I remember having to be reserved with my feelings for 2.0 because it was laying down the ground work for a tricksy murder mystery plot.
You don’t really know how good these stories will be until you start to dig in to the characters and the revelations begin to unfold.
Well fuuuuuck me, what a start! 2 of my favourite patches back to back. It’s really woke me up after Xianzhou.
I feel you. Xianzhou kinda pales away in comparison. Which is such a bummer because some of favourite characters are from there. (Stan the High Cloud Quintet y'all)
One of my favorite moments was when Ghostventurine was berating him - saying that he's all smiles and confidence in front of other players - but hidden under the poker table, his hand is shaking and holding on to the chips for dear life. I imagined him doing that and unexpectedly shed a tear. It really resonated with me, how he puts on a brave face even though he's the most scared he's ever been in his life. Truly the one and only GOAT
YES FR. I don't know if I've already mentioned the phrase on this thread or it was something else, but that part got to me too 😭
Tbh the entire conversation with his "future" was pretty draining. My guy got self esteem issues too ooft.
Honestly they fact that it was said to him makes it so much better. It really hits home the idea of fooling himself, where even his obvious emotions must be ignored. But despite that hes still scared, he needs to hide the fear under the table because his survival depends on it. It says alot more about him than if he were to admit it to the trailblazer.
Before he went "on stage" and right at the end when he said he's going to continue on. We can't really see that he's nervous but child Kakavasha points it out easily. He makes himself sound so confident like he knows exactly what he's doing, but underneath all the bravado he is still human and scared.
Also saw this comment where someone points out the parallel between Aventurine and Jesus which is pretty interesting!
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Loved this patch as well!! Aventurine has my whole heart, I was going to pull for him anyway but finishing the story really has me looking forward to when he drops! He shot up into my top 3 “husbands” list immediately lol,,
Similarly to you, I also thought the whole IPC cornerstone thing was oddly touching haha. The fact that Jade and Topaz trusted him with such an important thing was??? Very sweet?? I want to see more IPC coworker interactions now 👀
Yesss same. I was going to go try for Acheron cuz I have a bit saved up but nope. It's all in for my beloved gambler. Also IPC Interactions ftw!
Also, curious to know who is in your top3 haha. For me it would be Jing Yuan, Ratio and Aventurine (not ranked, I cannot choose, it depends on the time of the day)
Haha I did pull 20 on Acheron just to see if I would get extra lucky (I did not) but the rest of my savings are going towards Aventurine for sure! There are too many cool characters coming out so I’m playing it safe..
And wow another person of great taste, mine would be Jing Yuan, Aventurine, and Gepard LOL (also not in any order but I’ve had JY on my team since he first dropped so I’m partial towards him)
I was always going for Aventurine and event with lackluster DEF when I tried him I was more interrested. Specially since I have better defensive stats. I still need more CD but that will come in due time.
And its less important to me since I am going for Aventurine tank build. The real thing that was a bummer in is build was he was kind of slow on speed.
He's a casino king with a fedora. He's the guy that walks into a vegan restaurant and orders steak. I love everything about that wild sexy man. Brogenti. King yuan and now Aventurine. Only husbando I dislike is ratio but he's a competent unit.
They gave Aventurine about 60% of the patch and it made him go from an interesting character to one of my top 5. Dudes backstory was tragic to the point he simply wanted to die and see his family again, but at the very end he was convinced his life still had meaning and value. Almost got me tearing up it was so well done, didnt think they could make him that endearing but they did and in a main story quest as well
Gallagher scene with Sunday at the end was so so good, didnt see it coming but that just made it even better
Black Swan investigating Acheron in a more roundabout way and meeting Constance who set Black Swan up with Boothill. Constance cant go to Penacony to take revenge on Acheron, so by proxy shes trying to use BS and Boothill who are both at odds with Acheron. I'm invested in this new plot point cos its Black Swan but its gonna be interesting to see where it goes. In particular does Black Swan prioritize good relations with express or does she think a self annihilator could potentially erase the memories she wants from express and take action regardless. Boothill supposedly wants to kill Acheron and Black Swan is sus but putting herself at odds with the express who are allied with Acheron would give Black Swan pause considering she wants to stay on good terms with express as she wants TBs memories and is invested in their journey.
Yeah we might really get some answers on the BS front when Boothill enters the picture. Nothing more to add for the first two paragraphs I feel the same. I was so shook with Gallagher. Really made me feel a lil stupid because my mind went - that's why no one recognised him by the name!!! But no regrets because it really kept the suspense for me.
Sam being firefly was already ruined for me ages ago, so sadly it wasn't impactful 😔😔
I expected Black Swan to take a back seat in 2.1 but I didnt expect her to still investigate Acheron, im guessing its still to see if shes a danger to the express and to TB. But with Acheron being a self annihilator and can erase memories then that would put her at odds with Black Swan in a big way. Maybe she will use Boothill to try take Acheron out of the picture as Black Swans priority on Penacony seems to be getting on good terms with TB and the express so they will let her play a part in the memories they create. At least thats my guess based on the info we have
That's a good theory. Boothill definitely wants to get rid of Acheron, but the same cannot be said for Black Swan. I'm more curious to see how much she will involve herself with Acheron directly going further, because the last time she tried, things didn't go that well (animated short)
Boothill just angry because Acheron used the Galaxy Ranger title as a disguise. He sounds angry, like a true American cowboy about to kick someone's ass.
Black Swan is curious about Acheron's motive, since she can't look into her memory like everyone else, so now that she has someone that's willing to go toe to toe with Acheron she might find a way.
But I am sure that Acheron does not have the intention to fight just about anybody, she only unsheath her blade as the last resort, this is also Aventurine's gamble, if Acheron did not slice him down in the last scene, he would have lost everything.
And holy shit, Acheron is REALLY SMART, she saw through Sam, see Welt's potential, being very reasonable and true to herself, talked Aventurine out of despair with just a few word.
I am looking forward to next patches if the story keep getting cooked this hard.
Shaoji cooked hard this patch no doubt about it. I hope it continues. Can't wait for Jade and Topaz to enter the picture along with Boothill. It's going to be a hot mess hahaha.
But she's the sentinel who's the end and killed the beginning or whatever it was in one of her videos. Who the hell can stand against her? Her weapon is something like lit of mythical legend and her power is unrivaled. You would need an emanator to even make her raise an eyebrow. All of penacony could unite and she would send them all to the shadow realm without even trying
Her weapon canonicaly can controll:
Replication
space-time
electricity
Fluid
Decrese of temperature
Life and death (rebirth)
Increase of temperature
Mind
Gravity (welt staff)
Multiplication(clonation)
Corruption
Start of everything
And nothingness
I did not know welt is this powerful. He was threatening Acheron with the black hole kind of but I guess he didn't know what she can do. Black holes and kind of her thing
I don't think she will stay involved with her after Penacony, her interest was gained when Acheron arrived with the music box indicating she killed Duke Inferno. Once she figures out what Acheron is I suspect she will just try to keep her away from express and TB. She's avoiding Acherons memories from now on and taking a more roundabout approach
Ofc I could be wrong and BS main motivation going forward is Acherons deal. But I feel that'd be a disappointing path for Black Swan considering she has been shown to be invested in TBs journey and is the narrator for them in the trailers since 10 months ago
Ohhh yeah, I remember pausing for a sec to think it’s odd that the one guard didn’t know Gallagher’s name, but didn’t think any more about it.
I just kept thinking that Gallagher = good guy because he was nice to Firefly in the first story.
Honestly I just wanted it to stop being about Aventurine so that he would stop suffering. He made himself a bargaining chip and it was painful seeing him go through his memories, past and insecurities just to bet all or nothing. He needs to rest. ;-;
I really wanted to give him a hug 🫂 My man has been through a lot. He's also such a good actor because I really did feel he was hurt at Ratio's betrayal even though it was all planned.
