#this would be interesting to think about Dan Heng and his thoughts about his combat style | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

almea · 2 months

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I've got 2.1 thoughts.

This was really the Aventurine patch. His perspective was definitely the longest one, especially considering he's the first one you explore both maps with. It's an interesting way to tell the story because with the kind of person Aventurine is, there's no way he would have confided even half of what we learned about him in the story to another character. I didn't dislike him after 2.0 (Although I did find it funny when he was trying to make us suspicious of Acheron because she's an Emanator and I was just like. Aventurine, you just told me that not only is Acheron hot but she's also scary strong and you expect me to not lay my life on the line for her?) but I wasn't that invested in him either. I'm still not Invested invested in him after 2.1, but I did really feel for him, especially towards the end. I'm just truly the weakest bitch in the universe when it comes to characters talking to their younger selves. I didn't expect them to get as into Aventurine being a slave or former slave as they did, but damn.

And by the end I was like. Is this man dead? Did they kill this man right before his banner? After everyone was like "Oh no, they drip marketed Robin so now everyone knows she's not dead because dead characters wouldn't be playable"? After his talk with Acheron my understanding is that he's not actually dead, he was just able to break in to a deeper part of dream because of Acheron and he may not be able to return so I guess he's effectively kind of dead for now???

I think it's such a weird choice that Aventurine's hat is clearly supposed to be important to him but he just. Doesn't wear it 95% of the time???? I feel like that final cutscene would have hit harder if he actually wore his hat so it would be more strongly associated with him. I don't understand why they designed him with that hat and then just like never make him wear it.

It's pretty clever that his perspective being so long also acts as an extra long trial for his character. I ended up using my Jingliu team for his portions of the story because she's the only DPS that I've even remotely built besides Qingque, and she was truly doing more damage to my team than the enemies were. Thinking about it now, I prooooobably would have been fine running him with my Qingque team but I would have missed the reliability of the mono Quantum. The extra long trial did not work on me though because I've got Stellaron Hunters to collect and I'm still waffling about whether or not to get Acheron's light cone. I also still haven't made up my mind about whether to pull for Robin yet.

His boss fight was kind of a pain in the ass though. My poor Silver Wolf and Lynx were getting bullied nonstop during the second phase while Qingque was overcapping the dice like crazy because she kept getting her follow up and Fu Xuan's ultimate was her saving grace. Using Qingque against Aventurine feels so appropriate because so many of her combat lines are related to gambling.

I liked Sparkle's conversation with Aventurine very plainly confirming that she has a very clear picture of what's happening but, true to her little animation, she prefers to work from the background and let the main characters do all the heavy lifting. Going off that animation, I'm looking forward to seeing what role she plays in 2.2.

March being so indignant that Stelle was getting bullied left and right by people with Agendas ever since they split up was really sweet. I love how people's general feeling after 2.0 was like "Everyone we met was fucking suspicious and hiding things from us, I don't fully trust anyone except the rest of the Express crew" and the characters were also like "Yeah, we can only trust each other."

The other side of that being that they kept running into people Stelle fought in 2.0 and March and Himeko being like "What have you been doing while you were unsupervised? Were you committing crimes?" was really funny.

I'm curious about whether Dan Heng is going to join in on the action in 2.2. He's already asked if they they need him in 2.1, so the possibility of him getting called in if things get really dicey is already there. And there's the fact that he does appear in one shot of the White Night trailer, and I watched a stream where his voice actor was saying Penacony's really good which makes it sound like he recorded more lines than just Dan Heng saying he'd stay on the train. Or idk maybe the other voice actors told him about stuff that happened. Is that allowed lmao? Sam also said Elio's instruction was "Get all of the Astral Express to track down the grand legacy," so does that "all" include Dan Heng?

