I never played one'a these here gacha games before, but this one has a girl with a shark tail in it, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm a few hours in now, and here are some non-comprehensive impressions.

Pro:

- It's pretty fun! The gameplay is a combination of third-person action combat (mostly melee, though some characters do have ranged abilities) and puzzles of various types (Bomberman style, á la mode "slidey piece puzzle", and so on). The missions are grouped based on which type predominates, but they'll often throw you a curve ball and drop a puzzle into the middle of a combat mission, or a fight at the end of a puzzle. I sometimes find this tendency a bit annoying, but I respect the intention to keep things fresh.

The combat works a little bit like it does in fighting games, with each character knowing a few canned moves and combos that can be chained together in ways much more intricate than my antique brain can accommodate. You're operating with a squad of three, usually, and can switch between the active agent at will, so that adds a layer of complexity, plus they have a large network of assists and coop moves that I often don't know about before I semi-accidentally press the combination of switches that cause them to happen. I will freely acknowledge that I am no more than a high-function button masher in this type of game, but it's gotten me through so far, and lately I feel like I might be getting the beginnings of a handle on it.

- The worldbuilding is interesting. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world that's more or less back on its feet, which is my favorite kind of post-apocalyptic setting. Humanity is down to a single city, as far as I can tell, and said city must be constantly defended, but inside the perimeter the standard of living is quite good. The ongoing hazard takes the form of spatial distortions called Hollows, inside which things look familiar but somewhat altered in slightly unnerving ways. As the name suggests, space acts strangely inside Hollows, and it's easy to get lost in there. People who spend too long in a Hollow are at serious risk of either being killed by the monsters that roam around in them, or turning into more of such monsters themselves. On the other hand, there's a lot of neat stuff in there and they can also make useful shortcuts between places in the real world, so people go into them without proper authorization all the time--kind of like the Zone in Roadside Picnic, but with the added complication that exactly where they are in the real world fluctuates over time.

You play as a Proxy--an illegal facilitator with the knowledge base and technology needed to guide people into and out of Hollows, for purposes of exploration, looting, or whatever. The playable characters you use for combat missions are the stalkers (as it were; they're obviously not called that in the game) you're guiding, who are taking their cues in action from you, not unlike the way you "command" the soldiers in XCOM-type games.

- The characters are charming. This is not a particularly grim post-apocalyptic world; people are getting their shit together and mostly doing all right. As such, most of the playable characters and significant NPCs you interact with are decent folks with whom it's a pleasure to interact. I like their art style, too.

If there's an explanation for why there are Friends-style animal people (and some not so; one of the Agents I've rolled so far is an actual bear, as opposed to a kemomimi-style "man with bear features", who also happens to be an accountant) and supernatural creatures roaming around this mostly-technological setting, I haven't run across it yet, but just to give you a feel for the vibe: I first took an interest in this game because of the shark girl, but once I started playing, one of the first Agents I rolled was this one. She's a blue oni in a necktie with kusogaki energy. Uh, don't mind if I do. To quote a line BZA wrote for G in OWaW, "We both know you have a type, Lieutenant Oxton."

Also, this girl is clearly Flandre in biker cosplay. I mean, they didn't even try. :)

- The visuals please me. The Hollows feel slightly uncanny but not too creepy, the city setting is attractive, and the combat graphics are flashy without being overwhelming, at least once you turn off the Borderlands-style flying damage numbers. This measure is entirely subjective, of course, but for what it's worth, I think it looks really good.

Cons:

- It's a gacha game, which means it's a single-player game that runs like it's a free-to-play MMO, with a loader, constant updates, special events happening all the time, and constant, relentless monetization. It will nag you mercilessly to check out whatever's going on today, even if all you want out of life is to continue the mission chain you left off in the middle of last night. Fortunately, for the most part that stuff is readily clicked through so you can get the thing to stop blinking in the upper left and get on with your day.