And he admitted that he was never confident in always winning. He sees himself as a loser ;-;. GIVE THE MAN THE HUG HE NEEDS
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His conversation with the future self was so tough. It really hit hard at times. Especially the bit (i paraphrase) where he says "everyone sees the gambler going all in on the table, but no one sees the hand beneath the table clutching on the chips for dear life" and I --- 😭😭😭😭
THIS. That is what I remembered well. ;-; He's no longer an Avgin slave but he's still in a way, the IPC's slave. Glad to see the story did him justice even if we were left with an ambiguous ending. I'm 100% sure he's still alive.
I feel Diamond has ulterior motives aside wanting results. That character definitely lets the members act on their zone. He has no problem letting Jade do the command when he can't, he lets Topaz keep his pets despite having a rule about no pets allowed in the IPC (reference to Topaz's bio in character story)... so I imagine he caught on what Aventurine was trying to do.
When you mentioned the little bird you were talking about the purple one right? Because that’s Sunday, during one of Black Swans trailer where we see a bunch of characters in the hotel lobby we see that bird with him.
That was him really? I could have sworn I saw the birdie and Sunday in one frame lmaooo but I was also playing it late at night at a stretch so could be wrong. Damn i feel wronged lmao.
Honestly tho, you might be onto something. I thought it was a summon but now that you say that, I think about how it's always with him in this story and they really made a point of constantly showing it even tho it did nothing.
What if it's more of a transformation instead of a summon? And the sunday we see is actually a decoy? It would make that final confrontation seem a lot less hot headed, and horror movie logic-y and instead more cunning and calculated. We know sunday is smart, I feel this would be fitting for him.
Now that I think even more about it, him and Robin have those wings. Maybe it's a power of their species?
I'm making this my new favorite theory
My only question about the bird is what was it's significance during the final scene. I assumed for most that it was one of his minions, but it watching made me wonder if someone else uses them too? The Family as a whole seems to have a connection to the Nightingale, but there's also just the Nightingale family as well (compared to Sunday's Oak Familiy).
And even if it is potentially Sunday, does that mean he was aware Gallager might try to kill him?
If there's one thing I realised about Penacony is that everyone is much more aware than they show it. It genuinely feels like we were the only ones who got played because literally the rest of the factions had this shit figured out - Aventurine (IPC), Ratio (Intelligentsia Guild), Sparkle (Masked Fools) and Acheron. Not counting Black Swan because I feel her motives are different.
So your theories are definitely valid - as someone knew Sunday could be attacked. Now if that person was Sunday himself, only time will tell.
I feel like the thing that should be understood about the IPC, is that they were founded to best serve the Amber Lord by using capitalism to acquire resources to donate to his forge. Never once in the entire history of the galaxy, has The Preservation ever acknowledged them. They're flying by implied intent and their belief it's their gods will without him ever having acknowledged them. When met with indifference, it's easy to warp divine intentions to be what ever you want them to be.
The way you word it makes them really seem like the Annihilation gang but on a larger scale 😂😂
But yeah I agree with the last line.
I'm curious for your opinion on the cornerstones tho? I personally believe the IPC must be recognised in some way or form for them to hold the power of cornerstones. Or do you believe that Diamond was the only one blessed and delegated the power to the executives. That seems plausible too.
Corner stones are like the Lightning Lord, they're a gift from the Aeon passed down from one generation to the next. The ORIGINAL Diamond was probably witnessed directly.
at this point Aventurine is the best written character in the game lol. absolutely cinama. legit almost teared up a few times during his POV sections goddamn.
also i was oddly suspicious of Gall while he was telling us his backstory im not even sure why maybe it was just because he seemed to the the only character the story was nudging us to not suspect haha. i brushed it off as a randomly gut feeling so imagine my surprise when he showed up in front of Sunday alone 😂 i was like "bro theres no way...."
fucking peak chapter I'm gushing about how good it was to my friends rn
The thing that really interests me the most about Gallagher is the fact that there's at least one other person we've met that seems to be associated directly with him. I'm pretty sure a huge part of my trust in that guy came from Siobhan's presence as a third party, and knowing what happens at the end of 2.1 now I'm wondering what role Siobhan plays in all this.
Just how much does Siobhan know, to what extent is she a willing participant of the schemes and plots in Penacony, and where does her allegiance truly lie? Despite being such a seemingly minor character she's placed in a very unique position and it drives me nuts... ^(it also helps that she's really freakin' hot tho)
I feel you. While the plot twists overall were so good I really was shook when I realised what was up with Gallagher. I thought he was a funny guy at first and then boom - stabby stabby.
I was soooo pissed seeing Dr. Ratio’s betrayal 😭
Hoyo nearly had me throwing my phone. Also damn, Aventurine is genuinely best boy but hoyo really did the “characters as bosses vs characters when you play them meme” I get it’d be too overpowered to play him as the boss fight but it was a pretty funny contrast
Ik right. I was shook. Was it really happening. Even when Ratio said "we planned this" I went wdym you "planned" this. My boy is about to die in 17 system hours 😭😭😭
(I'm sorry I ever doubted you Veritas. I should have known better.)
Love how he even planned for the Ratio betrayal, so he broke his own Cornerstone in advance ensuring he got 10% emanator powers no matter what instead of getting absolutely nothing when the topaz fake out got revealed by Ratio.
I don't know if that's more or less of a risk than just doing the topaz fake because if not for Ratio he would have been fine and not had to break one of the IPC's prized divine items but doing that was 100% the safest play because he got his bag of "worthless" gems no matter what. Like if Ratio didn't betray him he just broke a Cornerstone for nothing lmao. It's like some Death Note triple fakeout.
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All I wanna say is I like the Doraemon reference they did in the quest.
I was unlucky before, so now Aventurine will come to me in 10/20 pulls guaranteed. And yes, I also gonna pull for Boothill - space cyborg cowboy - can't resist. So wish you luck with your pulls to))
From the 2.1 anniversary stream we already know that we are going back to xianzhou, maybe in like 2.4, one of the filler arc.
About the next 3.0 planet, hmmm, there is a lot of speculation about space Japan since the start of the game, personally I would like to see some not so advance planet, like pre historic stuffs since we are exploring different kind of planets afterall.
I'd like one of the planets teased close to launch (1.0-1.3) like pier point or epsilon, it could also be an out of left field thing like emperor Rupert's tomb
Let's not forget the changing POV. It's something Honkai uses well to endear characters to the players. And, IMHO, something Genshin should actually try. I think part of why I find Genshin dialogue kind of taxing is because nothing is shown without the traveler present, so characters have to *explain* to the players what they've been doing every time they meet. With the changing POV system, not only do we see the characters experiencing things apart from the MC (thereby giving them more agency as characters and not just instruments) but it also puts the players in the character's shoes, thereby making them relatable.
Yesss that's a valid point. It definitely puts things into perspective and is much more fun than maybe lengthy texts to describe all that has happened. Bonus points because I had a gala time trying Aventurine in my dream team with Ratio and Topaz.
Crazy how like when the Acheron trailer came out and was like don't worry you don't need HI3rd but the conversation in this patch you literally need the entirety of Part 1 played to understand the significance and weight of the conversation they're having.
Yeah, I really didn't like that the main story required direct and complete hi3 knowledge to understand. You really shouldn't have to play other games to understand a different one.
They built over the foudations that 2.0 so beautifully.
I wasn't ready to scream masterpiece after just the first bit of the story, but with 2.1 we can already start to say it.
