The Amphoreus saga is over, and the journey that took almost a year is at its end. Over the course of this adventure we’ve met new characters, laughed, cried, despaired over being stuck in the cave and unable to know the real world, fought against the fate of inevitable Destruction, played with time, and so much more.
Version 3.7: As Tomorrow Became Yesterday finally kicked off the first real Era Nova in the long 33.5 million cycles, and the new cast of Amphoreus’ Titans prepares for the final confrontation with Irontomb. Meanwhile, the alliance that consists of the Astral Express, Xianzhou Luofu, Galaxy Rangers, IPC, and a small branch of the Family led by Robin gathers outside the Scepter to aid in the battle and protect the innocents that got caught in it.
Last but certainly far from the least, Herta and Screwllum finally go all out – from threatening other Geniuses to actually saving the day and ruining the best of Zandar’s plans… until he pulls the Top 10 Anime Betrayals and suddenly swaps sides in the name of Curiosity.
But without further ado, it’s time to see whether Era Nova and the final chapter have managed to stick the landing. Are you in?
Before the update was released, HoYoverse took to Bilibili with a series of official videos dedicated to the creation of the Galactic Alliance with the sole goal of opposing Irontomb. The Xianzhou ships will provide forces, while Galaxy Rangers evacuate the affected worlds, IPC’s Strategic Investment Department delivers the hastily created vaccine, and more.
Meanwhile, Herta, Screwllum and Stephen Lloyd will continue providing technical support and cracking the Scepter until the Genius comes up with an even bolder plan. Finally, the Express trio and the new pantheon of Amphoreus Titans together with Cyrene will clash with the very core of the Scepter, waging the final fateful battle.
Not only does it hype up what the battle means for the future of the cosmos, but it also works as a way to overcome one of the main gacha weaknesses. That is, every region existing as its own thing, with barely any interaction with the outside forces and characters. Penacony avoided the galactic scrutiny due to everything happening in a dream, but the threat on the levels of Irontomb shouldn’t remain a one-faction, single region encounter. And it didn’t…. almost.
Since the videos below were not translated into English on the official channel, this part of the battle for Amphoreus remained largely invisible. Instead, playing as Himeko, you get a chance to talk to your allies from basically everywhere: Topaz, Bronya & Seele on Belobog, Aventurine and Jade representing the IPC, Robin sneaking off to help despite the Family’s ambivalence about the whole thing, Fu Xuan offering Xianzhou’s help, and more.
Herta and Screwllum, who had been there since the very beginning, need no such introduction. But they still went above and beyond by dragging the Herta Space Station and Planet Screwllum (whether itself or one of its planet-sized mega-ships) to the Scepter.
However, the way the final encounter unfolded had significantly diminished the importance of these outside forces, culminating in a 20-second trailer. Sure, I didn’t expect the ME3 ‘The Fleets Arrive’ treatment, but so much talk for so little action, seriously? In addition to the organizations mentioned above, Himeko, Welt, Sunday and Black Swan, too, might as well stop existing once the intro is through.
The strongest elements of the story revolve around Herta and the rest of the Geniuses. No caves, no love and peaches, no Aeons to glance at them at the last second, pure logic, curiosity and Herta at her best. The Emanator of Erudition arranges a meeting with the rest of the Society, and warns, almost threatens them (Polka especially) to stay put and avoid interfering with Irontomb. If things turn drastic, she has an outrageous plan that draws Lygus to her side.
Inside the Scepter, the Express trio and Cyrene get help from the Titans of the new era, remind everyone of Phainon’s continued suffering, and set off to face the big bad. Admittedly, I wasn’t a fan of the whole sequence – it felt long, drawn out and repetitive, getting blessings that we have gotten multiple times before (walking on the rainbow bridge in 3.5, creating Era Nova in 3.6) and will get again at the very end.
