For the clara thing about her feets, she actually explanis this: According to her, a group of admirers managed to get a pair of shoes, but she doesn't wear them because she won't stop bend her ankles. So Clara doesn't wear shoes not because she doesn't have, but because she doesn't like them... The thing about this info is that you only get this when she talks to you via messages, and for that you have to get her character... Yeah...
On Natasha's dress, it's very similar to a nurse's dress from the mid to late 1800s- early 1900s. So, it does actually fit the setting. Blue, white, and red are the colors associated with the medical field, so it makes sense that yellow isn't a part of her palette. It's the palette of the overworld. Her necklace is actually a symbol of overworld doctors. The unkepmpt look is likely because she doesn't bathe much. Luka works as a boxer, and so showmanship is likely something that he has to do. In one of the side quests for the fighting ring we find out that the fighters do, in fact, wear costumes to fight For Seele's look blame Sampo. Clara's clothes come from her fan club. Her outfit came with shoes but she doesn't know how to wear them.
There's no in-universe justification for Seele's outfit. It just makes zero sense. All the individual pieces of clothing Seele wears don't belong to Belobog (even in the overworld).
I feel like they originally intended to go much deeper with Seele, she's always been the poster girl for Quantum shenanigans ever since GGZ to the point where the Quantum symbol is just a slightly modified version of her Stigmata. She looks weird and out of place because she LITERALLY IS out of place but they then decided they didn't want to overwhelm "new" players with alternate world lines/bubble universes and a full on explanation of The Quantum Sea IN THE PROLOGUE. Even now Seele and somewhat Silverwolf are the only Quantum characters that Narratively feel like they're tapping into some higher (or *technically* lower) primal energy. Penacony is finally starting to really tap into the quantum metaphysics of the Honkai Universe so maybe we'll return to Seele eventually and get to really explore that.
True. SilverWolf and her Planet can literally edit the Data of Reality. Aka they have access to low lever Reality Manipulation which they see as one giant Video game.
Arguably Qingque also works, her entire ultimate literally screams “superposition”, even if her street clothes design doesn’t inspire thought of quantum phenomena.
I’d say QQ likely has some unrecognized power to alter probability. Not only her ultimate being the tile changing at just the right moment. But Fu Xuan who can see hundreds of possible futures, always looses track of QQ as if the probability of the universe give her just enough favor when she needs. One might just call this good luck.
Also for me the Quantum element has always been some way to represent other planes or realities/dimensions, while the Imaginary element is more about bending how the world already work and making stuff out of them, but I don't really know how factual this is since I'm not too well versed in Honkai lore
I remember when first playing through Belobog, I was theorizing how perhaps Seele came from another planet, purely because of how much her design felt like it doesn't come from here
She's quantum and has those weird "glitch" powers. I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't from Jarilo and just got there because she traveled through the sea of quanta as a kid and somehow ended up there getting found by nat. The thing is that that doesn't explain her current outfit..
@@yooyeongf No, she shares the same name and some features, but is more like an "alternate universe" version of Seele from HI3 Just like Bronya, who also have a counterpart in that game. Only Welt and his companion that was in the astral express before are straight from HI3 so far
Ah yes, the "why isn't Luka a fire type?" argument. My favorite. I see a lot of people asking about this - mostly genshin players - and it disappoints me immensely, considering the answer seems so obvious. He's a boxer, not an arsonist. He throws punches, he doesn't burn people. Also, as a performer, (yes, most fighting professions are performance professions) he needs to have a flashy costume, and what better theme than fire? It represents his personality well, and when you think of working out, especially fighting, you'd likely think of warmth and pain. Assuming that a boxer can burn people just because they have a fire-themed costume is just silly. He's also physical type rather than fire type due to how the elements change combat. He's a nihility character, specifically a DoT applier, and DoTs from different elements (wind, lightning, fire, and physical) are unique in how they function. Fire DoTs (burn) function very differently from Physical DoTs (bleed). Giving him skills that make the enemies bleed rather than burn seems more fitting, since it's not like punching someone will lead to burn marks.
Oh WOW. One year playing this game and I always thought all DoTs worked the same way, independent of the type. I was really confused when you said Bleed and Burn function very differently from one another, and I had to google it to understand where you got that from. And to my surprise, that actually IS the case. Bleed works 100% with Luka's kit, Burn just wouldn't make any sense
Also Physical is the strongest break effect so it makes sense. Maybe they did make him Fire at first since it's the second strongest break effect, but decided that it makes more sense to be physical.
for natasha, i feel like the mess in her design is a bit intentional. just speculating, but i feel like as wildfire’s leader and healer, she’s in this sort of “you never know when you might need it” mentality where she just carries everything remotely useful with her to heal people in times of need (and also since the underworld is heavily deprived of resources). additionally, i think the strands of hair drooping on her face is supposed to suggest shes overworked and stressed out, to the point of not being able to keep a clean look
I definitely feel like Seele's design is intentionally out of place. Her Signature Light Cone already hints at her having been away from Jarillo-Vi at some point in her life and she is the archetypal Quantum Character.
We don't know whether or not she has left Jarilo VI(chances are she hasn't). She most likely came from another planet, somehow ended up in the orphanage, and then you should know the rest.
@@Loppedofflemons Makes sense. LC are memories so her LC should be something that happened and yet her LC is about her being in a Field of Flowers that likely cannot exist on Jarilo.
@@Loppedofflemons I think she may have slipped into the Sea of Quanta at some point in her past, which would theoretically explain her abilities and the anachronisms in her design.
I know they weren't covered here but the landau siblings have the best (or most cohesive) design imho. Especially serval, since you can see that she altered her former government uniform into her stage outfit, probably out of spite for being fired. Plus you can see burn marks where her lighting likely got out of control.
9:09 you would be surprised of how difficult is to be a doctor, we don’t even have time to shower for a week, and considering how she is the only doctor of the underworld I am not surprised she looks so messy
About natasha having an outworlder design, its because she is an outworlder. Her character story and companion quests all back this up. She just went down before the blockade.
@@chihiro616xshe never arrived on jarilo-VI, she was born in belabogs surface and she moved to the underworld before it was closed but she is native to the planet
As an artist, yes, i VERY much struggle and rage over the abundance of details of hoyo characters. But, it is very appreciated how much they think and put thought into their characters. I love how you are willing to deep dive and actually share your findings and opinion! Keep it up!!
They can get away with this because the designs are made for 3d models. They don’t have to redraw it all the time. They make a model, slap a texture on it and animate it. And they don’t have to draw it again except for an occasional promo art. If a product is a comic/manga or a 2d animation, one would have to make much simpler designs because of how often he would have to draw them.
7:20 I suppose Luka is the only character known to have come from the town of Moltammerville, and he is also a minor celebrity. Even the town’s name sounds firey. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense for him to wear the clothes of the miners or vagrants since he is neither (but then again even Oleg wears that kind of style, but it’s probably just because he’s an NPC). I hope you make more of these videos! I never noticed how many belts are in this game lol
Oh yeah I kinda forgot that Luka was from another town. It would be cool if they could defeat enough of the Fragment monsters to reclaim some old towns
I have some interesting commentary. For Luka, it stands to note that he doesn’t fit in. It’s a very big part of his character story. And I actually think the belts do a good job in portraying how he is constantly holding himself together both literally and emotionally. Literally in the sense that he literally got into an accident that tore a limb off and then emotionally in the sense that he very intentionally hides deeper emotions under a facade of stability for his comrades and the children around him. When you do his character arc quest, his odd behavior is incentivized by a very very sad story. Something that probably would make any average person cry. Luka just .. never even talks about it. Despite feeling so strongly about the story that he basically almost k*s himself in a fight with Svarog - he tells not a singular other soul. But I also get how off putting they can look without that context. For Hook, I think she’s so clean because she’s “badgered ( in her words )” by a doctor - someone who has to be constantly clean. For Natasha, I like that she’s not put together. While I can’t remember if she’s actually professionally trained or not, regardless, she’s still ordinary and thrust into the middle of caring for an entire civilization with no government help. She for all intents and purposes functions as a nurse, a teacher, a governing head, a military leader, and an orphanage runner. She has no time to put care into her appearance or time to streamline it and be put together - especially because she does so much and needs so much that she just has to have as much on hand as possible to save time.
I also think for Natasha, she never has the time to really settle. What doctor gets much sleep? Now combine that with the fact that she does everything else on top of being a doctor. I don’t even think she gets out of her clothes for long.
