — Scene 47]] trailer seems to imply that the Stellaron Hunters only steal Stellarons from planets that seek to exploit Stellarons for their own ends (even if the Hunters also cause chaos and destruction in the process) and that their victims [[GreyAndGrayMorality aren't quite morally clean themselves]]. Kafka also implies that the Stellaron Hunters simply took advantage of the chaos other groups caused and willingly took the blame for them. |
| 18 | ** Aeons in general are grand cosmic entities that have in-universe people debating their intentions and limitations and some fans also debate as to how much at fault they are, considering that their actions may be limited to just their paths and some speculate just how aware they are of their actions as its said in the game's lore that an Aeon may not even be able to process information outside of what their path entails. Their BlueAndOrangeMorality makes their cases even murkier. |
| 19 | *** Tayzzyronth: mindless bug with only a strong desire to multiply, or WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds? Their bio ''did'' state that they were the LastOfItsKind and their loneliness was what enabled their ascent to Aeonhood... |
| 20 | ** The Interastral Peace Corporation. Are they a genuinely WellIntentionedExtremist organization who want the best for everyone, or are they a greedy MegaCorp who [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste take advantage of worlds facing a crisis]] so that they can place them under their heels to line up their pockets with cash? Topaz believes that the IPC is the former because of how they helped save her homeworld from destruction. However, Himeko points out that planets that do accept the IPC’s assistance have only a 63% chance of successful recovery, and that while planets under Topaz have a higher chance, it's still a gamble that must be thought about before taking the chance. |
| 21 | ** Herta. Is her apparent apathy towards managing her own space station and her own employees' safety due to her genuinely not caring about them at all, or is it because she's so intelligent she is perfectly aware of the threats towards her station but like Asta quietly manages events from behind the scenes and trusts in her subordinates to handle themselves? While her general attitude pretty openly puts her in the former case, there are hints that she's more of the latter. For example, Herta always seems to invite the Trailblazer over to the space station right before a major incident occurs, coincidentally putting the Trailblazer in the best position to resolve it. Not to mention, she may agree with Dr. Ratio's criticism of the station staff in that she doesn't want them relying too much on her to solve their problems and would rather they figure it out themselves. |
| 22 | ** ''Polka''. Why did she try to {{Unperson}} herself, and why did she kill members of the Genius Society who were studying the Aeons? Did she kill them because she wanted to hoard their discoveries to herself, was it a case of TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow, or is she just a deranged SerialKiller who killed them for no reason? The fact that Screwllum advised against inviting her to the Herta Space Station suggests that Polka is TheDreaded among the Genius Society. And while she did erase almost all traces of herself from the universe, the only proof of her existence is a digital portrait that she defaced in the Herta Space Station, leaving her motives unclear as to why she tried to {{Unperson}} herself. |
| 23 | ** March 7th. Is she ThePollyanna or is she a StepfordSmiler? Himeko’s lines about her implies that she’s the latter, though March believes herself to be the former. In her companion mission "Total Recall", she asks Fu Xuan to use the omniscia to try to help her remember her past, but the Garden of Recollection interferes, insisting that its [[ForYourOwnGood for her own good]]. At the end of the mission, March insists that she isn’t bothered by the Garden’s interference, but come Argenti’s companion mission "Night of Universal Hallucinations", March encounters a hallucination that claims to know about her past, which is revealed at the end of the mission to have been caused by hallucinogenic pheromones from the Stings. Said pheromones cause people to see their deepest desires, which suggests that March isn’t as unbothered by the Garden’s interference as much as she says she is. |
| 24 | * AluminumChristmasTrees: March's Six-Phased Ice may seem like an entirely fictional thing created for this game at first, and it's described by her lore to be more of a "condensed crystal" than normal ice. Unbeknownst to most fans, however, Six-Phased Ice really does exist in RealLife where it's more accurately named as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_VI Ice VI]], which is one of the many phases of ice that water can crystallize into. It's worth noting that Ice VI in real life can only exist in pressures 10,000 times greater than the average air pressure at Earth sea level, while March's Six-Phased Ice is supernatural in origin and can exist regardless of air pressure. |
| 25 | * AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: Midway through the Jarilo-VI arc, you'll obtain a RobotBuddy named Findie who will help you track down hidden objects at certain points in the story and some sidequests. However, during these sections, Findie will spam in-universe IPC ads constantly which are voiced, starting each ad with "[[VerbalTic Beep beep beep...]]" every time, which just grates on the player's nerves very quickly. While it's meant to hamfist the fact that the IPC is infamous for spamming ads in the lore (thus acting as a TakeThat joke to real-life ad spammers), the approach works a bit ''[[GoneHorriblyRight too well]]'', making the annoyance felt even beyond the fourth wall. |
| 26 | * AwesomeEgo: |
| 27 | ** Herta is an InsufferableGenius who can barely feign social grace and is extremely blunt in her lack of interest in other people. And she is ''hilarious''. |
| 28 | ** Dr. Ratio doesn't let himself be undone by his fellow Nous follower. Even before he was released, in the v1.6 livestream, he was established as a SternTeacher working hard to cure the malady of ignorance in every one of his students, to the point of driving them crazy. The stream also showed him having surprisingly silly combat animations, such as slapping his enemies with his book, throwing a chalk at them and summoning statues of himself in overly dramatic poses, [[{{Bathos}} all with an expression of complete seriousness]]. These characteristics would have made him a liked but not overly popular character... but then he stole the show by calling Owlbert towards the stream's end, speaking in a condescending tone of voice, calling the 4-star characters in his banner pitiful and demanding that every trailblazer be given access to a proper education, by himself of course. He then announces '''every''' player will receive him in their mail without having to spend warps on the gacha, cutting to an official screen showing it was not a joke. This event led him to be instantly loved by the community, who welcomed a character arrogant enough to defy the game's conventions this blatantly in a way that did nothing but benefit them. |
| 29 | ---> ''Through sheer tyranny of will, I shall become ubiquitous.'' |
| 30 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/HonkaiStarRail Now has its own page]]. |
| 31 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: Story-wise, people seem to be very split on Topaz, as a result of the sheer complexity of her character. Some believe that she's far too hypocritical and unscrupulous to fit the concept of a "debt collector with a heart of gold". Even though she genuinely wants Jarilo-VI to prosper once again, as an employee of the IPC who have improved her life condition, she's [[WellIntentionedExtremist doing things their way]]: Topaz attempts to manipulate Bronya with her backstory in order to push her into making Jarilo-VI into an IPC colony world, strong-arms Svarog into helping her by threatening to override his functions, takes control of Svarog's robots and sicks them on Gepard and his soldiers, and is even adamant in facing off against the Astral Express crew in battle just for them trying to get in her way. And of course, Topaz hides the fact that the success rate of the IPC restoring planets is 63%[[note]]It's higher under Topaz's jurisdiction, but Bronya rightfully points out that it's still a gamble that, if they lose, could devastate the planet forever[[/note]]. It doesn't help that the narrative constantly tries to push the idea on the player that Topaz is actually good by having other characters frequently say that she's not a bad person. On the other hand, there are people who point out that she isn't really as bad as some make her out to be. Topaz gets her soldiers to stop harassing the locals by threatening to dock their pay, does genuinely apologize for some of her deeds by the end of her story, actually backs down when she realizes that Jarilo-VI doesn't need the IPC to help them, and that her coworkers are objectively ''worse'' than she is. |
| 32 | * BrokenBase: |
| 33 | ** Many people are split in regards to Seele and Bronya choosing to hide the truth of what really happened with Cocolia and the Stellaron. People who are against Bronya and Seele lying feel that the former is repeating the mistakes of her past predecessors by covering up the truth and lying about what Cocolia was going to do, believing that her choice is a slippery slope into becoming a dictator. Those who defend their choice argue that telling the truth will do more damage than good, believing that telling the truth will cause a rift amongst the populace, with the eventuality of a Civil War- the last thing that the people of Jarilo-VI need when they need to focus on the future. |
| 34 | ** The entire conflict between Yaoshi and Lan has people picking sides. Some people think the Sanctus Medicus cult's actions are too extreme to justify and that the Loufu is justified in rooting them out, while others take the Xianzhou's campaign against the Abundance to its logical extreme and accuse them of wanting to commit genocide against any and all followers of Yaoshi, regardless of any culpability they have in her or the cult's actions. |
| 35 | * CaptainObviousReveal: The reveal of Acheron's real name, despite all the dramatic build up, it's really no surprise to anyone even a little knowledgeable of Hoyoverse lore, that the stoic woman with long purple hair and over powered lightning is another [[spoiler:Raiden Mei]] expy, though with a middle name this time. The fandom had long made this correlation when she was first introduced. |
| 36 | * CargoShip: |
| 37 | ** It's no surprise that fans love to portray Trailblazer being attracted to the trashcans with the flavor texts the game gives. In particular to note is one particular interaction where they can ''stroke'' a trashcan before declaring it "the world's most beautiful trash can." |
| 38 | ** Argenti and plants, as his character introduction trailer opens with him gesturing grandiosely to a potted plant and in the companion mission, is seen opining about "Beauty" to the same potted plant on the Express. |
| 39 | * ComplacentGamingSyndrome: |
| 40 | ** In terms of endgame content, be it Memory of Chaos, Simulated Universe, or Pure Fiction, the top teams will almost always have Bronya and for a good reason. Her potent buffs and turn manipulation makes her one of the most sought after characters in the game. While losing the 50/50 coinflip can be frustrating, players consider it a godsend if they lose the 50/50 flip to Bronya and a large chunk of people (assuming they do not have her beforehand) WILL pick her from the 5 star selector after pulling 300 times in the Standard Banner. |
| 41 | ** Many Cavern Relic builds will recommend Speed for your feet relic's Main Stat, as Speed is what determines the turn order. Speed means you get the first move in battle in most cases, which is key to getting speedkills, especially when there's a limited cycle count such as Forgotten Hall. The odd times you don't take Speed is when your own party's turn order isn't aligned correctly for your party's playstyle. |
| 42 | * DemonicSpiders: |
| 43 | ** Guardian Shadows are utterly irritating to fight. They like to randomly impose bans on Basic Attacks, Skills, Ultimates, and even ban ''attacking'' them. Violating the ban results in a nasty CounterAttack, and the only way to stop it is to Weakness Break them, inflict Freeze, Entanglement, or Imprisonment, or cleanse the associated debuff. They also hit hard with AOE attacks to further add difficulty in fighting them. |
| 44 | ** Aurumaton Gatekeepers have a Sanction Meter which charges up when they are attacked using a Skill or an Ultimate. The meter also gets charged using the ''Dread'' attack which is always used while not in Sanction Mode. When the meter gets full, they summon Illumination Dragonfish and their toughness cannot be damaged for three turns. Illumination Dragonfish are enough trouble as they have an AOE attack that hits your entire party and reduces their defense, but the Gatekeeper also can dish out an extremely hard hitting single target attack that not only can chunk the HP off of even Preservation characters, but also has a high chance of Imprisoning them. As such, the biggest challenge in Gatekeeper fights is being able to control the Dragonfish numbers while damaging the Gatekeeper itself, while at the same time being careful not to spam your Skills or Ultimates too quickly or else the Gatekeeper will summon more Dragonfish than you can deal with. |
| 45 | ** Frigid Prowlers are a nightmare to fight if you don't have consistent means to take out the Everwinter Shadewalkers they spawn, especially on higher Equilibrium levels and difficulty settings for some modes. The catch with Frigid Prowlers is that [[CannibalismSuperpower they'll devour one of the Shadewalkers to charge up for a powerful attack]] which, while only targeting one party member at a time, will still take a large chunk of their HP nonetheless and potentially one-shot your {{Fragile Speedster}}s, {{Glass Cannon}}s and {{Squishy Wizard}}s, so you have to take out ''all'' of the on-screen Shadewalkers if you ever hope to keep the Frigid Prowlers from gaining an advantage. The elite variants in the Simulated Universe take it up a notch by devouring all Shadewalkers to charge up for a powerful ''[=AoE=] attack'' instead, making them bigger threats than the standard ones. |
