this is a honkai star rail post

[lovebalance]

notes: i wrote this a while ago and got embarrassed by it. then i read it again and changed my mind. sorry for all the typos and stuff, i have typing too fast disease (plus other things).

so to start off i played as the male mc because an IRL told me that he liked dan heng and caelus together. this stamp of approval from a friend with similar tastes would then lead to me playing honkai star rail, and falling right into hoyoverse’s hands yet again. honkai star rail is fun for me and, personally, i think the writing has been very consistent throughout. each update, story-wise, feels like it’s all adding together for the end of the game, which is the point i suppose; it creates this sense of anticipation for me to see the end game, and i have to compliment hoyoverse for that. (will i stick around that long for the endgame though? hmm…)

anyways, all that is to say i have lowkey fallen for hsr very heavily and now have an actual attachment towards all of the main cast. the astral express are my little family…MY SHAYLA!!!!! (i also enjoy the mysterious hints of the past we’ve gotten via: stellaron hunters…)  and all THAT is to say that i now have affection for the trailblazer like they’re my own. 

• (3.0+ spoilers) silent protagonists / the stellaron hunters / trailblazers’ past:

there is something about a silent protagonist in video games that is so interesting to me. it shouldn’t be something that complex; you as the player are inserting yourself into the world as the avatar, which immerses you into the world blah blah blah, i get it. the point of it all is to see what you as a person would really do in this scenario; the silent protagonist isn’t a “character”, they’re a filler, never meant to really be anything beyond you as the player. even then, i think for me it’s so interesting to build the silent protagonist up from how the world views them. (sorry, unfortunately i will be using modern day persona as a main reference.) 

i think that single player narrative video games such as the legend of zelda, persona, honkai star rail, have such an interesting way of building the world and the mc around each other. for example, one of my favorite things in persona 5 when it comes to joker’s personality is when morgana comments on the fact that the mc doesn’t eat properly. or in the legend of zelda series, specifically in breathe of the wild, where zelda writes about how link interacted with the world through her eyes. it’s these moments that really stick out to me, simply because that implies that beyond the player making verbal choices in the scenario, there is a part of the protagonist’s life that they can’t access. that is so interesting to me, this is why i find that silent protags eventually become a separate entity/character by themselves when i play some games. 

a counterexample of this type of silent protagonist is tav from baldur’s gate 3 (and also the protag of the other larian studios game divinity original sin 2)—that is a true silent protag in my opinion. bg3 is based around dungeons and dragons, so the way in which the game goes about the protag is different from games such as zelda or persona. you build up little things in a character customization such as background, class, subclass, race, etc, and based on all of these things the world adapts to the tav. while this game is so fun and i’m super into it, as i said, tav and joker (or in this case, trailblazer) are not the same type of silent mc. we have access to everything regarding the tav, we do not have access to the other two characters.

ALL OF THAT BULLSHIT TO SAY!!!!! in the honkai star rail 3.0 story update there is a moment in which we dive into trailblazer’s memories—before now we’ve never had access to trailblazer’s life before they joined the astral express, mainly only dialogue hints. so in these memories, the way the characters interact with the trailblazer is very striking to me. present mc is depicted as more comedic, laid-back, but serious when needed be (this is all based on how other characters reference tb, phainon said something similar during the most recent update—that is, if you’re taking the game way too seriously, like me). in the memories however, they are quiet and there’s a lack of the current mc anywhere. in the memory, when speaking with kafka and blade (<3), trailblazer’s responses are pretty blunt, short, and they were regarded in a serious way by the other stellaron hunters. even kafka was like “you guys need to cheer up!” at tb and blade. i want to see how much the mc is different before the astral express and after, i hope hoyoverse keeps adding hints at the difference between the protag. all of this makes honkai star rail so much more interesting to me, and elevates the writing of the game, and makes me enjoy the game more!

no i’m not saying the writing is perfect or top - shelf, however i think hsr has had a pretty good streak ever since penacony. i also am aware this isn’t exactly a new or revolutionary trope when it comes to rpgs and gachas, i.e. the protagonist has amnesia. however i feel like the hsr writing team has managed to utilize that character element well. like the writing of the game is so good to me because hoyoverse makes you (me) so interested in learning about mc that i am attached to them, and makes me attached to how they interact with the world. and because of that i am attached to everyone. unforuntaly hoyoverse has the sauce, sometimes. 

i think i am crazy. this was all so i could gush about how much i’m enjoying honkai star rail in my autistic way. this probably made no sense and i don’t really care. <3

also can i interest anyone in kafstel yuri? i thought the kafstel yuri was quite lovely...

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