I'll have to disagree on Natasha's outfit not fitting her role a bit actually. the people in belobog are supposed to be struggling and having a hard time getting by. the fact she has so much going on on her outfit doesn't take away from the her character but actually emphasizes the situation that she's in. yeah she's going to have potions and bears all over her and maybe look a little messy. she's not supposed to look put together and pristine. they dont have that luxury. And i think the "ball gown" silhouette is to make her overall one stand out and be noticeable and i feel it balances out all the everything thats going on with her outfit
nice video! for seele, i once saw a headcanon that seele wears every single piece of clothing oleg gave her at once (it says in her story that when she was little he bought some clothes in the overworld for her or something like that) and that's why she looks like that, i find it a fun headcanon
I do agree but you also made me realize, seele and luka are dressed as a show superheroes, and both as “famous” wild fire agents maybe everything was propaganda in the end😅 Also where they get the materials? Simply Sampo
Yayy, a hsr character design analysis!! I learned my lesson with genshin when it comes to hoyo's designs, them being overloaded with small nonsensical dangly bits and bobs and belts- but in hsr i was a lot more hung up about all the STUFF going on. Seele is such a good example of this, because you try to focus on one part of her outfit and get immediately distracted by another, and not in a flowy way, but like ZAP ZAP ZAP. i'm gettin whiplash, my guys! Looking forward to more videos in this series, it's a great niche to explore!
Same boat. I grew up on American superhero comics, where designs were typical very symmetrical and could easily be understood and broken into segments from a distance. Hoyo’s designs are the polar opposite of that and it’s interesting to look through their character designs and see what works, what doesn’t, and what appeals to my own tastes.
Clara says that she doesn’t wear shoes because she’s gone without them for so long, that walking in them causes her to lose balance and fall over. I think she also says she’s practicing though
Very cool video. Hope you make more. Personally, I like the underground characters in Jarilo all looking like their fits are made from random pieces of clothes glued together. It felt intentional, like the place doesnt make new clothes, so they just recycle everything with whatever they can use to connect them. Especially compared to the surface, where everyone be dressing.
Hi! Fellow animation student here! I liked you video, it makes good arguments from a classic industry character design standpoint. I wanted to put forth that HSR, like many other gacha games, does not follow that conventional character design rules. They follow the 'rule of cool' design rule over anything else, which is neither an inherently bad or good thing. Considering the designs of HSR from a purely classic design standpoint kind of like... Defeats the point? And does invalidate your argument a bit. You can critique the designs and still come from a place of understanding, especially since there are not any 'bad or good' designs, rather 'effective'.
I’m curious as to what you have to say. From a marketing PoV, the only area that actually has intentional writing and story was Penacony, and that’s just factually correct, they hired professional writers for this story. Xianzhou Luafu was focused on providing the player with exploration, most content there being optional. Jarilo VI felt more like a tutorial, considering how short and rough that story was. I think we’re going to come back to that planet as a plot escalation tool to understand new characters and mechanics, like with the IPC. Herta’s Space Station feels similar to the Luafu, designed for exploring. It’s difficult for a game to just drop a Penacony onto players, especially if they come from a crowd where games are more repetitive and arcade-esque. I would say that this was very daring, and that it escalated what is possible in a mass-appeal live service title. This is all to say, I never viewed the area critically because I took the area to be somewhat generic from my first departure there. I viewed it as one very long tutorial mission, that prepares players for actual character development and story. The actual story of the Luafu took itself very seriously too, which was absolutely a pilot to what Penacony was meant to be.
i will say (won't spoil the new quest bc it's so new) in penacony the juxtaposition between "nah, i'd win" "take the l" dialogue to waxing poetic about the aeons and dialogue that you need to check the log to reprocess has its own issues. personally i have liked the belebog stories the most when it comes to pure delivery
as a hi3rd player too, i would like to add some contexts on how some characters are designed that way especially on natasha and seele: 1. that natasha's design -- with her bodysuit despite being a nurse (in a sort of badass and stealthy way to hide her true identity) -- is to honor her hi3rd counterpart where she wears a skintight bodysuit due to her being an assassin while at the same time having a soft spot for children shown in her housing orphans in her house cioara, and hsr natasha having a teddy bear as her outfit ornament. i do agree though there's too much going on with her design and it would be nice if we can get an alternate skin of her without her nurse garment aka just the bodysuit. 2. for seele, it's to honor hi3rd seele's very first battlesuit -- swallowtail phantasm, where it directly took reference from a swallowtail butterfly. the color palettes are mostly the same, but her personality matches more with the starchasm nyx battlesuit where the more brasher and confident seele personality takes control of seele's physical body. she is a perfect mixture of the two seele personalities; confident and brash yet deeply caring and loves to sew in her free time. when it comes to her rather clunky and flowy and rather confusing design, i suppose it's to symbolize butterflies -- specifically swallowtails -- and the purple color palette as a nod to hi3rd seele's backstory heavily relating to the sea of quanta (an otherworldly realm pretty much purple in color), which makes her the very first quantum unit in hi3rd too! to me it's not about the designers 'failing' to convey her character but rather they wanted to make one of the earliest original hi3rd casts' alternate version to match their hi3rd counterpart. sort of a love letter situation, since they also reference a lot of hi3rd bronya's details in hsr bronya (like her earrings, bow, and her fondness of firearms!)
i do agree that both characters' designs are very stuffy for no reason but again it's subjective! personally i still think seele is one of the prettiest and most recognizable designs albeit looking a bit clunky. i love my hsr girlies equally
Clara does give big santa vibes and santa has a workshop, so I don't think her outfit is that bad. It is crazy that its still way too much design element on the eyes when its probably one of the more simpler outfits in Honkai Star Rail.
luka not being fire is another thing explained or at least briefly inferred on as luka is ultimately just a regular dude with no interest in giving himself in edge in battle and he is using fire to not only symbolize his passion for fighting but also double play for wild fire and the fire he had to endure when he lost his arm. Now its not the most satisfying reasoning but i still enjoy his design a lot and the fact that his design doesn't hand his element right off to you instantly is really nice to me.
ngl hoyo's characters are often overdesigned. what the fuck is going on with seele 😭i would probably have a mental breakdown while drawing a fanart of hers, keeping track of all those details. hats off to the cosplayers...
It gets better w/ the later designs, I think. Acheron is similar to Seele, but imo a lot more cohesive and sleek. Although I think Jing Yuan's design is really nice and he came out at the same time as Seele, so idk...
Seeles design isn’t underworld like because of her quantum powers with her glitching through reality which suggests she might’ve came from somewhere else,me personally I love the design but if we get something different when we return I wouldn’t be upset
I actually like Seele’s design, and while I do think it can stand out in Belobog at times, It rather fits her character imo. Maybe it’s just been a while, but Seele never felt like a soldier to me, she felt like a spunky young adult with a strong sense of justice, and yet a general mistrust towards others. This, paired with being a rebel, means that in my head she would be prone to self-expression and bright colors, and be coordinated in a way that is completely contained to herself. What I’m trying to say is, I think that her design is so brightly colored as to emphasize her independence. This would also justify the very heavy use of her personal butterfly motif. Seele is someone who cares a great deal about her personal identity, and someone that isn’t afraid to express it. I completely understand if you care more about her dutiful side than her rebellious, independent one, but her heavy personalization of clothing means a lot in my eyes!
Double this on the fact that she is meant to be out of place cause the quantum element is by definition opposite to the imaginary element which is where every other pathstrider draws their powers from. She in particular is closely bound to the sea of quanta (to the point that the quantum symbol is Hi3 Seele’s stigmata) and by proxy every version of herself will be almost identical to Hi3 Seele.
…imma be honest I just love the fit and get annoyed when people hate on it lol, but Hoyo’s got millions of dollars riding on their character designs; I’d bet a lot that there absolutely is a deeper reason for it. Or maybe she’s just a badass rebel who says fuck you! I love my funky lil lesbian till the day I die. We believers will at the very least be able to say I told you so if she gets explored more in the future
I disagree with your point on Natasha - She’s the secret leader of Wildfire *and* a head nurse. It makes sense that her design would be haphazard, if only because she’s so busy. Still, she’s pretty put together for someone so busy. Although, it could be said that’s the way I always see things. To me, we’re all a mishmash of various things that make up who we are. It takes time to organize that, and Natasha does not have that time.
yea when I was playing through Jarillo, I did think the character's design didn't match underground vibe at all. it felt like the characters were designed first (natasha just kind of everything thrown on her) and then their stories and background development came afterwards.
While I like most of the designs, there's a designer with an obsession with unnecessary belts and making everything asymmetrical even if they have to make clothing pieces lose any logical function as a result. And the way it bothers me that Clara doesn't have shoes living in a frozen underground mine, they gave her a coat but then have her walking around barefoot? I hate it so much, it's one of the biggest pet peeves of any character design in the game for me.
@@AIA222-yu5ml I mean, that would work if she didn't live in a frozen mine lol. Her feet should have turned black and fallen off many moons ago, Svarog should be forcing her to wear shoes. Between the cold, random machine parts and rocks everywhere.