| 46 | * DiagnosedByTheAudience: |
| 47 | ** It's not hard to read Herta as someone on the autistic spectrum -- she's incredibly intelligent yet has a narrow range of interests, uses an army of marionettes as proxies so she never has to meet anyone in person, lacks tact or social grace, and has a short attention span with the few things that she does take an interest in but focuses on these things with ''intensity''. |
| 48 | ** Pretty much everyone on the Genius Society (except Screwllum, for rather self-evident reasons) can be identified as being autistic savants due to their rather odd but different personalities and quirks. The fact that [[https://www.hoyolab.com/article/23874471?utm_source=sns&utm_medium=link an official post states plainly that Genius Society members tend to have, among other traits, 'autistic tendencies']] made these audience diagnoses practically canonical. |
| 49 | * DifficultySpike: Reaching Trailblazer Level 40/Equilibrium Level 3 is generally agreed to be when the game really starts to ramp up in difficulty, both in terms of combat and the drastic jump in resource costs for developing characters and light cones. |
| 50 | * DiscreditedMeme: A massive FandomRivalry erupted between ''Honkai Star Rail'' and ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' when Dr. Ratio was announced to be obtainable for free until version 2.2. Thus "''Genshin'' could never" jokes started spreading all over the internet like wildfire (most of which came from dissatisfied ''Genshin'' players), to show that ''Star Rail'' does better what ''Genshin'' don't. While it was fun while it lasted, it started to become annoying very quickly nowadays as many players, especially those who play both ''Star Rail'' and ''Genshin'', sees this as another response to diss on ''Genshin'' over it's flaws while ignoring anything else that made the game so great in the first place. Ironically, even those who hate ''Genshin'' agreed that it was nothing more than a pointless tribalism between the two games (even though ''both games'' were made by the same company). |
| 51 | * DryDockedShip: In fanon, it is extremely common to depict Blade and Dan Feng as former lovers that became enemies as a result of the fallout of Dan Feng’s actions. |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:E-H]] |
| 55 | * EndingFatigue: The final act of Penacony goes on for an ''incredibly'' long time, to the point that not many could actually finish the whole thing in a single sitting. [[spoiler:Just reaching Sunday to kick off the climax involves trekking through the Grand Theater, a lengthy dungeon that includes almost every prior puzzle from earlier areas and three unusually tanky mini-bosses that further delay your arrival to the main stage. Once you finally get there, you're then thrown against back-to-back bosses, first against [[WolfPackBoss all three previously mentioned mini-bosses at once]], and then against Sunday's... ''first'' phase. Then a lengthy VictoryFakeout ensues as Black Swan reveals to you that you were trapped in Ena's Dream from the very beginning, and after more cutscenes of rallying the cast for a final assault, the ''real'' final battle against Sunday is preceded by ''yet another'' flashback sequence to Acheron's past before the game finally lets you finish Sunday off. Thankfully, the actual ending sequence once he's defeated is much shorter.]] |
| 56 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: |
| 57 | ** Despite being a fairly minor player in the big scheme of things (at least initially), Sampo gathered a sizeable fanbase on release for his genuinely fun LovableRogue antics and good looks. |
| 58 | ** Herta's role in the main story is rather minor aside from being a pivotal lore character and MsExposition for the Simulated Universe (an out-of-the-way side activity), and her in-universe personality is [[InsufferableGenius far from pleasant]]. Despite this, she's rather popular and well-liked by the fanbase because of her cute ElegantGothicLolita-esque design giving her a {{Moe}} vibe, her AwesomeEgo, and the fact that the Japanese dub has her shout "kuru kuru" whenever she does her follow-up SpinAttack on enemies, which adds some [[CatharsisFactor cathartic amusement]] to her gameplay. |
| 59 | ** Thanks to his interesting design and gentlemanly behaviour, Screwllum quickly won over the fanbase. All the more impressive when you consider he debuted during Silver Wolf's companion mission, a very anticipated character, yet managed to overshadow her not through a weak showing on Silver Wolf's part, but because Screwllum was simply that impressive. |
| 60 | ** Ruan Mei ''was'' this back when she hadn't physically appeared in the game and only in Simulated Universe. The fandom ''loved'' her due to the occurrence with her being absolutely game-breaking: either you gain all blessings of a particular path (which is good for collecting them all to get jades), gain 2000 cosmic fragments (which is amazing if you have the curio that increases damage per 100 fragments), enhance all blessings you have (which will save a lot of your fragments), or gain 20 random Curios. There was much rejoicing when drip marketing confirmed her to be playable; however, she became a BaseBreakingCharacter instead when "Crown of the Mundane and Divine"- her playable debut patch - was released and she was revealed to have the personality of an amoral MadScientist. |
| 61 | ** As soon as his appearance was shown, Gallagher quickly became incredibly popular for his attractive gruff older man aesthetic and voice. |
| 62 | ** Siobhan became quite a hit particularly [[LGBTFanbase among lesbian fans]], sporting a sharp and dashing design despite her being an NPC. Having a TeamMom personality and a surprisingly tear-jerking sidequest also endear her even more to the overall fanbase, to the point that many wish she becomes a playable character in the future. |
| 63 | ** Many took an instant liking to Misha, being a PrettyBoy and TheKlutz, as well as his design. Not only that, but his grandfather was a Nameless, so Misha himself is enthusiastic about exploring the galaxy like his grandfather and going on an adventure. Needless to say, he greatly admires the Nameless on the Astral Express. Many fans want him to board the Express, as he can live out his dreams and possibly assist Pom-Pom on the train, with the bonus of expanding the current crew. [[spoiler:Unsurprisingly, his [[DeadAllAlong ultimate fate]] at the end of Penacony's story was met with plenty of tears.]] |
| 64 | ** Svarog is only really involved in the story near the tail-end of the Jarilo-VI Arc, and though he is playable, it's only on a technicality, since Clara is the face of the unit. But thanks to his design, personality, status as the strongest person in the Underground, and heartwarming interactions with Clara, fans quickly found him endearing. |
| 65 | * EpilepticTrees: |
| 66 | ** Some fans are under the impression that the main character is either a Kaslana or somehow related to the Star Rail universe's version of the Kaslanas, due to the fact that they wield a baseball bat as their weapon, much like Kiana, Siegfried, and Kevin did at one point. |
| 67 | ** Likewise, the reveal of the existence of an Aeon of Finality has led fans to believe that the Honkai have a presence in the Stair Rail universe, and that said Aeon may be related to or ''actually'' be Kiana herself ([[spoiler:who became the Herrscher of Finality by the time ''Honkai Impact 3rd's'' Part 1 story ended]]). The reveal that [[spoiler:Acheron (Mei) may possibly be an Emanator of Finality]] only further fueled this theory. |
| 68 | ** The fact that there are "two Bronyas", with Bronya Rand of Belobog being the obvious one and the Stellaron Hunter known as "Silver Wolf" being the other, with them sharing a voice actress in Japanese but ''not'' in any other language (including Chinese, where Hanser has been handling the character for years and voices Silver Wolf but ''not'' Rand) is a source of whole epileptic ''forests,'' with one of the reigning theories being that she is in actuality Bronie from ''Honkai Impact.'' Pouring gasoline on this theory is the existence of "Punklorde", a world in the Star Rail-verse that sounds ''extremely'' similar to the place Bronie was from in ''[=HI3=]''; there's even a curio in Herta's collection that describes it. |
| 69 | ** Many players speculate that Luocha's true identity was Void Archives, given he is also the one who accompanied Welt before going on their separate ways and given Luocha's actions through other parts of the galaxy before he set foot unto Luofu makes his appearance and Void Archives' absence more in line than what they assumed. |
| 70 | ** The final cutscene of the Jarilo-VI arc heavily recontextualizes [[spoiler:Sampo's]] character and adds a lot of additional mystique to his motives and purpose, all suggesting that he's actually a member of [[spoiler:the Masked Fools, followers of Aha]]. Helped by this is [[spoiler:an occurrence you can run into on the Xianzhou Luofu where you discover a mini-neutron bomb, and when it seems its explosion is imminent, you pass out, only to realize it was a prank accompanied with a note from Sampo]]. Eventually, [[spoiler:1.4 confirms the Masked Fool theory]]. |
| 71 | ** With the start of the Penacony arc, there are already theories abound that [[spoiler:Firefly is actually Sam's true identity]], but there are aspects of their backstories that seem to line up. First, [[spoiler:both Firefly and Sam make their first appearances in the same chapter. Firefly escapes suspicion from the Bloodhound guards when Gallagher points out they're supposed to be looking for a silver haired ''man'', not a girl, while at the same time Sam is largely assumed to be male due to his physique and voice, and both he and Firefly are stowaways who infiltrated Penacony. Firefly mentions she is hiding her true identity from the Trailblazer but never mentions what it is, and Sparkle chides the Trailblazer for not realizing who Firefly really is. They both also apparently received personal invitations from the Watchmaker to find his Legacy, and were implied to be working together. Firefly also seems to have combat experience, being easily able to tell that Sampo is a dangerous fighter. She also mentions she is a refugee after her planet was destroyed by either the Antimatter Legion or the Swarm, which matches with Sam's home planet of Glamoth being destroyed after an apocalyptic war with the Swarm. Finally, right after Firefly "dies", Sam immediately arrives on the scene. This isn't even getting into the fact that '''Fire'''fly and Sam are both associated with fire. And by the time 2.1 came out, these theories were all proven to be true]]. |
| 72 | ** It is strongly theorized that Frebass, the Nameless that accompanied Acheron for some time, is an analogue for this universe's version of Kiana Kaslana. This is mostly grounded in Relic lore stating that they were close companions during their one-month journey together and that she provided emotional support to Acheron with her determination to see what had not been seen before. It is also partially joked about that this may be because her name is Fre''bass'', which goes hand-in-hand with Kiana being nicknamed a "tuna" by the fans. |
| 73 | ** There are theories suggesting that March 7th may be [[spoiler:a Memokeeper, or otherwise associated with the Garden of Recollection in some fashion]]. This is mainly due to [[spoiler:Memokeepers]] featuring heavily in her Companion Quest, as well as her backstory and powers being ice-themed and her having a photo hobby, which lines up with [[spoiler:the Remembrance being focused on preserving memories, as well as the Path of Remembrance in Simulated Universe being themed around Freeze-related effects.]] This is further reinforced in 2.2's ''Clockie: Dreamjoy Memoir'' event, where a throwaway line from [[spoiler:Black Swan]] has her casually mention that she knows [[spoiler:"a Memokeeper who also loves to record memories on her camera"]]. |
| 74 | * EstrogenBrigade: The game has a vocal female fanbase thanks to its several attractive male characters such as Dan Heng, Welt, Gepard and Sampo. Those are just some of the male cast who are in Version 1.0, with more to arrive in future updates. |
| 75 | * EvilIsCool: The Stellaron Hunters are ''extremely'' morally dubious and often cause wanton chaos in the service of the greater good, but all four of the organization's known field agents are beloved by the fanbase for their attractive designs and sheer badassery. |
| 76 | ** Kafka has an implied power to [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy planets]], and is not above using [[JediMindTrick manipulation tactics]] to get what she wants. However, fans love her because of her [[TheFashionista fashion sense]], her strong introduction of playing [[PachelbelsCanonProgression Pachelbel's "Canon in D major"]] with an [[AirGuitar air violin]] at the start of the game (during an Antimatter Legion invasion no less), her amicable personality towards the Trailblazer (helped by the fact that she's actually the first playable character who awakened them to begin with), and being a MsFanservice. |
| 77 | ** Silver Wolf is such a gifted [[TheCracker hacker]] that she's capable of [[RealityWarper hacking reality itself]], and happily abuses this to commit all sorts of petty crimes and make a nuisance of herself wherever she goes. The fanbase loves her for this very reason, as well as being a highly quotable GamerChick. |
| 78 | ** Blade is by far the most sinister of the Stellaron Hunters, being a completely immortal being who's made it his secondary mission in life (beyond [[DeathSeeker ending said immortality]]) to make his Dan Heng's life a living hell [[spoiler:due to his prior life Dan Feng being responsible for his current condition.]] |
| 79 | ** Sam gained coolness points right away with his mechanical armor reminiscent of a Franchise/KamenRider, and his debut in the game more than met expectations with his over-the-top fighting style and badass voice. [[spoiler:The revelation that "his" true identity is the not-so-innocent Firefly did not subtract from this.]] |