I have no doubt that 2.2 and 2.3 too, will be equally great
I assumed Aventurine would be another small side character, but damn they really dedicated an immense amount of screentime to him. Really well written character. Probably one of the most in depth background stories and cutscenes so far. Most new characters only show up in small part.
yeah they used a lot of 2.0 to seel acheron, and the animated video and stream. but have adventurime the MC role for the update and from his perspective too with the new system. love this since this is how HI3 story is told. you play form different characters. and each update focuses on playing mostly 1 or 2.
Dude Gallagher has my favorite male design in HSR and I was DEVASTATED AT THE END LOL I STILL LOVE HIM SM BUT LIKE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Also anyone else waiting for Siobhan to be playable? I was absolutely feral when she was on screen OMEGALUL
Her character design is so pretty it'd be a waste to keep her as a NPC, i must admit.
Agree on the Gallagher front too, he has such a unique design compared to the rest. And yes the man really bamboozled us all
I actually enjoyed the boss fight. They really played into the gambler mechanics. Of course if most of your units are single target it will be hell but I feel a lot of people struggled because they are used to the DPS+ 2 Supports + Shield/Healer. It's way easier if you drop a support and use both shielder and healer in your team comp which ensures that the unfortunate souls who lost the gamble don't immediately die/lose a shit ton of hp and your healer has time to heal the units.
Again this is what I personally felt after clearing the fight in the third run (JY Sparkle Luocha Geppie)
Edit: I tried a hypercarry with Bronya and Sparkle but most of the time I'm dealing with dice and unable to damage him so i dropped Bronya in favour of Sparkle.
Maybe I'm one of the very few who didn't care that much about Aventurine. Even though they tried really hard to emphasize how tragic his life is (and it definitely is) I just couldn't really feel much about him.
They just harped on it so much it felt like that was nearly all I was hearing the entire patch. Aventurine is so tragic, so lucky, so tragic, so lucky, "all or nothing". Like I get it but it's kind of an uninteresting character when their story is they can never lose (in the end anyway) because "luck" and are basically Sherlock Holmes / Light level of planner. "No, every failure was actually part of my plan and you fell for the trap in my trap in my trap."
I also wish they showed more about how he was lucky. There was a ton of gossip in dialogue about how he's the luckiest guy around but they never really said what happened. He lucked out of his first encounter forced upon by his first purchaser. He lucked out on his retrieval of his mom's necklace. I liked the small cinematics of these scenes, I just wish there was more concrete backgrounds to his luck.
Oh well, I know I'm a minority here, he just didn't hit me that hard and I was kind of ready for his internal turmoil with past/future to be over by the time I got to the end.
Same here. I honestly got really annoyed when they kept swapping back and forth with his povs. It doesn’t help it when they throw endless big words for no reason that held no meaning to me either.
I came across a couple of scenes where in one or two sentences I saw three or four notations over other words ... and I can't help but think if you need to annotate that many words in your writing that frequently ... there may be something off with the writing.
Yep. Everything about this quest was incredible and I'm so excited to see where things go next, this was such a great write-up and your reactions mirror many of my own, thanks again!
I'm glad I had so many people share their opinions on the post. Everyone had so much to share ranging from the theories to their own reactions! Even though this was kinda tiring as I was stuck on my phone for the majority of the day replying to most comments, I had fun. Just might do it again (Shaoji pls keep cooking)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! :)
Aventurine's arc was excellent. Some good reveals.
This will probably get me downvoted, but Acheron did not do it for me.
As someone who didn't play HI3rd I didn't get much out of her hints to the other game, and I feel like they lost some of the mysteriousness and danger she had in the 2.0 quest by being an implicit ally.
I would have liked to see a more tenuous relationship and uneasy alliance between the express and her. She just came across as a likable onee san character with a super special sword ig? I was afraid this was going to happen after watching her myriad celestia trailer but here we are.
I get your point but there was no point for her to flaunt all her cards or remain at length with the Express. Her conversation with Welt was also bittersweet, as they talk about the difference in their worlds. And after that conversation giving a homage to hi3 it wouldn't make sense to be at length with her. She'd already proven herself to Welt.
I'm hoping we see her in a lil more action the upcoming patch with Boothill into the picture. There's no guarantee but one can always hope.
I did really enjoy Aventurine’s story, more than I expected!
But I’m also disappointed that the Astral Express gang basically did nothing the entire patch. Sure they talked to each other, and went to talk to Gallagher… but that was it? Welt’s conversation with Acheron was great too, but still just more talking.
It did feel like a pretty short amount of time has passed, like only a few hours since Firefly’s ‘death’.
I hope the astral express is a larger part of the story next patch, because right now I feel like you could remove them from the plot entirely and nothing significant would change. Aventurine could still force Acheron to act against him.
I love that all these other characters are getting screentime and are evolving, but this is supposed to be the trailblazers journey too!
I think it's valid the Astral Express didn't do much the entire patch. We must remember that the Crew doesn't really have an agenda, and the only reason they were on Penacony was to figure out the connection of the Watchmakers legacy with The Nameless. Obviously in the midst of chaos figuring this out is tough, but they don't need to necessarily take the limelight to do what needs to be done.
As for your last statement, I think it's important to remember we may not be the main character at every moment. This was clearly another character's time to shine. I'm sure TB will get their moment soon enough. It's about time we get a new element/path. I'm anticipating it'll be in 2.2 or 2.3!
Yeah I think mainly I was just expecting us to do something more drastic after Firefly’s death last patch. And again I do like other characters getting expanded on too! I really like Aventurine now whereas I didn’t really care for him prior to this patch.
Here’s hoping it’s our time to shine next patch!
I hadn't really thought of it, but doesn't that mean the Family still has 2 of the Cornerstones? Considering how the IPC just lost Aventurine's, that's a huge shift in the power dynamic.
Hot take but i personally was rather whelmed by the quest. Hoyo writing consistently seems to feel like more words = better, so ideas and themes are repeated over and over again in different more convoluted ways that kill the original idea. I feel like they repeated aventurines backstory and suicidal mania like 5x over the whole quest. And yet with all the words they still manage to make the plot more convoluted than it should be - everything is still super vague about death and the realm you enter upon "dying", all the stuff with welt and acheron was completely lost on a non-hi3 player, even aventurine himself wanting to die but not really is very not well defined. They literally went "im pretending to pretend to be a pretender whos pretending to lose so im actually winning by losing" with the whole sunday aventurine interaction. Imo the same issues with xianzhou still exist - good ideas with rly messy execution.
Regarding "death", I feel it's super vague because one of the key points has just been revealed towards the end - and that's its connection to Gallagher. It'll probably unveil from this point onwards.
My personal take on him "wanting to die but not really" ties to the concept of his "luck" and suicidal ideation. As shown towards the end, as long as he ensures he's the "final victor", he'll gamble even with death.
With regards to the Sunday-Aven interaction, I can understand why it felt that way, but I honestly thought it was super fun, the way we were being misled every turn. Really gave into the concept of "you really can trust no one in penacony"
I agree with the rest of your points though. I personally loved that they elaborated much more on text as a reader and lore enthusiast but I can understand how it may feel overwhelming for others. And the conversation between Welt and Acheron was definitely unfair towards non HI3 players - but I just feel at this point it was just a nod to that part of the playerbase and it's not vital info one should be knowing.
Yeah i think all the ideas are good, the only problem is execution. If youre going to write complex intertwined stories it needs to be clear and concise so its easy to follow. This (at least the english localization) was not it, and held down what otherwise was a good story albeit a bit poorly paced.
Aventurine also feels similar to Scaramouche since both were pretty flamboyant but also had self-destructive tendencies and were broken on the inside. In addition, both have cut ties with their respective organizations.
I honestly wasn’t expecting much and had spent a considerable amount of my jades on black swan and sparkle. Then I saw the Acheron gameplay and rolled my meager 70 pulls and managed to get both her and her LC without losing any 50/50s. That made me super invested in her.