Clara doesn't wear shoes because she is clumsy and she falls over while wearing them, not to mention that whenever she gets shoes, she gives them away to other kids, at least that's what was told in the story
When I first started the game, I honestly thought that Sampo and Seele were more connected due to their color palettes being somewhat similar, so my thought was Sampo gave her the outfit or other variants while growing up. Seeing as how Seele got her Scythe from Sampo, it makes sense to me that her clothes would also come from Sampo.
Man the characters you use in the background and to explain things at the start got me feeling nostalgic about when I was studying japanese back in highschool
This was such excellent analysis and pays such respect to the thought that does go into these designs while also critiquing them. It gives me a lot to think about, too, because I get an innate sense of something feeling 'off' sometimes, and this video does a great job of uncovering what the source of that feeling is.
god i really like seele as a character but i do wonder what hyv was on when they were designing her for the whole underworld concept. wouldve loved to see a more rough and gruff design approach for seele but noo, they decide to pay way too much homage to hi3 seele to the point it doesnt even make sense. seele's personality is already a huge contrast to her hi3 counterpart so i do wish they also followed through with her design as well but i loved your design analysis! great video
the comments about the purpose of belts that the characters have makes me think you would really LOVE Guilty Gear character designs also great video! i would love to see more vids about the designs of the rest of the characters!
13:02 I can answer, in one of her personal chats she said that the underworld pull together some money to buy her shoes but it was uncomfortable for her, she said it was better for her to walk barefooted for the moment until she is a bit older, she is kind of rapunzel from tangled, she always walked barefooted even in snow.
I love watching people talk about character design and really enjoyed most parts of the video! However i disagreed with some points when it came to Natasha, especially when you said that she feels like a mismash of her two roles and how you imagine her carefully putting on the different layers and items. Thats because i feel that these can be very easily interpreted differently and be explained. Her looking somewhat messy is not cause she is a klutz but precisely because of the fact that "both positions requiring tons of effort and focus". She looks like she has to juggle between many different patients and taking care of kids, hence the different items on her outfit that allows her to get what she needs in arms reach (potions, teddy bear, etc). She doesnt have time to care about how she looks, hence the unkempt hair, the pins on her clothes, etc.
4:53 its way better that characters arent the same basic color like their element. I dont want a character to dress in one color because they are fire, its ugly.
I don't remember whether the Underground is as cold as the overworld, but at any rate, we have lots of characters who aren't bundled for the cold. Seele is a special case, though, I'm sure, because, as her attacks show, she has at least a partial Quantum state, although nowhere near to the degree that Seele Vollerei does. How and why Seele in particular gained the ability to 'go Quantum,' we don't know, however even among all the other QUA-types, she seems to be the only one who does. It's very strange considering there is no X-10 project in _HSR_ , and Natasha would never subject her to that anyway, not being Cocolia. I'm guessing that when it comes to the Overworld characters (and Sampo), you'll have a bone to pick with all the windows in everyone's clothing. I wonder what impression you might have of _HI3_ 's character designs, especially the later ones. I'm especially interested on your take on Thelema, considering she's supposedly in fashion as well.
This was a great video! As for my thoughts, I first want to address your audience. There WILL be people who comment on here who are going to be more gamers than they are artists. In my experience I’ve found players to care more about their inherent thoughts on the characters than those character’s designs, which is totally fair. I can’t expect people to judge something the same way I do. This does however mean there will be people who simply don’t care for the designs, and I’ll label them as consumers. Consumers are here for the gacha, the power creep, and the FOMO. Appreciating design elements is pretty far down on their priority list. So what do I think about these designs, as an artist? Well, I pretty much agree with most of your takes! Immediately upon playing the game I was hit with a wall of indifference in regard to the underworld characters, purely because they just felt so underbaked in design. Or over baked, in Natasha’s case. As another character whose profession is to be a healer, I think Bailu accomplishes this while doing much less than Natasha. My biggest issue is Seele. Her design can be boiled down to pure fan service. Now, fan service by itself isn’t inherently bad. None of my critiques make me think this is a terrible game, I’m just an artist nitpicking on artistic elements because I love, practice, and make art. But Seele is by all accounts just wearing an outfit plucked right out of Honkai Impact Third as one of the main characters of that story to make the consumers go all pointing wojack meme. She doesn’t even look like she belongs in this game, which is hard to do when the setting of Star Rail is an entire universe. Every single other non wildfire release is beautiful and meticulously crafted to extend the world building of the game, hell Aventurine represents an extinct race/culture. The gambler criticized for wearing garish clothes somehow fits more into his affiliated faction (the IPC/Stonehearts) than the rebel girl who grew up in where we find her. Seele was a quick and easy cash grab, in my opinion. The actual returning characters from Impact Third even managed to have more fitting designs than her, and they are literally not from this universe. Luocha adapted a business outfit befitting of his merchant status, while also containing hints of Xianzhou accents to show his current affiliations. Welt changed his more normal attire to have more sci fi armaments, showing he has taken preparations to be battle ready aboard the Express. I also have gripes for Ruan Mei, so there’s a video suggestion right there. I’ve already written up a post about it lol
It feels like Hoyo character designs are, in a way, a lot like vtuber designs. They're clearly not made to be practical. When they released the 4.0 Genshin teaser, I thought Siggewine looked like a vtuber character lol Many of the Luofu's female characters feel very samey to me and their selling pieces are their figures and bra cup outfits. I don't wanna invite any arguments on female character design here but they just never really appealed to me. And I love hot/pretty women in games. And you make me wonder about the audience. Cuz people keep spending for these characters. Like you said, part of it's because they prefer their gameplay, but from comments I've seen, there are still plenty of players who love these designs despite how busy Hoyo's tends to be. At the end of the day, these companies will still put out designs like these despite what we artists think because there are people, mostly non artists, who, like you said, don't really see "busy". Not all because they don't care for the designs, but because they don't know character design.
@@evewhoo Yeah I generalized a bit too much when I said “don’t care for the design”. What you said is closer to what I meant to convey, that they enjoy those designs but do not view them with the criticality of an artist. Which is again, totally fair. As a Fontaine character, I think Sigewinne gets wiggle room to have a flamboyant outfit. That region’s culture is established to be French with a fantasy twist (opera and the theater), so extravagance is a norm. The Xianzhou women I think are more eye candy than they are unique, and I will be quick to attribute that to the Luofu’s status as an obligatory representation of Chinese culture to CN players. This is actually my issue with Ruan Mei, as she is more of a Xianzhou adjacent character than the universe’s foremost leading expert on biology in her costuming. A company like Mihoyo is, arguably, obligated to pander to their native player base. So favoring skimpy qipaos over other potential elements is to be as expected as much as colorism in these games. Much to my dismay 😂
As an artist it makes so hard to play hoyo's games because of the character design, i can't even look at them, but your average gamer doesn't care about readability or color theory or if the design even makes sense, they just see boobs and pretty women and that's enough for them, and if you dare to criticize their designs they will attack you for "hating" on their waifu
@@glyfleballSpeaking on Ruan Mei, the thing with her is that biology isn’t her only interest, she also likes embroidery, elegant designs, and gracefulness. She probably makes her own clothes. I feel like she wouldn’t like wearing the same clothes she might wear in the lab, so that’s why her design is like that. As for where she’s from, I have no idea, her story never says where.
@@Wraakzuchtig While I acknowledge her qipao reflects her qualities as a character, it has my disdain for failing to represent her biologist profession. Design, as a visual storytelling method, has several criteria that Sherpie points out is what makes a design “good”. Two of these are relevant to my opinions on Ruan Mei: world building and characteristics. With characteristics, the qipao does succeed at showing you those sides of her character that you mentioned. But with world building, it falls flat with the exception of the helixes sprinkled throughout her design. Her entire quest/event is centered around characterizing this genius society member as an apathetic scientist who locks herself away to do her lab work for god knows how long, and her status is established as the foremost leading expert at biology. Absolutely none of that shows in her costuming, for at a glance anybody not familiar with the game would either fail to notice the helixes or take them for unexplained motifs. This leaves only one thing apparent to world building in her qipao, the fact that it is a qipao. This ties into the lore of the Xianzhou/Hunt/Abundance, as her lore explains she is from a Abundance blessed planet. I discussed these criteria for designs with someone else, and we found that examples of a character not showing off their hobby or profession in a design is passable as long as their design inherently shows their most important qualities (Clara). And while I agree Ruan Mei’s design does show those qualities, I would argue the biologist angle is the most important defining aspect of her character. It is the foundation for why she is the way that she is, it fuels her entire motivation. All of her traits revolve around this infatuation with the beauty of life and working with that life, and all of her relevant lore and dialogue holds respect to her skills as a biologist. So with that in mind, a design even hinting at a lab coat would have been much more preferable in my opinion. The qipao, for a character not actually relevant to the Xianzhou, just feels like a cop out to make players like an already busted kit. As for how the lab coat would be incorporated, something like Asta but very toned down while still incorporating the qipao would have looked beautiful as a contrast between oriental grace and modern minimalism. It is a minority opinion, but I have found sprinklings of various other people who think Ruan Mei is absolutely boring to look at. And I can’t blame them, when somebody hyped up to be what is a essentially a mad biologist trying to create an emanator of a galaxy wide threat, looks like a wuthering waves ad.
