Hi, I know I’ve never posted here before, but none of my friends play this game and I really need to talk about this (if you somehow recognize me from my cringe Genshin wiki self from years ago I respect that).

As the title implies, I genuinely wanted (and still do) to love Amphoreus more than I did. But seeing the comments on the final cutscene, I hardly shared any of the feelings other people had.

OBVIOUS SPOILER WARNING

First, I will say that the worldbuilding and storyline of this planet were absolutely incredible. There were so many crazy lore drops (Zandar wants to destroy the Erudition, Fuli doesn’t exist yet, etc.), and I think the execution and timeline were done really well. If we’re talking purely in terms of story, I think Amphoreus is genuinely one of the best stories I’ve ever experienced in any media. The pacing was pretty bad, but honestly that was kind of my fault for not taking regular breaks.

Where the story falls short, for me, is the characters. I had an extremely hard time connecting to the characters, and the only ones who I had what I would consider a good connection with were Phainon, Trianne (specifically), Hysilens, and Castorice (at the end). I will also say that Anaxa was pretty well-executed, but he’s not the type of character I would normally connect with. I think the main reason for this is that, throughout all 8 versions, there was way too much story to tell that the characters felt less like people that I should connect with and more like plot points to advance the story. Most of them were super serious the entire time and were completely locked in continuing the plot. It’s hard for me to connect to a character when almost all of their actions and voicelines are directly connected to the main story. Let me briefly go in-depth on each character.

Aglaea: Her having lost a lot of her humanity made her feel really empty. While this is fine on the surface, I couldn’t connect with her at all. If she could have some more conversations with the main characters, maybe talk about weaving and the little feelings she has left, I could’ve felt better about her.

Tribbie and Trinnon: A big thing with the triplets is that they’re supposed to be children, but Trianne is the only one who actually acts like a child. You may argue that they are “grown up”, but their trailer definitely portrays them as childish. It would be nice if we could see that side more instead of the constant seriousness. Also, this just a personal thing, but I think it would be pretty cute if they didn’t like being called “teacher” or “lady” by the other characters (or if they liked it too much), since it felt pretty out of place to me.

Mydei: He’s a fighter, yet if I remember correctly, the only time we fight with him is against Nikador and Irontomb, where we don’t really interact. If we could fight with him while learning about his emotions and how he feels about his past and Castrum Kremnos, instead of just having it told through long backstories, I would like him a lot more.

Castorice: This is probably a personal issue, but Castorice felt pretty soulless to me. I don’t know if it was her voice actor or her dialogue, but she felt quite unnatural. Her holding the trailblazer’s hand at the end was pretty sweet though, which is why I managed to form some connection.

Cipher: She was definitely better in terms of seriousness, but I think she just didn’t have enough interaction with the main characters. A lot of her lore is tied to Aglaea, so if I can’t connect to Aglaea, it’s hard to connect to Cipher. Most of her character is based in the past too, with not enough development in the present.

Hyacine: I think she’s one of the worst offenders. Her entire arc exists directly to move the story forward. She barely makes any appearances outside of the main story sections, and when she does, she doesn’t do much. She definitely could’ve benefited from just having more casual interactions with the main characters and others.

Cerydra: She just didn’t feel deep at all. She felt like a generic tyrant character who supposedly does things for a better cause, but this cause had almost no details other than it was for the trial of law. I don’t have much else to say about her.

Funnily enough, I think the development of the main characters (Trailblazer, Dan Heng, March) was actually amazing. The scene where we finally reunite with March made me shed a tear. This story added so much more meaning to the Trailblaze, and it feels much more precious to me now. If anything else happens to March, I swear to Akivili-

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned Cyrene. There’s a very good reason for that: she is my least favorite character on Amphoreus. Cyrene is a picture perfect example of a character being used only for plot. I felt 0 connection to her the entire time, her personality felt very shallow, and her lore is distracting and awkward. A lot of her backstory is jammed into these hour long sequences in the middle of 3.7, and while trying so hard to focus on it, I lost track of the main story and ended up forgetting the Cyrene story because I didn’t care about it. The final cutscene was beautiful, but all of my attention span was sapped by Cyrene sequence that I can’t pay attention to #33550337. I don’t know if my ADHD is getting the better of me here, but if I can’t properly pay attention to a character’s lore, I’m not gonna connect with them. I’m sorry.

