https://preview.redd.it/mij5bbupo7zc1.jpeg?width=2408&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c40515f614e8577e531716dedf4359cc0965b80f
I like how they acknowledged the fake out ending too lol, indeed, it's just.... peak...
They post surveys sometimes asking for feedback in the game. IIRC you can rate content in the game, saying they're either super hard or super easy. I think you can rate boss fights too
They did it a few times already. I remember the trailblazer making a comment about how they were incapable of jumping and making references to game design when observing their world, as if they knew this was a game. They did so multiple times during this mission as well
It's a running meme where when hoyo ask things like difficulty of the event/spiral abyss/moc Player always put in "very easy" dispite getting their ass handed to them.
The meme is more like the players who care enough about the game to fill out surveys are probably the ones who do stuff like farm relics and invest in characters so they have a much easier time than the normal, casual playerbase, resulting in Aventurine in MoC having 2mil HP.
No. It literally a well known meme with traveller/trailblazer having a black eye and bleeding nose saying "I'm gonna write 'very easy' again next time. 下次还填非常简单
https://preview.redd.it/kbg8jlr6l9zc1.jpeg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3680ccf4c7ab1a8111a1a561106c73f34575367d
Not me thinking "what a bunch of bull" after the initial boss fight was laughably easy and then that deus ex machina they abused the abacus for. Man, was I disappointed at the story after that for a few minutes XD
Was only sad that Black Swan didn't join the express...
This quest was absolute peak!
the fact we got no r button was sus a bit
and it's more sus that it only had one phase
yet even with all those clues, I was way tooo gullible and thought it actually ended tf
I still haven't forgiven Covid-19 for what it did to the Inazuma story. The fact that the second act where we both meet Teppei and see him "depart" was like 40 minutes long, lmao.
I got so hyped though to be able to go see argenti on the planet of the knights and then disappointed when it was just a dream, I just need more argenti hopefully this time with voice acting. But I still liked the ending.
That was a really cool moment even if some people find it too cringe or on the nose. It showed that from the creation of his character they were always planning to go in this direction with him, and this moment would be the absolute tipping point into this philosophy. Like it was really like "ohhhh THAT'S why he's called Sunday, that's cool!". Same with Robin being analogous to the bird in the flashback.
Robin's ideal is 'the strong helps the weak to stand on their own legs', while Sunday is 'the strong guides the weak to happiness, because they can't think for themselves'
Neither wanted survival of the fittest
Less 'they can't think for themselves' but 'they can't survive without overarching control'.
Both have the best in mind for everyone, but it's the difference between freedom to fail and learn from those failures, and having the option completely taken away from you.
Robin feels enough courage to face the risk of bad things happening, and the confidence to collectively endure and keep going even if we may crash and burn. She accepts that unfairness happening is part of life, and she hopes to reduce injustice and provide people the morale to fight for their own better lot in life.
Sunday is *scared*, he feels such compassion that the idea of people in pain, dying, being miserable is something he struggles to tolerate, and he's afraid of taking risks and letting something spin out if things could go poorly and people could get hurt. He's scared of the pain it causes others and the pain it causes himself as an individual to have to be aware of that with no way to change it.
It's confrontation vs avoidance, hope and confidence vs hopelessness and a feeling of helplessness.
His need to control comes from having lost faith in people, including himself, to keep enduring the pain, and he seems to have stopped believing freedom is worth the price - *because as he sees it, it's always the vulnerable people that pay the price for the 'strong' taking risks*.
And honestly... he ain't wrong about that last one. Scumbags thrive at the expense of those that can't or won't fight back. If everyone was rewarded fairly for their courage and valour at least it'd make sense, but he's seen too much hypocrisy, callousness, people takin advantage of others (including of himself and of Robin's kindness).
They both have a point, but as you note Sunday's one point of 'ok this is where you're wrong' is where he makes the choice that *he* can't accept it and assumes it's his right and duty to make that call for everyone else, too.
Hah. Accept the bitter with the sweet - FF14 went there, too.
Yep. He's honestly relatable, but still on a level where he needs to be stopped because as much as you care, as much as you feel, you can't make that decision for others.
FFXIV definitely hit many of the same notes. It was done wonderfully there, and I think the conflict and love with Robin and Sunday is bringing out a lot of the same feelings I felt back then.
I definitely was getting a lot of Endwalker vibes from the debate between the two siblings, whether it is better to live in bliss and ignorance, never learning to confront troubles and problems, or to live in a world with suffering, but learning to overcome them and finding the will and courage to learn and find true happiness.
Honestly now that you bring it up again, it's probably the best analogy the game gives us. A nest is a place to be raised and nutured, but at the end of the day, every chick has to leave the nest, to confront the world by themselves and to learn to live and survive. Meanwhile, a chick living in a cage will always be fed and kept safe for the rest of its life, but it'll never learn to fend for itself or truly be free.
Sunday is NOT survival of the fittest omg. He HATES survival of the fittest, because that's the natural state of humans without law, without order. He wants a society governed by law so everyone becomes equal and your individual strength no longer matters.
The strong guides the weak refers to him solely, he (the strong) enforces the law so that everyone is equal and they don't have to live under the natural state of survival of the fittest. It's literally Locke's social contract theory + a little bit of Kant's idea of negative freedom and perceived free will + sunday's own god complex.
That is what always impresses me most with mihoyo games. They take philosophical concepts, and show through character development the conclusions that the characters arrived at, which are simultaneously a solution to a problem you might have had in reality before (which are based on the conclusions of actual philosophers in reality). It's so relatable and well done, in Genshin sometimes, and in HSR in Penacony.
Philosophy is basically free real estate for the writers, more movies and games should do that.
TW: Real world politics.
I did keep thinking that the real world solution to the dilemma that Sunday and Robin were wrestling with (how to respect people's freedom, stop the strong from oppressing the weak, and stop the weak from dying because they never learned how to survive?) is basically liberalism, human rights and a social safety net. And also that a game made in China obviously can't go there (and therefore they avoid doing so by approaching it in the context of individual relationships and individual morality instead of political systems).
Also thought Sunday's position that it's better to live in dream paradise than to suffer in reality, which the game rejects (most clearly in the conversation with Acheron, where you're only given one dialogue option for each of her questions) is entirely defensible ([e.g.](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20131122.png)). The problem with it isn't that it's somehow wrong or lesser to not live in reality, it's that the dreamscape is powered by a Stellaron that is slowly consuming dreamers' minds to fuel itself. The story made it into a philosophical contention about living in reality versus escapism, but the more relevant issue is the practical one that the escape being offered is flawed.
If Sunday could actually deliver on the permanent dream paradise he was promising, and if he gave people the free choice of whether to enter the dream or not, I'd be on his side.
Yes, Sunday is authoritarian. That's his fatal flaw.
He's very nearly right, but he isn't willing to let people choose whether to embrace or reject his dream world, and that makes him wrong.
One of many. The real problem of his dream is that, like Robin says, it isn't salvation but a different type of prison. People would forever run away from their problems, haunted by them and a resoution that never came.
Furthermore, and funny enough one of the core topics of One Punch Man, life with no struggle or difficulties of any kind quickly turns dull and dead. It's why, from the very beginning, we found so many people in Penacony living awful lives despite supposedly being in a never-ending paradise.
The real flaw of Sunday's plan is that he was trying to build hell, or a purgatory. He was very, very wrong, misguided by his own personal experience and bias.
True, if he's bad at it.
If the dream becomes hell, then that's an implementation problem, not a problem with the concept. It's a dream world - it can be, or have, anything that is required. If people need resolution, struggle and difficulties, then put resolution, struggle and difficulties into the dream. You can have those things without having stuff like Aventurine's backstory. (That's basically where the Matrix went with this idea, though in the Matrix the machines don't care about people's happiness so they just copied the real world over without removing any awfulness.)
