Honkai Star Rail

Speaking of that, how different do you think HSR treat the particularly shady factions like the Stellaron Hunters or the Masked Fools compared to how GI treats the Fatui?

Edited by Billy5545 on Mar 23rd 2024 at 11:22:55 PM

@ Iniuria Talis

It's certainly refreshing in my opinion, that means you enjoy these characters Warts and All instead of having the game try to avoid any ugly implications from them.

There's much more consistency in Star Rail overall.

In Genshin, the Fatui are invading soldiers in all but name and are more often than not behind everything that goes wrong in any nation (at times more than the Abyss Order, the analogue of the Anti-Matter legion in this case).

However, the five playable characters that belong to the Fatui (I'm not counting Scaramouche) are white-washed in the story or in events even if it doesn't make sense with the given lore.

Edited by raziel365 on Mar 24th 2024 at 6:12:57 AM

Oh, it is absolutely obnoxious how Genshin has its Fatui P Cs be treated as either divorced from its crimes (Childe), minions loyal to a good figure among the bad (the Hearth trio), or brainwashed victims who atone in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with the Fatui (Scara). I haven't read any spoilers for Arlecchino's story next patch, but I hope the fact that she's a boss after her region's quest is fulfilled means that the game will acknowledge her as a powerful, evil antagonistic force.

But with that said, I still don't like Ruan Mei based off of that first impression. But my second least liked character is Firefly^note because she locked me into an annoyingly long tutorial, and it felt like the game kept throwing up "she's sus but like her anyway! We want you to be sad later when she stabs you in the back but not get accused of an Ass Pull!" flags so take me with a grain of salt.

I'm guessing then that the writing team for Honkai is generally better at writing the lore than Genshin team despite both games sharing a universe under the Imaginary Tree.

Also seeing what's said about Firefly, I don't think you'd like the theory about how she may be Sam the Stellaron Hunter, which people have guessed based on official lore hints in 2.0. And what do you think of Sparkle and Aventurine?

I like them because they're straightforward antagonists that the PC doesn't simp for.

Of the many things that Star Rail has over Genshin in the writing department, one I will note is that characters do suffer consequences, either by past actions or current behaviour.

For instance, Kafka. She’s a wanted criminal of high caliber who has been responsible for a lot of crap in the lore while in the game…she’s distrusted by everyone in the cast precisely because she’s a dangerous criminal, and if the Trailblazer has a soft spot for her and the other Stellarion Hunters (which March calls out) is because they have a past story with them that has yet to be revealed because of memory shenanigans and the group ran on Villainous Friendship.

Same with Sampo, the guy often gets into troubles of his own doing because he’s a conman and the Trailblazer calls them out/bullies him because of that, that’s part of his charm, he’s slimy but also reliable and he can bounce with the characters whenever he does one thing or the other.

Edited by raziel365 on Mar 24th 2024 at 3:33:40 AM

That said, characters of morally questionable qualities in Genshin have also faced consequences (Ei was forced to fight the Raiden Shogun puppet for 500 years inside an alternate dimension when the latter interpreted her change of heart and attempts at atoning for her mistakes as symptoms of erosion, while Scaramouche/Wanderer is willing to face retribution from his victims throughout the centuries even after erasing all records of his existence, preferably once he is done putting Dottore to task).

As for why Genshin's playable characters tend to be written with admirable (or at least redeeming) qualities, I think the key lies with Venti's explanation early in the game that Vision holders have the potential to become gods in the future. This carries the implication that all playable Vision holders are the likeliest to become gods (if they aren't already) and thus have to conduct themselves accordingly.

But back to HSR. Yeah, Sparkle is unsettling as f**k; she's also a godsend for Qingque and Jingliu.

Edited by zero5889 on Mar 25th 2024 at 2:45:51 AM

I now wonder if there's anyone here who have played HI 3 enough to know the lore and compare it to GI and HSR

IIRC there's a few of us. Such as me

I honestly don't think Ruan Mei's that bad. Like, yeah, she maniuplated us and yeah she doesn't care if the clone she created dies (Because it was going to die either way.) but beyond that she's pretty much harmless. Her having a soft side for animals as shown when you text her/during the event where you make the cake cats helps too.