It was very cruel of them to have one of the first things in the story be Acheron saying she knows who's in Sam's armour and then just. Not touching on that again until the last five to ten minutes. I figured they were going to do the Sam/Firefly reveal at some point in 2.1 so they'd be able to drip market Sam/Firefly for 2.3 (I've deluded myself into believing they're coming out in 2.3 because it makes sense to me to release them during Penacony's epilogue while they're main story relevant) since they're probably both in the splash art, but man did they take their sweet time getting there and slowly killed me the entire time.

I'm sooooo fascinated by the whole Sam/Firefly thing. I was tragically spoiled by a leak forever ago, but the leak I saw was just someone saying "I guess Firefly is the exploration model and Sam is the battle model" so I still don't know whether Firefly is an actual person who exists in the real world or if she's just a form Sam is able to take on in the dream world. If Firefly is a real person, I am so obsessed with the juxtaposition of Sam being the most ruthless Stellaron Hunter, to the point where Kafka said people are better off running into her, and Firefly looking like the sweetest, most gentle girl ever.

And if she's real, I'm so curious about whether the other Stellaron Hunters know about Firefly. They've only ever referred to Sam with male pronouns, but we've never had a scene with just them where they mentioned Sam so they could know about her and have Reasons for letting other people think Sam is male.

Looking back at 2.0, I assume Firefly might have transformed into Sam if Black Swan hadn't saved them because Stelle was in danger and their scripts from Elio aren't as detailed as the ones we've seen the other Stellaron Hunters reference, and her apology when she was killed could be read as "sorry I'm going to give you some trauma now so you'll have the motivation to find the Watchmaker's legacy." I'm not super clear on whether the memories of Firefly Stelle followed with Black Swan and Acheron was just an act she put on to lead Stelle to that place or there was something more going on there.

I just really want to know how much of Firefly in 2.0 was an act and how much of it was genuine. The main thing being when she tells Stelle she hopes they don't have to be enemies when everything is revealed. I love how Firefly's Sam persona was clearly leaking out a bit when she told Sampo/Sparkle "You talk too much."

2.2 really cannot come soon enough because I've got so many questions and I'm so excited to see the story pick up right from Stelle finding out Firefly is Sam. I can't wait to see what dialogue options Stelle gets for her reaction. Stelle's thoughts when you go back to Firefly's secret base are that she still cherishes the memories of the time she spent with Firefly, but she's confused about how to feel about her being Sam. I'm just like, Stelle, please hug her because I am a fool who would forgive her because she's cute and I love the Stellaron Hunters dearly, but I think if I'm not being self-indulgent I'm just expecting Stelle to be happy or relieved that Firefly's not dead but also feel very wary of her.

I think it's so funny that during the 2.1 livestream they were like. "Gallagher is so normal. He's the most normal person in the whole Penacony cast. He doesn't have a past, he's just a guy." And then by the end of 2.1 it's like. Actually Gallagher may have the biggest past out of everyone.

I'm not clear on what's up with that bird that's watching in some scenes. I thought it could be related to Sunday since he said he has servants that see everything, but its colour scheme looks like the Memory Zone monsters so it might also be related to Gallagher? idk if I'm even supposed to understand at this point.

I love that they made a special trial for Acheron so they could be like "Look how cool her technique is!!!"

It was very nice of them to let us collect the birds even when we weren't in Stelle's perspective, but Acheron and Aventurine can't actually see them so the dialogue options reflected that.

Black Swan talking to a memory? Of Constance wasn't something I expected. I'm still not clear on what was happening during that scene, but I'm interested to see where it goes in 2.2. Boothill getting an early cameo in that part was fun as well. It was so funny to me when he got drip marketed because I was just like. I have never seen this man in my life before lmao. I must have stopped looking at leaks before he was found.

Topaz's very brief appearances were very interesting. It seems like she feels at least a little conflicted about Aventurine's "death." I think Topaz herself is very kind, but she's still one of the Ten Stonehearts and that whole group seems a little shady. I don't think I trust Jade at all.

