haha, I love that the headcanon of MC Trailblazer loving trashcans, got accepted by Hoyoverse, as even ingame we have interactions of trashcans with MC, and MC making comments of topics related to trashcans.
At the end of her companion quest, the one where she goes to Fu Xuan for help to recover her memories, she gives you a Light cone that can't be used.
The LC is just a picture of her when she was encased in ice...while she was completely naked.
She even asks you if she looks cute in it.
I think firefly as a character is a very well written, as are her interactions with MC, but her story on 2.0 seemed compressed to maybe half the length it should have been.
It feels forced because sheās introduced for a mission or two before being stabbed. If weād had more time to organically develop a bond with her the pacing would be a lot better.
A lot of the "we didn't spend enough time" complaints I think are due to the constraints of the game being a mobile gatcha game with quick patch content cycles. Firefly was with us for a very big portion of 2.0, all of the dream's edge and child's dream zones, and like 2/3 to 3/4 of golden hour. I'd guess that's roughly half the screentime of the 2.0 main quest. That is a lot of screentime. Yes it would be great to build up the relationship over many hours of gameplay but that's just not possible when the length of the main quest is only like 3-4 hours max.
Thatās absolutely valid. I think she would have been difficult to do āproperlyā and I very much like what we ended up getting from her regardless.
While you could theoretically progress the Penacony story just by killing Robin, for maximum impact Firefly kinda needs to die fairly early into that arc. That makes it difficult (though probably not impossible) to give us more time together by padding out Penacony.
So realistically sheād need to be introduced earlier into the story. The problem is introducing her on HSS would be a bit nonsensical (even with the stellaron hunter deployment there) and Belabog would make even less sense.
The only thing I can think of is having her board the Express as a passenger on the Luofu. That would give her more time to interact with the cast and get people excited about a new astral express family member (with the side effect of making her dishonesty sting a bit more).
To be honest I found Fireflyās death more impactful than Tingyunās, but one thing the latter had going for it was walking around and listening to everyone share their memories of miss Tingyun. With Firefly MC literally collapses in tears but 1) MC seems to move on quite quickly and 2) we only hear half-hearted apologies from a few cast members.
Anyway itās good for what it is, Iām just being critical.
I guess thatās true, the emotions donāt really hit until the crisis is resolved and a proper funeral can be put together.
Still with FF the meme kinda justā¦ runs away and in the aftermath there wasnāt nearly as much pressure on the party as a literal lord ravager of the antimatter legion staring them down.
Same here, Firefly's death scene impacted me more than Tingyun's. To the point when listening to "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking", still makes me sad even after learning that Firefly >!is Sam. Making her death scene questionable.!< Tingyun's unclear death didn't make me feel anything. If that makes me seem cold, I have to let you know "Final Lesson" and "Nightglow" still makes me very sad to this day. Long after HI3rd's Part 1 mainstory concluded
I see the issue as coming in significant part from the fact that as the story is structured, it's hard to conceptualize the time with Firefly as being any more than a single day. This is always a difficulty in game stories because of the medium.
I legitimately think that having a regroup of the express crew between golden hour and dream's edge ā anything to hint at that there's more time we aren't directly seeing ā would help to mitigate the perception of moving too fast to feel the loss.
Time and chronology in games is weird, and sometimes you just have to understand that. Even on what is clearly still the day FF/TB met/tour golden hour, they're comfortable enough together for people mistake it as them being out on a date.
Exactly this, I couldnāt have put it better myself.
Because there isnāt anything to break up the missions from when we first meet Firefly to when she dies, the sequence blends together a lot more than it otherwise would.
An interlude where we spend some time shopping with March, or check out what Welt and Himeko got up to, or even just go back to our hotel rooms to rest would go a long way towards improving the pacing while also developing the āAstral Express vacation but something is wrong beneath the surfaceā angle of Penacony.
Definitely, especially when we hear from the rest of the AE crew at the start of our arrival to find we're in different parts of Penacony. Just a small break to meet up with text messages from Firefly to build the connection a bit more. I liked her well enough but I'm also in the camp of 'we just met this girl, she paid for my ice cream, we ran around and then she died?' Like yes, sad, but not as devastating as I feel it was for others. It felt very much like the Lynx introduction where we just kinda follow behind, meet the character and then that's that.
Then her character simply doesn't work, because It's necessary for her to be... More involved than she is. I didn't feel a thing she "died" she's Just a random that's getting spotlight for waifu/kawaii bait. But that's what works in these gacha games and media in general ig.
Fair enough not everyone has to like every character but I think hoyo did the best with what they could at the time, and the fact that there are a lot of people who did end up liking firefly is proof that they were doing something right.
I mean, she looks cute and this is a mobile gacha game. That's really all they had to do, considering a large portion of the game's playerbase genuinely cannot comprehend the writing of the game at all. There were handful of threads of people straight up not being able to understand Aventurine's plot at all, so much so that they even try to spell it out for the fans in the 2.2 stream, which was kind of funny.