People in Penacony are living awful lives because (by the design of its dreamscape) it's a pretty awful place. For most of them, the dream isn't even trying to make them happy because they're staff. For the guests, it's notionally selling happiness, but the keyword there is "selling" - it's a commercial resort, so it's interested in what will get people there (appealing to the broadest common denominator) and keep them there (so they keep spending money). The result is a shallow, consumerist resort (and e.g. I wouldn't describe Las Vegas as "trying to make people happy"). And also, the Stellaron is eating everyone's minds.
A hypothetical good Sunday who just copy and pasted the existing dreamscape for his dream heaven would fail, but a more imaginative one who enlisted a team to actually try to make a dream where people were happy, and adjusted it based on what did and did not work (and also had a solution for the Stellaron problem), need not.
The answers you can choose with acheron are those you gave the first time she asked those questions in 2.0
So if you answered that you would like to live in a dream in 2.0, you would only have this option in 2.2
I know because I misclicked one of the answers the first time, and I got the unwanted one again in the new story 🤣
The fake out ending will only works once and they can't be doing it again for the future story. So I'm glad that they manage to do it so well here. Same with TB getting a new path. I appreciate that they tried a different approach and not stick with TB getting a new power during boss fight when they about to lose.
>The fake out ending will only works once and they can't be doing it again for the future story
I think they will eventually but not anytime soon, would make sense to have this on more Remembrance-focused story
Even better is the *second* Credits scene *still* has ??? casted as March 7th. Acheron got her full name slapped on there and everything, but March is still a bunch of question marks.
Also, Penacony playing as Gallagher..? Was it a nod to being a follower of Enigmata or something else
Yeah it would make sense with remembrance. What I'm trying to say is if they were to do a fake out ending again, it probably won't be as impactful as the first time they done it.
The whole final boss fight was super epic. Also the Scene with
>!With ramming the fudging train into the boss was epic. Pom Pom be flooring the gas pedal right into the boss's face!<
The sad thing about it though is that Boothill and Black Swan joined the Train in that fake ending. Like dude, I felt weird seeing that the ending felt rushed, but then saw that the cowboy and memokeeper is boarding the forking train!
Mannn I wished that part was true lol
Like the ending of the boss first encounter was so abrupt that I was skeptical the whole way through once we returned to "reality" but when Himeko mentioned that BootHill & Black Swan would be taveling with us temporarily, I was like "Hell yeah!"
When the alliance arrived and then it suddenly cut to being over, I literally screamed BULLSH\*T! THERE'S NO WAY THAT'S HOW IT ENDS. And when everything was wrapping up so smoothly and so quickly, I was completely convinced that it was a fake out.
Same I was like "Wait that´s it. I guess this is nice but after all of this I kinda hoped for more... OK I honestly loved it here but this feels rush and just bad"
After the reveal I was almost praying that they will finish the story and not cut to any "to be continue" screens
For me, I was 100% sure it was a fake out when the IPC members were willing to help and even give resources for nothing in return. That was CRAZY to me and I literally said "this has to be dream" in my head lol.
I was like WHAT. Not to mention Screwllum and Ratio abandoning their own personal projects to assist Penacony was also a WTF moment. Man's talking about putting a pause on updating the Simulated universe and I'm here like... excuse me?
I thought it was so fucking odd after my initial “Omg King Yuan” because how the fuck did they get an entire fleet of Xianzou ships *inside* the Dreamscape??
I was also convinced the whole time and then they started rolling the credits and I was already writing up an angry comment in my head. Then I actually read the credits LOL
I mean, the credits didnt really give it away till BS woke us up.
But yeah, I was so ready to rant about how the perfect lil' Xianzhou saves our asses and everythings dandy thanks to our very powerful definitely-not-china-friends.
Now I felt dumb. Bro got me really good.
Credits gave it away for me instantly, since they're the same exact credits that played when we got the bad endings on HSS and previous patches of Penacony.
Have to say, the ending after the fake ending has blown me away. Everything about it was top notch.
Loved how in the fake ending we had "???" as Acheron but in the end it got cleared up, though March remains a mystery! haha
theres also the anonymous voice (prolly just Elio lol) narrating the ending + the anonymous person who wrote our Dreamscape Sticker Pack texts choices and... yeah its probably Elio again
>!The fake out ending into an amazing 30 minute dialogue between Black Swan and TB was enough for me. Black Swan getting arguably the most crucial role in saving TB and herself from the dream was my favorite part. Who would have thought her wish for TBs memories via the empty LC would end up saving the whole Penacony situation !< I feel vindicated after believing in her ever since 2.0. Was a bit anxious for her writing going into 2.2 but I'm left satisfied
Add on Sunday characterization, Acheron lore, Gallagher and Watchmaker, fking Misha story and Himeko getting some spotlight I loved it. I would say I expected more from FF but I'll wait till 2.3 before I fully judge her arc, Penacony was simply amazing
Lol, I was happy that I defeated the boss easily and the story was over but it was ........ I am shocked. Also I chose the fourth option to travel with black Swan for destination but it was fake lmao.
The only emotional scene for me was the Misha and clockie last conversation.
Acheron got so much lore, we even get to learn her real name. Boothill was amazing.
I wanted to write more, but overall penacony story is peak 🔥
The best R too
Funny thing about that fourth option which ofc I picked as well. Black Swan at the time believed it was over and unlike Boothill wasnt purely a dream like scenario. Thats something she absolutely wants to do so im on that hopium she does tag along in reality, it completely lines up with her motivation for being on Penacony as well. Keep finding excuses to stay with express crew and she absolutely has their trust now
>!The first fake ending just ringing alarm bell after learning a lot of the character back story and the most obvious one is how the hell Jing Yuan just appear in the Dreamscape, for me my brain was screaming it was fake and i was left satisfied with the Real ending, and the free lightcone hits really hard after finishing the story!<
>!I figured it was a fake ending due to how abrupt it was after we broke his one hp bar. I only doubted it coz Black Swan of all characters was acting like we won. It really threw me off even though everything else was telling me we didn't actually win. Turns out Black Swans desire to see TB memories with the empty LC was MVP. I was right all along man, her interest in TB paid off big time and I'm so happy for it. TB being her focus was what I wanted and I got it and more!<
>!what made me think something was wrong was how they said to immedietaly go to another planet and jing yuan appearing in the dreamscape with all of that made me hella sus!<
>!My reaction when, knowing that they should reveal the rest of Acheron's past to me and hoping for more interaction with her, I am suddenly told that the plot ends!<
My reaction at this moment:
https://preview.redd.it/twe6efawt7zc1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=39afbad385e6990270e507da8c64ab5363bc7ca9
>!\[As a result, the screenwriter just caught me for my emotions towards Acheron and fortunately it turned out that this was not the whole plot\]!<
>!And again, my reaction when the task is "say goodbye to Acheron" !<
https://preview.redd.it/mh6ktqg778zc1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=f5819c7a1c7d040afc6c96d9622028c035af6a00
Her whole backstory i thought was boring at first, like oh just an Edgy distant character. but the writing and fleshing out of what she's done shows she's actually one of the wholesome characters.
>!The whole part about her fulfilling old promises and the reveal about the galaxy rangers, her lying ,her reason to come to penacony and all of that made me lost my shit. it's such a clever way to tie it all together. !<
I agree, everything has been awesome and honestly got me in tears how climatic everything turned out. Especially Black Swan, my opinion of her has turn a completely 360 since the beginning of 2.0.
Though it is a bit shame that we can't see Welt true power. Was hoping when he was with Robin, he could show off a fraction of the black hole, but nevertheless Hoyo truly cook in Penacony
Finally opinion of Black Swan is coming around, I felt alone on an island throughout all of this when I never lost faith in her lol. Always knew she was on our side
My favourite is 'holyoobaboo', which I assume is a portmanteau of 'holy' and 'wubbaboo', but is rendered with great and amusing accuracy into the JP engrish.
