Chrysos Heirs

Needed to get these thoughts out right away since I like looking into language of flowers and symbolism theming - How each flower corresponds to the Chrysos Heirs (using the immediate first impressions that I had when I saw the post):

Cyrene - N/A

Funny how the one who talks the most about flowers does not get paired up with one. Though based on the outfit design, the As I've Written card, and the constant talks of romantic stories, I would not be surprised if it was some kind of rose.

Tribios - Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley often tends to be associated with return to happiness, sweet innocence, and motherhood. Fits well with Tribios's personality as a whole and her relationship with her mom, plus the cluster of white bell shaped flowers kind of look like multiple little Tribbies.

Cerydra - King Protea

Funny how coincidence led to her getting the shortest month of the year lol. I didn't know too much about this flower prior before, but considering it has "king" in the name, I would guess that it would also come with some meanings related to kings like power and courage. Although, the name Protea comes from the ancient Greek god Proteus, so that's another cool coincidence. Pretty sure Hoyo only went with this cause of the king thing though.

March 7th/Evernight - Four Leaf Clover

I'm not the first person who thought St Patrick's, surely lmao. But aside from that, March 7th and Evernight's design has a lot of this recurring four-petal flower shape we don't know the name of, so the clover was probably picked to match that.

Dan Heng - Orchid

Orchids are very hardy plants that can grow on mountains and is pretty frequently seen motif in Chinese culture as a flower historically used to represent the ideal qualities in scholars and gentlemens. I bet Hoyo was smiling at themselves when it was time to pick a flower for Dan Heng's Earth form, especially since the Imbibitor Lunae outfit had lotus flowers for the water theming.

Hysilens - Water Lily

Apart from the obvious water theming, the thing that stood out to me immediately was how it relates to her whole thing with Nihility. Water lilies (and lotus) grow from muddy waters but remain pristine, so it is used to represent spiritual enlightenment in many cases. And here, it kinda fits with her whole underwater home being taken over by the black tide and her still triumphing against nihilism even after everything.

Hyacine - Sunflower

I laughed a little inside when I saw this because I knew that meant Phainon, who was next in line, wasn't going to have the sun-themed flower. Hoyo could have given Hyacine the hyacinth after her namesake, but sunflower is a pretty good and no-brainer pick. There's even sunflowers in her splash art.

Phainon - Forget-Me-Not

R.I.P. Phainon, you will not be forgetten. They really love twisting the knife each time huh. Aside from the obvious name, forget-me-nots often connotate remembrance and love after partings.

Anaxa - Endless Summer

So this name stumped me at first sight and I had to look it up to find out they were talking about hydrangeas. Why couldn't they just say hydrangea?? Anyways, hydrangeas are well known for changing between pink or blue based on the pH of the soil, which I think fits Anaxa's science and alchemy pretty well. Some places equate hydrangeas with pride and arrogance too which is uh, pretty fitting lol

Aglaea - Osmanthus Fragrans

This flower got hinted at early in Hysilens' CHRYSOS magazine volume when she said it was a favorite flower/flavor of Aglaea's. If you were curious about why osmanthus is being used, it's not a Zhongli reference, promise. Osmanthus has a very rich perfumey scent, and its Chinese name (桂) is pronounced similarly to the word for "expensive/valuable" (贵). So in China, it's always been treated as a flower associated with wealth, luxury, and nobility, much like Aglaea herself. But yes, it does have symbolism relating to love and romance as well.

Mydei - Pomegranate Flower

Finally, a Greek-themed plant. I'm just joking. Anyways, this is also kind of a no-brainer: pomegranate is red and the juice looks like blood, he drinks it in his idle animation, the in-game texts even talk about it. The fruit that is associated with life and the tale of Persephone unsurprisingly fits the man who is functionally immortal and travels through the Sea of Souls each time before he is resurrected.

Castorice - Snapdragon

This one had me go wild when she was first seen holding snapdragons in her splash art back then because I understood the intent right away and later added it to her trivia page. Aside from the obvious dragon theming with Pollux, after pollination the snapdragon petals withers away and the plant turn into seed pods that resemble skulls, very fitting for death imagery. Really glad to see Hoyo revisited the snapdragon pairing again.

Cipher - Catnip

Lmao, they did not just. But seriously, the whole hyperactive and euphoria-inducing catnip fits great with the Elation-coded Chrysos Heir whose special ability includes the zoomies.