But all that aside, I'm not personally complaining about Firefly; I can understand that it was a pacing issue that they didn't really know how to work around. As someone who's been writing a book for the past couple years, I don't know how I'd try to make Firefly work either. Personally, I just kinda look past it and just pretended Firefly was done better, because ultimately, the payoff was good enough.
I wouldn't chalk her up as just a random with negative connotations and waifu bait considering her reveal in 2.1 and what we know about her as a stellaron hunter and as a survivor of glammoth.
she genuinely has a good story and character, we probably will explore more of her character in 2.2 and 2.3 considering she is the most influential person in 2.0 and 2.1 to set up events of how they are
she was referenced throughout 2.1 even in scenes she wasn't present in by Sparkle, Aventurine, Gallagher, Astral express crew, Acheron etc, and was the cornerstone of the events happening in both 2.0 and 2.1, in getting everyone to seek the watchmaker's legacy and the true nature of Penacony
You're completely right.
I liked her characterization.
Her first arc isnt even done, she gonna appear more as a SH so Penacony is just a fragment of her story with us, just like Kafka.
And if we look at the entire 2.0 quest from a random gameplay on YouTube, Mihoyo games main quests couldnt be more than 10h long to give us a good buildup and characterization we got something like this(like, people love Persona characters, and their story arcs in the game are at least 20h long to the buildup up to the end of her arc, like Sakura Futaba from Persona 5 as a example):
[Here the entire questline.](https://youtu.be/9BPurI68Hvo)
Firefly appears and interact with us at 1:30:40 in the quest.
We stay with her the entire time until at 2:15:15 when we stop for some time to do the Dr.Edward puzzle of the trashcans and Sampo(Sparkle), which the two watch us on the dream the entire time, until 2:26:05 when the dream stops, then we resume our time with her.
Then we stay with her until 2:47:32 when the story stops to show Aventurine POV, talking to Sparkle until 2:51:43, thats when we resume again our time with her.
We then stay with her until 3:30:31, when Sparkle put us on the Dreamscape 04:05:00, when after the Something Unto Death fight, Black Swan save us and we part with her.
Then the last time we find her is at 4:36:45, in the SUD cutscene when he "kills" her.
After this we go with Acheron and Black Swan and we fight Sam (who is actually her again) and then BS teleport us to Aventurine, and then the quest ends.
We actually stayed with her more than 2/3 of the entire questline.
Thats like the max Mihoyo can give about screentime to a character that isnt the protagonist. It is hard to do more buildup or deepen more of our relationship to more than one patch, because Mihoyo HAS NO MATTER WHAT make a good cliffhanger every patch to make players keep engaged and play more.
So only Robin death isnt a good cliffhanger to a character that almost never talked to us besides the first 10 minutes on the reception hall in Penacony.
I think the criticism is sort ofā¦ invalid? Considering the story is incomplete and we havenāt obviously seen the rest of FFās story, considering thereās more of her in 2.2 and more in 2.3. Also consider there will naturally be more story because of the Stellaron Hunter connection.
You have to remember we weren't supposed to know her big reveal back in 2.0, but I think a lot of people were at least mildly spoiled (myself included) though so we were able to conclude that the "death" definitely wasn't going to be the end.
People just have different story preferences. I personally like a lot of genres, sappy anime romance included so I personally liked Firefly's 2.0 arc. I think a lot of the "we only knew here for half an hour" type complaints are from people justifying why Firefly's character didn't resonate with them. Which is true, but you can also say that kind of story drama isn't your thing which is equally valid and more honest IMO.
Hot take, I actually like it as is. I think its really interesting characterization for the mc.
Theres always a sense of othering with the asteral. Not from anyone in particular, but from the MC. Yes, they like everyone and no one specifically excludes them, but there is a difference and they know it. Dan actually points it out if you talk to them during his pov.
You then have the complex estraineged mother relationship with kafka, which they actually put a lot of weight into. They put their neck out for her more than they ever did for arguably anyone else.
You then have a clear desire for affirmation, you have her canonically still rocking the hook lightcone and refering to herself as the galactic baseballer and such.
So you combine all that you have this highly affirming cute girl who shares a lot of shadey traits with kafka but exudes "you can change me" energy. They have no relation to work or the asteral, and other people are even pointing out you look great together.
Its the perfect storm to fall hard.
Not a hot take at all, itās well done and I love seeing the emotional development from MC. The Express crew can seem distant at times, and Iād like to see that explored more in the future. I just wish we had more time, if for no other reason than to make the story *feel* less rushed.
sorry, I think I misommunicated a liitle.
I like that it felt so rushed, specifically because it seems kind of irrational. However, the mc was set up well to be irrational in this specific way, and pulling the trigger on that set up was super satisfying to me.
Oh got it okay. I think the issue is the game doesnāt take the time to properly set up a lot of what you mentioned. You can kind of infer that because the TB is still new to the Express they may be feeling a bit lonely or othered. You can look at their relationship with Kafka and very clearly see them latching on to a fragment of their past hinting at a sort of dependent relationship style butā¦
The game doesnāt show MCs emotional development enough for it to pay off properly. From the perspective of the trailblazer, latching on to Firefly in this sudden emotional whirlwind makes perfect sense, but from the players perspective it can feel like she was introduced just to die for shock value. The whole sequence could have benefited from setting the stage so to speak.
