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mdhwrites · 2 months

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Was Ratio a Good Free Five Star?

TL:DR All the things that make him look bad on paper as a free five star are exactly why he was frankly a FANTASTIC choice.

But I do mean it when I say that on paper he looks like Hoyo taking an L while we get left with Ratio. Not because he's bad though. For entrenched players like me, he was exciting. A main DPS that had to have a team comp that was pretty different from a lot of the other hyper carries out there since most supports, especially the hyper carry ones, don't do debuffs. If you try Tingyun and Bronya next to him, you'll often end up missing on MASSIVE damage since you need those three debuffs on the enemies. So who supports him best? That's an exciting question for someone with a wide variety of characters.

BUT.

A free five star like this is literally never for the entrenched players. It's a nice gift to them but this sort of thing is either a sign of desperation as they plead for old players to come back or it's a marketing trick to pull new players in. As Star Rail is still one of the best in its genre monetarily and Ratio was put out specifically because of all the awards it had just won, it was clearly the latter. A way to pull people in while the buzz around the game was big. Finally convert any last Genshin players who were on the fence while also finally moving people over from ALL the other team comp focused, turn-ish based gachas out there. A flex of dominance.

With that in mind... Think about who your first half a dozen, guaranteed characters are. Only half of Trailblazer has a debuff and it lasts one turn. March 7th has her freeze on her ultimate and that lasts for one turn. Dan Heng is the only member of the team with a debuff through his skill but it's only a two turn debuff and again: requires a skill point.

Then after that, the next three guaranteed are Asta, Serval and Natasha. Asta doesn't have a debuff without her trace ability to burn on basic meaning you have to get actually a decent bit into the game to actually get a debuff through her. Serval finally gives you a long lasting debuff with her Shock DoTs and can even extend those, making her not that skill point intensive. Then Natasha is, well... A healer who eventually dispels debuffs, not adds to them.

So two planets into the game and a new player could theoretically have a team of characters who all have debuff on skill but one of those debuffs lasts one turn and they ALL need to be using their skills most rounds in order to keep up the three debuffs to guarantee Ratio has good damage... On his skill. In a game where, unless you have a limited time 5 star that ISN'T free, you only have up to five skill points a round and that's only if you used a lot of basic attacks before hand. If you invest in her, you can swap one of them for Asta who I think would have her burn on basic to help but you'd still be running at a pretty extreme deficit mostly.

That is what you're guaranteed and so the shiny five star you were given, who was pushed towards you, is... Awkward. To put it mildly. Even potentially frustrating as every time you miss with his skill is a failure and feels AWFUL. Worse yet, you can so clearly see how he could work and how he could be strong!

And that's why he's amazing as the free five star.

I've jumped into plenty of long running gacha games that had guaranteed five stars or the like and do you know what happens? They make my brain turn off entirely for the starting content because they are usually demonstrably more powerful than anything else I have and the early game content wasn't designed around them. Even 3rd Impact, which I tried to get into now that it's on PC, has this problem where early on, they actually throw so many 5 star characters at you that you have to pick and choose between them instead of literally anyone else they give you early on. It's overwhelming but it also makes any curve of power just vanish as suddenly you are tackling content already meant to be easy with a character you don't have to think about with.

Ratio (and admittedly a lot of things about Star Rail) avoids this by being a character that requires characters who can work with him to function. He DEMANDS thought and in a way that leans into Star Rail's greatest strength: The fact that team comp matters. I could do an entire blog on how I think Star Rail is genuinely a breath of fresh air for turn based combat but this really is the big one for this blog. A new player is given this new five star who not only demands intelligence as a character trait but also for gameplay purposes. Can't figure out how to make him work? Then his gift is wasted on a fool like you. Maybe find someone a bit more your speed?

And as a Seele main who's only 5 star they used (besides Trailblazer) for over a month of play was Seele when the game came out... I wouldn't have wanted to be given Seele for free. Seele is a great character but she is monstrously powerful, even when played poorly. I don't even hyper carry with my Seele and I can tell you that she'll wreck house for a LONG time just on her own. She doesn't showcase the depth and strategy of the game, especially early on, and so a new player would just think that the game is simple and basic. They'd get bored with the character they potentially see as their win button and move on to a different game.