Instead of the rising tension at knowing the final battle is approaching, you jump between multiple PoVs, from Himeko to the Trailblazer to Herta to the flashback with the Demiurge to the Trailblazer again, immediately ending up in battle. By the time you get properly hyped up, mostly thanks to DJ Lygus and his latest hit, the battle is basically over.
I will give it to HoYoverse though, the power of friendship resulting in the ultimate loss was not on my bingo card – but it was a strong and poignant point that the orthodox means won’t work on Irontomb. This is where the battle reaches its peak, but the excitement is broken by another lengthy section of multiple dialogues.
The moment the would-be Aeon-killer is born, several things happen at once: Herta realizes her bold plan and beats Irontomb at the finish line, completing the Self-Coronation in its place. She overclocks the Scepter by connecting it to the audience system and reaching Nous to rewrite the Fourth Instance, making the Trailblazer into a variable of the cosmos.
At the same time, Evernight’s predictions regarding the plan of the Remembrance turn out to be true. With the virus of Irontomb spreading through the cosmos and threatening all living beings, Cyrene as the Demiurge gets access to the endless memories of those affected. Before they’re forever tainted by the Destruction, she collects, protects and preserves as many as she can reach. This influx of Memoria turns her into a Pure Child of Remembrance, one of the candidates for becoming Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance who will be born at the end of times.
Using the powers of Remembrance and Trailblaze, Cyrene and the protagonist overwrite Irontomb’s equation and bring down the godkiller. The phrase we repeatedly heard – if a new life has to be born, its seed must be dead – comes to fruition as the universe is reborn.
The fall of Irontomb also means the demise of Scepter δ-me13 and Amphoreus as we’ve known it. But it is not the end – Cyrene saved the memories in the form As I’ve Written and returned to the past to fill the gap in Amphoreus’ causality brought by the absence of Fuli, stabilizing the anchor of Irontomb’s fall and ensuring that it can never rise again.
Herta and Screwllum also managed to save a chunk of data that will help with restoring the world in physical space at an accelerated pace.
Let’s talk about the pink elephant in the room, Cyrene. No, not about her kit – in fact, I think it is healthy for the game in the long run when every following releasing support or sustain does not become the new Tribbie or the new Hyacine, raising both the floor and the ceiling of combat performance to a point where a few months-old heroes struggle to participate in the endgame.
Like Seele, Bronya, Acheron, Phainon and some others, Cyrene is an expy, borrowing the familiar visuals and themes of Honkai Impact 3rd character, Elysia. However, where the previous expy were allowed to exist as characters of their own and have their own stories and relationships, Cyrene was crudely forced into an Elysia-shaped frame at the expense of her own character.
Elysia’s theme was love – love for the world, love for humanity as a whole, and a deep connection with the other Flame-Chasers, from reserved Kevin to gentle Eden. For her, it made a great deal of sense to don a wedding dress and sacrifice herself for a chance for those who will come in the future, with her fellow Flame-Chasers mourning her loss in their own ways. And then sacrifice herself again in the Elysian Realm, while urging Raiden Mei and the players to always move forward.
The love is still there for Cyrene, driving her to preserve the cycles of Amphoreus and the forgotten memories of 33 million cycles of struggle. However, the connection is not – the screen time that could have been used to forge her bonds with the Chrysos Heirs had instead been all given to the Trailblazer, be it in the game or in the trailers.
Before you say that she simply didn’t have the time to do so between being the sacrifice to reset the cycles, being stuck in the Tomb of the Nameless Titan, submitting her memories, or sticking by the Trailblazer as Mem – there was a blank period of one thousand years that Trailblazer was stuck in the Exomyth while the Chrysos Heirs banded together to stop Lygus. That is more time than Caelus and Stelle had the chance to spend with Flame-Chasers on their own.
Her being assigned the position of an observer for sure makes things harder, but not impossible. Even if the connection she has to Amphoreus and Chrysos Heirs would have been one-sided, it still could and should have been her focus.