Edited by Chariot on Mar 24th 2024 at 7:14:18 AM

She doesn’t care if her creations in general die. It’s not the first one she’s made that’s died during her experiments or in the case of Experiment Lambda fled from her.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 24th 2024 at 2:20:23 AM

She's only very recently started reciprocating the affection her creations had for her despite making a shitton of them, at least one of which straight up killed itself as indicated by her experimental logs. She's not as bad as the fandom sometimes acts but she's definitely not harmless and having a soft spot for animals is definitely not one of her positive traits because she's a comically neglectful parent.

Edited by Mami on Mar 24th 2024 at 10:43:49 AM

Also, that incomplete clone is part of a species that the aeons banded together to wipe out because it was that much of a threat. Ruan Mei might not be straight up malicious but she's still a dangerous individual you wouldn't want to interact with.

I will say though, I do enjoy the irony that despite being someone who seeks the thrill of wonder she's also very much a Control Freak.

Edited by raziel365 on Mar 24th 2024 at 3:52:14 AM

Let's be fair: if instead of a gorgeous lady in a chinese dress she looked like Orlok, she would 600% be a villain.

Most of the villains have been gorgeous ladies...

And we can't forget about Screwllum, who is the most approachable of the Genius trio so far.

IMHO Ruan Mei seems to operate on a Blue-and-Orange Morality mindset, and I can predict the Trailblazer's subsequent interactions with her may involve trying to understand her, if not teaching her to be more empathic; y'know, the "I can fix 'em" plot.

She has a God Complex, in the more literal way than you usually see in fiction.

Edited by Memers on Mar 24th 2024 at 8:13:53 AM

I reckon we are going to have an easier time doing the "I can fix her" plotline with Firefly if the Sam = Firefly theory is correct.

Edit:

Last Acheron video before we hit 2.1.

Sparkle should really learn to not mess with people way more powerful than her, though I find it interesting that she used the other Stellarion Hunters to fight her.

One thing I did notice is that Acheron repeated the same phrase that appears in March 7th's companion quest. It could be a coincidence or maybe that's why the Garden is so intent on not letting March recover her memories, one Self-Annihilator is already trouble enough.

Edited by raziel365 on Mar 25th 2024 at 10:13:43 AM

It's also interesting how she doesn't make an illusion of Sam. And I guess Sparkle finds the thrill of toying with powerful people, well, elating to her.

And about March, have you already done her Companion Quest?

Yeah lol, this is probably not the best series to make that argument

Not only are all the villains gorgeous ladies but at least one transformed into a gorgeous lady when she became a villain ( looking at you Dan Shu).

Even if there were villains who weren't gorgeous women it wouldn't even be accurate. An amoral scientist who causes trouble for the protagonist with their uncaring experiments could be a villain but depending on the series I could just as easily see them be an uncaring ally or disliked neutral party. Mad scientist is a flexible trope, it's by no means exclusive to villains.

Yeah, finished it a while ago. They really hammered the "this is important for latter" point when the last bit of her quest has her walk the same starry corridor that the TB walked through before getting the Lance of Qlipoth.

My guess is that March's past may be related to Idrila or the Path of Beauty

Right. But creating and discarding life and experimenting on sentient species is not that flexible.

And we've only been facing what Ruan Mei has done on Herta Space Station. I have a really hard time giving her the benefit on the doubt, she pretty much looks like she'd be a proud member of Mass Effect's Cerberus, minus the supremacism.

The game seems to want to expand the roster with more and more morally dubious characters as of late. It's fine - although it stretches the suspension of disbelief a little - but so far despite the obvious female bias it's still noticeable that all the most morally questionable characters have been girls. Kafka, Jingliu, Topaz, Ruan Mei, Sparkle, and now Acheron. It might be a coincidence, or it might be because of the, ahem, fetish aspect of it all.

In contrast, guys have...Blade...who's basically an emotionless zombie. There will be Aventurine too, but he'll be a first.

Edited by Bexlerfu on Mar 26th 2024 at 9:36:44 AM

The first playable character to be a real piece of shit was Sampo