| 80 | * FanNickname: |
| 81 | ** The game itself has earned some nicknames: |
| 82 | *** "Honkai in Space" - The initial nickname by fans, because it was a continuation of Creator/MiHoYo's ''Honkai'' series and there was an emphasis on space travel. This has seemingly died out, though, largely as a result of it becoming clear as the game launched that there was more to it than that. |
| 83 | *** "HSR" - The game's abbreviation, due to the ''Honkai'' fanbase's love for abbreviations. |
| 84 | ** "Mommy" - Attractive adult female characters like Kafka, Himeko and Natasha, due to their appearance. Kafka has the distinction of being the one who awakens the Trailblazer, so she's the first and most popular recipient of the nickname. Other variants are based on the specific character's traits, such as Himeko being called "Fire Mommy" because of her Fire element. |
| 85 | ** "Daddy" - Attractive adult male characters such as Welt, Jing Yuan, Luocha, and Blade, a DistaffCounterpart to the "Mommy" nickname. Jing Yuan in particular is referred to as "Electro Daddy" for his [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]] powers (with "Electro" being derived from the naming theme of ElementalPowers in ''Genshin Impact''). |
| 86 | ** "Shampoo" - a joking nickname for Sampo Koski. |
| 87 | ** "Scampo", "Suspo" - Nicknames for Sampo that take a stab at his shady conman nature. |
| 88 | ** "Intertwined Fate Girl" - March 7th, due to her eyes having the pink and blue colors associated with the Intertwined Fate gacha currency of ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact''. This association happened as soon as ''Star Rail'' was unveiled at the 5th anniversary live concert of ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'', with many [=miHoYo=] fans pointing out this resemblance. |
| 89 | ** "3/7" - A shorter format of writing March 7th. |
| 90 | ** "Danny", sometimes "Daniel" - An AffectionateNickname given by fans of Dan Heng |
| 91 | ** "Dan Leng", ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', "[[EuphemisticNames Dan Hung]]" (1.2 spoilers) - [[spoiler:Dan Heng's past life as "Dan Feng"]]. Other variations include [[spoiler:Daniel, occasionally capitalized as [=DanIeL=], or DHIL (sometimes pronounced like "dill") for his Imbibitor Lunae form]]. |
| 92 | ** Some [[FanNickname/HonkaiImpact3rd pre-existing fan nicknames]] coined by the ''Honkai Impact 3rd'' fandom are also carried over here for those who have ''Star Rail'' "counterparts": |
| 93 | *** "Da Bronya" for Bronya Rand and/or Silver Wolf. |
| 94 | *** "Sus" for Sushang. |
| 95 | ** "Qiqi" or "Electro Qiqi" - Bailu by ''Genshin'' players, since she's also a tiny purple-haired healer from the standard banner, originating from a Chinese-inspired nation, in a [=miHoYo=] game. |
| 96 | ** "Blue Sucrose" - Pela, because she also wears a hat and glasses just like Sucrose from ''Genshin'', but with a blue color theme instead. |
| 97 | ** "Autopilot" or "Autoplay" - Alternate names for the [[GameplayAutomation Auto-Battle]] feature. |
| 98 | ** "Cowboy" relics - The Musketeer of Wild Wheat relic set, due to their wild west appearance. |
| 99 | ** "Cards" - Light Cones, occasionally, due to their rectangular shape. |
| 100 | ** <Character>'s Light Cone - A 5★ Light Cone that's designed or tailor-made for a specific character, also known as their "[=BiS=]" ("Best in Slot"). For example, the "In the Night" Light Cone is called "Seele's Card" or "Seele's [=BiS=]" because it was released in the gacha alongside her. |
| 101 | ** Abbreviations and acronyms for certain gameplay terms, features and mechanics are also common: |
| 102 | *** "TL" – Trailblaze Level |
| 103 | *** "SU" – Simulated Universe |
| 104 | *** "E<digit>" - Eidolon upgrades, borrowing from the [[FanNickname/GenshinImpact naming trend]] of ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' fans. |
| 105 | *** "S<digit>" - Superimposition upgrades for Light Cones, also based on ''Genshin''. |
| 106 | ** "HSS" - Short abbreviation for Herta Space Station, not unlike how the International Space Station in real life is referred to as the ISS by most people. |
| 107 | ** "Apolojades" - A spin on the already-common fan nickname "apologems" from other gacha communities referring to additional PremiumCurrency being given out due to bug fixes and other downtime maintenance, just changed slightly to refer to Stellar Jades instead. |
| 108 | ** "''VideoGame/AmongUs'' Plot" - Two sidequests on the Herta Space Station focus on tracking down a rogue BlobMonster called the Xenohydro who has the ability to shapeshift into anyone near flawlessly. Unsurprisingly, fans drew parallels to the ''Among Us'' game due to its similar premise of SpotTheImposter, as well as calling the Xenohydro "sus". Hilariously, Among Us is also brought up again when [[spoiler:the Tingyun guiding the party turns out to be Phantylia. And when the lines in game after the reveal included the words "impostor" and "among us", plenty of players lost it.]] |
| 109 | ** "Hoshiboshi" - Asta or anything related to Asta. Taken from the first word of her shortened Ultimate line in the Japanese dub when playing on 2x speed. |
| 110 | ** "Gambling/Gamba Gremlin" - Qingque, for the randomness in her gameplay and her characteristic (the little-looking girl who loves games and slacking off work). |
| 111 | ** "Topass" - [[MsFanservice Topaz]], due to her very generous posterior, skintight wardrobe, and ImpossibleHourglassFigure. |
| 112 | ** "BS" - An acronym used for '''B'''lack '''S'''wan. |
| 113 | ** "Bootyhill" - An intentional misspelling of Boothill, mostly coming from the part of the fanbase that [[PerverseSexualLust desires him carnally]]. |
| 114 | ** "Chicken Wing Boy" - Sparkle's nickname for Sunday, which fans found funny and also started to use. |
| 115 | ** "义父" (Yìfù, "Godfather/Foster father") - The CN fan nickname for Dr Ratio, because he was given out as a free character and is often portrayed as a SternTeacher towards the Trailblazer. |
| 116 | ** "Aven" and "Churin" for Aventurine, with "Aven" being more popular among English speakers and "Churin" being mostly used in Japan. |
| 117 | * FandomEnragingMisconception: ''Star Rail'' is being compared '''a lot''' to ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' and it's understandable since the former turned out to be a CreatorDrivenSuccessor whose character progression systems and user interface elements are heavily based on the latter, and because ''Star Rail'' became the first ''Honkai'' game of many miHoYo newcomers from ''Genshin''. However, some comparisons often show a lack of knowledge about miHoYo's games other than ''Genshin''... which can annoy some long-time miHoYo and ''Honkai'' fans. |
| 118 | ** Calling this game [[FanNickname "Honkai in Space"]] can be acceptable to some degree, but do ''not'' call this game "Genshin in Space", especially if it's a generalized sweeping assumption. [[https://www.eurogamer.net/honkai-star-rail-review-more-than-genshin-impact-in-space Several]] [[https://www.inverse.com/gaming/honkai-star-rail-beta-review news outlets]] have earned ire from players because of this, even back during the early closed beta. Beyond the progression and UI aspects that do make it a successor to ''Genshin'', this game still has closer ties to the previous ''Honkai'' games in other aspects such as the worldbuilding and lore, with Welt Yang often [[ContinuityNod alluding to events and fellow characters]] from ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd''. |
| 119 | ** Do ''not'' comment that ''Star Rail'' Himeko looks like a DistaffCounterpart of, or an {{Expy}} ripped-off from Diluc. ''Honkai'' fans would consider her being mistaken for Diluc as a major insult because while both have red hair and fire-elemental affinities, ''Star Rail'' Himeko is based on Himeko Murata in a lot of ways, the latter being a ''Honkai'' character designed and written by miHoYo long before ''Genshin'' rose to prominence. In addition, ''Genshin'' is implied to already have its own {{Expy}} of Himeko Murata in the form of Murata, the Archon of Natlan, since her name is based on her ''Honkai'' counterpart's surname and she is a fire-based lady of war. Similarly, assuming that Acheron is "ripping-off" from Raiden Ei / Raiden Shogun of ''Genshin'' is generally frowned upon if the one who makes the assumption forgets that said ''Genshin'' character was intentionally based on the ''Honkai'' character Raiden Mei in the first place. |
| 120 | * FandomRivalry: Although there is a [[FriendlyFandoms substantial overlap]] between the fanbases of ''Honkai Star Rail'' and ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact,'' there are nonetheless significant portions of the ''Star Rail'' playerbase that have some ''fiercely'' bad blood with ''Genshin'' due in part to the latter's [[ItsPopularNowItSucks immense popularity, despite its flaws]], wanting to lord ''Star Rail'' over ''Genshin'' as [=HoYoverse's=] "superior" game. Ironically, the majority of the ''Star Rail'' playerbase are also ''Genshin'' players who either still play or have quit the game. Meanwhile, a large subset of ''Genshin'' players despise ''Star Rail'' due to the perception that the latter receives preferential treatment over the former, especially when it comes to its free rewards[[note]]This is because 1) ''Genshin'' puts the majority of its [[PremiumCurrency Primogems]] in its primary gameplay focus, i.e exploration, puzzles and quests, while ''Star Rail'' puts its own Stellar Jades in its endgame modes and events; 2) due to its gameplay, ''Star Rail'' puts more importance in fitting character role and damage type to finish challenges faster than ''Genshin'' does, which means the former potentially demands more Stellar Jade consumption for gacha (for characters and Light Cones) than the latter does.[[/note]] and endgame contents[[note]]''Star Rail'' has Forgotten Hall, Simulated Universe and Pure Fiction as permanent game modes, while ''Genshin'' only has Spiral Abyss as the only endgame available with no other plans for other game modes. This does not include Genius Invokation TCG which has nothing to do with combat whatsoever.[[/note]] |
| 121 | ** Said rivalry ''exploded'' when ''Star Rail'' announced that a limited 5-star character Dr. Ratio would be given out for free via mail between the start of his initial banner and the end of Version 2.1. This caused an uproar among the ''Genshin'' fandom since ''Star Rail'' got its first free 5-star in its first year of release while ''Genshin'' has yet to get a single one[[note]]This does not include [[VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn Aloy]], who is a collaboration character[[/note]] for over three years since launch. |
| 122 | * FanficFuel: Based on the premise of the game itself, there are so many potential crossover stories of the Astral Express crew travelling to worlds of different franchises for them to explore and help the characters there, particularly with other SpaceOpera works such as ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Franchise/StarTrek'', ''Series/DoctorWho'', ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'', ''VideoGame/StarOcean'', ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', ''Franchise/MassEffect'', ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'', ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'', ''Manga/CaptainHarlock'', ''Anime/{{Macross}}'', ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'', ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' and ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''. |
| 123 | * {{Fanon}}: Though no character has official birthdays, Aventurine's fans celebrate his birthday on May 5, based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakava real life Romani festival]] that his clan celebrates and he was born on. |
| 124 | * FoeYayShipping: Many of the fandom's favourite ships are between characters who are bitter enemies in canon: |
| 125 | ** Kafka and Himeko are arguably the most popular f/f ship, despite their sole interaction having Himeko show clear disdain towards the Stellaron Hunters. |
| 126 | ** Dan Heng and Blade are likewise one of the most popular m/m ships, even though - or perhaps because - Blade has been Dan Heng's personal ImplacableMan, chasing him across the stars with the clear intent to murder him, to the point where Dan Heng has vivid nightmares about him. |
| 127 | ** Sunday and Gallagher are often shipped together by fans, even though [[spoiler:Gallagher murders both Sunday and his sister, and the two openly despise each other's presence.]] |
| 128 | ** Aventurine and Dr. Ratio began as an enemies ship before [[spoiler:further plot developments revealed that the two have actually been on the same side all along.]] |
| 129 | * FountainOfMemes: Firefly, as TheReveal that [[spoiler:she's the extremely violent Stellaron Hunter Sam]] sparked a ton of memes. |
| 130 | * FriendlyFandoms: |
| 131 | ** Some fans of other TurnBasedCombat RPG franchises like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' expressed their interest in this turn-based ''Honkai'' game. In particular, fans of the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' generally tend to find a lot to love in ''Star Rail'' and a number of similarities (which is perhaps, not a surprise [[https://noisypixel.net/honkai-star-rail-producer-love-trails-interview/ because the producer of this game is a massive fan of that series]]). |
| 132 | ** There's a little bit of overlap with the ''VideoGame/ProjectSekai'' fanbase as two of the main trio, March 7th and Dan Heng, happen to share voice actors with some of ''Project SEKAI''[='s=] main cast (Yui Ogura as March 7th/Minori Hanasato and Kent Itou as Dan Heng/Touya Aoyagi). There's even some fan art swapping the characters with each other. |
| 133 | ** Although the previous ''Honkai'' games already had amazing bangers, "Wildfire" being an English rock song has attracted fans from games which had similar English-lyric songs played during boss fights, such as ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'', and the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series. It's also worth mentioning that many ''DMC'' fans have played the previous ''Honkai'' [[VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd action game]] already, so it's still a surprise to see a continued fandom overlap even if this game has a TurnBasedCombat gameplay. |