While I would like to talk about the characters I did connect with, this post is long enough, so let me end it with this. I loved Amphoreus, but I don’t want to go back. I really, really wish I could love it as much as most of you do, but the characterization just did not do it for me. I hope future HSR stories focus equally on storyline, worldbuilding, and characters.

Did anyone else realize there is no Lord Ravager that opposes Abundance? I find this interesting because Yaoshi and especially Shuhu, one of their emanators, are about curing sickness and prolonging life. And Destruction is about bringing an end to the universe. So of all the paths in HSR to not have an opposing LR, Abundance is it. The one that poses a direct threat to the end of life/the universe. I mostly chalk it up to the established fact that Nanook is the youngest Aeon.

Which makes it quite interesting that Jingliu, or the abomination she and Luocha are trying to "resurrect", was supposed to become the 8th if we didn't go to Amphoreus. So we would've had a Lord Ravager opposing the Abundance and who knows if they'd succeed. Makes me wonder - could we still expect something like that? Maybe not from the Xianzhou, just in general? Because Abundance is the last path that is directly standing in Destruction's way of ending the universe that doesn't have a LR to oppose it.

Did this post make sense? hah in my dreams, but. if i understood right, cyrene is the younger girl. As Cyrene the past and Phainon is the future so it makes sense how she's younger while Phainon is grown, and she encountered the demiurge as that box thing. And I guess she just started telling stories from different events, and therefore the demiurge itself gained a form from those stories? From mem to big cyrene, I guess. im sorry if u had a stroke reading this i dont know how to explain hsr lore.

So I played through the memory bubbles that are left on the Express after you complete Amphoreus, and I wanted to make a couple predictions on what some things from the first interaction could mean.

Because of the achievement description I'm about to talk about, the following two screenshots I took are likely supposed to hint at what's ahead for us in the story.

I was initially completely clueless as to who she could be talking to, but with what Boothill says next, I think Sparkle was actually talking about La Mancha, aka the leader of the Galaxy Rangers. "Freeing" him implies that at some point, the guy got imprisoned for unknown reasons or he's trapped somewhere. Perhaps that was why the Galaxy Rangers' response to Amphoreus's call for help was so delayed. We could be getting more lore about them on the next planet, which is pretty exciting!

Sparkle also mentions the "grey-haired one", that being us, are going to be characters in her next play. So wherever we are going will have to do with her current location.. maybe her home world?

And finally...

I sat up so quickly when I read this the first time. The Moon Waxes Beneath the BLOOMING SAKURA! Could this mean we are getting a Sakura expy in the next world? She is one of the only flame chasers who didn't get a variant on Amphoreus. If so, my Chrysos Heirs funds may have some competiton. "When the Sakura Bloom" was also the name of the version that released Yae Miko in Genshin Impact, who also happens to be a variant of Sakura. Yes yes, this could be referring to the names of trees like it does in Genshin, but this is also the Honkaiverse - so the chances of it also meaning something to a character by the same name is quite high. *screaming*

A mess. It's been over a week since the quest came out but I'll still put a spoiler warning here just in case.

First off, the truth behind Fuli's existence has to be the CRAZIEST plot twist in Star Rail history. I feel like I've predicted most of the big ones in the past, but I absolutely did NOT see that coming. The idea that any child of Anāsrava can become Fuli in the future means that there is a possibility that March could - but we know that Evernight is also tied to Enigmata, so I have my doubts as to that ever happening. Still, insane implications for her future.

In the end, I find myself surprised that the most tragic character on Amphoreus wasn't Phainon, but actually Cyrene and the Demiurge. Who are one in the same, from what I got of the ending sequence? Idk, paradoxes are confusing to me. The others can now be at peace in As I've Written awaiting physical recreation, but she will be stuck in the past potentially forever to maintain the future we have experienced.