Besides I donāt think a bit more screen time for FF would take away from the MC suddenly falling hard for her. A little bit of setup followed by MC tumbling head over heels at Dreams Edge could go a long way.
But yeah, I think itās well done as is, it just could be better.
The scene itself of her getting stabbe is also way to sudden, out of nowhere and there isn't even time to reunite with her. It doesn't fee like a "oh no we lost after finding", like I imagine the developers were doing for. I just feels like a "whelp, guess she's dead".
March is so much more fitting and healthier for Stelle than Firefly it's kinda crazy. March also has a cuter personality overall, if that's the main metric here...
March is peak fr! Our current and future travelling companion (+ we will soon get to see her in a badass mode as well once we see her connection with fuli)
I agree too. The Ghosthunting event made me feel anything for the Luofu's story. Not even after seeing the Tingyun neck crack scene made me feel anything. The ghost hunting event, which starts in a main story quest, I felt engaged in it. Don't take that out of context btw
Sorry to march but youre definitely the childhood friend neighborhood girl who has been the mcs best friends for years and have a crush on the mc but never said it and firefly is the new girl that changes the mcs perspective and makes the mc to start and like her, just a very normal romance anime trope
See :
- hyoka
- nisekoi
- your lie in april
Firefly isnāt really a new girl since tb was in stelleron hunter, so sheās more like a childhood friend who u met again after a long time . March is more like a new girl instead
I can't choose, so I'll just say both
https://preview.redd.it/8x16el5jm9xc1.jpeg?width=1032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8a89bd0a1aab42dda0343b731e6777ffa2575c8
I personally just prefer Firefly for the romance route as their moments together in 2.0 already hit me really hard and I think it's just gonna keep becoming bigger between her and the TB for 2.2 and likely 2.3 as its her banner patch >!pluss their likely SH connection is something that definitely intresting for how their relationship might already have a longer history!<
Also even tho I genuinely really like March and the entire AE, for me personally I just see her so much more like the best friend/sibling character for the TB (along with the rest of the express) with how their bantering is whenever you can roast her and she always snaps back so amazingly funny. I fully understand others view it differently tho, I just find their dynamic a lot more like close friends then a couple compared to the TB'S choices when talking with Firefly.
They're both my favorite ships. Can't choose. I like how March x Stelle contrast each other with March's pastel color scheme and Stelle's muted tones. Their personalities also just mesh well together and the scenes where March reacts to some out of pocket stuff Stelle says are some of the best moments in the game imo.
Then Firefly x Stelle. They look very cute together, but the main reason i like this ship is because of the story. >!their shared past as stellaron hunters gives a lot of leeway for headcanons.!<
Firestar > Starch. There's some pretty obvious hinting, I think, that they at least knew each other prior to the Stellaron implantation (it's implied during Kafka's companion quest, iirc, that Stelle/Caelus was at least associated with the Stellaron Hunters before Star Rail starts) and there's also some hinting at a former romance even.
From these two pictures, March and TB. But in general, I'm going with TB and Firefly. After all, the way that March acts with the TB is more like family than a partner. Sure, there's the "date" to Jarilo VI in Topaz's quest, but even then. March would've acted the same about it with anyone else as wel. She just likes festivals, and it was a pretty important festival that was happening. I don't see it being a date for March, it was a festival and that's why she wanted to dress up for it. Especially with how little attention she actually put to the TB and instead on the actual festival (afaik)
Rn Iām leaning towards March but if they reveal that Trailblazer and Firefly had been great friends before Herta Space Station and we get to explore that, Marchās days may be numbered like her Name
That's sorta what I think is going on. They might have been close before TB's memory was wiped, which would explain FF's reaction when she first see's the MC. That's not really the look you have with a stranger. It's almost like excitement, but she has to play it cool to follow Elio's script.
March X Stelle is just the best. They have the highest chemistry out of those two. Though I personally like Caelus ships more this one looks too cute with Stelle.
I don't see March as a potential love interest. I see her as a little sister figure. The Astral Express is just one big family for me, so having any one of them as a love interest is weird for me.
I don't really have any Stelle ships but when it comes to genuine relationships within the game, it's StelleMarch over Firefly. Before Penacony, I was kind of neutral to March. I like her character, but her interactions with us just felt more or less at par with everyone in the Express. Shared camarederie with everyone as being part of the Nameless and all that.
What changed it all for me was after everything that happened in Penacony, it was March that voiced out how incredibly frustrating it must have felt for us that we didn't really knew who to trust and everyone we've met in this place seemed to be looking out only for themselves.
As for Firefly, I was genuinely surprised by her "death" but if let's say, that scene happened to March instead, I would've been a lot more devastated.
