Mihoyo isn't that terrible with writing. They have great ideas but on the rate of 10 stars, the execution is often at a 4.
I just wish they didn't focus on the waifu writing so much. It's downright expected given their audience for Honkai 3rd.
They are fully capable of writing complex women. At least Arlecchino and Furina do impact the story. I'm not collecting either as that would ruin my budget for other stuff. Maybe if PSS makes a Arlecchino Tarot, I'll think about it.
For Penacony 2.3, it's an epilogue but an epilogue with little substance. What substance it does have are character moments and interactions.
If 2.2 was just misogyny in full, since Robin is literally a plot device for Sunday and little much is done to Firefly, Acheron only managed to escape the misogyny.
Acheron was so good. Her writing was consistent and grew in each patch.
Robin has a little better this round alongside Firefly. Robin lost her sibling relationship with Sunday, now eternally separated due to her giving up her precious memory to Jade to free him. What little we have is just a little better than what we got.
Firefly got to be the girl rather than the girlfriend this time! I enjoyed her with the rest of the Stellaron Hunters and so much more. It's disappointing that in the past patches and even in the new event, they're still pushing her as the waifu, especially with whatever depths are in promo material rather than the actual story. What little we got here is probably the least interesting part of the entire patch. The third death was just weird.
It would've been better that the TB having lost memories had vagueness regarding Firefly. Firefly probably knew TB since they were created but nothing was done there.
Aventurine wasn't there much and what he got was adorable. The problem is that his relevance to the story of Penacony was not much there if at all. Old Oti didn't even react to Jade and Topaz telling him Aven's part in the whole thing making me think that 2.1 as beloved as it is just not that relevant.
In attachment to Robin and parallels to Aven, Sunday took the spotlight of 2.2. Aven should've been there at that fight and beat the fuck out of him for what he said. This isn't the case of Akechi in Maruki's reality. Why? Because Akechi was our foil and thus have no need to fight Maruki in this case when he's an illusion.
We should've seen more of the true reality of the dreams if they are just gonna throw that away. Nihility but death seems like the case at first until nope.
I mean people can die now in the dream. I mean they can be hurt if Aven not appearing much is the case.
What's worse about this other than the lack of connective tissue is that the relevance of things like Aventurine's part of the story, Dreamflux Reef, Argenti, Firefly, Sparkle, Boothill, and the whole Ena/Order is not given its dues and depths that it should've gotten. It felt like it was thrown out now.
The goodbyes are very nice. The chatfic nature is cute and funny. Argentill and Golden Ratio are so much fun.
At least Oswaldo plot point will be given at some point when Aventurine and Boothill wanted him dead. It's disappointing that we don't see it at all, just what it's implied.
Sparkle's actions make sense but it felt like it was there for Firefly's part in the end which felt unnecessary.
2.3 has some fun parts and some parts that I do care about but it's just nothing of much overall.
I mean 2.3 is just the opening ceremony of the Charmony Festival.
It just feels weird if the 2.4+ leaks are true. Either way, the writing takes a blow and it would've been better had Penacony be extended just a little bit more considering how much it does need rewriting.
The crew in charge of HSR's writing has a major problem with giving relevance from character stories to the overall story, connecting tissue cohesively.
It was unsatisfying how they ended Aven's relevance to the story.
Is it bad that I just want depths and connective tissue?
While we aren't done with Penacony completely, there are loose ends that we're probably coming back but in the immediate, these loose ends felt like it's there.
If only two worlds are left whereas we still have areas to explore in Teyvat, I think the intention for this story is more self-contained to these worlds.
Loufu's problem was just vagueness. While written by the same guy who did the Inazuma arc, at least the female characters are done decently whereas Jing Yuan and Dan Heng IL.
It seemed like people trusted Shaoji. While there are some great parts, HSR’s problems remained marketing of hype characters first and whatever dominos fall afterward.
HSR might seem like Mihoyo cared more about the feedback than Genshin but all their games regardless of its newness is still suffering one way or another and not because of surface level evaluation that somehow one have more care than the other. Both of these games have their own problems regarding storytelling and Mihoyo's focuses on them.
Genshin has every character being part of a cog of a machine that is the larger storytelling. Even in their worst stories, you can't say that Sigewinne isn't unimportant. It's lore-heavy at the expense of the gameplay and what people have been asking for years to the point that it's hard for newcomers with the overwhelming lore.