| 134 | ** Fans of the ''Franchise/FateSeries'' are also into ''Star Rail'', as evidenced by the number and viral spread of the [[MemeticMutation meme edits]] using Illyasviel von Einzbern's "Berserker!" scream during Clara's Ultimate animation of calling out Svarog. This has also brought crossover fanarts, or fans comparing other characters apart from the four, such as Gepard being compared to Gawain. The ''Fate'' series also has its own TurnBasedCombat RPG {{gacha game|s}} via ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', so these fans are already accustomed to the similar genre of both games. |
| 135 | ** With ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' given that Jing Yuan and Sampo Koski share the same voice actors as Jotaro Kujo and Noriaki Kakyoin (Creator/DaisukeOno and Creator/DaisukeHirakawa, respectively). The overlapping playerbase resulted into combining scenes between the two games, imported memes, and calling Jing Yuan's Lightning-Lord a "Stand" because it's a FightingSpirit. |
| 136 | ** With shared voice actors (in both language tracks), similar tragedies and boatloads of memes, there are quite a few ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'' fans around. The [[DarkerAndEdgier Penacony arc]] is notable for being a source for many shared memes. |
| 137 | ** Solely due to Sam/[[spoiler:Firefly]], there has been a plethora of {{Toku}} fans that have checked out the game. Especially ''Franchise/KamenRider'' fans. |
| 138 | * GameBreaker: [[GameBreaker/HonkaiStarRail See here.]] |
| 139 | * GeniusBonus: |
| 140 | ** Quantum's effect is [[https://www.space.com/31933-quantum-entanglement-action-at-a-distance.html Entanglement]]. |
| 141 | ** Many of the Destruction Blessing names in the Simulated Universe reference astronomy and physics terminology. Examples include "Extreme Helium Flash" (Helium Flash being a stage in a star's red giant phase where it starts fusing helium into carbon), "Universal Heat Death Characteristic" (Heat Death being one of the possible ends of the universe through entropy according to the laws of thermodynamics), "Primordial Black Hole" (a type of microscopic black hole that is theorized to have existed shortly after the Big Bang), and "Orbital Redshift" (Redshift being a term to describe the light of objects being stretched over long distances as a result of them moving away from the observer). |
| 142 | ** The feline FamilyThemeNaming of the Landau family is possibly a reference to the Soviet physicist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Landau Lev Landau]] ("Lev" is Russian for "Lion"). |
| 143 | ** In "Jolted Awake from a Winter Dream", Natasha's quote about "those who sell their freedom for security will attain neither in the end" (when the Trailblazer is asking her whether the people should comply with the IPC's offer for their planet or not) is taken from the famous quote by Thomas Jefferson: |
| 144 | --->"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." |
| 145 | ** When Gallagher is asked about his age, he simply replies that he's "Thirteen", which the group interprets as trolling. [[spoiler:This turns out to be subtle foreshadowing, as Gallagher is connected to the "Death" that is affecting Penacony, and Death is the thirteenth Major Arcana in tarot.]] |
| 146 | ** Throughout the Penacony arc, Acheron has trouble retaining her memories and Black Swan finds it difficult to recover any memories pertaining to Acheron in general. Black Swan also briefly envisions herself being torn apart by a black hole when she attempts to directly read Acheron's memories in "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas". Given the confirmation that [[spoiler:Acheron is an Emanator of Nihility]], it makes sense why Black Swan is seemingly powerless against Acheron, since one major theory about black holes is that they are capable of destroying the information that they suck in, which means black holes and by extension [[spoiler:Acheron's [[PatronGod Patron Aeon IX]]]] are capable of destroying ''memories'', making them a particular threat to the Remembrance. |
| 147 | ** In the preview for 2.2's new boss, "Harmonious Choir" The Great Septimus, one of its attacks in the third phase has it reaching high into the sky to touch the hand from the beyond. The poses of the hands are highly similar to the hands of Adam and God in [[SistineSteal "The Creation of Adam" painting]]. [[spoiler:Considering who the boss is and whose hand it was reaching and the Christian-like imagery being prevalent in the story, the allusion is likely intentional.]] |
| 148 | * GoddamnedBats: |
| 149 | ** Automaton Beetles are annoying to fight in numbers once they start using their "Unstable Forcefield" skill which grants them a [[NoSell Barrier]] buff. They will nullify the next instance of damage aside from DamageOverTime effects, but this includes shrugging off your party members' Skills and Ultimates. This is made even worse by the fact that they can recast "Unstable Forcefield", and the [[GameplayAutomation Auto-Battle]] A.I. can show its [[ArtificialStupidity flaws]] by letting your characters waste their Ultimate or Skill to dispel the Automaton Beetle's Barrier buff when you could've just manually used a basic attack against it instead. |
| 150 | ** Mara-Struck soldiers are extremely annoying, as once per battle, they will automatically heal back to 50% of their HP when they take a lethal hit, which also restores their BreakMeter and removes debuffs. What's even more annoying is that this doesn't count as a death, so Seele's Talent will not trigger if she kills them for the first time. Luckily, their Rebirth buff can be dispelled if you have a buff remover like Pela. |
| 151 | ** Version 1.1 adds the Lost Trotters, which are silver variants of the Warp Trotters that have a random chance of appearing in battles and will reward you with increased material drops if defeated. That's all fine and dandy on paper, but the problem with them is that they're way too frequent with an unusually high spawn rate for a MetalSlime that's supposed to be rare, meaning you'll be seeing these things constantly and their [[StoneWall bulky HP and DEF stats]] make them annoying battle pace breakers at worst. It's entirely possible to encounter up to ''20 Lost Trotters'' in a single day's worth of material farming. |
| 152 | ** Version 1.2 adds the Wooden Lupus, a frustratingly annoying wolf enemy that not only summons clones of itself that ''don't'' die when the original is killed, but also has an annoyingly high speed stat to ensure that it can get one clone out as early as possible. Moreover, there's no limit to how many times they may do it in an encounter, and several encounters have more than one of them. Needless to say, they're the bane of any auto battle user due to how much they can stretch out a fight with their summons. Thankfully they're individually rather weak, and the clones they summon can't spawn with more health than the original, which is what ultimately keeps them out of DemonicSpider territory. |
| 153 | ** The Simulated Universe: Swarm Disaster's regular enemies introduced in 1.3, Juvenile Sting and Lesser Sting, can prove to be rather annoying. Their main gimmick is that, if they're not staggered, they'll propagate themselves and create a clone of themselves with ''full health'' every other turn, only balanced by their explosion-on-death which damages all of their allies. Also, they're mostly just weak to Imaginary and Quantum, two of damage types with rarer units. |
| 154 | ** The Mr. Domescreens in Penacony can be either a pain in the butt or a generous help, but only if you're careful when dealing with them: hitting them will make them switch between Surprise Channel, which will make them restore 50% of a character's Energy in their turn, and Startling Channel, which takes 20% Energy from all characters. The catch: they have an ability that just lets them switch channels at will if you keep ignoring them, and when you inflict Weakness Break, they'll automatically be set to Startling Channel when they recover. |
| 155 | * HesJustHiding: |
| 156 | ** A handful of players have this impression for [[spoiler:Tingyun, who was actually Phantylia in disguise.]] With Welt having assumptions that [[spoiler:Tingyun had to be alive at some point for Phantylia to plant herself as TheMole]], and Yukong swearing to find the truth behind the whole thing, people are wary and are waiting for evidence on the contrary in spite of the Soul-Soothing Ceremony being arranged in 1.3. |
| 157 | ** By the end of "If One Dreams at Midnight", both [[spoiler:Firefly]] and [[spoiler:Robin]] are apparently dead. However, many players are certain that they're not actually dead or will be resurrected somehow, due to both characters featuring heavily in the patch's advertising, as well as many plot details about their pasts and motivations remaining unknown. Also, both of them are seen dead only inside the Dreamscape and not reality, and it is already established that people cannot die in the Dreamscape, they're simply booted back to reality. And even if that's not the case, there's still the fact that the rules of the Dreamscape and Memory Zone don't conform to reality. [[spoiler:Firefly is eventually confirmed to still be alive... as the person inside Sam, i.e she was indeed hiding.]] |
| 158 | ** Likewise, players aren't fully convinced that [[spoiler:Ifrit]] is really dead, even if he was killed by [[{{Badass}} Acheron]]. After all, he is still an immortal energy being, not to mention [[spoiler:the Annihilation Gang playing a large role in the leadup chapter and 2.0's marketing]]. The animated short "Rondo of Endless Kalpas" and later "The Cat Among Pigeons" Trailblaze Mission would confirm that he really is dead. |
| 159 | ** A number of players believe that [[spoiler:Sunday]] is also still alive following the events of 2.2, since [[spoiler:even though he was the end boss of the chapter, he [[NeverFoundTheBody disappeared]] following his defeat.]] Some believe that he will eventually return as [[spoiler:a Stellaron Hunter, and that Elio picked him up.]] |
| 160 | [[/folder]] |
| 161 | [[folder:I-L]] |
| 162 | * IdiosyncraticShipNaming: |
| 163 | ** "Music/GunsNRoses" for the Boothill/Argenti ship, owing to one being a [[SpaceWestern space cowboy]] and the other having SomethingAboutARose. |
| 164 | ** While mostly known for their {{Portmanteau Couple Name}}s, Dr. Ratio and Aventurine are occasionally referred to as "Golden Ratio". |
| 165 | ** Similar to Dr. Ratio/Aventurine above, Caelus/Robin is known as "Batwing" when not by a portmanteau. |
| 166 | * LauncherOfAThousandShips: |
| 167 | ** The Trailblazer gets shipped with numerous characters (some prominent ones are Dan Heng, March 7th, Kafka, and Firefly) for self-shipping due to their role as the AudienceSurrogate. |
| 168 | ** Dan Heng/[[spoiler:Imbibitor Lunae]] is shipped with the Trailblazer (more Caelus than Stelle), March 7th, [[FoeYayShipping Blade]], Luocha, and Jing Yuan. |
| 169 | * LGBTFanbase: Much like its [[VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd previous game in the series]], ''Star Rail'' has attracted a dedicated lesbian fanbase given the [[HoYay subtext and teasing]] between the female characters. The return of a pre-existing female ''Honkai'' ship like "Bronseele" also contributed to this game being noticed by such players. Gay fanbase also gets their share, with several males having (implied) history with each other. |
| 170 | * LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: When [[spoiler:Firefly]] was seemingly killed by Something Unto Death, many players were not convinced that they would kill them off so quickly. Sure enough, come 2.1, and it turns out they were right. [[spoiler:In more ways than one, as not only was Firefly revealed to be alive, she also turned out to be the person inside the Stellaron Hunter, Sam.]] |
| 171 | * LowTierLetdown: |
| 172 | ** '''Playable Characters''' |
| 173 | *** '''Arlan''' is a Lightning Destruction character whose gimmick is [[CriticalStatusBuff dealing more damage the lower his HP is]] and consuming HP instead of skill points with his Skill, which is considered too risky outside Simulated Universe's [[CriticalStatusBuff Destruction]] Path due to being a Destruction unit without any aggro-reducing talent, making him more likely to be attacked and thus prone to dying, requiring a Preservation unit to cover for his survivability while also preserving his low HP. Not helping matters are his low DEF and purely ATK-scaling damage (without additional HP or DEF scaling unlike, for example, Blade) which hurts his survivability even further and his mediocre self-sustaining Traces and Eidolons compared to other Destruction characters, who either have better survival skills or non-risky playstyles.[[note]]His second ascension Trace "Revival" restores HP instead of shield (which anti-synergizes with his "low HP buff" gimmick) and activates upon killing an enemy, thus difficult to activate when fighting solitary bosses; the sixth ascension Trace "Repel" can only negate the first received attack; the fourth Eidolon "Turn the Tables" can only revive him within his first two turns.[[/note]] Worse yet, even if you ''do'' jump through the hoops to make him work, he still ends up doing an overall mediocre amount of damage, as a mostly single-target unit, even with full Eidolons, Arlan still loses out to an unupgraded Dan Heng. |
| 174 | *** '''Yanqing''' is an Ice Hunt DPS and is considered as the worst 5★ Standard Warp unit. While he can dish out massive amounts of single target damage, the majority of his output is tied to his Soulsteel Sync buff which boosts his Crit Rate and Crit Damage by 33% and 64% respectively on top of a 62% base chance of a follow-up attack that has a 65% chance of freeze and boosting his Crit Damage by 54% when he uses his ultimate with the buff active. While all those combined would make him a good DPS, it is held back by the fact that [[BreakablePowerUp Yanqing loses the Soulsteel Sync buff if he loses HP from damage]]. While his kit lessens his aggro to mitigate this, the majority of the endgame bosses all have [[HerdHittingAttack AoE attacks]] rendering his decreased aggro useless and requiring him to have a shielder with him, and of the four shielders in the game, Gepard (another 5★ Standard Warp unit) and Aventurine are the only two who can consistently protect him.[[note]]Preservation Trailblazer's shield is fairly weak and can easily be broken while March 7th's shield ''draws'' aggro to the shielded character making it anti-synergistic with Yanqing.[[/note]] Not helping his case is the release of better DPS units within his niche, such as Jingliu and Dr. Ratio. |