- The "administrative" gameplay component is insanely complicated. There are literally dozens upon dozens of different things that need to be leveled, upgraded, optimized, etc. to keep your agents, support mechanisms, etc. current, and each one requires a different part, widget, currency, and so on to do it with. The game does a pretty good job of pacing out the introductions of all these mechanisms so they're not all dumped on you at once, but I have to admit I'm still pretty fuzzy on what at least two-thirds of them actually do and/or are for. Again, this feels very like the worse habits of MMOs.

- On the flip side of that, you know how the XCOM games had those looooooong tutorial arcs that kept you locked out of huge swathes of the game until it decided you were good and ready to deal with them? Yeah, ZZZ has a ton of that going on. I've leveled into the low 30s (no idea what the level cap is, or even if there is one) and it's still happening. I admit it's kind of necessary with how complicated the game is, but even so, having to get 12 hours into the game before the social-links-with-your-agents minigame unlocks seems a little excessive.

- It's a gacha game, part deux: all those charming characters are locked, and you have to roll randomly for them using in-game tokens that can be earned through gameplay, but are calibrated to take long enough that you'll bust out your wallet. This is just the nature of this kind of beast.

I am pleased to report that I have paid zero dollars thus far for character unlocking purposes. The only real-world money I have parted with for this game's sake was to buy one agent an alternate outfit. Millions* for cosmetics but not one cent for tribute, as President Jefferson intended. :)

* well, OK, 10 bucks

Anyway, yeah. This has been a disjointed report on an expedition into territory that was previously unknown to me, and about which I've frankly been pretty suspicious for years. And I still am, for the most part, but I think I'll keep playing this particular one for a while. It's kinda neat.

--G.
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>I am pleased to report that I have paid zero dollars thus far for
>character unlocking purposes. The only real-world money I have parted
>with for this game's sake was to buy one agent an alternate outfit.
>Millions* for cosmetics but not one cent for tribute, as President
>Jefferson intended. :)

I make it a rule that, if I break and spend money on a gacha game, I have to keep track of what I spend. If it comes close to a full price game in less than a reasonable timeframe, I uninstall regardless. This has saved me from several games that were turning into money sinks, and seems to have taught me restraint on others.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

>>I am pleased to report that I have paid zero dollars thus far for
>>character unlocking purposes. The only real-world money I have parted
>>with for this game's sake was to buy one agent an alternate outfit.
>>Millions* for cosmetics but not one cent for tribute, as President
>>Jefferson intended. :)
>
>I make it a rule that, if I break and spend money on a gacha game, I
>have to keep track of what I spend.

That seems reasonable. I reckon I would be terrified and/or consumed with shame if I had some way of calculating how much I dropped on GTA Online back in the day... and that's not even a gacha game.

--G.
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>That seems reasonable. I reckon I would be terrified and/or consumed
>with shame if I had some way of calculating how much I dropped on GTA
>Online back in the day... and that's not even a gacha game.

There is also the logic that ZZZ, and a number of other games, update with new content on a fairly regular basis, which is why I'm not opposed to some purchases. It's like subscription fees for MMOs. As long as you don't go overboard, it's fine. But I am well aware it's all too easy with some games to become a 'whale', and that's the part I watch for with paranoia.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

I feel the same way about Fire Emblem Heroes, which is why I uninstalled it several years ago and have never touched a gacha game since, out of fear that it would happen again.

>I feel the same way about Fire Emblem Heroes, which is why I
>uninstalled it several years ago and have never touched a gacha game
>since, out of fear that it would happen again.

That was the first game I uninstalled for that reason, not long after they went REALLY obnoxious on the 'gimme cash' dance.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

>I make it a rule that, if I break and spend money on a gacha game, I
>have to keep track of what I spend. If it comes close to a full price
>game in less than a reasonable timeframe, I uninstall regardless. This
>has saved me from several games that were turning into money sinks,
>and seems to have taught me restraint on others.