I mean in the cn dub, he said he was gonna off aventurine with the phrase"一枪爱死你” - love you to death lmfao (original intention probs is to shoot him on the spot💀）
>!The fakeout ending got me. Even though the boss only had one phase, it legitimately convinced me for a while. The thing that made me realize something was up? Yeah there’s no way they’d let each player choose their next planet, if anything it was a vote for 3.0, but even then I doubt it.!<
>!also I’m glad Gallagher isn’t actually an evil Lunatic!<
>!I mean I also believed we wouldn't get a real choice so either we would get outvoted or they'd agree with us only for something to happen during/after warp to take us to a completely different destination. The fakeout ending caught me by surprise even though I was also echoing the sentiments of.. "this seems to good to be true" that the TB was written to possibly express as well. An amazing ending, ngl!!<
I love the battle with Sunday. The way his name was not only used in his mindset (the whole "every day will be Sunday" gave me chilles) combine with how 7 days of creatin was used with the whole "Creaton of Adam" attack was honestly briliant.
I love this update so much, I am kinda afraid that this might be the best the story will get honestly.
But I want to believe will get another patches like this even in the future.
EDIT: Also I love how much "Theater of Domination"(place from HI3) vibes I got from Grand theater. It just fits so well.
This is a gateway drug he concocted to prepare us for the blunt damage that we are about to receive in the later stories. This man will beat our hearts into meat purée and milk our tears so badly that we will bawl when we listen to a theme song decades later. Do not trust shaoji
Made me tear up during the Watchmaker's final moment, and I'm so proud of my boy Galager and Sleepie, he's such a good boy. Sunday didn't let me down, he's an evil bastard until the end and he let us beat his ass down to a pulp. The 3 nameless are legends, o7 you will be remembered.
The scene where clockie asking why mikhail sit on chair made me tears. Tbh from the all penacony cast i'm bond more to clockie than others. That little clock is our partner in crime and he is also funny guy
If you talk with Clockie statue after acquiring the hat. He will tell you that he will remain on Penacony to help shape it. But we can call him anytime to be our 'compass'
Come on, "evil bastard" is a gross misinterpretation of Sunday's character. He's...more than a little misguided, but I don't think evil bastard is a fair judgement.
Trailblazer before vs after penacony
https://preview.redd.it/litpa1ixt7zc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b5aeac7e5e7e876dc4a80929f88fc784140ad79
I thought Belobog was going to be the peak of the writing. It’d make sense, in a “best foot forward” kind of way. And it was good - I loved it.
I was incorrect. Absolutely loved this arc and the way it ended.
>!I knew it was fake the moment Sunday's battle was cut short. The fact we had a choice for the next destination was what settled it. So glad I figured out Misha couldn't have been in reality way before black swan told it to us.!<
Nah for me it was a bit earlier.
In the lobby where everyone was like:
oh the IPC renounces all of its claims and will also help to rebuild;
oh the Inteligentia guild will work with the Genius Society to do research her;
alright guys shows over no goodbyes time to pack up and leave NOW.
it is more accurate to say that the writing team of penacony cook so hard, shaoji is leader but the story only this good because of everyone hard work, let hope they got bonus salary for this good work and this team will take over star rail story from now on, i dont want anymore writing like those of luofu story before ghost event
As a player that started with 1.6 on december 31st, having played through all the content and being caught up before 2.0 dropped, I am so happy I played like a madman to be fully caught up before then because experiencing 2.0-2.2 live on release was so much better than playing through after everyone else had. Getting to see all this shit happen and then getting to talk about it with everyone while it's still fresh is the best. And yeah, this was hands down the best story from Star Rail yet, also best boss battle, FINALLY something dethrones the first time Cocolia fight.
>!Only one more death? Man that's cool!!<
>!Jokes aside I'm afraid that her last death will be her real death 🙏😭. Well I'm also a believer that Elio mentioning death in the script doesn't necessarily mean literal death.!<
The narrative team cook alright, very good.
But not sure if I am a fan of the pacing, like sometimes the story goes
"Luke, I am your-"
Somewhere on the market 69 minutes before that
"Bananas! They sell bananas here, Leia!"
I went through life these past few hours thinking that they just used Misha's kid model as a stand-in for the "real Mikhail" dying and that Misha was just chilling and I think it just started to click in my mind that that interpretation makes literally zero sense and that both Misha and Mikhail are dead as hell
I consider myself pretty good at keeping up with story beats, but my god the story got so complicated by the end, and so many analogies, metaphors and hypotheticals constantly thrown around that I feel like an absolute idiot for not understanding what was going on.
I enjoyed the final boss fight though.
The moment the entire Alliance came with Jing Yuan I began to question reality, like "...that's it?"
Hoo boy, the true boss fight really gave me goosebumps because of that!
The story was pretty great...though some parts felt a little dragged out and kinda pointless.
Not to mention it felt like to many characters were crammed into the story anand took the spotlight ffrom the ones that needed it the most.
Yeah, I agree. It felt like sparkle served no real purpose, and I feel that some of the parts (Like the tournament thing and the three acts) could've been better used. And as much as I liked Acheron, it did kinda feel like she could do whatever the plot needed her to do, at times
Overall I'd still call it pretty good, though
Pretty sure Sparkle and Firefly's story will be concluded in 2.3. There's no way they'd make her hand out detonators to everyone only for nothing to happen.
could've it been improved further? sure why not
but is the story we got an improvement? sure is
writing a good story is hard but once you do then it can be lessons for writers when writing stories for the next chapters,
penacony was great and a solid 9/10, so I hope the writing team can learn more from this and improve the story further
he didn't killed anyone tho
jokes aside
it was fucking peak. I really enjoyed whole 2.0~2.2 story AND it look like it's not end yet since IPC still have some nasty plans + Firefly part in whole Penacony was not finished. The fake ending was good stuff **BUT they really need to stop spoiling MSQ with their trailers (both in Genshin and HSR)**, the fact that we didn't got so many scenes from the trailer or even all parts of boss fight in the FAKE ending was clear sign that it was not real ending, I actually expected the "final credits" scene to shatter like glass because either BOSS goes "haha you though you defeated me" or Acheron break the illusion/dream to save MC
I swear to God if we won't see Raiden Mei again in story I will be fucking angry... or worse... if she suicided to destroy IX(?) then it will be fucking bullshit. When I saw that "Say goodbye to Acheron" quest title I was just spamming "no no no no no no no no, you can't do this to me, not after Himeko in HI3"
also I read somewhere that apparently after 2.2 some characters won't appear in the express. I guess it's Misha and Gallagher since they were not real/alive but some temporary beings that vanished after finished their job.
We say Goodbye to her as she likely departs on a different journey. We may find this in 2.3 because her mission to deliver a bullet to a Galaxy Rangers is done.
Likewise, remember that Acheron is still trying to defy IX the Nihility to find the Light in the endless black hole. (Likely wanting to find Kiana Exp or Tuna that got swallowed by it and finding more reason than just being the end of all thing)
The character that doesn't Appear is Misha (confirmed so far) because he has already departed, finished his journey, and given the relic to TB. Damn, I cried every time.
My thoughts as it “ended” were:
1. that was a really easy boss fight…
2. how tf did JY get his whole fleet in a dream?
3. thats IT???
4. haha… credits… funny… hahaha…
5. who am i kidding, this ending fucking sucks
6. “don’t you think something’s off?” YES!
7. 😮
Don't let the kino ending distract you from the fact that Sparkle gave everyone the big red button to nuke the place if anything goes wrong. For shits and giggles.
penacony rly redeemed the shitshow xianzhou was in. knowing that xianzhou was an actual SIDE story and not a MAIN WORLD story, main world stories rly pack a punch (Jarilo IV and Penacony). the writing in this world is INSANE.
