How Good Is The Penacony Trailblazer Story In 2.0? | Honkai Star Rail Lore
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2024
- The trailblazer story or quest in honkai star rail is the functionally the main story portion of the game and with the release of Penacony and star rail 2.0 we have just gotten an entirely new story with a bunch of new characters. Not all story content is created equal however and at times you have those that can be too short or rushed like in 1.2 so in this video we are going to discuss how good is the penacony trailblazer story in 2.0 as ill share some opinions having played the story so far.
Some part of this video comes from the actual lore while others may be speculation on my part as we currently do not know the full story. As such take it with a grain of salt as the point of this video is just a deeper dive into Honkai Star Rail lore.
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#honkaistarrail #starrail #lore #trailblazer #penacony #acheron #firefly - เกม
Penacony more like Peak and Agony
Underrated comment
Went from Pure Fiction to Peak Fiction in just one patch.
PAINacony
Its probably just going to get increasingly more depressing once we learn everyones backstories 😂
@@Maevix3142 Whatever happens I'm sure it'll be great. I really really like HSR story so far. And your lore videos are also very good and informative.
Our name not being in the list cuz we were not part of the express crew when they invited the faction is such a minor detail, but one I really appreciate. Makes the world seems like it existed before the MC, make it more alive.
About the deaths, I assumed the spiritual death was similar with brain death, that is why the different term (and not just straight up death).
The body is still there "alive" but they are not connected with their "souls", hence spiritual death.
Penacony surprised me both with the main stories and the world missions, I do hope they continue with the quality in the upcoming Updates!
Things I would critique is the pacing with firefly, I loved this part so don't get me wrong but I felt the part where she is bringing us to the secret base way longer than it should be.
So it made me feel the time we spent in the Golden Hour shorter, they could spent more time building her charisma in that first part.
Apart from this I don't have much to say, overall the amount of plot they gave us felt perfect. Not much for us to predict the entire story but enough for us to theorize.
came across something really interesting comments about the topic on the leaks sub discussion so i’ll copy+paste it here without editing (marked potential leaks/spoilers just in case):
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1. Odd connection I noticed, 2.0 story related and not really spoilery but just in case: So I was reflecting on how Something Unto Death is definitely a reference to something in philosophy, and I went to google it because phil 101 was a looong time ago. Here's a chunk from the wiki on Soren Kierkegaard's The Sickness Unto Death: "The real 'sickness unto death', according to Anti-Climacus, is not physical death but despair-a kind of spiritual death, which stems from not embracing one's self." Jumped out at me since Sunday tells us that Something Unto causes a "spiritual death", doesn't really tell us anything but hey.
2. and actually i want to elaborate on this cause it seems like penacony was forcefully built on top of the dreams of someone (likely mikheil) by the family so they could sell it as a very expensive resort. areas like the dream hotel and a child's dream is where you get to see the real side of the dream. in this way something unto death comes out to me as almost a benevolent entity that is trying to free mikheil from being used like this by forcing people to embrace their real selves (or die)
@@felixma9192 That's so interesting! "Not embracing one's self" could be the condition Something Unto Death uses to target its prey, as both of them seems to do it.
About the 2nd, I have a theory of my own!
Penacony was a prison before, where they used the prisoners to create memory bubble, and later with an stellaron and Xipe's influence became the Penacony we know of.
But what if the dreamscape needs "processors" to produce more dreams and such? Their core is a mutated memory bubble that needed the prisoners to be created, so it is not a strech to say they need humans to maintain all the system.
Something onto death could be a natural or artificial response of the dreamscape to resolve the shortage of power.
Mikheil/ the watchmaker is most likely the first Dreamweaver, the one who initially build the dreamscape we know of.
The reason they call him the watchmaker could be potentially explained by the holographic overview of penacony! Its really similar with a clock!
That makes a little more sense to me, in the last scene with Sunday, the relationship between Sunday and Watchmaker made me think the later is above in the hierarchy.
Penacony surpassed my expectations so far, and is easily my favorite starting chapter in hoyo games. It feels like a nice blend of early HSR with HI3 narrative elements, in particular, the Elysium Realm (ER) arc.