| 175 | *** Unlike their other Paths, which have specialized applications, '''Trailblazer (Destruction)''' is simplistic to a fault due to their nature as a StarterMon. They're a no-frills damage dealer who has both Single Target and Blast capabilities, but other than this they don't offer anything worthwhile and lack sufficient damage multipliers to compete with most of the cast. It is notable that Trailblazer tends to be stuck at the bottom of most community tier lists alongside Arlan. |
| 176 | ** '''Paths''' |
| 177 | *** In Simulated Universe, the '''Path of Elation''' can struggle to be of any use depending on the characters available to you, since its Blessings rely on follow-up attacks, which only a handful of units can do, making it the Path with the highest degree of CharacterSelectForcing. As of 2.1, of units capable of follow-up attacks, only Clara, Jing Yuan, Kafka, Blade, Topaz, Xueyi, Dr. Ratio, and Aventurine can trigger follow-up attacks consistently by themselves to warrant picking Elation [[note]]Technically speaking, so can Himeko, Herta and March [=7th=]; however, Himeko and Herta's follow-up attacks suffer from CripplingOverspecialization courtesy of being much more effective against weaker enemies than bosses (unless they are a FlunkyBoss like the Abundant Ebon Deer), while March is often brought for her defensive-oriented playstyle (shielding/debuff removal) compared to being a follow-up attacker [[/note]]. Comparatively speaking any other Path is of significantly more flexibility and utility for a general team, meaning Elation blessings are often completely dead weight when they show up unless you're already running an Elation-geared team. On the other hand, if you ''are'' lucky enough to have one dedicated follow-up attacker or the ''Champion's Dinner: Cat's Cradle'' blessing (which makes offensive Ultimates count as follow-up attacks and thus benefit from all Elation blessings), the Path of Elation becomes just as good if not better than any of the other Paths. |
| 178 | ** '''Relic Sets''' |
| 179 | *** The '''Celestial Differentiator''' relic set provides a solid 16% CRIT DMG to the wearer... only to disappoint the player with the next sentence, which gives a 60% CRIT Rate boost for their ''first attack'' only, making it inferior to Planar Ornament sets that give more permanent bonuses like Inert Salsotto and Rutilant Arena. Even Bronya, who provides a buff that scales off of her own CRIT DMG, has a trace that causes her Basic Attack (her only damage-dealing move) to always CRIT, making the set's second effect useless on her, and who also has better options such as Fleet of the Ageless (which boosts all party members' ATK) or Broken Keel (which gives Effect RES to the wearer and 10% CRIT DMG to all party members). |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | [[folder:M-P]] |
| 182 | * MagnificentBastard: |
| 183 | ** "Future Market": [[EvilDebtCollector Topaz]], real name Jelena, is one of the Ten Stonehearts of the [[PredatoryBusiness IPC]], in charge of collecting debts from planets that have made loans with them. Learning that Jarilo-VI survived the Eternal Freeze, Topaz is assigned with collecting Belobog's debt, and approaches Bronya, offering to turn Jarilo-VI into an IPC colony world in order to have their debts forgiven and help reconstruct the climate. Resisting every attempt at negotiation, she appeals to Bronya by sharing a story of her own past, where her once-ruined world flourished under the IPC, almost getting Bronya to accept until Himeko reveals [[spoiler:she [[LyingByOmission left out the fact]] that the IPC's success isn't a guarantee, potentially devastating the planet if they fail]]. In the meantime, she uses a piece of IPC source code to control Belobog's robots, strong-arming Svarog into helping her find the automaton factory in hopes of proving to the IPC shareholders that the planet can generate worth and effortlessly subduing the Silvermane Guard. Anticipating the Astral Express' interference, she waits for them, requesting permission from her superiors to attack them ahead of time and unleashing an army of robots on them once it is granted. Despite her shady actions, Topaz [[WellIntentionedExtremist truly wishes for the best for Jarilo-VI]], and [[spoiler:when Bronya shows her that its people can fight for themselves and help their own situation, she [[GracefulLoser willingly backs down, accepting punishment from her superiors without complaint]]]]. |
| 184 | ** "Crown of the Mundane and Divine": [[SternTeacher Dr. Veritas Ratio]] is a member of the Intelligentsia Guild, seeking to cure the "disease" of ignorance that plagues the galaxies through the distribution of knowledge. Interrogating the Trailblazer on the disappearance of Herta's puppet, he [[InspectorJavert works from an accusatory perspective to find the truth]], before learning that Ifrit of the Annihilation Gang plans to attack the station. He and the Trailblazer investigate this further, learning about the spontaneous combustion teleporting several researchers and Adler looking into the Phase Flame, a mysterious Curio that Herta was interested in. When Asta herself combusts, Dr. Ratio determines that the flame is still in the station, and with the Trailblazer's help, manages to neutralise the threat. [[spoiler:When confronted by Screwllum at the end, Dr. Ratio confirms that he knew all along that Ifrit was going to strike, and used the Flame to intercept his plans by making sure everyone was teleported safely within the station. Knowing Ifrit planned to sow chaos, Dr. Ratio allowed this to happen, letting discontent spread across the station and [[StealthMentor seeing the ordeal as a learning opportunity]] so that the researchers would shed their blind worship of geniuses that stunted their potential and come to a solution on their own.]] |
| 185 | ** "Bestial Ferocity" Adventure Mission: The silver-tongued Zhongshan is an enigmatic NPC who ropes you into resolving a conflict within a group of merchants called the Unshackled, who try to earn merit points from Yaoshi by releasing wildlife aboard the Luofu regardless of ecological consequences. After hearing the requests of the three belligerent Benevolent Ones to avoid a food chain, Zhongshan quickly picks up the Trailblazer's offhanded suggestion to look beyond organic lifeforms, ultimately settling for Belobog's Automatons with [[InsaneTrollLogic the phony reasoning]] that such an outrageous idea is interesting. With some smooth talking from Zhongshan and additional reassurance from the Trailblazer, the Benevolent Ones are sold on the idea that the Automatons fit their vision of wildlife to be released, unaware that their enablement would land them in hot waters with the Luofu authorities in true karmic fashion. Reveling in the Benevolent Ones' comeuppance and humbling, Zhongshan departs for the stars, leaving behind a letter that confirms her goal of [[HumblePie "unshackling" the Unshackled]] and hints at her allegiance to [[TricksterGod the Aeon of Elation, Aha]]. |
| 186 | * MemeticBadass: Of all characters, [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Pom-Pom]] is often portrayed this way, with many fans joking about how Pom-Pom never leaves the Express because they would wipe the floor with every enemy and would be the first 6* if they ever became a playable character. [[spoiler:This became even more popular after the 2.2 update, where the boss battle with Sunday features a mechanic where you can summon a dream version of the Astral Express to [[RammingAlwaysWorks plow right into Sunday]], with many jokes about how Pom-Pom got tired of always being on the sidelines and personally drove the train in to protect their friends.]] |
| 187 | * MemeticLoser: |
| 188 | ** As of 1.2 update, Yanqing has gained this reputation for failing to pursue and arrest Jingliu, Blade, and [[spoiler: Dan Heng]]. Despite being a prodigy in his own right, Yanqing should have known better not to pursue and fight three characters who are not only formidable fighters, but also much more experienced than him. He even attempts to fight Blade and [[spoiler: Dan Heng]] together during the Luofu Trailblaze mission. Naturally, players are bullying him for his overconfidence, and his boss fight is the perfect opportunity to put him in his place. Not only that, he also gets scolded for his impulsiveness by [[MentorArchetype Jing]] [[ShockAndAwe Yuan]], who had warned him against pursuing Blade. Note that when fighting Yanqing, he's weak to Wind, Imaginary, and Lightning. It doesn't help that in [[spoiler:Kafka's companion mission, it seems that he still hasn't learned and charged to a "mind-controlled" Trailblazer and a highly dangerous wanted criminal by himself, only to be defeated again and be sent away with his memories of those moments wiped out by Kafka.]] He is also considered wholly unremarkable as a playable unit and is seen by many as a JunkRare. As the cherry on top, as of version 1.4, there are ''six'' achievements for landing the finishing blow on Yanqing with various characters, including [[MirrorMatch Yanqing himself]]. To add insult to injury, he's the final boss of Simulated Universe World 8, meaning you can kick his ass on a regular basis. |
| 189 | ** [[spoiler:Duke Inferno / Ifrit]] has become this as of 2.0; despite being hyped up in multiple trailers and the ''Crown of the Mundane and Divine'' Trailblaze Continuance quest, his ultimate fate is [[spoiler:to be KilledOffscreen by Acheron in an apparent application of TheWorfEffect]]. Jokes about his status as a jobber on par with Yanqing immediately ensued. This was somewhat walked back on in 2.1, where it's shown that [[spoiler:in his final moments, he showed a lot of VillainousValour and willing decided to go down fighting out of a genuine belief in the Path of Destruction]]. |
| 190 | ** Initially, there was quite a bit of excitement for Boothill and Robin being playable in the 2.2 banner. However, the subsequent announcement that fan favorite character Firefly ([[spoiler: AKA Sam the Stellaron Hunter]]) becoming playable in 2.3 has led to jokes of players completely skipping Boothill and Robin in order to save for Firefly. |
| 191 | * MemeticMutation: See [[Memes/HonkaiStarRail here.]] |
| 192 | * MisaimedFandom: The "Aurum Alley Hustle and Bustle" event features a bet between Sushang and Skott where the loser has to apologize and bark like a dog. It's supposed to be seen as humiliating, but it's not hard to find fans who ''wanted'' to see the attractive, curvy Sushang acting like a dog. |
| 193 | * {{Moe}}: This is a Creator/MiHoYo game, after all. |
| 194 | ** [[HeartwarmingOrphan Clara]] is the undisputed queen of Moe in the Star Rail continuity, being a timid, innocent little girl who's managed to find a father figure in a war machine of all things, and is stated in her bio to have the goal of making the whole Underworld one big happy family. Her tendency to use cutesy emoticons (like ('･ω･') and (☉Д☉)) when texting also contributes to her adorableness. Her gameplay only adds to her cuteness, because Clara doesn't attack, ''Svarog'' (said robot father figure) does and will launch a counterattack against anyone who tries to hurt Clara. Her entire gameplay gimmick revolves around ''being protected''. |
| 195 | ** Hook, following in the footsteps of [[VideoGame/GenshinImpact Klee]], is just precious. She's an extremely loving and devoted daughter to Hersman, is first introduced by coercing the Trailblazer into playing hide-and-seek with her, snacks on a lollipop for one of her idle animations, and her animations and sound effects during battle are similarly adorable. |
| 196 | ** In contrast to [[FoxyVixen fellow Foxians Tingyun and Yukong]], Huohuo is played up for cuteness instead, being short, perpetually shy and nervous, and possessing an AdorableFluffyTail that's constantly belittling her and dragging her along, evoking all the more sympathy from the playerbase. There's even a sticker of someone pinching her cheek. |
| 197 | ** Some players consider '''[[AdorableAbomination IX]]''' of all things to be utterly adorable, with the Aeon of Nihility appearing as a giant purple blob/black hole with small, sad beady eyes. |
| 198 | ** Penacony brings two more examples: |
| 199 | *** Misha is a PrettyBoy, cute as a button, and also [[TheKlutz very clumsy]], especially in gameplay, which only adds to this factor. He's also an AdorablyPrecociousChild, putting him in contrast with other young males such as the more haughty Yanqing or the more level-headed Arlan. [[spoiler:This only makes it worse when his death is revealed, with his soft voice reassuring Clockie as he sits down to "rest for a long time". Unlike the entry below, Misha passes away, haunting the narrative.]] |
| 200 | *** Then there's Firefly, one of the game's most prominent NiceGirl and TokenWholesome examples, with lots of ShipTease with Trailblazer. One of the most common reactions among players is to "protect her smile", [[spoiler:which only makes her apparent death [[TearJerker even more heartbreaking]] to many. It then looped back around to [[HilariousInHindsight being hilarious]] to just as many when it was revealed that not only was she actually still alive but that an adorable girl like herself was the true identity of Sam, the most intense and intimidating-looking of the Stellaron Hunters]]. |
| 201 | * OlderThanTheyThink: Because ''Star Rail'' served as the [[NewbieBoom first]] ''Honkai'' game of many (especially those who became [=miHoYo=] fans around the 2020s thanks to ''Genshin Impact''), there were a bunch of concepts that were assumed to have originated here, but were actually used in the older installments: |