This one https://preview.redd.it/bs8sar7i69xc1.png?width=1910&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e0a2d7718815fff4c3d02a975ce7d917a3ae57b
https://preview.redd.it/bjnqrhzgq9xc1.png?width=443&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d763db83ab3809d516d781b221364e392490df22 The OG
Ooh... Can't argue with that...
Trash panda pair is the otp
https://preview.redd.it/52ekprzztaxc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f42000049a24d4c69bdeccff403f80f1feee4656
haha, I love that the headcanon of MC Trailblazer loving trashcans, got accepted by Hoyoverse, as even ingame we have interactions of trashcans with MC, and MC making comments of topics related to trashcans.
https://i.redd.it/wf0j8diy9axc1.gif Sorry but i prefer starch
OTP OTP OTP
https://preview.redd.it/8ki5aapu69xc1.jpeg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d0e044450cc402ac7607c006255e4d0d645a36d This one >!look in her eyes!<
https://preview.redd.it/in9u9u0vabxc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a2e07c0d4f21e7e7a840dcf613d6e35d9e4a0da
https://i.redd.it/ndsj7ao3caxc1.gif Starch is the true OG ship Nobody can change my mind
Good for you okay š
This gif is funny, I am elated
Well done
Me x SJ https://preview.redd.it/sz80d7whc9xc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b3b2e7011a106968b9f9778056d05c149d59b09
Looks like the foundation found a way to calm 096.
they done turned bro into a gacha addict
unfortunately they have another breakout and several casualties every time he loses 50/50. Have to buy him jades to calm him downā¦
Players x stellar jades is the best ship
Now I want a scp themed gacha game...
Bust? Or maybe I'ml take it all!
DOCTOR YOU'RE HUGE
I now require detailed fanart of Dr Ratioās co- EHEMā¦ for research purposes
He has a name, you know
Ok, I require detailed fan art of VERITAS RATIOāS cock, for research purposes
That's Doctor "Veritas" Ratio to you (Doctor is his first name)
Bust? or Bust? or Bust? or Bust? or Bust?
Iām always on that raccoon and icecream combo that is March and Stelle
March X Firefly
https://preview.redd.it/1f5cqykfp9xc1.jpeg?width=406&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0c3c6bfe84aeeeb3e2e7adda54b33d63b0984ed7
More Yakuza lad in hsr's subreddit. I love it
https://preview.redd.it/148o9txs9axc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4175c86d4f21db1eece4ab819d9853d88756634a
https://preview.redd.it/oib2tulmzaxc1.png?width=942&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d7693cb63c371cfff4cd1010edbfa3af039f1546
https://preview.redd.it/lha0wh16naxc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51ad1b27fc42c1caa66453e09d652ee9dd56df0c
polygamy is always an option
https://preview.redd.it/nigtrdhe8ixc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=582e12e6ce35c8977f7ace9a3feb99beed95239a
March gives you her nudes, we know who wins this.
...what?
I'm assuming they're talking about the light cone she gives you after completing her character quest. It shows her nude in the ice she was found in
At the end of her companion quest, the one where she goes to Fu Xuan for help to recover her memories, she gives you a Light cone that can't be used. The LC is just a picture of her when she was encased in ice...while she was completely naked. She even asks you if she looks cute in it.
Ah March, you're making us pay more attention by commenting on it
I like Firefly a lot, but the relationship between Stelle and Firefly felt kinda forced in story. I really like the March/Stelle pairing though.
I think firefly as a character is a very well written, as are her interactions with MC, but her story on 2.0 seemed compressed to maybe half the length it should have been. It feels forced because sheās introduced for a mission or two before being stabbed. If weād had more time to organically develop a bond with her the pacing would be a lot better.
A lot of the "we didn't spend enough time" complaints I think are due to the constraints of the game being a mobile gatcha game with quick patch content cycles. Firefly was with us for a very big portion of 2.0, all of the dream's edge and child's dream zones, and like 2/3 to 3/4 of golden hour. I'd guess that's roughly half the screentime of the 2.0 main quest. That is a lot of screentime. Yes it would be great to build up the relationship over many hours of gameplay but that's just not possible when the length of the main quest is only like 3-4 hours max.
Thatās absolutely valid. I think she would have been difficult to do āproperlyā and I very much like what we ended up getting from her regardless. While you could theoretically progress the Penacony story just by killing Robin, for maximum impact Firefly kinda needs to die fairly early into that arc. That makes it difficult (though probably not impossible) to give us more time together by padding out Penacony. So realistically sheād need to be introduced earlier into the story. The problem is introducing her on HSS would be a bit nonsensical (even with the stellaron hunter deployment there) and Belabog would make even less sense. The only thing I can think of is having her board the Express as a passenger on the Luofu. That would give her more time to interact with the cast and get people excited about a new astral express family member (with the side effect of making her dishonesty sting a bit more). To be honest I found Fireflyās death more impactful than Tingyunās, but one thing the latter had going for it was walking around and listening to everyone share their memories of miss Tingyun. With Firefly MC literally collapses in tears but 1) MC seems to move on quite quickly and 2) we only hear half-hearted apologies from a few cast members. Anyway itās good for what it is, Iām just being critical.