Thank you, this is a very fun and informative video so far! I am stopping partway through to give my thoughts on Luka's design. I agree that Luka's attire does not fit the average Boulder Town aesthetic at all, but I think there's a lore reason for that. The Fight Club has a bunch of connections and homages to Professional Wrestling, with characters getting special ring names and the owner, Scott, being obsessed with making it flashier, going so far as to make people where gimmicks like fragmentum armor. So I think the bright, flashy colors of Luka are meant to embody the showy nature of a pro wrestler, even though his more serious personality does kind of contradict this. Many pro wrestler homages give the character a mask and/or make them super big and buff, something Hoyo didn't do here because they use the same models for everyone, so it's my headcanon that what we see here is Luka's "ring gear," which given Boulder Town's situation still has a few common elements like his pants and boots to give it a little more normalcy.
I really do think that Seele lacks in her design, but one thing it delivers perfectly, she looks alien in Belebog, her colors, clothes and even habilities, they don't seem ti belong, and that makes sense with her being isolated and cold instead of the comunities that seek warmth, although that might be the only thing on for her design.
Finally someone else actually says it out loud, Seele doesn't fit design wise to her setting cus it is definitely they wanted to import Seele at the start regardless of how it fits into the story/planet etc and didn't wanna alter her design to make her less "Seele"
I think that for Seele, they created her design in this story based off her HI3 design, not so much caring about how she fits into the world. We can see that they did try to put some elements in there that are unique to Jarilo-6, but it looks to me like that was more of an afterthought than anything. It's like they went "lets create a new design for Seele" and not " How can Seele fit into this world".
Honestly I ve been thinking about this exact topic for a WHILE. Not just for belobog characters, but for few others as well. Like, Silver Wolf probably takes a whole hour just to put on clothes. Glad I’m not alone on this subject. It’s quite clear that design coherence and thematic consistency is second to cosplay-ability, and general appeal. Because these are NOT characters, they are products. And when you think about it like that many design choices start making sense.
I hope you go over the xianzhou. Besides the main hub and place where the phantiyla boss fight happens felt pretty mid. Felt like it was a lot of just floating platforms, cargo containers, same patterns and corridors. If you told me to pick out a memorable area I couldn't tell you compared to belbog or penacony.
I personally like the Xianzhou overworld. Like the little garden in the main city area. I agree the floating platforms in cloudford get old quickly. But for example Aurum Alley, Fyxestroll Garden and the Alchemy Commission are some of my favourite areas in the game to just walk around. I dislike the Penacony overworld more tbh... My main problem with the Xianzhou design are the characters. They all follow the exact same formula. All wear a short qipao, all have some form of breast plates, all have detached sleeves etc.
@@drpaimon2369 Oh yeah I agree with the alchemy commsion and fyxestroll garden! I loved walking around too! I'm not saying I hate that world it just wasnt my favorite theres still good things!
Clara being barefoot might be a reference to The Wizard of Oz? She's a girl living with a Tin Man, and her design seems to take some inspiration from children books and fairy tales already (notice her red hood and snow-white skin and hair). I think it's supposed to add to the magical feeling her concept seems to evoke. She's an orphan living with a robot, that would be a good setting for a fairytale tbh. Also some red slippers would match her color scheme quite nicely.
I love how there's the guys from the surface world, guys from the underworld, and S a m p o Edit: also, not everything has to be color-coded smh this ain't genshin
Can you do a video about how all Luofu designs are the same? It has been bothering me for so long now. For some you could literally just swap the colour palette of two characters and they'd still look like the same two characters. Also Ruan Mei. She's got the same problem.
this analysis is so good, and I totally agree!! honestly my biggest gripe with HSR designs is that the majority of them are somehow both overdetailed yet all identical and rather bland all at the same time. all the silhouettes look a bit similar, and this was especially pointed out with the xianzhou luofu’s female characters but they NEED to stop doing the “V line cut dress (that ends at/above the knees) with flowy detached sleeves combo”. everyone ends up pretty much having the exact same silhouette and comparing these designs to their previous games, honkai impact 3rd and genshin impact (older HI3rd designs especially, when they really shone), they look so extremely bland and identical, which is even more disappointing when you realize that as a turn based game their 3D models should be able to have MORE freedom to experiment with vs characters who need to do flashy fighting and jump and climb. in fact when I went on a period of hiatus from playing this game during the xianzhou arc but was still following the newly released characters on social media I genuinely couldn’t tell any of the women apart because all of them look IDENTICAL. the men also suffer from this too to a lesser extent- too many open coats and turtlenecks with long pants. (also they either need to make more revealing outfits for the male charas or have more women who show less skin, idc either way but balance out the ratio man) also a personal gripe from both genshin and hsr is when a character has long hair they split it into two bunches (ningguang, acheron, blade, etc). I understand that it’s to show the back of the outfit too but I HATE it, it looks so ugly and hi3rd doesn’t have this issue at all. actually the restrained physics of HSR and genshin compared to hi3rd is also very disappointing, in hi3rd everything is super flowy and poofy and fluffy while in the later two games everything is too flat and barely moves, both in physics and in design (flat hair that sticks too close to the model, flat unpoofy clothing, etc). and yes hi3rd also has open worlds where characters can run and jump and fight in. anyways sorry for the long comment but I’d love to see more design analysis from you
![แฟนแนวใด๋ - ยูริ โตเกียวมิวสิค [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4_XVMuhhbsU/mqdefault.jpg)
finally i found a channel that focus on hsr's character designs.
Star rail crusader also does some great videos on the character designs of hsr
@@davernfrazierjr3307 i see. thank you
For the clara thing about her feets, she actually explanis this:
According to her, a group of admirers managed to get a pair of shoes, but she doesn't wear them because she won't stop bend her ankles.
So Clara doesn't wear shoes not because she doesn't have, but because she doesn't like them...
The thing about this info is that you only get this when she talks to you via messages, and for that you have to get her character...
Yeah...
WOAH!! Thanks for this! Who would've thought Clara t u r n e d d o w n shoes?? Can't have anything in the underworld...
th-cam.com/video/XZOK6Q9uQAo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=p5RQ-hsIvOcbExzT
Basically she twists her ankles while wearing them
That’s crazy cause instead of learning to walk with shoes she risk hypothermia and them adults just let that roll 😭
@@D41noth I mean she lives underground so it's plenty warm in there
@@automato436In the Robot Settlement there’s snow on the ground
Seele's outfit is just a ripped up prom dress she found in the dumpster.
Yup. Makes sense.
Her outfit should have went for a style like punk with focus on utility. Not a kpop idol that’s constantly at risk of tetanus
her shorts are literally short, i dont wanna sound weird but she probably has a butt cheek hanging out
@@solarishourglass7800It would be 1 to 1 copy of GGZ Seele if they made it like that
4:53 Luka got that middle school ass drip
On Natasha's dress, it's very similar to a nurse's dress from the mid to late 1800s- early 1900s. So, it does actually fit the setting. Blue, white, and red are the colors associated with the medical field, so it makes sense that yellow isn't a part of her palette. It's the palette of the overworld. Her necklace is actually a symbol of overworld doctors. The unkepmpt look is likely because she doesn't bathe much.
Luka works as a boxer, and so showmanship is likely something that he has to do. In one of the side quests for the fighting ring we find out that the fighters do, in fact, wear costumes to fight
For Seele's look blame Sampo.
Clara's clothes come from her fan club. Her outfit came with shoes but she doesn't know how to wear them.
There's no in-universe justification for Seele's outfit. It just makes zero sense. All the individual pieces of clothing Seele wears don't belong to Belobog (even in the overworld).
@@exu7325 Sampo is the one that gave Seele her scythe.
Clara cannot wear any shoes at all. she can't walk with them on.
@@Tecco273Yes! I think i heard her express this once
I feel like they originally intended to go much deeper with Seele, she's always been the poster girl for Quantum shenanigans ever since GGZ to the point where the Quantum symbol is just a slightly modified version of her Stigmata.
She looks weird and out of place because she LITERALLY IS out of place but they then decided they didn't want to overwhelm "new" players with alternate world lines/bubble universes and a full on explanation of The Quantum Sea IN THE PROLOGUE.
Even now Seele and somewhat Silverwolf are the only Quantum characters that Narratively feel like they're tapping into some higher (or *technically* lower) primal energy.
Penacony is finally starting to really tap into the quantum metaphysics of the Honkai Universe so maybe we'll return to Seele eventually and get to really explore that.
True. SilverWolf and her Planet can literally edit the Data of Reality. Aka they have access to low lever Reality Manipulation which they see as one giant Video game.