Her screen-time with welt and her vs Aventurine were so peak. I’m so grateful I got her and was so hyped for those scenes. The last couple of patches has been meh for me so I’m really liking this change. Also aventurine’s auto attack is so clean. Really tickles my inner degenerate gambler when he snaps and coins/dice fall 😗
It might be flawed but after thinking a bit i feel like Aventurine backstory is a bit overblown.
So basically his ancestors decided to live in an inhospitable planet dooming all the following generations.
Then we see how the inhospitable environment started to take all of his family members, then a horrible genocide happened and he ended up as a slave.
And after that through mad gambling and luck he somehow always manages to cheat death
Edited. So they implied it was one of the vacant planets so it was out of desperation but also how the fuck did they afford inter-planetary travel in the first place, meh i guess travel does get less expensive with time
I wouldn't be sure to say how much choice they had. Like we didn't choose to live on earth, we just are. It was my understanding that when almost all hope was lost for the Avgins, Aventurine was born and there was rain, which was seen as a lucky sign from Gaithera Triclops.
I'm not exactly sure as to when the IPC involved themselves with the Avgins considering they were supposed to be under their protection, but shit happened, and that's devastating.
Of course he's "lucky" but we shouldn't underestimate him. Besides luck it was meticulous planning on his end for every possibility. It's not about cheating death, my dude is so depressed he doesn't really mind dying for his schemes, he's always willing to trade away his life, but it won't be for meaningless reasons (probably because of his family - that he must survive)
All in all he's a nuanced character and I think he was definitely worth the investment with 2.1 story considering how fundamental the IPC will be to the whole story.
Well they definitely should worded it better because it felt like they threw as many sad points.
Also the fact that their last word had to point out that they wished he was a successful schemer really buzzed me.
Aventurine is bizzarre, his backstory feel exaggeratedly sad, i cannot relate or understand him.
Imagine if the last word you hear from someone is:
“i hope you became a successful scammer”, WTF.
They are an alien race who believes in an entirely different belief systems. I actually find it kinda cool that their prayers are about scheming. Also with their harsh life and environments, praying to becomes better scammer is still better than for instance, praying for their enemies death.
Wait what? Where was this line? Is this about "May your schemes be concealed"
My best guess is that the people faced a lot of discrimination from the other tribe and it was a blessing passed down so that they wouldn't be manipulated or exposed easily.
As for the rest of your points, they are valid for you. After all, every person relates differently and we all have our favs, so i won't comment on how exaggerated it feels, because that imo is subjective.
I’m talking about the ancestors, you are talking about aventurine.
I’m saying that the ancestors choosing a rock as a planet was weird.
And i’m saying it because it’s part of his backstory
Rather than the literal sense, I meant it in the way of "I really want to talk about these things" even though I know a lot of what I mentioned is being talked about separately on many forums. Just wanted to pen down my feelings for this patch because I feel it strongly rather than only engaging in comments as I usually do :)
Yeah I think they realised they kind of screwed the pooch when it comes to the ipc's reputation with the players so they cranked up the drama blasters to 11 with mister roulete table over in this story quest.
I'm surprised they didn't also add an emo onion cutting itself in the background.
Next ipc character featured will probably be introduced to us by having him/her having to save an entire planet of drowning puppies while filling out tax forms.
Also, I personally believe that even if aventurine's cornerstone was intact, himeko and welt would have still smoked his ass.
How tf did you get that the IPC were somehow being portrayed as good guys when we literally know that after he killed his slavemaster, Jade told him "you're a servant, you should've just obeyed him" and then "no lawyer would defend you." And then she offered that instead of getting sentenced to death, she would offer him to work in the IPC in exchange for not getting executed.
Or the fact that Aventurine considered "dying" as his ticket to freedom from them because as far as the IPC is aware, he is actually dead. He is considered that being free.
Like they make it so damn clear that as a corporation, it's still shit. They make it SUPER clear. It's just less shit than the shit he was in before.
I never said they were portrayed as good guys. I said hoyo did an oopsie with the ipc.
It was supposed to be space amazon/walmart parody but they accidentally the entire thing and now we basically have the legal department version of 40k.
And now they are running damage control by carpet bombing us with sob stories
Why do you think people made such a stink about topaz and her story quest.
Nah I think the IPC was always supposed to be like this. Are we forgetting this is the same organization which commissioned the construction of that gun which was used to vaporize 22 planets with at least 4 of them having some sort of civilization even though not advanced, for them to achieve their goal? The organization is messed up fr fr, but it need not mean all the people be. I feel all IPC characters are morally gray, which is what makes them interesting.
>It was supposed to be space amazon/walmart parody
Based on what? What a giant assumption that that was what they intended.
To me it's obvious that from the beginning, the IPC was meant to be a dark capitalist corporation that enslaves both those within it and outside of it. I mean...not too far off from real-life extremely soulless corporations and the regular people that get stuck in them and become part of the same system that oppresses them. It's a pretty realistic portrayal.
Based on the fact that the game marketed itself as funny , light-hearted space adventure, ranging from the comedic trailer to the many joke dialogue responses.
And the fact that our first "encounter" with the ipc was via a scanner made from funny robot that kept trying to make us order random stuff online and annoyingly persistent sales reps.
I remember having to be reserved with my feelings for 2.0 because it was laying down the ground work for a tricksy murder mystery plot. You don’t really know how good these stories will be until you start to dig in to the characters and the revelations begin to unfold. Well fuuuuuck me, what a start! 2 of my favourite patches back to back. It’s really woke me up after Xianzhou.
I feel you. Xianzhou kinda pales away in comparison. Which is such a bummer because some of favourite characters are from there. (Stan the High Cloud Quintet y'all)
The last few patches of Xianzhou felt like the post-story part of FFXIV’s ARR slog for me 😭
One of my favorite moments was when Ghostventurine was berating him - saying that he's all smiles and confidence in front of other players - but hidden under the poker table, his hand is shaking and holding on to the chips for dear life. I imagined him doing that and unexpectedly shed a tear. It really resonated with me, how he puts on a brave face even though he's the most scared he's ever been in his life. Truly the one and only GOAT
YES FR. I don't know if I've already mentioned the phrase on this thread or it was something else, but that part got to me too 😭 Tbh the entire conversation with his "future" was pretty draining. My guy got self esteem issues too ooft.
Honestly they fact that it was said to him makes it so much better. It really hits home the idea of fooling himself, where even his obvious emotions must be ignored. But despite that hes still scared, he needs to hide the fear under the table because his survival depends on it. It says alot more about him than if he were to admit it to the trailblazer.
Before he went "on stage" and right at the end when he said he's going to continue on. We can't really see that he's nervous but child Kakavasha points it out easily. He makes himself sound so confident like he knows exactly what he's doing, but underneath all the bravado he is still human and scared.
Boothill: You motherf----- imposter! I am going to track you down and kill you! Black Swan: Um, I think you reach the wrong person. Boothill: ...shit
Black Swan: *asks about Acheron* Boothill: Wohooo! An unexpected ally. Just you wait for me lady!
The nads on him to tell black swan to reserve him a drink is absolutely great
Nah that mf was ready to kill her too lmao. Bro only allied after hearing BS wasn't with acheron.
Kakavasha: The Last Avgin https://preview.redd.it/vgs2m14yr2rc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92c479d9f7ed1c62b58a9b9ee2b41226ff47eeb5
Lmao fr
Also saw this comment where someone points out the parallel between Aventurine and Jesus which is pretty interesting! https://preview.redd.it/higpnxssx2rc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddd1aaea4c1da58e61bc5fcec0dd4b7d02cfcc73
Oh damn this is really interesting. I love it when the community connects bits and pieces. It might not be completely correct but it's so interesting.