| 202 | ** The opening song "Take the Journey" and the song that plays during [[spoiler:Cocolia]]'s boss fight, "Wildfire", were thought to be the "first" instances of [=HOYO-MiX=] making fully-voiced English songs (as in those with lyrics, not just music tracks with instrumentals or OminousLatinChanting). There were also those who thought that "Wildfire" was following the trend of games like ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'', or ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' featuring epic English songs during a boss fight (which became viral in 2022). Veteran [=miHoYo=] fans would then quickly inform the newcomers that the previous two ''Honkai'' games already had plenty of [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic amazing fully-voiced songs]], many of those were also in English, and some (like "Oaths" and "Oracle") were played during climactic boss fights. |
| 203 | ** The ShipTease between Bronya Rand and Seele in ''Star Rail'' caused some fans to think that their "Bronseele" ship has finally sailed for the first time, though the pre-existing ''Honkai'' fans will remind that the teasing and the PortmanteauCoupleName both predate this game; there were already some intended ShipTease moments between the previous iterations of Bronya and Seele, and in the ''Azure Waters'' comic for ''[=HI3=]'', they even officially kissed. |
| 204 | * OneSceneWonder: Velite, the IPC salaryman who only appears in Argenti's story quest and uses a generic NPC model, gained quite a surprising amount of popularity owing to his voice acting, the character development he undergoes over the course of the quest, and his ShipTease with Argenti. |
| 205 | * PortmanteauCoupleName: |
| 206 | ** "Bronseele" is the ship name of [[HoYay Bronya Rand and Seele]], just like how [[OlderThanTheyThink it was also used]] for shipping their ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'' counterparts. |
| 207 | ** "Kafhime" for Kafka and Himeko. |
| 208 | ** "Dancae" or "Caeheng" for Dan Heng and Caelus (Male Trailblazer). |
| 209 | ** "Danstelle" for Dan Heng and Stelle (Female Trailblazer). |
| 210 | ** "Starch" for Stelle (Female Trailblazer) and March 7th. |
| 211 | ** "Danmarch" for Dan Heng and March 7th. |
| 212 | ** "Servalia" for Serval and Cocolia. |
| 213 | ** "Sampard" for Sampo and Gepard. |
| 214 | ** "Renheng" for Blade[[note]]"Ren" being how the word for "blade" is pronounced in Chinese[[/note]] and Dan Heng. |
| 215 | ** "Jingren" for Jing Yuan and Blade. |
| 216 | ** "Jingheng" for Jing Yuan and Dan Heng. |
| 217 | ** ''Avenpaz'' for Topaz and Aventurine. |
| 218 | ** "Avenratio"/"Aventio"/"Ratiorine" (and occasionally "[[PunnyName RatUrine]]") for Aventurine and Dr Ratio. |
| 219 | ** "Screwtio" for Screwellum and Dr Ratio. |
| 220 | ** "Acheswan" for Acheron and Black Swan. |
| 221 | ** "Sunturine" for Sunday and Aventurine. |
| 222 | ** "Caefly" for Caelus (Male Trailblazer) and Firefly and "Stellefly" for Stelle (Female Trailblazer) and Firefly. "Fireblazer" is also used for either Trailblazer and Firefly. |
| 223 | ** "Caebin" for Caelus (Male Trailblazer) and Robin. |
| 224 | ** "Robinhill" for Robin and Boothill. |
| 225 | [[/folder]] |
| 226 | [[folder:Q-T]] |
| 227 | * RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: |
| 228 | ** The path of Erudition, while not exactly ''bad'', suffered from fairly limited usage outside of farming due to their primary focus on AOE attacks, which often resulted in scuffed damage output in single boss fights. Jing Yuan, in particular, may have respectable single-target damage thanks to his follow-up attack, but he would still lose out to other non-Erudition damager characters like Blade, Jingliu or the Imbibitor Lunae. Perhaps due to this, the game subtly tried to give them more time to shine: from creating more {{Flunky Boss}}es and event challenges that involve waves of enemies to the release of Pure Fiction (basically the permanent form of "Tales of the Fantastic" event). In this mode, the constantly spawning mooks per wave meant that Erudition's attacks would always strike at maximum power, letting them kill much faster and score a lot more points than other paths. Additionally, the Simulated Universe: Gold and Gears expansion also released Erudition as a chosen path, conferring ridiculous benefits that let them become insanely powerful even with single target bosses. As a result, Erudition characters like Herta below, Himeko, and Serval, have shot all the way up to endgame viability thanks to their specialization in AOE damage. |
| 229 | ** '''Herta''' is an Ice Erudition character whose gimmick is performing an AOE follow-up attack whenever an enemy drops below 50% HP. This made her a rather hard sell for single target content, the primary focus of Memory of Chaos, as the mileage you got out of Herta's follow-up was extremely limited, relegating her to a rather mediocre damage dealer. Her most popular use during launch was speeding up farming content where the party's overall strength wasn't much of a concern in the first place. Later content releases would improve Herta's usability, with two {{Flunky Boss}}es, the Abundant Ebon Deer and the IPC Team Leader being released and put into a few Memory of Chaos stages. Herta is a good matchup against both, as they are weak to Ice and constantly summon Ice-weak minions that need to be killed fast before the boss uses them to unleash powerful attacks. Additionally, the release of the Pure Fiction mode has shot Herta up to meta status, thanks to her follow-up being able to consistently trigger due to the constantly spawning waves of enemies. |
| 230 | ** The aforementioned Jing Yuan also gets "rescued" with a Relic set released in 1.5, The Ashblazing Grand Duke. Its 2-set bonus increases the damage of follow-up attacks, while the 4-set one makes follow-up attacks grant an ATK buff to the user per hit (stacking up to 8 times), which is reset when the user uses follow-up attacks again. Out of all the follow-up attackers in the game, only Jing Yuan alone can gain the maximum potential power from it (as his follow-up attack hits a lot of times) and actually utilize it to the fullest, as his other attacks can also be empowered by using this relic set. |
| 231 | * SalvagedGameplayMechanic: While a number of UI and gameplay elements have been carried over from ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', a handful of changes have been implemented to address common complaints. |
| 232 | ** In ''Genshin'', the StarterMon trio, Kaeya, Lisa, and Amber, are generally considered middling at best, barely usable at worst. To make matters worse, the three could not be obtained via the Character or Weapon Event banners, limiting their Constellation upgrades to the Standard banner (where they were rare) or the shop (where they only rotate once every six months). By contrast, Honkai Star Rail's starter trio, the Trailblazer, Dan Heng, and March 7th are all powerful characters within their own niches, all capable of pulling their own weight and competing even with some of the best five-star units in the game at release. [[note]]Dan Heng's absolute maximum damage potential on a single turn falls just 1.03% short of Seele, ''the'' strongest single-target damage dealer in the game, though the difference is compounded because of Seele's extra-turn Talent, innately higher speed and self acceleration, and Dan Heng's finnicky buff talent. Nontheless, he's still ''extremely'' potent as a damage dealer and only really falls out of the running in the hyper-competitive 12th floor of Memory of Chaos. March for her part is somewhat resource-intensive as a sustain character, but excels against single-target enemies, paired with an Area of Effect type freeze attack ultimate and access to follow-up attacks that make her synergize with several different paths in Memory of Chaos.[[/note]] Furthermore, Dan Heng and March 7th are available in every banner, are featured with boosted drop-rates on 5-star event banners as regularly as other 4-stars, and are still accessible via the shop should the player choose. |
| 233 | ** While ''Genshin's'' Traveler can be an effective unit depending on build, their initial elements of Anemo and Geo are generally considered their worst elements and they're usually replaced by a 4-star of the same element. In ''Honkai Star Rail'', the Trailblazer's initial forms Destruction and Preservation are not only good units in general, but their versatility and damage output make them outstanding {{Crutch Character}}s for their respective phases of the game, and the first post-launch version, the Harmony Trailblazer is a lynchpin character for Break Effect builds that ''easily'' justifies investment and regular usage. Additionally, while both the Traveller and Trailblazer are designated as 5-star characters, the Traveller's actual statline is identical to that of a 4-star while the Trailblazer has a higher base statline befitting a 5-star character. |
| 234 | ** [[FreemiumTimer Trailblaze Power]] which is this game's version of the Resin mechanic from ''Genshin'' is massively improved. The max Trailblaze Power is 180, a full 20 more than the Genshin cap to start. General materials such as Exp and Credits only cost 10 Trailblaze Power per run and can be done up to 6 times at once, in comparison to Genshin's Exp and Mora spots taking 20 Resin to perform, and Echoes of War (The Weekly Bosses of Star Rail) cost 30 Trailblaze Power (compared to the initial cost of 60 Resin in Genshin, which was later changed to 30 for the first three attempts per week). Even better, Version 1.3 not only increased the Trailblaze Power cap to ''240,'' but also added a system for reserving surplus Trailblaze Power up to a massive ''2400'' points (following ''Honkai Impact 3rd''), to the utter joy of the player base. |
| 235 | ** Stagnant Shadows (the equivalent of Normal Bosses in ''Genshin'') have much better special drop rates and more importantly, zero RNG on how many special drops the player receives. At the highest difficulty, the player will always receive 5 special drops per run, and 10 (for a 4-star unit) or 13 (for a 5-star) runs will thus ''always'' provide enough special drops to fully ascend a unit. In Genshin, the corresponding drop rate is 2-3 drops with 46 needed to fully ascend a unit, so it is common to miss the ascension requirement by a single special drop and have to wait ''5 hours'' for a Resin recharge. |
| 236 | ** Echoes of War (the equivalent of Weekly Bosses in ''Genshin'') are not restricted to one run per boss per week. The player can instead run one boss 3 times for their drops, which in combination with the boss only having one special drop makes farming skill items much easier. |
| 237 | ** Like the Traveler in Genshin, the Trailblazer can change their element and character class. Unlike the Traveler, they can actually change it on the fly in the character menu instead of having to teleport to special statues and touch them − and yes, that includes some of the challenge modes with preset teams like the Simulated Universe, which means that as long as you have access to the character screen, you basically have an extra character at your disposal. |
| 238 | ** Once ''Star Rail'' began having double banners in 1.4, the rate-up 5★ Light Cones have their own banners as opposed to sharing a single one, eliminating the need for an equivalent of ''Genshin's'' "Epitomized Path". |
| 239 | ** An oft-criticized part of ''Genshin'' is the endgame mode, Spiral Abyss, due to only changing two to four of the non-permanent floors each patch, having little variety due to being the only 'real' endgame mode and never adding any more permanent floors, thus stagnating in the amount of rewards that new players could obtain. The Forgotten Hall is structured similarly to the Spiral Abyss, but improves on it in multiple ways: for once, there are far more permanent stages, and new ones, based on each planet the story takes place in, are added every few patches, increasing the amount of obtainable rewards for new players. On top of that, before 1.6 the Forgotten Hall was updated twice in each patch, and after 1.6 once, with the other instead going to the new endgame mode Pure Fiction. |
| 240 | ** Daily Training Activity (the equivalent of Daily Commissions in ''Genshin'') is far more flexible, with a real choice on what objectives to complete to obtain daily rewards. Notably, while bypassing Daily Commissions in ''Genshin'' is tied to event rewards or one-time content, completing a Simulated Universe run instantly clears Daily Training Activity requirements. |
| 241 | ** Post-release 4★ Light Cones that debut in the Warps are made permanently available from any banner once their debut patch ends, a step up from ''Genshin'', where post-release 4★ weapons that appear in the Wishes are not available when they do not have a rate-up on the Weapon Banner. |
| 242 | * ScrappyMechanic: |
| 243 | ** Of the many ''Genshin Impact'' game mechanics to be repurposed for ''Star Rail'', arbitrarily time-gated sidequests annoyingly make a return, and because there's no day-night system, whenever a mission says you have to wait until tomorrow, it's obvious that it really means [[ExactWords tomorrow]] in RealLife days. Luckily they aren't ''quite'' as annoying as in the former as they tend to only last 3 or 4 days at most and mostly involve minigames or puzzles to complete, which will give you some kind of reward each day you progress the sidequest chain. Updates past 1.0 have largely done away with these going forward, with no new time-gated quests being added in 2.0. |
| 244 | ** The infamous [="50/50"=] returns from ''Genshin Impact''. When you pull on a Character Event Warp (limited banner), there's a 50% chance that the 5★ you receive is not the featured character (or 75% for limited Light Cone banners), but instead one of the seven Stellar Warp (standard banner) characters, with the only respite being an indefinite guarantee that the next 5★ you pull after that will be the featured character that carries between limited banners. Fortunately, unlike ''Genshin Impact'', all seven Stellar Warp characters are workable in the endgame. |