This can be explained due to the the main writter behind it being Shaoji, the chad who wrote Elysia and who's team gave life to ER and the Flamechasers back then, with one of it's strongest points being how amazingly well they handled the big cast of new characters.
Also Central Finite, I recommend to check "CatWithBlueHat" last video about Penacony. He made some awesome observations in regards to Misha and Acheron. Penacony multilayered plot seems to be hidden even more secrets haha
CatWithABlueHat legit has foresight bro is really good at observations and predictions
Will we get an Ely crossover though? I miss that simp queen (and I call her that in the most affectionate and respectful tone as I can manage). I hope that if she does show up, it's a long time after Mei's banner.
@@owa1985Excellent question.
Considering Shaoji is on board, the chances for it increased a lot.
However, at the very least, Penacony needs to be a big sucess right? The bigger the sucess, the bigger the writter's freedom to do what he wishes I believe.
@@joaofaria7404 He already proved himself with the flame chasers. Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever encountered another instance of having 13(!) new (well, minus Hua I guess) characters getting injected into the main-ish timeline of a story and having all 13 being that memorable. I mean, up until then, I had trouble following just 3-4 secondary characters outside of the main 3.5 characters.
That he's some sort of genius or ultra-lucky bastard is beyond doubt. And if March is HSR's Kiana analogue, then I suppose we're not going to see a suspiciously familiar emanator of finality at some point. But the rest is fair game right?
It only feels short because i want MORE, tbh this is the first time i really like the start of a hoyo story quest, i hope it gets better and don’t disappoint. Having most other characters besides the nameless be unfriendly and sus really adds the tension and mystery. though imo they need to do something about the 2 “deaths” they just did, it’s be a bit underwhelming if that’s really just it and just used for the shock factor, i seriously doubt they are really dead tho.
I have enjoyed the story so far very much. My one critique is that they are trying to fit so much into a relatively short span of time, so at times it feels a bit rushed (e.g. Duke Inferno's death, revealing the "true" dreamscape underneath the version the Family has placed over it). I would've even been happy if they had released an animated short which depicted Duke Inferno's last stand, even in part. As it is, given the buildup they gave him, an off screen death feels cheap.
true
I think a lot of it is the whoddunit/murder mystery type of story they chose to go with and the first act needs to introduce all these players to build suspicion and suspense. But I do agree about not liking the way duke inferno was off-screened. Im guessing he isnt truly dead but to have the mentioned in an off-handed way was kinda meh
I believe Sunday is talking in a way that means the same as "they're dead for good" but is just states differently, since we've seen his manorisms it doesn't come across as specifically anything else, and I also believe that Robin died from something else, or faked her death to leave the dreamscape, since she lingered for WAYYY longer than Firefly
Sunday's dialogue at the end seems to imply that Robin and Firefly both suffered the same fate by Something unto Death.
I came across a theory I like a lot that suggests Robin's body we saw was just a memory created by Black Swan. It'd explain why Robin and Firefly's "spiritual deaths" have different outcomes, why her body conveniently disappeared once revealed and why she dissipated into bubbles and not goo (cus the Firefly's memories Black Swan conjured were bubbly too).
main quest being short might have been done deliberately by devs so we can spend our time exploring the new world a bit more.
That certainly possible though to be honest I didnt feel it was too short either and saying it was short is just a minor nitpick. Its possible it felt short because I just want more 😂
I just want HSR to keep Shaoji as a permanent. He introduced us to 11 important characters in 2.0 (including Clockie and Dr. Edward) who have been setting up the stage for the Charmony Festival reveal. Even if you fast forward most of the story it is pretty clear what's going on.
Since 2.1 is when we have to reach a climax that'll either make or break the entirety of Penacony story arc. It'll definitely introduce more characters (such as Gallagher who only had a brief cameo so far), and we'll see just how dangerous the truth behind Penacony really is.
I think this is by far the best story so far and it's got me very intrigued, can't wait to see how they go from here
Also I definitely agree they should've explained Memoria in the story itself, but at least it it gets *somewhat* explained in the loading screens as something that can store consciousness and memories, and also explains other things related to it
Memoria: Memoria serves as a vessel for human memory and consciousness. Individuals who are not Memokeepers may experience varying degrees of negative impact upon direct contact with unprocessed memoria. The Memory Zone and Memory Bubbles both consist of aggregates of memoria, differing only in size.