What if Black Swan as Trailblazer to just yank the illustrations of the Chrysos Heirs in As I've Written and steal them and use them as tarot cards then give Trailblazer a reading, they got Cipher card and then Trailblazer get slapped by Aha for no reason.

Each Chrysos Heir, Coreflame and Titan is supposed to simulate a path of the universe.

• Janus - Passage - Harmony.

• Talanton - Law - Order.

• Oronyx - Time - Remembrance.

• Georios - Earth - Permanence.

• Phagousa - Ocean - Nihility.

• Aquila - Sky - Preservation.

• Kephale - Worldbearing - Destruction.

• Cerces - Reason - Erudition.

• Mnestia - Romance - Beauty.

• Nikador - Strife - Hunt.

• Thanatos - Death - Equilibrium.

• Zagreus - Trickery - Elation.

Thoughts/spoilers ahead, though I'm not sure a warning is needed since it's been a few weeks now.

Honestly this quest was a mixed bag for me while still really liking it overall. I think that mostly comes from my extreme confusion over aspects of the quest where I thought I knew what was going on only for someone to say something that contradicted it. Or the fact that the POV kept jumping to different years and cycles that I literally just gave up on trying to understand after a while lol. I felt 3.4 was much easier to comprehend than this because the focus was on the cycle numbers that existed to give you an understanding of what Khaslana and the final cycle before the eternal recurrences went through; this felt like pure chaos at times leaving very important conclusions to scenes where characters were in trouble up to the player's imagination (like I'm still confused on how Aglaea got away from Lygus and he gave up for 50 years only to come back and do the same thing again? Really lost lol) Was I the only one who felt this way? Let me know if I'm not please 😀

Apart from THAT though... Yeah I have to say the Amphoreus characters are officially my favorite in the game. There were a few HI3 references I geeked out about (Mydei said everlasting flame at one point, and Lygus was apparently the one who discovered the imaginary tree's existence in the Star Rail universe). The fact that they put their trust in a stranger they never knew and managed to actually TRAP one of Zandar's physical forms in Amphoreus is amazing. Like, these guys are actually the greatest, Lygus wasn't kidding when he called them the most outstanding model of the experiment in 3.4. Definitely shed a few tears in the cutscene where the memory of them disappeared as Trailblazer went back to the current world. And I'm most certainly not ready to accept that they might not be coming back, let me be delusional.

Of course, I can't talk about this quest without addressing the elephant in the room: Lygus, otherwise known as Zandar. I'll be honest and say I actually got spoiled on that before I finished the quest due to not being careful enough on social media, but that's okay. And man, I will officially say he has to be one of Hoyoverse's greatest villains so far, right next to Otto Apocalypse from HI3. Star Rail didn't really have any before to be honest - Cocolia kinda just did her thing without much depth to her backstory, Phantilya is a Lord ravager with an unknown origin story, and Sunday was never really a villain, more so a misguided antagonist. Which did fit the story Penacony was telling in my opinion. Zandar though? We've not only spent 10+ hours experiencing the horrible fates of the Chrysos heirs that was always a means to an end for him, but he absolutely refuses to change his perspective on anything despite the countless times the heirs have shown they are much more than just 1s and 0s to an equation. Even when faced with his obvious loss at the end - though he may end up being right about the Garden being a problem, we'll have to see. I find it absolutely hilarious that we Doctor Stranged him, what a great way to give Zandar a taste of his own medicine. Keep him there for another 33 million loops and maybe it'll be enough payback (that's not going to be enough for me though lol). Truly a character I can love to hate, THIS is Hoyoverse's villain writing at its best - well written ones who have a motivation that is fleshed out clearly but does not excuse the damage they've done.

Cerydra and Hysilens honestly felt like a bit of a letdown compared to the other Amphoreus characters to me. Maybe it's because their backstories felt really shoehorned into the quest and honestly would've worked a lot better as a companion quest. Which Star Rail seems allergic to making now. I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to skip dialogue in this quest simply because we decided to spend another hour explaining Helektra's backstory with Cerydra instead of what Herta and Screwllum were doing in the Exomyth or outside Amphoreus. I also kind of wish we'd learned what law Cerydra overturned before next patch, but that's a personal gripe.