And for those stubborn enough to go "No, I am using Ratio!" then he becomes a goal. Not only does every limited 5 star that comes out suddenly look all the more appealing if they do debuffs (Boy was Kafka a fucking perfect pairing with Ratio's banner btw) but every four star is all the more exciting because hey, do they do debuffs? How many? How efficiently? How can they fit into the dream team that made me first get into the game?

Just by existing within a player's roster, one way or another, he raises questions about the game that ask the player to dive deeper into the mechanics of the game than they would have otherwise. Makes them think more about the early game, when it's going to be at its slowest, than most mobile games would ever even risk doing until they can hope sunk cost is keeping you there. He's not just a shiny trophy but an actual hook into players, old and new.

Frankly, if I had to say anything critical about choosing him, it's that he's just not had any good content associated with him. I think his quest, especially post 2.0, will mostly be a let down for any new players who came in partially because of him, especially if they decided to force him as their main. Admittedly, he's the like ONLY good thing about that quest (I could do a blog just about why that quest is bad) but even he doesn't get to shine in it. Penacony hasn't done him any favors either with his brief appearance so far. His writing is very strong though, easily some of the best of the smart characters in Star Rail, and his personality is interesting even in those appearances so they're not all bad, just that they could easily be disappointing to those new players who had to wait a while to get to see their boy in story.

But I suppose it had to falter somewhere. Hoyo has a tough act to follow if they ever give out a free five star for Star Rail again and keeping it in the realm of those who are simply intelligent, rather than having pulled off something only a genius could, is befitting for the good doctor. Have a good day everyone and until next tale.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#hsr #dr ratio #honkai star rail

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kasuna-kotonoha · 8 months

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Have some thoughts about the 1.4 quests, spoilers past the cut

So the IPC. They can get out of here with their capitalist bullshit. At least Topaz managed to make me sort of like her by the end. Leave Jarilo VI alone you mfs, come on!

I felt really bad for Bronya, honestly. She didn't have an easy decision to make.

Also, really wanted to shake Topaz by the shoulder when they were walking through the Museum and she was only looking at the monetary value of the exhibits. Ma'am, you do realize that this museum contains 700 years of history, right? ...right?

Also really liked March's new outfit! Very pretty. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but was that outfit supposed to be remenicient of Elysia? Or no?

Himeko showing up out of nowhere was a surprise, but a welcome one.

Also, are all of Topaz's colleages named after gemstones? Are they aliases? Wouldn't surprise me if they were.

Also, Also, Penacony and Pier Point. Topaz it seemed will be having business there, and Pier Point is where Silver Wolf is headed, in case anyone forgot about that. And something is absolutely up with Xipes followers "The family"

As for the Jingliu companion mission, omg.

Jing Yuan was totally about to say Luochas name was Otto Apocalypse. Also very curious about how Luocha came to be involved with Yaoshi. (and we still don't know whats in that damn coffin, Hoyo. care to share?)

Was wondering whether they were going to say anything about the Baiheng/Bailu theory. While they didn't say anything directly, the fact they had Jingliu visit her seems to suggest as much. They didn't have to have her visit a doctor on her tour.

High Cloud Quintet lore!! Also, it seems Jinglius idea of "Paying the price' is different from Blades. For her, its Dan Heng never being able to escape the shadow of Dan Feng, and for Blade its the curse of immortality and what that comes with.

Jingliu somehow manages to match, maybe even surpass, Blade in edginess. My god. She pretty cool though (pun intended)

Also not Jing Yuan being the only one who gave Dan Heng a choice in whether he wants to be involved or not. As cool as Blade and Jingliu are, they are pretty much actively choosing to not accept that Dan Heng is not Dan Feng. I think it was implied for Blade, but Jingliu was fully aware of the rebirth and still didn't, or couldn't give him that autonomy.

It's not that it doesn't concern Dan Heng at all, but whether he chooses to take responsibility for Dan Feng should be up to him and him alone. (Also f*ck the preceptors for denying a proper rebirth) He has autonomy, but is constantly being denied it by what feels like basically everyone on the Luofu except the Astral Express and Jing Yuan.