I cried so many times throughout the quest. Potentially hot take here but I honestly... kind of like the ending. *runs and hides*

I know I said weeks ago that I hate when Star Rail can't give a conclusive ending to their planets, but this one was really well done to me. It's not like they got deleted with no point of return, which was what I was initially afraid of. And we wrapped up the main plot of the planet. All that's left is for them to become real and lead whatever lives they want in the cosmos, no longer burdened by their duty to become demigods or stop a universal event. It was bittersweet, and I was very happy that we got a good explanation to every Mem and Cyrene encounter we had before part 2 of the story. I actually pointed out (not on fandom) back in 3.4 that we had no clear explanation as to why Mem would be Cyrene, and it turned out I was right to be suspicious. Yay me!

Also, a couple tidbits of things I read in As I've Written that showed up upon finishing Amphoreus:

1. The Xianzhou apparently got the golden blood offscreen. Idk why they didn't show this, but I hope we get more on that in the near-ish future. We get lore progression for those characters every 500 business days lol. Edit: I have been informed there are memory bubbles on the express that show this actually happening and an epilogue, so I stand corrected.

And here's the big one I wanted to talk about:

This was what we were shown in Fables About The Stars Part 2 (Celenova says that under THEIR gaze, "we bear witness to a collegue's end"), so I think it's safe to say that part of the trailer was actually foreshadowing/showing us what was happening at the end of Amphoreus! It was the Lord Ravagers, most of them, watching the fateful battle against Irontomb. They also even hinted at how our intervention was key to writing the best ending for Amphoreus: "But who can say that Akivili, on a new journey, won't bring another salvation? Trailblazing always ends up igniting something, no?" Also there's confirmation in those little notes you can pick up from different lord ravagers (when we're reawakening Khaslana's memories) that Khaslana fought the actual Zephyro in the path space during 3.4, pretty wild since he's almost certainly the most powerful emanator in Star Rail. I'm so looking forward to the day we meet him in game, the bits we have on his backstory sound so fascinating.

I mentioned this a while ago but I am planning on doing a full breakdown of Nameless Faces, aka the music trailer that was done for 3.0 now that the story is over - analysing the music lyrics, the imagery, what it all ended up meaning. Because I am currently going through the 5 stages of grief that Amphoreus is over (for now) and I need to cope somehow.

That's about all I have to say for now. Wow, what a planet. Despite the bumps in the road and the critiques I had of 3.5 + 3.6 that I still stand by for the most part, Amphoreus was low and behold the best one yet, in my opinion. It's now in my top 3 storylines Hoyoverse has ever done. I know the length of the story isn't to everyone's liking, or how much the writers hated letting you feel happy, but it was all worth it in the end with how epic, well done, and emotional this finale was to me. Here's hoping the next planet can even hold a candle to it, because the Amphoreus characters will not be so easily replaced as my favorites for a while, I fear. Thank you for reading my lengthy review! :)

Not me feeling the urge to pull absolutely every single one of them now -

WE MEET THE OTHER TB????

Someone explain please what happened how did we meet them what was their and our reactions

I gotta say it was a solid 4/5, I didn't say I came back dissapointed.

In a general conclusion, it felt like they didn't had much to show for the runtime established so they stretched some parts.

Now for a more detailed opinion, mandatory spoiler alert.

Well, the ending was the part I was worried the most, I was too worried that they'll replicate HI3rd Flame Chaser's ending (They all die), and they kinda did, but at the same time they didn't.

All the Flame Chasers had to be erased to eliminate the Destruction's influence on Amphoreus and Irontomb, so they had to be left behind, but they, alongside all of the Amphoreans, are still kept alive in a memory zone. The Amphoreus' restoration is in process, and there's still hope for us to see Amphoreus' as a planet again, maybe at 3.6< >5.6 we'll get an event to witness Amphoreus coming back to life.

The reveal that Cyrene was the Demiurge felt completely planned, like always happens in Hoyoverse games, they have a satisfactory way to deal with revelations, it's clear there's not much improvisation between updates, or at the very least they manage it well enough for it not to have plot holes.

Her revelation as Fuli's (possible) true self pre-ascencion was interesting, and while she didn't die, the fact that we will no longer have Mem on our side hits hard, I was hoping for at least her to join the Astral Express as our Paimon.