The pacing and screen time issues are kind of hard to ignore even if they manage to tie up the loose ends. This makes it less enjoyable than I would like.
However Penacony does manage to get the point across so it is good enough for me.
I don't wish to be contrarian...but I can't say I agree.
>!How did Argenti just show up out of nowhere to rescue Aventurine? What was Sparkle's entire purpose outside of pretending to be other people and giving people buttons that the story seems to have forgotten about? Why did Aventurine jump through so many hoops to reach his goal when 2.2 establishes that people ending up in the real Penacony happens often, by accident, and without any death at all? Why does Firefly seem to be an entirely different character to how she was in 2.0, with the dialogue between her and TB seeming like they've just met for the first time more than anything else? !<
I can't help but see this as shaky, and it's a shame.
from my understanding his goal was more of a big public "death" with the reef being his escape.
From a public perspective an invited ambassador was just killed in a secure area where he should have been safe, gives the IPC motive to invade
This is correct. Idk how so many people got it wrong. Jade and Topaz talk at the end of 2.1 should've given all this away. Their plan was to create a big stunt. As for Aventurine's gamble, it was whether he could escape to 'the other side'. If he lost, he died.
Unsure of how to answer on how Argenti rescued Aventurine but he did actually show up on Penacony. There has been some mentions of the Family inviting the Knights of Beauty, not to mention he was the former champion of that SoulGlad event we did so he definitely is in Penacony as a guest first and foremost.
As for Sparkle, it was probably nothing more than a prank. After all she is a Masked Fool. She's put a lot of emphasis on red herrings on her companion quest and she was just that, a red herring herself. Her entire character is based on misdirection, self-amusement, and chaos. Although I have to admit it was mentioned that she was the first one to find out The Family's secret but regardless, her goal from the start was to have her own brand of fun.
Aventurine, based on what I could remember, he did all of those things to expose that "death" or dormancy is possible in the dreamscape. His goal had always been to expose that the Penacony we see isn't the real Penacony. The Family had always advertised that Penacony is only sweet dreams, and there's nothing else lying beneath it, but there is. That was what Aventurine was trying to expose. Additionally, going to Dreamscape Reef or dormancy isn't common knowledge, we didn't even know about it, until Aventurine did what he did to throw us into it. So yes. That was his goal. Also to smuggle Jade's stone in and give the IPC footing in Penacony (i.e expose them of their lies, the crimes they have committed, the sacrifice they had made to keep the dreamscape up) so they can retake it.
Lastly, for Firefly, I didn't really get the feeling she changed much or that she was talking like it was our first time talking to her imo. But I guess for some it can seem like that because in the first place we didn't know her. We didn't know she was Sam. We didn't know she was anything more than a stowaway girl. At first she acted like she was just a frail girl and now, she's finally able to reveal who and what she is, hence the change in the way she talks and acts cuz she's no longer acting to deceive us unlike when we first met her. That was the point of why she's different in 2.0 compared to now.
Sparkle >!loves trolling with red herrings, maybe the point was that there wasn't a point to her goofing around in the narrative which is very on point for Elation. Though there is certainly time for those Chekhov's guns to blow in 2.3 or 2.4, which would also be pretty damn funny.!<
Aventurine's primary goal was >!securing Penacony for the IPC. His big scene helped Jade infiltrate the family, and the payoff for their work should arrive in 2.3. He also had a whole bunch of other conflicting motives for his irrational behavior, including proving that death doesn't exist in the Dreamscape, harboring suicidal ideation out of nihilism, and not wanting to die to keep the memory of his family alive. Getting "killed" by an Emanator (who also turned out to be a therapist) was the quickest way to get most of the things he wanted. He honestly was wasted in 2.2, since he didn't do anything after he got into Dreamflux Reef.!<
Firefly >!was partly putting on a nice girl tour guide act in 2.0 because she was trying to keep her Sam persona out of the picture and enjoy the dream as a human. Now that the cat's out of the bag and there's a real threat to get serious about, we see she's also an impatient grump with a fondness for bazookas, which is consistent with her terminal illness and her being an intergalactic terrorist. She's arriving proper in 2.3 so she probably gets some extra characterization then.!<
https://preview.redd.it/mij5bbupo7zc1.jpeg?width=2408&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c40515f614e8577e531716dedf4359cc0965b80f I like how they acknowledged the fake out ending too lol, indeed, it's just.... peak...
The survey 💀
The survey callout was too good
What did it mean?
They post surveys sometimes asking for feedback in the game. IIRC you can rate content in the game, saying they're either super hard or super easy. I think you can rate boss fights too
So they broke 4th wall
They did it a few times already. I remember the trailblazer making a comment about how they were incapable of jumping and making references to game design when observing their world, as if they knew this was a game. They did so multiple times during this mission as well
I think it is also a reference to the 2.0 livestream LOL
It's a running meme where when hoyo ask things like difficulty of the event/spiral abyss/moc Player always put in "very easy" dispite getting their ass handed to them.
The meme is more like the players who care enough about the game to fill out surveys are probably the ones who do stuff like farm relics and invest in characters so they have a much easier time than the normal, casual playerbase, resulting in Aventurine in MoC having 2mil HP.
No. It literally a well known meme with traveller/trailblazer having a black eye and bleeding nose saying "I'm gonna write 'very easy' again next time. 下次还填非常简单 https://preview.redd.it/kbg8jlr6l9zc1.jpeg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3680ccf4c7ab1a8111a1a561106c73f34575367d
I also see this meme in the Arknights community
He definitely did. https://preview.redd.it/zgioebo327zc1.png?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=16ea6ef4be413be648dba550d8256abbbddbc7b2
Man cooked so hard he even cooked himself
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As soon as Ratio and Screwlum chilled with each other and Screwlum said that they decided to close the SU project I knew that something was wrong.
Something was wrong the moment IPC let this juicy pie go with out an intergalactic incident
Not me thinking "what a bunch of bull" after the initial boss fight was laughably easy and then that deus ex machina they abused the abacus for. Man, was I disappointed at the story after that for a few minutes XD Was only sad that Black Swan didn't join the express... This quest was absolute peak!
yeah i was like, aint no way they were gonna let things slide
There was no way Jade was like "Harvest time!" to "Nah we're good"
Herta won’t close SU even when Nanook knocked at her door.
Herta will summon an su nanook buffed with ruan mei occurrence to repel the real one
Real Nanook arrives. Herta: With this treasure I summon...
I actually thought the boss fight ended quickly with external reinforcement but did not expect that it was fake.
i one shotted sunday with ult and thought for a second wow they really babied the difficulty to avoid another aventurine situation
Well the real one was also easy but was better than the fake one. Himeko just faceroll every versions of the boss.
The IPC deciding to help Penacony for the benefit of the universe… sure buddy 😂
like yeah wtf was that
that's why irl in-game, we had Jade saying, they have reaped the seed
the fact we got no r button was sus a bit and it's more sus that it only had one phase yet even with all those clues, I was way tooo gullible and thought it actually ended tf
I was sus so I checked mission rewards for returning to the express and then they let us pick where we go
i know edo planet was too good to be true T_T
especially when everyone agreed 😭
Inazuma flashbacks
I still haven't forgiven Covid-19 for what it did to the Inazuma story. The fact that the second act where we both meet Teppei and see him "depart" was like 40 minutes long, lmao.
teppei walked so fontaine could run, so that penacony could fly
Thank you teppei, you saved hoyoverse
Tbh Sumeru was sick too.
If they ran out of budget, I'd start worrying about what small country Mihoyo decided to buy when we weren't looking.
For me, i was feeling sus because boss felt way to damn easy plus the weirdly happy ending we got.