Memory Zone: A realm created by memoria, inaccessible to direct observation. Only Pathstriders who follow the Path of Remembrance or individuals well-versed in unconventional methods can navigate its boundaries. In the past, the Enigmata caused numerous breaches on the border between realspace and the Memory Zone.
Memory Zone Meme: Entities composed of specific perceptions that originate from subconscious fragments within the Memory Zone. Lacking intelligence, they act solely based on the perceptions they carry, driven to consume more memories.
The loading screens also give some lore on Aventurine's planet and species
My only concern for future story is a character like sparkle and black swan, they must treat them very carefully.
A character that can shape shifting and can act without any logical reason (cuz she's a fool) plus someone that can manipulate memories is a perfect combination to create a cheap plot device or even to retcon some events. With those two even bringing back tingyun or retconing her story is very possible lol.
But i believe in their capabilities especially after hearing many good thing about them from our good friend Hi3rd players
Sparkle also opens up doors for a lot of narrative issues, I mean is it unique to her or would all other masked fools be able to do it as well. For the context of the current story where trust is a commodity shes a perfect fit, but moving forward I dont want to have to keep guessing each time, is it a masked fool?
It is mentioned that 'dying' in the dream would simply wake you up from shock. But Something Unto Death seems to be different.
From Sunday's "spiritual death" line, I assume the victims are in a coma in the real world, while their spirit dies - Or, going by the boss' mechanics, maybe the soul is trapped somewhere deeper in the memory zone.
My only complaint about the 2.0 story is how little time we had to share with Firefly. Think they could make the whole traveling part a little shorter to accommodate a couple more conversations. The Trailblazer met and lost Firefly in literally one day, so it's hard to fully relate to their grief.
What really throws me off is that if robins death was a 'normal' one then waking up would make sense but it seems to hint that the death meme was the cause of it which implies she might die a more permanent death but that sunday line then confuses me yet again
Mr shaoji really know how to cook the story, can't wait for 2.1 up to 2.3 how he gonna deliver
I hope it ends up being really good but I dont want to expect too much otherwise ill just end up disappointing myself
Gotta love how the devs gave the majority of players severe trust issue after finishing the quest
"You guys think the disneyland planet is gonna be all happy, think again" - HSR devs and writers probably
In black swan's story quest we get told that death in dream is not the same as dying IRL. But it also left that person shook. So maybe that's what Sunday meant by "spiritual death." On the same note, it is also why I don't think firefly could be dead either. Unless the death meme killing her is different than sparkle bludgeoning someone with a comically large hammer; which well could be the case.
Actually, based on the context between Black Swan’s story and Sunday’s conversation, it reveals exactly why the situation currently going on is of such concern. Normally on Penacony it is possible to die in the dream but that would have no harmful effects on the dreamer as they would awaken should it happen. However the death meme goes against the safety of the dream and brings about spiritual death, meaning that unlike how they would merely wake up if they died in the dream due to the safety of Penacony’s dream, if they die to the death meme, their consciousness is lost and their physical body would go into a catatonic state unable to be awakened. Their body is physically alive but the person is dead
Pros: It is definitely much better than Xianzhou.
Cos: I WANT 2.1 already 😢
I need to know more like wtf is up with Misha
Im trying so hard to avoid spoilers for 2.1. But its really tempting and I cant wait either 😂
Memoria to me reminded me of the Genshin’s leyline…like the ones we and Raiden saw in her 2nd story quest OR Irminsul tree in Sumeru, Honkai Impact also has a similar imaginary tree but its more powerful…i realise that its not the exact same thing but they have similar themes. No?