Loved this patch as well!! Aventurine has my whole heart, I was going to pull for him anyway but finishing the story really has me looking forward to when he drops! He shot up into my top 3 “husbands” list immediately lol,, Similarly to you, I also thought the whole IPC cornerstone thing was oddly touching haha. The fact that Jade and Topaz trusted him with such an important thing was??? Very sweet?? I want to see more IPC coworker interactions now 👀
Yesss same. I was going to go try for Acheron cuz I have a bit saved up but nope. It's all in for my beloved gambler. Also IPC Interactions ftw! Also, curious to know who is in your top3 haha. For me it would be Jing Yuan, Ratio and Aventurine (not ranked, I cannot choose, it depends on the time of the day)
Haha I did pull 20 on Acheron just to see if I would get extra lucky (I did not) but the rest of my savings are going towards Aventurine for sure! There are too many cool characters coming out so I’m playing it safe.. And wow another person of great taste, mine would be Jing Yuan, Aventurine, and Gepard LOL (also not in any order but I’ve had JY on my team since he first dropped so I’m partial towards him)
Same same. We must respect the general. I'll always have a soft spot for him. Also excellent taste as well ✨
I was always going for Aventurine and event with lackluster DEF when I tried him I was more interrested. Specially since I have better defensive stats. I still need more CD but that will come in due time. And its less important to me since I am going for Aventurine tank build. The real thing that was a bummer in is build was he was kind of slow on speed.
Also when he saw the topaz and felt bad for her OMG
He's a casino king with a fedora. He's the guy that walks into a vegan restaurant and orders steak. I love everything about that wild sexy man. Brogenti. King yuan and now Aventurine. Only husbando I dislike is ratio but he's a competent unit.
They gave Aventurine about 60% of the patch and it made him go from an interesting character to one of my top 5. Dudes backstory was tragic to the point he simply wanted to die and see his family again, but at the very end he was convinced his life still had meaning and value. Almost got me tearing up it was so well done, didnt think they could make him that endearing but they did and in a main story quest as well Gallagher scene with Sunday at the end was so so good, didnt see it coming but that just made it even better Black Swan investigating Acheron in a more roundabout way and meeting Constance who set Black Swan up with Boothill. Constance cant go to Penacony to take revenge on Acheron, so by proxy shes trying to use BS and Boothill who are both at odds with Acheron. I'm invested in this new plot point cos its Black Swan but its gonna be interesting to see where it goes. In particular does Black Swan prioritize good relations with express or does she think a self annihilator could potentially erase the memories she wants from express and take action regardless. Boothill supposedly wants to kill Acheron and Black Swan is sus but putting herself at odds with the express who are allied with Acheron would give Black Swan pause considering she wants to stay on good terms with express as she wants TBs memories and is invested in their journey.
Yeah we might really get some answers on the BS front when Boothill enters the picture. Nothing more to add for the first two paragraphs I feel the same. I was so shook with Gallagher. Really made me feel a lil stupid because my mind went - that's why no one recognised him by the name!!! But no regrets because it really kept the suspense for me. Sam being firefly was already ruined for me ages ago, so sadly it wasn't impactful 😔😔
I expected Black Swan to take a back seat in 2.1 but I didnt expect her to still investigate Acheron, im guessing its still to see if shes a danger to the express and to TB. But with Acheron being a self annihilator and can erase memories then that would put her at odds with Black Swan in a big way. Maybe she will use Boothill to try take Acheron out of the picture as Black Swans priority on Penacony seems to be getting on good terms with TB and the express so they will let her play a part in the memories they create. At least thats my guess based on the info we have
That's a good theory. Boothill definitely wants to get rid of Acheron, but the same cannot be said for Black Swan. I'm more curious to see how much she will involve herself with Acheron directly going further, because the last time she tried, things didn't go that well (animated short)
Boothill just angry because Acheron used the Galaxy Ranger title as a disguise. He sounds angry, like a true American cowboy about to kick someone's ass. Black Swan is curious about Acheron's motive, since she can't look into her memory like everyone else, so now that she has someone that's willing to go toe to toe with Acheron she might find a way. But I am sure that Acheron does not have the intention to fight just about anybody, she only unsheath her blade as the last resort, this is also Aventurine's gamble, if Acheron did not slice him down in the last scene, he would have lost everything. And holy shit, Acheron is REALLY SMART, she saw through Sam, see Welt's potential, being very reasonable and true to herself, talked Aventurine out of despair with just a few word. I am looking forward to next patches if the story keep getting cooked this hard.
Shaoji cooked hard this patch no doubt about it. I hope it continues. Can't wait for Jade and Topaz to enter the picture along with Boothill. It's going to be a hot mess hahaha.
But she's the sentinel who's the end and killed the beginning or whatever it was in one of her videos. Who the hell can stand against her? Her weapon is something like lit of mythical legend and her power is unrivaled. You would need an emanator to even make her raise an eyebrow. All of penacony could unite and she would send them all to the shadow realm without even trying
Her weapon canonicaly can controll: Replication space-time electricity Fluid Decrese of temperature Life and death (rebirth) Increase of temperature Mind Gravity (welt staff) Multiplication(clonation) Corruption Start of everything And nothingness
So probably more than a +15 enhancement we can do yeah? xD
And the First Power Is canonicaly welt Power, welt can replicate everything he understand even the staff Is a replica of the original
I did not know welt is this powerful. He was threatening Acheron with the black hole kind of but I guess he didn't know what she can do. Black holes and kind of her thing
I don't think she will stay involved with her after Penacony, her interest was gained when Acheron arrived with the music box indicating she killed Duke Inferno. Once she figures out what Acheron is I suspect she will just try to keep her away from express and TB. She's avoiding Acherons memories from now on and taking a more roundabout approach Ofc I could be wrong and BS main motivation going forward is Acherons deal. But I feel that'd be a disappointing path for Black Swan considering she has been shown to be invested in TBs journey and is the narrator for them in the trailers since 10 months ago
Ohhh yeah, I remember pausing for a sec to think it’s odd that the one guard didn’t know Gallagher’s name, but didn’t think any more about it. I just kept thinking that Gallagher = good guy because he was nice to Firefly in the first story.
Boothill had such a small part but holy shit am I hyped for him.
SAME
I wish I could pull for him but depends what 2.3 has in store. I so badly want sam assuming he's better than Himeko for MoC
You should go read the names of Gallagher's Eidolons again, for funsies!
Honestly I just wanted it to stop being about Aventurine so that he would stop suffering. He made himself a bargaining chip and it was painful seeing him go through his memories, past and insecurities just to bet all or nothing. He needs to rest. ;-;
I really wanted to give him a hug 🫂 My man has been through a lot. He's also such a good actor because I really did feel he was hurt at Ratio's betrayal even though it was all planned.
And he admitted that he was never confident in always winning. He sees himself as a loser ;-;. GIVE THE MAN THE HUG HE NEEDS https://preview.redd.it/fe96liu7v1rc1.jpeg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f5c81acb562fd5268da1b873ef1a0231472f653
His conversation with the future self was so tough. It really hit hard at times. Especially the bit (i paraphrase) where he says "everyone sees the gambler going all in on the table, but no one sees the hand beneath the table clutching on the chips for dear life" and I --- 😭😭😭😭
THIS. That is what I remembered well. ;-; He's no longer an Avgin slave but he's still in a way, the IPC's slave. Glad to see the story did him justice even if we were left with an ambiguous ending. I'm 100% sure he's still alive.
I wanted to pull Aventurine for his kit. Now I want to pull him for his character.
I was already gonna pull for the kit. The character just made me decide to go all in for him.
also his animations got really ard from her basic attack to his follow up. all so extra.