But at the end of the day... Phainon's absence was really felt in this quest to me. I miss his endless enthusiasm and determination. I'm really sorry but Cyene-Mem is just not it for me, she doesn't feel like that much of a character and more of a plot-device Mary Sue who magically remembers and knows things when it's convenient for the plot. I apologize to all the Cyrene fans out there, I just wish we got more of the original Cyrene because she seems much more like a character with interesting flaws and backstory, unlike Mem who is her but also isn't and can do a ton of things we just get told right in the moment she can do for some reason.

Oh yeah and as per usual idk what to think of March. I'm not totally convinced that's her with her memories regained, since the garden were trying to get her to enter Amphoreus to become their puppet. I do not trust the garden one bit - even Black Swan is sus to me.

Here's how I'd currently rank the Amphoreus main quests so far from best to could've been better:

3.4 - We'd be here all day if I explained why

3.3 - this quest was an EXPERIENCE. Period.

3.1 - the quest that made me officially fall in love with the characters, especially Mydei and Phainon

3.0 - great introduction with minor storytelling issues. Possibly my favorite .0 quest in the game

3.5 - a confusingly emotional time that I will likely look back at more fondly when the story is complete

3.2 - Really dragged in the middle but fixed my criticism of Castorice feeling like a static character

Here's hoping 3.6 blows it out of the ballpark because my expectations have been lowered after this latest quest. I guess I'm kind of excited to see where March's story is going? And seeing Dan Heng in his new form? It's just hard staying invested now that all of the Chrysos Heirs we've spent hours upon hours getting to know are gone and they're essentially being replaced. I hope I end up being wrong about that because they deserve a happy ending. It's hard to form a definitive theory about how Amphoreus will end given its fake world nature but I'll be here for whatever that ends up being. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

In the Trailblaze Missions, we have experienced the 3,350,336th (abbr. 336th) and 3,350,337th (abbr. 337th) cycles, and there might be a 338th cycle waiting in front of us. Almost all characters found in the 336th cycle, namely the Chrysos Heirs, are found in previous and subsequent cycles. This makes their "death" information in the infobox ambiguous: Is that talking about their death in the 336th cycle, 337th cycle, or other cycles? For example, the death of Cerydra in the 336th cycle was not explained and happened prior to game events, and Hysilens killed that of the 337th to override a rule while we were trapped. To make things worse, some characters, such as the Flame Reavers, who were Phainons, are born in the previous cycle and would die in the next.

To clarify matters, we should establish guidelines to manage the data in the "death" field, whether it is to mark the death in all cycles related to the Missions (i.e., all deaths in and after the 336th cycle), whatever happens in the final cycle, or to mark nothing at all due to possible ambiguity. You are invited to join this discussion to form a proper consensus.

Something I like to know regarding the Chrysos Heirs. Currently on their pages, their deaths are listed from the previous patches. However, the current patch had them die in different circumstances due to it being a new cycle.

My question is do we update them every time they die, or do we leave it as those were of the version we the Trailblazer knew?

As many of you know, as of 3.3, Flame Reaver/Khaslana killed Cifera taking her coin and throwing it, gaining super speed like she does and strucking her down when in "Flash mode."

Later, on 3.4, it was revealed that Flame Reaver is actually Phainon/Khaslana, from a previous cycle, and that Phainon's new form is not him becoming the new Worldbearing titan, but instead a new form aquired from taking all the coreflames onto himself.

As the gameplay of Phainon was revealed, alongside some lore details, I started to get the theory that, since Phainon has all the coreflames, including the ones that were supposed to be granted to the other Chrysos Heirs, that he can do everything the other titans/heirs do.

• He was able to enter "Flash mode" like Cipher does when throwing the coin.

• He was able to move as fast as Cipher.

• He was able to clone himself, either similar to Tribbie, or maybe also Cipher who can make illusions.

• He can make his sword giant like Nikador.

• He can summon meteors like Aquila does.

It's just a theory, but this would explain what happened during 3.3 when FR threw the coin and somehow he was able to move during "Flash Mode" which I always wondered how he could've done that.

As many of you might know, the current HSR arc, that focuses on Amphoreus, takes a lot, a lot of inspiration with a previously done story in the game Honkai Impact 3rd that also revolved around the Flame Chasers who lived in a simulation.

The point of this post, is to check which Chrysos heir represent which HI3rd Flame Chaser, and while some are clearly related, other seem to either have undergone a lot of changes or straight up never been chosen to be adapted as HSR characters.

