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Patch 2.4 Reactions - WIP continued
...continuing in a new post since old one's comments was getting really long.
So, two chunks of impressions.
Part 1
Yanqing and Yunli get hoodwinked into training March 7. Yunli continues to be hilarious and I am amused. She's really growing on me. She is so much more likable than Yanqing, I can't even express with words.
Fans kept freaking out over Jing Yuan jumping in to explain how Dan Heng is no longer the 龙尊, but honestly I'm more taken in by the description that the Marshal (presumably still 华元帅 based on how Huaiyan was talking) resisted substantial political pressure and forced the situation by promoting Jing Yuan to general. (It's unclear which position Huaiyan is specifically referring to based on the literal words, but seems to be heavily implying it's the position of Arbiter-General, since the Arbiter-General sounds like the undisputed head of each individual ship.) Again, this talk makes it sound like each ship is ruled autonomously under each Arbiter-General.
The other detail is that Huaiyan gives this ridiculously long praise to Jing Yuan and claims to trust him, but Jing Yuan just looks supremely reserved and unhappy. Probably because both Arbiter-Generals are aware that neither of them can really say what they mean, so they're talking in vague circles around the subject, thus any mention of trust is basically...well, performative. It really highlights how isolated Jing Yuan has been politically this whole time. Which makes the second half even more sweet...
Part 2
...Because come second half, Yukong reveals she's worried about what the Alliance is planning WRT Jing Yuan and wants to help, partially by pulling on her old connections (so Chinese, lol). Just another example of how much people working under/for Jing Yuan really do worry about him. Which in turn highlights the tragedy that Jing Yuan feels like he has to protect them rather than let them protect him for once. I blame the Quintet falling apart for this. Clearly, after the Quintet era, Jing Yuan never let himself get close to people in the same way again.
(The fact that we learn from Fu Xuan's PV that Jing Yuan warned her that problems arise from enemies and allies alike just further solidifies my reading of JY as someone who feels like he can't open up himself to anyone. Which also ups the angst factor of Dan Heng rejecting JY's offer to return to Luofu because...you stupid boy, do you understand how much reservation the general had to overcome to make an offer that plain?! Doomed ship is doomed.)
Minor bit, am very curious about this 青丘军. What is the relationship between 青丘军 and 云骑军?
Also, Yukong cracks me up with how she deliberately makes fun of 椒丘's name. Feixiao's expression says it all. She's clearly heard this mockery more than once.
So, finally got to watch the sword training, feel a bit bad for March 7 getting caught in the one-upmanship. Yunli is seriously growing on me. She has a refreshing non-nonsense personality and instead of trying to sound "deep" or "philosophical", she just gives her reasoning and convinces me each time. I mean, is her reasoning immature at times? Sure. But at least it sounds like she's thought through her decisions and is willing to deal with the consequences, which is nice.
In contrast, Yanqing continues to fail to impress me. His entire philosophical blah blah blah about sword fighting and dying on the battlefield is either regurgitating the stuff Jing Yuan tells him or is just navel-gazing sophistry. His whole "why did I swing my sword" monologue just reminds me of Jing Yuan's view, which is "I need a weapon to fight my enemies, who the fuck cares what weapon I use".
Actually, I think Yunli's overall outlook on life probably is more similar to Jing Yuan's, which is to focus on the current problem and figure out what needs to be done, rather than blather around the whys and wherefores. No time for wallowing in self pity, gotta get to work, hup hup!
Jiaoqiu has issues. Also I hate his voice acting. I can't believe he's actually being smug that he stumped children on the moralizing over matters of life and death. Like, congrats dude, you've managed to outsmart children. Are you satisfied? I really wanted Jing Yuan to come in and bring him down a peg or two, but sadly, miHoyo probably thinks they wrote some amazingly deep dialogue there...
Over, this section's writing is really bad. Here's to hoping the next part is less terrible...
Where to begin? The stealth mission was stupid. That's about all I have to say about part 7.
Part 8 response is mostly a stream of consciousness as I write things down while I watch, since the section is like 40 minutes long:
The interrogation, at least in the version I watched, design was horrible. The player failed to convince Feixiao and then the lines basically stopped making any sense. It's like the writers planned to have the player pass the interrogation, so they didn't even bother to write up an alternate set of lines for the fail state. WTF?
Also, at timestamp 8:46 of Part 8, Feixiao uses the phrase "参本上奏", which suggests Xianzhou is an imperial system...?! So confused.
Meanwhile, the prisoner exchange deal (trade Hoolay imprisonment rights to get Yaoqing's political support behind Jing Yuan) is like...nonsense? I mean, presumably there was a reason Hoolay was imprisoned on Luofu and not Yaoqing, so the arbiter-generals making a deal amongst themselves is suspicious AF. This is just a case of seriously shit writing (seeing as the story treats this as completely normal and totally politically brilliant). I'm starting to agree that for all the hype about Jing Yuan the writers are shit at actually writing him...
And then...OK, I'm getting to the Hoolay transfer protocols and am like WAIT A SECOND, HOOLAY IS KEY TO THE FOXIANS AGREEING TO JOIN THE ALLIANCE!!! How could Jing Yuan possibly agree to moving the guy to Yaoqing without being suspicious of Feixiao?!!!! I mean, obviously, the story writers knows she's not meant to be suspicious, but Jing Yuan should be suspicious AF!
Meanwhile, the explanation for why the witness statement has to take place in the prison is tenuous and stupid and I don't buy it. WTF. But I'm also a little skeptical of Dan Heng's claim that he can be a guide on a Luofu tour because...kid, weren't you in prison the whole time and got kicked out, and only just came back with the rest of the Express team? What makes you qualified to be a guide?!
Also, in cutscene, Dan Heng tackle-covers MC. Does he do this with the male version, too? On the other hand, given the Ichor of Two Dragons PV has set the MC as female version... I guess the game is trying to be like Stelle/Dan Heng is a thing...
So in summary: WTF is this arc?
TBC...
no subject
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It's a bit weird that the two divisions both have "军", as usually that would indicate an equal/parallel relationship. In other words, the two groups shouldn't have a hierarchical relationship based on the naming convention.
The other thing is that while 云骑军 is easy to explain the name origin (metaphor for space/sky travel), 青丘军 is harder to figure out the origin as it sounds like the unit originated on a land-based military. Is it possible this is an old name inherited from before Foxians joined the Xianzhou Alliance? But if I recall correctly, the Foxians were an enslaved caste, so it's unlikely they'd have their own army/military system. Either way, it's intriguing...
Or miHoyo is pulling words out of their ass based on cool vibes and these names are meaningless.
no subject
As for slave caste in the military... how it worked is that in Borisin society, when you're born they check your biology. If you're considered genetically inferior (such as having foxian biological traits, I guess, or have any sort of defect), then you go into the slave caste.
But there are also individuals in the slave caste who show to have martial ability. Those individual are generally taken into the military and conditioned into spies and shock troops to use against the Xianzhou. They're the reason why military SOP for the Yaoqing when going up against foxian shocktroopers is to take no prisoners, even if they claim to surrender. It's also the reason why the most infamously cruel and malicious of the current Borisin warpacks is actually made up of Foxians (brainwashed slaves who want to prove themselves to be more Borisin than their masters).
no subject
Likely then the 青丘军 are a Foxian only unit.
Re: slave caste - I don't even know where to begin with that. Sounds like some otaku h-game shit, ngl...
I should probably finish catching up on story before speculating more on this weird ass social structure.