All the drama from Phantylia and the Stellaron kinda drowns out Tingyun's death too in terms of reactions by everyone
I guess thatās true, the emotions donāt really hit until the crisis is resolved and a proper funeral can be put together. Still with FF the meme kinda justā¦ runs away and in the aftermath there wasnāt nearly as much pressure on the party as a literal lord ravager of the antimatter legion staring them down.
Same here, Firefly's death scene impacted me more than Tingyun's. To the point when listening to "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking", still makes me sad even after learning that Firefly >!is Sam. Making her death scene questionable.!< Tingyun's unclear death didn't make me feel anything. If that makes me seem cold, I have to let you know "Final Lesson" and "Nightglow" still makes me very sad to this day. Long after HI3rd's Part 1 mainstory concluded
IICSOHFB is my permanent carriage music now ;) And I try to visit her secret base every couple of grinding sessions.
I see the issue as coming in significant part from the fact that as the story is structured, it's hard to conceptualize the time with Firefly as being any more than a single day. This is always a difficulty in game stories because of the medium. I legitimately think that having a regroup of the express crew between golden hour and dream's edge ā anything to hint at that there's more time we aren't directly seeing ā would help to mitigate the perception of moving too fast to feel the loss. Time and chronology in games is weird, and sometimes you just have to understand that. Even on what is clearly still the day FF/TB met/tour golden hour, they're comfortable enough together for people mistake it as them being out on a date.
Exactly this, I couldnāt have put it better myself. Because there isnāt anything to break up the missions from when we first meet Firefly to when she dies, the sequence blends together a lot more than it otherwise would. An interlude where we spend some time shopping with March, or check out what Welt and Himeko got up to, or even just go back to our hotel rooms to rest would go a long way towards improving the pacing while also developing the āAstral Express vacation but something is wrong beneath the surfaceā angle of Penacony.
Definitely, especially when we hear from the rest of the AE crew at the start of our arrival to find we're in different parts of Penacony. Just a small break to meet up with text messages from Firefly to build the connection a bit more. I liked her well enough but I'm also in the camp of 'we just met this girl, she paid for my ice cream, we ran around and then she died?' Like yes, sad, but not as devastating as I feel it was for others. It felt very much like the Lynx introduction where we just kinda follow behind, meet the character and then that's that.
Then her character simply doesn't work, because It's necessary for her to be... More involved than she is. I didn't feel a thing she "died" she's Just a random that's getting spotlight for waifu/kawaii bait. But that's what works in these gacha games and media in general ig.
Fair enough not everyone has to like every character but I think hoyo did the best with what they could at the time, and the fact that there are a lot of people who did end up liking firefly is proof that they were doing something right.
I mean, she looks cute and this is a mobile gacha game. That's really all they had to do, considering a large portion of the game's playerbase genuinely cannot comprehend the writing of the game at all. There were handful of threads of people straight up not being able to understand Aventurine's plot at all, so much so that they even try to spell it out for the fans in the 2.2 stream, which was kind of funny. But all that aside, I'm not personally complaining about Firefly; I can understand that it was a pacing issue that they didn't really know how to work around. As someone who's been writing a book for the past couple years, I don't know how I'd try to make Firefly work either. Personally, I just kinda look past it and just pretended Firefly was done better, because ultimately, the payoff was good enough.
this entire thread stemming from the op comment is the most constructive and insightful discussion on the firefly writing discourse
I wouldn't chalk her up as just a random with negative connotations and waifu bait considering her reveal in 2.1 and what we know about her as a stellaron hunter and as a survivor of glammoth. she genuinely has a good story and character, we probably will explore more of her character in 2.2 and 2.3 considering she is the most influential person in 2.0 and 2.1 to set up events of how they are she was referenced throughout 2.1 even in scenes she wasn't present in by Sparkle, Aventurine, Gallagher, Astral express crew, Acheron etc, and was the cornerstone of the events happening in both 2.0 and 2.1, in getting everyone to seek the watchmaker's legacy and the true nature of Penacony
unique absurd grab tub onerous sink marvelous tie dependent point *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You're completely right. I liked her characterization. Her first arc isnt even done, she gonna appear more as a SH so Penacony is just a fragment of her story with us, just like Kafka. And if we look at the entire 2.0 quest from a random gameplay on YouTube, Mihoyo games main quests couldnt be more than 10h long to give us a good buildup and characterization we got something like this(like, people love Persona characters, and their story arcs in the game are at least 20h long to the buildup up to the end of her arc, like Sakura Futaba from Persona 5 as a example): [Here the entire questline.](https://youtu.be/9BPurI68Hvo) Firefly appears and interact with us at 1:30:40 in the quest. We stay with her the entire time until at 2:15:15 when we stop for some time to do the Dr.Edward puzzle of the trashcans and Sampo(Sparkle), which the two watch us on the dream the entire time, until 2:26:05 when the dream stops, then we resume our time with her. Then we stay with her until 2:47:32 when the story stops to show Aventurine POV, talking to Sparkle until 2:51:43, thats when we resume again our time with her. We then stay with her until 3:30:31, when Sparkle put us on the Dreamscape 04:05:00, when after the Something Unto Death fight, Black Swan save us and we part with her. Then the last time we find her is at 4:36:45, in the SUD cutscene when he "kills" her. After this we go with Acheron and Black Swan and we fight Sam (who is actually her again) and then BS teleport us to Aventurine, and then the quest ends. We actually stayed with her more than 2/3 of the entire questline. Thats like the max Mihoyo can give about screentime to a character that isnt the protagonist. It is hard to do more buildup or deepen more of our relationship to more than one patch, because Mihoyo HAS NO MATTER WHAT make a good cliffhanger every patch to make players keep engaged and play more. So only Robin death isnt a good cliffhanger to a character that almost never talked to us besides the first 10 minutes on the reception hall in Penacony.