| 245 | *** Another reviled Gacha-related mechanic from ''Genshin'' also appears in this game in the form of Eidolons - significant upgrades that can only be obtained by pulling duplicates of characters in the Gacha. This is feasible enough for 4-star characters, but the low rates of 5-stars make them really painful to obtain. And like the Constellations in ''Genshin Impact'', the upgrades are often major passive changes and additions that change how the character behaves in battle. Some 5-star characters in Genshin practically require Constellations to stand out from the rest of the cast, but thankfully, pretty much all 5-star characters in HSR are workable as-is. Plus, a Curio in Simulated Universe modes even allows you to temporarily upgrade all of your characters one Eidolon tier higher than they are for the entire run. |
| 246 | ** More of a scrappy lack of a mechanic, but the fact that battles have no option to access your item inventory mid-battle to use healing or support items has become a sour point for turn-based RPG veterans coming in from other series, who are so used to having the mechanic as a basic necessity. In conjunction with this which is equally baffling is the total absence of mid-battle reviving items (like Phoenix Downs from the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series) that could really help regain traction in tough fights, and the fact that character revivals are relegated to characters like Bailu (who can revive party members with her Talent) and to a lesser extent, Gepard and Arlan (who both revive themselves with their Talent and E4 upgrade respectively), have left many players suspecting that [=HoYoverse=] intentionally made it this way to [[BribingYourWayToVictory encourage pulling for them in gacha banner]]. |
| 247 | ** Another lack of mechanic is the inability to cancel Ultimates after selecting them. For an example scenario as to why this is a problem, a DPS reaches Max Energy and the player quickly selects their Ultimate before the enemy can attack once more, only to realize too late that a Support such as Pela (who shreds enemy defence) or Bronya (who buffs ATK and CRIT DMG) has their Ultimate ready. Unfortunately, there is no why to cancel the ultimate selection and choose another, with the player having no choice but to push ahead. Players have been asking for Hoyoverse to fix this since the game launched. |
| 248 | ** Just like in ''Genshin Impact'', obtaining and upgrading the right relics is frustrating because of the heavy presence of RandomNumberGod, making it an outright LuckBasedMission. |
| 249 | *** For starters, you need to be lucky enough just to get the relic with the right main stat, let alone the right substats which become critical for harder content. While self-modeling resin can somewhat alleviate the main stat issue, they do not alleviate the substats issue and can only be obtained by completing limited-time missions of some events, reaching higher levels[[note]]Level 40 in the free pass and [[BribingYourWayToVictory level 50 in the paid pass]][[/note]] in Nameless Honor, getting as many stars as possible to get Jade Feathers in Memory of Chaos[[note]]Each 3 stars starting from 21 stars onwards in a single cycle reward 100 Jade Feathers[[/note]] and Pure Fiction[[note]]Each star starting from the seventh in a single cycle rewards 100 Jade Feathers[[/note]]. |
| 250 | *** The real can of worms lies in enhancing said relics because even with the right main stats, the game can decide to roll for the wrong substat upon reaching a node level[[note]]Multiplier of three, ie. +3, +6, +9, +12, and +15[[/note]]. This can render the point of grinding for relic leveling materials and getting the relic with the right main stat (in addition to using relic remains and the already rare Self-Modeling resins in some cases) entirely moot and forcing the players to start over. |
| 251 | ** Signature Light Cones are treated rather differently than signature weapons in ''Genshin''. In ''Genshin'', signature weapons are generally considered strong but not a necessity on most 5* characters that have them and can be safely written off if a player is [=F2P=] or has no desire to invest strongly in that character, since a weapon's value as a StatStick[[note]]all weapons in ''Genshin'' have a main ATK stat and one varying substat, the latter of which can be useful to certain characters, while all HSR light cones only have HP, ATK and DEF as their base stats[[/note]] can sometimes outshine its functional ability. Signature Light Cones, on the other hand, are ''far'' more catered to the characters they are associated with (just like in ''Videogame/HonkaiImpact3rd''), to the point that even for [=F2P=] players it is recommended for players to pull on a character's Light Cone banner if they can help it since the alternatives are a significant downgrade in overall effectiveness. This came to a head with Acheron's banner, which drew the ire of players as her Light Cone, "Along the Passing Shore", provides such a large amount of value on her that team-building and combat with and without it is considered practically night and day; her best non-Limited Light Cone is commonly considered to be "Good Night & Sleep Well", which only provides bonus damage based on the number of debuffs on the target, compared to her signature which provides a huge unconditional Crit DMG bonus ''and'' lets her apply a debuff on her attacks that increases her Skill and Ultimate damage against afflicted foes. |
| 252 | * SelfFanservice: Some fan artists depict Stelle's white shirt with a much lower neckline exposing her bare shoulders, making her show some more skin in her otherwise conservative attire[[note]]Apart from her bare legs and exposed bra straps[[/note]]. |
| 253 | * SelfImposedChallenge: Due to the high replayability of the Simulated Universe, some players aim to beat worlds under self-imposed conditions to add unique challenges. Some of these include: |
| 254 | ** "All-Path Runs", where players select a Path at the start and have to choose ''only Blessings of that Path'' for the whole run, with leeway given to other Path Blessings if there are none from their intended Path available from Blessing pulls. Some examples include All-Destruction Runs, All-Hunt Runs, All-Nihility Runs, etc. Relatedly, there's "Mono-path runs" where your characters are all from the same path. |
| 255 | ** "[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Nuzlocke Challenges]]", where if party members fall in battle, players are not allowed to use them for the remainder of their current runs. Some even go a step further by restricting or forbidding the use of the downloader in respite rooms. |
| 256 | ** "Solo Character Runs", which is pretty self-explanatory but involves going through SU worlds with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin only one character]]. No additional party members are allowed. This one requires optimal set building, {{Minmaxing}} of stats, and thinking outside the box in order to pull off properly, especially on higher world difficulties. |
| 257 | * SequelDisplacement: While ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'' and its predecessors were not ''unknown'' in the mobile game space (though less well known in the anglosphere than in Asia, particularly for the pre-''[=3rd=]'' games), ''Star Rail'' ended up being the first introduction for many to the Honkaiverse and its characters, especially those who started playing Hoyoverse games with ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' and learned of ''Star Rail'' through it. Some numbers give us a glimpse of this: |
| 258 | ** According to [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/04/28/hoyoverses-honkai-star-rail-gets-20-million-downloads-in-a-single-day/ gaming news articles and data gathered]], ''Honkai Impact 3rd'' had 35 million downloads between 2016 to March 2018. By comparison, ''Star Rail'' already had 20 million downloads in just 24 hours. |
| 259 | ** When it comes to their online communities and official social media platforms, ''HSR'' has quickly eclipsed the numbers of ''[=HI3=]'' on Website/{{Twitter}}, Website/{{Reddit}}, and Website/YouTube (amongst other sites) within less than a month after being released. |
| 260 | * ShipMates: |
| 261 | ** Gepard/Sampo with Seele/Bronya. Both ships involve a Silvermane Guard romancing a roguish Underworlder, so it's easy to see how they hit it off. |
| 262 | ** Dan Heng/Caelus and March 7th/Stelle. Both are same-sex couples made of beginner characters. |
| 263 | ** Dan Heng/Stelle and March 7th/Caelus for the straight ships. |
| 264 | ** Jingliu/Baiheng is often shipped alongside either Jing Yuan/Dan Feng or Blade/Dan Feng...or even alongside Jing Yuan/Blade/Dan Feng. |
| 265 | * ShipsThatPassInTheNight: |
| 266 | ** The Kafka/Himeko ship is astonishingly popular despite the fact that the two have only interacted with each other once in the story (as of 2.0), and neither character has displayed particularly strong feelings for one another aside from Himeko's disdain for the Stellaron Hunters in general. While their designs, contrasting personalities, and similar caring roles towards the Trailblazer help in giving this pairing their appeal, the one thing that launches it is what Himeko said to Kafka: "We're not about to get into bed with a Stellaron Hunter." While this is meant as her (and the Astral Express) not wanting to have any dealing with the Hunters as seen in other translations, the fact that the English one uses a more... ''naughty-sounding'' figure of speech is quite suspect. |
| 267 | ** The Boothill/Argenti ship has gained some traction despite the fact that the two characters have never met, and don't even belong to the same faction. This being said, the factions they ''do'' belong to are similar, with both the Galaxy Rangers and Knights of Beauty travelling the universe and righting wrongs, and the coarse space cowboy Boothill and the DorkKnight Argenti provide ample fuel for funny character interactions. |
| 268 | ** Similarly, Boothill/Robin is a CrackShip born from the fact that the two are set to release during the same game version - it's not even clear if the two will get to meet, since as of 2.1, Boothill still hasn't arrived in Penacony, while Robin has come down with a bad case of [[spoiler:Something Unto Death]]. Nevertheless, it has managed to pick up some actual fans who find the sheer contrast between SirSwearsALot and Miss SpoiledSweet entertaining. |
| 269 | ** Firefly/Robin has a fair share of followers as well, despite the fact that the two never interacted with each other in the story as of 2.1, with the only notable connections they share with each other being that Robin's song "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking" is heavily associated with Firefly and they [[spoiler:were both "slain" by Something Unto Death]]. |
| 270 | * ShockingMoments: |
| 271 | ** The reveal that [[spoiler:Tingyun was [[TheMole the true mastermind in disguise]] ]] was something that some players had picked up on before Version 1.2's release. [[spoiler:That she was Phantylia, a servant of the Aeon of Destruction, who tops the reveal off by ''snapping Tingyun’s neck'', was most definitely ''not''.]] |
| 272 | ** The final scene of version 2.1, where [[spoiler:Gallagher is revealed to be the serial killer controlling Something Unto Death, and confirms it by using the Death meme to ''murder Sunday'', has caused shock to great many people.]] Come version 2.2, [[spoiler: this is somewhat mitigated by how there's '''[[BaitAndSwitch no]]''' actual death occurring from his actions, with the supposed Death meme instead causing them to fall asleep within the dream so they can travel to Dreamflux Reef.]]]] |
| 273 | * SignatureScene: |
| 274 | ** The climax of Jarilo-VI's story, where [[spoiler:all of the Traiblazer's friends help them scale the Engine of Creation to get to Cocolia, and later, when they awaken the power of Supreme Guardian's lance and Path of Preservation after Cocolia impaled them with said lance, with them pointing their new lance towards her before the ''real'' boss battle starts]]. |
| 275 | ** These ones overlap with ShockingMoments: |
| 276 | *** [[spoiler:The reveal that Tingyun was [[TheMole the true mastermind in disguise]] was something that some players had picked up on before Version 1.2's release. That she was Phantylia, a servant of the Aeon of Destruction, who tops the reveal off by ''snapping Tingyun’s neck'', is a very infamously memorable moment because of how unexpected it is]]. |
| 277 | *** [[spoiler:Despite being revealed as a [[FakingTheDead faked death]] at the end of the 2.1 main story, Firefly [[ImpaledByExtremePrejudice seemingly killed]] by Something Unto Death at the end of the 2.0 main story and the Trailblazer's traumatized reaction to her "death"]] swiftly became one of the game's most memorable scenes overnight. |
| 278 | *** Likewise, [[spoiler:the reveal that [[SamusIsAGirl that Firefly was Sam]], [[WhamShot the fourth Stellaron Hunter]]]] also turned into one of the most impactful scenes of the game, both for TheReveal and also because it’s the {{Cliffhanger}} of 2.1. |
| 279 | *** The final scene of version 2.1, where [[spoiler:Gallagher is revealed to be the serial killer controlling Something Unto Death, and confirms it by using the Death meme to ''murder Sunday'', has caused shock to great many people.]] |
| 280 | * SpiritualSuccessor: |
| 281 | ** Setting-wise, it can be considered a spiritual sequel of sorts to the ''VideoGame/StarOcean'' franchise, being a ScienceFantasy RPG where the main characters travel through various planets with their own technology level and cultures. |
| 282 | ** Gameplay-wise, it can be considered a spiritual sequel to the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' - not only does it feature a 1-to-1 gameplay feature from that game, the LimitBreak being able to be used at any point, but the series is also known for its extensive amount of reading, including in-game books (which this game has in spades) and well-defined, integrated sidequests involving named side-characters going through their own little arcs, which this game also features. The producer is a [[https://noisypixel.net/honkai-star-rail-producer-love-trails-interview/ self-admitted fan of the series]] too. |