The similar thing can be said about her looks, even. A unique appearance – Smolrene, if you will – with unique clothes and unique weapon (the ceremonial blade), all thrown away to bring forth a boring copy-paste of Elysia’s looks.
Between the lack of connection to other characters and the vapid pandering to the Trailblazer, Cyrene completely loses out on her own identity outside of the protagonist. I know it was not the idea that the developers tried to present, but it honestly felt like Cyrene’s actual wish was to be with the Trailblazer, and saving Amphoreus was the way she had to go about it – otherwise, the dear trash panda would perish, too.
It is so egregious and in your face that it’s impossible to ignore, and I feel the need to apologize to Firefly – at least she has her bond with the Stellaron Hunters and the Glamoth-shaped past outside of the relationship with Stelle or Caelus.
I believe that the idea behind Cyrene is an awesome one, be it an AI learning the concept of love, or love growing from loss and lament to oppose the Destruction, or even art affecting reality (through As I’ve Written), you name it. But the implementation and realization have been lacking ever since she’s evolved from her Mem-form.
Cyrene coming back to patch up the causality of Amphoreus tries to do the heavy lifting of character development and exposition, and even manages a certain degree of success: not only is it focused on Cyrene, herself, but it is also a graceful way to tie up the loose ends and show the role she’s played for Amphoreus behind the scenes.
Among them, why did the Scepter know the Trailblazer’s name, who was it that glanced at the protagonist and saved their life since it couldn’t be Fuli, the mystery behind PhiLia’s vision of a god, Phainon’s inner hero, and much more. But it is overall too little, too late. By that point, you’ve either fallen in love with the character as is and bought the $300 bow to insert the Trailblazer into her Ult, or you don’t care for her and that last segment won’t change your opinion drastically.
Perhaps it is also the curse of a character being introduced among the last – but Cyrene certainly didn’t lack for screentime overall, even if quite a bit of it was used to explain the sudden twists and turns of the convoluted Amphoreus story.
Bigger and more complex does not always mean better when it comes to stories after all, and it feels that by the end Amphoreus has gotten too large for its own good. The developers have tried to explore many individual character stories and arcs with various levels of success while also adding a generous sprinkling of philosophy, time-travel, cause and effect loops, alternative timelines, epic space battles, gods, and more.
And, when the time came to answer the questions and bring the story to its end (even if it is a clear “To Be Continued”), the writing got so tangled up in it that it stumbled on itself. Some plot lines – such as the aforementioned epic space battles – had gotten the short end of the stick since the time had been committed to the other elements of the story.
A similar thing can be said about the ending of this saga, the final chapter and the epilogue. From the very beginning, and intensifying right before the release of V3.7, the game was telegraphing a tragic ending with the power of a thousand suns. The latest Myriad Celestia trailer even outlined the only two possibilities that Elio has shared with Kafka: one where the Chrysos Heirs and Cyrene sacrifice themselves, and another where Amphoreus lives, but the cosmos experiences the fourth kind of Finality, represented by the Remembrance.
The haunting visuals, the female rendition of Phainon’s theme (Coronal Radiance) and Cyrene’s parting smile while As I’ve Written is engulfed in flames alongside with everything Amphoreus had ever been, created a picture that’s hard to match.
Add in the realization of the fates that have been narrowly avoided by the Express (thank you, Black Swan), and it forms a tense scene, especially when you see both Silver Wolf and Blade acting anxious, considering they’re certainly now known for.
However, when it comes to the actual game, it feels like the developers couldn’t commit to it. For the story to make sense (and repeat the Elysian Realm of HI3, its main inspiration), the Flame-Chasers should jump into fire for a chance of deliverance. But the team also didn’t want a sad ending either, and right at the last moment Amphoreus re-emerges as a world of memoria. You can even exchange messages with your gold-blooded friends who now live happily retired lives.
Not only that, but Herta and Screwllum, the actual MVPs of this story arc, manage to preserve most of its memories, promising that one day Amphoreus will return as a “real” world. When? In a year, or two, or an Amber Era – when HoYoverse decides to sell the SP-characters of the Chrysos Heirs.