It helps if you append rules like "only spend on cosmetics" or "spend on minor things like a monthly pass." Also save any premium currency the game gives you for events, as there are usually enough big hitters in the normal gacha to clear the game's main story. There are YTers who have made careers out of posting strategies on how to clear even high-level content on the biggest games with low-level units.

>It helps if you append rules like "only spend on cosmetics" or "spend
>on minor things like a monthly pass."

No. If I go near a full price game in terms of spending, I uninstall. Regardless of if that $100 was spent on new units or just fancy skins for them. 'Only Cosmetic' is a trap that's nearly bitten me HARD before.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

LAST EDITED ON Feb-02-25 AT 12:18 PM (EST)
 
I think the extra qualifications were meant in addition to, rather than instead of, the hard cap. The rules about what you spend on means you'll go longer before reaching it.

(Not that I have any real experience here. The only "gatcha" game I've ever played is Holocure, which is impossible to spend money on. It's an Eater of Days, not of cash. EDIT: Actually, my closest comparison would in fact be MtG, which is an entirely different ecosystem since the "cosmetics" would be variant-art cards that sell on the secondary market for obscene markups.)

What finally got me to stop playing the latest iteration of Civilization, and most other 4X games, was losing too many weekends to them. Just swallowed whole, without so much as a burp.

LAST EDITED ON Feb-01-25 AT 01:37 AM (EST)
 
>Also, this girl
>is clearly Flandre in biker cosplay. I mean, they didn't
>even try. :)

"Blonde with twintails, associated with pigs" all but screams "Akai Haato" to me, even though a glance at her lore doesn't show much that particularly matches what little I know of Haato-chan or Haachama.

>- The "administrative" gameplay component is insanely
>complicated. There are literally dozens upon dozens of different
>things that need to be leveled, upgraded, optimized, etc. to keep your
>agents, support mechanisms, etc. current, and each one requires a
>different part, widget, currency, and so on to do it with. The game
>does a pretty good job of pacing out the introductions of all these
>mechanisms so they're not all dumped on you at once, but I have to
>admit I'm still pretty fuzzy on what at least two-thirds of them
>actually do and/or are for. Again, this feels very like the worse
>habits of MMOs.

Oof, I feel this one. I tried out Arknights, a similar "post-apocalypse where you have to recruit Cute Girls to save the world" gacha, and while the actual gameplay was fun, the main menu where you try to navigate all the things you're supposed to do for the day made my eyes roll over and go (TILT)_(TILT) like an old-time cartoon.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

>Oof, I feel this one. I tried out Arknights, a similar
>"post-apocalypse where you have to recruit Cute Girls to save the
>world" gacha, and while the actual gameplay was fun, the main menu
>where you try to navigate all the things you're supposed to do for the
>day made my eyes roll over and go (TILT)_(TILT) like an old-time
>cartoon.

The unwritten rule of gacha games is that the ease of accessing a useful feature is inversely proportional to how much money the publisher gets in the end.

Hence why vital game mechanics are behind a minimum 4-5 screens and require endless swapping to do basic tasks, while accessing the gacha itself (particularly the paid portion) is always one button push away.

You're not wrong with the level of hiding of stuff, but something about Arknights' menus was extra mind-boggling to me.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

>>- The "administrative" gameplay component is insanely
>>complicated. There are literally dozens upon dozens of different
>>things that need to be leveled, upgraded, optimized, etc. to keep your
>>agents, support mechanisms, etc. current, and each one requires a
>>different part, widget, currency, and so on to do it with. The game
>>does a pretty good job of pacing out the introductions of all these
>>mechanisms so they're not all dumped on you at once, but I have to
>>admit I'm still pretty fuzzy on what at least two-thirds of them
>>actually do and/or are for. Again, this feels very like the worse
>>habits of MMOs.
>
>Oof, I feel this one. I tried out Arknights, a similar
>"post-apocalypse where you have to recruit Cute Girls to save the
>world" gacha, and while the actual gameplay was fun, the main menu
>where you try to navigate all the things you're supposed to do for the
>day made my eyes roll over and go (TILT)_(TILT) like an old-time
>cartoon.
>
>"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

Honestly, it's only daunting at first but just playing the game you get used to what all the menus are or spend time going through. More than half of it you don't need to open on any given day.