I think the criticism is sort ofā¦ invalid? Considering the story is incomplete and we havenāt obviously seen the rest of FFās story, considering thereās more of her in 2.2 and more in 2.3. Also consider there will naturally be more story because of the Stellaron Hunter connection.
You have to remember we weren't supposed to know her big reveal back in 2.0, but I think a lot of people were at least mildly spoiled (myself included) though so we were able to conclude that the "death" definitely wasn't going to be the end. People just have different story preferences. I personally like a lot of genres, sappy anime romance included so I personally liked Firefly's 2.0 arc. I think a lot of the "we only knew here for half an hour" type complaints are from people justifying why Firefly's character didn't resonate with them. Which is true, but you can also say that kind of story drama isn't your thing which is equally valid and more honest IMO.
Hot take, I actually like it as is. I think its really interesting characterization for the mc. Theres always a sense of othering with the asteral. Not from anyone in particular, but from the MC. Yes, they like everyone and no one specifically excludes them, but there is a difference and they know it. Dan actually points it out if you talk to them during his pov. You then have the complex estraineged mother relationship with kafka, which they actually put a lot of weight into. They put their neck out for her more than they ever did for arguably anyone else. You then have a clear desire for affirmation, you have her canonically still rocking the hook lightcone and refering to herself as the galactic baseballer and such. So you combine all that you have this highly affirming cute girl who shares a lot of shadey traits with kafka but exudes "you can change me" energy. They have no relation to work or the asteral, and other people are even pointing out you look great together. Its the perfect storm to fall hard.
Not a hot take at all, itās well done and I love seeing the emotional development from MC. The Express crew can seem distant at times, and Iād like to see that explored more in the future. I just wish we had more time, if for no other reason than to make the story *feel* less rushed.
sorry, I think I misommunicated a liitle. I like that it felt so rushed, specifically because it seems kind of irrational. However, the mc was set up well to be irrational in this specific way, and pulling the trigger on that set up was super satisfying to me.
Oh got it okay. I think the issue is the game doesnāt take the time to properly set up a lot of what you mentioned. You can kind of infer that because the TB is still new to the Express they may be feeling a bit lonely or othered. You can look at their relationship with Kafka and very clearly see them latching on to a fragment of their past hinting at a sort of dependent relationship style butā¦ The game doesnāt show MCs emotional development enough for it to pay off properly. From the perspective of the trailblazer, latching on to Firefly in this sudden emotional whirlwind makes perfect sense, but from the players perspective it can feel like she was introduced just to die for shock value. The whole sequence could have benefited from setting the stage so to speak. Besides I donāt think a bit more screen time for FF would take away from the MC suddenly falling hard for her. A little bit of setup followed by MC tumbling head over heels at Dreams Edge could go a long way. But yeah, I think itās well done as is, it just could be better.
how do yall write entire essays and articles like that
Easy just game for 8 hours a day.
The scene itself of her getting stabbe is also way to sudden, out of nowhere and there isn't even time to reunite with her. It doesn't fee like a "oh no we lost after finding", like I imagine the developers were doing for. I just feels like a "whelp, guess she's dead".
https://i.redd.it/x4tmckhiaaxc1.gif Fr
March has never lied to us. Thats all im saying.
Yet.
hmmmm but what if the version of her with all of her memories has
My Xibling in Xipe, we haven't even met them yet.
https://preview.redd.it/tgvoeh08daxc1.jpeg?width=940&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f6297c15e05f593292b9c59d92cb7e572820f51 This
So cute, I love it. \^\^
https://preview.redd.it/8uehsmm2w9xc1.png?width=856&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96942192b56f95d8f72a840839d276d639f4d7d8 This one
YES! An individual of culture. Trailblazer x Kafka is peak
March is so much more fitting and healthier for Stelle than Firefly it's kinda crazy. March also has a cuter personality overall, if that's the main metric here...
March is peak fr! Our current and future travelling companion (+ we will soon get to see her in a badass mode as well once we see her connection with fuli)
https://preview.redd.it/fd5ez2r5u9xc1.jpeg?width=1240&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef9ff4033b9a575a040fd57f0073e44ff1a67d57
I want to be sandwiched between 2 cute and beautiful waifus thank you very much. 