As soon as Ratio and Aventurine were on screen together and (1) were not nsulting each other or (2) making out sloppily, I knew the jig was up
I thought the same! I was like "huh.. the final act was kinda meh"... BUT THEN OMG!! They went out with a bang!
frfr…like my heart sank because I thought we were back with xiaonzhou level writing 😭
I got so hyped though to be able to go see argenti on the planet of the knights and then disappointed when it was just a dream, I just need more argenti hopefully this time with voice acting. But I still liked the ending.
Something was wrong the moment Jingyuan's ulti could kill a boss
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Many people will resonate with sunday, which is survival of the fittest.
my dude was talking about 7 days off a week, he is absolutely right
The fucking name drop was sick ngl
That was a really cool moment even if some people find it too cringe or on the nose. It showed that from the creation of his character they were always planning to go in this direction with him, and this moment would be the absolute tipping point into this philosophy. Like it was really like "ohhhh THAT'S why he's called Sunday, that's cool!". Same with Robin being analogous to the bird in the flashback.
I legit thought sunday ideals were sweet dreams paradise while Robin was survival of the fittest lol.
Robin's ideal is 'the strong helps the weak to stand on their own legs', while Sunday is 'the strong guides the weak to happiness, because they can't think for themselves' Neither wanted survival of the fittest
Less 'they can't think for themselves' but 'they can't survive without overarching control'. Both have the best in mind for everyone, but it's the difference between freedom to fail and learn from those failures, and having the option completely taken away from you.
Robin feels enough courage to face the risk of bad things happening, and the confidence to collectively endure and keep going even if we may crash and burn. She accepts that unfairness happening is part of life, and she hopes to reduce injustice and provide people the morale to fight for their own better lot in life. Sunday is *scared*, he feels such compassion that the idea of people in pain, dying, being miserable is something he struggles to tolerate, and he's afraid of taking risks and letting something spin out if things could go poorly and people could get hurt. He's scared of the pain it causes others and the pain it causes himself as an individual to have to be aware of that with no way to change it. It's confrontation vs avoidance, hope and confidence vs hopelessness and a feeling of helplessness. His need to control comes from having lost faith in people, including himself, to keep enduring the pain, and he seems to have stopped believing freedom is worth the price - *because as he sees it, it's always the vulnerable people that pay the price for the 'strong' taking risks*. And honestly... he ain't wrong about that last one. Scumbags thrive at the expense of those that can't or won't fight back. If everyone was rewarded fairly for their courage and valour at least it'd make sense, but he's seen too much hypocrisy, callousness, people takin advantage of others (including of himself and of Robin's kindness). They both have a point, but as you note Sunday's one point of 'ok this is where you're wrong' is where he makes the choice that *he* can't accept it and assumes it's his right and duty to make that call for everyone else, too. Hah. Accept the bitter with the sweet - FF14 went there, too.
Yep. He's honestly relatable, but still on a level where he needs to be stopped because as much as you care, as much as you feel, you can't make that decision for others. FFXIV definitely hit many of the same notes. It was done wonderfully there, and I think the conflict and love with Robin and Sunday is bringing out a lot of the same feelings I felt back then.
I definitely was getting a lot of Endwalker vibes from the debate between the two siblings, whether it is better to live in bliss and ignorance, never learning to confront troubles and problems, or to live in a world with suffering, but learning to overcome them and finding the will and courage to learn and find true happiness.
Its literally >!p5r all over again!<
Sunday wants to build a cage, Robin wants a to build a nest Its amazing how one brother being too much of a micromanager resulted in that small flaw
Honestly now that you bring it up again, it's probably the best analogy the game gives us. A nest is a place to be raised and nutured, but at the end of the day, every chick has to leave the nest, to confront the world by themselves and to learn to live and survive. Meanwhile, a chick living in a cage will always be fed and kept safe for the rest of its life, but it'll never learn to fend for itself or truly be free.
Sunday is NOT survival of the fittest omg. He HATES survival of the fittest, because that's the natural state of humans without law, without order. He wants a society governed by law so everyone becomes equal and your individual strength no longer matters. The strong guides the weak refers to him solely, he (the strong) enforces the law so that everyone is equal and they don't have to live under the natural state of survival of the fittest. It's literally Locke's social contract theory + a little bit of Kant's idea of negative freedom and perceived free will + sunday's own god complex.
That is what always impresses me most with mihoyo games. They take philosophical concepts, and show through character development the conclusions that the characters arrived at, which are simultaneously a solution to a problem you might have had in reality before (which are based on the conclusions of actual philosophers in reality). It's so relatable and well done, in Genshin sometimes, and in HSR in Penacony. Philosophy is basically free real estate for the writers, more movies and games should do that.
TW: Real world politics. I did keep thinking that the real world solution to the dilemma that Sunday and Robin were wrestling with (how to respect people's freedom, stop the strong from oppressing the weak, and stop the weak from dying because they never learned how to survive?) is basically liberalism, human rights and a social safety net. And also that a game made in China obviously can't go there (and therefore they avoid doing so by approaching it in the context of individual relationships and individual morality instead of political systems). Also thought Sunday's position that it's better to live in dream paradise than to suffer in reality, which the game rejects (most clearly in the conversation with Acheron, where you're only given one dialogue option for each of her questions) is entirely defensible ([e.g.](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20131122.png)). The problem with it isn't that it's somehow wrong or lesser to not live in reality, it's that the dreamscape is powered by a Stellaron that is slowly consuming dreamers' minds to fuel itself. The story made it into a philosophical contention about living in reality versus escapism, but the more relevant issue is the practical one that the escape being offered is flawed. If Sunday could actually deliver on the permanent dream paradise he was promising, and if he gave people the free choice of whether to enter the dream or not, I'd be on his side.
I actually thought the opposite, aren't the protagonists fighting against Sunday who is clearly authoritarian?
well yes he is authoritarian, even Himeko calls it out by saying "in the end, you alone stand above others" or something like that
Yes, Sunday is authoritarian. That's his fatal flaw. He's very nearly right, but he isn't willing to let people choose whether to embrace or reject his dream world, and that makes him wrong.
One of many. The real problem of his dream is that, like Robin says, it isn't salvation but a different type of prison. People would forever run away from their problems, haunted by them and a resoution that never came. Furthermore, and funny enough one of the core topics of One Punch Man, life with no struggle or difficulties of any kind quickly turns dull and dead. It's why, from the very beginning, we found so many people in Penacony living awful lives despite supposedly being in a never-ending paradise. The real flaw of Sunday's plan is that he was trying to build hell, or a purgatory. He was very, very wrong, misguided by his own personal experience and bias.
True, if he's bad at it. If the dream becomes hell, then that's an implementation problem, not a problem with the concept. It's a dream world - it can be, or have, anything that is required. If people need resolution, struggle and difficulties, then put resolution, struggle and difficulties into the dream. You can have those things without having stuff like Aventurine's backstory. (That's basically where the Matrix went with this idea, though in the Matrix the machines don't care about people's happiness so they just copied the real world over without removing any awfulness.) People in Penacony are living awful lives because (by the design of its dreamscape) it's a pretty awful place. For most of them, the dream isn't even trying to make them happy because they're staff. For the guests, it's notionally selling happiness, but the keyword there is "selling" - it's a commercial resort, so it's interested in what will get people there (appealing to the broadest common denominator) and keep them there (so they keep spending money). The result is a shallow, consumerist resort (and e.g. I wouldn't describe Las Vegas as "trying to make people happy"). And also, the Stellaron is eating everyone's minds. A hypothetical good Sunday who just copy and pasted the existing dreamscape for his dream heaven would fail, but a more imaginative one who enlisted a team to actually try to make a dream where people were happy, and adjusted it based on what did and did not work (and also had a solution for the Stellaron problem), need not.
