HSR Version 3.4 did some colossal work on the story of Amphoreus, providing players with answers, explaining what’s at stake, doing heavy lifting with some character development (especially Phainon and Cyrene), and giving Trailblazers a specific goal: defeat Lygus and stop Lord-Ravager Irontomb from being born. How does its continuation compare? Let’s find out.
Phainon might be gone, but the Flame-Chase Journey never stops. The ending of Version 3.4 sent players into Okhema a thousand years before the familiar events. Now Trailblazers get a chance to catch a glimpse of how this millennium-long quest began, complete with the introduction of two characters who had played a crucial part in ensuring the success of Chrysos Heirs.
Phainon’s actions have also significantly slowed down the progress of the Black Tide, giving this cycle of Eternal Recurrence more of a fighting chance and changing the way some of the events unfolded. The two Geniuses, Herta and Screwllum, have also thrown their full weight into cracking the Scepter and rewriting Era Nova.
But not all things go according to plan, as Lygus is now out to meddle personally, and he’s not above using every dirty trick he has access to while endlessly telling you about the allegory of the cave. Who dies, who lives, who writes the story?
With the truth of the Eternal Recurrence and the purpose of Era Nova out of the bag, the Trailblazer and Cyrene are now all that stands between Lygus and certain War of the Aeons. With such stakes and the way Phainon went out in the blaze of glory, players kept wondering – how can the new version top the events of the previous one? Or are we in for a filler before the real battle begins?
As it turns out, it is both and neither. Amphoreus 3.0 through 3.3 was the victorious, if heavy with losses, battle of Chrysos Heirs vs. the unfeeling gods, all in a bid of bringing Era Nova, an uncertain promise of the coming rebirth. While the path was filled with many goodbyes, it was heroic and epic in the best way, leaving a bittersweet aftertaste.
The revelation behind Phainon’s past turned it into a divine, mirthless comedy, an endless fight of one man, too stubborn to give up even with the full awareness that he has no chance to win, all for a shaky chance that someone will help if he holds out long enough. The current version turns the story of Amphoreus into a desperate war of attrition against a seemingly almighty enemy.
Previously, the Chrysos Heirs were sacrificing themselves to bring the world another step closer to the promised Era Nova. Now, the heroes throw themselves into raging fire just to keep Amphoreus away from the brink, but time is running out despite their best efforts and endless sacrifices.
Herta and Screwllum have heard the call of the Astral Express and have joined the fight, adding their expertise to the arsenal to wield against Lygus. While their hands are still tied, they have played an important role in slowing if not outright thwarting the plans of the Theoros by figuring out that he is bound by the Ultimate Protocol as much as the simulation itself.
Now it is up to the Trailblazer and Cyrene to figure out how to acquire the power of the Law Titan and keep it away from Lygus’ grabby hands to turn the promise of Era Nova against the administrator. This simple premise begins another story of self-sacrifice and defying the odds, while also introducing players to two new characters, Hysilens and Cerydra, as well as sharing some pretty big lore tidbits for the future.
Going onward, I’ll assume that you have played through the story, and focus on discussing it, the strong sides and drawbacks alike, instead of reciting what happened in the latest Trailblaze Mission. If you didn’t play through the latest main story and care for spoilers, you might want to stop here.
Honkai: Star Rail – Version 3.5 takes roughly 5 hours to beat, and focuses heavily on the Trailblazer as the new Deliverer, Cyrene, and Lygus himself. About an hour of it is spent on telling you Plato’s allegory of the cave and teasing the lore revelations to come.
This alternative Okhema serves as one big “what if” trope, greatly enjoyed by fanfiction writers and readers alike. Not only do we get to see young and bubbly Aglaea and the way she was shaped by both Hysilens and Cerydra’s influence, but the difference in the unfolding events also highlights the importance of Phainon’s sacrifice.
With the Black Tide contained and slowed, Mydei’s father King Euripon didn’t fall to despair and madness, and the young prince never had to be exiled. Though, the irony lies in the fact that it was Mydei’s soul split into five shards instead of Nikador’s in this cycle. Similarly, seeing the true enemy before them clearly for the first time, the Cleaners have joined the Chrysos Heirs in fighting against Lygus, whereas in the previous cycle they were the cause of Aglaea’s death.