This is the total opposite of HSR where characters' stories balance with the overall stories prioritized differently based on the marketing.
That’s so big a problem that it’s interfering with the story and its execution that overall the score remains 4 out of 10 but when they pull off the 10, it's great. Boothill was so useless and Aven and Argenti’s relevance was nil in its weight.
Yes, I will still grip about that when by comparison while Loufu suffered from vagueness and digging deep whereas Belelog is just okay with the male characters as window dressing, Penacony suffered so much when it built up to something that should be reasonably satisfying.
I understand plot threads should be extended such as the whole Oswaldo thing but my Arceus would the foils of Sunday and Aven be satisfying at this point? When Aven’s weight was nil?
This is why I raise my eyebrow toward anyone who said Mihoyo cares more for one game than another. Honestly, Tears of Themis is just chill overall for them and I’m pretty sure that despite any outward facade of care, there will be problems, especially in regard to Mihoyo.
I have my preferred character types (Hawks, Kaveh, Aventurine, Satine, etc) whereas my cousin has her husbandos in TOT.
I commend Camden’s first outing as a VA. His voice acting as Aventurine was very star-making just as Zeno’s role as Hawks. The potential for future roles beyond other Mihoyo games is strong here as he’s an actor who didn’t choose the route of television.
Voice acting for video games and anime is really low-paying in the States. They aren’t treated like celebrities in Japan and do not even have a role in the biggest movies to showcase their talents. Only animated shows and video games are the future roles here.
He’s still a beginner VA playing off experienced VAs. Even his future convention appearances rely entirely on conventions banking on him via fans asking.
He shows a deep love and appreciation for the character and the art of voice acting. If he keeps at it, he could build up quite a resume.
Yes, he has a big game under his belt but it’s his first and only role so far. We don’t know how many auditions he sent in for multiple others at the moment. For right now, he’s only known in the Mihoyo circles as his acclaim is getting around worldwide in the niche even if it’s just thirsting and cuteness going around.
Maybe in the future, he’ll get roles in anime, western cartoons, or video games as long as he’s under the guidance of the voice actors he collaborates with.
I mean he sure is commissioning artists, spending on anything Aventurine he can get his hands on, and spending a whole lot on HSR gacha pulls.
He has a Twitch as well as a YouTube so I guess it’s some additional money.
All in all, Penacony and overall HSR have much-needed work to make something great out of it.
That's not to say they aren't bad storytellers or have great characters. There are so many flaws in the finale of this part of this story, the story that gets more eyes on them than anything else due to word of mouth for incredible characters. Even if overall the Penacony has more problems than jsut the finale.
It's just that either that potential is not fulfilled in the same way that it should've been done or not at all due to the insistence of waifu. Even if that was lightened in the finale just a tad, there was still the Firefly dating event.
For all the love the characters have from the writing team, the writing suffered a lot.
It's par for the course for Mihoyo games that the writing will be mediocre for all the character writing. Gacha games rely heavily on the characters. Heck, Twisted Wonderland has some 30 characters compared to Gacha games with stories and worlds that involve over a hundred playable characters.
On a side note, the boycotting Mihoyo for the Natlan rep is just… You understand that these people won’t affect the bottom line, right? It’s better to attack that because, for a multimillion business, Mihoyo is more swayed by their Chinese community than their overseas, especially for Genshin. There are good intentions for the boycott but it’s not as easy as that. If that were the case, then that HP game would’ve suffered far worse. I don’t think these people who have good intentions are going with a clear mind of what to do than boycott when they should’ve understood the nuances that it’s not as easy. I refuse to support HP in any capacity as I know the money will go to the face of a hate movement they fund and successfully harm the trans community. Mihoyo based in China has so many issues with colorism but Natlan shouldn't have been the ticking point. For fuck's sake, Aventurine is basically Turkish-Romani and the depiction of the Romani equivalent isn't greatly handled at all at any point in the actual canon so to have Natlan be the last straw is just crazy. People know well before Sumeru that Mihoyo has issues with colorism and that no boycott is going to stop a multi-billion business. Why the fuck isn't Aventurine's Romani heritage didn't have this much response?? Honestly, with how many people were anticipating Snezhnaya, Natlan wouldn't stop the train for that region people have been anticipating forever.
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