So here they are, divided on 4 categories.

1. Clearly the same person: Characters that are just as similar as Acheron is similar to Raiden Shogun and Raiden Mei.

2. Like siblings or cousins: Characters that share minimum similarities that while are enough as to be considered expys, at the same time are not similar enough as to say they respected much of the source character.

3. Paired by default: Characters that are only compared because there wasn't anyone else to do so, whom most likely do not share inspiration in the HI3rd character.

4. Extra: A special category of theories that depends on yet to be revealed data to be considered valid.

Clearly the same person:

1) Deliverance: Kevin Kaslana and Phainon (Khaslana).

This one needs no explanation, the HI3rd 1st Flame Chaser, the deliverance, Kevin Kaslana, is obviously the source character used to create Phainon, the deliverer, Khaslana.

2) Ego: Elysia and Cyrene.

This one is as obvious as Phainon, Elysia is obviously the source character used to create Cyrene.

Like siblings or cousins:

3) Discipline: Aponia and Aglaea.

This is where the designs start to differ a lot between the HSR and HI3rd characters, while this one seems plenty different, they still share enough similarities to say Aglaea is most likely supposed to represent Aponia from the original Flame Chasers. Aponia was a psychic who was mainly portrayed as a calm individual who also sacrificed for the greater good, her nun based outfit also fits Aglaea's character as the main devoted to the titans.

4) Gold: Eden and Hysilens.

This case is debatable wether it should be in this category or the category below, but I think it should be fine this much. Eden is also a proud and elegant figure like Aponia, the same way Hysilens shared those traits with Aglaea, but other than that, honestly it's mainly the physical similarities the one that grants them this comparison, and even then it's debatable, yet logical at the same time.

5) Hellix: Vill-V and Tribbie.

At first glance this two barely have resemblance, but the key reason I decided to put these two together and in this category instead of the lower one is because of a key detail.

The character of Vill-V claims that she "partitioned her personality into eight different personas," while it's nowhere near 1.000, it's higly possibly what inspired Tribbie's "many but one" status. Plus, she's also an engineering or mechanic, while Tribbie's main weapon and theme is her maneuvering of rockets.

This one is just on this category solely due the multiple personailities detail, if it weren't for that they wouldn't have been paired.

6) Decimation: Kalpas and Mydei.

This case is among the ones that physically it straight up be for the lower category as well, but I decided to include it here most based on the personality traits.

Kalpas is a bloodthirsty warrior who lives to fight, sometimes for fun, but is said to have some respect for other Flame Chasers like Sakura, Elysia and Kevin. There's not much description of him in the wiki other than his attire is supposed to be messy, and that he has a secondary form that works like a battle form, so I think it's safe to say he worked as the inspiration for Mydei, though if Mydei and Kevin didn't exist, he would've been paired with Phainon for sure.

7) Bodhi: Su and Anaxagoras.

This one is clear why he's paired with Anaxagoras, the resemblance is uncanny, plus, he has a thing with the eyes (Su keeps his eyes closed but opens it when he's about to fight, Anaxagoras sacrificing his eye and open his patch when using his Ultimate might have been a reference/inspired in that).

But the funny part here is that unlike the case of Kalpas and Mydei, who share similar personalities but different designs, Su and Anaxagoras share similar designs but opposite personalities. Su is described as a polite and calm man who shows great care for his friends and people in general, and believes no human has the right to play god........ these two are basically Flash and Reverse Flash.

The only reason these two are paired together is because of the design similarities, and also the fact that Anaxa seems to be the exact opposite of Su, mainly implies that he is based off of Su, but they made him the oppposite to make differences.

11) Star: Griseo and Castorice.

Griseo is a soft spoken child, a bit shy, who prefers quiet places, she has a mother daughter relation with Aponia, and not only she shares a similar design with Castorice, but also seems to be among the few Flame Chasers who managed to survive. Which in a sense fits with Castorice's character, a shy and solitary girl whom (partially) avoided the same fate as her fellow Flame Chasers.

13) Reverie: Pardofelis and Cifera.

This one, like Kalpas, is mainly paired due similarities with personalities, or theme in this case, more than design itself. Pardofelis design clearly differs from Cifera's, but she the catgirl of the original Flame chasers, while Cifera is the catgirl of the Chrysos heirs (and in the whole HSR so far). Pardofelis also shares some similarities with Cifera, since she's known to be a very extroverted person who brags about her treasure hunting skills, and she also has some money making personality, though I think her case was her being a merchant instead of a thief.