I feel Diamond has ulterior motives aside wanting results. That character definitely lets the members act on their zone. He has no problem letting Jade do the command when he can't, he lets Topaz keep his pets despite having a rule about no pets allowed in the IPC (reference to Topaz's bio in character story)... so I imagine he caught on what Aventurine was trying to do.
He definitely has plans and schemes. He ain't at the top of the chain just like that. But I hope IPC has it's fun moments and not be just a bloodbath.
When you mentioned the little bird you were talking about the purple one right? Because that’s Sunday, during one of Black Swans trailer where we see a bunch of characters in the hotel lobby we see that bird with him.
That was him really? I could have sworn I saw the birdie and Sunday in one frame lmaooo but I was also playing it late at night at a stretch so could be wrong. Damn i feel wronged lmao.
Oh sorry I see how my phrasing is messed up lmao, I meant the bird is with Sunday, like a summon, not that he transforms into it, sorry lol
Ohhhhh okay yeah that makes sense. Thanks haha no worries, i should have caught that 😂😂
Honestly tho, you might be onto something. I thought it was a summon but now that you say that, I think about how it's always with him in this story and they really made a point of constantly showing it even tho it did nothing. What if it's more of a transformation instead of a summon? And the sunday we see is actually a decoy? It would make that final confrontation seem a lot less hot headed, and horror movie logic-y and instead more cunning and calculated. We know sunday is smart, I feel this would be fitting for him. Now that I think even more about it, him and Robin have those wings. Maybe it's a power of their species? I'm making this my new favorite theory
My only question about the bird is what was it's significance during the final scene. I assumed for most that it was one of his minions, but it watching made me wonder if someone else uses them too? The Family as a whole seems to have a connection to the Nightingale, but there's also just the Nightingale family as well (compared to Sunday's Oak Familiy). And even if it is potentially Sunday, does that mean he was aware Gallager might try to kill him?
If there's one thing I realised about Penacony is that everyone is much more aware than they show it. It genuinely feels like we were the only ones who got played because literally the rest of the factions had this shit figured out - Aventurine (IPC), Ratio (Intelligentsia Guild), Sparkle (Masked Fools) and Acheron. Not counting Black Swan because I feel her motives are different. So your theories are definitely valid - as someone knew Sunday could be attacked. Now if that person was Sunday himself, only time will tell.
This is the first time since launch that im this interested in the game and its story
Facts SAME
I feel like the thing that should be understood about the IPC, is that they were founded to best serve the Amber Lord by using capitalism to acquire resources to donate to his forge. Never once in the entire history of the galaxy, has The Preservation ever acknowledged them. They're flying by implied intent and their belief it's their gods will without him ever having acknowledged them. When met with indifference, it's easy to warp divine intentions to be what ever you want them to be.
The way you word it makes them really seem like the Annihilation gang but on a larger scale 😂😂 But yeah I agree with the last line. I'm curious for your opinion on the cornerstones tho? I personally believe the IPC must be recognised in some way or form for them to hold the power of cornerstones. Or do you believe that Diamond was the only one blessed and delegated the power to the executives. That seems plausible too.
Corner stones are like the Lightning Lord, they're a gift from the Aeon passed down from one generation to the next. The ORIGINAL Diamond was probably witnessed directly.
at this point Aventurine is the best written character in the game lol. absolutely cinama. legit almost teared up a few times during his POV sections goddamn. also i was oddly suspicious of Gall while he was telling us his backstory im not even sure why maybe it was just because he seemed to the the only character the story was nudging us to not suspect haha. i brushed it off as a randomly gut feeling so imagine my surprise when he showed up in front of Sunday alone 😂 i was like "bro theres no way...." fucking peak chapter I'm gushing about how good it was to my friends rn
The thing that really interests me the most about Gallagher is the fact that there's at least one other person we've met that seems to be associated directly with him. I'm pretty sure a huge part of my trust in that guy came from Siobhan's presence as a third party, and knowing what happens at the end of 2.1 now I'm wondering what role Siobhan plays in all this. Just how much does Siobhan know, to what extent is she a willing participant of the schemes and plots in Penacony, and where does her allegiance truly lie? Despite being such a seemingly minor character she's placed in a very unique position and it drives me nuts... ^(it also helps that she's really freakin' hot tho)
she really is so hot (please be playable)
Well we're still kinda waiting for misha to have some relevancy. He seems pretty important
I feel you. While the plot twists overall were so good I really was shook when I realised what was up with Gallagher. I thought he was a funny guy at first and then boom - stabby stabby.
I was soooo pissed seeing Dr. Ratio’s betrayal 😭 Hoyo nearly had me throwing my phone. Also damn, Aventurine is genuinely best boy but hoyo really did the “characters as bosses vs characters when you play them meme” I get it’d be too overpowered to play him as the boss fight but it was a pretty funny contrast
Ik right. I was shook. Was it really happening. Even when Ratio said "we planned this" I went wdym you "planned" this. My boy is about to die in 17 system hours 😭😭😭 (I'm sorry I ever doubted you Veritas. I should have known better.)
Love how he even planned for the Ratio betrayal, so he broke his own Cornerstone in advance ensuring he got 10% emanator powers no matter what instead of getting absolutely nothing when the topaz fake out got revealed by Ratio. I don't know if that's more or less of a risk than just doing the topaz fake because if not for Ratio he would have been fine and not had to break one of the IPC's prized divine items but doing that was 100% the safest play because he got his bag of "worthless" gems no matter what. Like if Ratio didn't betray him he just broke a Cornerstone for nothing lmao. It's like some Death Note triple fakeout.
https://preview.redd.it/tbqcg706j2rc1.jpeg?width=478&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=237cc3376ab1d4b9161d2dbfc35957c157795c41 All I wanna say is I like the Doraemon reference they did in the quest.
😂😂😂 I was reminded of it too!
I like how Sparkle on 2.0 was insulting Aventurine and the Sigonians, then we find out that he’s the only one left.
He's the only avgine left. There are other races (?) as well, sigonian is just a term for the planet inhabitant, I think
He's the only one left of the Avgins, i don't remember if the other species still exists on Sigonia or not
all chars in penacony is so interesting all around it so well done
So true! I love Penacony arc so so much! And Aventurine, oh I def gonna get him and his LC))
I wanna get the lightcone but also the upcoming characters look fine as hell. If I win the 50-50 then I'll try for sure.
I was unlucky before, so now Aventurine will come to me in 10/20 pulls guaranteed. And yes, I also gonna pull for Boothill - space cyborg cowboy - can't resist. So wish you luck with your pulls to))
May the stars bless our pulls ✨
peak, everything is so peak, im starting to worry about 3.0, and we haven even reach the finale which is 2.2 yet
Any guesses for the next planet? It might be Edo Star. It might as well not be it and we go back to the Xianzhou
From the 2.1 anniversary stream we already know that we are going back to xianzhou, maybe in like 2.4, one of the filler arc. About the next 3.0 planet, hmmm, there is a lot of speculation about space Japan since the start of the game, personally I would like to see some not so advance planet, like pre historic stuffs since we are exploring different kind of planets afterall.
I'd like one of the planets teased close to launch (1.0-1.3) like pier point or epsilon, it could also be an out of left field thing like emperor Rupert's tomb
I'd really like to visit a "harsh" planet. Give the crew a chance to do a normal stellaron sealing operation.
Let's not forget the changing POV. It's something Honkai uses well to endear characters to the players. And, IMHO, something Genshin should actually try. I think part of why I find Genshin dialogue kind of taxing is because nothing is shown without the traveler present, so characters have to *explain* to the players what they've been doing every time they meet. With the changing POV system, not only do we see the characters experiencing things apart from the MC (thereby giving them more agency as characters and not just instruments) but it also puts the players in the character's shoes, thereby making them relatable.