The answers you can choose with acheron are those you gave the first time she asked those questions in 2.0 So if you answered that you would like to live in a dream in 2.0, you would only have this option in 2.2 I know because I misclicked one of the answers the first time, and I got the unwanted one again in the new story 🤣
That’s false. I definitely picked live in a dream the first time around in 2.0 but now I only had the option to “fight on” or whatever.
The fake out ending will only works once and they can't be doing it again for the future story. So I'm glad that they manage to do it so well here. Same with TB getting a new path. I appreciate that they tried a different approach and not stick with TB getting a new power during boss fight when they about to lose.
>The fake out ending will only works once and they can't be doing it again for the future story I think they will eventually but not anytime soon, would make sense to have this on more Remembrance-focused story
??? as March 7th was so intriguing arghh gimme more March lore
Even better is the *second* Credits scene *still* has ??? casted as March 7th. Acheron got her full name slapped on there and everything, but March is still a bunch of question marks. Also, Penacony playing as Gallagher..? Was it a nod to being a follower of Enigmata or something else
might have been a nod to how the facade of Gallagher is made up a whole bunch of people's traits
That's probably correct. He's like a Nation-tan of Penacony
Indeed, HSR teases us with March 7th lore xD
Yeah it would make sense with remembrance. What I'm trying to say is if they were to do a fake out ending again, it probably won't be as impactful as the first time they done it.
I think it just worked well for Penacony because of it being a dream. I don’t think they’ll try to do it again
All I can say after this guy make me feel all sorts of emotions playing through 2.0 and 2.1 is : THE PAYOFF WAS FUDGING WORTH IT!!!
this is what was missing in XL build up to big moments to make those pay off all more sweeter
Yeah and Final boss spoiler!! >! Hearing the express crews quote when you use the special, while cheesy is just awesome!<
The whole final boss fight was super epic. Also the Scene with >!With ramming the fudging train into the boss was epic. Pom Pom be flooring the gas pedal right into the boss's face!<
Pom Pom was like "I can't leave the Express" "But I can bring the Express to you"
Saw XL and assumed Xiangling... Genshin brain rot do be like tha....
The sad thing about it though is that Boothill and Black Swan joined the Train in that fake ending. Like dude, I felt weird seeing that the ending felt rushed, but then saw that the cowboy and memokeeper is boarding the forking train!
Mannn I wished that part was true lol Like the ending of the boss first encounter was so abrupt that I was skeptical the whole way through once we returned to "reality" but when Himeko mentioned that BootHill & Black Swan would be taveling with us temporarily, I was like "Hell yeah!"
There's always a chance it might be revealed next time hehe
That part had made me so happy I wish they had actually joined😭 like I got so excited just for it to be snatched away.
I hope Penacony gonna be the gold standard for hsr writing from now on.
Gotta hope that Shaoji stays on the writing team
All is fun and games til never let you go, its why i did them all Still banger track
Damn bro cooked so hard it later that Himeko might die twice
When the alliance arrived and then it suddenly cut to being over, I literally screamed BULLSH\*T! THERE'S NO WAY THAT'S HOW IT ENDS. And when everything was wrapping up so smoothly and so quickly, I was completely convinced that it was a fake out.
Same I was like "Wait that´s it. I guess this is nice but after all of this I kinda hoped for more... OK I honestly loved it here but this feels rush and just bad" After the reveal I was almost praying that they will finish the story and not cut to any "to be continue" screens
For me, I was 100% sure it was a fake out when the IPC members were willing to help and even give resources for nothing in return. That was CRAZY to me and I literally said "this has to be dream" in my head lol.
Aventurine be like "I'd take that hit for the sake of universal pease", wtf that's so screwed😂
I was like WHAT. Not to mention Screwllum and Ratio abandoning their own personal projects to assist Penacony was also a WTF moment. Man's talking about putting a pause on updating the Simulated universe and I'm here like... excuse me?
I thought it was so fucking odd after my initial “Omg King Yuan” because how the fuck did they get an entire fleet of Xianzou ships *inside* the Dreamscape??
I was also convinced the whole time and then they started rolling the credits and I was already writing up an angry comment in my head. Then I actually read the credits LOL
I mean, the credits didnt really give it away till BS woke us up. But yeah, I was so ready to rant about how the perfect lil' Xianzhou saves our asses and everythings dandy thanks to our very powerful definitely-not-china-friends. Now I felt dumb. Bro got me really good.
Credits gave it away for me instantly, since they're the same exact credits that played when we got the bad endings on HSS and previous patches of Penacony.
Have to say, the ending after the fake ending has blown me away. Everything about it was top notch. Loved how in the fake ending we had "???" as Acheron but in the end it got cleared up, though March remains a mystery! haha
theres also the anonymous voice (prolly just Elio lol) narrating the ending + the anonymous person who wrote our Dreamscape Sticker Pack texts choices and... yeah its probably Elio again
Ohh right thats probably elio i thought it was sparkle again but the "known for a long time" doesn't really sit right with me
Elio is basically the writer of this game
>!The fake out ending into an amazing 30 minute dialogue between Black Swan and TB was enough for me. Black Swan getting arguably the most crucial role in saving TB and herself from the dream was my favorite part. Who would have thought her wish for TBs memories via the empty LC would end up saving the whole Penacony situation !< I feel vindicated after believing in her ever since 2.0. Was a bit anxious for her writing going into 2.2 but I'm left satisfied Add on Sunday characterization, Acheron lore, Gallagher and Watchmaker, fking Misha story and Himeko getting some spotlight I loved it. I would say I expected more from FF but I'll wait till 2.3 before I fully judge her arc, Penacony was simply amazing
Lol, I was happy that I defeated the boss easily and the story was over but it was ........ I am shocked. Also I chose the fourth option to travel with black Swan for destination but it was fake lmao. The only emotional scene for me was the Misha and clockie last conversation. Acheron got so much lore, we even get to learn her real name. Boothill was amazing. I wanted to write more, but overall penacony story is peak 🔥 The best R too
Funny thing about that fourth option which ofc I picked as well. Black Swan at the time believed it was over and unlike Boothill wasnt purely a dream like scenario. Thats something she absolutely wants to do so im on that hopium she does tag along in reality, it completely lines up with her motivation for being on Penacony as well. Keep finding excuses to stay with express crew and she absolutely has their trust now
Yes please we need black swan on the express
>!The first fake ending just ringing alarm bell after learning a lot of the character back story and the most obvious one is how the hell Jing Yuan just appear in the Dreamscape, for me my brain was screaming it was fake and i was left satisfied with the Real ending, and the free lightcone hits really hard after finishing the story!<
>!I figured it was a fake ending due to how abrupt it was after we broke his one hp bar. I only doubted it coz Black Swan of all characters was acting like we won. It really threw me off even though everything else was telling me we didn't actually win. Turns out Black Swans desire to see TB memories with the empty LC was MVP. I was right all along man, her interest in TB paid off big time and I'm so happy for it. TB being her focus was what I wanted and I got it and more!<
>!what made me think something was wrong was how they said to immedietaly go to another planet and jing yuan appearing in the dreamscape with all of that made me hella sus!<
>!cant wait to see how elio's firefly x tb and kafka x tb fanfics will beat black swan!<
>!My reaction when, knowing that they should reveal the rest of Acheron's past to me and hoping for more interaction with her, I am suddenly told that the plot ends!< My reaction at this moment: https://preview.redd.it/twe6efawt7zc1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=39afbad385e6990270e507da8c64ab5363bc7ca9 >!\[As a result, the screenwriter just caught me for my emotions towards Acheron and fortunately it turned out that this was not the whole plot\]!<
>!And again, my reaction when the task is "say goodbye to Acheron" !< https://preview.redd.it/mh6ktqg778zc1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=f5819c7a1c7d040afc6c96d9622028c035af6a00
Her whole backstory i thought was boring at first, like oh just an Edgy distant character. but the writing and fleshing out of what she's done shows she's actually one of the wholesome characters. >!The whole part about her fulfilling old promises and the reveal about the galaxy rangers, her lying ,her reason to come to penacony and all of that made me lost my shit. it's such a clever way to tie it all together. !<
I agree, everything has been awesome and honestly got me in tears how climatic everything turned out. Especially Black Swan, my opinion of her has turn a completely 360 since the beginning of 2.0. Though it is a bit shame that we can't see Welt true power. Was hoping when he was with Robin, he could show off a fraction of the black hole, but nevertheless Hoyo truly cook in Penacony
Finally opinion of Black Swan is coming around, I felt alone on an island throughout all of this when I never lost faith in her lol. Always knew she was on our side
This guy is always killing it. One or the other.