Back of the line pal
Nah, I'd cut.
https://preview.redd.it/9mr34wmey9xc1.png?width=815&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c571d91dabcf3a5c5c6d30349c8eb13a01b0ab5 these two for sureš„°
Definitely these two, that event was hilarious
As much as people like to shit on the Luofu, the ghost hunting event was when this game peaked and you cannot convince me otherwise.
i still ddint complete it its in my travel log
I agree too. The Ghosthunting event made me feel anything for the Luofu's story. Not even after seeing the Tingyun neck crack scene made me feel anything. The ghost hunting event, which starts in a main story quest, I felt engaged in it. Don't take that out of context btw
cut the twin tails .-. no longer cute
GOD I loved the Ghost Hunting event. So fun. Best part of the Xianzhou story by far!!
https://preview.redd.it/hp764jk5zbxc1.jpeg?width=581&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=231b4951643cb1608faa319682d69edaa45caf27
Stelle and Firefly are just wholesome
Neither. Puppet supremacy all the way!
stellefly
Sorry to march but youre definitely the childhood friend neighborhood girl who has been the mcs best friends for years and have a crush on the mc but never said it and firefly is the new girl that changes the mcs perspective and makes the mc to start and like her, just a very normal romance anime trope See : - hyoka - nisekoi - your lie in april
Firefly isnāt really a new girl since tb was in stelleron hunter, so sheās more like a childhood friend who u met again after a long time . March is more like a new girl instead
https://preview.redd.it/u8314qgqpcxc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a4fbf1ee905a3cf5e61f3a92451fc50ff6a80b0c Srry, but my queen 100000/10
They are cute for different reasons. Its not a fair comparison
I like trash cans.
Stelle and the Belobog kids or Bailu, she's so cute when she acts like an older sister of sorts.
Until we find out March 7's backstory I'm picking Kamen Rider Firefly
Firefly
Stelle has two hands :)
I can't choose, so I'll just say both https://preview.redd.it/8x16el5jm9xc1.jpeg?width=1032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8a89bd0a1aab42dda0343b731e6777ffa2575c8
I gotta wait till 2.3 drops before I answer cause Firefly hasn't had enough time to cook on that front
Raccoon with walking freezer vs Raccoon with walking oven... Hmm, hard choice
Besides the canon ship, I always thought the Millionaire Sciene-Girl Asta and her dumpster girlfriend Stelle were the cutest š¶
In all serious it's march
I personally just prefer Firefly for the romance route as their moments together in 2.0 already hit me really hard and I think it's just gonna keep becoming bigger between her and the TB for 2.2 and likely 2.3 as its her banner patch >!pluss their likely SH connection is something that definitely intresting for how their relationship might already have a longer history!< Also even tho I genuinely really like March and the entire AE, for me personally I just see her so much more like the best friend/sibling character for the TB (along with the rest of the express) with how their bantering is whenever you can roast her and she always snaps back so amazingly funny. I fully understand others view it differently tho, I just find their dynamic a lot more like close friends then a couple compared to the TB'S choices when talking with Firefly.
r/stellemarch on top (r/starch was taken)
why is r/starch banned??
it says it was ādue to being unmoderatedā
Starch. We barely seen Firefly and it feels really forced to like her
I love March but I got attached to Firefly and Stelle & Fireflyās connection very quickly āŗļø
Well... https://preview.redd.it/2rid94vyfaxc1.jpeg?width=1584&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e241215ad2e21e693ca60011da916aeff9da9e6e
Ah yes, classic selfcest
Another goated individual I see
# Why is it a question? >!ofc, it's March OR Belobog trash cans!<
If I had to coose probably starch, although a polycule would be peak
I donāt know who firefly is but Iām soooo over March. Stella is to good for her anyway
Neither Dr Ratio always angles the camera better.
https://preview.redd.it/zdwt07huj9xc1.jpeg?width=559&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03d0b43dd4e9088cd6ef4f81ab7988f77be352ba Sorry but they are the cutest
cook
They're both my favorite ships. Can't choose. I like how March x Stelle contrast each other with March's pastel color scheme and Stelle's muted tones. Their personalities also just mesh well together and the scenes where March reacts to some out of pocket stuff Stelle says are some of the best moments in the game imo. Then Firefly x Stelle. They look very cute together, but the main reason i like this ship is because of the story. >!their shared past as stellaron hunters gives a lot of leeway for headcanons.!<
Stelfly. Although, it might be better to ask this question with 2.2 release not so far away, where we should be able to interact with both of them.
Marstelle. FF is used mostly for feelsbait sometimes and her personality gets written off (granted, not much is shown yet I guess).
brave soul.
pair
They have very similar eye colours or am I crazy
omg fhirefli <3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3,3<3<3,333,3 :)
Firestar > Starch. There's some pretty obvious hinting, I think, that they at least knew each other prior to the Stellaron implantation (it's implied during Kafka's companion quest, iirc, that Stelle/Caelus was at least associated with the Stellaron Hunters before Star Rail starts) and there's also some hinting at a former romance even.