#Annie plays HSR #I'm off to watch other people play through the story because sometimes things become clearer the second time around

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idyllic-affections · 10 months

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Guess who's back

Back again?

🐉 Anon's back

Tell a friend!

Jokes aside, hello again!

I agree completely. I feel mihoyo realized that people might not have felt that strong of a connection to the Traveler (even though they're motives are the entire reason we do the stuff we do in the game) due to how little we actually hear them, how little they might come off as their own living, breathing person. And since they probably it was already too far into the game to rectify this error, they instead elected to have the Trailblazer be voiced more instead. And it really does so much for them, because they really feel like they're a character themself, instead of just another player-insert, it's also super refreshing with just how unhinged, how much of a the Trailblazer can be characterized as. Plus, I especially love the VA for Stelle, and my favorite line that she's delivered so far has got to be:

"Wow... the cringe is strong."

The palpable disgust in that delivery is beautiful.

March is legit so absolutely adorable, 100% would jump in front of the Disaster Beast's disaster-beam to protect her again. Would take photos with her, even though I'm honestly not much of a photographer myself. And again, I just find the sibling dynamic that the main trio have is just to die for. Then we add in certain characters calling Stelle big sister and just... AUGH. I think I may have become so attached, that I have trouble playing different teams. And considering how they'll simply reappear in the dialog sections, is that kinda weird? Eh...

Either way, they all have a special place in my heart, the fucking faces March makes when you choose the trolly dialogue options LMAO

And great! I'll get around to sharing some of them with you in the next day or too! Though be forewarned, there is angst, there is trauma. I swear the spirit of Hoyoverse must've come over me or something, because basically all the characters I've come up with have some sort of issue... does that prospect make you uncomfortable?

Also also, I was wondering if you're open to taking writing requests atm? Because I had a couple of potential ideas for some genshin stuff if you are!

-🐉Anon

hi lovely welcome back hehe <33

yes i agree!!!!! the trailblazer feels like... an actual character, you know? stelle has her own personality and thoughts and is an actual fleshed-out character. it's endearing. the trailblazer is just so so important to me, i love her sm <33 she feels so much more real than aether or lumine do. also, i personally feel far more connected to stelle's narrative. the traveler's objective is solely to find their sibling, but with stelle, the emphasis of her journey does not seem to be the destination but rather on the journey itself. and i love that. because the traveler's sibling literally DOES NOT want to see them and idk how they don't get tired chasing after someone who isn't interested in reconnecting. like. i don't like that standoffishness, you know? it's really annoying to me. how can lumine (in my case) be so cold and enigmatic towards her literal TWIN BROTHER?? just talk to your brother bro it is not that hard PLEASE i am tired of chasing after you AJSKAGKFHD

UGH SAME. MOVE OUT OF THE WAY STELLE IT IS MY TURN TO THROW MYSELF INTO POTENTIALLY FATAL DANGER IN MARCH'S DEFENSE!!!! i picked up photography last year as a hobby and i honestly love it sm. i would absolutely take photos with her. beloved. also hook calling stelle big sister and getting flustered about it is the cutest to me!!!!! that's my daughter and i will not let anyone hurt her. same i know i will need to change up my team comp eventually (it is the trailblazer, dan heng, march, & hook at the moment) to make combat easier but i love them sm?!?!?!? i do not want to abandon them?!?!?!?!?!

I KNOW SHE GIVES THE TRAILBLAZER THE DIRTIEST LOOKS IT ALWAYS MAKES ME GIGGLE. THE FACES SHE MAKES AUSGAKGJGHF

this is actually a bit funny to me! anyone who knows me--knows my ocs--knows very well that i think there is NEVER enough angst. there is always room for more trauma. so no, it does not at all make me uncomfortable!!!! do your worst in my inbox!!!!!

also yep! my reqs are always open, so feel free to send in any thoughts at any time <3 you can send as many as you want as often as you want to! just be sure to send all your reqs seperately.

#aphelion replies: 🐉 anon 🌸

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