>- The worldbuilding is interesting. The game is set in a
>post-apocalyptic world that's more or less back on its feet, which is
>my favorite kind of post-apocalyptic setting.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention one of my favorite features of the setting. You know how the Fallout games are set in the remnants of the 2070s as envisioned in 1950s America? ZZZ is kind of like that, except the "source decade" is 1980s Japan. Kei trucks, graphic tees, tube TVs everywhere. Videocassettes are the storage tech of choice. The protagonists actually run a videotape rental store--who remembers those? Clearly whoever designed the game's 3D environments does.

--G.
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LAST EDITED ON Feb-05-25 AT 07:35 PM (EST)
 
I appear to have acquired a wolfman butler. He'll go well with my shark and Frankenstein-monster maids. At least I assume that's what Corin is supposed to be? She doesn't have that "stitched together/mismatched skin tones" thing, but the "screw heads" motif in her hair ornaments and clothes feels very James Whale Frankenstein-coded, and it fits with how everyone else in Victoria Housekeeping has some kind of supernatural monster theme.

--G.
he's very polite, although I feel like his accent should be German, not English
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LAST EDITED ON Feb-06-25 AT 10:07 AM (EST) by Gryphon (admin)
 
If I had a coin for every shark maid I knew, I'd have 2 coins . . .

now which one is more likely to end up knocking over stuff with her tail?
"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

>now which one is more likely to end up knocking over stuff with her tail?

Ellen is more physically competent, but her tail is longer, so I suspect it's a bit of a wash.

--G.
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>I appear to have acquired a
>wolfman butler.

>he's very polite, although I feel like his accent
>should be German, not English

I mostly know him as the wolfman that causes female vtubers to go "I'm not a furry, but..."

I gotta say, given the reputation this type of game has, I wasn't expecting to be so taken with the story. I'm really getting to be fond of some of these characters.

--G.
cutest biker gang ever
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From the little I've seen, Nikke also has some solid story beats; their tagline should just about be "Nikke: Come for the T&A, stay for the emotional trauma!"

(Not an endorsement, just an observation)

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

>From the little I've seen, Nikke also has some solid story beats;
>their tagline should just about be "Nikke: Come for the T&A, stay for
>the emotional trauma!"

Carrying on the legacy of NieR: Automata.

--G.
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LAST EDITED ON Feb-08-25 AT 01:09 PM (EST)
 
I dove into ZZZ on launch and have not really regretted it. The Gatcha annoyances are present, as are some more publisher-specific things about the structuring of the, yes, excessive amount of build resources that aren't listed at the top-line description with the level that they matter just as much as, GODDAMMIT HOYO-

Soukaku unfortunately seems to be an Actual Child, not merely petite. Her actual age is unclear, partly because even once she is an unquestioned adult she Will Not Be A Clever Woman, but I could believe anything between eight and twelve, watching her interact with her adoptive mother figure.

Lucy is probably twentysomething, though, though personally I lean more towards her boss. She's such a glorious dork.

Current level cap is 60; the limited-time events have varied from Meh to Actually Quite Fun, and are usually worth the time to milk for polychromes regardless.

The game has recently, in the last patch or so, added a build planning helper (Agents, pick your target, look at the bottom of the stat block in the Base Stats tab - 'Recommended Priority: $whatever' and I believe it should include an option to take you straight to whatever grind mission you need once you select the option you wanna work on), which is a vast quality of life improvement.

-----
Iä! Iä! Moe fthagn!

LAST EDITED ON Feb-08-25 AT 01:49 AM (EST)
 
>Soukaku unfortunately seems to be an Actual Child, not merely petite.
>Her actual age is unclear, partly because even once she is an
>unquestioned adult she Will Not Be A Clever Woman, but I could believe
>anything between eight and twelve, watching her interact with her
>adoptive mother figure.