Paired by default:

8) Setsuna: Sakura and Hyacinthia.

Both of them have pink hair, that's all.

Sakura in HI3rd was the character that mainly inspired Genshin Impact Yae Miko, but between her and Hyacinthia there's barely any similarities, the only reason they're paired is because of the pink hair, and also the fact that Flame Chaser Sakura (Who's not the same as mainline Yae Sakura), is shown with photos where her seemingly animal ears do not show and she's in the middle of the field, in a happy themed way, which in a sense might fit Hyacinthia's character, but that's not enough to say Hyacinthia is strictly based off Flame Chaser Sakura.

12) Vicissitude: Hua and Cerydra.

This one is debatable and partially left by default, but before the reveal this was one of the main pairings that was supposed to be on the first category. Cerydra's vague reveal on the teaser showed a back figure with a hair that, I don't know if it was just me, but seemed to fit a traditional chinese hairstyle, which is vital for Hua, who's chinese, so Cerydra was theorized, almost afirmed, that she was Fu Hua's expy, but she's now on the default category due that her drip marketing revealed an appeareance that does not resemble Fu Hua that much, in fact, she looks more like Griseo, but she was left still paired with Hua for two reasons:

Firstly, because of the similarities between Griseo and Castorice.

Secondly, because Cerydra is shown as an authoritarian figure, which goes against Griseo's shy lonely personality and also being the demi God of law, fits with Hua's strict and serious personality, though unlike Helektra, we did not get some screetime with her, so it's still to be shown wether she's similar to Hua (or similar to Su/Anaxagoras she's meant to be a reversion of her).

Extra:

9) Daybreak: Kosma and Terravox.

This one is paired mainly due the dragon like theme resemblance.

I've heard some theories, that the missing Oronix Chrysos heir, "Evernight," the jellyfish, is not Trailblazer, but instead she'll be a possible 5-star March, this also led me to believe that maybe not only Trailblazer and March will have relevance with Amphoreus' flame chaser journey, I mean, look at Kosma, Doesn't he look like a certain other Dragon like friend of ours? Kosma is also described as a socially awkward individual, and also, his ranking is "Daybreak," following Su/Anaxagoras example of reversing the characteristics, Wouldn't it be possible that "Daybreak" is reversed into "Night themed?" His golden blood buff is a night based one after all, Doesn't it fits a certain "Moon" themed individual that we know?

10) Infinity: Mobius and Trailblazer.

This is the part that I'm the least aware of what it could mean, the main difference to the HI3rd's Flame Chasers is that those were 13 Flame Chasers, while HSR Chrysos Heirs are 12, there's one missing and this one, Mobius, was the one left out. I just paired her with Trailblazer by default.

Mobius backstory is that she's a prodigy whom was able to speak soon after being born in a particular way that grew with some family issues, which led her to firmly set out for making humanity evolve... honestly that sounds more like Dottore's possible backstory.

The reason I'm pairing her together with Trailblazer is solely because I have the theory that, just like HI3rd has 13 Flame Chasers, and seeing that Evernight is most likely March 7th, and Terravox, as I mentioned, has some implications related more to Dan Heng, I believe Trailblazer will be a 13th Flame Chaser who could be key to finally change Amphoreus destiny.

That's all I have, I'd like to hear some theories or opinions from you guys, but I'm sure most of you didn't reach the end, I'll most likely upload a simplified version without the whole thought process behind to make sure everyone's able to read it faster and be more prone to comment.

Please update the page. We know who they are from the voices in “As I have written.”

I don’t want to say their names in this post because if you haven’t done 3.4 you would be spoiled

Let's set what we know for sure:

Phainon, Cyrene, Anaxa, Castorice and Cipher all have paths associated with them and their divine authority/a key characteristic.

• Phainon: Deliverance and Destruction

• Cyrene: Time and Remmemberance

• Anaxa: Reason and Erudition

• Castorice and Polyxia: Death and Equilibrium

• Cipher: Tickery and Elation

Now, I think it is possible that all other Chrysos Heirs also have a simulated path.

Let's start with the easy ones:

• Agalea: Romance and Beauty.