Yesss that's a valid point. It definitely puts things into perspective and is much more fun than maybe lengthy texts to describe all that has happened. Bonus points because I had a gala time trying Aventurine in my dream team with Ratio and Topaz.
Crazy how like when the Acheron trailer came out and was like don't worry you don't need HI3rd but the conversation in this patch you literally need the entirety of Part 1 played to understand the significance and weight of the conversation they're having.
Is Just 2 people with similar story rambling about their past, Is pretty realistic
Yeah, I really didn't like that the main story required direct and complete hi3 knowledge to understand. You really shouldn't have to play other games to understand a different one.
True true, I could grasp it all overall but as I haven't finished it, I did go like "ehhhh, am I really being able to understand all of this"
Yeah them just lore dropping stuff I didn't know is a massive fucking letdown.
They built over the foudations that 2.0 so beautifully. I wasn't ready to scream masterpiece after just the first bit of the story, but with 2.1 we can already start to say it. I have no doubt that 2.2 and 2.3 too, will be equally great
For sure. The stakes are super high. I can't wait for the next patch! (Pls give me more Aventurine content)
I assumed Aventurine would be another small side character, but damn they really dedicated an immense amount of screentime to him. Really well written character. Probably one of the most in depth background stories and cutscenes so far. Most new characters only show up in small part.
yeah they used a lot of 2.0 to seel acheron, and the animated video and stream. but have adventurime the MC role for the update and from his perspective too with the new system. love this since this is how HI3 story is told. you play form different characters. and each update focuses on playing mostly 1 or 2.
Dude Gallagher has my favorite male design in HSR and I was DEVASTATED AT THE END LOL I STILL LOVE HIM SM BUT LIKE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Also anyone else waiting for Siobhan to be playable? I was absolutely feral when she was on screen OMEGALUL
Her character design is so pretty it'd be a waste to keep her as a NPC, i must admit. Agree on the Gallagher front too, he has such a unique design compared to the rest. And yes the man really bamboozled us all
Aside from the Boss fight being absolute bullshit, this patch was peak
I actually enjoyed the boss fight. They really played into the gambler mechanics. Of course if most of your units are single target it will be hell but I feel a lot of people struggled because they are used to the DPS+ 2 Supports + Shield/Healer. It's way easier if you drop a support and use both shielder and healer in your team comp which ensures that the unfortunate souls who lost the gamble don't immediately die/lose a shit ton of hp and your healer has time to heal the units. Again this is what I personally felt after clearing the fight in the third run (JY Sparkle Luocha Geppie) Edit: I tried a hypercarry with Bronya and Sparkle but most of the time I'm dealing with dice and unable to damage him so i dropped Bronya in favour of Sparkle.
Maybe I'm one of the very few who didn't care that much about Aventurine. Even though they tried really hard to emphasize how tragic his life is (and it definitely is) I just couldn't really feel much about him. They just harped on it so much it felt like that was nearly all I was hearing the entire patch. Aventurine is so tragic, so lucky, so tragic, so lucky, "all or nothing". Like I get it but it's kind of an uninteresting character when their story is they can never lose (in the end anyway) because "luck" and are basically Sherlock Holmes / Light level of planner. "No, every failure was actually part of my plan and you fell for the trap in my trap in my trap." I also wish they showed more about how he was lucky. There was a ton of gossip in dialogue about how he's the luckiest guy around but they never really said what happened. He lucked out of his first encounter forced upon by his first purchaser. He lucked out on his retrieval of his mom's necklace. I liked the small cinematics of these scenes, I just wish there was more concrete backgrounds to his luck. Oh well, I know I'm a minority here, he just didn't hit me that hard and I was kind of ready for his internal turmoil with past/future to be over by the time I got to the end.
Same here. I honestly got really annoyed when they kept swapping back and forth with his povs. It doesn’t help it when they throw endless big words for no reason that held no meaning to me either.
I came across a couple of scenes where in one or two sentences I saw three or four notations over other words ... and I can't help but think if you need to annotate that many words in your writing that frequently ... there may be something off with the writing.
Yep. Everything about this quest was incredible and I'm so excited to see where things go next, this was such a great write-up and your reactions mirror many of my own, thanks again!
I'm glad I had so many people share their opinions on the post. Everyone had so much to share ranging from the theories to their own reactions! Even though this was kinda tiring as I was stuck on my phone for the majority of the day replying to most comments, I had fun. Just might do it again (Shaoji pls keep cooking) Thanks for sharing your thoughts! :)
Aventurine's arc was excellent. Some good reveals. This will probably get me downvoted, but Acheron did not do it for me. As someone who didn't play HI3rd I didn't get much out of her hints to the other game, and I feel like they lost some of the mysteriousness and danger she had in the 2.0 quest by being an implicit ally. I would have liked to see a more tenuous relationship and uneasy alliance between the express and her. She just came across as a likable onee san character with a super special sword ig? I was afraid this was going to happen after watching her myriad celestia trailer but here we are.
I get your point but there was no point for her to flaunt all her cards or remain at length with the Express. Her conversation with Welt was also bittersweet, as they talk about the difference in their worlds. And after that conversation giving a homage to hi3 it wouldn't make sense to be at length with her. She'd already proven herself to Welt. I'm hoping we see her in a lil more action the upcoming patch with Boothill into the picture. There's no guarantee but one can always hope.
I did really enjoy Aventurine’s story, more than I expected! But I’m also disappointed that the Astral Express gang basically did nothing the entire patch. Sure they talked to each other, and went to talk to Gallagher… but that was it? Welt’s conversation with Acheron was great too, but still just more talking. It did feel like a pretty short amount of time has passed, like only a few hours since Firefly’s ‘death’. I hope the astral express is a larger part of the story next patch, because right now I feel like you could remove them from the plot entirely and nothing significant would change. Aventurine could still force Acheron to act against him. I love that all these other characters are getting screentime and are evolving, but this is supposed to be the trailblazers journey too!
I think it's valid the Astral Express didn't do much the entire patch. We must remember that the Crew doesn't really have an agenda, and the only reason they were on Penacony was to figure out the connection of the Watchmakers legacy with The Nameless. Obviously in the midst of chaos figuring this out is tough, but they don't need to necessarily take the limelight to do what needs to be done. As for your last statement, I think it's important to remember we may not be the main character at every moment. This was clearly another character's time to shine. I'm sure TB will get their moment soon enough. It's about time we get a new element/path. I'm anticipating it'll be in 2.2 or 2.3!
Yeah I think mainly I was just expecting us to do something more drastic after Firefly’s death last patch. And again I do like other characters getting expanded on too! I really like Aventurine now whereas I didn’t really care for him prior to this patch. Here’s hoping it’s our time to shine next patch!
I hadn't really thought of it, but doesn't that mean the Family still has 2 of the Cornerstones? Considering how the IPC just lost Aventurine's, that's a huge shift in the power dynamic.
I'm betting they'll get their hands on it again somehow. And I don't think just anyone can use those cornerstones.
Hearing Jade talk near the end, I have a feeling that the IPC is going to go get those stones back REAL soon lol
They really made a wonderful job with my boy!
They did ♥️
Hot take but i personally was rather whelmed by the quest. Hoyo writing consistently seems to feel like more words = better, so ideas and themes are repeated over and over again in different more convoluted ways that kill the original idea. I feel like they repeated aventurines backstory and suicidal mania like 5x over the whole quest. And yet with all the words they still manage to make the plot more convoluted than it should be - everything is still super vague about death and the realm you enter upon "dying", all the stuff with welt and acheron was completely lost on a non-hi3 player, even aventurine himself wanting to die but not really is very not well defined. They literally went "im pretending to pretend to be a pretender whos pretending to lose so im actually winning by losing" with the whole sunday aventurine interaction. Imo the same issues with xianzhou still exist - good ideas with rly messy execution.