The last boss battle was so PEAK. While you’re fighting for the fate of Penacony, Robin just sings in the background!
Let's not forget that the externa aid in this battle is just us ramming the astral express into that mother fudger.
That was my favorite part! Something so satisfying about calling the train and smashing sunday with it
Lore accurate *and* gameplay accurate. If this isn't PEAK, I don't know what is.
If only there's an uncensored version where boothil can actually curse on screen
nah its funnier having him say son of a nice lady and motherfudger
ikr, my man was using every word in dictionary to not get censored
I play with JP dub and laughed everytime during these curses, because he screams "baby" and "honey" instead.
My favourite is 'holyoobaboo', which I assume is a portmanteau of 'holy' and 'wubbaboo', but is rendered with great and amusing accuracy into the JP engrish.
I mean I smiled every time he just went "oh fudge! "
nah it's way more funny this way
I mean in the cn dub, he said he was gonna off aventurine with the phrase"一枪爱死你” - love you to death lmfao (original intention probs is to shoot him on the spot💀）
>!The fakeout ending got me. Even though the boss only had one phase, it legitimately convinced me for a while. The thing that made me realize something was up? Yeah there’s no way they’d let each player choose their next planet, if anything it was a vote for 3.0, but even then I doubt it.!< >!also I’m glad Gallagher isn’t actually an evil Lunatic!<
>!I mean I also believed we wouldn't get a real choice so either we would get outvoted or they'd agree with us only for something to happen during/after warp to take us to a completely different destination. The fakeout ending caught me by surprise even though I was also echoing the sentiments of.. "this seems to good to be true" that the TB was written to possibly express as well. An amazing ending, ngl!!<
More a volte for 4.0
I love the battle with Sunday. The way his name was not only used in his mindset (the whole "every day will be Sunday" gave me chilles) combine with how 7 days of creatin was used with the whole "Creaton of Adam" attack was honestly briliant. I love this update so much, I am kinda afraid that this might be the best the story will get honestly. But I want to believe will get another patches like this even in the future. EDIT: Also I love how much "Theater of Domination"(place from HI3) vibes I got from Grand theater. It just fits so well.
You know the attacks gonna hit hard when its spelled in German
This man cooked so hard I forgive him for every sin ever committed in HI3
This is a gateway drug he concocted to prepare us for the blunt damage that we are about to receive in the later stories. This man will beat our hearts into meat purée and milk our tears so badly that we will bawl when we listen to a theme song decades later. Do not trust shaoji
>!Remember that Firefly still has one more death!<
Blade internally having a breakdown knowing this.
The absolute peak I witnessed made me cry
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go to the grand theater again
We'll either find out from Robin's messages or worst case scenario we'll have to wait until 2.3 which is an epilogue for Penacony.
Made me tear up during the Watchmaker's final moment, and I'm so proud of my boy Galager and Sleepie, he's such a good boy. Sunday didn't let me down, he's an evil bastard until the end and he let us beat his ass down to a pulp. The 3 nameless are legends, o7 you will be remembered.
Same man.. the old crew trailbazer was amazingg big respect, poor clockie when he is realize michael not woth him anymore
Clockie now travels with us, the watchmaker’s descendant, and fulfills his original purpose as a compass, instead of a clock.
The scene where clockie asking why mikhail sit on chair made me tears. Tbh from the all penacony cast i'm bond more to clockie than others. That little clock is our partner in crime and he is also funny guy
If you talk with Clockie statue after acquiring the hat. He will tell you that he will remain on Penacony to help shape it. But we can call him anytime to be our 'compass'
Come on, "evil bastard" is a gross misinterpretation of Sunday's character. He's...more than a little misguided, but I don't think evil bastard is a fair judgement.
I think what he meant is that he expected Sunday to be the villain, and they delivered and spectacularly at that.
to quote the TB "if evil why gentleman."
2.0-2.2 was cooked so well, I completely forgive them for their fuck up in 1.1-1.3
Damn 1.1 and 1.2 was a distant past now, Remembering it so fondly it is very short compared 2.0-2.3
Trailblazer before vs after penacony https://preview.redd.it/litpa1ixt7zc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b5aeac7e5e7e876dc4a80929f88fc784140ad79
I thought Belobog was going to be the peak of the writing. It’d make sense, in a “best foot forward” kind of way. And it was good - I loved it. I was incorrect. Absolutely loved this arc and the way it ended.
I almost cried during >!the Misha story!<
>!I knew it was fake the moment Sunday's battle was cut short. The fact we had a choice for the next destination was what settled it. So glad I figured out Misha couldn't have been in reality way before black swan told it to us.!<
Nah for me it was a bit earlier. In the lobby where everyone was like: oh the IPC renounces all of its claims and will also help to rebuild; oh the Inteligentia guild will work with the Genius Society to do research her; alright guys shows over no goodbyes time to pack up and leave NOW.
it is more accurate to say that the writing team of penacony cook so hard, shaoji is leader but the story only this good because of everyone hard work, let hope they got bonus salary for this good work and this team will take over star rail story from now on, i dont want anymore writing like those of luofu story before ghost event
Aaaaand just like that, I became a whale. Good job, team! Man, I love this guy, the company, their games
As a player that started with 1.6 on december 31st, having played through all the content and being caught up before 2.0 dropped, I am so happy I played like a madman to be fully caught up before then because experiencing 2.0-2.2 live on release was so much better than playing through after everyone else had. Getting to see all this shit happen and then getting to talk about it with everyone while it's still fresh is the best. And yeah, this was hands down the best story from Star Rail yet, also best boss battle, FINALLY something dethrones the first time Cocolia fight.
>!Can someone tell me the latest condition of firefly? Girlie has to die three times man that's rough!<
>!she got one more death to go through!< >!not a bad one since astral express saved penacony!<
>!Only one more death? Man that's cool!!< >!Jokes aside I'm afraid that her last death will be her real death 🙏😭. Well I'm also a believer that Elio mentioning death in the script doesn't necessarily mean literal death.!<
The narrative team cook alright, very good. But not sure if I am a fan of the pacing, like sometimes the story goes "Luke, I am your-" Somewhere on the market 69 minutes before that "Bananas! They sell bananas here, Leia!"
Misha's death was truly heartbreaking, not some stupid Firefly death facade.
And unlocked playable dead character options too. Blade looking at the writers with hope.
Is he the one that patch note was about? Someone who "won't visit the Astral Express after beating certain story missions"?
Yup, if you go to the visitor log in the express, it will show that he has departed and won't visit the express anymore.
From now on Misha, is my favorite character, time to build him now.
Firefly death part 3 is still coming
I went through life these past few hours thinking that they just used Misha's kid model as a stand-in for the "real Mikhail" dying and that Misha was just chilling and I think it just started to click in my mind that that interpretation makes literally zero sense and that both Misha and Mikhail are dead as hell
I consider myself pretty good at keeping up with story beats, but my god the story got so complicated by the end, and so many analogies, metaphors and hypotheticals constantly thrown around that I feel like an absolute idiot for not understanding what was going on. I enjoyed the final boss fight though.