| 283 | * StrangledByTheRedString: For some players, the ShipTease between the Trailblazer and Firefly comes off as this, as the way the narrative plays out has the two develop an immediate close connection in what feels like less than an hour. [[spoiler:The reveal that Firefly is Sam does help in [[JustifiedTrope explaining it]], as Sam would already have at least been friends with the Trailblazer from the time they were with the Stellaron Hunters, meaning the two of them were acting on an attachment that already existed (though more subconsciously in the Trailblazer's case).]] |
| 284 | * SubbingVersusDubbing: Much like ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' before, there's a debate among the ''Star Rail'' fanbase over which dub they prefer and/or like better; the Chinese dub for being the authentic native dub, the Japanese dub for being a natural fit for the game's anime art style, the English dub for its all-star cast of professional [=VAs=] and internet celebrities, or the Korean dub just for the sheer novelty of having one in the first place. |
| 285 | * ThatOneAttack: |
| 286 | ** Bronya's Combat Redeployment, which allows a character to immediately take their turn, is a GameBreaker when used by players - and is just as deadly when it's in the hands of the enemy. Whenever Bronya shows up as a boss - be it in Simulated Universe or in the Forgotten Hall, she is almost guaranteed to be paired up with another powerful enemy who she will use Combat Redeployment on again, and again, and again - boss Bronya [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules doesn't have to worry about Skill Points]] AND she has two turns, allowing her to both attack and use Combat Redeployment in the same action. This is particularly deadly with enemies that have ChargedAttack skills, since Bronya can make them cast it before your party has the possibility of reacting to it by healing or putting up shields. |
| 287 | ** [[spoiler:Aventurine is a [[ThatOneBoss difficult boss loaded with annoying attacks]], but the worst of the bunch is "Big Spenders' Mad Party", where he rolls four die and forces the entire party to try and beat his score. The good news is that Aventurine's score is capped at nine, the bad news is that even if he rolls all snake eyes, units with no way to attack multiple targets at once will have a tough time getting a high score off of the ''extremely'' limited rolls they can make. And even the units who do have [=AoE=] attacks might just get screwed over by the RNG. When someone pretty much inevitably fails to beat Aventurine's score, he then casts "The Winner Takes It All", bombarding them with a highly damaging rain of poker chips. Worse still, Aventurine himself cannot be damaged while the die have been cast, and he's liable to use this ''every turn'', slowing the battle down to a crawl until you can get a Weakness Break on him. "It's all or nothing!" indeed.]] |
| 288 | * ThatOneBoss: |
| 289 | ** All of the Simulated Universe bosses are more powerful versions of bosses you've already faced in the main story, but Cocolia takes the cake in just how massive a DifficultySpike she is in translation. Her first phase is simple enough, with no gimmicks that she didn't already have, but all hell breaks loose once she hits her second phase and Bronya takes the field. Armed with the ''Combat Redeployment'' skill that makes her playable version such a potent support, she will spam this move endlessly to give Cocolia four attacks per round while speeding up the rate at which her infinitely stacking damage buff builds up and ''removing all of her debuffs'' constantly. On top of this, she also begins spawning two icicles at once that each hit your entire party, and are almost pointless to kill since she can almost immediately summon more at little detriment to herself with how many actions per round she's getting. The game is also cool with the following combo: Cocolia begins charging ''Punishment of Endless Winter'', Bronya takes her turn and casts her skill, cleansing Cocolia of Debuffs and allowing Cocolia to use her most powerful attack immediately with almost no chance to interrupt it. |
| 290 | ** Phantylia is one of the more annoying bosses to farm in Echo of War, especially if you are trying to clear it with autoplay. The main roadblocks are simply all of the mechanics that Phantylia throws into the fight, ranging from her continually respawning flunkies that will siphon away skill points and debuff your party by cutting their max HP in half, to dealing massive AOE and single target damage, making it difficult for the autoplay AI to keep up. |
| 291 | ** Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz (Synthetic) is an Echo of War boss that leaves many players pulling their hair out in frustration from its ''story'' battle. It has multiple hard-hitting attacks, some of which hit multiple characters, and it spends much of its time in the fight with a carapace up, which causes it to [[FlunkyBoss spawn Stings whenever it takes a hit]] in addition to taking reduced damage. It comes with the caveat that breaking it while its carapace is up breaks all of the mooks on the field as well as doing major damage, but it has so much Toughness that it's difficult to do. Its second phase is even worse; it gains a new HerdHittingAttack, and it summons a different type of Sting with different weaknesses. Everything in this fight is weak to physical attacks, but AreaOfEffect physical attackers are very rare (Clara and Argenti are both 5-stars, the latter is limited, and the former requires special setup to reliably deal damage), and the one that everyone has, the Trailblazer on the Destruction path, is less optimal than them. |
| 292 | ** [[spoiler:Ten Stonehearts: Aventurine of Stratagems]] is a ball-busting battle that has heavy shades of CharacterSelectForcing. His signature attack "Time For a Bet" is a luck-based move where a target character has one attempt (or two, if the character has an offensive ultimate at the ready) to attack dice and roll a higher value than him. The reality is that the attack hard punishes characters who lack any form of [[HerdHittingAttack multi-target attacks]], namely Hunt characters and most support-oriented characters, as chances are they will only get to roll one die and thus have very low odds of making it out unscathed unless the boss rolls unusually low, which is unlikely in the first phase which has two dices and outright impossible in the second phase as he uses a stronger move, "Big Spenders' Mad Party", that forces every single member of your team to roll four dice against him, and the boss rolls tend to be higher than six. The end result is that support and Hunt characters will end up spending their turns trying to mitigate the damage they take from getting nuked every other turn and diverting resources away from your damage dealers, making the boss's other attacks even more of a trial to survive since he hits rather hard for his level and he often uses "Points Fountain" to deplete the team's Energy and delay access to Ultimates while the second phase becomes an outright TotalPartyKill for teams that are not mainly [[HerdHittingAttack AoE based]] as Hunt characters and supports are picked out one by one. And it must be noted that because of this preference for multi-target teams, the boss fight runs the risk of becoming a long grind. Notably, the boss received a nerf within ''days'' of release, a first for the game. |
| 293 | * ThatOneSidequest: The first three "On the Doorsteps of Science" Daily Missions (which aren't repeatable) requires the player to answer quizzes from Belobog's Ministry of Education in order to submit Regin's thesis paper to them. However, the quizzes given are anything but straightforward with no other in-game hints to help out, and many of them (especially the math quiz featuring the flowers) border on MoonLogicPuzzle. Getting an answer wrong means a lot of running back and forth between Regin in the Geothe Hotel and the Ministry of Education officer at the Qlipoth Fort entrance, which can lead to a lot of unnecessary frustration. Thankfully after that, the repeatable versions of these Daily Missions don't require getting a right answer to proceed, so you can still get an answer wrong and walk away with your rewards. |
| 294 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[spoiler:Duke Inferno]] was hyped up as a significant threat in the Penacony Trailblaze Mission, with some players going so far as to hope that he would become playable. When Aventurine and Black Swan casually tell the Trailblazer that Acheron killed him, many were not convinced that he really was dead, due to how he was established as being [[spoiler:a lifeform created from the Phase Flame]]. The "Rondo of Endless Kalpas" confirming that he really is dead left many players disappointed, and questioned why Hoyoverse would create a trailer dedicated to him before the release of Penacony if they were just going to off him offscreen. [[spoiler:He does, at least, appear in one of the flashbacks, showing that [[DoNotGoGentle he went down fighting by his own volition]].]] |
| 295 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Serval's Companion Mission is seen by several players as wasted potential. The premise was Serval planning to leave Jarilo-VI and join the Astral Express crew to explore the universe, to the excitement of players who wanted to see the potential Serval's presence could add to the main crew and show the potential of adding new permanent or temporary characters into the main crew's roster. However, [[spoiler:it ultimately concludes with Serval choosing to stay in Belobog after she lets out her frustrations revolving around Cocolia's death. Even if the whole point of the story is to give her closure regarding Cocolia and a better sense of responsibility[[note]]the real reason she planned to leave was more because she wanted to escape from all of her troubles, instead of facing them[[/note]], players are still rightfully disappointed that the game made a ''deliberately'' disposable plot point that just happened to be a good one.]] |
| 296 | [[/folder]] |
| 297 | [[folder:U-W]] |
| 298 | * UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: |
| 299 | ** [[WrittenByTheWinners Invoked by the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus]]. While Yaoshi's gift did result in numerous problems for the Xianzhou Alliance and some followers of the Abundance do carry out horrific crimes, it can be difficult to side entirely with the Alliance when you recall that their ancestors built the entire civilization for the explicit purpose of finding Yaoshi and wishing for immortality, apparently without once considering the very obvious and extremely well-known consequences of immortality that would have arisen even without the mara. Moreover, the Alliance is currently engaged in a [[FinalSolution seek and destroy mission]] to slaughter Yaoshi and their followers for the crime of... giving them what they asked for? This is especially egregious when it's stated by Fu Xuan that the Mara was not a side effect of Yaoshi's blessing, but something that occurs in all Xianzhou natives. They just happen to either die or reincarnate before it fully manifests. In essence, it would be like wishing for immortality without ever accounting for the myriad mental and/or physical issues that occur as a natural part of aging. |
| 300 | *** Additionally, if the Xianzhou Alliance genuinely believes that Yaoshi's gifts were such a curse and any and all who associate with the Plaguemaster deserve punishment or death, [[ItsAllAboutMe then why do they]] [[EntitledBastard still make use of the Ambrosial Arbor?]] |
| 301 | *** Depending on your view, it can also be argued that the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus [[DrivenToVillainy only became so extremist due to the severity with which the Alliance treats followers of the Abundance]], especially as we are told that the Xianzhou and Lan the Hunt do not care about casualties and collateral damage. Dan Shu's second entry to her diary obtained after her associated Adventure mission noted that [[spoiler:she only [[FaithHeelTurn joined]] the Disciples [[ItsPersonal after her best friend was killed by one of Lan's arrows]]]]. |
| 302 | ** On the other side, some players have found the actions of the Disciples inexcusable, citing that [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse their backstories aren't an excuse]] to force others to comply with their views and methods of converting people to accept long-life suffering as part of their "healing" and vengeance against Lan. Scenes like a disciple being condescending to the party and [[spoiler:Dan Shu scolding a blind child to not be a burden on others]] certainly didn't help their cause. Not to mention, the Disciples [[spoiler:allying with Phantylia, an ''Emanator of Destruction'',]] was pretty much the nail in the coffin. |
| 303 | * UnpopularPopularCharacter: |
| 304 | ** LovableRogue Sampo is TheFriendNobodyLikes in the story, with both Overworlders and Underworlders considering him, at best, an unreliable criminal. That said, for how minor his role is currently, his popularity blew up among fans for his fun antics and looks. |
| 305 | ** Aventurine, one of the {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s of the IPC, is mistrusted and belittled by most people in Penacony, with Black Swan being the only one willing to cooperate with him of her own volition. However, his flamboyant personality and hints of a DarkAndTroubledPast have quickly made him quite popular with the fanbase, particularly the part that is interested in men. |
| 306 | * ValuesDissonance: The Xianzhou arc is a {{Deconstruction}} of the Chinese ''[[SpiritCultivationGenre Xianxia]]'' genre, which involves heroes attempting to "cultivate their spirit" via martial arts training in order to achieve immortality, among other things. However, while popular in China, the genre is relatively unknown outside the country, meaning a lot of the themes of the story arc are lost on foreign players. The translation does absolutely nothing to try and help bridge the gap, either, at points even using the terms "cultivation" and "celestial" (noun) without further explanation. |
| 307 | * WoobieSpecies: Trotters. Those poor, harmless creatures keep getting lost and the only thing they can do if you attack them for loot is tremble in fear and run away if they’re lucky enough. |
| 308 | [[/folder]] |
| 309 | %%[[folder:X-Z]] |
| 310 | %%[[/folder]] |
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