It leaves the ending feeling empty and indecisive, overall losing in emotional feedback to the much more cohesive V3.3 (Aquila fight), V3.4 (Phainon’s journey), and even V3.5 (Cerydra & Hysilens). If you were looking for the vibes like in the last Myriad Celestia trailer or expected a heavy cost of victory that actually matters, you won’t find it here, not even close. But if you wanted an actual happy ending, grabbing Phainon and Cyrene and traveling with them on the Express, all you got was a “Not yet!”.
I was okay with either getting a tragic ending, braced myself for it even, or the happily ever after, but the inconclusive in-between is deeply unsatisfying.
Before wrapping this saga up, let’s take a quick look at some of the hooks the expansion has introduced for the future (not saying all the hooks because I’m likely forgetting some):
- First and foremost, Amphoreus. While the story of the thirteen Chrysos Heirs and their defiance against Destruction is over, it doesn’t mean that we’ll never see them or visit Amphoreus again. Herta and Screwllum will see to that – Amphoreus is already born as a planet and is rapidly developing.
- The Geniuses. Not only are there 8 shards of Zandar still out there, but Polka Kakamond is unlikely to let Herta’s willful actions slide. Last but not least, Screwllum and the promised equation that can be found on Adlivum.
- Device IX – revealed to be created by Polka Kakamond. Acheron is currently searching for it and might potentially cross paths with Zephyro.
- The Xianzhou God-Slayer protocol presented by Jingliu and Luocha. This story has been on the backburner for 2 years now, but HoYo is not ready to either let it go or make it the center of attention again just yet. Instead, we’re getting teased with it again and again, and now the Xianzhou is one step closer to its completion after acquiring the Golden Blood of Nanook.
- Destruction – it was over the course of Amphoreus that we got introduced to the Lord Ravagers, and this is obviously the story that will stretch long into the future.
- Remembrance – Pure Children of Anāsrava and the Garden of Recollection have gotten some lore, but it only feels like the beginning, especially until we learn more about the inner structure of the organization, the Cremators, and more. Black Swan, can you pick the next destination? More unforgettable memories await!
- The cosmic Alliance between the IPC, the Xianzhou, the Geniuses and the rest didn’t dissolve with the defeat of Irontomb. It might serve a further purpose in the story yet – similar to the Jade Abacus that remains unused.
- Erudition – the Fourth Instance of Nous is not a moment, it is a process, and it has already started. We’ve narrowly avoided Remembrance becoming the fourth kind of Finality, but this is just the beginning.
- IPC, The Elation & Benzaitengoku. After V3.7, there’s a new IPC Radio Broadcast that mentions the world of Benzaitengoku. Madam Pearl, one of the Ten Stonehearts, is currently on the planet as it prepares for the Lunament Festival established by Aha, the Aeon of Elation. Meanwhile, the tensions between Oswaldo Schneider and Diamond seem to escalate.
- The cutscene that showed both Stelle and Caelus. No idea, but it obviously means something for the future.
In conclusion to this already incredibly long article, I hope that the next region we visit, whatever it is – Edo Star, Melustanin, Lushaka, Benzaitengoku, Washtopia even – will focus on telling a good, cohesive story instead of a convoluted tale that had never come before.
Sure, going from fighting a god to taking part in a local festival or helping a tiny planet with mundane problems might feel off after a journey 33.5 million cycles long. But continuously increasing the scale of enemies and catastrophes we encounter to caricature proportions – the way it had been done by, say, World of Warcraft – is not the way. At some point, it becomes next to impossible to suspend your disbelief. In fact, the battle with Irontomb where we defeated the Destruction with Love (and Herta hijacking the self-coronation in the last second) had just about crossed that line already.
While the grandiose scope of the story certainly adds to the vibe of an interstellar journey and a space saga, it means nothing if you can’t pull it off and stick the landing.