I do not think is necessary that I explain why Aglaea is the simulated path of Beauty (just... look at her) and fashion seems to also be a prelevant theme with the followers of Idrila.

• Cerydra: Law and Order

This is also pretty self-explanatory. Without Law there can't be Order and Order is achived through Law.

• Tribios: Passage and Finality

Tribios can see the future, Finality tells prophecies from the future, I think this is pretty solid evidence.

Could be, but lack some evidence:

• Terravox: Earth and Preservation

The Preservation has always been very connected to earth and stone. I don't think I would be surprised if Terravox ends up being a Preservation character if they are playable.

• Mydei: Strife and Hunt

I know this is going to soud VERY weird but, doesn't Mydei kinda remmind you of Lan? He is also tiredlessly hunting down his opponents. I am sure there is an even better reson for I just can't find it.

Hyacine:

• Hyacine: Sky and Permanence

I am even less inclined to belive this one but by pure discard we are left with Abundance and Permanence. I think Permanence may make more sense as Hyacine doesn't have any of the themes Abundance has (y'know... Abundance) but even that is a finiky pick.

Where the theory goes to trash:

Hysilens is... a bit confussing. She just doesn't seem to fit any path, and the authority of Ocean doesn't really tell us anything. If I were to guess, Hysilens would be Nihility, simply due to the general themes of being apathetic/not giving a care in the world.

One thing I really hope that Amphoreus doesn't do is bring back all the dead characters permanently by the end of the story. Yeah, it hurts to see them go. Part of me would be happy to have them back. But death gives stories like these meaningful stakes. Star Rail has had several death cop-outs by this point, so I would love for Amphoreus to be different. I say this because I fear there will be another "they weren't real so they were never dead" twist. It worked for Penacony for the most part, but that's exactly it - it's been done already. Doing it again would feel repetitive. I'm probably in the minority but I felt like I had to say this.

I think there is a good chance the way they'll be "back" is being the new titans without their memories of the previous cycle, since we've been told that's what will happen with Era Nova, but I hope it stops at that. Let the characters we haven't met yet and the ones who are left take the spotlight and have to grapple with the finality of the situation. This is probably a hopeless thing to wish for since the story has implied their memories could be restored or someone could remind them of who they once were, but let me be delusional😭

Well, turns out both 3.5 Chrysos heirs came with Mondstadt voices.

Wow, what a long quest! In case you didn't see my last post, I just got back into Star Rail about 2 weeks ago after taking a long break, and I've been focusing on catching up with the story so I can experience the next update alongside everyone else. If you want to hear my thoughts on everything from the last 2 patches of Penacony's story to the first couple hours of 3.0, they are there (the only other post I've made so far). A kind request to please not spoil anything beyond the 3.0 quest as I'd like to experience 3.1-3.3 without knowing what's going to happen next. This post is probably gonna be longer than the last one as well since I played through a lot more compared to the last time I posted, apologies in advance. Onto the quest!

Overall I'd give it a solid 8/10. I am 100% intrigued; this was probably my favorite .0 quest in HSR yet. Got a few nitpicks I'll mention after my thoughts.

First off... hooray death flags!

Glad to see that aspect of the Flame-Chasers's fates from HI3 will likely be repeated in this world😅 Shaoji I'm watching you, istg if you hurt any of the triplets... (I don't think most of them will die since this is Star Rail but we'll see)

I don't have a screenshot for this but I'd just like to say that the Vortex of Genesis is beautiful, and I am intrigued to discover the context of (assuming this part ends up in the game) that scene in Nameless Faces where Phainon is alone with all 12 coreflames lit up in it. Kinda concerned that he's the only one there after what I just talked about...

Jokes about the black tide looking like the Unknown God's cube-matter from Genshin, you know what the substance makes me think of? The particles that accomodate voidrangers in some cutscenes we got at the beginning of Star Rail. It's a different color, sure, but I'm starting to wonder if this is what antimatter is supposed to look like. I cannot recall off the top of my head if we've ever seen it in HSR yet. Hmmmm. Perhaps the third path tied to Amphoreus is Destruction? Maybe this is a creation of the Enigmata and I'm overthinking since we actually know that path IS tied to the other 2 paths generally speaking.