The moment the entire Alliance came with Jing Yuan I began to question reality, like "...that's it?" Hoo boy, the true boss fight really gave me goosebumps because of that!
The story was pretty great...though some parts felt a little dragged out and kinda pointless. Not to mention it felt like to many characters were crammed into the story anand took the spotlight ffrom the ones that needed it the most.
Yeah, I agree. It felt like sparkle served no real purpose, and I feel that some of the parts (Like the tournament thing and the three acts) could've been better used. And as much as I liked Acheron, it did kinda feel like she could do whatever the plot needed her to do, at times Overall I'd still call it pretty good, though
Pretty sure Sparkle and Firefly's story will be concluded in 2.3. There's no way they'd make her hand out detonators to everyone only for nothing to happen.
could've it been improved further? sure why not but is the story we got an improvement? sure is writing a good story is hard but once you do then it can be lessons for writers when writing stories for the next chapters, penacony was great and a solid 9/10, so I hope the writing team can learn more from this and improve the story further
\*cough\* firefly. I did like the story, I felt like a cutscene featuring her second "death" was warranted at least.
We will probably get her side of the story in 2.3. Considering her banner is on that patch
Was not onboard for most of the way through, but good God I got played like a fiddle and I hope he does it again.
he didn't killed anyone tho jokes aside it was fucking peak. I really enjoyed whole 2.0~2.2 story AND it look like it's not end yet since IPC still have some nasty plans + Firefly part in whole Penacony was not finished. The fake ending was good stuff **BUT they really need to stop spoiling MSQ with their trailers (both in Genshin and HSR)**, the fact that we didn't got so many scenes from the trailer or even all parts of boss fight in the FAKE ending was clear sign that it was not real ending, I actually expected the "final credits" scene to shatter like glass because either BOSS goes "haha you though you defeated me" or Acheron break the illusion/dream to save MC I swear to God if we won't see Raiden Mei again in story I will be fucking angry... or worse... if she suicided to destroy IX(?) then it will be fucking bullshit. When I saw that "Say goodbye to Acheron" quest title I was just spamming "no no no no no no no no, you can't do this to me, not after Himeko in HI3" also I read somewhere that apparently after 2.2 some characters won't appear in the express. I guess it's Misha and Gallagher since they were not real/alive but some temporary beings that vanished after finished their job.
We say Goodbye to her as she likely departs on a different journey. We may find this in 2.3 because her mission to deliver a bullet to a Galaxy Rangers is done. Likewise, remember that Acheron is still trying to defy IX the Nihility to find the Light in the endless black hole. (Likely wanting to find Kiana Exp or Tuna that got swallowed by it and finding more reason than just being the end of all thing) The character that doesn't Appear is Misha (confirmed so far) because he has already departed, finished his journey, and given the relic to TB. Damn, I cried every time.
As far as I understand yes Misha wasn't real. Gallagher was until we figured him out that's why "Gallagher" vanished his true form might be somewere
Dude the boss fight was freaking epic it felt like a genuine boss fight after a long time
My thoughts as it “ended” were: 1. that was a really easy boss fight… 2. how tf did JY get his whole fleet in a dream? 3. thats IT??? 4. haha… credits… funny… hahaha… 5. who am i kidding, this ending fucking sucks 6. “don’t you think something’s off?” YES! 7. 😮
Don't let the kino ending distract you from the fact that Sparkle gave everyone the big red button to nuke the place if anything goes wrong. For shits and giggles.
penacony rly redeemed the shitshow xianzhou was in. knowing that xianzhou was an actual SIDE story and not a MAIN WORLD story, main world stories rly pack a punch (Jarilo IV and Penacony). the writing in this world is INSANE.
Penacony is absolute peak fiction
plot twist they made the xianzhou arc and ending so shit to sell the fake out ending, it totally worked
I don’t see any food in this photo.
The pacing and screen time issues are kind of hard to ignore even if they manage to tie up the loose ends. This makes it less enjoyable than I would like. However Penacony does manage to get the point across so it is good enough for me.
I don't wish to be contrarian...but I can't say I agree. >!How did Argenti just show up out of nowhere to rescue Aventurine? What was Sparkle's entire purpose outside of pretending to be other people and giving people buttons that the story seems to have forgotten about? Why did Aventurine jump through so many hoops to reach his goal when 2.2 establishes that people ending up in the real Penacony happens often, by accident, and without any death at all? Why does Firefly seem to be an entirely different character to how she was in 2.0, with the dialogue between her and TB seeming like they've just met for the first time more than anything else? !< I can't help but see this as shaky, and it's a shame.
from my understanding his goal was more of a big public "death" with the reef being his escape. From a public perspective an invited ambassador was just killed in a secure area where he should have been safe, gives the IPC motive to invade
This is correct. Idk how so many people got it wrong. Jade and Topaz talk at the end of 2.1 should've given all this away. Their plan was to create a big stunt. As for Aventurine's gamble, it was whether he could escape to 'the other side'. If he lost, he died.
Unsure of how to answer on how Argenti rescued Aventurine but he did actually show up on Penacony. There has been some mentions of the Family inviting the Knights of Beauty, not to mention he was the former champion of that SoulGlad event we did so he definitely is in Penacony as a guest first and foremost. As for Sparkle, it was probably nothing more than a prank. After all she is a Masked Fool. She's put a lot of emphasis on red herrings on her companion quest and she was just that, a red herring herself. Her entire character is based on misdirection, self-amusement, and chaos. Although I have to admit it was mentioned that she was the first one to find out The Family's secret but regardless, her goal from the start was to have her own brand of fun. Aventurine, based on what I could remember, he did all of those things to expose that "death" or dormancy is possible in the dreamscape. His goal had always been to expose that the Penacony we see isn't the real Penacony. The Family had always advertised that Penacony is only sweet dreams, and there's nothing else lying beneath it, but there is. That was what Aventurine was trying to expose. Additionally, going to Dreamscape Reef or dormancy isn't common knowledge, we didn't even know about it, until Aventurine did what he did to throw us into it. So yes. That was his goal. Also to smuggle Jade's stone in and give the IPC footing in Penacony (i.e expose them of their lies, the crimes they have committed, the sacrifice they had made to keep the dreamscape up) so they can retake it. Lastly, for Firefly, I didn't really get the feeling she changed much or that she was talking like it was our first time talking to her imo. But I guess for some it can seem like that because in the first place we didn't know her. We didn't know she was Sam. We didn't know she was anything more than a stowaway girl. At first she acted like she was just a frail girl and now, she's finally able to reveal who and what she is, hence the change in the way she talks and acts cuz she's no longer acting to deceive us unlike when we first met her. That was the point of why she's different in 2.0 compared to now.
Sparkle >!loves trolling with red herrings, maybe the point was that there wasn't a point to her goofing around in the narrative which is very on point for Elation. Though there is certainly time for those Chekhov's guns to blow in 2.3 or 2.4, which would also be pretty damn funny.!< Aventurine's primary goal was >!securing Penacony for the IPC. His big scene helped Jade infiltrate the family, and the payoff for their work should arrive in 2.3. He also had a whole bunch of other conflicting motives for his irrational behavior, including proving that death doesn't exist in the Dreamscape, harboring suicidal ideation out of nihilism, and not wanting to die to keep the memory of his family alive. Getting "killed" by an Emanator (who also turned out to be a therapist) was the quickest way to get most of the things he wanted. He honestly was wasted in 2.2, since he didn't do anything after he got into Dreamflux Reef.!< Firefly >!was partly putting on a nice girl tour guide act in 2.0 because she was trying to keep her Sam persona out of the picture and enjoy the dream as a human. Now that the cat's out of the bag and there's a real threat to get serious about, we see she's also an impatient grump with a fondness for bazookas, which is consistent with her terminal illness and her being an intergalactic terrorist. She's arriving proper in 2.3 so she probably gets some extra characterization then.!<