The fight scene was cool though. Wonder if Kafka was nearby at all.

Blade, honey, could you maybe chill for two minutes? I get you want to die, but I don't think going after Dan Heng is going to fix anything.

And thats about it. Overall a solid couple of quests.

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rossithepixie · 5 days

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!!!!! ROSSI! i feel like! at some point! you mentioned that hoyo made certain choices with wriothesley's character model and outfit that contribute to how BEEG he looks, etc. and i was wondering! if you'd like to elaborate on that? 🎤👀

Oh gosh I can certainly try! No promises on how much sense I'll make. Let me just -pulls up a picture of him-

Now you just stand there and look handsome. Amazing job. So Genshin uses set character models and they come in different categories. For male playable characters they come in "Tall" and "Short" but the models themselves don really contain body variation. It's all about the clothes and how they use colors and patterns to break up their shape! Wriothesely is arguably the largest male appearance wise. (while neuvi might be the tallest looking of the tall models)

(full breakdown under the cut)

The seams in Wrio's vest do a lot of the heavy lifting here in how they guide your eyes up and out toward his shoulders. Same for the lapels of the vest. Not only that but the dark panels of the vest on his side give an illusion of even more weight and thickness. There looks like there's somthing to grab onto there. Also note the extra bit of dark paneling between the deltoid of his shoulder and the space leading to his neck. This further pushes your eye outward. Those slight breaks of darker color do a lot of heavy lifting of informing how we take in his form. The collar of his shirt and cuffs of his sleeves once again draw your eye outward.

This of course doesn't even touch on the extra layer they added with the coat draped over his shoulders that does actually bulk out his figure more but it's not really the point of this post since i'm talking more about how the clothes close to his body are what really make him feel large. Moving downward his pants utilize similar visual cues to make him feel wider. Those like grey splits leading down to the seems that vanish into the top of his boots work the same as the paneling in his vest. breaking it up visually makes it feel like there's more there.

I'll get to his boots in a second but i had to pause to take a couple pictures of him from different angles that made me feel very rude. they're terrible pictures from my phone so i apologize

Man has a great ass. No denying that. And a part of it is once again how colors are used to break things up, along with the lighter color of his pants allowing for more depth with how they have the shadows cast on him. It's like they framed his ass essentially.

-coughs-

Now if you'll look at the first image of him again i'll get back to his boots. The armor cuffs at the top of them once again splay outward somewhat and as you go down the leg you'll notice that mot of the detailing is done in such a way to keep forcing your eyes outward. Then the main part of the boot really is just chunky.

In conclusion hoyoverse does a really good job useing shape language and color to add variation to their character models despite using a limited range of actual models. I could probably do a similar rundown with Al haitham, who while not as big looking as wriothesley also feels bigger than say Kaveh or Kaeya despite all the characters i mentioned here using the same base model. Seriously though the take away should be that even if you have limited resources or are trying to reduce them while making something with a ton of characters there are lots of subtle tricks you can use to trick the eye of your viewer (positive)

I'm sure there's someone with a more professional background in character design who could give a more in depth and better articulated run down of all this. I'm pretty much all self taught and just really love art and character design. I could talk about this at length still though with a bit of back and forth since there are definitely things i glazed over.

Thank you so much for getting my brain going Amira! (I've talked my non artist roomate's ear off about this before and they just politely listen so i can get it out of my system)

#the pixie speaks #we have a guest!#mooties: amira

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xwhatxisxrightx · 2 years

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xstudentxprezx asked:

🧦 who’s your favorite character personality/lore-wise?

I'm always gonna be torn on this question between Chong, Xiang, Fischl, Keqi, Mona and all the beans like thatttt. Butttt... Since she's my main and just got the lore of a lifetime from the event, I'm gonna give this to Fischl. The girl just got so much AWESOME character development, the kind of development Chong, Xiang, Keqi, Mona, Babsy all deserveeee. I hope they get events and cool stories ASAP. Hoyo please BREAK more of your characteres like this. That's when they get to shine most.

🌙 what was your least favorite event?