Arguably Qingque also works, her entire ultimate literally screams “superposition”, even if her street clothes design doesn’t inspire thought of quantum phenomena.
I’d say QQ likely has some unrecognized power to alter probability. Not only her ultimate being the tile changing at just the right moment. But Fu Xuan who can see hundreds of possible futures, always looses track of QQ as if the probability of the universe give her just enough favor when she needs. One might just call this good luck.
If I may ask, what's a Stigmata ?
Also for me the Quantum element has always been some way to represent other planes or realities/dimensions, while the Imaginary element is more about bending how the world already work and making stuff out of them, but I don't really know how factual this is since I'm not too well versed in Honkai lore
I remember when first playing through Belobog, I was theorizing how perhaps Seele came from another planet, purely because of how much her design felt like it doesn't come from here
She's quantum and has those weird "glitch" powers. I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't from Jarilo and just got there because she traveled through the sea of quanta as a kid and somehow ended up there getting found by nat.
The thing is that that doesn't explain her current outfit..
Maybe Acheron got extremely lost and found her way to the Underworld, and gave Seele some of her clothes, albeit downsized.
isnt she from hi3...
@@yooyeongf No that's a different seele
@@yooyeongf No, she shares the same name and some features, but is more like an "alternate universe" version of Seele from HI3
Just like Bronya, who also have a counterpart in that game. Only Welt and his companion that was in the astral express before are straight from HI3 so far
Ah yes, the "why isn't Luka a fire type?" argument. My favorite.
I see a lot of people asking about this - mostly genshin players - and it disappoints me immensely, considering the answer seems so obvious.
He's a boxer, not an arsonist. He throws punches, he doesn't burn people.
Also, as a performer, (yes, most fighting professions are performance professions) he needs to have a flashy costume, and what better theme than fire?
It represents his personality well, and when you think of working out, especially fighting, you'd likely think of warmth and pain.
Assuming that a boxer can burn people just because they have a fire-themed costume is just silly.
He's also physical type rather than fire type due to how the elements change combat. He's a nihility character, specifically a DoT applier, and DoTs from different elements (wind, lightning, fire, and physical) are unique in how they function. Fire DoTs (burn) function very differently from Physical DoTs (bleed).
Giving him skills that make the enemies bleed rather than burn seems more fitting, since it's not like punching someone will lead to burn marks.
Oh WOW. One year playing this game and I always thought all DoTs worked the same way, independent of the type. I was really confused when you said Bleed and Burn function very differently from one another, and I had to google it to understand where you got that from. And to my surprise, that actually IS the case. Bleed works 100% with Luka's kit, Burn just wouldn't make any sense
Also Physical is the strongest break effect so it makes sense. Maybe they did make him Fire at first since it's the second strongest break effect, but decided that it makes more sense to be physical.
interesting perspective, in that sense, why is topaz fire then? considering she just throws her animal onto enemies.
for natasha, i feel like the mess in her design is a bit intentional. just speculating, but i feel like as wildfire’s leader and healer, she’s in this sort of “you never know when you might need it” mentality where she just carries everything remotely useful with her to heal people in times of need (and also since the underworld is heavily deprived of resources). additionally, i think the strands of hair drooping on her face is supposed to suggest shes overworked and stressed out, to the point of not being able to keep a clean look
I definitely feel like Seele's design is intentionally out of place. Her Signature Light Cone already hints at her having been away from Jarillo-Vi at some point in her life and she is the archetypal Quantum Character.
We don't know whether or not she has left Jarilo VI(chances are she hasn't). She most likely came from another planet, somehow ended up in the orphanage, and then you should know the rest.
@@Loppedofflemons Makes sense. LC are memories so her LC should be something that happened and yet her LC is about her being in a Field of Flowers that likely cannot exist on Jarilo.
@@Loppedofflemons I think she may have slipped into the Sea of Quanta at some point in her past, which would theoretically explain her abilities and the anachronisms in her design.
That still doesn't explain her baffling set of clothing tho xD
@@mikonyx7712 She got it from a pocket world in the Sea of Quanta?
I know they weren't covered here but the landau siblings have the best (or most cohesive) design imho. Especially serval, since you can see that she altered her former government uniform into her stage outfit, probably out of spite for being fired. Plus you can see burn marks where her lighting likely got out of control.
Her designa is really ugly
9:09 you would be surprised of how difficult is to be a doctor, we don’t even have time to shower for a week, and considering how she is the only doctor of the underworld I am not surprised she looks so messy
You can’t say the boob window the the potion choker is comfortable and practical
About natasha having an outworlder design, its because she is an outworlder. Her character story and companion quests all back this up. She just went down before the blockade.
She looks like an arknigths character
@@victorpedrosoceolin3919 ehhh disagree
Outworlder means she came from a different planet, not that she came from above ground
@@silvershoelaces3976still, she would have to have come to belebog before there was a separation between the overworld and underworld
@@chihiro616xshe never arrived on jarilo-VI, she was born in belabogs surface and she moved to the underworld before it was closed but she is native to the planet
As an artist, yes, i VERY much struggle and rage over the abundance of details of hoyo characters. But, it is very appreciated how much they think and put thought into their characters. I love how you are willing to deep dive and actually share your findings and opinion! Keep it up!!
They can get away with this because the designs are made for 3d models. They don’t have to redraw it all the time. They make a model, slap a texture on it and animate it. And they don’t have to draw it again except for an occasional promo art.
If a product is a comic/manga or a 2d animation, one would have to make much simpler designs because of how often he would have to draw them.
It reminds me of Xenoblade 2 in a way. The whole game does in a way.
@@derpfluidvariant0916yes, i always think of xenoblade being a bit similar to these games!! just a bit though
7:20 I suppose Luka is the only character known to have come from the town of Moltammerville, and he is also a minor celebrity. Even the town’s name sounds firey. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense for him to wear the clothes of the miners or vagrants since he is neither (but then again even Oleg wears that kind of style, but it’s probably just because he’s an NPC).
I hope you make more of these videos! I never noticed how many belts are in this game lol
Oh yeah I kinda forgot that Luka was from another town. It would be cool if they could defeat enough of the Fragment monsters to reclaim some old towns
I have some interesting commentary.
For Luka, it stands to note that he doesn’t fit in. It’s a very big part of his character story. And I actually think the belts do a good job in portraying how he is constantly holding himself together both literally and emotionally. Literally in the sense that he literally got into an accident that tore a limb off and then emotionally in the sense that he very intentionally hides deeper emotions under a facade of stability for his comrades and the children around him. When you do his character arc quest, his odd behavior is incentivized by a very very sad story. Something that probably would make any average person cry. Luka just .. never even talks about it. Despite feeling so strongly about the story that he basically almost k*s himself in a fight with Svarog - he tells not a singular other soul. But I also get how off putting they can look without that context.
For Hook, I think she’s so clean because she’s “badgered ( in her words )” by a doctor - someone who has to be constantly clean.
For Natasha, I like that she’s not put together. While I can’t remember if she’s actually professionally trained or not, regardless, she’s still ordinary and thrust into the middle of caring for an entire civilization with no government help. She for all intents and
purposes functions as a nurse, a teacher, a governing head, a military leader, and an orphanage runner. She has no time to put care into her appearance or time to streamline it and be put together - especially because she does so much and needs so much that she just has to have as much on hand as possible to save time.
I also think for Natasha, she never has the time to really settle. What doctor gets much sleep? Now combine that with the fact that she does everything else on top of being a doctor. I don’t even think she gets out of her clothes for long.
I'll have to disagree on Natasha's outfit not fitting her role a bit actually. the people in belobog are supposed to be struggling and having a hard time getting by. the fact she has so much going on on her outfit doesn't take away from the her character but actually emphasizes the situation that she's in. yeah she's going to have potions and bears all over her and maybe look a little messy. she's not supposed to look put together and pristine. they dont have that luxury. And i think the "ball gown" silhouette is to make her overall one stand out and be noticeable and i feel it balances out all the everything thats going on with her outfit
nice video! for seele, i once saw a headcanon that seele wears every single piece of clothing oleg gave her at once (it says in her story that when she was little he bought some clothes in the overworld for her or something like that) and that's why she looks like that, i find it a fun headcanon
I do agree but you also made me realize, seele and luka are dressed as a show superheroes, and both as “famous” wild fire agents maybe everything was propaganda in the end😅
Also where they get the materials? Simply Sampo
watching this w stardew valley music on bg is a heaven
Yayy, a hsr character design analysis!! I learned my lesson with genshin when it comes to hoyo's designs, them being overloaded with small nonsensical dangly bits and bobs and belts- but in hsr i was a lot more hung up about all the STUFF going on. Seele is such a good example of this, because you try to focus on one part of her outfit and get immediately distracted by another, and not in a flowy way, but like ZAP ZAP ZAP. i'm gettin whiplash, my guys!