Lygus kept the composure till the end (He can't make expressions after all) since he was one hell of a boss fight on 3.5 I was expecting a bit more of action on his part, but even though we had him at his lowest it still felt natural for the plot.

As mentioned before, there where parts that I felt like they were a bit more stretched than needed, or straight up only brought to the story to make time, like the part where we check on each chrysos heir before the fight against Khaslana, and a bit the exploration of The Herta and Screwlum for the Demiurge and the Cyrene reveal as the possible Aeon of Remembrance.

To add to the filler, we had a lot of cameos on the main story and the post credit scenes (the bubbles on the astral express that activates some cutscenes).

We've had:

• Feixiao (Finally voiced again).

• Jing Yuan.

• Yao Guang, via call (Have no idea who this is, apparently another Xianzhou general).

• Seele (She came back after so long).

• Bronya.

• Serval.

• Fu Xuan.

• Robin.

• Aventurine.

• Jade.

• Topaz.

• Polka Kakamond (I feel like she's been given a lot of protagonism lately, playable Polka soon?).

• Acha (I have no idea who she is, nor seems to have much info on her either here on the wiki, so same as Polka, seems like foreshadowing of new characters soon).

• Dr. Primitive (This one really was not on the list on which Genius I thought would join the Herta's video call, like, it straight up feels like all we knew about him wouldn't lead to him being compliant).

• Boothill.

• Sparkle.

In the scene where we see Sparkle, Boothill tells her not to come around their boss, and that Sparkle will uses us as the main character on her next spectacle, Does that mean we'll see the Galaxy Ranger's boss and Sparkle on the next planet?

In a second note, I liked that they seemingly make reference to the Amphoreus' alt bad endings, to justify those endings as possible case scenarios that're not unrelated, like Herta-tomb and the Xianzhou seeking the power of Nanook's golden blood, probably to oof Yaoshi, which kind of explain why not going to Amphoreus ends with Jingliu taking Propagation Lightning Lord to fight Weeping Willow, it was because Amphoreus' would secure a weapon for Xianzhou to use and not relly on Luocha's coffin.

A proper ending for the long journey since 3.0.

So what IS it exactly? Is it demiurge or cyrene herself because im so confused. Is it like cyrene as demiurge ? this is what i get for skipped amphorues ong ]`-`[

Here they are:

This one clearly is the one meant for Cyrene.

My main preocupation about this is that I plan to use Cyrene on my Castorice team, would this SPD buff affect Castorice's low SPD crit buff?

As for the other one:

A skill point consuming one, there're some few characters like Archer, Imbibitor Lunae or Qingque that could use it, but I think this is most likely meant for upcoming options.

Suddenly I remind a meme I saw before.

Remember how Break Meta was boosted on 2.0, and then on 3.0 we had enemies with insanely large weakness bars that needed characters that didn't rely on weakness break and/or could take multiple turns and spam attacks to cause weakness break?

Now in 3.0, some of these characters don't consume skill points.

And we just recently had a special battle event themed after the Masked Fools, having Sparkle, Qingque and Cerydra as some of the main attractions, Which makes me think, Do we know which planet are we going on 4.0?

Star Rail's HoyoLab account posted a preview of Cyrene's light cone, including the lore attatched to it that every LC in the game has. And it might have just provided interesting insight on how Amphoreus will end.

"Now, written together by everyone, the epic has been completed, welcoming its finale" to me is a dead giveaway that this is after the fight with Irontomb. So it appears Cyrene chooses to stay behind in the "past" (idk how or what that could mean) to maintain a future for the Chrysos Heirs? Not to mention her dialogue on that mirrors almost exactly what Phainon told us when we took over as the Deliverer...

My hope for a semi-happy ending or at least a sentimental one has been restored! Hopefully my spirits don't get crushed next week😀

Caption: "The fate of the cosmos is bound to this battle... the time has come for all of us to face oblivion... or embark on one final grand journey."

I'm not ready guys... I need a happy ending so bad.

Anaxagoras was born with Golden Blood?

I thought he was a regular human that later managed to force his way through into demi-devinity via alchemy.