She's supposedly older than Yanagi, but it's not clear what the oni lifespan is like in the ZZZ world. It might be one of those asari-style "I am only a century old, barely considered able to fend for myself" situations. (She's also apparently illiterate, although again, we have no data on whether that's normal for an oni in that world.)

Also, that raises the slightly hilarious prospect that, if not already full-grown, when she is full-grown she might be eight feet tall and built like Caesar, like the stereotypical oni woman in manga-adjacent media. I rather hope not, for purely personal reasons, but it's an entertaining image all the same. :)

--G.
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>She's supposedly older than Yanagi, but it's not clear what the
>oni lifespan is like in the ZZZ world. It might be one of
>those asari-style "I am only a century old, barely considered able to
>fend for myself" situations. (She's also apparently illiterate,
>although again, we have no data on whether that's normal for an
>oni in that world.)

Assuming something didn't get mistranslated or misinterpreted, yeah, oni would have to age slower.

Given the trailer showing how she and Yanagi met, whether or not it's normal for oni in general, it makes perfect sense that our little glutton never had a chance to learn.

>Also, that raises the slightly hilarious prospect that, if not already
>full-grown, when she is full-grown she might be eight feet tall
>and built like Caesar, like the stereotypical oni woman in
>manga-adjacent media. I rather hope not, for purely personal reasons,
>but it's an entertaining image all the same. :)

I'll be happy to keep that anticipation for you. Either way, it likely won't happen in the internal timeframe of the game, though.

-----
Iä! Iä! Moe fthagn!

>Given the trailer showing how she and Yanagi met, whether or not it's
>normal for oni in general, it makes perfect sense that our little
>glutton never had a chance to learn.

It makes me sad that the reason for her "constantly hungry" running gag is the same reason my aunt's rescue dog always ate like she was on a tight deadline. :/

--G.
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My first thought on seeing her was that she's Hatsune Miku: Oni Edition, and Miku's kayfabe makes her adolescent rather than adult, soooo...

There are a handful of missions in one of the currently running events where you have to meet an "NPC" version of one or another Agent in the mission instance to get a little bit of a briefing before you start. I wondered what would happen if you put the same Agent on your squad for that mission, since it doesn't stop you from doing so.

Well, as it turns out, this happens. :)

--G.
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>There are a handful of missions in one of the currently running events
>where you have to meet an "NPC" version of one or another Agent in the
>mission instance to get a little bit of a briefing before you start.
>I wondered what would happen if you put the same Agent on your squad
>for that mission, since it doesn't stop you from doing so.
>
>Well, as it turns out, this happens. :)
>
>

I had that happen in Genshin Impact, also by Mihoyo, and I'd pulled Xiangling just before the quest about Xiangling. She had no reaction to another her running around.

>She had no reaction to another her running around.

Yeah, Lucy was unmoved by the appearance of another Lucy as well, except probably to reflect in her internal monologue that their contact for this mission was quite a distinguished-looking young lady.

--G.
"It was 1965, in a club called The Matrix. There I was--mother of God, there I am! Holy fuck?! Uhh... clearly I was a victim of the drug culture."
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Any time I see scenes like these, there's a quote from UF's ancient history that pops into my head:

"Like done. Wolfgang's like beside himself."
"Neat trick. Yuri, lay in coordinates for Planitia and
begin spacefold calculations."

I think of the moment where Pavel Chekov beams aboard Picard's Enterprise to collect a certain extremely unconscious PsiCop, and remarks on what a handsome devil he is.

>I think of the moment where Pavel Chekov beams aboard Picard's
>Enterprise to collect a certain extremely unconscious PsiCop,
>and remarks on what a handsome devil he is.

"Do I really look like that?"

"Yeah. You do."

"I'd give you a driving licence."

"Mm, I bet you would."