Looking forward to more videos in this series, it's a great niche to explore!
Same boat. I grew up on American superhero comics, where designs were typical very symmetrical and could easily be understood and broken into segments from a distance. Hoyo’s designs are the polar opposite of that and it’s interesting to look through their character designs and see what works, what doesn’t, and what appeals to my own tastes.
Clara says that she doesn’t wear shoes because she’s gone without them for so long, that walking in them causes her to lose balance and fall over. I think she also says she’s practicing though
Very cool video. Hope you make more.
Personally, I like the underground characters in Jarilo all looking like their fits are made from random pieces of clothes glued together. It felt intentional, like the place doesnt make new clothes, so they just recycle everything with whatever they can use to connect them. Especially compared to the surface, where everyone be dressing.
Hi! Fellow animation student here! I liked you video, it makes good arguments from a classic industry character design standpoint. I wanted to put forth that HSR, like many other gacha games, does not follow that conventional character design rules. They follow the 'rule of cool' design rule over anything else, which is neither an inherently bad or good thing. Considering the designs of HSR from a purely classic design standpoint kind of like... Defeats the point? And does invalidate your argument a bit. You can critique the designs and still come from a place of understanding, especially since there are not any 'bad or good' designs, rather 'effective'.
I’m curious as to what you have to say. From a marketing PoV, the only area that actually has intentional writing and story was Penacony, and that’s just factually correct, they hired professional writers for this story. Xianzhou Luafu was focused on providing the player with exploration, most content there being optional. Jarilo VI felt more like a tutorial, considering how short and rough that story was. I think we’re going to come back to that planet as a plot escalation tool to understand new characters and mechanics, like with the IPC. Herta’s Space Station feels similar to the Luafu, designed for exploring.
It’s difficult for a game to just drop a Penacony onto players, especially if they come from a crowd where games are more repetitive and arcade-esque. I would say that this was very daring, and that it escalated what is possible in a mass-appeal live service title.
This is all to say, I never viewed the area critically because I took the area to be somewhat generic from my first departure there. I viewed it as one very long tutorial mission, that prepares players for actual character development and story. The actual story of the Luafu took itself very seriously too, which was absolutely a pilot to what Penacony was meant to be.
i will say (won't spoil the new quest bc it's so new) in penacony the juxtaposition between "nah, i'd win" "take the l" dialogue to waxing poetic about the aeons and dialogue that you need to check the log to reprocess has its own issues. personally i have liked the belebog stories the most when it comes to pure delivery
@@tzxyuaesthetics9338 Nah we'd win is literally one of the dialogue options lol
Seele scythe being a remodeled rifle(the handle is based on a kilo bolt rifle) is pretty cool
as a hi3rd player too, i would like to add some contexts on how some characters are designed that way especially on natasha and seele:
1. that natasha's design -- with her bodysuit despite being a nurse (in a sort of badass and stealthy way to hide her true identity) -- is to honor her hi3rd counterpart where she wears a skintight bodysuit due to her being an assassin while at the same time having a soft spot for children shown in her housing orphans in her house cioara, and hsr natasha having a teddy bear as her outfit ornament. i do agree though there's too much going on with her design and it would be nice if we can get an alternate skin of her without her nurse garment aka just the bodysuit.
2. for seele, it's to honor hi3rd seele's very first battlesuit -- swallowtail phantasm, where it directly took reference from a swallowtail butterfly. the color palettes are mostly the same, but her personality matches more with the starchasm nyx battlesuit where the more brasher and confident seele personality takes control of seele's physical body. she is a perfect mixture of the two seele personalities; confident and brash yet deeply caring and loves to sew in her free time. when it comes to her rather clunky and flowy and rather confusing design, i suppose it's to symbolize butterflies -- specifically swallowtails -- and the purple color palette as a nod to hi3rd seele's backstory heavily relating to the sea of quanta (an otherworldly realm pretty much purple in color), which makes her the very first quantum unit in hi3rd too! to me it's not about the designers 'failing' to convey her character but rather they wanted to make one of the earliest original hi3rd casts' alternate version to match their hi3rd counterpart. sort of a love letter situation, since they also reference a lot of hi3rd bronya's details in hsr bronya (like her earrings, bow, and her fondness of firearms!)
i do agree that both characters' designs are very stuffy for no reason but again it's subjective! personally i still think seele is one of the prettiest and most recognizable designs albeit looking a bit clunky. i love my hsr girlies equally
Clara does give big santa vibes and santa has a workshop, so I don't think her outfit is that bad. It is crazy that its still way too much design element on the eyes when its probably one of the more simpler outfits in Honkai Star Rail.
luka not being fire is another thing explained or at least briefly inferred on as luka is ultimately just a regular dude with no interest in giving himself in edge in battle and he is using fire to not only symbolize his passion for fighting but also double play for wild fire and the fire he had to endure when he lost his arm.
Now its not the most satisfying reasoning but i still enjoy his design a lot and the fact that his design doesn't hand his element right off to you instantly is really nice to me.
ngl hoyo's characters are often overdesigned. what the fuck is going on with seele 😭i would probably have a mental breakdown while drawing a fanart of hers, keeping track of all those details. hats off to the cosplayers...
It gets better w/ the later designs, I think. Acheron is similar to Seele, but imo a lot more cohesive and sleek. Although I think Jing Yuan's design is really nice and he came out at the same time as Seele, so idk...
I much rather have a overdesigned charater then an npc looking ass
Most HSR designs are pretty chill. I have no clue what they were thinking when making Seele’s design💀
Seeles design isn’t underworld like because of her quantum powers with her glitching through reality which suggests she might’ve came from somewhere else,me personally I love the design but if we get something different when we return I wouldn’t be upset
I actually like Seele’s design, and while I do think it can stand out in Belobog at times, It rather fits her character imo.
Maybe it’s just been a while, but Seele never felt like a soldier to me, she felt like a spunky young adult with a strong sense of justice, and yet a general mistrust towards others. This, paired with being a rebel, means that in my head she would be prone to self-expression and bright colors, and be coordinated in a way that is completely contained to herself.
What I’m trying to say is, I think that her design is so brightly colored as to emphasize her independence. This would also justify the very heavy use of her personal butterfly motif.
Seele is someone who cares a great deal about her personal identity, and someone that isn’t afraid to express it. I completely understand if you care more about her dutiful side than her rebellious, independent one, but her heavy personalization of clothing means a lot in my eyes!
Double this on the fact that she is meant to be out of place cause the quantum element is by definition opposite to the imaginary element which is where every other pathstrider draws their powers from. She in particular is closely bound to the sea of quanta (to the point that the quantum symbol is Hi3 Seele’s stigmata) and by proxy every version of herself will be almost identical to Hi3 Seele.
…imma be honest I just love the fit and get annoyed when people hate on it lol, but Hoyo’s got millions of dollars riding on their character designs; I’d bet a lot that there absolutely is a deeper reason for it. Or maybe she’s just a badass rebel who says fuck you! I love my funky lil lesbian till the day I die. We believers will at the very least be able to say I told you so if she gets explored more in the future
I disagree with your point on Natasha - She’s the secret leader of Wildfire *and* a head nurse. It makes sense that her design would be haphazard, if only because she’s so busy. Still, she’s pretty put together for someone so busy. Although, it could be said that’s the way I always see things. To me, we’re all a mishmash of various things that make up who we are. It takes time to organize that, and Natasha does not have that time.
i've just watched your other design rant on the overworld jarilo-vi characters and it truly is a peak planet
6:55 speaking of to much belt, you'd cry if a you see any design made by Nomura.
Edgy designs 💀
yea when I was playing through Jarillo, I did think the character's design didn't match underground vibe at all. it felt like the characters were designed first (natasha just kind of everything thrown on her) and then their stories and background development came afterwards.
Natasha is one of the prettiest blue haired characters I have ever seen, she gets all the praise from me
this is what i've been looking for!!! thank you!!
While I like most of the designs, there's a designer with an obsession with unnecessary belts and making everything asymmetrical even if they have to make clothing pieces lose any logical function as a result. And the way it bothers me that Clara doesn't have shoes living in a frozen underground mine, they gave her a coat but then have her walking around barefoot? I hate it so much, it's one of the biggest pet peeves of any character design in the game for me.
There's actually lore behind, it was said she always falls down wearing shoes and gets hurt, that's why she doesn't wear it.
It was said a group of people gifted clara shoes, but she turned it down.
@@AIA222-yu5ml I mean, that would work if she didn't live in a frozen mine lol. Her feet should have turned black and fallen off many moons ago, Svarog should be forcing her to wear shoes. Between the cold, random machine parts and rocks everywhere.