Overall it’s a great starting chapter for the new world and the mystery and factions are interesting. I guess the only thing I don’t like that much is how much the story kinda forces you and Firefly to be close. Like I do like her character and find her design interesting but why are other characters acting as if I’ve known her for a long time. But that’s a me thing and not a problem necessarily with the story
What's up with Gallagher? Dude appears just once (afaik in main quests), but there's something clearly off with it. That look he exchanges w/ Firefly, the fact that the supposed Bloodhound people he trains don't know/recognize his name. Idk, I just don't see anyone talking about him and I'd like other people's take on him.
hey bro just saying i love your hsr videos 👍
Thank you! I appreciate that, glad you enjoy my rambling 😂
i really hope they do more meaningful stuff with the 2.0 banner characters because it feels like Sparkle and Black Swan are really just there to hang out and mess around a bit, while Acheron and Aventurine feel like the ones who are more deeply involved with the mystery behind Penacony. The last thing I want is another Argenti/Ruan Mei/Ratio situation where their stories feel more like filler content on top of also not being all that interesting (unlike say, Huo huo with the Foxian Tale event, that one was probably the peak of Luofu story content).
Sparkle is a masked fool, the followers of Aha, her goofing around is like her entire character💀
About Black Swan she has made a deal with Adventurine so she is kinda with him
I actually enjoyed the more filler stories but sadly who knows when they’ll show up again
I feel the opposite. I think everything Aventurine and Acheron know about the dreamscape comes from Black Swan
nitpicking tldr: you want a paimon to repeat the word for you thirty times.
To be honest, I do not want a paimon here. I like the dynamic the nameless and the trailblazer have like march, himeko or welt providing exposition. Paimon just feels like shes talking on your behalf too often
I say it have set up, but if play Sparkler quest, this all may be a lot of red hering aka you think this il happen but Uno reverse twist
In sparkles quest theres even an actual red herring shown 😂
@@Maevix3142 So much red herring is smell like fish here XD
the side missions are peak
Im still going through some of them but theyre pretty entertaining
I like how you comment that future updates could end up rushing the story
the scars of the xianzhou luofu are not easily forgotten
but yeah, star rail has done a decent job of starting a story well, but then losing the plot along the way, they did it both on Belabog and in the Luofu, so until they finally stick a real landing in the story it's going to be hard to believe they can pull it off right for once
Nah, Belobog was just fine but the Luofu def could have have been better if not for the fact it's mainly set up for the future, so while not great right now will probably get better once the story is continued.
Belobog felt draggy in the middle, the start and end were great while luofo definitely felt rush but I still enjoyed the overall story. With penacony the whole whodunnit structure might be detrimental to those who have to wait since right now weve just been given a bunch of story threads and mystery characters but have to wait for those threads to pay off. I still enjoy it in general though but I do see some of the caveats of each storyline
Painecony
Me and caelus only trust black swan💜💍 and the express. 8:20 i dont like it, the space station and the start of belobog was my favourite. After we met seele i started to not like the story
The middle of belobog's story did feel a little draggy ill admit, but I still enjoyed the ending
Personally I hate how they force Firefly on to you.
Yeah I get that, its pretty blatantly done the saving grace at least is shes not an annoying mascot or anything
definately better than genshin stories
Outside of archon quests and dainsleif I just kinda lost interest in the side stories in genshin
- PERSONAL OPINION - I BLAME HALF THE THINGS THAT I DON'T LIKE UPT O TASTE
1.Puzzles in main story too long (personal opinion)
- when we follow firefly to her secret space, like hasn't she been there a couple times already?? Why do we have to spend an eternity just solving puzlles that hurt my head sure the spatial perception thing is cool but ugh i quit halfway - loss immersion - firefly's death didn'thit as hard cuz i paused i due to the puzzles. and her reactions to the puzzles like "i have to put on my thinking cap"... you come here often no? why then are we solving the value of pi to get anywhere?
2.Lack of firefly voicelines and interactions when sparkle sent us into the "real dreamscape"
- again, too many puzzles but i get it... It's an unfamiliar place so puzzles are ok and travelling on walls are fun
3.yk when black swan saved us and sprkle the first time we encountered the "sumthing unto death"?