"Oh, this is how it all ends. Pond flirting with herself. True love at last."

--G.
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... at least this forum seems to have a reasonably balanced view of the whole thing.

Most of what I've seen outside of here is Rat Thirst.

So much Rat Thirst.

>Most of what I've seen outside of here is Rat Thirst.
>
>So much Rat Thirst.

Jane's OK, but I tend to prefer my rats a little more... antipodean and chaotic.

--G.
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>Jane's OK, but I tend to prefer my rats a little more... antipodean
>and chaotic.

Only tangentially related, but zombies can also be operated upside down, if sufficiently motivated

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

>>Jane's OK, but I tend to prefer my rats a little more... antipodean
>>and chaotic.
>
>Only tangentially related, but zombies can also be operated upside
>down, if sufficiently motivated

This gave me an instant flashback to the 1994 The Crow.

FUN BOY
Jesus Christ!

ERIC
Jesus Christ walks into a hotel...

--G.
I now invite you to re-envision that entire movie with Olivia as the live Eric in flashbacks and Ollie as the dead one
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First NMS, now this game. WTF is this industry's obsession with adding fishing minigames to everyfuckingthing?

--G.
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I wasn't expecting to like Astra much, because I'm not really into the diva type, but it turns out she's a giant goofball. I love the way the characters in this game play around with the stereotypes.

--G.
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Your first equipable Bangboo being a Hobo with a Knife is a bold choice game.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

>Your first equipable Bangboo being a Hobo with a Knife is a bold
>choice game.

While the other Bangboo were partying, Bagboo studied the blade.

--G.
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So, I've played a bit of ZZZ, drawn a few interesting characters from the Gacha, I'm enjoying what I've seen of it.

But honestly the game getting most of my time these days is Honkai: Star Rail, another MiHoYo offering.

The protagonist (with the usual offering of either gender, although in this case the gender not chosen is never seen again) awakens, amnesiac, aboard a space station owned by Herta - who is clearly inspired heavily by Washuu. She's not just a scientist, she's a member of the Genius Society, those favored by the Aeon (read: god) Nous, The Erudition. The station is not just her own research laboratory, it's home to hundreds of other scientists working on their own research projects or assisting on hers.

Unfortunately for all involved, the protagonist has awakened in the middle of an assault by a group called The Antimatter Legion, followers of the Aeon Nanook, The Destruction. So your first task is to help fight off the invaders, in company with the cheerful and photo-happy (and cute) March 7th and the dour, spear-wielding Dan Heng.

March and Dan, we learn, are not part of the station crew, but from the Astral Express, a spacegoing train created by the (now-deceased) Aeon Akivili, The Trailblaze. The Express laid down most of the hyperspace routes used by star travellers today, and the new crew strives to follow Akivili's ideals as they wander the universe, doing good deeds. With the Antimatter Legion mostly driven off the station, the protagonist is invited to join them in their travels.

Our adventures move on from there to other worlds, dealing with the disasters and messes that are going on upon each, generally involving mysterious artifacts called "Stellarons", which are a bit like the Holy Grail in Fate/Stay-Night - immensely powerful cat's-paw wishing machines that tend to end up destroying the world they end up on.

Worlds we've visited so far include Jarilo VI, an ice planet isolated from the universe for centuries; the Xianzhou Luofu, a gigantic city-ship populated by immortals with a "Imperial China meets Star Wars Prequels" aesthetic; Penacony, a dreamworld heavily inspired by 1920's Americana, and most recently Amphoreous, with heavy Ancient Greek Myth influences. Outside of the main adventures there are side missions that have you bouncing back and forth between them - managing a museum, running a pokemon tournament, saving a nifty little shopping district from being turned into a Wal*Mart, stopping a mad scientist from turning the entire population into monkeys... et cetera.

Combat is turn-based with limited choices - you have a Basic Attack (which generates Skill Points) and a Skill (that expends skill points and might be a different attack, or might be a support skill of some sort like healing or buffing). It's less frenetic than the button-mashing real-time combat of other MiHoYo games (like, say, ZZZ), but some might feel it lacks in comparison.