@@AIA222-yu5mlsee I’m fine with this but I really wish they gave her a pair of long white stockings or something. the bare legs and feet bother me
@@pumkinpatchwork true. Even I had this thought. If she can't wear shoes, why not wear stockings or socks or even sandals.😂
Clara doesn't wear shoes because she is clumsy and she falls over while wearing them, not to mention that whenever she gets shoes, she gives them away to other kids, at least that's what was told in the story
This was such a fun video to watch. Can’t wait for more.
Interesting analysis! I’d love to see this become a series with more entries for the rest of the characters, too!
Hey this was a great video really loved you delving into character designs and being very fair with critiques hoping to see more of your work
omg been waiting for someone to talk about hsr designs lol, hope this becomes a series!
When I first started the game, I honestly thought that Sampo and Seele were more connected due to their color palettes being somewhat similar, so my thought was Sampo gave her the outfit or other variants while growing up. Seeing as how Seele got her Scythe from Sampo, it makes sense to me that her clothes would also come from Sampo.
Lovely analysis. I can't wait to see more character designs commented on!
I cant wait to see your opinions on the more space themed designs like the space station and ipc designs if this series cintinues!
Man the characters you use in the background and to explain things at the start got me feeling nostalgic about when I was studying japanese back in highschool
This was such excellent analysis and pays such respect to the thought that does go into these designs while also critiquing them. It gives me a lot to think about, too, because I get an innate sense of something feeling 'off' sometimes, and this video does a great job of uncovering what the source of that feeling is.
Can you do a Xianzhou Luofu design review?
They're probably going to do a luofu design review after they finish Jarilo-VI first.
god i really like seele as a character but i do wonder what hyv was on when they were designing her for the whole underworld concept. wouldve loved to see a more rough and gruff design approach for seele but noo, they decide to pay way too much homage to hi3 seele to the point it doesnt even make sense. seele's personality is already a huge contrast to her hi3 counterpart so i do wish they also followed through with her design as well
but i loved your design analysis! great video
You deserve more subs honestly and I'd love to see more character design videos
You really should do more content, this was enjoyable to watch.
Some of these points are really great, but I'd recommend to search more into the backgrounds of things. Specially on the clara,and luka part
A lot of your analysis is valid... IF we ignore a lot of the little details about their character and the world.
the comments about the purpose of belts that the characters have makes me think you would really LOVE Guilty Gear character designs
also great video! i would love to see more vids about the designs of the rest of the characters!
13:02 I can answer, in one of her personal chats she said that the underworld pull together some money to buy her shoes but it was uncomfortable for her, she said it was better for her to walk barefooted for the moment until she is a bit older, she is kind of rapunzel from tangled, she always walked barefooted even in snow.
I love watching people talk about character design and really enjoyed most parts of the video! However i disagreed with some points when it came to Natasha, especially when you said that she feels like a mismash of her two roles and how you imagine her carefully putting on the different layers and items. Thats because i feel that these can be very easily interpreted differently and be explained.
Her looking somewhat messy is not cause she is a klutz but precisely because of the fact that "both positions requiring tons of effort and focus".
She looks like she has to juggle between many different patients and taking care of kids, hence the different items on her outfit that allows her to get what she needs in arms reach (potions, teddy bear, etc). She doesnt have time to care about how she looks, hence the unkempt hair, the pins on her clothes, etc.
Looking forward to more video on this channel, great success for your first video
4:53 its way better that characters arent the same basic color like their element. I dont want a character to dress in one color because they are fire, its ugly.
I don't remember whether the Underground is as cold as the overworld, but at any rate, we have lots of characters who aren't bundled for the cold. Seele is a special case, though, I'm sure, because, as her attacks show, she has at least a partial Quantum state, although nowhere near to the degree that Seele Vollerei does. How and why Seele in particular gained the ability to 'go Quantum,' we don't know, however even among all the other QUA-types, she seems to be the only one who does. It's very strange considering there is no X-10 project in _HSR_ , and Natasha would never subject her to that anyway, not being Cocolia.
I'm guessing that when it comes to the Overworld characters (and Sampo), you'll have a bone to pick with all the windows in everyone's clothing.
I wonder what impression you might have of _HI3_ 's character designs, especially the later ones. I'm especially interested on your take on Thelema, considering she's supposedly in fashion as well.
This was a great video! As for my thoughts, I first want to address your audience. There WILL be people who comment on here who are going to be more gamers than they are artists. In my experience I’ve found players to care more about their inherent thoughts on the characters than those character’s designs, which is totally fair. I can’t expect people to judge something the same way I do.
This does however mean there will be people who simply don’t care for the designs, and I’ll label them as consumers. Consumers are here for the gacha, the power creep, and the FOMO. Appreciating design elements is pretty far down on their priority list.
So what do I think about these designs, as an artist? Well, I pretty much agree with most of your takes! Immediately upon playing the game I was hit with a wall of indifference in regard to the underworld characters, purely because they just felt so underbaked in design. Or over baked, in Natasha’s case. As another character whose profession is to be a healer, I think Bailu accomplishes this while doing much less than Natasha.
My biggest issue is Seele. Her design can be boiled down to pure fan service. Now, fan service by itself isn’t inherently bad. None of my critiques make me think this is a terrible game, I’m just an artist nitpicking on artistic elements because I love, practice, and make art. But Seele is by all accounts just wearing an outfit plucked right out of Honkai Impact Third as one of the main characters of that story to make the consumers go all pointing wojack meme. She doesn’t even look like she belongs in this game, which is hard to do when the setting of Star Rail is an entire universe. Every single other non wildfire release is beautiful and meticulously crafted to extend the world building of the game, hell Aventurine represents an extinct race/culture. The gambler criticized for wearing garish clothes somehow fits more into his affiliated faction (the IPC/Stonehearts) than the rebel girl who grew up in where we find her.
Seele was a quick and easy cash grab, in my opinion. The actual returning characters from Impact Third even managed to have more fitting designs than her, and they are literally not from this universe. Luocha adapted a business outfit befitting of his merchant status, while also containing hints of Xianzhou accents to show his current affiliations. Welt changed his more normal attire to have more sci fi armaments, showing he has taken preparations to be battle ready aboard the Express.
I also have gripes for Ruan Mei, so there’s a video suggestion right there. I’ve already written up a post about it lol
It feels like Hoyo character designs are, in a way, a lot like vtuber designs. They're clearly not made to be practical. When they released the 4.0 Genshin teaser, I thought Siggewine looked like a vtuber character lol Many of the Luofu's female characters feel very samey to me and their selling pieces are their figures and bra cup outfits. I don't wanna invite any arguments on female character design here but they just never really appealed to me. And I love hot/pretty women in games.
And you make me wonder about the audience. Cuz people keep spending for these characters. Like you said, part of it's because they prefer their gameplay, but from comments I've seen, there are still plenty of players who love these designs despite how busy Hoyo's tends to be. At the end of the day, these companies will still put out designs like these despite what we artists think because there are people, mostly non artists, who, like you said, don't really see "busy". Not all because they don't care for the designs, but because they don't know character design.
@@evewhoo
Yeah I generalized a bit too much when I said “don’t care for the design”. What you said is closer to what I meant to convey, that they enjoy those designs but do not view them with the criticality of an artist. Which is again, totally fair.
As a Fontaine character, I think Sigewinne gets wiggle room to have a flamboyant outfit. That region’s culture is established to be French with a fantasy twist (opera and the theater), so extravagance is a norm.
The Xianzhou women I think are more eye candy than they are unique, and I will be quick to attribute that to the Luofu’s status as an obligatory representation of Chinese culture to CN players. This is actually my issue with Ruan Mei, as she is more of a Xianzhou adjacent character than the universe’s foremost leading expert on biology in her costuming.
A company like Mihoyo is, arguably, obligated to pander to their native player base. So favoring skimpy qipaos over other potential elements is to be as expected as much as colorism in these games. Much to my dismay 😂
As an artist it makes so hard to play hoyo's games because of the character design, i can't even look at them, but your average gamer doesn't care about readability or color theory or if the design even makes sense, they just see boobs and pretty women and that's enough for them, and if you dare to criticize their designs they will attack you for "hating" on their waifu
@@glyfleballSpeaking on Ruan Mei, the thing with her is that biology isn’t her only interest, she also likes embroidery, elegant designs, and gracefulness. She probably makes her own clothes. I feel like she wouldn’t like wearing the same clothes she might wear in the lab, so that’s why her design is like that. As for where she’s from, I have no idea, her story never says where.
@@Wraakzuchtig While I acknowledge her qipao reflects her qualities as a character, it has my disdain for failing to represent her biologist profession. Design, as a visual storytelling method, has several criteria that Sherpie points out is what makes a design “good”. Two of these are relevant to my opinions on Ruan Mei: world building and characteristics.