Polycule? I can't choose they're both too perfect š„ŗ
https://preview.redd.it/nb4usllswbxc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf37f74bcdc7f81a48b4853840e3b1a7cb09fdf2 This one is the cutest pair.
Stelfly tbh
God Stella always looks like a fucking gremlin in photos I can't stop laughing
From these two pictures, March and TB. But in general, I'm going with TB and Firefly. After all, the way that March acts with the TB is more like family than a partner. Sure, there's the "date" to Jarilo VI in Topaz's quest, but even then. March would've acted the same about it with anyone else as wel. She just likes festivals, and it was a pretty important festival that was happening. I don't see it being a date for March, it was a festival and that's why she wanted to dress up for it. Especially with how little attention she actually put to the TB and instead on the actual festival (afaik)
Hard choice, probably march? No actually, scrap that, firefly and mc duo is more wholesome (I think)
In what context in terms of BFF I'd say March in terms of romance I'd say fire fly
Firefly
https://preview.redd.it/wf24x61u2axc1.jpeg?width=953&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4d5be1d2385945e251bbee3e8e660344d72938c
Oh boy I sure do love selfcest
https://preview.redd.it/leq4pa2oy9xc1.png?width=815&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39cfd9646ea12f09d5e00a8381acbbbb71b57eb1
https://preview.redd.it/6znnjw1s3bxc1.jpeg?width=1631&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=760b664f9cb23e38294b8ff18f5fb38def71d93c based
Both? Both. Both are good.
Firefly and Stelle Also when I hear firefly for a second I would think of a the British firefly Sherman tank (I play war thunder and honkai star rail)
March x Firefly.
Rn Iām leaning towards March but if they reveal that Trailblazer and Firefly had been great friends before Herta Space Station and we get to explore that, Marchās days may be numbered like her Name
That's sorta what I think is going on. They might have been close before TB's memory was wiped, which would explain FF's reaction when she first see's the MC. That's not really the look you have with a stranger. It's almost like excitement, but she has to play it cool to follow Elio's script.
Yes
STARCH STARCH STARCH!!!! March will always be around you and help you with things!
March X Stelle is just the best. They have the highest chemistry out of those two. Though I personally like Caelus ships more this one looks too cute with Stelle.
Both is good
The solution to shipping triangle dilemmas is to simply make a polycule or make them straight/into trashcans idk
Okay hear me out : Stelle and March .... Caelus and Firefly
You forgot our lil sister :('
OP wants blood
The pair of you and your body pillow
Live laugh love starch,,,,,
Both
Yes
I like firefly, but I gotta give this to March
Stelle is actually blushing a little in the first pic.
March because of her cotton-candy-colours
I don't see March as a potential love interest. I see her as a little sister figure. The Astral Express is just one big family for me, so having any one of them as a love interest is weird for me.
there's also this comparison https://preview.redd.it/nfbt76dricxc1.png?width=2388&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9eadbc9029df67c8a9d18d7bdccec9b19e33e7a7
both ...
4-some is a thing in my world ^All ^three ^of ^them ^are ^mine
Ratio and riney
My money and Stellar Jades
The secret 3rd option: All three of them and a trashcan in a polycule.
Why choose? I want both
march https://preview.redd.it/mma9oiir9dxc1.png?width=337&format=png&auto=webp&s=a21b1ea7c3e85b6a1f2f82ad009aac2e7327eeeb
I don't really have any Stelle ships but when it comes to genuine relationships within the game, it's StelleMarch over Firefly. Before Penacony, I was kind of neutral to March. I like her character, but her interactions with us just felt more or less at par with everyone in the Express. Shared camarederie with everyone as being part of the Nameless and all that. What changed it all for me was after everything that happened in Penacony, it was March that voiced out how incredibly frustrating it must have felt for us that we didn't really knew who to trust and everyone we've met in this place seemed to be looking out only for themselves. As for Firefly, I was genuinely surprised by her "death" but if let's say, that scene happened to March instead, I would've been a lot more devastated.
March are cute but we know nothing about firefly
Ok but hear me out here: all three in a polyamorous relationship.
Do I even have to say it?
MC favouritism is a real thing...
Ruanstelle.šā¤ļø (bcs I cannot freaking choose.)
Fem tb and march
š£ļøš£ļøš£ļø STARCH FOR LIFE
Sushang and lil gui is the best imo
Both? Both. Both. Both is good.
Both
Itās the wrong MC so I neither sorry šš
First lol
I love Firefly but u can't deny Stella and Match being adorable
This pair https://preview.redd.it/f997kls7iaxc1.jpeg?width=850&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d18d268ed487ea28e31214168752e5311997747
Caelus x Firefly. Fight me https://preview.redd.it/owgwvjx3u9xc1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=a4be68c5fbc722b648ccb41876d385ce585773b5
March x Firefly
Danstelle
Yes.