I've been finding the story pretty engrossing, and really enjoying things so far. Lots of cool characters to play the gacha for. Frequent callbacks to MiHoYo's flagship, Honkai Impact 3rd - several characters we meet are close matches to characters from there, and one of the Astral Express crew is a direct and deliberate crossover from there.

I haven't played HSR in months, but I do have to admit I enjoyed the game as far as I played it, which is pretty much the final boss of Penacony. (I have a bit of a grind to beat him, so I kinda fell off, I admit.)

That said, the combat system is reminiscent of the Trails series, if a bit simpler than I'd have preferred. That's a compliment, though, the Trails game have very good turn-based combat.

And I can't talk about HSR without a shoutout to the amazing sequence at the end of Jarilo. One might call it a wildfire moment. :)

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

I fell hard into Star Rail (and am still playing it), and bounced off ZZZ when it debuted. Though now, based on this thread, I've come back to it and... it's a lot more fun than I remember having my first go 'round.

So now I've got two gachas. Free time, who needs it.

That said... I find I prefer SRs combat and advancement system, but ZZZs story. Each of SRs arcs feels wholly self-contained (though rationally I know it is not), whereas ZZZs arcs all feel like they flow into and through each other much more naturally.

HSR has, I admit, kind of lost me with Amphoreus. Not in the "stop playing" sense, just in the "oh right I should probably go do... nah" sense. Most of the characters are irritating, the ones that aren't are tragic (gee, go fig, the Greek inspirations aren't exactly subtle), and for the life of me I can't figure out how or if this is supposed to tie into the overall plot (such as it is), nor why it's even interesting. The other arcs had good lead-ins. This one... bah. Maybe I'm just old and grumpy but I'd kind of like it if maybe the Mysterious Fortune Teller Lady (if you've played you know who I mean) was a little less mysterious and more up-front about why she's sending you into (hopefully only metaphorical?) hell.

For that matter I'm not sure why we're listening to her spooky ass in the first place, but that's *also* a failure on the part of the writers.

All that said I *love* most of the 'recurring cast' -- I even like the Memory Witch, for all my complaints above -- and I am genuinely interested! ... just not in this particular sidetrack.

So with that as contrast... ZZZ has *not* (yet?) fallen into that trap, from my POV. I have completed all current content and am just waiting for the next patch drop at this point, and BOY HOWDY am I curious about that post-Big Bad scene.

TLDR: HSR play good, story meh; ZZZ play meh, story good. IMO and all that. :D

--sofaspud
--Stelle > Belle tho, I will die on my trash panda's hill

>--Stelle > Belle tho, I will die on my trash panda's hill

In fairness, Belle doesn't get as many opportunities to go full Gremlin.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

>>--Stelle > Belle tho, I will die on my trash panda's hill
>
>In fairness, Belle doesn't get as many opportunities to go full
>Gremlin.

I think she actually gets more opportunities if you don't play as her, because then she's free to bag on Wise 24/7. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

> HSR has, I admit, kind of lost me with Amphoreus. Not in the "stop playing" sense, just in the "oh right I should probably go do... nah" sense. Most of the characters are irritating, the ones that aren't are tragic (gee, go fig, the Greek inspirations aren't exactly subtle), and for the life of me I can't figure out how or if this is supposed to tie into the overall plot (such as it is), nor why it's even interesting. The other arcs had good lead-ins. This one... bah. Maybe I'm just old and grumpy but I'd kind of like it if maybe the Mysterious Fortune Teller Lady (if you've played you know who I mean) was a little less mysterious and more up-front about why she's sending you into (hopefully only metaphorical?) hell.

> For that matter I'm not sure why we're listening to her spooky ass in the first place, but that's *also* a failure on the part of the writers.

So, yeah, Amphoreus is a big departure from the previos story arcs. There's a lot of sense that it's meant to be a tragedy. That we're here to witness their fall, and maybe spark their rebirth.