With characteristics, the qipao does succeed at showing you those sides of her character that you mentioned. But with world building, it falls flat with the exception of the helixes sprinkled throughout her design. Her entire quest/event is centered around characterizing this genius society member as an apathetic scientist who locks herself away to do her lab work for god knows how long, and her status is established as the foremost leading expert at biology. Absolutely none of that shows in her costuming, for at a glance anybody not familiar with the game would either fail to notice the helixes or take them for unexplained motifs. This leaves only one thing apparent to world building in her qipao, the fact that it is a qipao. This ties into the lore of the Xianzhou/Hunt/Abundance, as her lore explains she is from a Abundance blessed planet.
I discussed these criteria for designs with someone else, and we found that examples of a character not showing off their hobby or profession in a design is passable as long as their design inherently shows their most important qualities (Clara). And while I agree Ruan Mei’s design does show those qualities, I would argue the biologist angle is the most important defining aspect of her character. It is the foundation for why she is the way that she is, it fuels her entire motivation. All of her traits revolve around this infatuation with the beauty of life and working with that life, and all of her relevant lore and dialogue holds respect to her skills as a biologist.
So with that in mind, a design even hinting at a lab coat would have been much more preferable in my opinion. The qipao, for a character not actually relevant to the Xianzhou, just feels like a cop out to make players like an already busted kit. As for how the lab coat would be incorporated, something like Asta but very toned down while still incorporating the qipao would have looked beautiful as a contrast between oriental grace and modern minimalism.
It is a minority opinion, but I have found sprinklings of various other people who think Ruan Mei is absolutely boring to look at. And I can’t blame them, when somebody hyped up to be what is a essentially a mad biologist trying to create an emanator of a galaxy wide threat, looks like a wuthering waves ad.
I want to see a series of this I love your thoughts on this
Thank you, this is a very fun and informative video so far! I am stopping partway through to give my thoughts on Luka's design.
I agree that Luka's attire does not fit the average Boulder Town aesthetic at all, but I think there's a lore reason for that. The Fight Club has a bunch of connections and homages to Professional Wrestling, with characters getting special ring names and the owner, Scott, being obsessed with making it flashier, going so far as to make people where gimmicks like fragmentum armor.
So I think the bright, flashy colors of Luka are meant to embody the showy nature of a pro wrestler, even though his more serious personality does kind of contradict this. Many pro wrestler homages give the character a mask and/or make them super big and buff, something Hoyo didn't do here because they use the same models for everyone, so it's my headcanon that what we see here is Luka's "ring gear," which given Boulder Town's situation still has a few common elements like his pants and boots to give it a little more normalcy.
Such an interesting analysis! Would love to see more videos on other characters.
Loved this vid
pleaasse make more of these i was so sad when the video ended
I really do think that Seele lacks in her design, but one thing it delivers perfectly, she looks alien in Belebog, her colors, clothes and even habilities, they don't seem ti belong, and that makes sense with her being isolated and cold instead of the comunities that seek warmth, although that might be the only thing on for her design.
I like this characters deep dive, continue this series for every regions pls
i died after the video stopped, getting invested in it and fully expecting something for the overworld and then it ended 😭
Exited for more!
Nice waiting for more.
I. Love. Design and media!!
If you were to continue this series, it would be helpful for all the design enjoyers, like me. Thank you for the video!
ok pretty late but i should mention:
the reason why clara doesnt have shoes…..
is because she keeps on tripping with them
yeah, im not lying 😭
Good video. Im subscribing for future vids like this.
Loved the analysis of the designs. Would love to see another review/rant about Star Rail or other games, like Final Fantasy XIV!
Stardew Valley music with HSR commentary? SIGN ME UP
Finally someone else actually says it out loud, Seele doesn't fit design wise to her setting cus it is definitely they wanted to import Seele at the start regardless of how it fits into the story/planet etc and didn't wanna alter her design to make her less "Seele"
I think that for Seele, they created her design in this story based off her HI3 design, not so much caring about how she fits into the world. We can see that they did try to put some elements in there that are unique to Jarilo-6, but it looks to me like that was more of an afterthought than anything. It's like they went "lets create a new design for Seele" and not " How can Seele fit into this world".
Honestly I ve been thinking about this exact topic for a WHILE. Not just for belobog characters, but for few others as well. Like, Silver Wolf probably takes a whole hour just to put on clothes. Glad I’m not alone on this subject.
It’s quite clear that design coherence and thematic consistency is second to cosplay-ability, and general appeal. Because these are NOT characters, they are products. And when you think about it like that many design choices start making sense.
Pls do more of this video
This was a great video to watch, do you plan on making a video(s) on the xianxhou luofu or penacony character designs anytime in the future?
I LOVE YOUR NAME AND VOICE SO MUCHHH 😭😭🧡🧡🧡🧡
I hope you go over the xianzhou. Besides the main hub and place where the phantiyla boss fight happens felt pretty mid. Felt like it was a lot of just floating platforms, cargo containers, same patterns and corridors. If you told me to pick out a memorable area I couldn't tell you compared to belbog or penacony.
I personally like the Xianzhou overworld. Like the little garden in the main city area. I agree the floating platforms in cloudford get old quickly. But for example Aurum Alley, Fyxestroll Garden and the Alchemy Commission are some of my favourite areas in the game to just walk around.
I dislike the Penacony overworld more tbh...
My main problem with the Xianzhou design are the characters. They all follow the exact same formula. All wear a short qipao, all have some form of breast plates, all have detached sleeves etc.
@@drpaimon2369 Oh yeah I agree with the alchemy commsion and fyxestroll garden! I loved walking around too! I'm not saying I hate that world it just wasnt my favorite theres still good things!
@@azolaun fair enough
Clara being barefoot might be a reference to The Wizard of Oz? She's a girl living with a Tin Man, and her design seems to take some inspiration from children books and fairy tales already (notice her red hood and snow-white skin and hair).
I think it's supposed to add to the magical feeling her concept seems to evoke. She's an orphan living with a robot, that would be a good setting for a fairytale tbh. Also some red slippers would match her color scheme quite nicely.
I think they tried to make a fusion out of honkai impact, guns girl z dlc Seele but just with much more unnecessary details
Great video, I'd like to see your thoughts on the Luofu's designs too.
Pls do more this was interesting video
lukas fiery designs are more for pride of wildfire and maybe partially how he lost his arm in a fire
Overworld next !!! I loved the video it’s interesting to hear your perspective but I don’t necessarily agree on everything (subscribed
Subscribed. I don't see a lot of character design analysis videos on gacha game characters so i hope you'd make more 🙏🙏🙏
luka is one of my favourite characters gameplay wise, but yeah after taking a look at him what is going on 😭
You know what, fair
Luka was already in the opening and featured in a light one
Seele felt like a forcing of Honkai Impact 3rd's Design to Star Rail's setting
Off topic but the way I ULTIMATELY recognized the Stardew Valley music
I love how there's the guys from the surface world, guys from the underworld, and S a m p o
Edit: also, not everything has to be color-coded smh this ain't genshin
From my ‘not an artist’ pov I like all the designs in hsr because they look cool.
5:45 if you are referring to Luka's metal arm.,.I think that's a prosthetic according to his appearance description in the wiki
Can you do a video about how all Luofu designs are the same? It has been bothering me for so long now.
For some you could literally just swap the colour palette of two characters and they'd still look like the same two characters.
Also Ruan Mei. She's got the same problem.
this analysis is so good, and I totally agree!! honestly my biggest gripe with HSR designs is that the majority of them are somehow both overdetailed yet all identical and rather bland all at the same time. all the silhouettes look a bit similar, and this was especially pointed out with the xianzhou luofu’s female characters but they NEED to stop doing the “V line cut dress (that ends at/above the knees) with flowy detached sleeves combo”.
everyone ends up pretty much having the exact same silhouette and comparing these designs to their previous games, honkai impact 3rd and genshin impact (older HI3rd designs especially, when they really shone), they look so extremely bland and identical, which is even more disappointing when you realize that as a turn based game their 3D models should be able to have MORE freedom to experiment with vs characters who need to do flashy fighting and jump and climb. in fact when I went on a period of hiatus from playing this game during the xianzhou arc but was still following the newly released characters on social media I genuinely couldn’t tell any of the women apart because all of them look IDENTICAL. the men also suffer from this too to a lesser extent- too many open coats and turtlenecks with long pants. (also they either need to make more revealing outfits for the male charas or have more women who show less skin, idc either way but balance out the ratio man)
also a personal gripe from both genshin and hsr is when a character has long hair they split it into two bunches (ningguang, acheron, blade, etc). I understand that it’s to show the back of the outfit too but I HATE it, it looks so ugly and hi3rd doesn’t have this issue at all. actually the restrained physics of HSR and genshin compared to hi3rd is also very disappointing, in hi3rd everything is super flowy and poofy and fluffy while in the later two games everything is too flat and barely moves, both in physics and in design (flat hair that sticks too close to the model, flat unpoofy clothing, etc). and yes hi3rd also has open worlds where characters can run and jump and fight in.
anyways sorry for the long comment but I’d love to see more design analysis from you