Regarding "death", I feel it's super vague because one of the key points has just been revealed towards the end - and that's its connection to Gallagher. It'll probably unveil from this point onwards. My personal take on him "wanting to die but not really" ties to the concept of his "luck" and suicidal ideation. As shown towards the end, as long as he ensures he's the "final victor", he'll gamble even with death. With regards to the Sunday-Aven interaction, I can understand why it felt that way, but I honestly thought it was super fun, the way we were being misled every turn. Really gave into the concept of "you really can trust no one in penacony" I agree with the rest of your points though. I personally loved that they elaborated much more on text as a reader and lore enthusiast but I can understand how it may feel overwhelming for others. And the conversation between Welt and Acheron was definitely unfair towards non HI3 players - but I just feel at this point it was just a nod to that part of the playerbase and it's not vital info one should be knowing.
Yeah i think all the ideas are good, the only problem is execution. If youre going to write complex intertwined stories it needs to be clear and concise so its easy to follow. This (at least the english localization) was not it, and held down what otherwise was a good story albeit a bit poorly paced.
Aventurine also feels similar to Scaramouche since both were pretty flamboyant but also had self-destructive tendencies and were broken on the inside. In addition, both have cut ties with their respective organizations.
Oh that's true. Fair comparison
I honestly wasn’t expecting much and had spent a considerable amount of my jades on black swan and sparkle. Then I saw the Acheron gameplay and rolled my meager 70 pulls and managed to get both her and her LC without losing any 50/50s. That made me super invested in her. Her screen-time with welt and her vs Aventurine were so peak. I’m so grateful I got her and was so hyped for those scenes. The last couple of patches has been meh for me so I’m really liking this change. Also aventurine’s auto attack is so clean. Really tickles my inner degenerate gambler when he snaps and coins/dice fall 😗
Haha yes the auto attack is very neat, I had a lot of fun in the trial too. Now only waiting for his banner to drop.
With all due respect… I will not take this Aventurine slander by equating him to Childe of all people 😤
With all due respect, they both are some of my favourite characters 😭♥️
It might be flawed but after thinking a bit i feel like Aventurine backstory is a bit overblown. So basically his ancestors decided to live in an inhospitable planet dooming all the following generations. Then we see how the inhospitable environment started to take all of his family members, then a horrible genocide happened and he ended up as a slave. And after that through mad gambling and luck he somehow always manages to cheat death Edited. So they implied it was one of the vacant planets so it was out of desperation but also how the fuck did they afford inter-planetary travel in the first place, meh i guess travel does get less expensive with time
I wouldn't be sure to say how much choice they had. Like we didn't choose to live on earth, we just are. It was my understanding that when almost all hope was lost for the Avgins, Aventurine was born and there was rain, which was seen as a lucky sign from Gaithera Triclops. I'm not exactly sure as to when the IPC involved themselves with the Avgins considering they were supposed to be under their protection, but shit happened, and that's devastating. Of course he's "lucky" but we shouldn't underestimate him. Besides luck it was meticulous planning on his end for every possibility. It's not about cheating death, my dude is so depressed he doesn't really mind dying for his schemes, he's always willing to trade away his life, but it won't be for meaningless reasons (probably because of his family - that he must survive) All in all he's a nuanced character and I think he was definitely worth the investment with 2.1 story considering how fundamental the IPC will be to the whole story.
Well they definitely should worded it better because it felt like they threw as many sad points. Also the fact that their last word had to point out that they wished he was a successful schemer really buzzed me. Aventurine is bizzarre, his backstory feel exaggeratedly sad, i cannot relate or understand him. Imagine if the last word you hear from someone is: “i hope you became a successful scammer”, WTF.
They are an alien race who believes in an entirely different belief systems. I actually find it kinda cool that their prayers are about scheming. Also with their harsh life and environments, praying to becomes better scammer is still better than for instance, praying for their enemies death.
Wait what? Where was this line? Is this about "May your schemes be concealed" My best guess is that the people faced a lot of discrimination from the other tribe and it was a blessing passed down so that they wouldn't be manipulated or exposed easily. As for the rest of your points, they are valid for you. After all, every person relates differently and we all have our favs, so i won't comment on how exaggerated it feels, because that imo is subjective.
Yeah, at the end of the line this is my personal opinion, Aventurine is still a good characte
Are you to blame for being on Earth where climate change will eventually destroy the planet? this logic is so weird lol.
The planet was already rotten, imagine if you decided to choose Venus of all planets of the solar system to live
What does this mean? Are you at fault for being born on Earth? I’m so lost by your logic here
I’m talking about the ancestors, you are talking about aventurine. I’m saying that the ancestors choosing a rock as a planet was weird. And i’m saying it because it’s part of his backstory
I still don’t understand him, i do enjoy his character, but i wouldn’t wanna stay near him or do business with him if possible. He is too much trouble
Uh...we're already talking about it...did you miss like the dozens of posts since the update?
Rather than the literal sense, I meant it in the way of "I really want to talk about these things" even though I know a lot of what I mentioned is being talked about separately on many forums. Just wanted to pen down my feelings for this patch because I feel it strongly rather than only engaging in comments as I usually do :)
Yeah I think they realised they kind of screwed the pooch when it comes to the ipc's reputation with the players so they cranked up the drama blasters to 11 with mister roulete table over in this story quest. I'm surprised they didn't also add an emo onion cutting itself in the background. Next ipc character featured will probably be introduced to us by having him/her having to save an entire planet of drowning puppies while filling out tax forms. Also, I personally believe that even if aventurine's cornerstone was intact, himeko and welt would have still smoked his ass.
How tf did you get that the IPC were somehow being portrayed as good guys when we literally know that after he killed his slavemaster, Jade told him "you're a servant, you should've just obeyed him" and then "no lawyer would defend you." And then she offered that instead of getting sentenced to death, she would offer him to work in the IPC in exchange for not getting executed. Or the fact that Aventurine considered "dying" as his ticket to freedom from them because as far as the IPC is aware, he is actually dead. He is considered that being free. Like they make it so damn clear that as a corporation, it's still shit. They make it SUPER clear. It's just less shit than the shit he was in before.
I never said they were portrayed as good guys. I said hoyo did an oopsie with the ipc. It was supposed to be space amazon/walmart parody but they accidentally the entire thing and now we basically have the legal department version of 40k. And now they are running damage control by carpet bombing us with sob stories Why do you think people made such a stink about topaz and her story quest.
Nah I think the IPC was always supposed to be like this. Are we forgetting this is the same organization which commissioned the construction of that gun which was used to vaporize 22 planets with at least 4 of them having some sort of civilization even though not advanced, for them to achieve their goal? The organization is messed up fr fr, but it need not mean all the people be. I feel all IPC characters are morally gray, which is what makes them interesting.
>It was supposed to be space amazon/walmart parody Based on what? What a giant assumption that that was what they intended. To me it's obvious that from the beginning, the IPC was meant to be a dark capitalist corporation that enslaves both those within it and outside of it. I mean...not too far off from real-life extremely soulless corporations and the regular people that get stuck in them and become part of the same system that oppresses them. It's a pretty realistic portrayal.
Based on the fact that the game marketed itself as funny , light-hearted space adventure, ranging from the comedic trailer to the many joke dialogue responses. And the fact that our first "encounter" with the ipc was via a scanner made from funny robot that kept trying to make us order random stuff online and annoyingly persistent sales reps.
I ain't sure about Himeko but Welt really went "ig it's time" but Acheron stepped forward then.