There are a lot of callbacks to a particular part of the backstory of Honkai Impact 3rd in this arc. Specifically the "previous era of humanity". See, 50,000 years ago, there was an advanced civilization on Earth much like our own. They fought the Honkai... and lost. A few remnants and records survived to help inform our own era of what had happened and help us in the fight. The "Flamechasers" were the last heroes of that era, who fought and (mostly) died to save what they could but in the end, lost, sowing the seeds of the next cycle's victory.

One of the things they left behind was the Elysian Realm, a VR computer simulation made from the memories of the Flamechasers, which can be visited to learn from the simulated copies of them.

And here we have Amphoreus, a civilization known only to the Memokeepers, to history. A civilization at war with a dark force that has turned the gods against it. That is defended by a small group of heroes ... who are also known as Flame-chasers, and who are in many ways distorted reflections of the Flamechasers of HI3rd's Previous Era.

It has been a frequent trend in HSR that while things may not be direcfly copied from HI3rd, they will - like history - often rhyme.

So there is a lot of speculation among players that what we are actually exploring and interacting with is - much like the Elysian Realm - a recording, a memory, a simulation. That the heroes' quest will inevitably fail, but that we will be able to salvage something from it that will live on into a new world, a new Amphoreus, built from the ashes of the old.

There's definitely a melancholy, bittersweet feel to it, unlike the triumphant defiance of Belabog, the Xianzhou, or Penacony. I think it's an interesting change of pace, myself.

This is also my first time playing through a story arc as it's released, rather than all at once. We've got five or six more main arcs to go for Amphoreous, we've really only just begun.

And I got Anby Alter, aka Soldier 0. Because of course that was the girls backstory before Nicole found her.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

>And I got Anby Alter, aka Soldier 0. Because of course that was the
>girls backstory before Nicole found her.

I haven't drawn her yet, but I played her agent story so I could finally get 11 to Trust 4. Pretty brutal stuff...

I have managed to draw Pulchra, aka the flipside equivalent to Lycaon in the "I'm not a furry BUT" department. :)

--G.
I could wish she didn't have an actual muzzle, but that's just my personal boundary line in these matters nowadays
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>I haven't drawn her yet, but I played her agent story so I could
>finally get 11 to Trust 4. Pretty brutal stuff...

The important things is that she can now have all the movies and hamburgers Nicole can afford.

>I have managed to draw Pulchra, aka the flipside equivalent to
>Lycaon in the "I'm not a furry BUT" department. :)

Bernice: So soft, so warm...

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Mm, haven't pulled any of them, but I did pull Astra. Going to have to step up earning some 'chrome.

>--G.
>I could wish she didn't have an actual muzzle, but
>that's just my personal boundary line in these matters nowadays
>-><-

When we first encountered her in the story I assumed it was because she's a pro (merc) and a pro doesn't reveal her face.

After seeing her face in her leisure moment trailer... pls can haz skin w/o mask?

--sofaspud
--pllleeeeaase, hoyo?

>>I could wish she didn't have an actual muzzle, but
>>that's just my personal boundary line in these matters nowadays
>
>When we first encountered her in the story I assumed it was because
>she's a pro (merc) and a pro doesn't reveal her face.

Oh, I meant the facial structure, not the piece of equipment. I kind of wonder how she breathes with that thing on, given that it appears to be a solid piece of metal that covers everything she could reasonably be breathing with. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>After seeing her face in her leisure moment trailer... pls can haz
>skin w/o mask?

Well, I just did a trust event in which Wise asks her if he can see her without her mask, and she refuses without hesitation, explaining that she hates "being observed" and only takes the mask off inside the spa. So... probably not? Unless that turns out to be throwaway flavor text and they disregard it to introduce such a skin later on--which, to be fair, probably isn't without precedent. :)

--G.
or unless Wise figures out how to impersonate Old Duyi
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.