I was really happy to have gone back here! I remember The Path Space from when we got the lance in Belebog. Probably my favorite non-permanent domain in HSR. I hope we get to see it more in the future. I had no idea it was a space associated with paths specifically, so either this is the first time that's confirmed or my memory is failing me. Also, even Herta knows nothing about Amphoreus?! This world is definitely a creation (maybe even a re-creation) and not a real planet. More theorizing on that later.

Of course, I have to talk about that random Cyrene jumpscare in Phainon's memory at the end - I KNEW they were connected! Elysiae literally means "of Elysium" in Latin, which if you are familiar with HI3's connection to that word... it was pretty easy to surmise Miss Pink Elf's expy in HSR would be connected to it.

It seems they were childhood friends, or at least knew each other. But weirdly? The As I've Written entry on Phainon says nobody has ever heard of Aedes Elysiae, despite his claim of being from there. Kephale is in this same shot that I would assume is from his childhood memory of her... which is even more strange if people in Okhema have never heard of his homeland before he became a known Chrysos Heir. Someone or something has messed with his memories. And I have a funny feeling it's Cyrene herself...

Also IS THAT FLAME REAVER'S SWORD?! I only know who that is because of my failed attempts against him in Pure Fiction (I don't have ANY characters released in the past year lol). Another weird note - Cyrene has golden blood, which only the Chrysos Heirs have if I'm remembering right. Very sus.

Having seen Nameless Faces MANY times I fully expected this... but honest to god I have no clue how March is going to play into everything. Will she remember her past by the end of Amphoreus? Get a new 5* version like Dan Heng? Help the Trailblazer "fix" Amphoreus? Can't settle on anything right now, and I'm here for it. I will say though - the ice effect that happened on the screen when Trailblazer was experiencing those wonky Stellaron Hunter memories is the same exact ice effect as March freezing in Nameless Faces - so I'm at least confident that she's being affected by the Remembrance. Why exactly, apart from someone with remembrance powers likely having taken her memories in the past, I'm not so sure.

And finally... our Remembrance glance. (Prepare for a long theory) Ornyx (probably spelled that wrong) kept referring to a "mother" that needed to be found. Both them and seemingly Fuli believe we are the key to reparing the memories of Amphoreus. Meaning some part of it, probably a lot, is fragmented in that aspect. I forgot to mention this in my last post, but when we first arrived, Mem led us through a bunch of ghosty-memories that had two children in them - and I'm now almost 100% confident after finishing the quest that those two were meant to be young Phainon and Cyrene. If Mem is was gifted to us after we were glanced at by the Remembrance, and they knew at one point who this "mother" was... I think the “mother” is Cyrene. Something about her design just screams “remembrance” to me, and also there’s that part of the Nameless Faces trailer where she appears out of thin air to comfort the Trailblazer… like she’s some ethereal being of great power. Maybe an Emanator of Remembrance? That would explain why “mother” is important to this world. An emanator of that path could fix so many of those problems much faster than the Trailblazer. I don't think Cyrene actually created Amphoreus, but the fact that the world is shaped in an infinity symbol alongside the glaring flaws in Aedes Elysiae's existence - perhaps she tampered with Phainon's memories to lead him down a path where he would become the hero he never wanted to be but needs to be in order to prevent the same fate happening to Amphoreus again (like a world cycle). Actually I'm pretty confident about this now. We'll see how well it ages.

Alright, time for my overall thoughts on the gameplay, writing, etc. That Nikador fight was CRAZY. This accounts for the currently only instance in which I had to switch to casual mode - all 3 of my normal teams died to that guy, and only one of them lived to get insta-killed by his world-shattering attack. Thank god there's no simulated universe with Nikador, I think I'd cry. No shade to the design of the boss or anything, I just feel like most of my attacks barely sneezed on the guy before going casual. Writing wise - this is just the beginning, and I feel like for the beginning chapter of what will be an epic saga, it was really good. There were definitely some parts that felt dragged out, like some of the puzzles took too much time for my liking. And there was a significant amount of telling rather than showing some crucial character details/development. I hope that gets better in the future. But otherwise? I loved it. Mydei and Phainon's banter made me laugh out loud several times, the lore is really fascinating to me as someone who loves stories inspired by greek mythology, more Chrysos Heirs to meet in the near future (Cipher got mentioned and her neglectance of adhering to the calling could give her a great character arc), and a new sideplot to follow being set up for Welt, Sunday, and Herta for the next quest... can't wait to continue. Stay tuned for my 3.1 post! Coming soon-ish, depending on how long it takes me.