Hmm... Even that I've played has to be Windblume, but then I'm realizing now I've mostly skipped out on any event that doesn't interest me. Windblume is really only up against Unreconciled Stars, Dragonspine, Moonchase & Summer Fantasia by my recollection. That said, my least favorite event is probably actually the Xiao Lantern Rite festival. Which is kinda the obvious choice but yolo.

🔓 who’s your least favorite character personality/lore-wise?

Oooooh... Now THAT. IS. THE. QUESTION. Huh... Y'know I think it probably has to go to Beidou. The girl is just blah to me. She doesn't have a personality so much as exists as a conduit for filler dialogue. At least with characters like Ayaka and Xinyan and Lisa there is SOMETHING there. Lisa has her curious vision-Sumeru scholarship deal going on. Ayaka... Okay Ayaka is a close second to Beidou. Xinyan is at least a fun and positive personality. But man Beidou is just boring.

📰 who’s your least favorite character mechanics/kit-wise?

Thinking. Thinking. I'm only gonna include characters I've played in depth and I think of those I think it has to go to Noelle. Her ult is physically pretty but really she doesn't really exist to do anything flashy. And claymore wielders are always gonna have a harder time having cool auto-attack patterns, too. So yeah Noelle. Boring shield. And an ult that just makes her swing bigger. There's nothing really there imo.

🍑 what’s your least favorite game mechanic?

This might be a copout but I don't give a shit. I have to, have to, have to, have to, HAVE TOOOOOO bitch about the entire climbing physics in this godforsaken game. I don't know what happened but it feels like Hoyo has specifically carved unrealistic bullshit textures into walls and cliffs explicitly to fuck with climbing. The hit box for your character to actaully start climbing is wonky. And they've start putting everything even higher up and just outright bulging cliffs out to stop you climbing. And my God the amount of time I've started climbing just for my char to get caught on a one degree incline and decide NOPE you can't climb there any more and IMMEDIATELY leap off, often times in a completely bullshit direction. Ugh. Idk, no mechanic in this game makes me rage more than climbing lmao. That said I could probably bitch about just about every mechanic in this game. Hoyo's trademark is jankiness. See: Fischl's puzzles in the event. Miss. Me. With. That. Shit. Also the awful "stealth" mechanics. But yeah no fuck climbing.

🌰 who’s your favorite npc?

Y'know... This is a tough question because a lot of NPCS don't really stand out in this game. That said, I think there are two NPCS that stand out head and shoulders above the rest. And these are NPCS that are going to definitely STAY NPCS. So I'm not counting harbingers, Scaramouche, Alice, Mona's Hag, Rhinedottir or anyone like that. No, I think I'm gonna shout out CLOUD RETAINER and BOSACIUS. Bosacius's story in 2.7 was genuinely so fucking good and touching and just genuinely great storytelling. I wish we got to see him in person in Xiao's world/mind, but man I loved his story so much. Poor Bosacius is precious and needs protecting. And as for Cloud Retainer... Ironically I feel like back when we first reached Liyue she might've been my least favorite of the Adepti but as she's gotten more screentime and appearances, she's kind of an adorable momma to Shenhe and Ganyu with a clear affection for humanity and a need for companionship but a solemn acceptance of loneliness while also being highly fixated on her THINGSSSS. She's a really cool character and it'll actually hurt if Hoyo ever does anything to her.

🍂 what region are you most looking forward to?

I'm gonna give two answers to this, because my first answer is absolutely predictable as hell and the region cheats by holding onto the hope that Mona might finally get some real character development. That's Fontain. I'm actually really excite to learn a God of Justice looks like in Genshin, and curious as fuck for Fontain's high brow, caste-system culture. And I hope when we finally get ot meet Mona's hag there is actually some big twists and story implications that Hoyo have been keeping close to their chest. So that all has me excited and that's definitely the one I'm most looking forward too! The other is Kaenri'ah. Kaeya, Kaenri'ahan lore, Dainsleif, Albedo, Rhinedottir, and promise of an actual climax and meaning to the Traveler's story is all incredibly curious and exciting to me. But yeah no give me Mona lore pleasssseeeeeeeee. And I'm a libra so give us all the delicious justice based spirits and awesome you cannnn.

#XSTUDENTXPREZX #GENSHIN IMPACT #MEMES

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