As the new playable characters, Cerydra and Hysilens play an important role as well, but their presence cannot really be compared to all the screen time that Cyrene and Trailblazer have gotten. With the Deliverer out of the story, it is the “Ripples of Past Reverie”, Cyrene, who is getting a heavy dose of character development and hype now.
The situation is further exacerbated by HoYoverse specifically keeping players in suspense whether Cerydra will betray them or not. Even when her distrust towards Lygus had been unveiled, there was still the uncertainty behind her becoming the demigod and rewriting a certain law at the cost of her own life. So much so it required a flashback within a flashback at the very end of the story just to give her some extra time.
In a way, it reminds me of HSR V3.0, where Herta and Aglaea have gotten only a fraction of the attention given to Phainon. The difference is that Aglaea had a chance to shine in the following versions, even if we’re talking about background involvement, and Herta and Screwllum are finally getting serious right about now. Will the same be true for Cerydra and Hysilens? Only time – and future versions – will tell.
With the outside help getting more prominent attention, like mentioning Sunday’s tuning abilities that helped to trap Lygus in Exomyth, hopefully other Astral Express members and Black Swan will rejoin the active cast of heroes as well. After all, the Memokeeper did end up basically saving the universe by dragging the Nameless right into this wholesome, romantic adventure!
Versions 3.4 and 3.5 have also been a great patch for all the lore lovers out there. Released during Penacony, Gold & Gears expansion for the Simulated Universe did some heavy lifting in terms of introducing both Ruperts, the Emperor’s Scepter system, Polka Kakamond and other, more obscure lore details surrounding the Genius Society.
Seeing the payoff in the last two versions has been extremely satisfying, especially Lygus’ lack of answer when the name of Lord of Silence is used against him by Herta. However, Lygus – or Zandar – and his motivation and means are a bit less positive overall.
First, by revealing that Zandar split himself into nine bodies, HoYoverse set themselves up for a lot of work in the future. That means that there are eight entities roughly comparable to Lygus out there, potentially seeking to destroy Nous by other means. It is also possible that we have already heard of or even encountered some of them. The most obvious candidate for a part of Zandar would be one or both Ruperts or even Dr. Primitive. Who knows, perhaps another part would seek a different path of getting rid of Erudition, and AtaviSearch Forest and Device IX both seem like viable ways to go about it.
The catch is that it is a story or multiple stories that might take years to develop in any significant way or simply never receive continuation. Think back to the Xianzhou Alliance, to all the other teased ships and stories like Jingliu and Luocha presenting their God-Slayer plan. What about the Annihilation Gang (who?), it’s been over a year in both cases. What are the chances we’ll see payoff anytime soon, if at all, considering that every expansion adds over a dozen new characters, focuses on expanding the story of a certain Path, and adding new plot points for the future?
Lygus-Zandar also spent hours upon hours trying to drill his motivation of destroying everything just to break the cage of Erudition into the Trailblazer. So much so that the entire patch had only two story battles, one of them against the final boss! However, he ended up cutting himself off with the suspicious “You don’t even know the truth about the Paths”. My good Theoros, either spill the beans or shut the trap. Potentially destroying everything just to get rid of an Aeon sounds like some crazy stuff – that truth behind the Paths better be something juicy enough to make Lygus seem just desperate over completely mad.
Especially when there are other ways such as siding with Mythus the Enigmata, the anti-Erudition if you will, or doing what had been done with Order and Harmony. Ena the Order had been consumed by Xipe the Harmony, which led to the creation of a new Path that took over the old. Zandar already has experience with creating a god and nurturing a god-killer virus, why not throw his all to create Nous 2.0, representing the unending curiosity and thirst for knowledge vs. the rigidity of the Erudition?
However, all of the above hinges on the way the future versions will go. What role do the Remembrance and Permanence play in the future of Amphoreus? Did Herta and Screwllum succeed in rewriting Era Nova, and what does that mean for our beloved Chrysos Heirs who sacrificed themselves again and again? Finally, how did March 7th and Dan Hang get their cool new 5-star forms? Tune in for Version 3.6 special program tomorrow to be among the first to see the first glimpses of the upcoming story.