- she used her purple hands to shove it against the ceiling
- THE ARMS LOOK LIKE TWIGS LMAO
- too thin ikik design choice personal prefrences... perception... ima chalk it up to taste
4.the moment when black swan's hands slammed into the "sumthing unto death" into the ceiling (not the floor that scene was amazing the pressure animation :DDD) the "impact" is small
-all we could see was smoke, the ceiling was not craked
-it seemed like a shove other than a "slam"
ok yap over bye number 3 and 4 are definetly biased and personal opinionated heavily but 1 and 2 are also similar but i think more pepo will agree with me than 3 and 4.
I enjoyed Penacony's story for the most part, but there is one major flaw that I'm very disappointed in. (Spoliers btw)
Duke Inferno being killed offscreen. I'm rather upset. I feel like killing him served more as a throwing him away rather than part of the actual plot. The hyped him up so much, and now they take a potentially great villain and go "yeah he died and his followers split up". The only explanation I can think of is either they wanted to make Acheron feel like a threat or just do something with a lot of shock value. But neither of these happened, at least to me. Acheron doesn't feel more threatening, and there wasn't a big "woah" moment, mainly because the death happened off screen. If they wanted to make his death shocking, have it happen on screen. Introduce him in person. His death has no meaning because we never got to see him be anything. And without meaning, there is no shock, nor does it make Acheron feel like a threat for killing him because he served no purpose. Making him die is disappointing, but what's mostly disappointing is that it happened off screen. It gives the impression that the writers really didn't know how or want to do anything with him, so they threw him away. This is probably not the case, I don't want to say they're lazy, becuase the rest of the story was really good. It's just that the move with Duke Inferno felt disappointing.
I know I'm focusing on this one flaw, but that's because it's one of the only flaws. The rest of the story was really gripping, and I cried when Firefly died. I'm just sharing my critique. I don't mean any offense to the writers.
They most likely are going to cover his death if he indeed "truly" died. My bet is on a Acheron Myriad Celeste trailer IF he died.
Otherwise, Penacony still gonna be his stage.
He isn't dead
I suspect he isnt truly dead given the nature of his existence being a sentient phase flame and all plus its really weird to offscreen someone who got so much trailer screen time and was essentially the villain for 1.6. I think its likely just for shock value though if they really did offscreen him and have no intention of bringing him back then yeah questionable decision really. Id have loved to explore that particular group, though from the story it seems only duke inferno bit the dust and the rest were just scattered
Unpopular opinion, I found penacony kinda annoying. But I’m sure once everything else comes out it will become amazing.
I suspect a lot of that is because of the structure the chose to take (the whodunnit or murder mystery type) where characters and mechanics are introduced early and its meant to build suspense but in those stories you always transition right into the explanation on each of them whereas here you have to wait. So yeah definitely annoying but im hoping the same as you that once everything else comes together itll be amazing
Acheron: Kills MC right in the start, making them "wake up".
Sam before battle: Says "when you wake up in real world, make sure that everyone knows who made you wake up".
All the people in BlackSwan/Sparkle quest: Literally say that it is impossible to die in a dream.
Firefly and Robin: Dissolve into nothingness without leaving a trace when they are "dead".
Majority of players: *sad/angry noises* "OMG I can't believe it, why would she die, why? And Black Swan says that she is dead, she is not lying, right? I'm so sad..."
Also very funny how so many people in Internet demonize Sparkle while she is just a mischievous free-spirited girl which is just not brainwashed by IRL fear of saying wrong words. She is not only non-evil, but also probably the most trustworthy person in the entire Penacony we've met so far.
Honestly its kind of a mess and everywhere...they keep talking and reacting to things Im supposed to care about but never explain why they are important, it seems like the stat rail crew knew it was a trap yet still willingly walked into it with no plan or preparation, the characters death after they were randomly introduced and Im supposed to care about them? (they are not dead anyway we all now they are coming back)
Star rail its good making you think the story its epic with its cut scenes but the writting its a mess
I suspect alot of that is due to the whodunnit or murder mystery approach where in the first act it always introduces all these characters and mechanics. The difference is that stories like that tend to flow right into the exposition on those mysterious subjects but for us we have to wait a couple of weeks (maybe even till 2.1) for the story to progress. So the first act feels like a bunch of name drops and world mechanics (like memoria) that cant be explained without it hinting at the next part.